ed), and darted wildly from the church. What a scene met his
gaze! All the buildings within the ballium, with the sole exception of
the church, were in one vivid blaze of fire; the old dry wood and thatch
of which they were composed, kindling with a mere spark. The wind blew
the flames in the direction of the principal wall, which was already
ignited from the heaps of combustibles that had been raised within for
the purpose; although it was likely that, from its extreme thickness and
strength, the fire had there done but partial evil, had not the
conflagration within the court spread faster and nearer every moment,
and from the blazing rafters and large masses of thatch caught by the
wind and hurled on the very wall, done greater and more irreparable
mischief than the combustibles themselves. Up, up, seeming to the very
heavens, the lurid flames ascended, blazing and roaring, and lighting
the whole scene as with the glare of day. Fantastic wreaths of red fire
danced in the air against the pitchy blackness of the heavens, rising
and falling in such graceful, yet terrible shapes, that the very eye
felt riveted in admiration, while the heart quailed with horror.
Backwards and forwards gleamed the forms of men in the dusky glare; and
oaths and cries, and the clang of swords, and the shrieks of women,
terrified by the destruction they had not a little assisted to
ignite--the sudden rush of horses bursting from their stables, and
flying here and there, scared by the unusual sight and horrid
sounds--the hissing streams of water which, thrown from huge buckets on
the flames, seemed but to excite them to greater fury instead of
lessening their devouring way--the crackling of straw and wood, as of
the roar of a hundred furnaces--these were the varied sounds and sights
that burst upon the eye and ear of Nigel, as, richly attired as he was,
his drawn sword in his hand, his fair hair thrown back from his
uncovered brow and head, he stood in the very centre of the scene. One
glance sufficed to perceive that the rage of the men-at-arms was turned
on their treacherous countrymen; that the work of war raged even
then--the swords of Scotsmen were raised against each other. Even women
fell in that fierce slaughter, for the demon of revenge was at work, and
sought but blood. In vain the holy abbot, heedless that one sudden gust
and his flowing garments must inevitably catch fire, uplifted his
crosier, and called on them to forbear. In vain t