ted to
the spot, until presently the footsteps of the herdsman broke the spell.
Then Ludar said:

"That is the Banshee. It means that in this business a McDonnell of us
will fall. Heaven help us!"

Then, scornfully throwing off the fear which for a moment had seemed to
overtake him, he resolutely snatched the torch from the man's hand and
plunged it into the pile.

We stood and watched the fire, as first it crackled amidst the under-
layer of twigs and dry heather, then caught the branches above, and
finally shot up in a grand tall column of flame skyward, showering high
its sparks, and casting a fierce glow far and wide over land and sea.

'Twas a strange, a wondrous sight; yet, as I looked, the midnight fire
itself was not so strange as the sight of Ludar standing there, noble,
huge and motionless, illumined by the strong light, gazing out with
shaded eyes into the far distance. To me it seemed like a scene in some
weird play of which I forgot that I was myself an actor.

But as soon as the flame, bursting forth with a great roar, reddened the
sky overhead, Ludar drew me to a little distance, and pointed seaward.
Then I perceived, suddenly, on our right a twinkle of light which
presently increased to a lurid flame. At the same instant on the left
appeared a like fire, which in turn was taken up one by one from
headland to headland, till the whole coast from Cushindun to Ramore was
ablaze; even on the far distant Donegal headlands there glimmered a
responsive signal. A wondrous sight indeed, with the Atlantic almost at
our feet, reflecting angrily back the glare of the fire, and traversed
by paths of light each seeming less fierce as the distance increased,
until from the remotest there travelled but a tiny streak. Above, the
sky still more fiercely carried the red signal; while from their rocks
swooped up the great army of sea-birds and flew crying out to sea.

Thither my two comrades still eagerly gazed. Though scarce five minutes
had passed since the first flame shot aloft, the impatience of the
herdsman became extreme, and he muttered angrily through his clenched
teeth as he strained his eyes into the irresponsive darkness.

"Altacarry!" exclaimed he at length, when presently, on the point of
Raughlin, a light shot up.

"And Cantire!" he added, when, later, the eagerly looked for light on
the Scottish mainland broke aloft and mingled its glare with that of the
Antrim fires.

Then, at last, Ludar r