It may be that Kenric of Bute might, with a
little more forethought in the disposal of his forces, have saved his
castle from the hands of his enemies. But a lad of seventeen, with no
better counsellors than a few peaceful men such as Sir Oscar Redmain and
the Abbot Thurstan -- men inexperienced in the arts of war, and ill
qualified to repel an invader or hold a castle against a siege -- what
could he do? Sir Oscar Redmain was killed in the first engagement. The
abbot was sufficiently occupied with the protection of his church lands,
and the one skilful soldier who could have organized the defences -- Sir
Piers de Currie -- was even now defending his own castle of Ranza
against the forces of Margad.
Nevertheless, the manner in which Kenric defended the sacred buildings
of St. Blane's redeemed the mistakes he had committed in a too great
division of his forces at Rothesay. He protected the abbey lands from a
possible approach of the enemy from the sea by stationing six of his
ships, fully manned, at regular intervals along the south coast of the
island from Glencallum Bay to the bay of Dunagoil. Thus disposed, the
vessels formed a half-circle round the abbey and its demesnes. At
Dunagoil he stationed a guard of five hundred men under Allan Redmain,
with a like number in Glencallum, under Duncan Graham, ready at a
moment's warning to form a connection across the neck of land.
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