Produced by Al Haines. STAND FAST, CRAIG-ROYSTON! A Novel BY WILLIAM BLACK, AUTHOR OF "A DAUGHTER OF HETH," "MACLEOD OF DARE," ETC. _IN THREE VOLUMES._ VOL. I. LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON, LIMITED St. Dunstan’s House FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E.C. 1890. [_All rights reserved._] LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. CHAPTER I. The Wanderers II. Neighbours III. An Approach IV. Stalled Ox and a Dinner of Herbs V. Qu’ mon Coeur en Mariage VI. Fairy Land VII. Claire Fontaine VIII. An Alarm STAND FAST, CRAIG-ROYSTON! CHAPTER I. THE WANDERERS. On a certain sunny afternoon in May, when all the world and his wife were walking or driving in Piccadilly, two figures appeared there who clearly did not belong to the fashionable crowd. Indeed, so unusual was their aspect that many a swift glance, shot from carefully impassive faces, made furtive scrutiny of them as they passed. One of the strangers was an old man who might have been a venerable Scandinavian scald come to life again—a man thick-set and broad-shouldered, with features at once aquiline and massive, and with flowing hair and beard almost silver-white. From under his deeply lined forehead and shaggy eyebrows gleamed a pair of eyes that were alert and confident as with the audacity of youth; and the heavy white moustache and beard did not quite conceal the cheerful firmness of the mouth. For the rest, he wore above his ordinary attire a plaid of shepherd’s tartan, the ends loosely thrown over his shoulders.