pily they had found every dwelling unoccupied, with its
more valued contents safely removed; and though they had indeed brought
many of those homesteads to the ground, yet the lives of the inhabitants
were still secure.

It now remained for Kenric to assure himself that no prowling Norseman
should by chance discover the place of refuge of those who had so timely
abandoned their homes; and to this end he bade his remaining followers
make pretence of taking shelter in the forest of Barone, whence they
might move unobserved by the enemy to the south of the island and so
guard the abbey of St. Blane's.

CHAPTER XXV. THE GREAT NORSE INVASION.

It were vain to look for good generalship in a time so remote as that of
the reign of Alexander III. Wallace and Bruce had not yet appeared to
teach the Scots the advantage of united action, and the methods of
warfare were still of an unmilitary kind. Battles were little better
than mere free fights, without order, without controlling discipline,
without preconcerted plan. It may be that Kenric of Bute might, with a
little more forethought in the disposal of his forces, have saved his
castle from the hands of his enemies. But a lad of seventeen, with no
better counsellors than a few peaceful men such as Sir Oscar Redmain and
the Abbot Thurstan -- men inexperienced in the arts of war, and ill
qualified to repel an invader or hold a castle against a siege -- what
could he do? Sir Oscar Redmain was killed in the first engagement. The
abbot was sufficiently occupied with the protection of his church lands,
and the one skilful soldier who could have organized the defences -- Sir
Piers de Currie -- was even now defending his own castle of Ranza
against the forces of Margad.

Nevertheless, the manner in which Kenric defended the sacred buildings
of St. Blane's redeemed the mistakes he had committed in a too great
division of his forces at Rothesay. He protected the abbey lands from a
possible approach of the enemy from the sea by stationing six of his
ships, fully manned, at regular intervals along the south coast of the
island from Glencallum Bay to the bay of Dunagoil. Thus disposed, the
vessels formed a half-circle round the abbey and its demesnes. At
Dunagoil he stationed a guard of five hundred men under Allan Redmain,
with a like number in Glencallum, under Duncan Graham, ready at a
moment's warning to form a connection across the neck of land. Within
the walled inclosure know