. The land of heather . ed there. Of course the poet drew freely on his imagination intelling the story, and yet it is not at all unlikely that ** Here, for retreat in dangerous chief had framed a rustic bower ; for the situation of the isle well accords with suchuse; the old Celtic chieftains, their lives continuallyexposed to peril, were accustomed to have a secretdomicile ready in as strong and easily defended a spotof the most retired part of their domains as could beselected. It might be a cave, but, more often, a toweror rude hut was erected. The plot of the poem is not, howeve
. The land of heather . ed there. Of course the poet drew freely on his imagination intelling the story, and yet it is not at all unlikely that ** Here, for retreat in dangerous chief had framed a rustic bower ; for the situation of the isle well accords with suchuse; the old Celtic chieftains, their lives continuallyexposed to peril, were accustomed to have a secretdomicile ready in as strong and easily defended a spotof the most retired part of their domains as could beselected. It might be a cave, but, more often, a toweror rude hut was erected. The plot of the poem is not, however, dependent onthese general possibilities. It has a modicum ofgenuine historic foundation. The facts are these — atroop of Cromwells cavalry had made a raid into theTrossachs, and the local Highlanders had carried alltheir most valuable property to this little island inLoch Katrine, and left it there in the care of thewomen and children. The soldiery learned of whatthe natives had done, and came to the borders of the. Loch Katrine and Ben Venue Lochs and Bens 155 lake; but they could discover no means of getting outto the islet. While they were debating the difficulty,a trooper with sharper eyes than his fellows noticed aboat moored under one of the island cliffs, and he vol-unteered to swim across and get it. If they couldpossess themselves of the boat, access to the isle wouldbe easy, and they were sure to gain a rich reward ofplunder. The man was a good swimmer, his progresswas rapid, and his comrades soon saw him nearing theisland. But as he was about to set his foot on land, awoman armed with a sword appeared and smote off hishead, and his lifeless body fell back into the fellow-soldiers in great dismay and anger vainlydischarged their guns toward the island, yet none ofthem ventured any further attempt to secure the they withdrew, and left the possessors of theislet undisturbed. The name of the woman who byher valor saved the refuge from the inva
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Keywords: ., bookauthorjohnsonc, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookyear1904
