THE GOLD OF FAIRNILEE. 239.

 

CHAPTER II.

How Randal’s Father -Game Home.

ANDAL remembered his father’s going
A to fight the English, and how he came
AN back again. It was a windy August
evening when he went away: the rain

; had fallen since morning. Randal had
watched the white mists driven by the

gale down through the black pine-wood that
covers the hill opposite Fairnilee. The mist
looked like armies of ghosts, he thought,
marching, marching through the pines, with
their white flags flying and streaming. Then
the sun came out red at evening, and Randal’s
father rode away with all his men. He hada
helmet on his head, and a great axe hanging
from his neck by a chain, and a spear in his
hand. He was riding his big horse, Sir Hugh,
and he caught Randal up to the saddle and
kissed him many times before he clattered out
of the courtyard. All the tenants and men
about the farm rode with him, all with spears
and a flag embroidered with a crest in gold.
His mother watched them from the tower till
they were out of sight. And Randal saw them