that ran up a burn." He had scarcely finished speaking when Big Duncan entered, with four heads bound in a woodie (a sort of rope made of twisted twigs and bark of birch trees), and threw them before the chief; "Tell me now," says he, "if I have not earned my supper." In 1488, as his father Alexander the Upright lay on his deathbed, Hector Roy led five hundred of his clan in the battle of Sauchieburn, near Stirling, in support of King James III. Later on Hector submitted to King James IV., who is said to have granted Gairloch to him, and to have given him Glasleitire in Kintail and other estates. This may have been prior to the crown charter of Gairloch already mentioned as dated 1494. Alexander the Upright died in 1488, and Kenneth of the Battle only survived his father three years. On his death Kenneth Og, his eldest and only son by his first wife, became entitled to the lordship of Kintail, but was murdered in 1497 through the treachery of the laird of Buchanan, avenged long after by Donald Dubh, as related in the last chapter. The next heir was John Mackenzie, commonly called John of Killin, who was the eldest son of Kenneth of the Battle, by his second wife, a daughter of Lord Lovat. It was a question whether this marriage was regular; but in 1491 the pope legitimised the marriage. On the death of Kenneth Og, Hector Roy, notwithstanding the pope's decree, declared his nephew John of Killin to be illegitimate, and took possession of the Kintail estates for himself, the whole clan, with whom he was a great favourite, willingly submitting to his rule. During this period occurred the battle of Druim a chait, in which Hector Roy, with only one hundred and forty men, completely routed seven hundred of the Munros, Dingwalls, and Maccullochs, under Sir William Munro of Fowlis, at a place on the south side of the hill called Knock-farrel, between Dingwall and Strathpeffer. Sir William was lieutenant of James Stewart, second son of King James III., who had been created Duke of Ross. Munro, instigated by Lord Lovat, grandfather of John of Killin, determined to punish Hector Roy for his contumacy in holding Kintail. Hector having only time to gather seven score men, resolved to make up for his numerical inferiority by a stratagem. He lay in ambush on Knock-farrel, and as Munro returned in the gloaming from plundering Hector's house at Kinellan, Hector Roy and his men suddenly attacked the triumphant foe. Munro's seven hundred men were not expecting any danger, as they believed Hector Roy had fled the country, hence they were marching carelessly and out of order. Hector's sudden onslaught in the dusk threw them into confusion, and the rout became so general that the Mackenzies slew all the Dingwalls and Maccullochs, and most of the Munros. Hector Roy's men were armed with axes and two edged-swords. The slaughter, on the first charge, was terrific; no fewer than nineteen heads rolled into the well, still