Now , if ye were one of the cursed race of Campbell , ye would gnash your teeth to hear tell of it . If ye were the Red Fox ... '' And at that name , his teeth shut together , and he ceased speaking . I have seen many a grim face , but never a grimmer than Alan 's when he had named the Red Fox . `` And who is the Red Fox ? '' I asked , daunted , but still curious . `` Who is he ? '' cried Alan . `` Well , and I 'll tell you that . When the men of the clans were broken at Culloden , and the good cause went down , and the horses rode over the fetlocks in the best blood of the north , Ardshiel had to flee like a poor deer upon the mountains -- he and his lady and his bairns . A sair job we had of it before we got him shipped ; and while he still lay in the heather , the English rogues , that couldnae come at his life , were striking at his rights . They stripped him of his powers ; they stripped him of his lands ; they plucked the weapons from the hands of his clansmen , that had borne arms for thirty centuries ; ay , and the very clothes off their backs -- so that it 's now a sin to wear a tartan plaid , and a man may be cast into a gaol if he has but a kilt about his legs . One thing they couldnae kill . That was the love the clansmen bore their chief . These guineas are the proof of it . And now , in there steps a man , a Campbell , red-headed Colin of Glenure -- '' `` Is that him you call the Red Fox ? '' said I. `` Will ye bring me his brush ? '' cries Alan , fiercely . `` Ay , that 's the man . In he steps , and gets papers from King George , to be so-called King 's factor on the lands of Appin . And at first he sings small , and is hail-fellow-well-met with Sheamus -- that 's James of the Glens , my chieftain 's agent .
But by-and-by , that came to his ears that I have just told you ; how the poor commons of XXXXX , the farmers and the crofters and the boumen , were wringing their very plaids to get a second rent , and send it over-seas for Ardshiel and his poor bairns .
Appin Campbell Fox George Glens Red Sheamus bairns clans tartan