"Yes, this is the ford in dry weather. The bottom here is hard rock
and easy to ride over when the river is but waist deep, but below
and above this place it is covered with great boulders. The water
is six feet deep here now, and the horses would be carried down
among the rocks, and would never get across. A mile up the river
is always deep, and though the current is strong there is nothing
to prevent a bold horseman from swimming across."

"I thank you heartily, young sir," Captain Hume said. "I can see
how broken is the surface of the water, and doubt not that it would
have fared hard with us had we attempted to swim across here. In
faith, Munro, we have had a narrow escape."

"Ay, indeed," the other agreed. "It would have been hard if you and
I, after going through all the battlefields of the Low Countries,
should have been drowned here together in a Scottish burn. Your
young friend is a gallant lad and a good swimmer, for in truth it
was no light task to swim that torrent with the water almost as
cold as ice."

"Now, sirs, will you please to ride on," the boy said; "it is
getting dark fast, and the sooner we are across the better."

So saying he went off at a fast run, the horses trotting behind
him. A mile above he reached the spot he had spoken of. The river
was narrower here, and the stream was running with great rapidity,
swirling and heaving as it went, but with a smooth even surface.

"Two hundred yards farther up," the boy said, "is the beginning of
the deep; if you take the water there you will get across so as to