But Kenneth,
though a lion in the field, could not, from any such prudential
consideration, be induced to commit such a cowardly and inhuman
act as was here inferred. He, however, had no great faith in the
forbearance of his followers if an opportunity occurred to them,
and he accordingly sent Macdonald, under a strong guard, to Lord
Lovat, to be kept by him in safety until he should advise him how
to dispose of him. He kept Alexander of Lochalsh with himself, but,
contrary to the expectations of their friends, he, on the
intercession of old Macdonald, released them both within six months,
having first bound them by oath and honour never to molest him or
his, and never again to claim any right to the Earldom of Ross,
which the Lord of the Isles had in 1475 forfeited to the Crown.
Many of the Macdonalds and their followers who escaped from the
field of battle perished in the River Conon. Flying from the close
pursuit of the victorious Mackenzies, they took the river, which
in some parts was very deep, wherever they came up to it, and were
drowned. Rushing to cross at Moy, they met an old woman - still
smarting under the insults and spoliations inflicted on her and
her neighbours by the Macdonalds on their way north - and asked her
where was the best ford on the river.
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