There were not above fifty
pounds of powder in the camp; and though the Highland fashion was to
trust more to the cold steel than the bullet, powder was a necessity of
war that could not well be altogether dispensed with. Dundee also urged
upon Melfort the good effect James' own presence would have upon his
Scottish allies. If that could not be managed, he said, at least let him
send the Duke of Berwick. There was no petty jealousy in Dundee's
character. He would have cheerfully put himself under the command of any
man if by so doing he were likely to further the cause he had at heart.
But no answer came to these appeals. In one of the last letters Dundee
wrote, he reminds Melfort that for three months he had received not a
single line from him or from James.
Meanwhile, his tact, his good temper, courtesy, and liberality had won
the hearts of his new allies. With the money he had brought with him
from the Lowlands, and the supplies his wife and some of his friends
were able occasionally to send him, he contrived to maintain an
establishment that was at least superior to anything which most of his
new friends were accustomed to. Every day he entertained some of the
chiefs at his table. He made himself acquainted with the faces and names
of the principal tacksmen of each clan, and mastered a few words of
Gaelic to enable him to address and return salutations.
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