246 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



On the same date that this commission was granted,. 

 Donald Gorm and Ruari Macleod were charged by the 

 Council to deliver to Kintail, two sons of Torquil Dubh, 

 Ruari and Torquil, the former being in the keeping of 

 Donald Gorm, and the latter in that of Macleod. And, on 

 the 24th July, Macleod was ordered to detain Donald Cam 

 Macaulay and Malcolm, his brother both of whom were 

 then in his custody until 3ist May, 1611, on which date 

 they were to be brought before the Council to answer 

 the charges against them. It would appear, however, that 

 the Macaulays escaped to Lewis perhaps with the con- 

 nivance of Macleod for tradition ascribes to them an 

 active share in the stirring events which took place in the 

 island about this time. 



Kintail was not slow in putting his mandate into execu- 

 tion. He sent his brother Ruari across the Minch with 

 700 men, who quickly reduced the Lewismen to sub- 

 mission. Neil Macleod, however, refused to give in. 

 With Malcolm, William, and Ruari (the three sons of 

 Ruari Og), Torquil Blair Macleod whose exact relation- 

 ship to Neil it is difficult to determine Torquil's four 

 sons and thirty others, he retired to the Islet of Birsay 

 (Bereasaid/i) in Loch Roag, on the west side of Lewis, and 

 there he was, for the present, safe against attack. With 

 great foresight, he had for years been provisioning Birsay, 

 which, to use a modern phrase, he evidently regarded as 

 his " last ditch " ; and he had also taken the precaution to 

 provide two boats wherewith to pass to Bernera or Lewis, 

 and replenish his larder when his stock of provisions began 

 to run low. That he made a free use of the boats for this 

 purpose, is proved by the indictment against him when, 

 three years afterwards, he fell into the hands of the 

 Privy Council and was tried for his life. He was charged 

 with having run various forays on the mainland which 

 probably means Lewis and having stolen goods and 

 cattle from a certain Malcolm Macaulay and Malcolm 

 Macdonald. According to tradition, Donald Cam Mac- 

 aulay, another of the leading stalwarts, took refuge from 



