Historical memoirs of Rob Roy and the Clan Macgregor

THE CLAN MACGREGOR. 39
made this no disagreeable message. The whisky and a
light were immediately procured, with which they went to
the barn, accompanied by Macgregor. He drank their
healths, and waited till every man, seventeen in number,
had a glass of whisky, and then going out, he locked the
door, and carried away the key. Returning to his friends,
with whom Edinample, ignorant of the condition of his
men, still continued to drink and sit quietly, he collared
him and accused him of treachery. His astonished com-
panions having heard what their clansman said, were
instantly for putting him to death, but from this they
were dissuaded. He was, however, ordered to take
the dead deer on his back, and accompany them along
with it. He remonstrated against this, being, as he said,
a gentleman ; but it was in vain, the sight of an unsheathed
dirk made him comply. They took the road towards
Balquhidder, and having travelled several miles, during
which Edinample frequently fell under his burden, from
the roughness of the road deeply covered with snow, they
halted in the middle of a desolate heath. There they took
from him his load, and stripping him of his clothes, left
him in a state of complete nudity, to the mercy of the
cold, and to get home as he best could.
The first earl of Braidalbane, denominated John Glass,
had a respectable tenant, Duncan Macgregor, of the
family of Ardchoille, (anciently the rallying rock and
war word of the clan Gregor,) who was the son of Duncan
Abarach Macgregor, that fell in the conflict of Ben Duaig
with the Campbells, as formerly noticed; he held in lease
several possessions in Glenlyon, with that of Coircharmaig
in Glenlochy. Being an enterprising and valiant man, he
was induced by the persuasion of Braidalbane, who was
the implacable enemy of all the neighbouring proprietors,