But I see that ye 're a man of some penetration ; and be it as ye please ! '' We set forth accordingly by this itinerary ; and for the best part of three nights travelled on eerie mountains and among the well-heads of wild rivers ; often buried in mist , almost continually blown and rained upon , and not once cheered by any glimpse of sunshine . By day , we lay and slept in the drenching heather ; by night , incessantly clambered upon break-neck hills and among rude crags . We often wandered ; we were often so involved in fog , that we must lie quiet till it lightened . A fire was never to be thought of . Our only food was drammach and a portion of cold meat that we had carried from the Cage ; and as for drink , Heaven knows we had no want of water . This was a dreadful time , rendered the more dreadful by the gloom of the weather and the country . I was never warm ; my teeth chattered in my head ; I was troubled with a very sore throat , such as I had on the isle ; I had a painful stitch in my side , which never left me ; and when I slept in my wet bed , with the rain beating above and the mud oozing below me , it was to live over again in fancy the worst part of my adventures -- to see the tower of Shaws lit by lightning , Ransome carried below on the men 's backs , Shuan dying on the round-house floor , or Colin Campbell grasping at the bosom of his coat . From such broken slumbers , I would be aroused in the gloaming , to sit up in the same puddle where I had slept , and sup cold drammach ; the rain driving sharp in my face or running down my back in icy trickles ; the mist enfolding us like as in a gloomy chamber -- or , perhaps , if the wind blew , falling suddenly apart and showing us the gulf of some dark valley where the streams were crying aloud . The sound of an infinite number of rivers came up from all round . In this steady rain the springs of the mountain were broken up ; every glen gushed water like a cistern ; every stream was in high spate , and had filled and overflowed its channel . During our night tramps , it was solemn to hear the voice of them below in the valleys , now booming like thunder , now with an angry cry . I could well understand the story of the Water Kelpie , that demon of the streams , who is fabled to keep wailing and roaring at the ford until the coming of the doomed traveller . Alan I saw believed it , or half believed it ; and when the cry of the river rose more than usually sharp , I was little surprised -LRB- though , of course , I would still be shocked -RRB- to see him cross himself in the manner of the Catholics . During all these horrid wanderings we had no familiarity , scarcely even that of speech . The truth is that I was sickening for my grave , which is my best excuse . But besides that I was of an unforgiving disposition from my birth , slow to take offence , slower to forget it , and now incensed both against my companion and myself . For the best part of two days he was unweariedly kind ; silent , indeed , but always ready to help , and always hoping -LRB- as I could very well see -RRB- that my displeasure would blow by . For the same length of time I stayed in myself , nursing my anger , roughly refusing his services , and passing him over with my eyes as if he had been a bush or a stone . The second night , or rather the peep of the third day , found us upon a very open hill , so that we could not follow our usual plan and lie down immediately to eat and sleep .
Before we had reached a place of shelter , the grey had come pretty clear , for though it still rained , the clouds ran higher ; and XXXXX , looking in my face , showed some marks of concern .
Alan Catholics day fire left lightning offence slumbers springs well-heads