And, when they slept, a vocal strain

Bade their hoarse chorus wake again,

While loud a hundred clansmen raise

Their voices in their Chieftain’s praise.

Each boatman, bending to his oar,

With measured sweep the burden[123] bore,

In such wild cadence as the breeze

Makes through December’s leafless trees.

The chorus first could Allan know,

“Roderick Vich Alpine, ho! iro!”