THE UISTS AND BARRA. 287 



from which it would appear that the mild-looking outlaw 

 was again at his old tricks. The outcome of this commission 

 is not recorded. 



About this time, a piracy occurred on the coast of Barra 

 which created a considerable stir. A ship belonging to a 

 certain Abel Dynes, a merchant of Bordeaux, appeared off 

 the coast, and according to Lewis tradition, the natives 

 supposed she had been sent to subjugate the Long Island 

 on behalf of the Scottish Government. The same tradition 

 relates that the clans in Lewis held a Council of War, set 

 off for Barra in the Brieve's galley and two other large 

 " schuyts," boarded the strange ship, and killed the whole 

 of the crew, with the exception of one man, his wife, and 

 child. From the boy so the tradition relates the Mac- 

 kinnons of Lewis are descended. Whether or not this 

 narrative has been erroneously connected with the capture 

 of Abel Dynes's ship, it is certain that the piracy of the latter 

 gave rise to a domestic quarrel among the Macneills, which 

 placed the members of that unhappy family in two opposing 

 camps, and embittered the declining years of old Ruari. 



The latter had contracted a " handfast " marriage with a 

 sister of Maclean of Duart, by whom he had several sons, 

 the eldest, named Donald, being the leader of the attack 

 on the Bordeaux ship. A commission was given to 

 Clanranald to apprehend him, which the latter carried out 

 in February, 1610. The prisoner was confined in the Tol- 

 booth of Edinburgh where he "endit this lyffe." Ruari 

 Macneill's lawful wife was a sister of Clanranald, and the 

 action of the latter, in seizing Donald Macneill, aroused the 

 enmity of Donald's brother, not only against Clanranald, 

 but against his nephews, Ruari Macneill's sons by Clan- 

 ranald's sister. This bred bad blood between the brothers- 

 german; and the sons of the senior family, assisted by their 

 uncle Maclean, in revenge seized Neil, the elder son by the 

 second marriage, and sent him to Edinburgh to stand his 

 trial as a participator in the piracy. Neil, however, was 

 found innocent of the charge, and through the influence 

 of Clanranald, was set at liberty. And so the quarrel was 



X 2 



