496 The Borderer's Leap. 



he was a young man, of a strong, athletic make : in his right hand was a 

 sword covered with blood, which the mid-day sun had baked into a brown 

 crust on the blade ; and in his left he held a costly handkerchief, such as 

 was at that time worn on holiday occasions by females of wealth or rank. 

 He was dressed more like a chambering gallant than a rough warrior, who 

 seeks the brown heath with the naked brand ; but the disorder of his 

 apparel, which was torn and daubed with the marks of mortal strife his 

 long hair, hanging in clotted heaps on his half-naked shoulders and his 

 wild and ghastly aspect, where fury, horror, and despair were written in 

 mingled characters seemed yet fitter for the lonely heath than the festive 

 hall. When he saw his enemy fall down by the side of the stream, a low 

 but deep cry broke from his lips, resembling half the shout of the tired 

 forester, when the stag who has held him to bay sinks powerless at his feet, 

 and half the greedy and savage howl of the*wolf-dog over the quivering 

 carcass of his quarry. The Raven of Drumscliff smiled scornfully as the 

 sound broke on his ear through the distance ; but when his pursuer came 

 within a space when farther delay might have been dangerous, he plunged 

 his head into the cool stream, tore open his dress, and splashed the invi- 

 gorating element over his bosom ; then springing upon his feet, threw back 

 his hair over his forehead, shook his limbs, and returning the premature 

 cry of triumph by a shrill yell of defiance, began to ascend the sides of the 

 mountain, and speedily disappeared among the rocks. The bridegroom, 

 with his black lips and burning forehead, rushed past the stream without 

 wasting even a look on its reviving waters. Guided either by a previous 

 knowledge of the outlaw's haunts, or by an instinct similar to that which 

 leads the bloodhound to his unseen prey, he threaded the maze of rocks 

 with undeviating accuracy ; till at length the sound of his enemy's feet 

 the crashing of the branches that were laid hold of to assist his ascent- 

 and, finally, the rushing of stones and fragments of earth, dislodged by his 

 feet, down the steep path, convinced him that he gained upon the object 

 of his pursuit, and that a few more efforts of his strong and youthful 

 limbs would place the fell destroyer before his eyes. In the meantime the 

 outlaw, avoiding the steep breast of the mountain, turned short into a rocky 

 pass which cuts through the ridge, and which, although dry at that time, 

 in winter forms the bed of a torrent. In a few minutes more, he found 

 himself within sight of a place that, on former occasions of as great need, 

 had stood him in lieu of friends and fortress ; and, with renewed energy, 

 he rushed down the steep declivity, which forms the east side of the 

 mountain he had ascended by the west, and leads direct to a singularly 

 situated rock, even at that time known by the name of the Raven's Tower. 

 On this side, the mountain sweeps down for more than half way in a 

 tolerably smooth declivity but then stops suddenly short, and with fright- 

 ful abruptness descends, in an almost perpendicular manner, for the remain- 

 ing space of nearly a hundred and fifty feet. Its rugged and projecting 

 points overhang the turbulent river below in a manner which precludes the 

 possibility of a man's descending alive ; and, although a fordable part of 

 the stream lies immediately under, the traveller is thus obliged to make a 

 circuit of some miles before reaching it. Tne rock we have mentioned, 

 although seeming at a little distance to form a part of the steep only pro- 

 jecting in a bolder manner than the rest, and surmounted by a capitol 

 resembling slightly the battlements of a fortress yet, on nearer approach, 

 is discovered to bo, in reality, quite distinct and separate from the mass of 

 mountain. It raises its gigantic form from the bosom of the dark waters 

 below at a distance of a good many feet from the wain land ; but, in the 



