careful. And she had need to be; for the creature never made any
noise, but came up as quiet as a shadow. One afternoon, however, she
had gone to meet her lover a little way down the glen; and they
stopped talking so long, about one thing and another, that the sun was
almost set before she bethought herself. She said good-night at once,
and ran for home. Now she could not reach home without passing the
pot, and just as she passed the pot, she saw the last sparkle of the
sun as he went down."

"I should think she ran!" remarked our mouthpiece, Allister.

"She did run," said Kirsty, "and had just got past the awful black
pot, which was terrible enough day or night without such a beast in
it, when--"

"But there _was_ the beast in it," said Allister.

"When," Kirsty went on without heeding him, "she heard a great _whish_
of water behind her. That was the water tumbling off the beast's back
as he came up from the bottom. If she ran before, she flew now. And
the worst of it was that she couldn't hear him behind her, so as to
tell whereabouts he was. He might be just opening his mouth to take
her every moment. At last she reached the door, which her father, who
had gone out to look for her, had set wide open that she might run in
at once; but all the breath was out of her body, and she fell down
flat just as she got inside."

[Illustration]

Here Allister jumped from his seat, clapping his hands and crying--