Having examined previously whether there was any one in the apartment, and finding the coast clear, the Captain entered, and hastily possessing himself of a blank passport, several of which lay on the table, and of writing materials, securing, at the same time, the Marquis's dagger, and a silk cord from the hangings, he again descended into the cavern, where, listening a moment at the door, he could hear the half-stifled voice of the Marquis making great proffers to MacEagh, on condition he would suffer him to give an alarm.
"Not for a forest of deer--not for a thousand head of cattle," answered the freebooter; "not for all the lands that ever called a son of Diarmid master, will I break the troth I have plighted to him of the iron-garment!" "He of the iron-garment," said Dalgetty, entering, "is bounden unto you, MacEagh, and this noble lord shall be bounden also; but first he must fill up this passport with the names of Major Dugald Dalgetty and his guide, or he is like to have a passport to another world." The Marquis subscribed, and wrote, by the light of the dark lantern, as the soldier prescribed to him.
"And now, Ranald," said Dalgetty, "strip thy upper garment--thy plaid I mean, Ranald, and in it will I muffle the M'Callum More, and make of him, for the time, a Child of the Mist;--Nay, I must bring it over your head, my lord, so as to secure us against your mistimed clamour .-- So, now he is sufficiently muffled;--hold down your hands, or, by Heaven, I will stab you to the heart with your own dagger!--nay, you shall be bound with nothing less than silk, as your quality deserves .-- So, now he is secure till some one comes to relieve him.

If he ordered us a late dinner, Ranald, he is like to be the sufferer;--at what hour, my good Ranald, did the jailor usually appear ?" "Never till the sun was beneath the western wave," said MacEagh.

"Then, my friend, we shall have three hours good," said the cautious Captain.
"In the meantime, let us labour for your liberation." To examine Ranald's chain was the next occupation.

It was undone by means of one of the keys which hung behind the private door, probably deposited there, that the Marquis might, if he pleased, dismiss a prisoner, or remove him elsewhere without the necessity of summoning the warden.

The outlaw stretched his benumbed arms, and bounded from the floor of the dungeon in all the ecstasy of recovered freedom.
"Take the livery-coat of that noble prisoner," said Captain Dalgetty; "put it on, and follow close at my heels." The outlaw obeyed.