They were now loaded with snow instead of leaves, and thus formed a sort of frozen canopy over the rivulet beneath, which was marked by its darker colour, as it soaked its way obscurely through wreaths of snow. In one place, where the glen was a little wider, leaving a small piece of flat ground between the rivulet and the bank, were situated the ruins of the hamlet in which Brown had been involved on the preceding evening. The ruined gables, the insides of which were japanned with turf-smoke, looked yet blacker, contrasted with the patches of snow which had been driven against them by the wind, and with the drifts which lay around them.
Upon this wintry and dismal scene, Brown could only at present cast a very hasty glance; for his guide, after pausing an instant, as if to permit him to indulge his curiosity, strode hastily before him down the path which led into the glen. He observed, with some feelings of suspicion, that she chose a track already marked by several feet, which he could only suppose were those of the depredators who had spent the night in the vault. A moment's recollection, however, put his suspicions to rest. --It was not to be thought that the woman, who might have delivered him up to her gang when in a state totally defenceless, would have suspended her supposed treachery until he was armed, and in the open air, and had so many better chances of defence or escape. He therefore followed his guide in confidence and silence. They crossed the small brook at the same place where it previously had been passed by those who had gone before. The footmarks then proceeded through the ruined village, and from thence down the glen, which again narrowed to a ravine, after the small opening in which they were situated. But the gipsy no longer followed the same track: she turned aside, and led the way by a very rugged and uneven path up the bank which overhung the village. Although the snow in many places bid the pathway, and Rendered the footing uncertain and unsafe, Meg proceeded with a firm and determined step, which indicated an intimate knowledge of the ground she traversed. At length they gained the top of the bank, though by a passage so steep and intricate, that Brown, though convinced it was the same by which he had descended on the night before, was not a little surprised how he had accomplished the task without breaking his neck. Above, the country opened wide and unenclosed for about a mile or two on the one hand, and on the other were thick plantations of considerable extent.
Meg, however, still led the way along the bank of the ravine out of which they had ascended, until she heard beneath the murmur of voices. She then pointed to a deep plantation of trees at some distance.
"The road to Kippletringan," she said, is on the other side of these enclosures--Make the speed ye can; there's mair rests on your life than other folk's. But you have lost all--stay." She fumbled in an immense pocket, from which she produced a greasy purse--"Many's the awmous your house has gi'en Meg and hers--and she has lived to pay it back in a small degree;"--and she placed the purse in his hand.
"The woman is insane," thought Brown; but it was no time to debate the point, for the sounds he heard in the ravine below probably proceeded from the banditti. "How shall I repay this money," he said "or how acknowledge the kindness you have done me?""I hae twa boons to crave," answered the sibyl, speaking low and hastily; one, that you will never speak of what you have seen this night; the other, that you will not leave this country till you see me again, and that you leave word at the Gordon Arms where you are to be heard of; and when I next call for you, be it in church or market, at wedding or at burial, Sunday or Saturday, meal-time or fasting, that ye leave everything else and come with me.""Why, that will do you little good, mother.""But 'twill do yourself muckle, and that's what I'm thinking o'.--I am not mad, although I have had eneugh to make me sae--I am not mad, nor doating, nor drunken--I know what I am asking, and Iknow it has been the will of God to preserve you in strange dangers, and that I shall be the instrument to set you in your father's seat again.--Sae give me your promise, and mind that you owe your life to me this blessed night.""There's wildness in her manner, certainly," thought Brown; "and yet it is more like the wildness of energy than of madness.""Well, mother, since you do ask so useless and trifling a favour, you have my prornise. It will at least give me an opportunity to repay your money with additions. You are an uncommon kind of creditor, no doubt, but--""Away, away, then!" said she, waving her hand. "Think not about the goud--it's a' your ain; but remember your promise, and do not dare to follow me or look after me." So saying, she plunged again into the dell, and descended it with great agility, the icicles and snow-wreaths showering down after her as she disappeared.
