One day--it was the first anniversary of their wedding--they had driven over together to see the excavations of the Roman Fort at Newstead. It was not a particularly picturesque spot. From the northern bank of the Tweed, just where the river forms a loop, there extends a gentle slope of arable land. Across it run the trenches of the excavators, with here and there an exposure of old stonework to show the foundations of the ancient walls. It had been a huge place, for the camp was fifty acres in extent, and the fort fifteen. However, it was all made easy for them since Mr. Brown knew the farmer to whom the land belonged. Under his guidance they spent a long summer evening inspecting the trenches, the pits, the ramparts, and all the strange variety of objects which were waiting to be transported to the Edinburgh Museum of Antiquities. The buckle of a woman's belt had been dug up that very day, and the farmer was discoursing upon it when his eyes fell upon Mrs. Brown's face. "Your good leddy's tired," said he. "Maybe you'd best rest a wee before we gang further." Brown looked at his wife. She was certainly very pale, and her dark eyes were bright and wild. "What is it, Maggie? I've wearied you. I'm thinkin' it's time we went back." "No, no, John, let us go on. It's wonderful! It's like a dreamland place. It all seems so close and so near to me. How long were the Romans here, Mr. Cunningham?" "A fair time, mam. If you saw the kitchen midden-pits you would guess it took a long time to fill them." "And why did they leave?" "Well, mam, by all accounts they left because they had to. The folk round could thole them no longer, so they just up and burned the fort aboot their lugs. You can see the fire marks on the stanes." The woman gave a quick little shudder. "A wild night--a fearsome night," said she. "The sky must have been red that night--and these grey stones, they may have been red also." "Aye, I think they were red," said her husband. "It's a queer thing, Maggie, and it may be your words that have done it; but I seem to see that business aboot as clear as ever I saw anything in my life. The light shone on the water." "Aye, the light shone on the water. And the smoke gripped you by the throat. And all the savages were yelling." The old farmer began to laugh. "The leddy will be writin' a story aboot the old fort," said he. "I've shown many a one ower it, but I never heard it put so clear afore. Some folk have the gift." They had strolled along the edge of the foss, and a pit yawned upon the right of them. "That pit was fourteen foot deep," said the farmer. "What d'ye think we dug oot from the bottom o't? Weel, it was just the skeleton of a man wi' a spear by his side. I'm thinkin' he was grippin' it when he died. Now, how cam' a man wi' a spear doon a hole fourteen foot deep. He wasna' buried there, for they aye burned their dead. What make ye o' that, mam?" "He sprang doon to get clear of the savages," said the woman.