Now it fell that there was one Domlech, a man of the North Picts, staying in the town at that time; he had come as a messenger from king Nechtan, and he beheld Feargus when he entered with Torfrida. By his speech, which differed slightly from that of the Southern Picts, he knew him to be a countryman of his, and by the richness of his byrny he judged him to be a chief. Domlech, however, said nothing, deeming it best to keep his own counsel till he won home to king Nechtan. And when the old king heard that one who was seemingly a great chief of his people had been taken by the king of the South Picts, he was angry, and sent a captain who was well known throughout the land as a mighty warrior to demand the stranger and with him went a strong force. So Feargus and Torfrida had been prisoners but a week when one night the peal of the pipes burst upon the ear of Feargus and he knew it was the slogan of the king of Albainn. Here were his noble father Nechtan and his friends, and the end of his wanderings had come at last! An hour passed and he began to grow weary of waiting, when the door opened and his jailor came in and bade him follow him, for his kinsmen of North Alban had come to demand him. So he was led up out of the dungeon to the light where he found Torfrida, and they saw that the Picts were all around the walls, having stolen up to the town silently, making no sound until they were at the very gates, when they demanded their kinsman, whoever he might be, who was held prisoner. Then the king of the South Picts agreed to release him if they would withdraw. And so they opened the gate, and they two rode out towards the captain who commanded the host of Nechtan. And Feargus could speak to no man so was he overcome at this so happy end to their troubles, and then at last they came into the captain’s tent, and behold the captain was Duncan! And each had deemed the other dead, and like men bereft of their senses they gazed upon each other and fell to greeting for very gladness. By reason of their great strength it had chanced that Duncan and Alastair and some others of Feargus’s company had been healed of their wounds at Winwid, and had found their way back to their king. So there was great rejoicing in the camp that night, and the townspeople wondered why they moved not away but made so merry. In the morning they marched northward, and when they won the halls of Nechtan, Feargus entered alone, but it was with difficulty he passed the men who guarded the king, for none knew him. At length he called for Duncan to order that he should be let see the king and so won in, and came to the king’s own chamber, and many stood about and looked at him and he at them, but they minded him not. Not so the king, for though he had thought him dead, and though he came now in strange arms, yet no sooner did he enter than the old man knew him and started back a moment and then clasped him to him and wept. And when the