"Listen." It came again, rising almost to a shriek, and sinking again into a sigh.
Once more I looked at Ludar; and once more, with pale face, he motioned me to hold my peace and listen.
A third time the sound came, like a snatch of some mad song, ending in a sob.

After it, you could almost feel the silence.

We stood rooted to the spot, until presently the footsteps of the herdsman broke the spell.
Then Ludar said: "That is the Banshee.

It means that in this business a McDonnell of us will fall.

Heaven help us!" Then, scornfully throwing off the fear which for a moment had seemed to overtake him, he resolutely snatched the torch from the man's hand and plunged it into the pile.
We stood and watched the fire, as first it crackled amidst the under- layer of twigs and dry heather, then caught the branches above, and finally shot up in a grand tall column of flame skyward, showering high its sparks, and casting a fierce glow far and wide over land and sea.
'Twas a strange, a wondrous sight; yet, as I looked, the midnight fire itself was not so strange as the sight of Ludar standing there, noble, huge and motionless, illumined by the strong light, gazing out with shaded eyes into the far distance.