Rob Roy | Chapter 30 Summary

Frank, Jarvie, and Andrew awake the next morning still under arrest, when a soldier comes in with Dougal (the jailer from Glasgow) in tow. Dougal is questioned about the location of Rob Roy (now identified with Campbell). Dougal resists until he is threatened with hanging. He is promised that he will be released and given five guineas if he will lead the soldiers to Rob Roy’s hideout. Dougal agrees, for which Jarvie calls out that he should be hanged after all.

The troop of soldiers takes Frank and the others with them to search for the highland outlaw. At every village they pass through, the English soldiers are cursed by the inhabitants, which appear to be mostly old women and children, with no men or older boys among them.

As the group approaches a narrow lake pass, a woman stops them and demands what they want. Jarvie identifies her as Helen Campbell, Rob Roy’s wife. She refuses to let them go further, cursing them for what the English have done in Scotland when the ambush is revealed. Several soldiers are instantly killed.

In the fracas, Frank, Andrew, and Jarvie manage to crawl out of the way of the gunfire. Jarvie, in trying to escape, is caught on a tree branch and dangles out into the air.

The melee ends in the defeat of the soldiers, with few casualties on the Highlanders’ side.