Taken By Brigands.

as on the voyage out . But I had sooner ] a y out on a yard-arm in a gale of wind than go a-riding ony day . The next afternoon Ave Avent for a bit of a cniise , and at sunset Laird Goldfinch called the mate , AVIIO sailed the schooner

now the MacKenzie Avas awa ' , and told liim that he did not Avant to go back to the old moorings , but to run in as close as he safely could , to the little bay Ave had exp lored the clay before , Avhich Avas done , and Ave dropped anchor a couple of miles

, may-be , from the shore . Soon after nightfall , his lairdship came on deck , in his sailor ' s dress , and got into the dingey , Avhich Avas already alongside , with me in it , Availing for him ; and I rowed him to the little creek I had marked

, aud lay there for an hour or mair , Avhen he came back , and I took him on board again ; but Avhether he saw the lady or no , I dinna ken . Then the HaAvk weig hed anchor , and put back to Palermo . All this happened ower again the next

night , and the next ; but on the third occasion , as Laird Goldfinch stepped into the boat off a bit of a rock , his foot slipped , and he tAvisted his ankle badly . In spite

of fomentations and bandages , he Avas m great pain Avith it all night , and next day he couldna put foot to the ground . Eh ! he Avas in a rare taking to think that the lassie Avould be expecting him , and he nae coming that evening ; but there Avas na help for it . So he wrote a letter

, Avhich I Avas to take at the time he Avould be looked for , and give to her maid if I saw her , Avhich I most likely should . But if I didna , I was to put it in the secret place he called their post-office . It Avas nae to be supposed that the yacht

should be slipped from her Palermo moorings just to save my legs , so I Avas landed after nightfall at a place clear of the town , and there the boat Avas to wait for my return . It was vera davk ; 1 could distinguish

the road before me like a haze , and the rocks shoAved a faint edge on the sky-line ; hut the trees on each side made the way unco gloomy . It was a stilly night too ; the evening breeze had died awa ' , and there Avasna a sough in the branches or a whisper in the Avaves on the beach close by . Once or twice I heard the cry of a Avild

creature , and the distant bark of a dog , but nae a sound of a human being , except the tread of my ain feet . Just before I reached the bay , where the v , dne-shop stood , the moon rose , and vera glad Avas I of the light she gave , for I had

to leave the road there , and folloAV a path which I had only been alang once before , and then in the daylight ; and if the darkness had continued sae black as at first , I mig ht ha ' e missed my Avay . As it AvasI had nae difficulty in

, keeping the track ; and I Avalked on , thinking whether the maid body would be sheered AA'hen she saw that I Avas the wrang mon , and what I should say to explain how it was , and what queer , contradictory creatures men are .

Here Avas a rich nobleman , who might p ick and choose a Avife in his ain country , frae amangst the maist beautiful ,., and the cleA'erest , and the maist honourable ivomen in the Avorld , and he must needs gang and set his heart on a foreign lassieof a

, different religion , and ways , and manners , Avhose parents didna wish to have him for a son-in-law . My reflections were suddenly interrupted

by a gleam closely before my nose , and the cry of "Halt !" I amna easily startled , but when I heard a voice , and saiv a figure spring up in my path from noAvhere , as it seemed , I started like a bairn at a flash of lightning , and my heart felt like jumping right out of my

mouth , for I thought for a second it was something uncanny . It makes a mon angry to be skeered in that sudden way ; and my next impulse was to hit , but I kenned at the moment that the thing Avhich gleamed was a

gunbarrel , pointing exactly at the pit of my stomach . AVhatever the contents of this gun-barrel might be , it was certain that at the first hostile movement they would be put into my inside , aud I didna think they would agree .

So I gave a glance to the right , speculating on the chance of a dive into the bushes , and there I distinguished , another mon Avith another gun . I looked to the left , aud there Avas a third . The young lady ' s parents seemed to have adopted vera vigorous and determined measures to keep the suitor they didna approve of aAva ' , or eA'en to prevent any