Agnews of Lochnaw

312 RAID OF THE HIGHLAND ROYALISTS. [1654.
Protector. As for the Sheriff, though hereditary jurisdictions
were abolished as a fundamental principle of the Commonwealth,
he received a commission from the Protector, granting him
powers similar in most respects to those he had previously exer-
cised, and this was renewed from year to year. Soon after this
a strange adventure befell him. As he was sleeping soundly
in his Castle of Innermessan one cold winter's night, unconscious
of all danger, his house was surrounded by a well-armed band
of -guerillas, and before assistance could be summoned his doors
were forced in, and he himself arrested in the name of Charles II.
The commandant of the party informed his helpless host that
he was the king's prisoner, and the dragoons having provisioned
their horses from his stables, made free with the contents of the
Sheriff's larder ; the captain suggesting the necessity of some re-
freshment to the host himself, intimating that he had a long
journey before him. But little time was lost, what the troopers
could not stow away under their belts they put into their wallets.
The Sheriff was then allowed to select a horse from his own stud,
the rest being carried off to serve his escort as re-mounts.
Assuring the weeping Lady Agnes that the captive should
be well cared for, the captain gave the word, and the whole
party mounting, hurried off in the early gray of a February morn-
ing across the marches of Ayrshire ; when, turning inland, they
plunged with all speed into the wild hills, avoiding all frequented
paths, never halting till at a sufficient distance to render them
safe from pursuit. But here, soon finding the population every-
where hostile, and subsistence only to be procured by plunder,
their prisoner was so much in their way that the captain agreed
to allow the Sheriff to go free, on his giving a bond for a good
round sum, to render himself at the Highland Boyalist camp in
Athol :— for these were no other than a marauding party from
Glencairn's men who had penetrated thus far in search of
plunder.
The Sheriff willingly agreed, the two viewing the matter in
very different ways — the partizan, indifferent as to whether his
prisoner forfeited his recognizances or not, having strong faith in