On the morning of the fatal day Allan M'Leod left the Loch Tollie Island in his boat, and having landed at the east end of the loch, went down Croftbrae to fish the river Ewe. At midday, as it was hot, and the fish were not taking, he lay down on the green hill at Croft, where the house of Kenneth Urquhart (called Kennie Rob) now stands. The hill is named to this day Cnoc na mi-Chomhairle, or the "Hill of evil counsel." There Allan fell fast asleep. His two brothers came over from Gairloch to carry out their murderous intention. When they came to Loch Tollie they saw the boat ashore at the east end of the loch, and therefore rightly concluded that their brother had gone down to fish the river. They followed, and finding him asleep, killed him where he lay. They cut off his head, and threw it into the mill-lead or race, between the green hill and the spot where the Widows' house, originally built for a distillery, and therefore known as "The still," now stands, and the head was washed down into the river. The brothers then returned to Loch Tollie, and taking the boat reached the island. There they told their brother's widow how they had slain him, and then they tore her little boys from her trembling grasp. They carried them away with them, and when they came to a spot above and to the north of the place now called "The glen" the ruffians killed the boys, and buried them there at a rock still called Craig Bhadan an Aisc, or the "rock of the place of interment." It is shewn on the [six-inch ordnance map]. They stripped the blood-stained shirts from the bodies as proofs that the boys were dead, and took them with them to the Tigh Dige. At that time the dress of a boy consisted only of a stout shirt or tunic, with a belt round the waist, until such time as he was old enough for the belted plaid. The bereaved mother came ashore as soon as she could, and followed the murderers. She came in the evening to a place called Clachan garbh, on the little burn half way between Achtercairn and the present Gairloch Hotel. There were houses there at that time. She went to an old man there, who had been a faithful retainer of her husband; she told him her terrible story. He bade her wait until he went to the Tigh Dige to see if her brothers-in-law had really killed the two boys. When it became dark he went to the Tigh Dige, and through an opening he saw by the firelight the boys' little shirts hanging up. He managed unperceived to get possession of the shirts, and brought them to the mother; they were covered with blood. The mother took the shirts, and went off straight with them to Brahan to her father, Alexander the Upright, who did not credit his daughter's terrible tale until she shewed him the blood-stained shirts. Alexander, who was then an infirm old man, sent his son Hector Roy Mackenzie to Edinburgh to the king, and he produced the shirts to satisfy the king that the triple murder had really been committed. The king gave Hector Roy a commission of fire and sword for the destruction of the M'Leods, and in 1494 he received a grant of Gairloch by charter from the crown.
The proceedings which ensued, and the circumstances attending the expulsion of the M'Leods long afterwards from Gairloch, will be narrated later on. Meanwhile the reader will be glad to learn that the two murderers were afterwards routed in a skirmish on the south side of Gairloch by one of the MacRae heroes, who pursued them to a spot between South Erradale and Point, where he slew them both, and they were buried in a hollow there, which is pointed out to this day.
Although the crown charter of 1494 granted the whole of Gairloch to Hector Roy Mackenzie, the M'Leods, as we shall see, retained for another century one-third part of Gairloch. The terrible murder committed about 1569 by Ruaridh Mac Allan M'Leod of Gairloch ([Part I., chap. xii.]) is curiously analogous to that recorded above. The murder of 1569 was the immediate cause of the warfare which resulted in the final expulsion of the M'Leods from Gairloch, just as that of 1480 had led to their being ousted from a great part of their territory there.
Family feuds and jealousies were the causes of the ultimate dismemberment of the Siol Torquil, and of the alienation of the whole of their vast possessions. Anyone who cares to trace their history, as given in Donald Gregory's and other works, will learn how all this happened; it does not concern us further here.
Chapter VIII.
The Macdonalds in Gairloch.
It will be remembered that Donald, Lord of the Isles, laid claim to and took possession of the earldom of Ross. This was about the beginning of the fifteenth century. It was probably from him, or from his father John Macdonald of Islay, first lord of the Isles, that the MacLeods of the Lews (the Siol Torquil) first obtained a title to Gairloch, as pointed out in the last chapter. To some extent Donald succeeded in subjugating Ross-shire, though several chiefs, including Mackenzie of Kintail, maintained their independence. It is easy to understand that Gairloch and other places adjacent to Skye would be overrun by the Macdonalds of Skye, the clansmen of the lord of the Isles. Some of them settled in Gairloch, and their offspring are still there. A charter of 1584 shews that Torridon, on the southern border of Gairloch, then belonged to Macdonald of Glengarry, a descendant of the lord of the Isles, and nineteen families of Macdonalds still dwell in Alligin on Loch Torridon.
One of the Macdonalds who came to Gairloch was named Mac Gille Riabhaich. Possibly he was a descendant of Gille Riabhach, who assisted Murdo Mackenzie, fourth lord of Kintail, to overcome Leod Mac Gilleandreis ([Part I., chap. iii.]). He took up his abode in a cave called Uamh Mhic 'ille Rhiabhaich, or the "cave of Mac Gille Riabhaich." It is close to a picturesque loch bearing the same name, on which are two small islands, one of which seems to have been a crannog or island fortalice, probably a refuge of Mac Gille Riabhaich in times of danger. The cave and loch are among the hills, two miles due east from Tournaig, in the parish of Gairloch.
Mac Gille Riabhaich was a notorious freebooter, as well as a warrior of renown. He was at the battle of Flodden Field in 1513. He became a well-known "lifter" of other people's cattle, and is said to have been outlawed. A story is related of him, which is given here not only because it illustrates the reckless lawlessness of the old Highlanders, but because its hero was an inhabitant of Gairloch.