I do n't think I cared ; the pain of this rough handling was quite swallowed up by the pains of which I was already full ; and I was too glad to have stopped walking to mind about a dirk . I lay looking up in the face of the man that held me ; and I mind his face was black with the sun , and his eyes very light , but I was not afraid of him . I heard Alan and another whispering in the Gaelic ; and what they said was all one to me . Then the dirks were put up , our weapons were taken away , and we were set face to face , sitting in the heather . `` They are Cluny 's men , '' said Alan . `` We couldnae have fallen better . We 're just to bide here with these , which are his out-sentries , till they can get word to the chief of my arrival . '' Now Cluny Macpherson , the chief of the clan Vourich , had been one of the leaders of the great rebellion six years before ; there was a price on his life ; and I had supposed him long ago in France , with the rest of the heads of that desperate party . Even tired as I was , the surprise of what I heard half wakened me . `` What , '' I cried , `` is Cluny still here ? '' `` Ay , is he so ! '' said Alan . `` Still in his own country and kept by his own clan . King George can do no more . '' I think I would have asked farther , but Alan gave me the put-off . `` I am rather wearied , '' he said , `` and I would like fine to get a sleep . '' And without more words , he rolled on his face in a deep heather bush , and seemed to sleep at once . There was no such thing possible for me . You have heard grasshoppers whirring in the grass in the summer time ? Well , I had no sooner closed my eyes , than my body , and above all my head , belly , and wrists , seemed to be filled with whirring grasshoppers ; and I must open my eyes again at once , and tumble and toss , and sit up and lie down ; and look at the sky which dazzled me , or at Cluny 's wild and dirty sentries , peering out over the top of the brae and chattering to each other in the Gaelic .
That was all the rest I had , until the messenger returned ; when , as it appeared that XXXXX would be glad to receive us , we must get once more upon our feet and set forward .
Ay Cluny George Macpherson Vourich dirk dirks out-sentries put-off years