to a hunting match at Braemar, and went. No great while afterwards I was
bidden to supper at an Edinburgh tavern, and again I accepted the
invitation. There was a small entertainment to follow the supper,--just
the taking of Edinburgh Castle. But the wine was good, and we waited to
powder our hair, and the entertainment could hardly be called a success.
Hard upon that convivial evening, I, with many others, was asked across
the Border to join a number of gentlemen who drank to the King after our
fashion, and had a like fancy for oak boughs and white roses. The weather
was pleasant, the company of the best, the roads very noble after our
Highland sheep tracks. Together with our English friends, and enlivened by
much good claret and by music of bagpipe and drum, we strolled on through
a fine, populous country until we came to a town called Preston, where we
thought we would tarry for a day or two. However, circumstances arose
which detained us somewhat longer. (I dare say you have heard the story?)
When finally we took our leave, some of us went to heaven, some to hell,
and some to Barbadoes and Virginia. I was among those dispatched to
Virginia, and to all intents and purposes I died the day I landed. There,
the shell is full!"

He tossed it from him, and going to the hitching-post loosed Haward's
horse. Haward took the reins from his hand. "It hath been ten years and
more since Virginia got her share of the rebels taken at Preston. If I
remember aright, their indentures were to be made for seven years. Why,
then, are you yet in my service?"

MacLean laughed. "I ran away," he replied pleasantly, "and when I was
caught I made off a second time. I wonder that you planters do not have a
Society for the Encouragement of Runaways. Seeing that they are nearly
always retaken, and that their escapades so lengthen their term of
service, it would surely be to your advantage! There are yet several years