“‘Why,’ says he, ‘he’s so far ill as he’s not well, and desires to see you without one moment’s delay. He’s in fine taking, and that you’ll find; but what for do I stand here? Lord, I never got such a fright. Why, Johnston, does thou know that master hath lost himself?’
“‘How lost himself, rabbit?’ says I; ‘speak plain out, else I’ll have thee lug-hauled, thou dwarf!’ for my blood rose at the imp, for fooling at any mishap of my master’s. But my choler only made him worse, for there is not a greater diel’s-buckie in all the Five Dales.
“‘Why, man, it is true that I said,’ quoth he, laughing; ‘the old gurly squire hath lost himself; and it will be grand sport to see thee going calling him at all the stane-crosses in the kingdom, in this here way.—Ho, yes! and a two times ho, yes! and a three times ho, yes! Did anybody no see the better half of my master, Laird of the twa Cassway’s, Bloodhope, and Pentland, which was amissing overnight, and is supposed to have gone a-woolgathering? If anybody hath seen that better part of my master, whilk contains as much wit as a man could drive on a hurlbarrow, let them restore it to me, Andrew Johnston, piper, trumpeter, whacker, and wheedler, to the same great and noble squire; and high shall be his reward. Ho, yes!’
“‘The deuce restore thee to thy right mind!’ said I, knocking him down, and leaving him sprawling in the kennel, and then hasted to my master, whom I found feverish, restless, and raving, and yet with an earnestness in his demeanour that stunned and terrified me. He seized my hand in both his, which were burning like fire, and gave me such a look of despair as I shall never forget. ‘Johnston, I am ill,’ said he, ‘grievously ill, and know not what is to become of me. Every nerve in my body is in a burning heat, and my soul is as it were torn to fritters with amazement. Johnston, as sure as you are in the body, something most deplorable hath happened to them.’
“‘Yes, as sure as I am in the body, there has, master,’ says I. ‘But I’ll have you bled and doctored in style, and you shall soon be as sound as a roach,’ says I, ‘for a gentleman must not lose heart altogether for a little fire-raising in his outworks, if it does not reach the citadel,’ says I to him. But he cut me short by shaking his head and flinging my hand from him.
“‘A truce with your talking,’ says he. ‘That which hath befallen me is as much above your comprehension as the sun is above the earth, and never will be comprehended by mortal man; but I must inform you of it, as I have no other means of gaining the intelligence I yearn for, and which I am incapable of gaining personally. Johnston, there never was a mortal man suffered what I have suffered since midnight. I believe I have had doings with hell; for I have been disembodied, and embodied again, and the intensity of my tortures has been unparalleled.—I was at home this morning at daybreak.’
“‘At home at Cassway!’ says I. ‘I am sorry to hear you say so, master, because you know, or should know, that the thing is impossible, you being in the ancient town of Shrewsbury on the king’s business.’
“‘I was at home in very deed, Andrew,’ returned he; ‘but whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell—the Lord only knoweth. But there I was in this guise, and with this heart and all its feelings within me, where I saw scenes, heard words, and spoke others, which I will here relate to you. I had finished my despatches last night by midnight, and was sitting musing on the hard fate and improvidence of my sovereign master, when, ere ever I was aware, a neighbour of ours, Mrs Jane Jerdan, of Drumfielding, a mysterious character, with whom I have had some strange doings in my time, came suddenly into the chamber, and stood before me. I accosted her with doubt and terror, asking what had brought her so far from home.’
“‘You are not so far from home as you imagine,’ said she; ‘and it is fortunate for some that it is so. Your two sons have quarrelled about the possession of niece Ellen, and though the eldest is blameless of the quarrel, yet has he been forced into it, and they are engaged to fight at daybreak at the Crook of Glendearg. There they will assuredly fall by each other’s hands, if you interpose not; for there is no other authority now on earth that can prevent this woful calamity.’
“‘Alas! how can I interfere,’ said I, ‘at a distance? It is already within a few hours of the meeting, and before I get from among the windings of the Severn, their swords will be bathed in each other’s blood! I must trust to the interference of Heaven.’