220 A HUNDRED YEARS 



in a few days, the Sheriff, without any enquiry, beyond 

 the statement in the committal warrant, informing me 

 that the Lord Advocate did not think it a case for 

 prosecution ! So all I could do was to eject him, and 

 I learned he was welcomed on the neighbouring Torrid on 

 estate, where no doubt he found the mutton as good as 

 at Craig ! 



" A somewhat similar case occurred to our stalker, 

 Watson. At Badachro my father had long ago given 

 a site for a house as a feu. A mutton-lover had been 

 ejected from Aultbea, and got a room belonging to the 

 feu. Watson had a tame ewe always feeding near his 

 house, well-marked by half her face being black. She 

 was ' there yesterday, gone to-day.' He was sure his 

 neighbour had taken it. The neighbour and his wife 

 and family always looked well-fed, though no person 

 knew where their food came from. One day one of their 

 children, five years old, was inveigled into Watson's 

 to get ' a piece.' Asked how they were getting on, 

 the child answered, ' Very well.' ' What had they for 

 dinner yesterday ?' ' Mutton and broth.' ' Did they 

 eat all the mutton ?' ' No; the rest of it was salted.' 

 ' What did they do with the skin ?' ' It's below the 

 bed.' Instead of getting a search-warrant, Watson 

 waited till he saw me a week after, and by then nothing 

 was Jound. 



" About that time a great flood had changed the 

 course of the Kenlochewe River. On the bank stood 

 the bothy of a strongly suspected mutton-lover, a pauper 

 with a wife and well-fed children, he himself being sickly 

 and on the poor roll. His sole occupation lay in keeping 

 two collies, and they provided a constant supply of 



