'Up again—on foot, and he runs like a sow possessed by a devil towards the Craig-na-tuirc, with the fire rolling at his heels,' said Callum, rubbing his hands in fierce glee.
'Fire behind and a precipice in front.'
'Dioul—we are giving him claw for claw at last!'
'But we must save him, Callum—he will be scorched to death or dashed to pieces.'
A fierce laugh was his only reply. While all this passed in less time than I have taken to record it, we dashed along the stony ravine, guided by the rivulet, and though half-blinded by smoke, reached the Ora, which was there overhung by the Craig-na-tuirc. At that moment a wild and despairing cry for succour rang in the air above us.
'Ay, bay to the moon, false wolf—but there are few ears now in Glen Ora to hear you!' growled Callum through his thick, rough beard, as we began rapidly to clamber up the brow of the precipice, the summit of which was shrouded by smoke, and streaked with fire like the crater of a volcano.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE UISC DHU.
Hawks, gleds, and eagles, with a hundred birds of other kinds, whose nests had been destroyed, were screaming, as if in anger or surprise, and flapping their wings about us, in the mid and murky air, as we clambered up, and thrice the wild cry of the despairing wretch tingled in my ears, before we reached the summit, after a half-hour of arduous exertion.
There, on the giddy verge, a strange sight awaited us.