There is a doleful silence in the air.

A rout this morning left Sir Walter’s hall,

That as they galloped made the echoes roar;

But horse and man are vanished, one and all;

Such race, I think, was never seen before.

Sir Walter, restless as a veering wind,

Calls to the few tired dogs that yet remain:

Brach, Swift, and Music, noblest of their kind,

Follow, and up the weary mountain strain.

The knight hallooed, he chid and cheered them on