Guy Mannering.

GUY MANNERING. 257
"I hope, sir, you are not hurt dangerously?"
"0, deil a bit-my head can stand a gay clour-nae
thanks to them, though, and mony to you. But now,
hinney, ye maun help me to catch the beast, and ye maun
get on behind me, for we maun off like whittrets before
the whole clanjamfray be doun upon us-the rest o' them
will no be far off." The galloway was, by good fortune,
easily caught, and Brown made some apology for overloading the animal.
"Deil a fear, man," answered the proprietor; "Dumple could carry six folk, if his back was lang eneugh.
But God's sake, haste ye, get on, for I see some folk
coming through the slack yonder, that it may be just as
weel no to wait for."
Brown was of opinion that this apparition of five or
six men, with whom the other villains seemed to join
company, comining across the moss towards them, should
abridge ceremony; he therefore mounted Dumple en
croupe, and the little spirited nag cantered away with
two men of great size and strength, as if they had been
children of six years old. The rider, to whom the paths
of these wilds seemed intimately known, pushed on at a
rapid pace, managing, with much dexterity, to choose the
safest route, in which he was aided by the sagacity of the
galloway, who never failed to take the difficult passes
exactly at the particular spot, and in the special manner,
by which they could be most safely crossed. Yet, even
wish these advantages, the road was so broken, and they
were so often thrown out of the direct course by various
impediments, that they did not gain much upon their
pursuers. "Never mind," said the undaunted Scotchman to his companion, "if ye were ance by Witherslhin's
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