Page:Tales of my landlord (Volume 3).djvu/267

 yew-tree, which grew out of a steep cleft of the rock, being the very pass through which Goose-Gibbie was smuggled out of the Castle in order to carry Edith's express to Charnwood, and which had probably, in its day, been used for other contraband purposes. Cuddie, resting upon the butt of his gun, and looking up at this window, observed to one of his companions,—"There's a place I ken weel; mony a time I hae helped Jenny Dennison out o' that winnock, forby creeping in whiles mysel to get some daffin, at e'en after the pleugh was loosed."

"And what's to hinder us to creep in just now?" said the other, who was a smart, enterprizing young fellow.

"There's no muckle to hinder us, an' that were a'," answered Cuddie; "but what were we to do neist?"

"We'll tak the Castle," cried the other; "here are five or six o' us, and a' the sodgers are engaged at the gate."

"Come awa' wi' you, then," said Cuddie; "but mind, de'il a finger ye maun lay