THE GOLD OF FAIRNILEE. 307

 

He was much disappointed.

It had seemed as if he was really coming to
something, and, behold, it was only an old
stone coffin |

However, he worked on till he had cleared
the whole of the stone coffin-lid. It was a very
large stone chest, and must have been made,
Randal thought, for the body of a very big
man.

With the point of his pickaxe he raised the
lid.

In the moonlight he saw something of a
strange shape.

He put down his hand, and pulled it out.

It was an image, in metal, about a foot high,
and represented a beautiful woman, with wings.
on her shoulders, sitting on a wheel.

Randal had never seen an image like this;
but in an old book, which belonged to the
Monks of Melrose, he had seen, when he was.
a boy, a picture of such a woman.

The Monks had told him that she was
Fortune, with her swift wings that carry her
from one person to another, as luck changes,
and with her whéel that she turns with the
turning of chance in the world.

The image was very heavy. Randal rubbed
some of the dirt and red clay off, and found
that the metal was yellow. He cut it with his.
knife ; it was soft. He cleaned a piece, which
shone bright and unrusted in the moonlight,