Martin shrugged. ‘Back then, a lot of the land round here was owned by the kind of absentee landlord who employed people to do all kinds of nonsense. So if they thought about it at all, they just assumed it was another one of the laird’s stupid carry-ons. And because he was going in and out by boat, none of the locals really saw anything. You can’t see the thing till you’re right on top of it. He was camping out there in a tent, out of sight and out of mind.’ He chuckled. ‘Not just his own mind.’
‘I can’t believe nobody was curious about what he was up to,’ Alan said.
Martin shook his head. ‘What you’ve got to remember, man, is that up here back then, it was like the middle ages. It was virtually feudal. The laird was the law and it didn’t do to question him. So if a man wasn’t causing a
