glen, when by the light of the moon they could dimly perceive two men, the one considerably taller than the other, approaching them.

Not suspecting they were in any danger, neither of our travellers had any arms about him. St. Clyde had only a horse-whip, and the sergeant had not worn his claymore since he was wounded and taken prisoner on the heights of Abraham; he carried a walking-stick, and the guide had nothing, save his load.

The men advanced upon them, and when they got within ten paces of the travellers, a shot was fired by the tallest of the two men, and the ball passed through the brim of St. Clyde's hat. There was no room given for a war of words; another shot from the same man, levelled at Colin, was fired before any one moved a foot; but St.Clyde was not to be intimidated by the smell of

gun-powder; he rushed in a zig-zag direction on the man who had not yet fired, but who was seen taking aim, and by the obliquity of his strides the ball missed Colin, but the guide instantly fell.

The sergeant sprung with the fearlessness of a lion on the tall fellow who fired first, and before he could unsheath a dirk he carried, Macbean wrested one of the pistols out of his left hand, and levelled a blow at the miscreant's head with the butt end of it. The fellow dived his head like a wild duck, and escaped the blow; but before the sergeant could recover himself from the impetus he had given his body, the villain was alert enough to fell him down to the ground with the other pistol.

The fellow whom St. Clyde attacked made three thrusts at him with a dirk, but only lodged one of them in his

coat sleeve, without inflicting any wound. And Colin laying about him with his horse-whip, the rascal plunged upon him with the whole weight of his body, fetching at the same instant a fourth thrust of his dirk; and now he grazed the skin of Colin's shoulder, and both fell; but before St. Clyde could recover himself, the man who fell with him got on his feet and ran off; and the other fellow, whom Macbean encountered, seeing his companion run, darted with his dirk upon Colin, and the lounge he made might have been fatal, had not Macbean hit the fellow with his stick over the legs, and broke the plunge he was making. This fellow, also, instantly ran off, and St. Clyde pursued, but after following him among the bushes, lost sight of him; and a whistle from a distance of perhaps fifty yards, indicated the retreat of the man who first fled,

St. Clyde returned instantly to the sergeant; and now, for the first time since the attack commenced, Colin asked him if he was wounded-" Na, na; nae wounded, but broken head.” "Where is our man, Macbean ?" "That me no ken; never seed him frae the first of the battle.”

And looking round, the guide was seen by the moon's beams on the ground, groaning piteously; Colin raised his head, and exclaimed, "the vital spark is just taking wing, and in an instant more it will waft its flight to another world-he is gone!"

"Deil get the rascals, to kill a poor man for naething;" cried Macbean ; " is he dead already, captain ?"

"Aye, dead!" rejoined St. Clyde ; for the guide fell backwards, and thrust out his legs with a shock to their full length; and his fists were closely clenched,

"Sure eneugh he is dead as death can mak a body; what the deil tempted the rascals to kill the peur man?" exclaimed Macbean.

They are banditti, sergeant; go you back to the village, and I'll stay with the corpse till you return with his friends to take him home."

And now the guide who had been thought dead, raised his head, and whispered he was "nae dead, but he thought they were the robbers that did na rin away, and he was frightet to be living and blawing his breath gif the robbers came up to him."

"Out! ye cowardly loon," cried Macbean, "to fa' before ye ware killed; deil tak ye, man; gif ye had the heart o' a chicken, ye might a keeppet on your twa pins, though ye kenna how to blude a chiel that wad cut your throat."

St. Clyde could hardly keep from