been in handsome time before my arrival, I thought it judicious to
leave the whole business with those present, and to sit still as a
spectator; and really it was very comical to observe how the bailie
was driven to his wit's-end by the poor lean and yellow Frenchman,
and in what a pucker of passion the pannel put himself at every new
interlocutor, none of which he could understand. At last, the
bailie, getting no satisfaction--how could he?--he directed the
man's portmanty and bundle to be opened; and in the bottom of the
forementioned package, there, to be sure, was found many a mystical
and suspicious paper, which no one could read; among others, there
was a strange map, as it then seemed to all present.

"I' gude faith," cried the bailie, with a keckle of exultation,
"here's proof enough now. This is a plain map o' the Frith o'
Clyde, all the way to the tail of the bank o' Greenock. This muckle
place is Arran; that round ane is the craig of Ailsa; the wee ane
between is Plada. Gentlemen, gentlemen, this is a sore discovery;
there will be hanging and quartering on this." So he ordered the
man to be forthwith committed as a king's prisoner to the tolbooth;
and turning to me, said:- "My lord provost, as ye have not been
present throughout the whole of this troublesome affair, I'll e'en
gie an account mysel to the lord advocate of what we have done." I
thought, at the time, there was something fey and overly forward in
this, but I assented; for I know not what it was, that seemed to me
as if there was something neither right nor regular; indeed, to say
the truth, I was no ill pleased that the bailie took on him what he
did; so I allowed him to write himself to the lord advocate; and, as
the sequel showed, it was a blessed prudence on my part that I did
so. For no sooner did his lordship receive the bailie's terrifying
letter, than a special king's messenger was sent to take the spy