And then the heather 's a great help . And everywhere there are friends ' houses and friends ' byres and haystacks . And besides , when folk talk of a country covered with troops , it 's but a kind of a byword at the best . A soldier covers nae mair of it than his boot-soles . I have fished a water with a sentry on the other side of the brae , and killed a fine trout ; and I have sat in a heather bush within six feet of another , and learned a real bonny tune from his whistling . This was it , '' said he , and whistled me the air . `` And then , besides , '' he continued , `` it 's no sae bad now as it was in forty-six . The Hielands are what they call pacified . Small wonder , with never a gun or a sword left from Cantyre to Cape Wrath , but what tenty * folk have hidden in their thatch ! But what I would like to ken , David , is just how long ? Not long , ye would think , with men like Ardshiel in exile and men like the Red Fox sitting birling the wine and oppressing the poor at home . But it 's a kittle thing to decide what folk 'll bear , and what they will not . Or why would Red Colin be riding his horse all over my poor country of Appin , and never a pretty lad to put a bullet in him ? '' * Careful . And with this Alan fell into a muse , and for a long time sate very sad and silent . I will add the rest of what I have to say about my friend , that he was skilled in all kinds of music , but principally pipe-music ; was a well-considered poet in his own tongue ; had read several books both in French and English ; was a dead shot , a good angler , and an excellent fencer with the small sword as well as with his own particular weapon . For his faults , they were on his face , and I now knew them all . But the worst of them , his childish propensity to take offence and to pick quarrels , he greatly laid aside in my case , out of regard for the battle of the round-house . But whether it was because I had done well myself , or because I had been a witness of his own much greater prowess , is more than I can tell . For though he had a great taste for courage in other men , yet he admired it most in Alan Breck .
CHAPTER XIII THE LOSS OF THE BRIG It was already late at night , and as dark as it ever would be at that season of the year -LRB- and that is to XXXXX , it was still pretty bright -RRB- , when Hoseason clapped his head into the round-house door .
covered fished killed learned put read said say tell think