THE FIFE ADVENTURERS. 221 



as he could decently make it : to a man like Lennox, life 

 in the Outer Hebrides meant exile in an aggravated form. 

 After his departure for England with the King, this Duke 

 of the blood-Royal practically severed his connexion with 

 Scottish affairs. 



The military force which accompanied the expedition 

 was strengthened in the North by Mackenzie of Kintail, 

 Donald Gorm of Sleat, and Mackay of Strathnaver. The 

 Earl of Sutherland sent a body of men under William 

 Mac-Vic-Sheumais, Chief of the Clan Gunn. Thus were 

 impressed into the service of the King, the secret enemies 

 and lukewarm friends of the Adventurers. On their arrival 

 in Lewis, the leaders sent a message to Tormod Macleod 

 offering terms. They promised, in the event of his sub- 

 mission, to send him to the King in London, obtain a 

 pardon for his attack on their predecessors, and offer no 

 opposition to any attempts he might make to gain the 

 favour of James and a means of livelihood. Realising that 

 resistance was useless against so powerful a force, Tormod 

 agreed to the terms, against the advice of Neil, the irrecon- 

 cilable. The invaders then took formal possession of the 

 island, the stalwarts under Neil retiring to a place of 

 safety, there to bide their time. Tormod went to London, 

 and having obtained an audience of the King, laid his 

 case before him. The generous terms which Tormod had 

 granted to the defeated colonists, four years previously, 

 must have prepossessed the King in his favour, and the 

 personal accounts by the Adventurers of Tormod's 

 demeanour must have deepened the favourable impres- 

 sion. Here at last appeared in his presence one of the 

 wicked Lewismen, who, far from answering the description 

 which he had so frequently fastened indiscriminately upon 

 the islanders, was a person of a modest and gallant bearing. 

 James became interested in the young man, and listened 

 not without sympathy to his tale of injustice, and to his 

 request to be re-instated in the possession of his patrimony. 

 It is not conceivable that the King ever thought seriously 

 of restoring the status quo in the island ; but that he was 



