He found everyone in a state of extreme anxiety. Hours ago Tell had galloped to his stable door, and if there be anything more calculated to raise alarm than another, it is the arrival at his master's place of a riderless horse.
But Archie's appearance, alive and intact, dispelled the cloud, and dinner was soon announced.
"Oh, by the way," said Archie's tutor, as they were going towards the dining-room, "your old friend Bob Cooper has been here, and wants to see you! I think he is in the kitchen now."
Away rushed Archie, and sure enough there was Bob eating supper in old Kate's private room.
He got up as Archie's entered, and looked shy, as people of his class do at times.
Archie was delighted.
"I brought the flies, and some new sorts that I think will do for the Kelpie burn," he said.
"Well, I'm going to dine, Bob; you do the same. Don't go till I see you. How long have you been here?"
"Two hours, anyhow."
When Archie returned he invited Bob to the room in the Castle Tower. Kate must come too, and Branson with his fiddle.