Jan. 20, 1644.--Clarendon Papers, ii.
165.]
[Footnote 2: MacColl Keitache, son of Coll, the left-handed.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1644. July 8.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1644. April 13.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1644. May 6.]
the third day he silently withdrew with only two companions, and soon
afterwards reached in the disguise of a groom the foot of the Grampian
Hills. There he received intelligence of the proceedings of Macdonald,
and appointed to join him in Athole.[a] At the castle of Blair, which had
surrendered to the strangers, the two chieftains met: Montrose assumed the
command, published the royal commission, and called on the neighbouring
clans to join the standard of their sovereign. The Scots, who had scorned
to serve under a foreigner, cheerfully obeyed, and to the astonishment of
the Covenanters an army appeared to rise out of the earth in a quarter the
most remote from danger; but it was an army better adapted to the purpose
of predatory invasion than of permanent warfare. Occasionally it swelled to
the amount of several thousands: as often it dwindled to the original band
of Irishmen under Macdonald. These, having no other resource than
their courage, faithfully clung to their gallant commander in all the
vicissitudes of his fortune; the Highlanders, that they might secure their
plunder, frequently left him to flee before the superior multitude of his
foes.
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