256 SUPERSTITIOUS POACHERS. 



Cairn, at midnight, the first Monday in every month, 

 while the season lasts, the laird's ghaist will no meddle 

 wi' it. If ye neglect this my bidding, foul will befall ye, 

 and the fate of Walter of Rhuairm shall o'ertake ye ; ye 

 shall surely perish on the waste; the raven shall croak 

 your dirge ; and your banes shall be pickit by the eagle." 



Awed, superstitious, and depressed as they were by 

 fatigue, the poachers were not backward in giving the 

 promise, though it is not very probable that they ever 

 performed it. They passed the night in deep sleep, and 

 it was late before they rose from their beds of heather, 

 when they asserted that their hostess had vanished. 



The snow-storm having ceased, they found their way 

 into the track which led to Blair, and got into the strati i 

 of the Tay. This is supposed to have been the last time 

 that the witch of Ben-y-gloe held converse with mortal 

 man; but those who were less given to superstition, be- 

 lieved that the woman had been expecting her own friends, 

 who were probably also poachers detained by the storm, 

 and that she had made use of the above artifices in order 

 to obtain venison. 



Chisholm's Cave, in Carn-Vaduc, in the Ben Klibreck 

 forest, in Sutherland, derives its name from a freebooter, 

 who passed his life in caverns, poaching and living upon 

 pillage. His early history cannot be traced satisfactorily ; 

 but it is probable that he became a recluse in consequence 

 of having committed some atrocious crime; and that he 

 selected the retired cave at the back of Klibreck, from his 

 love of a forest life. He was not a native of Sutherland, 

 nor had he, whilst there, been guilty of any heinous crime ; 

 but he scrupled not to make frequent nocturnal visits to 



