Guy Mannering.

304 WA-VERLEY NOVELS.
have delivered him up to her gang when in a state
totally defenceless, would have suspended her supposed
treachery until he was armed, and in the open air, and
had so many better chances of defence or escape. He
therefore followed his guide in confidence and silence.
They crossed the small brook at the same place where it
previously had been passed by those who bad gone before. The foot-marks then proceeded through the ruined
village, and from thence down the glen, which again
narrowed to a ravine, after the small opening in which
they were situated. But the gipsy no longer followed the
same track;-she turned aside, and led the way, by a
very rugged and uneven path, up the bank which overhung the village. Although the snow in many places hid
the path-way, and rendered the footing uncertain and unsafe, 3Meg proceeded with a firm and determined step,
which indicated an intimate knowledge of the ground she
traversed. At length they gained the top of the bank,
though by a passage so steep and intricate that Brown,
though convinced it was the same by which he had
descended on the night before, was not a little surprised
how he had accomplished the task without breaking his
neck. Above, the country opened wide and unenclosed
for about a mile or two on the one hand, and on the other
were thick plantations of considerable extent.
Meg, however, still led the way along the bank of the
ravine out of which they had ascended, until she heard
beneath the murmur of voices. She then pointed to a
deep plantation of trees at some distance. —" The road to
Kippletringan," she said, "is on the other side of these
enclosures. —Make the speed ye can; there's mair rests
on your life than other folk's. —But you have lost allstay." She fumbled in an immense pocket, from which