and whisper into his ear the word of command, and that the lieutenant should screen Jock when he got drunk. This system of reciprocity answered admirably for a time, but at length the lieutenant, from inadvertency or some other cause, allowed Jock to be punished, and Jock determined to have his revenge. An opportunity soon offered. The regiment was on parade, and the lieutenant, as the officer of the day, had to give the word of command. Turning to Jock, he said, “What is it? What must I say?” But Jock remained stiff and erect—no answer proceeded from his lips. “What am I to do, you fool?” said the poor lieutenant, losing his temper. “Run hame, mon! run hame!” roared Jock, in a stentorian voice which was heard over all the lines, and caused a general titter in the ranks. The lieutenant, acting on Jock’s advice, sold out and returned home, where he was much respected as a kind-hearted country gentleman. Now it was a somewhat similar incident that rekindled the flame of discontent and caused an open mutiny among the Strathspey Fencibles at Dumfries in 1795. Militia officers are doubtless a highly-respectable class of men, and deserve well of their country in every respect, but they cannot be expected to possess the efficiency and skill of those who have devoted themselves to the profession of arms. The officers of the Strathspey Fencibles were men of good family, but as they had never seen any service they knew little about the management of troops, and sometimes exposed their ignorance in the presence of their own soldiers. On one occasion a contradictory order given by an officer called forth a jocular remark from one of the men, which was evidently much relished by his comrades. The officer lost his temper, put the offending parties in the guard-room, and threatened them with punishment—an indignity to which the proud spirit of the Highlanders refused to submit. They considered themselves disgraced by the threat, rushed to arms, and released their comrades by force. Soon after this the regiment was marched to Musselburgh, where Corporal James Macdonald and Privates Charles and Alexander Macintosh, Alexander Fraser, and Duncan Macdougall were tried for mutiny, found guilty, and condemned to be shot. In the case of Macdonald the sentence was commuted to corporal punishment—one of the first instances of a Highland soldier having been flogged. They were marched out to Gullane Links, East Lothian, on the 16th of July, and on reaching the ground were informed that only two would have to suffer the penalty of death. The two Macintoshes were called upon to draw lots, and the fatal one fell upon Charles. He and Fraser were immediately shot in the presence of the Scotch Brigade and other regiments assembled to witness this melancholy spectacle. The other men who had taken part in the mutiny were drafted into regiments serving abroad, and nothing further is known of their fate. No subsequent act of insubordination