A Legend of Montrose Page 19

  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, andquestioned him long and particularly as to the means of approaching thecountry of Argyle. He made a note of his answers, which he compared withthose of two of his followers, whom he introduced as the most prudentand experienced. He found them to correspond in all respects; but, stillunsatisfied where precaution was so necessary, the Marquis compared theinformation he had received with that he was able to collect from theChiefs who lay most near to the destined scene of invasion, and being inall respects satisfied of its accuracy, he resolved to proceed in fullreliance upon it.

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

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

  As Ranald MacEagh was to be placed under Major Dalgetty's protection andsuperintendence, it was necessary he should present him to those personswith 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 sortof clothing peculiar to the men of the distant Isles, resembling awaistcoat with sleeves, and a petticoat, all made in one piece. Thisdress was laced from top to bottom in front, and bore some resemblanceto that called Polonaise, still worn by children in Scotland of thelower rank. The tartan hose and bonnet completed the dress, which oldmen of the last century remembered well to have seen worn by the distantIslesmen who came to the Earl of Mar's standard in the year 1715.

  Major Dalgetty, keeping his eye on Allan as he spoke, introduced RanaldMacEagh under the fictitious name of Ranald MacGillihuron in Benbecula,who had escaped with him out of Argyle's prison. He recommended him asa person skilful in the arts of the harper and the senachie, and by nomeans contemptible in the quality of a second-sighted person or seer.While making this exposition, Major Dalgetty stammered and hesitated ina way so unlike the usual glib forwardness of his manner, that he couldnot have failed to have given suspicion to Allan M'Aulay, had not thatperson's whole attention been engaged in steadily perusing thefeatures of the person thus introduced to him. This steady gaze so muchembarrassed Ranald MacEagh, that his hand was beginning to sink downtowards his dagger, in expectation of a hostile assault, when Allan,suddenly crossing the floor of the hut, extended his hand to him in theway of friendly greeting. They sat down side by side, and conversed ina low mysterious tone of voice. Menteith and Angus M'Aulay were notsurprised at this, for there prevailed among the Highlanders whopretended to the second-sight, a sort of Freemasonry, which generallyinduced them, upon meeting, to hold communication with each other on thenature and extent of their visionary experiences.

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

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

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

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

  "I humbly thank you, gentlemen," answered the soldier, "Gustavas iswell, though, like his master, somewhat barer on the ribs than when youoffered 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 tocontemplate with so much satisfaction in prospect, you will leave, mygood knights, some of your English beef, and probably an English horseor two, behind you."

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

  "If such be the case," said Angus M'Aulay, "I must give orders to myfollowers, 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 foulerroad 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 fromLord 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 hiscompanion; "for the Lady of Montrose herself could not be morecourteously waited upon; she has four Highland maidens, and as manybare-legged gillies, to wait upon her orders."

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

  The Englishmen cordially agreed that they had the superiority in thisrespect; and the company, now dispersing, went each to his severalcharge or occupation.

  Allan lingered a moment behind, still questioning the reluctant RanaldMacEagh upon a point in his supposed visions, by which he was greatlyperplexed. "Repeatedly," he said, "have I had the sight of a Gael, whoseemed to plunge his weapon into the body of Menteith,--of that youngnobleman 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 fixedin the sockets, can I discover the face of this Highlander, or evenconjecture who he may be, although his person and air seem familiar tome." [See Note II.--Wraiths.]

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

  "I have," answered Allan, speaking low, and shuddering as if withinternal 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 andconvulsed tone.

  "Then be assur
ed," 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. "Butit 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 bya 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 isIMPOSSIBLE I should harm him!"

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

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

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

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

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

  The followers of Montrose were men not to be daunted by the sublime, yetterrible prospect before them. Many of them were of that ancient raceof 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 oftraversing 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 theprey), the shrilling sounds of which had often struck the vales of theLennox with terror. [It is the family-march of the M'Farlanes, a warlikeand predatory clan, who inhabited the western banks of Loch-Lomond.See WAVERLY, Note XV.] The troops advanced with the nimble alacrityof mountaineers, and were soon involved in the dangerous pass, throughwhich Ranald acted as their guide, going before them with a selectparty, to track out the way.

  The power of man at no time appears more contemptible than when itis placed in contrast with scenes of natural terror and dignity. Thevictorious army of Montrose, whose exploits had struck terror into allScotland, when ascending up this terrific pass, seemed a contemptiblehandful of stragglers, in the act of being devoured by the jaws of themountain, which appeared ready to close upon them. Even Montrose halfrepented the boldness of his attempt, as he looked down from the summitof the first eminence which he attained, upon the scattered conditionof his small army. The difficulty of getting forward was so great, thatconsiderable gaps began to occur in the line of march, and the distancebetween the van, centre, and rear, was each moment increased in a degreeequally incommodious and dangerous. It was with great apprehension thatMontrose 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 hadthe passes of Strath-Fillan been defended by two hundred resolute men,not only would his progress have been effectually stopped, but his armymust have been in danger of being totally cut off. Security, however,the bane of many a strong country and many a fortress, betrayed, on thisoccasion, the district of Argyle to his enemies. The invaders had onlyto contend with the natural difficulties of the path, and with the snow,which, fortunately, had not fallen in any great quantity. The army nosooner reached the summit of the ridge of hills dividing Argyleshirefrom the district of Breadalbane, than they rushed down upon the devotedvales beneath them with a fury sufficiently expressive of the motiveswhich had dictated a movement so difficult and hazardous.

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

  Argyle in the meantime had fled to Edinburgh, to lay his complaintsbefore the Convention of Estates. To meet the exigence of the moment,a considerable army was raised under General Baillie, a Presbyterianofficer of skill and fidelity, with whom was joined in command thecelebrated Sir John Urrie, a soldier of fortune like Dalgetty, who hadalready changed sides twice during the Civil War, and was destined toturn his coat a third time before it was ended. Argyle also, burningwith indignation, proceeded to levy his own numerous forces, in order toavenge himself of his feudal enemy. He established his head-quarters atDunbarton, where he was soon joined by a considerable force, consistingchiefly of his own clansmen and dependants. Being there joined byBaillie and Urrie, with a very considerable army of regular forces,he prepared to march into Argyleshire, and chastise the invader of hispaternal 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 somehesitation, having embraced the side of the Covenanters, had now,with the assistance of the veteran garrison of Inverness, formeda considerable army, with which he threatened Montrose fromInverness-shire. Enclosed in a wasted and unfriendly country, andmenaced on each side by advancing enemies of superior force, it mighthave been supposed that Montrose's destruction was certain. But thesewere precisely the circumstances under which the active and enterprisinggenius of the Great Marquis was calculated to excite the wonder andadmiration of his friends, the astonishment and terror of his enemies.As if by magic, he collected his scattered forces from the wastefuloccupation in which they had been engaged; and scarce were they againunited, ere Argyle and his associate generals were informed, that theroyalists, having suddenly disappeared from Argyleshire, had retreatednorthwards
among the dusky and impenetrable mountains of Lochaber.

  The sagacity of the generals opposed to Montrose immediatelyconjectured, that it was the purpose of their active antagonist to fightwith, and, if possible, to destroy Seaforth, ere they could come to hisassistance. This occasioned a corresponding change in their operations.Leaving this chieftain to make the best defence he could, Urrie andBaillie again separated their forces from those of Argyle; and, havingchiefly horse and Lowland troops under their command, they kept thesouthern side of the Grampian ridge, moving along eastward into thecounty of Angus, resolving from thence to proceed into Aberdeenshire,in order to intercept Montrose, if he should attempt to escape in thatdirection.

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

  For this purpose, Argyle once more moved towards Inverary, having anopportunity, at every step, to deplore the severities which the hostileclans had exercised on his dependants and country. Whatever noblequalities the Highlanders possessed, and they had many, clemency intreating a hostile country was not of the number; but even the ravagesof hostile troops combined to swell the number of Argyle's followers.It is still a Highland proverb, He whose house is burnt must become asoldier; and hundreds of the inhabitants of these unfortunate valleyshad now no means of maintenance, save by exercising upon others theseverities they had themselves sustained, and no future prospect ofhappiness, excepting in the gratification of revenge. His bands were,therefore, augmented by the very circumstances which had desolated hiscountry, and Argyle soon found himself at the head of three thousanddetermined men, distinguished for activity and courage, and commanded bygentlemen of his own name, who yielded to none in those qualities. Underhimself, he conferred the principal command upon Sir Duncan Campbell ofArdenvohr, and another Sir Duncan Campbell of Auchenbreck, [This lastcharacter is historical] an experienced and veteran soldier, whom he hadrecalled from the wars of Ireland for this purpose. The cold spiritof Argyle himself, however, clogged the military councils of hismore intrepid assistants; and it was resolved, notwithstanding theirincreased force, to observe the same plan of operations, and to followMontrose cautiously, in whatever direction he should march, avoiding anengagement until an opportunity should occur of falling upon his rear,while he should be engaged with another enemy in front.