There is at present living in the neighbourhood of --- an old lady,about seventy years of age. Her maiden name is ---, {140} and she isa native of Braemar, but left that district when about twenty yearsold, and has never been back to it even for a visit. On being askedwhether she had ever heard the story of Sergeant Davies, she at firstpersisted in denying all knowledge of it. The ordinary version wasthen related to her, and she listened quietly until it was finished,when she broke out with:--"That isn't the way of it at all, for the men _were_ seen, and it wasa forbear of my own that saw them. He had gone out to try to get astag, and had his gun and a deer-hound with him. He saw the men onthe hill doing something, and thinking they had got a deer, he wenttowards them. When he got near them, the hound began to run on infront of him, and at that minute _he saw what it was they had_. Hecalled to the dog, and turned to run away, but saw at once that he hadmade a mistake, for he had called their attention to himself, and ashot was fired after him, which wounded the dog. He then ran home asfast as he could, never looking behind him, and did not know how farthe men followed him. Some time afterwards the dog came home, and hewent to see whether it was much hurt, whereupon it flew at him, andhad to be killed. They thought that it was trying to revenge itselfon him for having left it behind."At this point the old lady became conscious that she was telling thestory, and no more could be got out of her. The name of the lady whokeeps a secret of 145 years' standing, is the name of a witness in thetrial. The whole affair is thoroughly characteristic of theHighlanders and of Scottish jurisprudence after Culloden, while theverdict of "Not Guilty" (when "Not Proven" would have been stretchinga point) is evidence to the "common-sense" of the eighteenth century.
