`` For , '' says he , `` ye have done very well by me , and set your neck at a venture , and I will always give you the name of a good man . '' Lastly , the bouman took himself off by one way ; and Alan and I -LRB- getting our chattels together -RRB- struck into another to resume our flight . CHAPTER XXII THE FLIGHT IN THE HEATHER : THE MOOR Some seven hours ' incessant , hard travelling brought us early in the morning to the end of a range of mountains . In front of us there lay a piece of low , broken , desert land , which we must now cross . The sun was not long up , and shone straight in our eyes ; a little , thin mist went up from the face of the moorland like a smoke ; so that -LRB- as Alan said -RRB- there might have been twenty squadron of dragoons there and we none the wiser . We sat down , therefore , in a howe of the hill-side till the mist should have risen , and made ourselves a dish of drammach , and held a council of war . `` David , '' said Alan , `` this is the kittle bit . Shall we lie here till it comes night , or shall we risk it , and stave on ahead ? '' `` Well , '' said I , `` I am tired indeed , but I could walk as far again , if that was all . '' `` Ay , but it isnae , '' said Alan , `` nor yet the half . This is how we stand : Appin 's fair death to us . To the south it 's all Campbells , and no to be thought of . To the north ; well , there 's no muckle to be gained by going north ; neither for you , that wants to get to Queensferry , nor yet for me , that wants to get to France . Well , then , we 'll can strike east . '' `` East be it ! '' says I , quite cheerily ; but I was thinking in to myself : `` O , man , if you would only take one point of the compass and let me take any other , it would be the best for both of us . '' `` Well , then , east , ye see , we have the muirs , '' said Alan . `` Once there , David , it 's mere pitch-and-toss . Out on yon bald , naked , flat place , where can a body turn to ? Let the red-coats come over a hill , they can spy you miles away ; and the sorrow 's in their horses ' heels , they would soon ride you down .
It 's no good place , XXXXX ; and I 'm free to say , it 's worse by daylight than by dark . ''
Alan David bouman dragoons drammach kittle muckle night pitch-and-toss red-coats