blood has gilded the dirk, and thou hast said nothing to rescue thine own forfeited life."
"If my life rest on her's," answered the outlaw, "it is secure, for she still survives; but it has a more insecure reliance—the frail promise of a son of Diarmid."
"That promise shall not fail you," said the Campbell, "if you can assure me that she survives, and where she is to be found."
"In the castle of Darnlinvarach," said Ranald MacEagh, "under the name of Annot Lyle. I have often heard of her from my kinsmen, who have again approached their native woods, and it is not long since mine old eyes beheld her."
"You!" said Murdoch, in astonishment, "you, a chief among the children of the Mist, and ventured so near your mortal foe!"
"Son of Diarmid, I did more," replied the outlaw; "I was in the hall of the castle, disguised as a harper, from the wild shores of Skianach. My purpose was to have
