{149b} He said the voice answered him as if it had been some distance without the door. {150} Besides the length of time since the murder was committed, there is another reason why all the bones were not found, viz., that there is a little burn or brook which had run for the space of twenty years, at least, across upon the place when the bones were found, and would have carried them all away had it not been that the bush, at the side of which they were buried, had turned the force of the stream a little from off that place where they lay, for they were not more than a foot, or at most a foot and a half, under ground, and it is only within these three years that a water-spate has altered the course of the burn. {151} The course of the river (the Ericht) is from north to south. Middle Mause lies on the west side of it, and Craighall on the east. {155a} With reference to the last statement in Mr. Newton's notes see the Journal of Sir Walter Scott (edit., 1891, p. 210) under date 13th June, 1826. {155b} L'Homme Posthume. {155c} Denny's Folklore of China. {156} Story received in a letter from Lieutenant --- of H.