And  thus  they  proceeded  by  night,  a  happier  party
by  far  than  they  had  been  when  they  traced  the
same  route  on  the  preceding  morning,  making  light
of  the  difficulties  of  the  way,  and  promising  them-
selves shelter  and  a  comfortable  night's  rest  in  the
deserted  hut  which  they  were  now  about  to  ap-
proach, and  which  they  expected  to  find  in  a  state
of  darkness  and  solitude.
But  it  was  the  lot  of  the  Udaller  that  day  to  be
deceived  more  than  once  in  his  calculations.
"  And  which  way  lies  this  cabin  of  yours,  Lau-
rie ? "  said  the  Udaller,  addressing  the  intelligent
domestic  of  whom  we  just  spoke.
"  Yonder  it  should  be,"  said  Laurence  Scholey,
"  at  the  head  of  the  voe  —  but,  by  my  faith,  if  it  be
the  place,  there  are  folk  there  before  us  —  God  and
Saint  Eonan  send  that  they  be  canny  company !  "

In  truth  there  was  a  light  in  the  deserted  hut,
strong  enough  to  glimmer  through  every  chink  of
the  shingles  <ind  wreck-wood  of  which  it  was  con-
structed, and  to  give  the  whole  cabin  the  appear-
ance of  a  smithy  seen  by  night.  The  universal
superstition  of  the  Zetlanders  seized  upon  Magnus
and  his  escort.
"  They  are  trows,"  said  one  voice.
"  They  are  witches,"  murmured  another.
"  They  are  mermaids,"  muttered  a  third ;  "  only
hear  their  wild  singing  ! "

All  stopped ;  and,  in  effect,  some  notes  of  mu-
sic were  audible,  which  Brenda,  with  a  voice  that
c[uivered  a  little,  but  yet  had  a  turn  of  arch  ridi-


t36  THE  PIRATE.
cule  in  its  tone,  pronounced  to  be  the  sound  of  a
fiddle.
