82 THE DEER FORESTS OF SCOTLAND. 



scene of bloodshed, as one James Grant, of the 

 Carron family, having in some feud made matters 

 unpleasantly uncomfortable for himself, escaped to 

 these regions, and, collecting a party of fellow 

 desperadoes, he proceeded to harry all the district 

 round about, and especially the lands of his chief 

 enemy and relation, Grant of Ballindalloch. As a 

 nephew of his, John Grant, of Carron, was one day 

 cutting timber with seven or eight others in Aber- 

 nethy forest, Ballindalloch suddenly pounced on him 

 with a force double in numbers and thoroughly armed, 

 and, under pretence of seeking James Grant, John 

 Grant's party was attacked and John himself 

 was killed after a desperate resistance, for he and 

 his companions sold their lives very dearly. Sir R. 

 Gordon, the historian of those days, in his remarks 

 on this encounter, quaintly says : " Give me leave 

 heir to remark the providence and secrait judgement 

 of the Almightie God, who now hath mett Carron 

 with the same measure that his forefather, John 

 Roy Grant of Carron, did serve the ancestor of 



