He was a ragged , wild , bearded man , about forty , grossly disfigured with the small pox , and looked both dull and savage . Although his English was very bad and broken , yet Alan -LRB- according to his very handsome use , whenever I was by -RRB- would suffer him to speak no Gaelic . Perhaps the strange language made him appear more backward than he really was ; but I thought he had little good-will to serve us , and what he had was the child of terror . Alan would have had him carry a message to James ; but the bouman would hear of no message . `` She was forget it , '' he said in his screaming voice ; and would either have a letter or wash his hands of us . I thought Alan would be gravelled at that , for we lacked the means of writing in that desert . But he was a man of more resources than I knew ; searched the wood until he found the quill of a cushat-dove , which he shaped into a pen ; made himself a kind of ink with gunpowder from his horn and water from the running stream ; and tearing a corner from his French military commission -LRB- which he carried in his pocket , like a talisman to keep him from the gallows -RRB- , he sat down and wrote as follows : `` DEAR KINSMAN , -- Please send the money by the bearer to the place he kens of . `` Your affectionate cousin , `` A. S. '' This he intrusted to the bouman , who promised to make what manner of speed he best could , and carried it off with him down the hill . He was three full days gone , but about five in the evening of the third , we heard a whistling in the wood , which Alan answered ; and presently the bouman came up the water-side , looking for us , right and left . He seemed less sulky than before , and indeed he was no doubt well pleased to have got to the end of such a dangerous commission . He gave us the news of the country ; that it was alive with red-coats ; that arms were being found , and poor folk brought in trouble daily ; and that James and some of his servants were already clapped in prison at Fort William , under strong suspicion of complicity . It seemed it was noised on all sides that Alan Breck had fired the shot ; and there was a bill issued for both him and me , with one hundred pounds reward . This was all as bad as could be ; and the little note the bouman had carried us from Mrs. Stewart was of a miserable sadness . In it she besought Alan not to let himself be captured , assuring him , if he fell in the hands of the troops , both he and James were no better than dead men . The money she had sent was all that she could beg or borrow , and she prayed heaven we could be doing with it . Lastly , she said , she enclosed us one of the bills in which we were described . This we looked upon with great curiosity and not a little fear , partly as a man may look in a mirror , partly as he might look into the barrel of an enemy 's gun to judge if it be truly aimed . Alan was advertised as `` a small , pock-marked , active man of thirty-five or thereby , dressed in a feathered hat , a French side-coat of blue with silver buttons , and lace a great deal tarnished , a red waistcoat and breeches of black , shag ; '' and I as `` a tall strong lad of about eighteen , wearing an old blue coat , very ragged , an old Highland bonnet , a long homespun waistcoat , blue breeches ; his legs bare , low-country shoes , wanting the toes ; speaks like a Lowlander , and has no beard . '' Alan was well enough pleased to see his finery so fully remembered and set down ; only when he came to the word tarnish , he looked upon his lace like one a little mortified . As for myself , I thought I cut a miserable figure in the bill ; and yet was well enough pleased too , for since I had changed these rags , the description had ceased to be a danger and become a source of safety .
`` XXXXX , '' said I , `` you should change your clothes . ''
Alan William bouman cushat-dove finery kens pounds side-coat third water-side