dri was his own evil uncle Roderic. He was accordingly much
concerned for her safety, and much troubled in his fear of what had
happened to her.

Suddenly, in the midst of his musing, someone passed him like a rush of
wind. In the dim evening light he saw Ailsa Redmain.

"Ailsa!" he cried, "where go you? Why do you thus come out here where
you know full well that none but men may come?"

"My lord," said she, "it is little Ronald Campbell that I seek, and his
sister Rachel. We cannot find them, and they have not been seen by
anyone since evensong. Methinks they must have crept under the gate and
so wandered into the grove."

"Are there no men who could seek the children as well as you? Go back,
Ailsa, and let me seek."

But as he spoke, he heard the sound of children's laughter from among
the birch trees, and, believing that Ailsa was turning back, he ran
forward towards the woods.

Now little Ronald Campbell was the same who had picked up Earl Kenric's
gauntlet on the day of his throning on the Great Plain.

Scarcely had Kenric entered the grove when the laughter he had heard was
changed into a scream of terror. Little Ronald, dragging his sister by
the hand, came running towards him, pursued by a score of savage
Norsemen. Kenric was about to snatch up the children in his arms when he
saw it was too late. The Norsemen were upon him. He gripped his sword
and stood his ground. At the same moment Ailsa Redmain brushed past him
and took the little Ronald by the hand. One of the men of Colonsay
darted forward, levelling his spear, and with its sharp point caught the
little Rachel. The child fell down, and the spear was but caught in her
woollen frock. In an instant Kenric had leapt forward, swinging his
sword in air. His heavy blade crashed into the man's skull. Then other
twenty men surrounded Kenric, menacing him and pressing forward to reach
the children he defended. A man of Colonsay caught Ailsa by her hand,
and with his dagger was about to take her life. With a great cry of
furious rage Kenric sprang upon him and felled him.

Closer still the Norsemen pressed in upon him. But Ailsa lay down at his
feet with the two little ones clasped tightly in her arms, protecting
them as a moor hen protects her chicks under the cover of her spreading
wings. Kenric, sweeping his blade from right to left, felled every man
who came within a couple of paces of Ailsa, until at last the yelling
warriors drew back, leaving the you