The victors obtained possession of Perth, and obtained considerable sums
of money, as well as ample supplies of arms and ammunition. But
those advantages were to be balanced against an almost insurmountable
inconvenience that uniformly attended a Highland army. The clans could
be in no respect induced to consider themselves as regular soldiers,
or to act as such. Even so late as the year 1745-6, when the Chevalier
Charles Edward, by way of making an example, caused a soldier to be shot
for desertion, the Highlanders, who composed his army, were affected as
much by indignation as by fear. They could not conceive any principle
of justice upon which a man's life could be taken, for merely going home
when it did not suit him to remain longer with the army. Such had been
the uniform practice of their fathers. When a battle was over, the
campaign was, in their opinion, ended; if it was lost, they sought
safety in their mountains--if won, they returned there to secure their
booty. At other times they had their cattle to look after, and their
harvests to sow or reap, without which their families would have
perished for want. In either case, there was an end of their services
for the time; and though they were easily enough recalled by the
prospect of fresh adventures and more plunder, yet the opportunity
of success was, in the meantime, lost, and could not afterwards be
recovered. This circumstance serves to show, even if history had not
made us acquainted with the same fact, that the Highlanders had never
been accustomed to make war with the view of permanent conquest, but
only with the hope of deriving temporary advantage, or deciding some
immediate quarrel. It also explains the reason why Montrose, with all
his splendid successes, never obtained any secure or permanent footing
in the Lowlands, and why even those Lowland noblemen and gentlemen, who
were inclined to the royal cause, showed diffidence and reluctance to
join an army of a character so desultory and irregular, as might lead
them at all times to apprehend that the Highlanders securing themselves
by a retreat to their mountains, would leave whatever Lowlanders might
have joined them to the mercy of an offended and predominant enemy. The
same consideration will also serve to account for the sudden marches
which Montrose was obliged to undertake, in order to recruit his army in
the mountains, and for the rapid changes of fortune, by which we often
find him obliged to retreat from before those enemies over whom he had
recently been victorious. If there should be any who read these tales
for any further purpose than that of immediate amusement, they will find
these remarks not unworthy of their recollection.

It was owing to such causes, the slackness of the Lowland loyalists and
the temporary desertion of his Highland followers, that Montrose found
himself, even after the decisive victory of Tippermuir, in no condition
to face the second army with which Argyle advanced upon him from the
westward. In this emergency, supplying by velocity the want of strength,
he moved suddenly from Perth to Dundee, and being refused admission into
that town, fell northward upon Aberdeen, where he expected to be joined
by the Gordons and other loyalists. But the zeal of these gentlemen
was, for the time, effectually bridled by a large body of Covenanters,
commanded by the Lord Burleigh, and supposed to amount to three thousand
men. These Montrose boldly attacked with half their number. The battle
was fought under the walls Of the city, and the resolute valour of
Montrose's followers was again successful against every disadvantage.

But it was the fate of this great commander, always to gain the glory,
but seldom to reap the fruits of victory. He had scarcely time to repose
his small army in Aberdeen, ere he found, on the one hand, that the
Gordons were likely to be deterred from joining him, by the reasons we
have mentioned, with some others peculiar to their chief, the Marquis
of Huntly; on the other hand, Argyle, whose forces had been augmented by
those of several Lowland noblemen, advanced towards Montrose at the head
of an army much larger than he had yet had to cope with. These troops
moved, indeed, with slowness, corresponding to the cautious character
of their commander; but even that caution rendered Argyle's approach
formidable, since his very advance implied, that he was at the head of
an army irresistibly superior.

There remained one mode of retreat open to Montrose, and he adopted
it. He threw himself into the Highlands, where he could set pursuit
at defiance, and where he was sure, in every glen, to recover those
recruits who had left his standard to deposit their booty in their
native fastnesses. It was thus that the singular character of the
army which Montrose commanded, while, on the one hand, it rendered his
victory in some degree nugatory, enabled him, on the other, under the
most disadvantageous circumstances, to secure his retreat, recruit
his forces, and render himself more formidable than ever to the enemy,
before whom he had lately been unable to make a stand.

On the present occasion he threw himself into Badenoch, and rapidly
traversing that district, as well as the neighbouring country of Athole,
he alarmed the Covenanters by successive attacks upon various unexpected
points, and spread such general dismay, that repeated orders were
dispatched by the Parliament to Argyle, their commander, to engage, and
disperse Montrose at all rates.

These commands from his superiors neither suited the haughty spirit, nor
the temporizing and cautious policy, of the nobleman to whom they were
addressed. He paid, accordingly, no regard to them, but limited his
efforts to intrigues among Montrose's few Lowland followers, many of
whom had become disgusted with the prospect of a Highland campaign,
which exposed their persons to intolerable fatigue, and left their
estates at the Covenanters' mercy. Accordingly, several of them left
Montrose's camp at this period. He was joined, however, by a body of
forces of more congenial spirit, and far better adapted to the situation
in which he found himself. This reinforcement consisted of a large body
of Highlanders, whom Colkitto, dispatched for that purpose, had levied
in Argyleshire. Among the most distinguished was John of Moidart, called
the Captain of Clan Ranald, with the Stewarts of Appin, the Clan Gregor,
the Clan M'Nab, and other tribes of inferior distinction. By these
means, Montrose's army was so formidably increased, that Argyle cared no
longer to remain in the command of that opposed to him, but returned to
Edinburgh, and there threw up his commission, under pretence that his
army was not supplied with reinforcements and provisions in the manner
in which they ought to have been. From thence the Marquis returned to
Inverary, there, in full security, to govern his feudal vassals, and
patriarchal followers, and to repose himself in safety on the faith of
the Clan proverb already quoted--"It is a far cry to Lochow."



CHAPTER XVI.

     Such mountains steep, such craggy hills,
     His army on one side enclose:
     The other side, great griesly gills
     Did fence with fenny mire and moss.

     Which when the Earl understood,
     He council craved of captains all,
     Who bade set forth with mournful mood,
     And take such fortune as would fall.
     --FLODDEN FIELD, AN ANCIENT POEM.

Montrose had now a splendid career in his view, provided he could obtain
the consent of his gallant, but desultory troops, and their independent
chieftains. The Lowlands lay open before him without an army adequate to
check his career; for Argyle's followers had left the Covenanters' host
when their master threw up his commission, and many other troops, tired
of the war, had taken the same opportunity to disband themselves. By
descending Strath-Tay, therefore, one of the most convenient passes from
the Highlands, Montrose had only to present himself in the Lowlands, in
order to rouse the slumbering spirit of chivalry and of loyalty which
animated the gentlemen to the north of the Forth. The possession of
these districts, with or without a victory, would give him the command
of a wealthy and fertile part of the kingdom, and would enable him, by
regular pay, to place his army on a permanent footing, to penetrate as
far as the capital, perhaps from thence to the Border, where he deemed
it possible to communicate with the yet unsubdued forces of King
Charles.

Such was the plan of operations by which the truest glory was to be
acquired, and the most important success insured for the royal cause.
Accordingly it did not escape the ambitious and daring spirit of him
whose services had already acquired him the title of the Great Marquis.
But other motives actuated many of his followers, and perhaps were not
without their secret and unacknowledged influence upon his own feelings.

The Western Chiefs in Montrose's army, almost to a man, regarded the
Marquis of Argyle as the most direct and proper object of hostilities.
Almost all of them had felt his power; almost all, in withdrawing their
fencible men from their own glens, left their families and property
exposed to his vengeance; all, without exception, were desirous
of diminishing his sovereignty; and most of them lay so near his
territories, that they might reasonably hope to be gratified by a share
of his spoil. To these Chiefs the possession of Inverary and its castle
was an event infinitely more important and desirable than the capture
of Edinburgh. The latter event could only afford their clansmen a little
transitory pay or plunder; the former insured to the Chiefs themselves
indemnity for the past, and security for the future. Besides these
personal reasons, the leaders, who favoured this opinion, plausibly
urged, that though, at his first descent into the Lowlands, Montrose
might be superior to the enemy, yet every day's march he made from the
hills must diminish his own forces, and expose him to the accumulated
superiority of any army which the Covenanters could collect from the
Lowland levies and garrisons. On the other hand, by crushing Argyle
effectually, he would not only permit his present western friends to
bring out that proportion of their forces which they must otherwise
leave at home for protection of their families; but farther, he would
draw to his standard several tribes already friendly to his cause, but
who were prevented from joining him by fear of M'Callum More.

These arguments, as we have already hinted, found something responsive
in Montrose's own bosom, not quite consonant with the general heroism
of his character. The houses of Argyle and Montrose had been in former
times, repeatedly opposed to each other in war and in politics, and the
superior advantages acquired by the former, had made them the subject
of envy and dislike to the neighbouring family, who, conscious of equal
desert, had not been so richly rewarded. This was not all. The existing
heads of these rival families had stood in the most marked opposition to
each other since the commencement of the present troubles.

Montrose, conscious of the superiority of his talents, and of having
rendered great service to the Covenanters at the beginning of the war,
had expected from that party the supereminence of council and command,
which they judged it safer to intrust to the more limited faculties,
and more extensive power, of his rival Argyle. The having awarded this
preference, was an injury which Montrose never forgave the Covenanters;
and he was still less likely to extend his pardon to Argyle, to whom
he had been postponed. He was therefore stimulated by every feeling of
hatred which could animate a fiery temper in a fierce age, to seek for
revenge upon the enemy of his house and person; and it is probable that
these private motives operated not a little upon his mind, when he found
the principal part of his followers determined rather to undertake an
expedition against the territories of Argyle, than to take the far more
decisive step of descending at once into the Lowlands.

Yet whatever temptation Montrose found to carry into effect his attack
upon Argyleshire, he could not easily bring himself to renounce the
splendid achievement of a descent upon the Lowlands. He held more than
one council with the principal Chiefs, combating, perhaps, his own
secret inclination as well as theirs. He laid before them the extreme
difficulty of marching even a Highland army from the eastward into
Argyleshire, through passes scarcely practicable for shepherds and
deer-stalkers, and over mountains, with which even the clans lying
nearest to them did not pretend to be thoroughly acquainted. These
difficulties were greatly enhanced by the season of the year, which was
now advancing towards December, when the mountain-passes, in themselves
so difficult, might be expected to be rendered utterly impassable by
snowstorms. These objections neither satisfied nor silenced the Chiefs,
who insisted upon their ancient mode of making war, by driving the
cattle, which, according to the Gaelic phrase, "fed upon the grass
of their enemy." The council was dismissed late at night, and without
coming to any decision, excepting that the Chiefs, who supported the
opinion that Argyle should be invaded, promised to seek out among their
followers those who might be most capable of undertaking the office of
guides upon the expedition.

Montrose had retired to the cabin which served him for a tent, and
stretched himself upon a bed of dry fern, the only place of repose which
it afforded. But he courted sleep in vain, for the visions of ambition
excluded those of Morpheus. In one moment he imagined himself displaying
the royal banner from the reconquered Castle of Edinburgh, detaching
assistance to a monarch whose crown depended upon his success, and
receiving in requital all the advantages and preferments which could be
heaped upon him whom a king delighteth to honour. At another time
this dream, splendid as it was, faded before the vision of gratified
vengeance, and personal triumph over a personal enemy. To surprise
Argyle in his stronghold of Inverary--to crush in him at once the rival
of his own house and the chief support of the Presbyterians--to show
the Covenanters the difference between the preferred Argyle and the
postponed Montrose, was a picture too flattering to feudal vengeance to
be easily relinquished.

While he lay thus busied with contradictory thoughts and feelings, the
soldier who stood sentinel upon his quarters announced to the Marquis
that two persons desired to speak with his Excellency.

"Their names?" answered Montrose, "and the cause of their urgency at
such a late hour?"

On these points, the sentinel, who was one of Colkitto's Irishmen, could
afford his General little information; so that Montrose, who at such a
period durst refuse access to no one, lest he might have been neglecting
some important intelligence, gave directions, as a necessary precaution,
to put the guard under arms, and then prepared to receive his untimely
visitors. His groom of the chambers had scarce lighted a pair of
torches, and Montrose himself had scarce risen from his couch, when two
men entered, one wearing a Lowland dress, of shamoy leather worn almost
to tatters; the other a tall upright old Highlander, of a complexion
which might be termed iron-grey, wasted and worn by frost and tempest.

"What may be your commands with me, my friends?" said the Marquis, his
hand almost unconsciously seeking the but of one of his pistols; for
the period, as well as the time of night, warranted suspicions which the
good mien of his visitors was not by any means calculated to remove.

"I pray leave to congratulate you," said the Lowlander, "my most noble
General, and right honourable lord, upon the great battles which you
have achieved since I had the fortune to be detached from you, It was
a pretty affair that tuilzie at Tippermuir; nevertheless, if I might be
permitted to counsel--"

"Before doing so," said the Marquis, "will you be pleased to let me know
who is so kind as to favour me with his opinion?"

"Truly, my lord," replied the man, "I should have hoped that was
unnecessary, seeing it is not so long since I took on in your service,
under promise of a commission as Major, with half a dollar of daily pay
and half a dollar of arrears; and I am to trust your lordship has nut
forgotten my pay as well as my person?"

"My good friend, Major Dalgetty," said Montrose, who by this time
perfectly recollected his man, "you must consider what important things
have happened to put my friends' faces out of my memory, besides this
imperfect light; but all conditions shall be kept.--And what news from
Argyleshire, my good Major? We have long given you up for lost, and I
was now preparing to take the most signal vengeance upon the old fox who
infringed the law of arms in your person."

"Truly, my noble lord," said Dalgetty, "I have no desire that my return
should put any stop to so proper and becoming an intention; verily it
is in no shape in the Earl of Argyle's favour or mercy that I now stand
before you, and I shall be no intercessor for him. But my escape
is, under Heaven, and the excellent dexterity which, as an old and
accomplished cavalier, I displayed in effecting the same,--I say, under
these, it is owing to the assistance of this old Highlander, whom
I venture to recommend to your lordship's special favour, as the
instrument of saving your lordship's to command, Dugald Dalgetty of
Drumthwacket."

"A thankworthy service," said the Marquis, gravely, "which shall
certainly be requited in the manner it deserves."

"Kneel down, Ranald," said Major Dalgetty (as we must now call him),
"kneel down, and kiss his Excellency's hand."

The prescribed form of acknowledgment not being according to the custom
of Ranald's country, he contented himself with folding his arms on his
bosom, and making a low inclination of his head.

"This poor man, my lord," said Major Dalgetty, continuing his speech
with a dignified air of protection towards Ranald M'Eagh, "has strained
all his slender means to defend my person from mine enemies, although
having no better weapons of a missile sort than bows and arrows, whilk
your lordship will hardly believe."

"You will see a great many such weapons in my camp," said Montrose, "and
we find them serviceable." [In fact, for the admirers of archery it may
be stated, not only that many of the Highlanders in Montrose's army used
these antique missiles, but even in England the bow and quiver, once the
glory of the bold yeomen of that land, were occasionally used during the
great civil wars.]

"Serviceable, my lord!" said Dalgetty; "I trust your lordship will
permit me to be surprised--bows and arrows!--I trust you will forgive
my recommending the substitution of muskets, the first convenient
opportunity. But besides defending me, this honest Highlander also was
at the pains of curing me, in respect that I had got a touch of the
wars in my retreat, which merits my best requital in this special
introduction of him to your lordship's notice and protection."

"What is your name, my friend?" said Montrose, turning to the
Highlander.

"It may not be spoken," answered the mountaineer.

"That is to say," interpreted Major Dalgetty, "he desires to have his
name concealed, in respect he hath in former days taken a castle, slain
certain children, and done other things, whilk, as your good lordship
knows, are often practised in war time, but excite no benevolence
towards the perpetrator in the friends of those who sustain injury. I
have known, in my military experience, many brave cavaliers put to death
by the boors, simply for having used military license upon the country."

"I understand," said Montrose: "This person is at feud with some of our
followers. Let him retire to the court of guard, and we will think of
the best mode of protecting him."

"You hear, Ranald," said Major Dalgetty, with an air of superiority,
"his Excellency wishes to hold privy council with me, you must go to the
court of guard.--He does not know where that is, poor fellow!--he is
a young soldier for so old a man; I will put him under the charge of
a sentinel, and return to your lordship incontinent." He did so, and
returned accordingly.

Montrose's first enquiry respected the embassy to Inverary; and he
listened with attention to Dalgetty's reply, notwithstanding the
prolixity of the Major's narrative. It required an effort from the
Marquis to maintain his attention; but no one better knew, that where
information is to be derived from the report of such agents as Dalgetty,
it can only be obtained by suffering them to tell their story in their
own way. Accordingly the Marquis's patience was at length rewarded.
Among other spoils which the Captain thought himself at liberty to take,
was a packet of Argyle's private papers. These he consigned to the hands
of his General; a humour of accounting, however, which went no farther,
for I do not understand that he made any mention of the purse of gold
which he had appropriated at the same time that he made seizure of the
papers aforesaid. Snatching a torch from the wall, Montrose was in an
instant deeply engaged in the perusal of these documents, in which it is
probable he found something to animate his personal resentment against
his rival Argyle.

"Does he not fear me?" said he; "then he shall feel me. Will he fire my
castle of Murdoch?--Inverary shall raise the first smoke.--O for a guide
through the skirts of Strath-Fillan!"

Whatever might be Dalgetty's personal conceit, he understood his
business sufficiently to guess at Montrose's meaning. He instantly
interrupted his own prolix narration of the skirmish which had taken
place, and the wound he had received in his retreat, and began to speak
to the point which he saw interested his General.

"If," said he, "your Excellency wishes to make an infall into
Argyleshire, this poor man, Ranald, of whom I told you, together with
his children and companions, know every pass into that land, both
leading from the east and from the north."

"Indeed!" said Montrose; "what reason have you to believe their
knowledge so extensive?"

"So please your Excellency," answered Dalgetty, "during the weeks that I
remained with them for cure of my wound, they were repeatedly obliged
to shift their quarters, in respect of Argyle's repeated attempts to
repossess himself of the person of an officer who was honoured with Your
Excellency's confidence; so that I had occasion to admire the singular
dexterity and knowledge of the face of the country with which they
alternately achieved their retreat and their advance; and when, at
length, I was able to repair to your Excellency's standard, this honest
simple creature, Ranald MacEagh, guided me by paths which my steed
Gustavus (which your lordship may remember) trode with perfect safety,
so that I said to myself, that where guides, spies, or intelligencers,
were required in a Highland campaign in that western country, more
expert persons than he and his attendants could not possibly be
desired."

"And can you answer for this man's fidelity?" said Montrose; "what is
his name and condition?"

"He is an outlaw and robber by profession, something also of a homicide
or murderer," answered Dalgetty; "and by name, called Ranald MacEagh;
whilk signifies, Ranald, the Son of the Mist."

"I should remember something of that name," said Montrose, pausing: "Did
not these Children of the Mist perpetrate some act of cruelty upon the
M'Aulays?"

Major Dalgetty mentioned the circumstance of the murder of the forester,
and Montrose's active memory at once recalled all the circumstances of
the feud.

"It is most unlucky," said Montrose, "this inexpiable quarrel between
these men and the M'Aulays. Allan has borne himself bravely in these
wars, and possesses, by the wild mystery of his behaviour and
language, so much influence over the minds of his countrymen, that the
consequences of disobliging him might be serious. At the same time,
these men being so capable of rendering useful service, and being as you
say, Major Dalgetty, perfectly trustworthy--"

"I will pledge my pay and arrears, my horse and arms, my head and neck,
upon their fidelity," said the Major; "and your Excellency knows, that a
soldado could say no more for his own father."

"True," said Montrose; "but as this is a matter of particular moment, I
would willingly know the grounds of so positive an assurance."

"Concisely then, my lord," said the Major, "not only did they disdain to
profit by a handsome reward which Argyle did me the honour to place upon
this poor head of mine, and not only did they abstain from pillaging
my personal property, whilk was to an amount that would have tempted
regular soldiers in any service of Europe; and not only did they restore
me my horse, whilk your Excellency knows to be of value, but I could not
prevail on them to accept one stiver, doit, or maravedi, for the trouble
and expenses of my sick bed. They actually refused my coined money when
freely offered,--a tale seldom to be told in a Christian land."

"I admit," said Montrose, after a moment's reflection, "that their
conduct towards you is good evidence of their fidelity; but how to
secure against the breaking out of this feud?" He paused, and then
suddenly added, "I had forgot I have supped, while you, Major, have been
travelling by moonlight."

He called to his attendants to fetch a stoup of wine and some
refreshments. Major Dalgetty, who had the appetite of a convalescent
returned from Highland quarters, needed not any pressing to partake of
what was set before him, but proceeded to dispatch his food with such
alacrity, that the Marquis, filling a cup of wine, and drinking to his
health, could not help remarking, that coarse as the provisions of his
camp were, he was afraid Major Dalgetty had fared much worse during his
excursion into Argyleshire.

"Your Excellency may take your corporal oath upon that," said the worthy
Major, speaking with his mouth full; "for Argyle's bread and water are
yet stale and mouldy in my recollection, and though they did their
best, yet the viands that the Children of the Mist procured for me, poor
helpless creatures as they were, were so unrefreshful to my body, that
when enclosed in my armour, whilk I was fain to leave behind me for
expedition's sake, I rattled therein like the shrivelled kernel in a nut
that hath been kept on to a second Hallowe'en."

"You must take the due means to repair these losses, Major Dalgetty."

"In troth," answered the soldier, "I shall hardly be able to compass
that, unless my arrears are to be exchanged for present pay; for I
protest to your Excellency, that the three stone weight which I have
lost were simply raised upon the regular accountings of the States of
Holland."

"In that case," said the Marquis, "you are only reduced to good marching
order. As for the pay, let us once have victory--victory, Major, and
your wishes, and all our wishes, shall be amply fulfilled. Meantime,
help yourself to another cup of wine."

"To your Excellency's health," said the Major, filling a cup to the
brim, to show the zeal with which he drank the toast, "and victory over
all our enemies, and particularly over Argyle! I hope to twitch another
handful from his board myself--I have had one pluck at it already."

"Very true," answered Montrose; "but to return to those men of the Mist.
You understand, Dalgetty, that their presence here, and the purpose for
which we employ them, is a secret between you and me?"

Delighted, as Montrose had anticipated, with this mark of his
General's confidence, the Major laid his hand upon his nose, and nodded
intelligence.

"How many may there be of Ranald's followers?" continued the Marquis.

"They are reduced, so far as I know, to some eight or ten men," answered
Major Dalgetty, "and a few women and children."

"Where are they now?" demanded Montrose.

"In a valley, at three miles' distance," answered the soldier, "awaiting
your Excellency's command; I judged it not fit to bring them to your
leaguer without your Excellency's orders."

"You judged very well," said Montrose; "it would be proper that they
remain where they are, or seek some more distant place of refuge. I will
send them money, though it is a scarce article with me at present."

"It is quite unnecessary," said Major Dalgetty; "your Excellency has
only to hint that the M'Aulays are going in that direction, and my
friends of the Mist will instantly make volte-face, and go to the right
about."

"That were scarce courteous," said the Marquis. "Better send them a few
dollars to purchase them some cattle for the support of the women and
children."

"They know how to come by their cattle at a far cheaper rate," said the
Major; "but let it be as your Excellency wills."

"Let Ranald MacEagh," said Montrose, "select one or two of his
followers, men whom he can trust, and who are capable of keeping their
own secret and ours; these, with their chief for scout-master-general,
shall serve for our guides. Let them be at my tent to-morrow at
daybreak, and see, if possible, that they neither guess my purpose, nor
hold any communication with each other in private.--This old man, has he
any children?"

"They have been killed or hanged," answered the Major, "to the number of
a round dozen, as I believe--but he hath left one grand-child, a smart
and hopeful youth, whom I have noted to be never without a pebble in
his plaid-nook, to fling at whatsoever might come in his way; being
a symbol, that, like David, who was accustomed to sling smooth stones
taken from the brook, he may afterwards prove an adventurous warrior."

"That boy, Major Dalgetty," said the Marquis, "I will have to attend
upon my own person. I presume he will have sense enough to keep his name
secret?"

"Your Excellency need not fear that," answered Dalgetty; "these Highland
imps, from the moment they chip the shell--"

"Well," interrupted Montrose, "that boy shall be pledge for the fidelity
of his parent, and if he prove faithful, the child's preferment shall be
his reward.--And now, Major Dalgetty, I will license your departure for
the night; tomorrow you will introduce this MacEagh, under any name or
character he may please to assume. I presume his profession has rendered
him sufficiently expert in all sort of disguises; or we may admit
John of Moidart into our schemes, who has sense, practicability,
and intelligence, and will probably allow this man for a time to be
disguised as one of his followers. For you, Major, my groom of the
chambers will be your quarter-master for this evening."

Major Dalgetty took his leave with a joyful heart greatly elated with
the reception he had met with, and much pleased with the personal
manners of his new General, which, as he explained at great length to
Ranald MacEagh, reminded him in many respects of the demeanour of the
immortal Gustavus Adolphus, the Lion of the North, and Bulwark of the
Protestant Faith.



CHAPTER XVII.


     The march begins in military state,
     And nations on his eyes suspended wait;
     Stern famine guards the solitary coast,
     And winter barricades the realms of frost.
     He comes,--nor want, nor cold, his course delay.
     --VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES.

By break of day Montrose received in his cabin old MacEagh, and
questioned him long and particularly as to the means of approaching the
country of Argyle. He made a note of his answers, which he compared with
those of two of his followers, whom he introduced as the most prudent
and experienced. He found them to correspond in all respects; but, still
unsatisfied where precaution was so necessary, the Marquis compared the
information he had received with that he was able to collect from the
Chiefs who lay most near to the destined scene of invasion, and being in
all respects satisfied of its accuracy, he resolved to proceed in full
reliance upon it.

In one point Montrose changed his mind. Having judged it unfit to take
the boy Kenneth into his own service, lest, in case of his birth being
discovered, it should be resented as an offence by the numerous clans
who entertained a feudal enmity to this devoted family, he requested the
Major to take him in attendance upon himself; and as he accompanied
this request with a handsome DOUCEUR, under pretence of clothing and
equipping the lad, this change was agreeable to all parties.

It was about breakfast-time, when Major Dalgetty, being dismissed by
Montrose, went in quest of his old acquaintances, Lord Menteith and the
M'Aulays, to whom he longed to communicate his own adventures, as
well as to learn from them the particulars of the campaign. It may
be imagined he was received with great glee by men to whom the late
uniformity of their military life had rendered any change of society
an interesting novelty. Allan M'Aulay alone seemed to recoil from his
former acquaintance, although, when challenged by his brother, he could
render no other reason than a reluctance to be familiar with one who
had been so lately in the company of Argyle, and other enemies. Major
Dalgetty was a little alarmed by this sort of instinctive consciousness
which Allan seemed to entertain respecting the society he had been
lately keeping; he was soon satisfied, however, that the perceptions of
the seer in this particular were not infallible.

As Ranald MacEagh was to be placed under Major Dalgetty's protection and
superintendence, it was necessary he should present him to those persons
with whom he was most likely to associate. The dress of the old man had,
in the meantime, been changed from the tartan of his clan to a sort
of clothing peculiar to the men of the distant Isles, resembling a
waistcoat with sleeves, and a petticoat, all made in one piece. This
dress was laced from top to bottom in front, and bore some resemblance
to that called Polonaise, still worn by children in Scotland of the
lower rank. The tartan hose and bonnet completed the dress, which old
men of the last century remembered well to have seen worn by the distant
Islesmen who came to the Earl of Mar's standard in the year 1715.

Major Dalgetty, keeping his eye on Allan as he spoke, introduced Ranald
MacEagh under the fictitious name of Ranald MacGillihuron in Benbecula,
who had escaped with him out of Argyle's prison. He recommended him as
a person skilful in the arts of the harper and the senachie, and by no
means contemptible in the quality of a second-sighted person or seer.
While making this exposition, Major Dalgetty stammered and hesitated in
a way so unlike the usual glib forwardness of his manner, that he could
not have failed to have given suspicion to Allan M'Aulay, had not that
person's whole attention been engaged in steadily perusing the
features of the person thus introduced to him. This steady gaze so much
embarrassed Ranald MacEagh, that his hand was beginning to sink down
towards his dagger, in expectation of a hostile assault, when Allan,
suddenly crossing the floor of the hut, extended his hand to him in the
way of friendly greeting. They sat down side by side, and conversed in
a low mysterious tone of voice. Menteith and Angus M'Aulay were not
surprised at this, for there prevailed among the Highlanders who
pretended to the second-sight, a sort of Freemasonry, which generally
induced them, upon meeting, to hold communication with each other on the
nature and extent of their visionary experiences.

"Does the sight come gloomy upon your spirits?" said Allan to his new
acquaintance.

"As dark as the shadow upon the moon," replied Ranald, "when she is
darkened in her mid-course in heaven, and prophets foretell of evil
times."

"Come hither," said Allan, "come more this way, I would converse with
you apart; for men say that in your distant islands the sight is poured
forth with more clearness and power than upon us, who dwell near the
Sassenach."

While they were plunged into their mystic conference, the two English
cavaliers entered the cabin in the highest possible spirits, and
announced to Angus M'Aulay that orders had been issued that all should
hold themselves in readiness for an immediate march to the westward.
Having delivered themselves of their news with much glee, they paid
their compliments to their old acquaintance Major Dalgetty, whom they
instantly recognised, and enquired after the health of his charger,
Gustavus.

"I humbly thank you, gentlemen," answered the soldier, "Gustavas is
well, though, like his master, somewhat barer on the ribs than when you
offered to relieve me of him at Darnlinvarach; and let me assure you,
that before you have made one or two of those marches which you seem to
contemplate with so much satisfaction in prospect, you will leave, my
good knights, some of your English beef, and probably an English horse
or two, behind you."

Both exclaimed that they cared very little what they found or what they
left, provided the scene changed from dogging up and down Angus and
Aberdeenshire, in pursuit of an enemy who would neither fight nor run
away.

"If such be the case," said Angus M'Aulay, "I must give orders to my
followers, and make provision too for the safe conveyance of Annot Lyle;
for an advance into M'Callum More's country will be a farther and fouler
road than these pinks of Cumbrian knighthood are aware of." So saying,
he left the cabin.

"Annot Lyle!" repeated Dalgetty, "is she following the campaign?"

"Surely," replied Sir Giles Musgrave, his eye glancing slightly from
Lord Menteith to Allan M'Aulay; "we could neither march nor fight,
advance nor retreat, without the influence of the Princess of Harps."

"The Princess of Broadswords and Targets, I say," answered his
companion; "for the Lady of Montrose herself could not be more
courteously waited upon; she has four Highland maidens, and as many
bare-legged gillies, to wait upon her orders."

"And what would you have, gentlemen?" said Allan, turning suddenly from
the Highlander with whom he was in conversation; "would you yourselves
have left an innocent female, the companion of your infancy, to die by
violence, or perish by famine? There is not, by this time, a roof upon
the habitation of my fathers--our crops have been destroyed, and our
cattle have been driven--and you, gentlemen, have to bless God, that,
coming from a milder and more civilized country, you expose only your
own lives in this remorseless war, without apprehension that your
enemies will visit with their vengeance the defenceless pledges you may
have left behind you."

The Englishmen cordially agreed that they had the superiority in this
respect; and the company, now dispersing, went each to his several
charge or occupation.

Allan lingered a moment behind, still questioning the reluctant Ranald
MacEagh upon a point in his supposed visions, by which he was greatly
perplexed. "Repeatedly," he said, "have I had the sight of a Gael, who
seemed to plunge his weapon into the body of Menteith,--of that young
nobleman in the scarlet laced cloak, who has just now left the bothy.
But by no effort, though I have gazed till my eyes were almost fixed
in the sockets, can I discover the face of this Highlander, or even
conjecture who he may be, although his person and air seem familiar to
me." [See Note II.--Wraiths.]

"Have you reversed your own plaid," said Ranald, "according to the rule
of the experienced Seers in such case?"

"I have," answered Allan, speaking low, and shuddering as if with
internal agony.

"And in what guise did the phantom then appear to you?" said Ranald.

"With his plaid also reversed," answered Allan, in the same low and
convulsed tone.

"Then be assured," said Ranald, "that your own hand, and none other,
will do the deed of which you have witnessed the shadow."

"So has my anxious soul a hundred times surmised," replied Allan. "But
it is impossible! Were I to read the record in the eternal book of fate,
I would declare it impossible--we are bound by the ties of blood, and by
a hundred ties more intimate--we have stood side by side in battle,
and our swords have reeked with the blood of the same enemies--it is
IMPOSSIBLE I should harm him!"

"That you WILL do so," answered Ranald, "is certain, though the cause be
hid in the darkness of futurity. You say," he continued, suppressing his
own emotions with difficulty, "that side by side you have pursued your
prey like bloodhounds--have you never seen bloodhounds turn their fangs
against each other, and fight over the body of a throttled deer?"

"It is false!" said M'Aulay, starting up, "these are not the forebodings
of fate, but the temptation of some evil spirit from the bottomless
pit!" So saying, he strode out of the cabin.

"Thou hast it!" said the Son of the Mist, looking after him with an
air of exultation; "the barbed arrow is in thy side! Spirits of the
slaughtered, rejoice! soon shall your murderers' swords be dyed in each
other's blood."

On the succeeding morning all was prepared, and Montrose advanced by
rapid marches up the river Tay, and poured his desultory forces into the
romantic vale around the lake of the same name, which lies at the head
of that river. The inhabitants were Campbells, not indeed the vassals
of Argyle, but of the allied and kindred house of Glenorchy, which
now bears the name of Breadalbane. Being taken by surprise, they were
totally unprepared for resistance, and were compelled to be passive
witnesses of the ravages which took place among their flocks and herds.
Advancing in this manner to the vale of Loch Dochart, and laying waste
the country around him, Montrose reached the most difficult point of his
enterprise.

To a modern army, even with the assistance of the good military road
which now leads up by Teinedrum to the head of Loch Awe, the passage of
these extensive wilds would seem a task of some difficulty. But at this
period, and for long afterwards, there was no road or path whatsoever;
and to add to the difficulty, the mountains were already covered with
snow. It was a sublime scene to look up to them, piled in great masses,
one upon another, the front rank of dazzling whiteness, while those
which arose behind them caught a rosy tint from the setting of a clear
wintry sun. Ben Cruachan, superior in magnitude, and seeming the very
citadel of the Genius of the Region, rose high above the others, showing
his glimmering and scathed peak to the distance of many miles.

The followers of Montrose were men not to be daunted by the sublime, yet
terrible prospect before them. Many of them were of that ancient race
of Highlanders, who not only willingly made their couch in the snow,
but considered it as effeminate luxury to use a snowball for a pillow.
Plunder and revenge lay beyond the frozen mountains which they beheld,
and they did not permit themselves to be daunted by the difficulty of
traversing them. Montrose did not allow their spirits time to subside.
He ordered the pipes to play in the van the ancient pibroch entitled,
"HOGGIL NAM BO," etc. (that is, We come through snow-drift to drive the
prey), the shrilling sounds of which had often struck the vales of the
Lennox with terror. [It is the family-march of the M'Farlanes, a warlike
and predatory clan, who inhabited the western banks of Loch-Lomond.
See WAVERLY, Note XV.] The troops advanced with the nimble alacrity
of mountaineers, and were soon involved in the dangerous pass, through
which Ranald acted as their guide, going before them with a select
party, to track out the way.

The power of man at no time appears more contemptible than when it
is placed in contrast with scenes of natural terror and dignity. The
victorious army of Montrose, whose exploits had struck terror into all
Scotland, when ascending up this terrific pass, seemed a contemptible
handful of stragglers, in the act of being devoured by the jaws of the
mountain, which appeared ready to close upon them. Even Montrose half
repented the boldness of his attempt, as he looked down from the summit
of the first eminence which he attained, upon the scattered condition
of his small army. The difficulty of getting forward was so great, that
considerable gaps began to occur in the line of march, and the distance
between the van, centre, and rear, was each moment increased in a degree
equally incommodious and dangerous. It was with great apprehension that
Montrose looked upon every point of advantage which the hill afforded,
in dread it might be found occupied by an enemy prepared for defence;
and he often afterwards was heard to express his conviction, that had
the passes of Strath-Fillan been defended by two hundred resolute men,
not only would his progress have been effectually stopped, but his army
must have been in danger of being totally cut off. Security, however,
the bane of many a strong country and many a fortress, betrayed, on this
occasion, the district of Argyle to his enemies. The invaders had only
to contend with the natural difficulties of the path, and with the snow,
which, fortunately, had not fallen in any great quantity. The army no
sooner reached the summit of the ridge of hills dividing Argyleshire
from the district of Breadalbane, than they rushed down upon the devoted
vales beneath them with a fury sufficiently expressive of the motives
which had dictated a movement so difficult and hazardous.

Montrose divided his army into three bodies, in order to produce a wider
and more extensive terror, one of which was commanded by the Captain
of Clan Ranald, one intrusted to the leading of Colkitto, and the third
remained under his own direction. He was thus enabled to penetrate the
country of Argyle at three different points. Resistance there was none.
The flight of the shepherds from the hills had first announced in the
peopled districts this formidable irruption, and wherever the clansmen
were summoned out, they were killed, disarmed, and dispersed, by an
enemy who had anticipated their motions. Major Dalgetty, who had been
sent forward against Inverary with the few horse of the army that were
fit for service, managed his matters so well, that he had very nearly
surprised Argyle, as he expressed it, INTER POCULA; and it was only a
rapid flight by water which saved that chief from death or captivity.
But the punishment which Argyle himself escaped fell heavily upon his
country and clan, and the ravages committed by Montrose on that devoted
land, although too consistent with the genius of the country and times,
have been repeatedly and justly quoted as a blot on his actions and
character.

Argyle in the meantime had fled to Edinburgh, to lay his complaints
before the Convention of Estates. To meet the exigence of the moment,
a considerable army was raised under General Baillie, a Presbyterian
officer of skill and fidelity, with whom was joined in command the
celebrated Sir John Urrie, a soldier of fortune like Dalgetty, who had
already changed sides twice during the Civil War, and was destined to
turn his coat a third time before it was ended. Argyle also, burning
with indignation, proceeded to levy his own numerous forces, in order to
avenge himself of his feudal enemy. He established his head-quarters at
Dunbarton, where he was soon joined by a considerable force, consisting
chiefly of his own clansmen and dependants. Being there joined by
Baillie and Urrie, with a very considerable army of regular forces,
he prepared to march into Argyleshire, and chastise the invader of his
paternal territories.

But Montrose, while these two formidable armies were forming a junction,
had been recalled from that ravaged country by the approach of a third,
collected in the north under the Earl of Seaforth, who, after some
hesitation, having embraced the side of the Covenanters, had now,
with the assistance of the veteran garrison of Inverness, formed
a considerable army, with which he threatened Montrose from
Inverness-shire. Enclosed in a wasted and unfriendly country, and
menaced on each side by advancing enemies of superior force, it might
have been supposed that Montrose's destruction was certain. But these
were precisely the circumstances under which the active and enterprising
genius of the Great Marquis was calculated to excite the wonder and
admiration of his friends, the astonishment and terror of his enemies.
As if by magic, he collected his scattered forces from the wasteful
occupation in which they had been engaged; and scarce were they again
united, ere Argyle and his associate generals were informed, that the
royalists, having suddenly disappeared from Argyleshire, had retreated
northwards among the dusky and impenetrable mountains of Lochaber.

The sagacity of the generals opposed to Montrose immediately
conjectured, that it was the purpose of their active antagonist to fight
with, and, if possible, to destroy Seaforth, ere they could come to his
assistance. This occasioned a corresponding change in their operations.
Leaving this chieftain to make the best defence he could, Urrie and
Baillie again separated their forces from those of Argyle; and, having
chiefly horse and Lowland troops under their command, they kept the
southern side of the Grampian ridge, moving along eastward into the
county of Angus, resolving from thence to proceed into Aberdeenshire,
in order to intercept Montrose, if he should attempt to escape in that
direction.

Argyle, with his own levies and other troops, undertook to follow
Montrose's march; so that, in case he should come to action either with
Seaforth, or with Baillie and Urrie, he might be placed between two
fires by this third army, which, at a secure distance, was to hang upon
his rear.

For this purpose, Argyle once more moved towards Inverary, having an
opportunity, at every step, to deplore the severities which the hostile
clans had exercised on his dependants and country. Whatever noble
qualities the Highlanders possessed, and they had many, clemency in
treating a hostile country was not of the number; but even the ravages
of hostile troops combined to swell the number of Argyle's followers.
It is still a Highland proverb, He whose house is burnt must become a
soldier; and hundreds of the inhabitants of these unfortunate valleys
had now no means of maintenance, save by exercising upon others the
severities they had themselves sustained, and no future prospect of
happiness, excepting in the gratification of revenge. His bands were,
therefore, augmented by the very circumstances which had desolated his
country, and Argyle soon found himself at the head of three thousand
determined men, distinguished for activity and courage, and commanded by
gentlemen of his own name, who yielded to none in those qualities. Under
himself, he conferred the principal command upon Sir Duncan Campbell of
Ardenvohr, and another Sir Duncan Campbell of Auchenbreck, [This last
character is historical] an experienced and veteran soldier, whom he had
recalled from the wars of Ireland for this purpose. The cold spirit
of Argyle himself, however, clogged the military councils of his
more intrepid assistants; and it was resolved, notwithstanding their
increased force, to observe the same plan of operations, and to follow
Montrose cautiously, in whatever direction he should march, avoiding an
engagement until an opportunity should occur of falling upon his rear,
while he should be engaged with another enemy in front.