He remained seated upon the tombstone, wrapped in thought, and apparently quite unconscious of the moonlight which now fell upon his chest and legs.  He was of middle stature, rather thick-set, with over-developed arms and a labourer’s hands, already hardened by toil; his feet, shod with heavy laced boots, looked large and square-toed.  His general appearance, more particularly the heaviness of his limbs, bespoke lowly origin.  There was, however, something in him, in the upright bearing of his neck and the thoughtful gleams of his eyes, which seemed to indicate an inner revolt against the brutifying manual labour which was beginning to bend him to the ground.  He was, no doubt, an intelligent nature buried beneath the oppressive burden of race and class; one of those delicate refined minds embedded in a rough envelope, from which they in vain struggle to free themselves.  Thus, in spite of his vigour, he seemed timid and restless, feeling a kind of unconscious shame at his imperfection.  An honest lad he doubtless was, whose very ignorance had generated enthusiasm, whose manly heart was impelled by childish intellect, and who could show alike the submissiveness of a woman and the courage of a hero.  On the evening in question he was dressed in a coat and trousers of greenish corduroy.  A soft felt hat, placed lightly on the back of his head, cast a streak of shadow over his brow.

As the neighbouring clock struck the half hour, he suddenly started from his reverie.  Perceiving that the white moonlight was shining full upon him, he gazed anxiously ahead.  Then he abruptly dived back into the shade, but was unable to recover the thread of his thoughts.  He now realised that his hands and feet were becoming very cold, and impatience seized hold of him.  So he jumped upon the stone again, and once more glanced over the Jas-Meiffren, which was still empty and silent.  Finally, at a loss how to employ his time, he jumped down, fetched his gun from the pile of planks where he had concealed it, and amused himself by working the trigger.  The weapon was a long, heavy carbine, which had doubtless belonged to some smuggler.  The thickness of the butt and the breech of the barrel showed it to be an old flintlock which had been altered into a percussion gun by some local gunsmith.  Such firearms are to be found in farmhouses, hanging against the wall over the chimney-piece.  The young man caressed his weapon with affection; twenty times or more he pulled the trigger, thrust his little finger into the barrel, and examined the butt attentively.  By degrees he grew full of youth enthusiasm, combined with childish frolicsomeness, and ended by levelling his weapon and aiming at space, like a recruit going through his drill.

It was now very nearly eight o’clock, and he had been holding his gun levelled for over a minute, when all at once a low, panting call, light as a breath, came from the direction of the Jas-Meiffren.

“Are you there, Silvere?” the voice asked.