POLYGLOT GHOST. 275 



known to more than one person, that the spirit of the un- 

 fortunate huntsman had appeared to him, and told him he 

 had been murdered by two Highlanders, natives of the 

 country, named Duncan Terig, alias Clerk, and Alexander 

 Bane Macdonald. Proofs accumulated ; and a person was 

 even found to bear witness, that lying in concealment 

 upon the hill of Christie (the spot where poor Davies was 

 killed), he and another man, now dead, saw the crime 

 committed with their own eyes. A girl, whom Clerk 

 afterwards married, was nearly at the same time seen in 

 possession of two valuable rings, which the sergeant used 

 to have about his person. Lastly, the counsel and agents 

 of the prisoners were convinced of their guilt. Yet, 

 notwithstanding all these suspicious circumstances, the 

 panels were ultimately acquitted by the jury. 



" This was chiefly owing to the ridicule thrown upon 

 the story by the incident of the ghost, which was enhanced 

 seemingly, if not in reality, by the ghost-seer stating the 

 spirit to have spoken as good Gaelic as he had ever heard 

 in Lochaber. 



" ' Pretty well,' answered Mr. Macintosh, ' for the 

 ghost of an English sergeant ! ' This was, indeed, no 

 sound jest, for there was nothing more ridiculous in a 

 ghost speaking a language which he did not understand 

 when in the body, than there was in his appearing at all. 

 But still the counsel had a right to seize upon whatever 

 could benefit his client ; and there is no doubt that this 

 observation rendered the evidence of the spectre yet more 

 ridiculous ; in short, it is probable that the ghost of 

 Sergeant Davies, had he actually been to devise how to 

 prevent these two men from being executed for his own 



T 2 



