“Ye sons of dogs, of dogs the breed, Come quick, come here, on flesh to feed.” The tune is considered one of the best pieces of pipe music extant; and, in corroboration of the story, it is said that in 1826 a herd-boy fished out of the loch, then almost empty, a basket-hilted sword, but the men of Lochaber coming to hear of it, asked that it should again be deposited in its place, as it was a token and pledge of a very solemn transaction. So with due formality the sword was again thrown into the loch, the bard of the party repeating a Gaelic rhyme, which has been translated:— “The sword we’ve cast into the lake; Bear witness all the knolls around, Ours to the furthest stretch of time Are hill and stream and pasture ground.” This story, on almost similar lines, is told of two other Highland chiefs, but in that case there is no pipe tune connected with it, and it is as the origin of “The Camerons’ Gathering” that it is most generally accepted. CHAPTER XXIV. MORE STORIES AND A MORAL. “Pipe of the simple peasant—still Through Caledonia’s proud domains, Thou cheer’st the rustic cottage hearth With thy enlivening strains. “And in the far, far distant west, Where deep and pathless forests lower, Thou sooth’st the drooping exile’s breast Through many a lonely hour.” —_J. T. Calder._ The Clan Stewart March—Mac Gregor of Ruaro—The Braes of the Mist— Episode at a Dunvegan competition—A Mac Crimmon surpassed—Mac Pherson’s Lament—Burns and the story—Rob Roy’s lament—The Mac Lachlans’ March—_Gille Calum_—The Reel o’ Tulloch—The Periwig Reel— Jenny Dang the Weaver—Mac Donald’s salute—Mac Leod’s Salute— Disappearing lore—Something to be done. The Royal House of Stuart should perhaps have been mentioned earlier, but, like other names famous in history, they did not leave much to posterity in the way of music or poetry. Enough has been composed and written about them, but that is another matter. “THE MARCH OF CLAN STEWART”