TRIAL OF THE BRAES CROFTERS. 39 



alongside the quay, Colin stepped out, playing ' ' Gabhaidh sinn an 

 rathad mor ". He was followed by the poetess, and after her the five 

 liberated men. Each man, as he stepped on the quay, was embraced 

 by the males, and hugged and kissed by the females, amid volumes of 

 queries as to their condition since they left, and congratulations on their 

 return. These friendly greetings were not allowed to be of any duration, 

 for each man was hoisted and carried shoulder-high in triumph through 

 the streets of Portree. The Braes men themselves mustered in full 

 force, and in the procession they were joined by numerous sympathisers 

 in the district and the village of Portree. The crowd, headed by the 

 piper and the poetess, proceeded along the principal thoroughfare to 

 the Portree Hotel. Bonnets were carried on the tops of walking sticks, 

 and held up above the heads of the people, amid cries of " Still higher 

 yet my bonnet," while the women of Portree waved their white hand- 

 kerchiefs and shouted Gaelic exclamations of joy as the "lads wi' the 

 bonnets o' blue " were carried along in triumph. On reaching the 

 Portree Hotel a number of them, including the " suspects, " went in, 

 and Mr. Maclnnes, the popular tenant of that excellent and well- 

 conducted establishment, treated the "suspects" to refreshments. 

 Who should happen to turn up unexpectedly at the hotel but the factor, 

 accompanied by some of his friends, and when that individual emerged 

 from the door of the hotel, he was received with a volume of groans. 

 The Braes men left the hotel without any delay and marched to their 

 homes in a body, shouting and cheering as they proceeded on their way. 

 A carriage was sent after them to convey the five men from Inverness 

 to their respective places of abode. 



In the meantime an intimation had been conveyed to the 

 Prisoners' Agent by Mr. James Anderson, Procurator-Fiscal 

 of Inverness, that he had been ordered by the Crown Agent 

 to have the prisoners tried summarily before the Sheriff for 

 the crimes of deforcement and assault. This was, so far as 

 known, the first time in Scottish Legal History that so 

 serious a crime, so seriously treated by the authorities at the 

 outset, had been ordered for summary trial. There was 

 something suspicious in the order, and although the letter 

 of it was adhered to, it is probable that but for the protests 

 made on behalf of the prisoners, both in and out of Parlia- 

 ment, the true meaning of the order would have been made 



