Donald was accordingly educated in the family of Rab a Pheti, the blacksmith. When he acquired some strength, he was often called to assist his supposed father in carrying on his trade. Being of a strong, athletic make, he performed every task proposed to him with ease, little thinking he had any right to be otherwise employed. One day, when about eighteen years of age, it being his turn to work in the smithy, he took hold of a large hammer, which required the strength of any ordinary man to wield with both hands, and, of course, deemed too unweildly for a stripling of his age, yet he found so little difficulty in managing it, that he wrought it with one hand; and not satisfied with this exertion, he took another hammer of the same size in his other hand, and beat away with both alternately, without much apparent exertion. His supposed father, Rab a Pheti, seeing this, gave up his work and went to the faithful nurse to tell what he had seen. This honest couple, who had as much affection for Donald as though he had been their own child, came to the resolution of disclosing to him the secret they had so long kept of his birth and parentage. Donald was called, and the mournful tale of his father’s death, and the risk he ran of sharing the same fate, was circumstantially laid before him. If we can judge by his future actions, we may conclude that he listened to the mournful story with strong emotions. The smith took him in his arms and embraced him. “Your education,” he said, “has been necessarily obscure, but I trust the blood that runs in your veins, and the spirit of your fathers, will ever inspire your conduct and direct your steps.” The smith then presented him with a sword, tempered with all the art of his trade, praying it might be the means of clearing his way through difficulties, and extricating him from every danger. Donald received it as a valuable token of love. Nor did he allow it long to remain peaceful in its scabbard. Previous to his setting out for Appin, he, by the advice of his foster-mother, Morag, waited on his mother’s brother, Macdonald of Moidart, who gave him a very warm and hearty reception, and offered freely to support him with his interest and influence in recovering his paternal property, which had been taken back to the family, on the supposition of his death when a child.[6]