'
"And a flood of light, but not so gross as a common fire, which ascended
to heaven and filled all the court before the house, amply justified
the good wife's suspicions. But to the terrors of fire, Sandie was as
immovable as he was to the imaginary groans of the barren wife of Laird
Laurie; and he held his wife, and threatened the weight of his right
hand--and it was a heavy one--to all who ventured abroad, or even
unbolted the door. The neighing and prancing of horses, and the
bellowing of cows, augmented the horrors of the night; and to anyone
who only heard the din, it seemed that the whole onstead was in a blaze,
and horses and cattle perishing in the flame. All wiles, common or
extraordinary, were put in practice to entice or force the honest
farmer and his wife to open the door; and when the like success attended
every new stratagem, silence for a little while ensued, and a long,
loud, and shrilling laugh wound up the dramatic efforts of the night.
In the morning, when Laird Macharg went to the door, he found standing
against one of the pilasters a piece of black ship oak, rudely fashioned
into something like human form, and which skilful people declared would
have been clothed with seeming flesh and blood, and palmed upon him
by elfin adroitness for his wife, had he admitted his visitants.
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