end of it. My heart was beatin' quickly, and I
felt that a moment of great danger and excitement was at hand. Once I
dropped my club, and again from all round me the voices in the darkness
cried, 'Hush!' I put oot my hand, and it touched the foot of another man
lying in front of me. There was some one at my very elbow on either
side. But they said nothin'.

"Then we all began to move. The whole braeside seemed to be crawlin'
downwards. There was a river at the bottom and a high-arched wooden
bridge. Beyond the bridge were many lights--torches on a wall. The
creepin' men all flowed towards the bridge. There had been no sound of
any kind, just a velvet stillness. And then there was a cry in the
darkness, the cry of a man who had been stabbed suddenly to the hairt.
That one cry swelled out for a moment, and then the roar of a thoosand
furious voices. I was runnin'. Every one was runnin'. A bright red
light shone out, and the river was a scarlet streak. I could see my
companions now. They were more like devils than men, wild figures clad
in skins, with their hair and beards streamin'. They were all mad with
rage, jumpin' as they ran, their mouths open, their arms wavin', the red
light beatin' on their faces. I ran, too, and yelled out curses like the
rest. Then I heard a great cracklin' of wood, and I knew that the
palisades were doon. There was a loud whistlin' in my ears, and I was
aware that arrows were flyin' past me. I got to the bottom of a dyke,
and I saw a hand stretched doon from above. I took it, and was dragged
to the top. We looked doon, and there were silver men beneath us holdin'
up their spears. Some of our folk sprang on to the spears. Then we
others followed, and we killed the soldiers before they could draw the
spears oot again. They shouted loud in some foreign tongue, but no mercy
was shown them. We went ower them like a wave, and trampled them doon
into the mud, for they were few, and there was no end to our numbers.

"I found myself among buildings, and one of them was on fire. I saw the
flames spoutin' through the roof. I ran on, and then I was alone among
the buildings. Some one ran across in front o' me. It was a woman. I
caught her by the arm, and I took her chin and turned her face so as the
light of the fire would strike it. Whom think you that it was, Maggie?"

His wife moistened her dry lips. "It was I," she said.

He looked at her in surprise. "That's a good guess," said he. "Yes, it
was j