Matheson Collection > Macleods of Dunvegan from the time of Leod to the end of the seventeenth century

IAN (IAN BREAC), SIXTEENTH CHIEF 159
sent his fool to Inverness to fetch a sum of money which
he required. On the way the fool fell in with a gentleman
riding a fine horse. This gentleman made himself ex-
tremely agreeable, and to him the fool confided the
mission he was engaged on. Naturally enough (seeing
the gentleman was no less a person than Rob Roy) , on
his return journey MacLeod's messenger met his friend
again. On this occasion Rob Roy was not quite so
pleasant ; he put a pistol to the poor fellow's head and
demanded the money of which he was the bearer. Pre-
tending great fear the fool threw a parcel on the ground ;
this roUed down a steep hill, and Rob Roy, supposing it
contained the money, sprang from his horse, and rushed
after it, leaving the fool who, like most of his class, was
a very shrewd fellow, to mount his assailant's horse, a
very superior one to his own, and make off with the
money all safe. The parcel he had thrown away con-
tained nothing but some bits of tin and iron, but in the
saddle-bags on Rob Roy's horse was found a large sum
of money, which the fool triumphantly delivered to his
master, as well as that which his ready wit had preserved.
MacLeod having some elementary notions of honesty,
which I daresay the fool thought extremely silly, insisted
on sending him back to find Rob Roy, and restore to
him his horse and money, also sending Rob Roy an in-
vitation to visit him at Dunvegan. The invitation was
accepted, and the famous outlaw and MacLeod became
great friends. This probably happened about 1690.
lan's harper was Rory Dall. To him we owe the
preservation of the remarkable prophecy which had been
uttered by Coinneach Odhar more than one hundred
years earlier. The story of Rory Ball's life is told at
length in Mr. MacGregor's book on Skye. From this I
gather that he was not the hereditary harper of the
MacLeods, but that Ian Breac had been so struck by his
extraordinary genius that he invited him to become his