siller in a draw-wall, an' syne filled it up wi' stanes. They got
naething in the way of spulzie to speak o'; sae out o' spite they dang
doon the castle, an' it's never been biggit to this day. But the Cummins
were no sae bad as the Lairds o' Federat, after a'."

"And who were these Federats?" I inquired.

"The Lairds o' Federat?" said he, moistening his mouth again as a
preamble to his oration. "Troth, frae their deeds ane would maist think
that they had a drap o' the deil's blude, like the pyets. Gin a' tales
be true, they hae the warmest place at his bink this vera minute. I
dinna ken vera muckle about them though, but the auldest fouk said they
were just byous wi' cruelty. Mony a good man did they hing up i' their
ha', just for their ain sport; ye'll see the ring to the fore yet in the
roof o 't. Did ye never hear o' Mauns' Stane, neebour?"

"Mauns' what?" said I.

"Ou, Mauns' Stane. But it's no likely. Ye see it was just a queer clump
o' a roun'-about heathen, waghlin' may be twa tons or thereby. It wasna
like ony o' the stanes in our countra, an' it was as roun' as a fit-ba';
I'm sure it wad ding Professor Couplan himsel' to tell what way it cam'
there. Noo, fouk aye thought there was something uncanny about it, an'
some gaed the length o' saying that the deil used to bake ginshbread
upon't; and, as sure as ye're sitting there, frien', there was knuckle-
marks upon 't, for my ain father has seen them as aften as I have taes
an' fingers. Aweel, ye see, Mauns Crawford, the last o' the Lairds o'
Federat, an' the deil had coost out (may be because the laird was just as
wicked an' as clever as he was himsel'), an' ye perceive the evil ane
wantit to play him a trick. Noo, Mauns Crawford was ae day lookin' ower