What would
otherwise appear one of those inexplicable freaks by which James ever
delighted to confound his affairs at their crisis, is amply explained by
the fact that the new captain was the brother of Melfort's second wife.
Fortunately Dunfermline was too good a soldier and too loyal a gentleman
to resent the slight. As Mackay's line was much longer than his, Dundee
was compelled to widen the spaces between the clans for fear of being
outflanked, which left for his centre only this little cluster of
sabres. Lochiel's eldest son, John, was with his father, but Allan, the
second, held a commission in Mackay's own regiment. As the general saw
each clan take up its ground, he turned to young Cameron and said,
pointing to the standard of Lochiel, "There is your father with his wild
savages; how would you like to be with him?" "It signifies little what I
would like," was the spirited answer; "but I recommend you to be
prepared, or perhaps my father and his wild savages may be nearer to you
before night than you would like!"[101]
Each general spoke a few words to his men. Dundee reminded his captains
that they were assembled that day to fight in the best of causes, in the
cause of their King, their religion and their country, against rebels
and usurpers. He urged them to behave like true Scotchmen, and to redeem
their country from the disgrace cast on it by the treachery and
cowardice of others.
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