Agnews of Lochnaw

I602.J THE SEVENTH HEREDITARY SHERIFF. 239
Dalrymple to the sands, and there they murdered him. So
deliberately was this deed done that they had brought with them
tools to dig his grave ; but as they worked at their godless task,
the water rose in the hole as quickly as they formed it, and the
sand shooting in baffled all their efforts. Tired and alarmed, they
endeavoured to rid themselves of the body in the sea ; but the
waves sullenly refused to accept the charge, and all their labour
was in vain. Morning dawned upon them, wet up to their
waists, weary and conscience-stricken. They then desisted from
their endeavours in despair ; and, seeking shelter and conceal-
ment, passed the following day in great alarm. At night they
sallied forth again to their horrible labour, when they found
that the tide had at last washed the corpse away ; and, satisfied
at this result, they returned to their homes. Eut within five or
six days the same currents which had borne the body out to sea
restored it again to the beach at the very spot where the murder
had been committed. Here it was found by the country people,
who, knowing nothing of the matter, simply gave it decent burial
in a neighbouring churchyard.
And now a singular episode occurred in this tale of horrors.
Dalrymple had a very long time before been a servant to Sir
Thomas Kennedy's heir. This gentleman, as he lay asleep,
dreamed first that he saw this very man slaughtered, and then
that he was buried in that identical churchyard. He dreamed
further that he saw him disinterred, and, still dreaming, he
observed a mole on his left breast which he remembered him to
have had in former times ; hardly knowing why, he felt himself
impelled on awakening to verify the fact.
The corpse was found according to his dream ! and in com-
pliance with the invariable custom of the times, all the people
in the neighbourhood were summoned to touch the body, in
order to clear themselves of guilt.
They all obeyed, and all went through the ordeal uncon-
victed — Mure and his son being absent, and as yet not accused ;
but a little girl of Mure's, living with a neighbour, having
joined the crowd out of curiosity, "when she drew near the