succeeded by a
snatch from that lament of woe wrung forth by the fatal field of
Flodden, and the company dispersed. The horse's hoofs of the single
stranger of the evening rung on the causeway, as he made for the smooth
sands of the bay, the lights one by one leaping out, and the pale moon
remaining mistress of Earlscraig as when the warder on yon tower peered
out over the waters for the boats of the savage Irish kern, or lit the
bale-fire that summoned Montgomery and Muir to ride and run for the love
or the fear of Boswell of Earlscraig.

Had these old-world times returned by magic? had a crazed serving-man
revived the vanished duties of his warlike predecessor? was the wraith
of seneschal or man-at-arms conjuring up a ghostly beacon to stream into
the soft air? was an evil spirit about to bewilder and mislead a fated
ship to meet its doom on the jagged rocks beneath the dead calm of that
glassy sea? So dense was the vapour that suddenly gathered over
Earlscraig, till like an electric flash, a jet of flame sprang from a
high casement and lit up the gathering obscurity. No horn blew, no bugle
sounded, no tramp of horse or hurrying feet broke the silence; the house
lay in profound rest, and the sleepers slept on, though truly that was
no phantom glare, no marsh gleam, but the near presence of an awful foe.

And the smoke burst forth in thicker, more suffocating volume; the red
streamers shot up again and again, and the burning embers fell like
thickest swarms of fire-flies, before a single hasty step roused an echo
already lost in the roar and crackle of fire. A scared, half-dressed
servant ran out into the court, flung up his hands as he looked around
him, then hurried back, and suddenly the great bell pealed out its
faithful alarum. "Good folk, good folk, danger is at the door! For
Jesu's sake and your dear lives, up and flee! The angels hold out their
hands, Sodom is around you--away, away!"

The summons was not in vain. Within a few seconds clamorous outcries,
shrieks of dismay, the dashing open of doors and windows, answered the
proclamation. A horror-struck crowd assembled rapidly in the court; but
notwithstanding that the Abbe's wan face and shaven crown appeared
speedily, and the soldier shouted, "Who is in danger? _mes camarades,
suivez-moi!_" the philosopher instinctively elected himself commander;
he rose, tall and erect, over the heads of his fellows; his face flushed
and brightened; and he spoke words of