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But, after all, it was she who cared, not Mrs. Bal. Her sense of humour, a saving grace of hers, was tickled by his persistence, and this unexpected coup at Ballachulish with the MacDonalds. Barbara would have preferred that her daughter should marry Basil, since she must marry somebody to be got rid of, being so dreadfully in the way, poor pet!
But their hearts failed them, no trigger was drawn, and when Glenure landed on the Appin side of the Ballachulish Ferry, he said, 'I am safe now that I am out of my mother's country, his mother having been of clan Cameron. The gun was not one of the two dilapidated pieces shown at the trial of James of the Glens, nor, I am told, was it the Fasnacloich gun.
A dear old waiter in the Loch Maree hotel advised me in the kindest way never, never to speak of fresh herring as fish, in Scotland. I wonder why? He said, would I have fresh herrings or eggs? I said I'd have the fish. He said there was no fish, but would I try the herring? That was the way the subject came up. We had two Highland ferries to cross, getting to Ballachulish.
But I haven't told you all yet. He wasn't alone. He had collected Duncan MacDonald and Miss MacDonald, and he'd come to Ballachulish looking for us. I must confess to you now that I wrote to him twice or three times, which was only polite, as he'd been so kind about rescuing me before. And you hadn't forbidden me to write. One of the things I told him in a letter was about the visit to Mrs.
As for Ballachulish, it is one of the most charming little places I've seen yet in Scotland, although coming here as we did from Loch Maree it would need to be beautiful indeed, not to be what you call in the theatre an 'anticlimax. Loch Maree lies all secret and hidden among deer forests. Along the narrow, twisting road as you go, you hear the rushing sound of many rivers.
Here and at Carnoch, as at Fasnacloich, Acharn, and Ballachulish, Allan Breck was much at home among his cousins. From Loch Leven north to Fort William, with its English garrison, all is a Cameron country. Campbell of Glenure was an outpost of Whiggery and Campbells, in a land of loyal Stewarts, Camerons, and Macdonalds or MacIans of Glencoe.
William Forster was at Ballachulish, and, as despatches were sent from the F. O. to cabinet ministers, we learnt the fact from him at 8.30 P.M. on September 3rd. Gladstone, though prime minister, volunteered to write an article in the 'Review' on the war, which he did. I kept the secret, but it leaked out through the 'Daily News' on November 3rd, and made a great noise.
Anyhow, Basil refused, saying he had writing to do and I went with Mr. Somerled and the cousins to the Pass of Glencoe you know, don't you, 'The Glen o' Weeping'? It is only an afternoon excursion from Ballachulish, so I was sure you wouldn't object to my deciding for myself.
The story centres on the Appin Murder of 1751, about which he had made inquiries in the neighbourhood of Rannoch, where Alan Breck skulked after the shooting of Campbell of Glenure in the hanging wood south of Ballachulish. Stevenson could not learn who "the other man" was the real murderer in the romance. I know, but respect the Celtic secret.
A remarkable Highland story must be here briefly alluded to. Mr. Campbell of Glenure, who had been named factor for Government on the forfeited estates of Stewart of Ardshiel, was shot dead by an assassin as he passed through the wood of Lettermore, after crossing the ferry of Ballachulish.
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