"There are three Hours of daylight in front of us.

What say you to make for the top of the hills and find Studd's cairn?
I need some effort to keep my blood running." I would gladly have stayed behind, for the fever had tired me, but I could not be dared by Ringan and not respond.

So we set off at a great pace up the ridge, which soon grew very steep, and forced us to a crawl.

There were places where we had to scramble up loose cliffs amid a tangle of vines, and then we would dip into a little glade, and then once again breast a precipice.

By and by the trees dropped away, and there was nothing but low bushes and boulders and rank mountain grasses.