22

HISTOKY OP ENGLAND.

CITAP.

XVIII.

1692 .

government, seems to have been pleased with the visit. The- officers passed much of their time with him and his family.The long evenings were cheerfully spent by the peat fire withthe help of some packs of cards which had found their way tothat remote corner of the world, and of some French brandywhich was probably part of James’s farewell gift to his Highlandsupporters. Glenlyon appeared to be warmly attached to hisniece and her husband Alexander. Every day he came to theirhouse to take bis morning draught. Meanwhile he observed■with minute attention all the avenues by which, when thesignal for the slaughter should be given, the Macdonalds mightattempt to escape to the hills; and he reported the result of hisobservations to Hamilton.

Hamilton fixed five o’clock in the morning of the thirteenthof February for the deed. He hoped that, before that time,he should reach Glencoe with four hundred men, and shouldhave stopped all the earths in which the old -fox and his twocubs, — so Mac Ian and his sons were nicknamed by the mur-derers,— could take refuge. But, at five precisely, whetherHamilton had arrived or not, Glenlyon was to fall on, and toslay every Macdonald under seventy.

The night was rough. Hamilton and his troops made slowprogress, and were long after their time. While they werecontending with the wind and snow, Glenlyon was supping andplaying at cards with those whom he meant to butcher beforedaybreak. He and Lieutenant Lindsay had engaged them-selves to dine with the old Chief on the morrow.

Late in the evening a vague suspicion that some evil was in-tended crossed the mind of the Chief’s eldest son. The soldierswere evidently in a restless state; and some of them utteredstrange cries. Two men, it is said, were overheard whispering.“I do not like this job:” one of them muttered, “I should beglad to fight the Macdonalds. But to kill men in their beds —”