But as the lad left the ship he shook his
closed fist at Kenric and swore an oath of vengeance upon him and upon
all the men of Scotland whom he should ever afterwards meet.
Kenric thought little of this threat, but it was not long ere the
hotheaded young viking put it into execution.
Now so easily had Sir Piers de Currie fared at Islay, and so much did he
pride himself upon the success of his first negotiation, that he thought
surely he would meet with equal favour in the other islands. Returning
to Gigha he ordered a division of his forces. Bidding Kenric proceed
with a squadron of six ships to Colonsay, Coll, and Tiree, he took under
his own command the six other galleys, namely, three of Arran, one of
Dunoon, one of Galloway, and one of Bute, the last being the /Kraken/,
of which Allan Redmain was the master.
With these six galleys Sir Piers, leaving Gigha in advance of Kenric,
sailed for the isles that lie off the mainland of Argyll and Lorne,
agreeing to rejoin Kenric in three weeks' time in the sound of Iona.
The first island Sir Piers went to after leaving Gigha was the isle of
Jura. But there he soon found that Erland the Old was not so easily to
be won over as his neighbour of Islay, for he had already renounced all
allegiance to Scotland and was in open league with the King of Norway.
So when he saw the six ships of the Clyde sailing along his rugged
coasts he mustered all his retainers by the summons of the fiery cross
and gave fight.
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