PRINCE MORDGE. 255 



in a game of " Keen-come-a-lay." I don't know tww 

 how the game was played, but I do remember that 

 it was one I liked, and on that occasion it was deli- 

 cious. We did not heed the flight of time. Hour 

 followed hour, and no falling night came to warn us, 

 for in that sweet Shetland autumn the days were long 

 and the nights I never knew. I was asleep before 

 they drew near and awake long after the brief " dim " 

 had vanished before a sleepless sun. 



At last an old woman came out of a cottage and 

 said she thought our " folk wad be feared if the bairns 

 stayed longer." We asked the time. Half-past ten ! 

 and we had a mile to walk before reaching home ! 

 Consternation ! We ran off witH beating hearts and 

 nimble feet. 



Meanwhile the family had not thought of being 

 uneasy until about eight, when Slop suddenly started 

 off with the evident intention of going to find what 

 had detained us. This action on his part led others to 

 say that it was strange we had not returned. Nine 

 o'clock came, ten also, and we did not return ; no more 

 did Slop. Then our mother, mother-like, began to fear 

 that we had popped over the cliffs, or been tossed by 

 a bull, and as we neared home we met, one after another, 

 various members of the family who had been sent out 

 to search for The Pilgrims. Presently arrived Slop, 

 following on our track, panting, weary, but rejoiced to 

 find us safe. He had evidently gone to Mam Willa's 

 (afterwards we learned that he had come there and 

 spent some time in searching for us, and had finally 



