18. Scotland, 1820Geordie Proudfoot waited for the verdict with just as much fear and anticipation as the accused, Tom Fearmòr. The trial before a judge had gone expeditiously and without a hitch—not surprisingly, since it was an open and shut case. The accused had been arrested on the road to Dufftown. He and his son, Paul, had been driving a cart with ten barrels of whisky destined for smuggling. If, at the time of the arrest, the exciseman Proudfoot hadn’t been accompanied by two sturdy fellows he’d recruited for the operation, there was no doubt that Tom and his son would have put up a fight. The Fearmòrs, inveterate distillers, didn’t give in easily.
What’s more, this was the third time that Tom Fearmòr had been brought to court for the same offence. It seemed like nothing could diss
