Kings of Carrick

26 THE KINGS OF CARRICK.
" I have told you already that I will see you through, but I
would be no true friend to you, did I not point out your
dangers. You have not, I tell you, enough men here to
enable you to force your way past Maybole."
" And again, I tell you, Auchendrane, that if I am in life,
by the blessing of God, I shall sleep in Bargany this night."
" You are more likely to sleep among the snow, Bargany.
You know that Cassillis is in force at Maybole, that his men
out-number ours by three to one, that they are fighting on
their own ground, are well equipped, and will come forth
fresh and warm to their work, whereas ours are cold and be-
numbed, and their hearts are beginning^to fail them."
" That I do not believe," replied Bargany, ■' the snow may
benumb the fingers, and chill the blood of a brave man, but
it can never daunt his courage or affright his heart."
" You are wrong, Bargany. A chilled body and a chilled
soul often go together. Why not seek the other route to the
valley of the Girvan ? It is a better road than this, and
Lord Cassillis might look for us until to-morrow's daybreak
ere he would find us."
" He will not need to seek us so long, Auchendrane, so
cease your advice. If you don't relish a skirmish, Auchen-
drane lies over there among the trees, and as I have told you
already, you had better seek your fireside, than go into a
combat faint-hearted."
Auchendrane bit his lip at the renewed imputation ; but
knowing how dangerous it was to cross Bargany when his
blood was up, he subsided.
And so they rode on. Between them, as they toiled up
the steep, lay the plain between the Doon and the Ayr. The
latter river, save at its estuary, was invisible, hidden amid
dark pine and beech woods; but the former, as it roared
down its. channel directly beneath, wrought a dark streak
into the otherwise white country. Out to sea lay the sullen
ocean, dark, too, and wintry, as became it on such a day.