to transport the necessary supplies--the stove, oil, dishes,
clothes and wraps; more than one journey was needed of small boys,
hidden under clouds of baggage. When everything had gone he
collected the keys, behind which, in various quarters of the house,
three gaolers fumed impotently, and gave them to Wee Jaikie to
dispose of in some secret nook. Then he led the two ladies to the
verandah, the elder cross and sleepy, the younger alert at the
prospect of movement.

"Tell me again," she said. "You have locked all the three up,
and they are now the imprisoned?"

"Well, it was the boys that, properly speaking, did the locking up."

"It is a great--how do you say?--a turning of the tables.
Ah--what is that?"

At the end of the verandah there was a clattering down of pots
which could not be due to the wind, since the place was sheltered.
There was as yet only the faintest hint of light, and black night
still lurked in the crannies. Followed another fall of pots,
as from a clumsy intruder, and then a man appeared, clear against
the glass door by which the path descended to the rock garden.
It was the fourth man, whom the three prisoners had awaited.
Dickson had no doubt at all about his identity. He was that villain
from whom all the others took their orders, the man whom the
Princess shuddered at. Before starting he had loaded his pistol.
Now he tugged it from his waterproof pocket, pointed it at the
other and fired.