egan, and his example spread panic among the force which broke
and ran for their boats, and the best MacDonald was he who first
reached the beach. The claymores of the MacLeans hewed them down
without mercy and their heads were chopped off and thrown into a well
which has since borne a Gaelic name descriptive of the event. It would
seem that these clans must have exterminated each other by this time,
but the bleak moors and rocky slopes of these western islands bore a
wonderful crop of fighting men, and soon the MacLeans were invading the
coast of Lorn and spreading havoc among the MacDonalds with great
slaughter.

Lachlan found time also to seek vengeance on the MacIans for daring to
meddle in his affairs. John MacIan, chief of that smaller clan which
owed fealty to the MacDonalds, had been a suitor for the hand of
Lachlan Mo'r MacLean's mother, who was a sister of the Earl of Carlyle,
and had a fortune in her own right. Now the MacIan renewed his
attentions, and Lachlan looked on grimly, aware that the motive was
greed of gold and lands. His mother gave her consent but her
two-fisted son made no objection until the MacIan came to Mull to claim
his bride. The marriage was performed in the presence of Lachlan and
his most distinguished retainers, and there was a feast and much
roaring conviviality. In the evening, the company being hot with wine,
a rash MacIan brought up the matter of the recent feud and a pretty
quarrel was brewed in a twinkling.

Several of the MacIans boasted that their chief had wed "the old lady"
for the sake of her wealth. "Drunkards ever tell the truth," flung
back a MacLean with which he plunged a dirk into the heart of the
tactless guest. Instantly the swords were flashing, and hardly a
MacIan came alive out of the banqueting hall. Lachlan missed this
melee, for some reason or other, but coming on the scene a little later
he quoted in the Gaelic a proverb which means, "If the fox rushes upon
the hounds he must expect to be torn." His followers took it that he
felt no sorrow at the fate of the MacIans, and forthwith they rushed
into the chamber of the bridegroom, dragged him forth, and would have
dispatched him, but the lamentations of Lachlan's mother for once moved
her rugged son to pity, and he contented himself with throwing the
chief of the MacIans into the dungeon of Duart Castle.

This happened in the summer of 1588, and affairs were in this wise when
the galleon _Florencia_