I thought we were lost , and catching up my cutlass , fell on them in flank . But I had not time to be of help . The wrestler dropped at last ; and Alan , leaping back to get his distance , ran upon the others like a bull , roaring as he went . They broke before him like water , turning , and running , and falling one against another in their haste . The sword in his hands flashed like quicksilver into the huddle of our fleeing enemies ; and at every flash there came the scream of a man hurt . I was still thinking we were lost , when lo ! they were all gone , and Alan was driving them along the deck as a sheep-dog chases sheep . Yet he was no sooner out than he was back again , being as cautious as he was brave ; and meanwhile the seamen continued running and crying out as if he was still behind them ; and we heard them tumble one upon another into the forecastle , and clap-to the hatch upon the top . The round-house was like a shambles ; three were dead inside , another lay in his death agony across the threshold ; and there were Alan and I victorious and unhurt . He came up to me with open arms . `` Come to my arms ! '' he cried , and embraced and kissed me hard upon both cheeks . `` David , '' said he , `` I love you like a brother . And O , man , '' he cried in a kind of ecstasy , `` am I no a bonny fighter ? '' Thereupon he turned to the four enemies , passed his sword clean through each of them , and tumbled them out of doors one after the other . As he did so , he kept humming and singing and whistling to himself , like a man trying to recall an air ; only what HE was trying was to make one . All the while , the flush was in his face , and his eyes were as bright as a five-year-old child 's with a new toy . And presently he sat down upon the table , sword in hand ; the air that he was making all the time began to run a little clearer , and then clearer still ; and then out he burst with a great voice into a Gaelic song . I have translated it here , not in verse -LRB- of which I have no skill -RRB- but at least in the king 's English . He sang it often afterwards , and the thing became popular ; so that I have heard it and had it explained to me , many 's the time .
`` This is the song of the sword of XXXXX ; The smith made it , The fire set it ; Now it shines in the hand of Alan Breck .
Alan David English Gaelic bonny five-year-old forecastle round-house shambles wrestler