But
Macleod, considering that it was not safe for him to return to
his own country, resolved to proceed to Edinburgh by sea, and to
carry his charter chest along with him. "Seaforth being apprehensive,
it seems, of the con-sequences of Assynt's going to Edinburgh,
immediately entered into correspondence and concert about the matter
with the Laird of Mey, in Caithness. The consequence was: Assynt
being driven by unfavourable winds to the Orkneys the Laird of Mey,
with a body of men, seized him there, to be sure under the notion of
an outlaw, and, by commission from Seaforth, stripped him to his shirt,
robbed him of everything, particularly of his charter chest, and of all
the writs and evidents belonging to his family and estates, carried
them to the castle of Mey; where he was kept prisoner in a vault. From
thence he was carried prisoner, under a strong guard, to Tam, and at
last to Brahan, Seaforth's house. In Brahan (to which place the
charter chest was brought, as was afterwards proved in the Process
of Spoilzie) Neil was many months detained prisoner in a vault, in
most miserable circumstances, still threatened with worse usage if
he would not agree to subscribe a blank paper, probably designed
for a disposition of his estates, which was, it seems, the great
thing designed to be procured from him by all this bad usage.
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