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332 Gaelic Society of Inverness.
able. He occupied a large portion of Glacksliellach as a sheiling.
About two years after he got his commission, two wayfarers
entered the hut which belonged to him in the glen, and l)eing
hungry asked of the dairymaid a little food for which they ortered
payment. She refused, whereon one of the men took possession
of a cheese, lea\n.ng as much money as he considered it worth.
The dairymaid despatched a messenger to the laird to give information
of what she called the robbery. The men were pursued,
overtaken at Contullich, in tlie parish of Alness, brought to Achnacloich,
summarily tried, hanged on the top of Knocknavie, and
buried in the Cairn above referred to. We now pass on to 1826,
when the caini was being removed. A youth of about 20 years,
employed at the removal of the cairn, on pulling out a stone from
the face, let down a large fall, when out rolled a grinning skull.
The youth was horrified, and leaving his horse ran oil' to his
father, who was emptying a load about 200 yards away from the
cairn. The father, who was a plucky fellow, castigated the son for
his cowardice in running away from a bone, but on the two of
them returning to the cairn, the father received no less a shock
than the son, for there was the skull with its upturned empty eye
sockets in a state of vibration, put in motion by a field mouse
that got jammed among the nasal bones. Information was given
to the managers of the neighbouring estates, who came the follow
ing day, and had all the bones removed and buried close by the cairn.
These were the bones of the two men who were hanged by the
Laird of Achnacloich, the finding of which verifies the tradition.
The man who got the first fright is still alive, and is my informant.
An incident in connection with the settling of the march between
Achnacloich and Newmore is worth mentioning. A large
boulder, conveniently situated, was fixed upon as one of the
march stones (it is to be seen on the margin of the road from
Achnacloich to Tain), and is still the march stone. Both ])arties
had a host of old and young men accompanying them to point out
the old marches and to bear in remembrance the new. On the
side of the laird of Achnacloich was a smart boy, to whom the
laird .said, "Will you remember this to be the march stone 1 " The
boy said he would. " Put your hand flat ujion it," said the laird.
The boy did so, and, before he was aware, the laird drew his sword,
and cut ofl" the boy's fingers, saying, "You will remember it now,"
and he did remember it, and told it to others who told it to succeeding
generations; and the stone is called " Clach ceann na
meoir," the stone of the finger ends, to this day,
Dalnavie.—The next we mention, though not a cairn, was