On one occasion a party of the Macleans of
Lochbuy, marching to join Dundee in Badenoch, came to blows with some of
Livingstone's dragoons; and there were other skirmishes, of no material
result, at none of which was either general present in person. More than
once Dundee was in striking distance of Mackay; but he never found
himself in a position to engage with sufficient assurance of victory. A
defeat he dared not risk; and even victory, unless complete enough to
need no second blow, had its dangers. An army which considered the safe
storage of his booty as the first duty of a successful soldier could not
safely be trusted to make good the result of a doubtful battle. And in
fact he found his forces each day diminishing as food became more scarce
in those barren wilds, or as some lucky raid necessitated a departure
for home with the prize. At length, wisely determining to sanction what
he could not prevent, and feeling that even his iron frame and dauntless
spirit were in need of rest, Dundee dismissed the clans for the present,
on their giving a promise to join him again when he should require them.
Keeping only some two hundred of the Macleans with him, he returned to
his old quarters, on the pressing invitation of Lochiel, who swore to
him that while there was a cow in Lochaber neither he nor his men should
want.
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