Yonder they meet, the two shadows--and two of them there are--odds against me if I am discovered, and if their purpose be unfriendly, as is much to be doubted.

And then the Countess Isabelle loses her poor friend--Well, and he were not worthy to be called such, if he were not ready to meet a dozen in her behalf.

Have I not crossed swords with Dunois, the best knight in France, and shall I fear a tribe of yonder vagabonds?
Pshaw!--God and Saint Andrew to friend, they will find me both stout and wary." Thus resolving, and with a degree of caution taught him by his silvan habits, our friend descended into the channel of the little stream, which varied in depth, sometimes scarce covering his shoes, sometimes coming up to his knees, and so crept along, his form concealed by the boughs overhanging the bank, and his steps unheard amid the ripple of the water.

(We have ourselves, in the days of yore, thus approached the nest of the wakeful raven.) In this manner the Scot drew near unperceived, until he distinctly heard the voices of those who were the subject of his observation, though he could not distinguish the words.
Being at this time under the drooping branches of a magnificent weeping willow, which almost swept the surface of the water, he caught hold of one of its boughs, by the assistance of which, exerting at once much agility, dexterity, and strength, he raised himself up into the body of the tree, and sat, secure from discovery, among the central branches.
From this situation he could discover that the person with whom Hayraddin was now conversing was one of his own tribe, and at the same time he perceived, to his great disappointment, that no approximation could enable him to comprehend their language, which was totally unknown to him.

They laughed much, and as Hayraddin made a sign of skipping about, and ended by rubbing his shoulder with his hand, Durward had no doubt that he was relating the story of the bastinading which he had sustained previous to his escape from the convent.
On a sudden, a whistle was again heard in the distance, which was once more answered by a low tone or two of Hayraddin's horn.