THE   HOUSE   OF   FEAR.                             181
of the house or the farm buildings, from which they
brought out guns, swords, and different weapons of
war; others carried them away; and by the sound of
mattock blows from somewhere further down the brae,
I suppose they buried them. Though they were all so
busy, there prevailed no kind of order in their efforts;
men struggled together for the same gun and ran into
each other with their burning torches; and James was
continually turning about from his talk with Alan, to
cry out orders which were apparently never understood.
The faces in the torchlight were like those of people
overborne with hurry and panic; and though none
spoke above his breath, their speech sounded both
anxious and angry.
It was about this time that a lassie came out of the
house carrying a pack or bundle; and it has often made
me smile to think how Alan's instinct awoke at the
mere sight of it.
"What's that the lassie has?" he asked.
"We're just setting the house in order, Alan," said
James, in his frightened and somewhat fawning way.
"They'll search Appin with candles, and we must have
all things straight. We're digging the bit guns and
swords into the moss, ye see; and these, I am thinking,
will be your ain French clothes."
"Bury my French clothes!" cried Alan. "Troth,
no!" And he laid hold upon the packet and retired
into the barn to shift himself, recommending me in the
meanwhile to his kinsman.