If that be so, lady--and from what I have heard of Alexander MacDougall it is like enough--I beg you to give me back my surrender, for I would rather die here, sword in hand, than be put to death in cold blood in the castle of Dunstaffnage." "No," the lady said, "that cannot be.

Think you I could see you butchered before mine eyes after having once surrendered yourself to me?
No, sir.

I beseech you act not so rashly--that were certain death; and I trust that my uncle, hostile as he may be against you, will not inflict such dishonour upon me as to break the pledge I have given for your safety." Archie thought from what he had heard of the MacDougall that his chance was a very slight one.

Still, as the young ever cling to hope, and as he would assuredly be slain by the clansmen, he thought it better to take the chance, small as it was, and so continued his march by the side of his captor's palfrey.
After two hours' journey they neared the castle of Alexander of Lorne.

Archie could not repress a thrill of apprehension as he looked at the grim fortress and thought of the character of its lord; but his bearing showed no fear, as, conversing with the young lady, he approached the entrance.