Fletcher was called, as a matter of form, and, when he did not appear, was declared a fugitive from the law. Then the Lord Advocate asked that his estate should be forfeited. A jury was chosen, amongst the members of which were the Marquis of Douglas, the Earl of Mar, the Earl of Lauderdale, and other peers, and of commoners Sir John Clerk of Pennycuik and Sir John Dalmahoy of that Ilk. Two witnesses, Captain Bruce and Anthony Buyse, were examined. Buyse could only say that he had himself sailed in the ship with Monmouth, ‘where he did see a gentleman who was called “Fletcher of Saltoun,” who was a little man, and had a brown periwig, of a lean face, pock-marked,’ and that he heard he was ‘a Scots gentleman of a good estate.’ After the death of Dare he saw this gentleman ‘flee to the ship.’ Captain Bruce knew Fletcher, and had sailed with him to Lyme. The judges, however, were very punctilious about complete identification, and the evidence was not considered sufficient until the deposition of Monmouth’s servant Williams, then a prisoner in Newgate, was read. He stated that a few days before Monmouth embarked for England he ‘saw the said Mr. Fletcher with the late Duke, at his lodging in Mr. Dare’s house in Amsterdam,’ and then described Fletcher’s doings from the day they left Amsterdam until the afternoon of the 13th of June 1685. The proceedings of the jury, when they retired to consider their verdict, show that the judges were right in requiring full legal evidence as to the identity of Fletcher; for Lord Torphichen, Sir John Clerk, Somerville of Drum, and at least one more of the jury, argued that the evidence was insufficient, on the ground that only one witness, Captain Bruce, had been examined who could identify Fletcher of his own personal knowledge. Buyse, they said, who had spoken only from hearsay, ‘might be mistaken.’ But when they returned to the court-room, Lord Lauderdale, the foreman, announced that by a majority they found a verdict of Guilty. Then Fletcher was sentenced to be put to death wherever he was found. He was attainted as a traitor. His name and memory were declared extinct, his blood tainted, his descendants incapable of holding any places or honours, and all his estates forfeited to the Crown. This sentence was pronounced on the 4th of January 1686; and, by a grant under the Great Seal, dated Whitehall, 16th January, the lands and barony of Saltoun were given to George, Earl of Dumbarton. CHAPTER III Adventures in Spain--Serves in Hungary against the Turks--Returns to Scotland at the Revolution--Reforms in the Scottish Parliament--Saltoun restored--Darien.