'Here are the gentlemen coming back again,' said Jim.
'Then we'll leave you now,' said Allan; 'but we'll see you again in the afternoon.'
'Right you are, sir,' replied Jim; 'we'll send a boat to fetch you.'
'You are lucky,' said Marjorie to the boys. 'How I wish we could go too. Do you think they meant to invite us?'
Allan looked doubtful.
'I don't know,' he said. 'I don't think they thought of it. But I daresay they would be glad to see you if you came.'
'It's no good, I'm afraid,' answered Marjorie; 'I'd have to ask Mother and she'd be sure to say no. But there is the boat going away, and listen, isn't that the horn?'
They hearkened for a moment, and it was unmistakably the old ram's horn which was sounded at Ardnavoir to summon those at a distance when any notable event was about to take place.
'I wonder what it can be,' said Tricksy, as they scampered in the direction of the mansion-house; 'do you think it can have anything to do with the Heroic, Allan?'
Mrs. Stewart was in the doorway.