beseech you; run and tell my lord Kenric
that the Norsemen with their hosts have landed on Gigha, and have
wrested the island from us. They tried to torture me to death, but I
escaped to tell my master of this calamity --"

Then Aasta questioned him; but her words fell upon the ears of the dead;
so she arose.

The swift-footed hart runs not more swiftly than Aasta ran that day
across Bute. She found Kenric lounging on the little pier and throwing
pebbles one by one into the green water. Near him were some fishermen
unloading their herring boat.

"My lord," said she, scarcely showing by her easy breathing that she had
run the distance of four miles -- "my lord, I have ill news to tell."

Kenric looked round at the tall fair maiden. She was radiant with the
beauty of strength. Her long red hair streamed in the breeze, and her
rosy cheeks glowed with the healthy blood that coursed under her smooth
clear skin. Her eyes were limpid as the summer sky.

"What news may that be, Aasta?" asked the young king.

"It is," said she, "that your isle of Gigha has been invaded and
conquered by the Norsemen, and that your kinsman William MacAlpin has
but now given up his life in telling me the tale."

Kenric stood in troubled thought, a cloud upon his brow.

"Where is Lulach?" he presently asked.

"Over at Inch Marnock," she said, "and ill with his foot that he hurt in
climbing the rocks two days since. He cannot walk but with pain, or I
might have sent him to you."

"That is most unfortunate," said Kenric, "for saving Lulach and myself
there is none in the island who can speak the Norse tongue. I would have
sent him to Gigha to learn the truth of this you tell, and to discover
if there be further danger."

"You forget, my lord, that it was I who taught Lulach the Norse tongue,"
said Aasta. "And cannot I do this mission as well as he? Give me your
bidding, my lord, and though I die in fulfilling it, yet will I deem my
life a small sacrifice if it be that I can serve you."

Then Kenric's eyes lighted up, and he looked admiringly upon the
fearless girl.

"Aasta," said he, "I will take your service, and I will even go with you
to Gigha this very day. Meet me at St. Ninian's two hours before sunset.
Have ready a fishing coracle with some fish, and dress you as a fisher
maid. These are my orders. Go."

At sunset that evening a little boat, paddled by a stalwart young man in
the rough habit of a fisher, was crossing the waters