the Friday at noon
Thus , with little hope , but with the most determined resolution , Henry Smith awaited the time that should decide his fate . What made him augur the worst was the silence both of the glover and of his daughter . `` They are ashamed , '' he said , `` to confess the truth to me , and therefore they are silent . '' Upon the Friday at noon , the two bands of thirty men each , representing the contending clans , arrived at the several points where they were to halt for refreshments . The Clan Quhele was entertained hospitably at the rich abbey of Scone , while the provost regaled their rivals at his Castle of Kinfauns , the utmost care being taken to treat both parties with the most punctilious attention , and to afford neither an opportunity of complaining of partiality . All points of etiquette were , in the mean while , discussed and settled by the Lord High Constable Errol and the young Earl of Crawford , the former acting on the part of the Clan Chattan and the latter patronising the Clan Quhele . Messengers were passing continually from the one earl to the other , and they held more than : six meetings within thirty hours , before the ceremonial of the field could be exactly arranged .