Nevertheless, such a panoply is love that Wat's heart did not fail him. He waited till the flare of torches and the tumult of men's voices had withdrawn up the hill over which my Lord of Barra took his way to the house which he occupied during his infrequent visits to the island--a rude strength of stone consisting merely of three or four chambers which had been built after the castle on the rocks below had fallen into disrepair.
Wat swam ashore, keeping well to the right of the landing-place, where two or three men were still busied about the boats, securing them with ropes and getting out what bits of property had been left in them. Wat could not but feel a cold chill strike through his heart when he remembered that the possession of these boats by the islanders, together with their perfect knowledge of all the different states of the tide, would render his position upon the islet of Fiara infinitely more dangerous.
"All the more reason," quoth undaunted Wat, "for us to make the attempt this very night."
So, keeping as before to the short heather above the paths, he made his way silently upward towards Scarlett's dungeon and the dwelling of his love.
He found Bess Landsborough eagerly waiting for him. She dragged him sharply away from the cottages.
"Gang back," she whispered, shaking him almost roughly, as though he were to blame; "ken ye not that the chief has come and there will no' be a sober man on the island this nicht? Even my Alister, if he were to come across ye before morning, would think no more of sticking a knife in ye than of breaking the back of a foumart[E] with a muckle stane."
"I know that," said Wat, with composure, "and that is the reason why I am going to take both Kate and Scarlett with me to-night."
"The laddie's fair raving," said the woman; "the thing's clear impossible. It canna be dune. Ye will hae to wait--some nicht when they are a' sleepin', maybe."
"I'm not going back alive without Kate McGhie," said Wat. "I cannot leave her with the cruel ravisher, Murdo of Barra--"
"Hoot, laddie," said Bess, "the chief will no' do the lassie ony harm. He's ben the hoose wi' her the noo."
Wat, who had been crouching behind a rock beside Bess Landsborough, at once sprang up and took his dagger bare in his hand. He was setting off in the direction of the hut with the intention of breaking in upon the colloquy of captive and captor, when Bess sprang on him and pulled him down with all the weight of her body about his neck and exerting the utmost strength of her brawny arms.