The poetical works of Sir Walter Scott, with memoir of the author.

44 THE LORD OF THE ISLES. [CANTO I.
His bugle then the helmsman wound;
Loud answer'd every cho round,
endeavoured to defend them. Narrow stairs and arched
vaults were the usual mode of access; and the drawbridge
appears at Dunstaffnage, and elsewhere, to have fallen from
the gate of the building to the top of such a staircase; so
that any one advancing with hostile purpose, found himself
in a state of exposed and precarious elevation, with a gulf
between him and the object of his attack.
These fortresses were guarded with equal care. The duty
of the watch devolved chiefly upon an officer called the
Cockman, who had the charge of challenging all who approached the castle. The very ancient family of AMac-Niel
of Barra kept this attendant at their castle about a hundred
years ago. Martin gives the following account of the
difficulty which attended his procuring entrance there:" The little island Kismul lies about a quarter of a mile
from the south of this Isle (Barra); it is the seat of TMackneil of Barra; there is a stone wall round it two stories high,
reaching the sea; and within the wall there is an old tower
and a hall, with other houses about it. There is a little
magazine in the tower, to which no stranger has access. I
saw the officer called the Cockman, and an old cock he is;
when I bid him ferry me over the water to the island, he told
me that he was but an inferior officer, his business being to
attend in the tower; but if (says he) the constable, who
then stood on the wall, will give you access, I'll ferry you
over. I desired him to procure me the constable's permission, and I would reNward him; but having waited some
hours for the constable's answer, and not receiving any, I
was obliged to return without seeing this famous fort.
iMackneil and his lady being absent, was the cause of this
difficulty, and of my not seeing the place. I was told some
weeks after, that the constable was very apprehensive of
some design I might have in viewing the fort, and thereby to
expose it to the conquest of a foreign power; of which I
supposed there was no great cause of fear."