carried their booty far, and that he should be able to recover them.

* Mad herdsmen--a name given to cattle-stealers [properly one who
deserves to fill a _widdie,_ or halter].

He desired that two Lowlanders should be sent on the party, as it was not
to be expected that any of his gentlemen would take the trouble of
driving the cattle when he should recover possession of them. My
informant and his father were despatched on the expedition. They had no
good will to the journey; nevertheless, provided with a little food, and
with a dog to help them to manage the cattle, they set off with
MacGregor. They travelled a long day's journey in the direction of the
mountain Benvoirlich, and slept for the night in a ruinous hut or bothy.
The next morning they resumed their journey among the hills, Rob Roy
directing their course by signs and marks on the heath which my informant
did not understand.

About noon Rob commanded the armed party to halt, and to lie couched in
the heather where it was thickest. "Do you and your son," he said to the
oldest Lowlander, "go boldly over the hill;--you will see beneath you, in
a glen on the other side, your master's cattle, feeding, it may be, with
others; gather your own together, taking care to disturb no one else, and
drive them to this place. If any one speak to or threaten you, tell them
that I am here, at the head of twenty men."--"But what if they abuse us,
or kill us?" said the Lowland, peasant, by no means delighted at finding
the embassy imposed on him and his son. "If they do you any wrong," said
Rob, "I will never forgive them as long as I live." The Lowlander was by
no means content with this security, but did not think it safe to dispute
Rob's injunctions.