Blair Collection > Celtic monthly > Volume 6, 1898

158
THE CELTIC MONTHLY.
pasture. Kate was asked to stay for a chat, and
nothing loth she consented. Before she left Iain
would have her sing one of her sheiling songs.
To this she would not consent unless Mary also
sang. Mary at length agreed, and Kate to the
delight of all sang in her own inimitable way the
old sheiling song Crodh Chailean. Meanwhile
Mary was composing a ditty of her own, and
when Kate ceased singing, addressed her distaft
in the following lines : —
Cuir car dliiot mo chuigeal,
Cuir car dhiot gu luath,
Cuir car dhiot mu 'n togar,
A' chreach bho mo shluagh,
Cuir car dhiot, cuir car dhiot,
Toinn Ikidir is caol,
Gun aiiaoim is gun chnapan,
Biodh breacan mo ghaol.
Spin quickly, my distatf.
Spin quickly and sure,
Ere reivers our white flocks
Sweep ofi' from the moor.
Spin quickly, spin quickly,
Spin finely and well.
My lover's new plaidie
All plaids must excel.
Meanwhile Prince Charles and his Highland
followers crossed Oorryarrack, took Edinburgh,
won the battle of Gladsmuir, marched into Eng-
land, returned, routed Hawley's forces at Fal-
kirk, recrossed the Grampians, and accepted the
hospitality of Lady Mackintosh of Moy. He
had scarcely taken up his quarters there, when
Louden one night with 1500 men tried to sur-
prise and take him prisoner. But Lady Mac-
kintosh was equal to the emergency, and des-
patched five of her clansmen headed by the
blacksmith of Moy, to intercept him. The news
of the Rout of ]\Ioy was soon heard of in every
clachan and cot on the Findhorn and Nairn, and
when Lady Mackintosh summoned Clan Chattan
to muster at Farr they eagerly responded. Mac-
gillivray of Dunmaglass came with a band of
stern followers from the head waters of the
Nairn, the matchless Gillies MacBean with his
doughty clansmen from the strath of Dores,
MacQueens from the banks of the Findhorn,
Shaws from Tordarrooh, MacPhails from
Inverairnie, and Mackintoshes from lake
shore, river bank, glen, and dale, amongst whom
were the doughty Angus and William of Farr,
and the hero of our story, lain-a'-Bhreacain. A
brave array, as they swung into line of march,
the pipes blowing, the cat-crested banner flying,
and Lady Mackintosh leading the van. Well
might she glance with pride along the tartaned
lines, as she handed them over to her prince, and
gave Macgillivray, her chosen leader, her last
instructions. To the seer looking into the future
"Gha till sinn tuiUirlh," would have seemed an
appropriate air for this last march of Clan
Chattan ; but gaily the clansmen's plaids and
phillibegs swung, as with light footsteps they
trod the heath for Culloden.
On the day of battle, when the clan led the
way through whistling bullets, smoke, and falling
snow, in the rush upon Cumberland's serried
ranks of steel, Iain was amongst the first to
reach that grim live barrier. It was said that
he bounded over the bayonets like a stag, and
wheeling round made ghastly gaps in the ranks
of the foe through which many of his comrades
rushed. But no bravery could dispel the doom
that, for Prince Charles and his leal Highlanders,
hung over that fatal moor, and Iain with the
few that survived of his clan had to flee to the
mountains. With Iain Roy Stewart, they might
ioin in singing the doleful lines : —
" Tha ar cinn fo na choille
'S i?igin beanntan 'us gleannan thoirt oirnn
'Sinn gun siigradh gun mliacnus
Gun eibhneas gun aitneas gun cheol
Air blieag bklh na teine
Air na stucan an laidheadh an ceo
Sinn mar chomhachaig eil
Ag e'isdeachd 'n deireas gach 16'."
Iain chose his hiding places as near the old
home as he safely could, and Mary ministered
to his wants. When the snow was on the
ground she sometimes would wade up the
channels of the mountain streams, fearing her
footmarks might be tracked. One day Iain
ventured home to see the old jieople, but before
he left a jiarty of soldiers came to the door.
When he found they intended searching the
house lie sprang out, and striking right and
left, cut his way through them and escaped.
Angus's house was thenceforth a marked place,
and the soldiers came frequently to look for the
formidable rebel. Mary and her parents bore
the rude insults of the soldiers uncomplainingly,
but one day assault was added to insult. When
Iain heard this he determined within himself to
be avenged upon the oppressors. Day after
day he watched for them from a spot in the
hills that commanded a view of the strath, and
when he saw them coming in the distance, he
hastened home and, unobserved by anyone, hid
himself in a outhouse. Ere long they came.
Some of them entered the house, and a scream
from Mary reached his ear. He sprang from
his hiding place into the midst of the band that
stood round the door, and two or three of them
bit the dust before a volley from a dozen loaded
muskets laid him low. Mary's heart was broken,
and she pined away, bemoaning the loss of her
lover. The following is a fragment of a song
composed by her shortly before her death : —