Blair Collection > Celtic magazine > Volume 5

DEEMOND. G3
midniglit storm, and borne away it died among the waves and rocks. The
timbers yielded to the shock, and were strewn on the face of the waters.
The roar and dash and hiss of the surging breakers made the hearts of
those who clung to the scattered pieces of the wreck shiver in their
bosoms. Some were borne away in the trough of some huge wave, while
others were dashed to death on the rocks, and the silvery crests of the
breakers grew red and bloody.
Chapter III.
You have spoiled the feast, broke the good meeting
"With most admired disorder.
—Lady Macbeth (Shak.J
Jutting from the mainland, and coming in close proximity to the northern
shores of Kerrera, is the promontory of Dunolly, terminating in a beetling
crag of considerable height. At the period to which our narrative refers
this great rock was crowned with a formidable pile of defended dwellings,
having a tall, square keep frowning on the western verge, and command-
ing a fair prospect of woodland, mountain, and sea.
The day preceding the storm an English knight attended by a squire
and a few jackmen arrived from the interior, made for the castle of
Dunolly, and demanded an audience of John of Lorn. Being commis-
sioned by Edward of England, Sir Guilbert de Valancymer had little
difficulty in accomplishing the object of his mission. The same day an
envoy was sent to Dunkerlyne, and the split arrow was circulated through-
out the Western Isles commanding the immediate attendance of Lorn's
vassals at a council of war. The violence of the tempest, however, which
broke out immediately after the despatch of the messengers, seemed to
prevent the gathering of the chieftains. The omen was bad, and predicted
disaster to the projected exjjedition ; and as the day darkened with the
increasing violence of the storm. Lorn became exceedingly uneasy. At
length the arrival of Macnab with a large following from the interior
served in some measure to abate his concern for the safety of his enterprise.
Elated at the triumph of this chieftain in attending to his summons, not-
withstanding the fearful nature of the night. Lorn resolved upon giving
him a reception equalling in splendour the gallantry of his conduct. The
board was furnished with the most costly dainties of the time, and all the
preparation for a mighty feast were made.
The blaze of log-tiie and flambeaux lit up the gloomy recesses of the
hall where the guests were assembled. Brought out in strong Rembrandt-
esque relief were the dark, almost Jewish, features of the Lord of Lorn
as he sat clothed in all his melancholy magnificence at the head of his
table. On his right was Macnab, a perfect specimen of the chieftain
of his time — tall and powerfid in frame, exalted and proud in bearing.
Beside him sat Xora the daughter of Lorn, celebrated throughout the Isles
for her distinguished beauty. On the other side of the board sat the
envoy from the Earl of Pembroke, Sir Guilbert de Valancymer, paying his
utmost court to a somewhat shy and shrinking damsel, who did not seem
to take the high-flown compUments of the English gallant with a very
good grace. This was Bertha, the cousin of iS'ora and daughter of Sir
David Macneill. Her appearance was not so prepossessing as that of her