e ready for the wedding, but chanced to visit on the way
William Cunningham, Earl of Glencairn, at his castle overlooking the
Clyde.

Cards were played to while away the evening, and Lachlan's partner was
one of the daughters of the host. It so happened that the game was
changed and the players again cut for partners. At this another
daughter, the fair Margaret Cunningham, whispered to her sister that if
the handsome Highland chief had been _her_ partner, "she would not have
hazarded the loss of him by cutting anew." Lachlan overheard the
compliment, as perhaps he was meant to do, and so far as he was
concerned hearts were trumps from that moment. He wooed and won
Margaret Cunningham and married her forthwith. The king was greatly
offended but what cared this happy man! He carried his bride to Duart
and laughed at his foes.

The quiet life at home was not for him, however. Soon he was playing
the game of the sword with the MacDonalds of Islay until a truce was
patched by means of a marriage between the clans. There was peace for
a time, but the trouble blazed anew over the matter of some lifted
cattle, and they were at it again hammer-and-tongs. The royal policy
seems to have been to permit these Highland gamecocks to fight each
other so long as they were fairly well matched. In this case the
various MacDonalds combined in such numbers against Lachlan MacLean
that the king interfered and persuaded them to seek terms of
reconciliation. Accordingly the Lord of the MacDonalds journeyed to
Duart Castle with his retinue of bare-legged gentlemen and was
hospitably received. Lachlan was canny as well as braw, and he
clinched the terms of peace by first locking the visitors in a room
whose walls were some twenty feet thick, and then holding as hostages
the two young sons of Angus MacDonald.

The high-tempered MacDonald was naturally more exasperated than
pacified, and he turned the tables when Lachlan soon after went to
Islay to receive performance of the promises made touching certain
lands in dispute. The Highland code of honor was peculiar in that
treachery appears to have been a weapon used without scruple. The
MacDonalds swore that not a MacLean should suffer harm, but no sooner
had Lachlan and his clansmen and servants arrived than they were
attacked at night by a large force. The party would have been put to
the sword, but that Lachlan rushed into the midst of the foe holding
aloft one of MacDonald's s