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CHAPTER SIX

The Murder of the Red Fox

There was nothing on the land: no houses, no lights - just land. I was tired but happy to be alive. I did not know if any of the others survived.

When morning came, I climbed to the top of a hill and looked out at the sea. There was nothing on the sea: no ship, not even the smaller boat.

I looked around me and I saw that I was on a small island. Nobody lived there.

It was separated from the mainland by the sea and there was no way of getting there. ‘I’m completely alone,’ I thought.

I had nothing except a little money and Alan’s silver button. I did not know much about the sea and how to survive. But I was hungry, cold, thirsty and tired. I needed to find food.

I ate shellfish from the rocks. It sometimes made me ill but it was food. I was starting to lose hope when one day I saw a small boat with two fishermen.

I shouted and waved to them but they sailed on, saying something in Gaelic and laughing. I lay down on the ground and cried.

‘I’m going to die on this island,’ I thought.

But the next day, the sun was shining, the shellfish did not make me ill and I began to hope again. I climbed onto a rock and looked out to sea. There was the same small boat coming towards the island!

I ran down to the beach.

‘Help! Please stop!’ I shouted. As the boat came closer, I saw that it was the same two fishermen as before but with another man.

The boat stopped and the man started shouting to me and waving. I only understood one or two words. I heard the word ‘tide’.

Suddenly, I understood. ‘Do you mean that when the tide is low.?’ I did not finish my sentence.

‘Yes, yes,’ shouted the man. ‘Tide.’

I turned and ran to the other side of the island. I heard them laughing behind me. I saw that when the tide was low, the island was attached to the mainland. It was only an island when the tide was high.

‘I’ve been here all this time when I can walk to the mainland twice a day!’

When I arrived on the mainland, I asked an old man for information about Alan and the other men.

‘You must be the boy with the silver button!’ he said.

‘Yes, I am,’ I replied, surprised.

‘Well then,’ he said. ‘You must go to Torosay, and take the boat from there to meet your friend in Appin.’

So, once again, I was travelling through an unknown country. This was the Highlands - Alan’s country.

There were high mountains on either side of me and dark clouds in the sky above. The people looked very poor.

But they helped me on my journey. After some days travelling, I arrived in Appin to meet Alan. I saw the red coats of the English soldiers, moving across the north coast. I was worried because I knew they were dangerous for Alan.

I also knew that Alan was somewhere on that coast, waiting for me.

I started to have doubts. Was I doing the right thing?

Why was I looking for Alan - he was a dangerous man to be with. Perhaps I should return to the south and leave Alan.

As I sat thinking, I heard the sound of men and horses coming through the wood. Soon, four men with their horses appeared.

The first man had red hair and looked important - I knew immediately that he was the Red Fox.

From their clothes, the others looked like a lawyer, an army officer and a servant. When I saw these men, I made my decision.

‘I must find Alan,’ I thought.

When the Red Fox was close, I asked him the way to Aucharn, a nearby village.

‘Who are you?’ he replied. ‘And why are you so far from your home country?’ He knew from my voice that I was not from this part of Scotland.

‘I’m an honest supporter of King George of England,’ I told him. ‘I’m not dangerous.’

The Red Fox did not believe me.

‘We’ll wait for the soldiers,’ he said. He turned to look at the lawyer. As he turned, there was the sound of a gunshot from higher up the hill. At the very same time, the Red Fox fell to the ground.

‘I’ve been shot!’ he cried. ‘I’m dying!’

The lawyer held the dying man in his arms. The Red Fox looked from the lawyer to his servant. There was fear in his eyes.

‘Take care of yourselves,’ he said to them.

He sighed, then his head fell forward. He was dead. The lawyer put him down on the road. This woke me from my shock.

‘The murderer! The murderer!’ I cried, and began to climb the hill.

After a few minutes I saw the murderer moving away, not far in front of me. He was a big man, with a black coat and a large gun.

‘I can see him!’ I shouted. The murderer began to run. I looked back down the hill. The soldiers were there now and the lawyer and the officer were telling me to go back.

‘No!’ I shouted. ‘You come up here!’

‘I’ll give you ten pounds if you catch that boy!’ shouted the lawyer. ‘He’s working with the murderer! He stopped us and started talking while the murderer killed the Red Fox!’