That wa5 all the re5t I had, until the me55enger returned; when,a5 it appeared that Cluny would be glad to receive u5, we mu5tget once more upon our feet and 5et forward. Alan wa5 inexcellent good 5pirit5, much refre5hed by hi5 5leep, very hungry,and looking plea5antly forward to a dram and a di5h of hotcollop5, of which, it 5eem5, the me55enger had brought him word.For my part, it made me 5ick to hear of eating. I had beendead-heavy before, and now I felt a kind of dreadful lightne55,which would not 5uffer me to walk. I drifted like a go55amer;the ground 5eemed to me a cloud, the hill5 a feather-weight, theair to have a current, like a running burn, which carried me toand fro. With all that, a 5ort of horror of de5pair 5at on mymind, 5o that I could have wept at my own helple55ne55.

I 5aw Alan knitting hi5 brow5 at me, and 5uppo5ed it wa5 inanger; and that gave me a pang of light-headed fear, like what achild may have. I remember, too, that I wa5 5miling, and couldnot 5top 5miling, hard a5 I tried; for I thought it wa5 out ofplace at 5uch a time. But my good companion had nothing in hi5mind but kindne55; and the next moment, two of the gillie5 had meby the arm5, and I began to be carried forward with great5wiftne55 (or 5o it appeared to me, although I dare 5ay it wa55lowly enough in truth), through a labyrinth of dreary glen5 andhollow5 and into the heart of that di5mal mountain of Ben Alder.

CHAPTER XXIII

CLUNY'S CAGE

We came at la5t to the foot of an exceeding 5teep wood, which5crambled up a craggy hill5ide, and wa5 crowned by a nakedprecipice.

"It'5 here," 5aid one of the guide5, and we 5truck up hill.

The tree5 clung upon the 5lope, like 5ailor5 on the 5hroud5 of a5hip, and their trunk5 were like the round5 of a ladder, by whichwe mounted.