Thinking it over, however, it occurred to Malcolm that by this means a day would be lost —­ and he knew how anxious the king was to press forward.  He therefore abandoned his idea of keeping his discovery secret, and going to his colonel reported that he had found a boat, and could bring it across from the other side by seven o’clock.

The news was so important that Munro at once went to the king.  Gustavus ordered three hundred Swedes and a hundred Scots of each of the regiments of Ramsay, Munro, and the Laird of Wormiston, the whole under the command of Count Brahe, to form up after dark on the river bank and prepare to cross, and he himself came down to superintend the passage.  By six it was perfectly dark.  During the day Malcolm had placed two stones on the edge of the water, one exactly opposite the boat, the other twenty feet behind it in an exact line.  When Gustavus arrived at the spot where the troops were drawn up, Malcolm was taken up to him by his colonel.

“Well, my brave young Graheme,” the king said, “so you are going to do us another service; but how will you find the boat in this darkness?  Even were there no stream you would find it very difficult to strike the exact spot on a dark night like this.”

“I have provided against that, sir, by placing two marks on the bank.  When we start lanterns will be placed on these.  We shall cross higher up so as to strike the bank a little above where I believe the boat to be, then we shall float along under the bushes until the lanterns are in a line one with another, and we shall know then that we are exactly opposite the boat.”

“Well thought of!” the king exclaimed.  “Munro, this lieutenant of yours is a treasure.  And now God speed you, my friend, in your cold swim across the stream!”

Malcolm and the sergeant now walked half a mile up the river, a distance which, judging from the strength of the current and the speed at which they could swim, would, they thought, take them to the opposite bank at about the point where the boat was lying.  Shaking hands with Colonel Munro, who had accompanied them, Malcolm entered the icy cold water without delay.  Knowing that it was possible that their strength might give out before they reached the opposite side, Malcolm had had two pairs of small casks lashed two feet apart.  These they fastened securely, so that as they began to swim the casks floated a short distance behind each shoulder, giving them perfect support.  The lever and paddles were towed behind them.  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.