ng arm of Naoise and saw the
blue coast-line of Erin fading into nothingness.

In the bay of Aros, on the eastern shores of the island of Mull, they
found their first resting-place, but there they feared treachery from
a lord of Appin. For the starry eyes of Deirdre were swift to discern
evil that the eyes of the Sons of Usna could not see. Thus they fared
onward until they reached the great sea-loch of Etive, with hills
around it, and Ben Cruachan, its head in mist, towering above it like
a watchman placed there by Time, to wait and to watch over the people
of those silent hills and lonely glens until Time should give place to
his brother, Eternity.

Joy was in the hearts of the three Sons of Usna when they came back to
the home of their fathers. Usna was dead, but beyond the Falls of Lora
was still the great dun--the vitrified fort--which he had built for
himself and for those who should follow him.

For Deirdre then began a time of perfect happiness. Naoise was her
heart, but very dear to her also were the brothers of Naoise, and each
of the three vied with one another in their acts of tender and loving
service. Their thrice fifty vassals had no love for Alba, and rejoiced
when their lord, Naoise, allowed them to return to Erin, but the Sons
of Usna were glad to have none to come between them and their serving
of Deirdre, the queen of their hearts. Soon she came to know well each
little bay, each beach, and each little lonely glen of Loch Etive, for
the Sons of Usna did not always stay at the dun which had been their
father's, but went a-hunting up the loch. At various spots on the
shores of Etive they had camping places, and at Dail-an-eas[17] they
built for Deirdre a sunny bower.

On a sloping bank above the waterfall they built the little nest,
thatched with the royal fern of the mountains, the red clay of the
pools, and with soft feathers from the breasts of birds. There she
could sit and listen to the murmur and drip of the clear water over
the mossy boulders, the splash of the salmon in the dark pools, and
see the distant silver of the loch. When the summer sun was hot on the
bog myrtle and heather, the hum of the wild bees would lull her to
sleep, and in autumn, when the bracken grew red and golden and the
rowan berries grew red as Deirdre's lips, her keen eyes would see the
stags grazing high up among the grey boulders of the mist-crowned
mountains, and would warn the brothers of the sport awaiting them.