stillness. And then there was a cry in the
darkness, the cry of a man who has been stabbed suddenly to the hairt.
That one cry swelled out for a moment, and then the roar of a thoosand
furious voices. I was runnin'. Every one was runnin'. A bright red light
shone out, and the river was a scarlet streak. I could see my companions
now. They were more like devils than men, wild figures clad in skins,
with their hair and beards streamin'. They were all mad with rage,
jumpin' as they ran, their mouths open, their arms wavin', the red light
beatin' on their faces. I ran, too, and yelled out curses like the rest.
Then I heard a great cracklin' of wood, and I knew that the palisades
were doon. There was a loud whistlin' in my ears, and I was aware that
arrows were flyin' past me. I got to the bottom of a dyke, and I saw a
hand stretched doon from above. I took it, and was dragged to the top.
We looked doon, and there were silver men beneath us holdin' up their
spears. Some of our folk sprang on to the spears. Then we others
followed, and we killed the soldiers before they could draw the spears
oot again. They shouted loud in some foreign tongue, but no mercy was
shown them. We went ower them like a wave, and trampled them doon into
the mud, for they were few, and there was no end to our numbers.

"I found myself among buildings, and one of them was on fire. I saw the
flames spoutin' through the roof. I ran on, and then I was alone among
the buildings. Some one ran across in front o' me. It was a woman. I
caught her by the arm, and I took her chin and turned her face so as the
light of the fire would strike it. Whom think you that it was, Maggie?"

His wife moistened her dry lips. "It was I," she said.

He looked at her in surprise. "That's a good guess," said he. "Yes,
it was just you. Not merely like you, you understand. It was you--you
yourself. I saw the same soul in your frightened eyes. You looked white
and bonny and wonderful in the firelight. I had just one thought in my
head--to get you awa' with me; to keep you all to mysel' in my own home
somewhere beyond the hills. You clawed at my face with your nails. I
heaved you over my shoulder, and I tried to find a way oot of the light
of the burning hoose and back into the darkness.

"Then came the thing that I mind best of all. You're ill, Maggie. Shall
I stop? My God! You nave the very look on your face that you had last
night in my dream. You screamed. He came runnin' i