But whether his
intention was to yield himself peaceably into the
bands of the party who should come to apprehend
him, or whether he purposed, by a show of resistance,
to provoke them to kill him on the spot, was
a question which he could not himself have answered.
His desire to see Barcaldine, and explain
the cause of his absence at the appointed time,
urged him to the one course; his fear of the degrading
punishment, and of his mother's bitter upbraidings,
strongly instigated the latter and the
more dangerous purpose. He left it to chance to
decide when the crisis should arrive; nor did he
tarry long in expectation of the catastrophe.
Evening approached, the gigantic shadows of the
mountains streamed in darkness towards the east
while their western peaks were still glowing with
crimson and gold. The road which winds round
Ben Cruachan was fully visible from the door of
the bothy, when a party of five Highland soldiers,
whose arms glanced in the sun, wheeled suddenly
into sight from the most distant extremity, where
the highway is hidden behind the mountain. One
of the party walked a little before the other four,
who marched regularly and in files, according to
the rules of military discipline.
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