Mountain Democrat., 1857-12-12

IanueE IACc, was overwhelmed with alarm
and vexation. His heart failed him. and
it was with feeling Of faintncss that he
shrunk from the apartmenA-it was his
own son-in-law.
II was not until the soldiers were fairly
out Of sight, that the heart-strickcn man
dared to give vent to his feelings. lie
then Informed his wife of the terrible dis.
cOvcry he had made.
The afternoon, it may well be concciv-
Cd, was spent by the honest couple in the
most unpleasant state of mind. One
thing which surprised the landlord much
was that he should have remained SO long
ignorant of Maclaren's joining Prince
Charles. But the truth was, that Neil
had joined him q short time before the
battle Of CullOden, being drawn at last
from his homo by the spectacle of an in
Vading enemy in his own country.
Let us now leave for awhile the land
lord Of the Crook, to whom this was dcs-
tined to be an eventful day, and follow
the party Of soldiers in their slow march
up the vale Of the Tweed. As the land
lord had predicted, the mists did not clear
up as the day grew older. Other parts of
the country, indeed, might have been
clear from fog, but at every step, the SOL
dicrs were moving higher and higher, and
the white -dFizzliHg -Aeeees- the hill
side became thicker and thicker.
1t is to be questioned if there is in all
the Lowlands Of Scotland, moro elevated
piece of tablc-land than that lying some
ten miles above Crook, from which the
fountain Of tho three great rivers-th
Clyde, the AMMAN and the Tweed, springs.
The road travcrscd by Maclaren and his
captors, crossed this Obtrusely-pyramid-
al height at spot called Errick-Stanc-
Brac.
After the height of the country had
been passed, it proceeded for some way
along the brink Of hollow, in which the
AMMAN takes its rise, and which is usual
ly termed the DEVILS, but sometimes al
SO the Marquis of Annandale's Beef Tub,
from some resemblance it bears to that
domestic utensil, and because the robbers
Of the great border house of Johnstone,
used Of old to conceal their stolen cattle
in it.
AS implied by this appcllation, the
sides of this hollow are nearly pcrpendic-
ular all around; in cloar weather travel
cr looking down into it from the road is
surprised at its depth. On the present
occasion, however, it was filled to the brim
by the dense fog which pervadcd the at
mOsphere.
The soldiers, though the country was
entirely new to them, passed along the
high and perilOus road with feelings little
impressed by it. The drcarincss and mo.
notony Of their days march, had render
ed their minds dull and inattentivc, and
instead of keeping close circle around
their prisoner, they struggled along in
the line, in which he was sometimes near
the rear. Very different was the mental
condition Of Maclarcn, who, from having
passed this way with cattle, was acquaint-
cd with every foot Of the way, and long
mcditatcd particular mode of escape
which he was now to put into execution.
How great was the astonishment of the
soldiers, when Maclarcn, who at one mo-
mcOt was pacing quietly along in the
dreary march, was the next seen to start
from their line towards the edge Of the
prccipice, over which he plunged head
foremost and was instantly out Of sight.
To rush after him was but the work of
moment; yet so quick had been his
movements, that he was already absorbed
in the sea Of mist which filled the Beef
Tub. With his head firmly clcnched be-
tween his knees, and holding his feet in
his hands, he formed his body as nearly
as possible into q round form, and allow
cd himself freely to roll heels-over-head,
A6o 81, Il aE
surface of which he knew presented at
this place no distractions capable of inju-
ring him. Tn their ignorance of the
ground, no one burst follow him. The
brave lieutenant could only, as soon as he
recovered breath, eXclaim with an oath
"Stop, sir-I arrest you in the kings
name !"-whilc the soldiers fired their
muskets at random into the gulf, or ran
little way round it's edges in the hope
of finding less perilous descent to the
bottom. 1t was all in vain; and, after
once more gathering together, they could
only console themselves with the un-
doubling assurance that tho rascal must
have broken his neck in the descent, and
so relieved the king Of the duty Of pun
ishing his rebellion.
lie arrived, however, at the bottom
without the slightest injury and the mo-
mcnt that he did so, he commenced his
ascent on tho opposite side. When he
reached tho top, being we'll acquainted
with the ground, he set off at full speed
in tho direction of his father Flaws
house, following, not the road by which
he had como, but the hill-Sides, where he
was not likely to be seen by any one. He
took this route in the hope that in some
Of tho many corner holes about the Crook
he might easily lie concealed until the
hue and cry was blown over.
After the departure of the soldiers, the
landlord was surprised by the arrival of
visitors that were near and dear to him
namely, his daughter Allie and her infant
child. The poor young thing had heard
Of her husbands capture, and was on her
way to Carlisle to beg his life, or die with
him. Her parents persuaded, or rather
compelled her to stay night with them,
in order to take that rest of which she
stood in need of SO much; but it may be
imagined they could offer her no other
consolation. Consolation however was not
far of, though they then saw it not
After night had set in, the landlord, with
tho view Of excluding as much as posi-
ble oil spectators Of his daughters grief,
went out in person to bring supply OF
fuel for tho parlor fire from tho peat
stalk. While in the act of lifting these
cOmbustibles, voice whispcredhis name,
and finding by the terrified whats thats'
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