While Edward watched this phenomenon, the distant dash of
oars was heard. The measured sound approached near and more near, and
presently a loud whistle was heard in the same direction. His friend
with the battle-axe immediately whistled clear and shrill, in reply to
the signal, and a boat, manned with four or five Highlanders, pushed for
a little inlet, near which Edward was sitting. He advanced to meet
them with his attendant, was immediately assisted into the boat by the
officious attention of two stout mountaineers, and had no sooner seated
himself than they resumed their oars, and began to row across the lake
with great rapidity.
CHAPTER XVII
THE HOLD OF A HIGHLAND ROBBER
The party preserved silence, interrupted only by the monotonous and
murmured chant of a Gaelic song, sung in a kind of low recitative by
the steersman, and by the dash of the oars, which the notes seemed to
regulate, as they dipped to them in cadence. The light, which they now
approached more nearly, assumed a broader, redder, and more irregular
splendour. It appeared plainly to be a large fire, but whether kindled
upon an island or the main land, Edward could not determine.
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