But Robin only held out his hand as if to ask for silence , and struck into the slow measure of a pibroch . It was a fine piece of music in itself , and nobly played ; but it seems , besides , it was a piece peculiar to the Appin Stewarts and a chief favourite with Alan . The first notes were scarce out , before there came a change in his face ; when the time quickened , he seemed to grow restless in his seat ; and long before that piece was at an end , the last signs of his anger died from him , and he had no thought but for the music . `` Robin Oig , '' he said , when it was done , `` ye are a great piper . I am not fit to blow in the same kingdom with ye . Body of me ! ye have mair music in your sporran than I have in my head ! And though it still sticks in my mind that I could maybe show ye another of it with the cold steel , I warn ye beforehand -- it 'll no be fair ! It would go against my heart to haggle a man that can blow the pipes as you can ! '' Thereupon that quarrel was made up ; all night long the brose was going and the pipes changing hands ; and the day had come pretty bright , and the three men were none the better for what they had been taking , before Robin as much as thought upon the road . CHAPTER XXVI END OF THE FLIGHT : WE PASS THE FORTH The month , as I have said , was not yet out , but it was already far through August , and beautiful warm weather , with every sign of an early and great harvest , when I was pronounced able for my journey . Our money was now run to so low an ebb that we must think first of all on speed ; for if we came not soon to Mr. Rankeillor 's , or if when we came there he should fail to help me , we must surely starve . In Alan 's view , besides , the hunt must have now greatly slackened ; and the line of the Forth and even Stirling Bridge , which is the main pass over that river , would be watched with little interest . `` It 's a chief principle in military affairs , '' said he , `` to go where ye are least expected . Forth is our trouble ; ye ken the saying , ` Forth bridles the wild Hielandman . ' Well , if we seek to creep round about the head of that river and come down by Kippen or Balfron , it 's just precisely there that they 'll be looking to lay hands on us . But if we stave on straight to the auld Brig of Stirling , I 'll lay my sword they let us pass unchallenged . '' The first night , accordingly , we pushed to the house of a Maclaren in Strathire , a friend of Duncan 's , where we slept the twenty-first of the month , and whence we set forth again about the fall of night to make another easy stage . The twenty-second we lay in a heather bush on the hillside in Uam Var , within view of a herd of deer , the happiest ten hours of sleep in a fine , breathing sunshine and on bone-dry ground , that I have ever tasted . That night we struck Allan Water , and followed it down ; and coming to the edge of the hills saw the whole Carse of Stirling underfoot , as flat as a pancake , with the town and castle on a hill in the midst of it , and the moon shining on the Links of Forth .
`` Now , '' said XXXXX , `` I kenna if ye care , but ye 're in your own land again .
Alan Balfron Bridge Hielandman Kippen Oig bridles first twenty-first twenty-second