I looked at the stranger carefully becatlse Ihad never seen a Jacobite before. Many of thesemen were rebels from the Highlands. They hadfought against King George and his government.
Now Their lives were not safe in Scotland，and somehad joined the King of France’s army. Sometimesthese rebels came back to the Highlands to gathermoney for their chiefs.
I set food in front of him.
“You’re a J a cobite ，a re you？”I said.
“I am，”he said.“And you ，with your long fa c e ，a re a Whig ？”
I was，indeed，a good Whig，true to KingGeorge； but I did not want a quarrel with this man.
So I replied：“Ha lf - a nd - ha lf.”
“And tha t’s nothing，”he said.“We ll，Mr Ha lf-a nd -ha lf，this bottle is empty.”
我把那位陌生人仔細打量了一番，因為我從來沒有見過約各黨人。
他們中有許多人是原籍蘇格蘭高地的叛逆者，曾用武力反對過喬治國王及其政府。他們在蘇格蘭隨時都有送命的危險，所以有些人參加了法國國王的軍隊。這些叛逆者有時返回高地，為他們的首領籌款。
我把飯菜放在他麵前後，問道：
“你是約各黨人，是嗎？”
他說：“是。那麼你呢，瞧你哭喪著臉這副樣子，你是個輝格黨人吧？”
我確實是個不折不扣的輝格黨人，對喬治國王忠心耿耿。但是，我不想跟他爭論，所以就回答說，“我是個中間派。”
“那沒關係。不過，中間派先生，這個酒瓶是空的。”他說。
“I’ll go for the ke y，s ir，”I said. I went on deck.
“我去取鑰匙，先生。”我說完
The fog was still very thick. I could not seeanyone，but I heard voices. The captain and the twoofficers were whispering.
“Ca n we ge t him out of the round - ho us e ？”MrRiach asked.
“No. Le t him s ta y the re ，”the captain said.“Hec a n’t us e his s word in tha t sma ll s pa ce .”
“Ye s ，but ca n we re a ch him in the re ？”
“Oh，”Hoseason said，“we mus t s ta rt a c onve rsa tion with him，one on e a ch s ide . The n we ca n s e izehis a rms ，a nd ma ke him priso ne r. Or we c a n a tta ck byboth the d oors a nd surpris e him.”
I was filled with fear when I heard these cruel，evil men. Had not the captain just made a promiseto the stranger？Now he was planning this dirtytrick. I was angry but what could I do？Run away？
No. I moved forward.
“Ca pta in ，” I said，“the ge ntlema n wa nts adrink. Ma y I ha ve the ke y？”
“He re is o ur cha nc e ！”Riach cried.“Da vid ca nge t the pis tols for us .”