The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

Scenes of Long Ago.
shot down in the Well Park. What further mischief might
have been done, who knows, had nut the miscreants been
interrupted in their work. It had been arranged that
before daylight the men were to set out for Brig o' Teith
with the cattle. Gillespie Macewen, my shepherd, rose
before the others and went to the Well Park to fetch some
queys which were grazing there along with the tups. On
his way he was surprised to hear four shots fired in rapid
succession. Creeping along close to the dike in order to
get near the scene of action unobserved — for his heart
misgave him that something was far wrong—he had not
proceeded many steps when two other shots were
fired, and he now distinctly heard the flock of sheep
scampering from that direction. At the moment
his dog came up with him, and rushed forward barking
furiously, and then he could see two men running at full
speed towards Corrie Goblin. The moon shone out full
upon them, and he could swear that they were Farquhar
and Gillies M'llvaine, and no other. Next day the constables
under the direction of my good friend Mr Deputy
Phraser, searched every house and every nook in the neigh-
bourhood of Anard, but to no purpose. The M'llvaine
women stoutly maintained that they had not seen their
husbands since Michaelmas, and that they would not return
until after the Brig o' Teith Fair, and so the matter stands.
One trace of the spoilers was discovered near the carcasses
of the poor sheep. This was the ramrod of a horse-pistol ;
and, besides, we plainly discerned a footprint turned
inwards, which without any doubt connects Gillies M'llvaine
with the deed. The Deputy, however, hesitated not to
issue a warrant for apprehension, inasmuch as the M'llvaines
were never known to possess pistols, and Gillespie did not
actually see the features of the retreating marauders, while,
argues he, the mud being soft and deep, was liable to give
a shape to other than their own, to such footprints as might
be stamped on its surface. On my return, I hope to get
the Deputy to move. Otherwise, the stock of Glenbeltane,