"At the old castle?" asked the man.
"Yes," answered the woodman, "under the gateway. The sky will be grey by that time. Quarrel not with the soldiers, if you can help it. Say you are but doing your needful service; but keep to it sturdily. Nay, now I think of it, 'twere better to gather in the wood upon the hill before the castle, especially if the soldiers follow you. There, begin hewing down the young trees which we marked for cutting out, and run up to the gate if you should hear my horn. Now away, and bring all you can; but mind you send Adam up on his pony at once to the abbey."
The man replied not, but ran away with a peculiarly quick but easy trot; and Boyd entered the hut, where he found the piper standing very near the door. He felt inclined to ask him why he had not gone in, feeling sure that he had lingered to listen; but there, just before him, stood the great deer-hound Ban, neither growling nor attempting to seize the intruder, but gazing at him with a very fierce and formidable expression of countenance, which might well daunt even a stout heart in the breast of an unarmed man. The moment the dog saw his master, however, he dropped his stiffened tail and raised ears; and the woodman said, "Now, Sam, come you with me, and we will load ourselves with food for the nonce. Here, sling this great bottle under your right arm, to balance your bag-pipes, and take this loaf upon your back. I will carry the rest; but I must leave my right hand free, in case of need, to use my weapon."
"But how am I to use my weapon, if you load me so?" asked the piper, making his instrument give a squeak.
"The less you use it the better," answered the woodman.
"I say the same of all weapons," rejoined Sam. "But never mind, put on the load, and let us go."
Their arrangements were soon complete, and with a rapid pace they gained once more the edge of the high roads and there paused under the trees, to watch the proceedings of the enemy. The same vigilant patrol was kept up; but the woodman marked it with a smile.
"They think the person they seek must have taken refuge there," he said in a whisper to his companion, "because he could not pass by the hamlet or the lower road, without falling in with them; but if they keep their parties so loose, I would pass a hundred men across, one by one. I will go first, and you follow. He waited till the next couple of soldiers had ridden slowly by, and then with a silent step crossed to the opposite side of the road, where he paused for his companion; but the poor piper had nearly brought himself into a dangerous situation, by a hankering for the great bottle which hung under his arm. In extracting, with his stout finger and thumb, the cork from the mouth, he produced a sound loud enough to make two of the soldiers stop, and then ride up to the spot; but his bagpipe once more saved him; for squeezing the bag hard, and running his fingers over the pipe, he produced a series of sounds only to be equalled by those of two cats in a gutter; and one of the soldiers exclaimed:
"It is only that drunken piper again. Cease your squalling, knave, or I'll break your pate."
The sound of the pipe instantly stopped; and the moment the two men had gone on, the piper passed the road and joined his companion. The rest of the way was speedily accomplished, and, a little before five, the woodman approached the gates of the old castle. There he paused, and, after a moment's thought, turned to his companion, saying: