"
"In the name of Heaven, mother, meddle not with this matter!"
said Hamish. "Allan Breack is a wise man and a kind one, and
comes of a good stem. It may be, he can promise for our officers
that they will touch me with no infamous punishment; and if they
offer me confinement in the dungeon, or death by the musket, to
that I may not object."
"Alas, and wilt thou trust to their word, my foolish child?
Remember the race of Dermid were ever fair and false; and no
sooner shall they have gyves on thy hands, than they will strip
thy shoulders for the scourge."
"Save your advice, mother," said Hamish, sternly; "for me, my
mind is made up."
But though he spoke thus, to escape the almost persecuting
urgency of his mother, Hamish would have found it, at that
moment, impossible to say upon what course of conduct he had thus
fixed. On one point alone he was determined--namely, to abide
his destiny, be what it might, and not to add to the breach of
his word, of which he had been involuntarily rendered guilty, by
attempting to escape from punishment. This act of self-devotion
he conceived to be due to his own honour and that of his
countrymen.
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