and again
fled precipitately to the burn. Many, however, missed the ford, and the
channel being rough and rocky several fell under the swords of the
victorious Mackenzies. The remainder, with all the speed they could
make, held on for miles lighted by a splendid and cloudless moon, and
when the rays of the morning burst upon them, Allan Dubh Macranuil and
his party were seen ascending the southern ridge of Glen Urquhart with
the Mackenzies close in the rear. Allan casting an eye behind him and
observing the superior numbers and determination of his pursuers, called
to his band to disperse in order to confuse his pursuers and so divert
the chase from himself. This being done, he again set forward at the
height of his speed, and after a long run, drew breath to reconnoitre,
when, to his dismay, he found that the avenging Mackenzies were still
upon his track in one unbroken mass. Again he divided his men and bent
his flight towards the shore of Loch Ness, but still he saw the foe with
redoubled vigour, bearing down upon him. Becoming fearfully alive to his
position, he cried to his few remaining companions again to disperse,
until they left him, one by one, and he was alone. Allan, who as a mark
of superiority and as Captain of the Glengarry Macdonalds, always wore a
red jacket, was easily distinguished from the rest of his clansmen, and
the Mackenzies being anxious for his capture, thus easily singled him
out as the object of their joint and undiverted pursuit. Perceiving the
sword of vengeance ready to descend on his head he took a resolution as
desperate in its conception as unequalled in its accomplishment. Taking
a short course towards the fearful ravine of Aultsigh he divested
himself of his plaid and buckler, and turning to the leader of the
Mackenzies, who had nearly come up with him, beckoned him to follow,
then with a few yards of a run he sprang over the yawning chasm, never
before contemplated without a shudder. The agitation of his mind at the
moment completely overshadowed the danger of the attempt, and being of
an athletic frame he succeeded in clearing the desperate leap. The young
and reckless Mackenzie, full of ardour and determined at all hazards to
capture the murderer followed; but, being a stranger to the real width
of the chasm, perhaps of less nerve than his adversary, and certainly
not stimulated by the same feelings, he only touched the opposite brink
with his toes, and slipping downwards he clung b