History Of The Mackenzies [66]
gradually such defenceless gaps as became inviting and easily penetrable by the intelligence of Mackenzie, and Alastair Ionraic acquired a great portion of his estates by this legitimate advantage, afterwards secured by the intractable arrogance of Macdonald of Lochalsh and the valour and military capacity of Coinneach a Bhlair." In 1513 John of Killin is found among those Highland chiefs summoned to rendezvous with the Royal army at Barrow Moor preparatory to the fatal advance of James IV. into England, when the Mackenzies, forming with the Macleans, joined that miserably-arranged and ill-fated expedition which terminated so fatally to Scotland on the disastrous field of Flodden, where the killed included the King, with the flower of his nobility, gentry, and even clergy. There was scarcely a Scottish family of distinction that did not lose at least one, and some of them lost all the male members who were capable of bearing arms. The body of the King was found, much disfigured with wounds, in the thickest of the slain. Abercromby, on the authority of Crawford, includes, in a list of those killed at Flodden, "Kenneth Mackenzie of Kintail, ancestor to the noble family of Seaforth." This is an undoubted error for it will be seen that John, not Kenneth was chief at the time of Flodden. It was he who joined the Royal army, accompanied by his brave and gallant uncle, Hector Roy of Gairloch and it is established beyond dispute that though almost all their followers fell, both John and Hector survived and returned home. They, however, narrowly escaped the charge of Sir Edward Stanley in rear of the Highlanders during the disorderly pursuit of Sir Edward Howard, who had given way to the furious and gallant onset of the mountaineers.
John was made prisoner, but afterwards escaped in a very remarkable manner. When his captors were carrying him and others of his followers to the south, they were overtaken by a violent storm which obliged them to seek shelter in a retired house occupied by the widow of a shipmaster. After taking up their quarters, and, as they thought, providing for the safe custody of the prisoners, the woman noticed that the captives were Highlanders; and, in reference to the boisterous weather raging outside, she, as if unconsciously, exclaimed, "The Lord help those who are to-night travelling on Leathad Leacachan." The prisoners were naturally astonished to hear an allusion, in such a place, to a mountain so familiar to them in the North Highlands, and they soon obtained an opportunity, which their hostess appeared most anxious to afford them, of questioning her regarding her acquaintance with so distant a place; when she told them that during a sea voyage she took with her husband, she had been taken so ill aboard ship that it was found necessary to send her ashore on the north west coast of Scotland, where, travelling with only a maid and a single guide, they were caught in a severe storm, and she was suddenly taken in labour. In this distressing and trying position a Highlander passing by took compassion upon her, and seeing her case so desperate, with no resources at hand, he, with remarkable presence of mind, killed one of his horses, ripped open his stomach, and taking out the bowels, placed her and the newly-born infant in their place, as the only effectual shelter from the storm. By this means he secured sufficient time to procure female assistance, and ultimately saved the woman and her child. But the most remarkable part of the story remains to be told. The same person to whom she owed her preservation was at that moment one of the captives under her roof. He was one of Kintail's followers on the fatal field of Flodden. She, informed of his presence and of the plight he was in, managed to procure a private interview with him, when he amply proved to her, by more detailed reference to the incidents of their meeting on Leathad Leacachan, that he was the man--"Uisdean Mor Mac `Ille Phadruig"--and in gratitude, she, at the serious risk
John was made prisoner, but afterwards escaped in a very remarkable manner. When his captors were carrying him and others of his followers to the south, they were overtaken by a violent storm which obliged them to seek shelter in a retired house occupied by the widow of a shipmaster. After taking up their quarters, and, as they thought, providing for the safe custody of the prisoners, the woman noticed that the captives were Highlanders; and, in reference to the boisterous weather raging outside, she, as if unconsciously, exclaimed, "The Lord help those who are to-night travelling on Leathad Leacachan." The prisoners were naturally astonished to hear an allusion, in such a place, to a mountain so familiar to them in the North Highlands, and they soon obtained an opportunity, which their hostess appeared most anxious to afford them, of questioning her regarding her acquaintance with so distant a place; when she told them that during a sea voyage she took with her husband, she had been taken so ill aboard ship that it was found necessary to send her ashore on the north west coast of Scotland, where, travelling with only a maid and a single guide, they were caught in a severe storm, and she was suddenly taken in labour. In this distressing and trying position a Highlander passing by took compassion upon her, and seeing her case so desperate, with no resources at hand, he, with remarkable presence of mind, killed one of his horses, ripped open his stomach, and taking out the bowels, placed her and the newly-born infant in their place, as the only effectual shelter from the storm. By this means he secured sufficient time to procure female assistance, and ultimately saved the woman and her child. But the most remarkable part of the story remains to be told. The same person to whom she owed her preservation was at that moment one of the captives under her roof. He was one of Kintail's followers on the fatal field of Flodden. She, informed of his presence and of the plight he was in, managed to procure a private interview with him, when he amply proved to her, by more detailed reference to the incidents of their meeting on Leathad Leacachan, that he was the man--"Uisdean Mor Mac `Ille Phadruig"--and in gratitude, she, at the serious risk