Summary

Not long after the sheep incident. Lachlan Mackenzie visited the factor, the man whose authority sits between the constable and the laird. Due to this meeting, Finlayson lost his post as the constable and an election was held. Lachlan ran for the office and won. After this victory, Lachlan visited the Macrae household and explained that the size of their croft was going to be reduced because due to Roddy’s mother’s death, the family had one less member. Another reason given for the reduction was that John was behind on rent (like almost every one of the villagers). He then commanded that the Mackenzies call him Constable or Constable Mackenzie.

Lachlan began walking around the village with a notebook while taking notes. Based on these notes, he decided that all able residents of Culduie had to...