Silently they ride through Glencoe, the Glen o’ Weeping, their horses’ hoofs stir the dead ashes from under the heather, they pass through the dismantled ruins, they gallop over the graves of their enemies but they raise no shout of victory, make no gesture of triumph.
It is the Campbell way.
Only as they pass through desolation, the Countess Peggy looks at her husband and he at her; their eyes meet and flash and her thin lips curve into a smile.
There—somewhere under their horses’ hoofs lies Ronald Macdonald and the Campbells are free of Glencoe and all the Highlands.
Out of the Glen o’ Weeping they come, the Campbells hard-faced, riding swiftly, and Breadalbane’s wife looks at him with a deepening of her smile.
THE END
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE:
Silently corrected obvious punctuation errors; retained non-standard spellings and dialect.
Other changes: