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'And
if we are less than successful ?'

Then
he will prove to be the King's man, after all, his name unsoilcd. He
will have sought to save Scotland for Charles. And so gain the rule
over it from a grateful monarch. So - he bides his time.'

'I
think, sir, that you do not like Archibald Campbell any more than do
I!' Montrose said slowly.

'Like?
Liking, my lord, who or what, is nothing to the case. I am not
concerned with likes and dislikes, but with facts. I conceive that
it is my duty to contrive that the rule of law prevails in this
realm, in the best measure possible. For that I need a strong hand
at the helm - else there is chaos, as now. That I should like that
hand is not necessary.'

'And
you have chosen to push me towards that leadership? However lacking
in strength
my
hand
!'

Thinly,
Hope smiled. 'The choice, my lord, is
...
limited,' he said, and turned away.

They
were still signing that parchment, by the light of torches, at eight
o'clock that February night.

₈

The
June morning was loud with the trilling of larks
in
the blue, the humming of bees in the gorse and broom, the calling of
cuckoos from the thorn scrub - and die singing of James Graham, Earl
of Montrose. For this man, in the right company, with stirring works
to do - especially in the saddle and not cooped up indoors in
long-winded talk - was a totally different character, blithe,
genial, frank and relaxed, a most excellent companion. And today,
the
7th
of
June, riding south-westwards from Edinburgh's Burgh Muir, on the
Pentlands road that led eventually to Lanark, he had all these
conditions in his favour. It was action of a sort, at least, after
all the talking, wherein he was his own man, and in his own kind of
good company - very much his own. In fact 100 mounted and armed
Stirlmgshire and Strathearn Grahams, under Black Pate Graham of
Inchbrakie. So, broad-brimmed, plumed cavalier hat hanging at his
saddlebow, long curling chestnut hair blowing in the breeze, he
sang in a rich and tuneful tenor; and Inchbrakie at his side, a
swarthy, ruggedly good-looking man a year older than himself, and
probably his closest friend, chimed in with a deep husky bass, here
and there, when he could catch the lilts of the strange foreign airs
his chief had brought home from his travels. A little way behind, in
fairly tight formation, the Graham troopers laughed and chattered as
they trotted, a cheerful, gallant company. Nevertheless, all except
the two leaders wore jacks, or breastplates of steel, and
morion-type helmets, their lance-tips glittering in the sunshine.

The
banner, James ?' Black Pate mentioned, at an interval between songs.
He used the Christian name when they were alone together, but was
meticulous with his honorific and lordings when others could hear.
'Having brought it, should you not have it flying?'

Time
enough, Pate, when we see them, for the playacting. That banner
has been hanging in my father's hall too long, unused. Scotland has
been no place for banners this century of our Lord! I fear that it
will split from its staff at a blow of wind! And how would Graham
look then? We must needs have a new one, if there is to be much of
this,'

'I
will set my wife to work on it,' the other said, tactfully not
suggesting that the Lady Magdalen should have the task. 'It comes to
me that we may need it.' Inchbrakie sounded as though hp hoped,
rather than feared it.

Consciously
repressing the spirit that hoped likewise, Montrose shrugged. 'Let
us pray otherwise.' He deceived nobody.

'It
is barely an hour to noon,' his friend said. 'Where do you look to
meet Hamilton?'

'Who
knows, with that man? He passed the night at Carnwath. Hamilton is
of a sluggish temper, I think. Myself, I'd have been in Edinburgh by
this. But the Marquis may like his bed of a morning. We may look for
him anywhere between here and Cairns Castle. Unless we meet a
messenger from the minister of Carnwath first!'

The
Covenanters, as they were beginning to call themselves, were in
the happy position of finding themselves exceedingly well-informed
as to what went on, at least in the Lowlands of Scotland. This
because the country was divided up into innumerable parishes, and in
each there was a parish church whose incumbent was, in nine cases
out
of
ten,
a whole-hearted supporter of their cause. So that nothing
of
importance
could happen in any corner of the land without some keen-eyed divine
sending the Tables in Edinburgh word hot-foot - a great
convenience. It had certainly proved so in this instance. The
Marquis of Hamilton's doings had been followed and chronicled, step
by step, since he crossed the Border in late May. And with
particular interest.

For
this was King Charles
's
answer.
He
had
sent up a royal commissioner to Scotland, ostensibly to enquire on
the spot into complaints and problems; but in fact, as was
sufficiently well known, to gain time. When the
Covenant,
signed
eventually all over Scotland, had been
sent
to
him, the King's first reaction had
been
righteous
and sorrowful wrath. Then he had sent to Scotland for certain
advisers
to
come
and inform him as to what was wrong with his Scots people. Charles
was never good at choosing men, clearly no judge of character; and
on this occasion, allegedly
on
Hamilton's
advice, he had sent for those who would give him
the
kind
of advice he desired - Traquair, Roxburgh, Spottiswoode and a parcel
of bishops. But one summons surprised Scotland - Archibald Campbell,
Lord Lome. What made Charles so choose, and what Lorne told the
King, were equally uncertain; but the Campbell came back from
London, his thin
lips
shut
like a clam. And presently a temporising missive followed, from
the King, making certain minor concessions about the prayer-book and
the law courts, but demanding the immediate withdrawal and
denunciation of the Covenant itself. Also the announcement that
a
royal
commissioner would be
sent
up
in due course, to hear all views and deliver a proclamation to
the
King's
local Scots subjects. It was all a much more reasonable and hopeful
reaction than had been feared - were it not for the warnings of
spies at Court, who declared unanimously that Charles was only
playing for time, while he settled his differences with his English
parliament with whom he was at loggerheads over the Ship Money
issue and other questions; and a later warning that it was the
Marquis of Hamilton who was on his way north, as Commissioner and
that he was in fact bearing two proclamations, one of a very
different tone from the other, these to be read as the circumstances
indicated. Clearly Charles Stewart was still a force to be
reckoned with.

His
Commissioner had certainly borne out the spies' warnings, as to
devious behaviour. Instead of making directiy for Edinburgh, to see
the people with whom he was to treat, he had swung off westwards at
the Border and headed for Lanarkshire and his own territory of
Hamilton. And there he had lingered for a week. But not altogether
idly. The word was that he was gathering men, armed men, from his
great estates. Presumably he wished to argue from strength, while in
Edinburgh, in the time-honoured Scots fashion, with a fighting tail
behind him.

But
at Hamilton the Marquis discovered what is apt to happen to even
great lords when they desert their lands and show no interest in
their estates save as a source of rents. All accounts agreed that he
had had the utmost difficulty in raising any sort of force. And the
most reliable estimates had it that all he had managed to collect
was less than a hundred exceedingly reluctant warriors. With these
he apparently intended to descend upon the capital. No doubt there
were plans for reinforcements to come in from elsewhere, for there
were reports of musterings in other parts of the country.

It
was a difficult situation for the Tables. Save for its hotheads,
the last thing that the Covenanters wanted was to be the first to
resort to armed force. And any attack on the King's Commissioner
would be most patent treason and revolt. On the other hand, to allow
an armed company of any size into the capital, especially one which
could, in the King's name, demand the allegiance of the Town Guard,
was a grave danger. Arrest and imprisonment for most of the
principal signatories of the Covenant would be only the first almost
certain result.

So
Montrose, who could most swiftly whistle up a sizeable force of men,
had been asked to handle the matter. Nothing could have pleased him
better, in the circumstances. He sent for Black Pate.

They
rode, then, jingling over the long, green Pentland hillfoots, as
though with not a care in the world, scattering sheep and stirks,
laughing, waving to the country folk, Montrose himself setting die
tone and tenor. He had accounts to settle with James Hamilton.

They
were near Maileny, and threading open thorn-scrub woodland, when
keen eyes spotted, far ahead, the glint of sunlight on steel. This
quickly developed into a long, strung-out file of horsemen, crossing
die moorland beyond, not in any tight formation like the Grahams but
straggling, scattered.

'So-o-o!'
Inchbrakie commented, eyes narrowed. 'Would we could make an ambush
of it
1
We
could roll them up like babes in a plaid!'

'Would
you, a leal subject, ambush His Grace's High Commissioner? Shame on
you, Pate
1'

Nevertheless,
quarter of a mile on, where the woodland grew thicker with ash and
birch mixed, Montrose reined up. 'We will wait here a-while,' he
declared. 'Why ride on when we must then come back?'

'Aye.'
The other grinned. "You'll no' want the men dismounted
though, I take it?'