[215] "I will not," said Lochiel, "break the ice.

That is a point of honour with me.
But my tacksmen and people may use their freedom." [216] His tacksmen and people understood him, and repaired by hundreds to the Sheriff to take the oaths.

The Macdonalds of Sleat, Clanronald, Keppoch, and even Glengarry, imitated the Camerons; and the chiefs, after trying to outstay each other as long as they durst, imitated their vassals.
The thirty-first of December arrived; and still the Macdonalds of Glencoe had not come in.

The punctilious pride of Mac Ian was doubtless gratified by the thought that he had continued to defy the government after the boastful Glengarry, the ferocious Keppoch, the magnanimous Lochiel had yielded: but he bought his gratification dear.
At length, on the thirty-first of December, he repaired to Fort William, accompanied by his principal vassals, and offered to take the oaths.

To his dismay he found that there was in the fort no person competent to administer them.