222 A SCOTTISH BLOOD-FEUD 



After the deed was done, Auchendrayne realised that his 

 safety lay in the silence of the lad Dalrymple ; he 

 therefore had him kidnapped, and shut him up in 

 Auchendrayne tower for nine or ten weeks. Thence he 

 sent him to a friend in Arran, the laird of Skelmorlie; 

 but the boy, being treated with harshness there, made 

 his escape back to Ayrshire, where Auchendrayne captured 

 him once more, and, after some further weeks of imprison- 

 ment, took him to Leith and shipped him off as a 

 recruit for the regiment of Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch, 

 devoutly trusting, no doubt, that he would there be 

 knocked on the head. All this, of course, was a device 

 to conceal the fact that Culzean's intended journey to 

 Edinburgh had been made known to Auchendrayne. 



Nothing was heard of Dalrymple for some years, when, 

 to Mure's horror, he reappeared in Ayr at his mother's 

 house, and straightway came to ask employment from 

 him. Young Mure, who had been as deeply concerned 

 in the plot against Culzean as his father, was called into 

 counsel, and this worthy pair were of one mind that 

 Dalrymple must be silenced for ever. On some pretence 

 or other they induced him to accompany them to Girvan, 

 where he was lodged with Auchendrayne's tenant, James 

 Bannatyne, in Chapeldonald. It was a light matter in 

 those days for a laird to exact service from a tenant, 

 and a very serious matter for a tenant to refuse. The 

 service Auchendrayne now asked of Bannatyne was that 

 he should assist him and his son to murder Dalrymple. 

 To this end the elder Mure and Bannatyne led the 

 victim upon the sands of Girvan at ten o'clock at night. 

 Bannatyne, who seems to have been of ' milder mood,' 

 had qualms, declaring it was a cruel purpose when it 



