THE LINKS OF WOLF'S HOPE.

"Who thundering comes on blackest steed,
With slackened bit, and hoof of speed?
The foam that streaks the courser's side,
Seems gathered from the ocean tide.
Though weary waves are sunk to rest,

There's none within his rider's breast;

The rock is doubled, but the shore

Shakes with the clattering tramp no more."

BYRON.

own.

[Tales of my Landlord, (3d series,) Bride of Lammermoor, Vol. II. pp. 367-368,

"Caleb hastened to the eastern battlement, whence he could easily see his master riding towards the sands as fast as his horse could carry him. The prophecy at once rushed on his mind, that the lord of Ravenswood should perish on the Kelpie's Flow, which lay betwixt the tower and the links, to the northward of Wolf's Hope. He saw him accordingly reach the fatal spot, but he never saw him pass further. Colonel Ashton, frantic for revenge, was already in the field, pacing the turf with eagerness, and looking with impatience towards the tower for the arrival of his antagonist. The sun had now risen, and showed its broad disk above the eastern sea, so that he could easily discern the horseman that rode towards him with speed which argued impatience equal to his At once the figure became invisible, as if it had melted into the air. He rubbed his eyes as if he had witnessed an apparition, and then hastened to the spot, near which he was met by Caleb Balderstone, who came from an opposite direction. No trace whatever of horse or rider could be discerned; it only appeared that the late winds and high tides had greatly extended the usual bounds of the quicksands, and that the unfortunate horseman, as appeared from the hoof-tracks, in his precipitated haste, had not attended to keep on the firm sands at the foot of the rock, but had taken the shortest and most dangerous course. One only vestige of his fate appeared: a large sable feather had been detached from his hat, and the rippling waves of the rising tide wafted it to Caleb's feet. The old man took it up, dried it, and placed it in his bosom.

"The inhabitants of Wolf's Hope were now alarmed, and crowded to the place; but their search availed nothing. The tenacious depths of the quicksand retained its prey."