buttoning high upon his face, and his hat was unlooped and slouched,
probably by way of defence against the weather. His horse, a strong and
steady palfrey, was calculated for a rider who proposed to witness the
sport of the day rather than to share it. An attendant waited at some
distance, and the whole equipment was that of an elderly gentleman of
rank and fashion. He accosted Ravenswood very politely, but not without
some embarrassment.

"You seem a gallant young gentleman, sir," he said, "and yet appear as
indifferent to this brave sport as if you had my load of years on your
shoulders."

"I have followed the sport with more spirit on other occasions," replied
the Master; "at present, late events in my family must be my apology;
and besides," he added, "I was but indifferently mounted at the
beginning of the sport."

"I think," said the stranger, "one of my attendants had the sense to
accommodate your friend with a horse."

"I was much indebted to his politeness and yours," replied Ravenswood.
"My friend is Mr. Hayston of Bucklaw, whom I dare say you will be
sure to find in the thick of the keenest sportsmen. He will return
your servant's horse, and take my pony in exchange; and will add,"
he concluded, turning his horse's head from the stranger, "his best
acknowledgments to mine for the accommodation."

The Master of Ravenswood, having thus expressed himself, began to move
homeward, with the manner of one who has taken leave of his company.
But the stranger was not so to be shaken off. He turned his horse at the
same time, and rode in the same direction, so near to the Master that,
without outriding him, which the formal civility of the time, and
the respect due to the stranger's age and recent civility, would have
rendered improper, he could not easily escape from his company.

The stranger did not long remain silent. "This, then," he said, "is the
ancient Castle of Wolf's Crag, often mentioned in the Scottish records,"
looking to the old tower, then darkening under the influence of a stormy
cloud, that formed its background; for at the distance of a short mile,
the chase, having been circuitous, had brought the hunters nearly back
to the point which they had attained when Ravenswood and Bucklaw had set
forward to join them.

Ravenswood answered this observation with a cold and distant assent.
"It was, as I have heard," continued the stranger, unabashed by his
coldness, "one of the most early possessions