dded, turning to the captain, "since you are here I would
beseech you to grant me a few days' truce, that we may have time to bury
our dead."

"For the matter of that," said Thorolf, "I would willingly extend the
truce until the return of Rudri. For there are, if I mistake not, many
matters to attend to beyond the burial of the slain. The men of
Colonsay, as I hear, have played sad havoc with your homesteads, and it
were well that these were put again into decent repair."

"Your terms are more favourable than I had hoped for," said Kenric, "and
I well see that you are a man of honour."

"My lord," said Thorolf, "much do I commend and admire you for what you
have done in protecting your islanders. That protection, I do assure
you, was much needed, for had your people remained in their homes not
one of them would now have been alive. But I swear that they are
henceforth safe from all further peril. And now, for my own curiosity
alone, I would ask you how it happened that you were so timely warned of
the danger that threatened you, my lord?"

Kenric told how William MacAlpin had come to Bute, and how he himself
had spied upon the council of King Hakon in Gigha.

"Ah, then, 'twas you who slew the young son of John of Islay?" cried
Thorolf, though not in anger. "The lad was found dead on the very rock
you speak of."

"Not so," said Kenric; "I slew him not. And 'tis now for the first time
I hear that he is dead."

"But you had companions?"

"A girl was indeed with me. But -- ah, surely Aasta cannot have done
this thing?"

"Aasta? That is a Norse name. Well, 'tis no business of mine," said the
captain; "and now will I return to Rothesay well content that your
people have received no greater injuries than they now suffer at the
hands of my friends your enemies. Give you goodnight, my lord."

"By my faith, a right honest man!" said Kenric as Thorolf rode away.

"And a good Christian, if I mistake not," said the abbot, who had heard
the conversation.

"Ay, and a gallant soldier to boot," added Allan Redmain. "But for his
turning upon those ruffians, methinks it would have gone ill with Kenric
and my sister Ailsa."

"God be thanked for our escape," murmured the abbot. "And now, if
Roderic and his crew come not back over soon, all may yet go well with
us. At sunrise we will all set forth with picks and shovels and give a
true Christian burial to both friend and foe alike. And God rest their
souls, one and all."