 --, who, much to
the perplexity of the Prince of Orange, their commander-in-chief, used to report
their troops as full in number, and possessed of all necessary points of
equipment, not considering it consistent with their dignity, or the honour of
Spain, to confess any deficiency either in men or munition, until the want of
both was unavoidably discovered in the day of battle. Accordingly, Ravenswood
thought it necessary to give the Marquis some hint, that the fair assurance
which they had just received from Caleb, did not by any means insure them
against a very indifferent reception.
    »You do yourself injustice, Master,« said the Marquis, »or you wish to
surprise me agreeably. From this window I see a great light in the direction
where, if I remember aright, Wolf's Crag lies; and, to judge from the splendour
which the old Tower sheds around it, the preparations for our reception must be
of no ordinary description. I remember your father putting the same deception on
me, when we went to the Tower for a few days' hawking, about twenty years since,
and yet we spent our time as jollily at Wolf's Crag, as we could have done at my
own hunting seat at B--.«
    »Your lordship, I fear, will experience that the faculty of the present
proprietor to entertain his friends is greatly abridged,« said Ravenswood; »the
will, I need hardly say, remains the same. But I am as much at a loss as your
lordship to account for so strong and brilliant a light as is now above Wolf's
Crag, - the windows of the Tower are few and narrow, and those of the lower
storey are hidden from us by the walls of the court. I cannot conceive that any
illumination of an ordinary nature could afford such a blaze of light.«
    The mystery was soon explained; for the cavalcade almost instantly halted,
and the voice of Caleb Balderston was heard at the coach window, exclaiming, in
accents broken by grief and fear, »Och, gentlemen - Och, my gude lords - Och,
haud to the right! - Wolf's Crag is burning, bower and ha' - a' the rich
plenishing outside and inside - a' the fine graith, pictures, tapestries,
needle-wark, hangings, and other decorements - a' in a bleeze, as if they were
nae mair than sae mony peats, or as muckle peas strae? Haud to the right,
gentlemen, I implore ye - there is some sma
