Page:Traditional Tales of the English and Scottish Peasantry - 1887.djvu/211

Rh threw down an unbroken light—rendering visible mountain and headland and sea, so that I might count the pebbles and shells on the shore—the seven black shadows of men had not departed, and there appeared a space in the middle, like room measured out for an eighth. A strange terror came upon me, and I began to dread that this vision was sent for my warning; for, be assured, Heaven hath many and singular revelations for the welfare and instruction of man. I prayed, and, while I prayed, the seven shadows began to move—filling up the space prepared for another; then they waxed dimmer and dimmer, and then wholly vanished!

"I was much moved; and, deeming it the revelation of approaching sorrow, in which I was to be a sharer, it was past midnight before I could fall asleep. The sun had been some time risen when I was awakened by Simon Forester, who, coming to my bedside, said, 'Richard Faulder, arise, for young Lord William of Helvellyn Hall has launched his new barge on the Solway, and seven of the best and boldest mariners of Allanbay must bear him company to bring his fair bride from Preston Hall—even at the foot of the mountain Criffel; hasten and come, for he sails not, be sure, without Richard Faulder!'

"It was a gallant sight to see a shallop, with her halsers and sails of silk, covered with streamers, and damasked with gold, pushing gaily from the bay. It was gallant, too, to behold the lordly bridegroom, as he stood on the prow, looking towards his true-love's land; not heeding the shout and the song and the music swell with which his departure was hailed. It was gallant to see the maids and the matrons of Cumberland, standing in crowds, on headland and cliff, waving their white hands seaward, as we spread our sails to the wind, and shot away into the Solway, with our streamers dancing and fluttering like the mane of a steed as he gallops against the wind. Proud of our charge, and glorying in our skill, we made the good ship go through the surge as we willed; and every turn we made, and every time we wetted her silken sails, there came shout and trumpet-sound from the shore, applauding the seven merry mariners of Allanbay.

"Helvellyn Hall, of which there is now no stone standing, save an old sun-dial around which herdsmen gather at noon day to hear of old marvels of the Foresters, was an extensive mansion, built in the times when perils from the