THE GOLD OF FAIRNILEE. 273

 

“The good folk have taken ma bairn,” she
said, ‘‘this nicht o’ a’ the nichts.in the year,
when the fairy folk—preserve us frae them !—
have power. But they could nae take the
blessed rood o’ grace; it was beyond their
strength. If gipsies, or robber folk frae the
Debatable Land, had carried away the bairn,
they would hae taken him, cross anda’. But
the guid folk have gotten him, and Randal
Ker will never, never mair come hame to
bonny Fairnilee.”

What the old nurse said was what everybody
thought. Even Simon Grieve shook his head,
and did not like it.

But Lady Ker did not give up hope. She
sent horsemen through all the country-side:
up Tweed to the Crook, and to Talla; up
Yarrow, past Catslack Tower, and on to the
Loch of Saint Mary; up Ettrick to Thirlestane
and Buccleugh, and over to Gala, and to
‘Branxholme in Teviotdale; and even to Her-
mitage Castle, far away by Liddel water.

They rode far and rode fast, and at every
cottage and every tower they asked “ had any-
one seen a boy in green?” But nobody had°
seen Randal through all the country - side.
Only a shepherd lad, on Foulshiels hill, had
heard bells ringing in the night, and a sound
of laughter go past him, like a breeze of wind
over the heather.

Days went by, and all the country was out