The lights in the two camps afforded them a means of directing their way.

The water was intensely cold, and before they were halfway across Malcolm congratulated himself upon having thought of the casks.

Had it not been for them he would have begun to doubt his ability to reach the further shore, for although he would have thought nothing of the swim at other times his limbs were fast becoming numbed with the extreme cold.

The sergeant kept close to him, and a word or two was occasionally exchanged.
"I think it is colder than our mountain streams, Grant ?" "It's no colder, your honour, but the water is smooth and still, and we do not have to wrestle with it as with a brook in spate.

It's the stillness which makes it feel so cold.