The book Arran; - Cook Clan

FOLK HISTORY 121
after, a Fullarton appeared in the island claiming to be a
descendant of the fratricide and rightful heir to the property
but, though he knew all about the ghastly affair at Leac
Sheumais, he lacked the usual single link in completing his
proof of descent, and could not carry the matter to
an issue.^
Without prejudice it may be interpolated that the succession
of two FuUartons in the first half of the seventeenth
century is uncertain. Even the name of one of them is
uncertain, whether James or Allan (preference is given to
the former) ; and it is not clear whether he was the son of
the Donald who preceded him, or whether he was the father
of the Alexander who became his successor. ^ At no other
point can the story given above intrude itself.
Here only, too, can place be found for the tale of the
hidden heir, the Fullarton child that was preserved from
his enemies by his old nurse, who hid him in a cave near
the upper end of Glen Cloy. To occupy the child in her
absence she provided him with a piece of raw meat to suck,
and, to ensure that he could not choke himself by attempting
to swallow the morsel, she tied it by a string to the boy's
big toe. Thus, if he choked and struggled, his struggles
would dislodge the beef.
On the west side the same story is given a M'Alister heir
for its subject, and a place in the shelter of a peculiarly
situated boulder near the head of Glen lorsa. The boy had
been carried away by the nurse from the capture of his
ancestral home and the slaying of his kindred by Campbells
or MacDonalds, He grew up and became a sailor, rising
to the command of a trading vessel^—as humiliating a career,
in this connection, as for the sons of Rob Roy to become
weavers. And so, once upon a time, he found himself in
1 This was 'James Fullerton/ one of the ' Albion' emigrants as a boy, born in
Oorrie in 1822.
—
2 Reid's Bute, p. 238.
Annals of Megantic, pp. 166-7. Cf. p. 225.
VOL. II. Q
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