They were saying aboot the foreshore that they gaed west to some other port to tak' on board the French monzie that cam' to the Thrieve at the great tournaying! But I kenna what wad tak' him awa' to the Fleet or the Ferry Toon o' Cree, and leave a' the pleasures o' Kirkcudbright ahint him.

Forbye sic herrin's as are supplied by me, Tib MacLellan, at less than cost price--as I houp your honour will no forget, when in the course o' natur' and the providence o' God you and her comes to hae a family atween ye." Sholto promised that he would not forget when the time alluded to arrived.

Then, turning his jennet off the direct road to Kirkcudbright town, and betaking him through the Ardendee fords, he made all speed towards a little port upon the water of Fleet, at the point where that fair moorland stream winds lazily through the water-meadows for a mile or two, after its brawling passage down from the hills of heather and before it commits itself to the mother sea.
But it was not until he had long crossed it and reached the lonely Cassencary shore that Sholto found his first trace of the lost maidens.

For as he rode along the cliffs his keen eye noted a well-marked trail through the heather approaching the shore at right angles to his own line of march.

The tracks, still perfectly evident in the grassy places, showed that as many as twenty horses had passed that way within the last two or three days.