Evening star., 1898-12-17
CHAPTER XXNVII.
The MackiIns Come IN v'hriex


its rider into the purple twilight of
the woods which barred the way to
the sea. Then, with a violent effort of WILL
he recalled himself and looked about for
MS morse. The tired animal was gently
cropping the lush dewy herbage on the
green slope which led downward to his ma
tive cottage. Sholto took the gray by the
bride and walked toward his mothers door
pioneering on the last words of the Lady
Syollla. voice at once strenuous and IA
miilar broke upon his ear
Shoo WI you, impident randes that ye
are shoo! Saw l ever the like aboot ony
decent hoose? Thae hens will drive me oot
my mind: Sholto, lad what's wrang?
father
its worse than that, mither mine"
no the earl-surely no the earl himsel-
me lauoie that hae nursed, the laddie that
SON." ~ --N- %'-i
~, Mother, its the earl and David. too.
They are dead, BETRAYED into the hands of
slain,' N''
Then the keening cry smote the air as
barbara Mackim sank on her knees and
llfted up her hands TO heaven
On, the bonny laddies-the two bonny,
b"hny iaddies! Mair than my ain BARNS |
loved them When their ain mother wasna
Iu!t 1pie ior mortal weakness to rear them.
Wiilam Douglas drew his life frae me
Nhat for Sholto are ye standin' there to
tell the tale? What for couldna We hae
ared vi him? Ae mither's milk sIockentd
= paith; Inc same arms Graded We. |
baCe We keep your lord safe wi your BODY
ana your :oui. And there We daur to stand
. ohiii-haie ana bane unbroken before your
i4lltieI, Get hence-ye are nae son O. Bar
rafa Machim Let me never look on your
Iace again, gin ye bringna back the pride
the Warld,. the gladness o the auld with
cred heart o her ye ca your rnitherr'
Mother said Sholto, my lord was not
utaa When left him-he sent me to raise
the country to his rescue"
And what for are ye standir' Ch@re c1sv-
ering, and your lord in danger among his
1oes? cried his mother angrily.
Dear mother, l have something more
Aye, ken. ye medina break the news.
1t is that Malise my man is dead-that
Laurence wha ran frae the Abbey to
gang WI him to the wars is nae mair
AWeel, they are worthiIy spent. since they
died for their chief Ye say that We were
sent to raise the clan-then what seek We
at the Carlinwark? To Thrieve, man, to
IhrleVe, as hard as ye can rider
- Mother, said Sholto, still more gently,
heafken but moment. Thirty thousand
men are on their way to Edinburgh Three
days and nights have 4 ridden without
sleep. Dougasdale is awake The Upper
Ward Is already at the gates of the city.
10 "A man, Galloway is on the march. The
border is all afiame. But it is all too late.
have had news of the end. Before ever a
man could reach within miles, the fatal AK
mad fallen, and my lords, for whom each
one OF US would gladly have died with
smiles upon our faces, lay headless in the
courtyard of Edinburgh castle"
And If the laddies were alive when ye
rode ava, wha brocht the news afore my
SholtO could ride-tell me that?'
Il came not directly to Galloway mother
First | raised the west from Strathaven to
Ayr. Then l carried the news to Dumfries
and the borderside. But today L have
seen the Lady Sybilla on her way to take
ship for France. From her | heard the
news that all had done was too late
THAT foreigneerin' randy, Wad We be-
lieve the like o her? Yon woman that
they named queen o beauty at the tour
nay by the Fords O. Lachar-Certes. /
wadna believe her on oath, no if she swore
on the blessed banes O Sanct andre him
SCI. To the castle, man, or I'll kilt my
coats and be there afore ye to shame yer
Il 60 mother" said Sholto, trying vain
ly to stem the torrent of denunciation
which poured upon him. Il came only
to see that all was well with you"
And what for should a be weel wi me?
What can be i'll wi me if it be not to gang
on leevin' when the noblest young men
in the warld-the lads that was sucked
at my bosom-lies cauld in the clay. Ava
wi ye, Sholto Mackim and come ma back
till we hae roWed every traitor in the same
| bloody wiudin' sheett'
The foster mother of the Douglases sank
on the ground in the dusk. leaning against
the wall of her house. She held her face
in her hands and sobbed aloud: "Oh, Willie
Willie Douglas mair than ony O. my ain l
loed ye. Bonnie We're ye as BARN. Bon
ME were ye a laddie. Bonnie abune a
as noble young man and the desire O.
maidens cen. But name o them a ioed
ye like poor auld Barbara, that wad hae
glen her life to pleasure ye. And moo she
Gamma even steek thae black black cen,
nor wind the corps-claith aboot your come
ly limbs-sae straight and bonny as they
were! | hae straikit and kissed sac oft and
OFT. Oh, Waes me-Waes mel What will !
do without my bonny laddies.'
1t was with the sound of his mothers
lament still in his ears that Sholto rode
sadly away over the hill to Thrieve, The
way IS short and easy, and it was not
long before the captain of the guard look
ed down upon the lights of the castle geam-
ing through the gathering gloom. But in
stead of being, as was its wont, lighted
from highest battlement to thanking tower,
only one or two lamps were to be seen Shin
ing out of that vast cliff of masonry
But, on the .other hand, lights were to
been seen wandering this way and that over
the long Isle of ThrieVe, following the out
lines Of the winding shores, shining from
the sterns of boats out on the pools of the
Dee water, weaving intricately this way
and that among the broomy braes on
either side of the ford, and even streaming
out across the water meadows of Balma-
ghie.
Sholto was so full of his own sorrow and
the certain truth of the terrible news he
must bring TO the lady of Douglas and
those two whom he loved, Maud Lindsay
and her fair maid, that he paid little heed
to these wandering lanterns and distant
flaring torches.
He was pausing at the bridge head to
walt the lowering of The draw chain, when
out of the covert above him there dashed
desperate horseman, who stayed neither for
bridge nor ford, but dashed straight at the
eastern castle pool, where it was deepest.
To the stirrup chung another figure stI&,nge
and terrible, seen in the uncertain light
from the gate house, and the beams of the
rising moon.
The drawbrdge clattered down. and, send
ing his spurs home into the f1anks of his
tired steed, in moment more Sholto was
hard upon the track of the first headlong
horseman. Scarce a length separated them
as they reached the outer guard of the
castle. Abreast they refined their horses in
the quadrangle, and in moment Shoto
had recognized in the rider his brother Lau-
renee, pale as death, and in the figure that
had clung to the stirrup as the horse took
the water his father, Maise MacKim.
Thus in one moment came the three Mac
Kims to the doorstep of Thrieve.
The clatter and cry of their arrival
brought pour of torches from every side
of tba iSla and ont from within tho S+io