The Doomed Rider - Page 2

they saw a man on horseback come spurring down the hill in hot haste,
making straight for the fause ford. They could then understand her words
at ance; an' four o' the stoutest o' them sprang oot frae amang the corn
to warn him o' his danger, an' keep him back. An' sae they tauld him
what they had seen an' heard, an' urged him either to turn back an' tak'
anither road, or stay for an hour or sae where he was. But he just wadna
hear them, for he was baith unbelieving an' in haste, an' wauld hae taen
the ford for a' they could say, hadna the Highlanders, determined on
saving him whether he would or no, gathered round him an' pulled him frae
his horse, an' then, to mak' sure o' him, locked him up in the auld kirk.
Weel, when the hour had gone by--the fatal hour o' the kelpie--they flung
open the door, an' cried to him that he might noo gang on his journey.
Ah! but there was nae answer, though; an' sae they cried a second time,
an' there was nae answer still; an' then they went in, an' found him
lying stiff an' cauld on the floor, wi' his face buried in the water o'
the very stone trough that we may still see amang the ruins. His hour
had come, an' he had fallen in a fit, as 'twould seem, head-foremost
amang the water o' the trough, where he had been smothered,--an' sae ye
see, the prophecy o' the kelpie availed naething."