God speed, belovedst, I hear the trumpet
blow, and the horses trampling."
For out on the green before the castle the Earl's guard was mustering,
and Fergus MacCulloch, the Earl's trumpeter, blew an impatient blast.
It seemed to speak to this effect:
_"Hasten ye, hasten ye, come to the riding,
Hasten ye, hasten ye, lads of the Dee--
Douglasdale come, come Galloway, Annandale,
Galloway blades are the best of the three!"_
Sholto held out his arms at the first burst of the stirring sound, and
the girl, all her wayward pride falling from her in a moment, came
straight into them.
"Good-by, my sweetheart," he said, stooping to kiss the lips that now
said him not nay, but which quivered pitifully as he touched them,
"God knows whether these eyes shall rest again on the desire of my
heart."
Maud looked into his face steadily and searchingly.
"You are sure you will not forget me, Sholto?" she said; "you will
love me as much to-morrow when you are far away, and think me as fair
as you do when you hold me thus in your arms upon the battlements of
Thrieve?"
Before Sholto had time to answer, the trumpet rang out again, with a
call more instant and imperious than before.
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