 be in
the Jacobite scrape already, it is quite needless for me to drag you in.«
    »Not a whit; I have nothing to fear.«
    »Then I will ride with you blithely, for, to say the truth, I do not know
the rendezvous that Craigie was to guide us to this night; and I am sure that,
if he is taken, he will tell all the truth of me, and twenty lies of you, in
order to save himself from the withie.«
    They mounted, and rode off in company accordingly, striking off the ordinary
road, and holding their way by wild moorish unfrequented paths, with which the
gentlemen were well acquainted from the exercise of the chase, but through which
others would have had much difficulty in tracing their course. They rode for
some time in silence, making such haste as the condition of Ravenswood's horse
permitted, until night having gradually closed around them, they discontinued
their speed, both from the difficulty of discovering their path, and from the
hope that they were beyond the reach of pursuit or observation.
    »And now that we have drawn bridle a bit,« said Bucklaw, »I would fain ask
you a question, Master.«
    »Ask, and welcome,« said Ravenswood, »but forgive my not answering it,
unless I think proper.«
    »Well, it is simply this,« answered his late antagonist, - »What, in the
name of old Sathan, could make you, who stand so highly on your reputation,
think for a moment of drawing up with such a rogue as Craigengelt, and such a
scapegrace as folk call Bucklaw?«
    »Simply, because I was desperate, and sought desperate associates.«
    »And what made you break off from us at the nearest?« again demanded
Bucklaw.
    »Because I had changed my mind,« said the Master, »and renounced my
enterprise, at least for the present. And now that I have answered your
questions fairly and frankly, tell me what makes you associate with Craigengelt,
so much beneath you both in birth and in spirit?«
    »In plain terms,« answered Bucklaw, »because I am a fool, who have gambled
away my land in these times. My grand-aunt, Lady Girnington, has taen a new tack
of life, I think, and I could only hope to get something by a change of
government. Craigie was a sort of gambling acquaintance; he saw my condition;
and, as the devil is always at one's elbow, told me
