noon
Oh ! but it was heartsome , and as we rested ourselves a little on the banks we were full of content to know we were now in a friendly country , and it was a fair pleasure to think that the dead leaves and broken branches we threw in the stream would be dancing in all likelihood round the isle of Innishael by nightfall . We ate our chack with exceeding content , and waited for a time on the chance that some of our severed company from Dalness would appear , though M'Iyer 's instruction as to the rendezvous had been given on the prospect that they would reach the Brig earlier in the day . But after an hour or two of waiting there was no sign of them , and there was nothing for us but to assume that they had reached the Brig by noon as agreed on and passed on their way down the glen . A signal held together by two stones on the glen-side of the Brig indeed confirmed this notion almost as soon as we formed it , and we were annoyed that we had not observed it sooner . Three sprigs of gall , a leaf of ivy from the bridge arch where it grew in dark green sprays of glossy sheen , and a bare twig of oak standing up at a slant , were held down on the parapet by a peeled willow withy , one end of which pointed in the direction of the glen . It was M'Iver who came on the symbols first , and `` We 're a day behind the fair , '' said he .