''
``Dearest mother,'' answered Hamish, ``how
shall I convince you that you live in this land of
our fathers, as if our fathers were yet living? You
walk as it were in a dream, surrounded by the
phantoms of those who have been long with the
dead. When my father lived and fought, the great
respected the Man of the strong right hand, and
the rich feared him. He had protection from MacAllan
Mhor, and from Caberfae,* and tribute from
* Caberfae---_Anglice_, the Stag's-head, the Celtic designation
for the arms of the family of the high Chief of Seaforth.
meaner men. That is ended, and his son would
only earn a disgraceful and unpitied death, by the
practices which gave his father credit and power
among those who wear the breacan. The land is
conquered---its lights are quenched,---Glengary,
Lochiel, Perth, Lord Lewis, all the high chiefs are
dead or in exile---We may mourn for it, but we
cannot help it. Bonnet, broadsword, and sporran
---power, strength, and wealth, were all lost on
Drummossie-muir.''
``It is false!'' said Elspat, fiercely; ``you, and
such like dastardly spirits, are quelled by your own
faint hearts, not by the strength of the enemy; you
are like the fearful waterfowl, to whom the least
cloud in the sky seems the shadow of the eagle.
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