His father, Ruaridh an t' Sealgair, also had the magical power of the sian. Both Rorie and Alastair were--like their ancestor whose _soubriquet_ they bore--great hunters and poachers. When they wanted venison they would go to the mountains. As soon as they saw a deer they would, by the exercise of magic, cause the animal to stand or to go where they pleased, so that they could easily get within range. If the deer saw the magician first, the spell failed; it was necessary that the hunter should spy his quarry before he was himself observed. Instances of Alastair's exercise of this power are said to have occurred during the time of the late Sir Francis Mackenzie, Bart. of Gairloch. They say too that Alastair, when sitting at the roadside, could by the sian render himself invisible to persons who passed close to him. Our next and last example is of a different application of magic. Every detail of the case is firmly believed by many natives of Gairloch now living to be absolutely true. In the chapter of James Mackenzie's "Gairloch Stories," given further on, is an account of the death by drowning at the head of Loch Maree of John M'Ryrie. His grandfather was the hero of the following adventure. At the time of its occurrence he had a large open boat, in which he used to carry the mails between Poolewe and Stornoway. He lived at Poolewe. One Donald M'Lean helped to work the boat. It was before the smack was put on this service. On one occasion M'Ryrie was kept several days at Stornoway by a contrary wind. He was going about the place two or three days grumbling at the delay. He met a man in the street, who advised him to go to a certain woman and she would make the wind favourable for him. In the morning he went to her, and paid her some money. She gave him a piece of string with three knots on it. She told him to undo the first of the knots, and he would get the wind in his favour; if the wind were not strong enough for him, he was to undo the second knot, but not until he would be near the mainland; the third knot, she said, he must not untie for his life. The wind changed whilst he was talking to her; and he set sail that same morning. He undid the first knot on the voyage, and the breeze continued fair; the second knot he untied when he was near the mouth of Loch Ewe, and the breeze came fresh and strong. When he got to Ploc-ard, at the head of Loch Ewe, he said to M'Lean that no great harm could happen to them if he were to untie the third knot, as they were so near the shore. So he untied the third knot. Instantly there was such a hurricane that most of the houses in Poolewe and Londubh were stripped of their thatch. The boat was cast high and dry on the beach at Dal Cruaidh, just below the house of Kirkton; her crew escaped uninjured. It is said that at that time there were several women about Stornoway who had power by their arts to make the wind favourable. Chapter XV. VISIONS AND SECOND-SIGHT.