Three generations

104 BREAD-WINNER AND HOUSE-MOTHER
past the huge fort of Tantallon, the stronghold of the
mighty Douglases, on to the Island of Inchkeith,
nestling wellnigh within the shadow of the lion
couchant of Arthur's Seat.
Inchkeith and the May have each a lighthouse.
Standing on the brae in the summer dusk both
could be distinguished like twinkling stars which
had descended to earth. That of Inchkeith was a
revolving-light, and came and went, appeared and
disappeared, in the darkness with a magical effect.
The windows in the front of the house had a
limited version of the view from the brae. The
opposite lights looked down on a wide strath, and
the sight was almost as fine as that from the front
windows — over corn-fields, which came close to that
side of the house, and across the valley, bounded by
the hill, Largo Law, the Rires Moors, and opposite
hill, Kelly Law. There was a local bit of doggerel :
" When Largo Law puts on its hat,
Kelly Law may look to that ;
When Kelly Law puts on its cap,
Largo Law may laugh at that."
And the sun and the rain obeyed the old saying. At
Largo Law Thomas the Rhymer came in. (I am
speaking of him of Ercildoune, who, when he was
not in fairyland, condescended to visit the district
and leave prophecies there.) When a white bull
bellowed on Largo Law, and the sound of a trumpet
answered to the call, gold would be found on the
spot. The prophecy was said to be accomplished
after a fashion when cattle were herded on the Law,
when a troop of volunteers lay in camp there, and
when the farmer who owned the cattle, and leased
the Law, bore the name of Gould.