ugh involuntary reproach. When preparing
to cross the Frith, he stopped at an inn in order to engage a running
footman to attend him. Detested by his neighbours, and ever in dread of
the Schaws, Sinclair preserved a sort of incognito. A youth was
presented for his approval. The Master inquired of the young candidate
what proof he could give of his activity, on which this remarkable reply
was given: "Sir, I ran beside the Master of Sinclair's horse when he
rode post from the English camp to escape the death for which he was
condemned for the murder of the two brothers." "The Master," adds Sir
Walter Scott, "much shocked, was nearly taken ill on the spot."[228]

During the insurrection of 1715, the Master of Sinclair took at first an
active part, and became the commander of a company of Jacobite gentlemen
of Fife. He joined the Earl of Mar at Perth,[229] and was employed in an
expedition which gained some credit to the Jacobites. Some arms having
been brought out of Edinburgh for the use of the Earl of Sutherland, and
being put on board a ship at Leith, the Earl of Mar resolved to
intercept these supplies. The wind being contrary, the master of the
vessel thus loaded had dropped into Brunt Island, and had gone into the
town on that island to see his family. A party of four hundred horse and
as many foot was meantime detached on the second of October, 1715, and
arrived at the island about midnight. They pressed all the boats in the
harbour, and boarded the vessel, carrying off three hundred and six
complete stand of arms, together with a considerable number which they
found in the town. This expedition was skilfully contrived and managed,
the horse surrounding the town whilst the foot ransacked it; and the
invasion was made so silently that the Duke of Argyle gained no tidings
of it.[230]

After this exploit the Master of Sinclair returned to the camp at Perth,
there to promote, if not actually to originate, divisions which were
fatal to the cause which he had espoused. Lord Mar, in his letters,
charges him, indeed, distinctly with being the very source of the
dissensions which soon sprang up among the Jacobite chiefs.[231] The
temper of Sinclair could ill brook submission to the Earl of Mar, whom,
as a General, he soon ceased to respect; and for whose difficult
situation he had no relenting feelings. "The Master," writes Sir Walter
Scott, "who was a man of strong sense, acute observation, and some
military experience, be