The soldiers began to spread , some of them to run , and others to put up their pieces and cover me ; and still I stood . `` Jock * in here among the trees , '' said a voice close by . * Duck . Indeed , I scarce knew what I was doing , but I obeyed ; and as I did so , I heard the firelocks bang and the balls whistle in the birches . Just inside the shelter of the trees I found Alan Breck standing , with a fishing-rod . He gave me no salutation ; indeed it was no time for civilities ; only `` Come ! '' says he , and set off running along the side of the mountain towards Balachulish ; and I , like a sheep , to follow him . Now we ran among the birches ; now stooping behind low humps upon the mountain-side ; now crawling on all fours among the heather . The pace was deadly : my heart seemed bursting against my ribs ; and I had neither time to think nor breath to speak with . Only I remember seeing with wonder , that Alan every now and then would straighten himself to his full height and look back ; and every time he did so , there came a great far-away cheering and crying of the soldiers . Quarter of an hour later , Alan stopped , clapped down flat in the heather , and turned to me . `` Now , '' said he , `` it 's earnest . Do as I do , for your life . '' And at the same speed , but now with infinitely more precaution , we traced back again across the mountain-side by the same way that we had come , only perhaps higher ; till at last Alan threw himself down in the upper wood of Lettermore , where I had found him at the first , and lay , with his face in the bracken , panting like a dog . My own sides so ached , my head so swam , my tongue so hung out of my mouth with heat and dryness , that I lay beside him like one dead . CHAPTER XVIII I TALK WITH ALAN IN THE WOOD OF LETTERMORE Alan was the first to come round . He rose , went to the border of the wood , peered out a little , and then returned and sat down . `` Well , '' said he , `` yon was a hot burst , David . '' I said nothing , nor so much as lifted my face . I had seen murder done , and a great , ruddy , jovial gentleman struck out of life in a moment ; the pity of that sight was still sore within me , and yet that was but a part of my concern .
Here was murder done upon the man Alan hated ; here was XXXXX skulking in the trees and running from the troops ; and whether his was the hand that fired or only the head that ordered , signified but little .
Alan Balachulish Breck David Lettermore XVIII civilities firelocks humps mountain-side