I have no doubt the Bairds have a couple of hundred men and boys out.

They would call out every man and boy from their holdings, and most likely get a couple of score of men from their village, and perhaps twice as many from Parton.
No doubt they will think that, if we came in this direction, we should, last night, have found our way to one of the tracks across the hills, and it is near these that their search will be the keenest.
Fortunately, they cannot know that I am here, nor guess that it is to Yardhope that we intend to take them, and not to Hiniltie.

Still, they may expect that we shall try to cross the border, and I fancy we shall scarcely get through without a fight." "All the better," Roger grumbled.

"My fingers tingle to bring down this staff on the head of some of the Bairds, after all the trouble they have given us." They remained watching until it became dusk, except that, twice during the day, they crawled back and partook of a meal with the girls.

The last time they joined them, Oswald said: "Now, in half an hour it will be quite dark, and then we can safely get up and walk about for a bit.