CHAPTER X.
But see, his face is black, and full of blood;
His eye-balls farther out than when he lived,
Staring full ghastly like a strangled man;
His hair uprear'd, his nostrils stretch'd with struggling,
His hands abroad displayed, as one that gasp'd
And tugg'd for life, and was by strength subdued.
The Sheriff-depute of the county arrived at Ellangowan next morning by day-break. To this provincial magistrate the law of Scotland assigns judicial powers of considerable extent, and the task of enquiring into all crimes committed within his jurisdiction, the apprehension and commitment of suspected persons, and so forth.
The gentleman who held the office in the shire of at the time of this catastrophe, was well born and well educated;
