part with Erland the Old and Sweyn the Silent,
bidding them not wait for their weapons, but to slip away out of the
crowd and get them to their ship, and so away to their island homes.

"Our project has so far failed," said he; "but be assured that I shall
yet gain the lordship over Bute. They have made me an outlaw, and I fear
me that Redmain will most surely communicate this whole matter to the
King of Scots. Well, be it so; we shall see what Alexander can do.
Methinks it will not be long that he will hold his own against us. When
these three years of my outlawry are over you shall see such things as
will surprise you. Farewell, good Erland, and you, dear Sweyn! Hold you
both fast by King Hakon. That is our highest game; and so we serve him
well there is no fear but we will reap a good harvest of power."

"God grant it may be so!" said Erland; "for if his Majesty of Norway
fail in conquering Scotland, then are we all lost men. Farewell, then!"

When Sir Oscar Redmain had left the seat of justice his daughter Ailsa
crept within the circle of the court, and there she found Kenric.

"As I came hither," she said, "I saw Elspeth Blackfell; and she bade me
ask you, Kenric, if what she spake had aught of sooth in it?"

"Ah," said Kenric, "right truly did she tell what was to befall. For
even as it was with your nest of ouzels, Ailsa, so has it been with the
castle of Rothesay. This man Roderic, is he not even as the stoat that
harried the nest?"

"Even so," said Ailsa. "But the stoat also slew the fledgling as well as
the parent bird. Elspeth, when she heard that the good Earl Hamish had
been so cruelly slain, looked grave, and, said she, 'Hasten, Ailsa, to
the sons of Rothesay and bid them still be wary of this man. Not until
he is dead will all danger from him be past.' Those were her words,
Kenric; and lest there should be truth in them I have come to you as
speedily as I might. Alpin is about to engage in mortal combat. Bid him
be wary, bid him arm himself well; for I heard one of the shepherds say
that Roderic is clothed in a shirt of iron network, and that if it had
not been so the knife wherewith Alpin smote him would have slain him
where he stood."

"Ailsa," said Kenric, "much do I fear me that there is ample need of
this warning. Help me, I beseech you. Run to the castle and bid Duncan
not fail to bring my brother's coat of mail."

Then Ailsa disappeared and like a lapwing ran across the moorland.

Not long