Unknown (61 page)

And
so, that night of the 1st of September, the man who had started the
day as little more than an outlawed fugitive with a price on his head
-
£1600
sterling
- and only the stars for a roof, ended it as master of the third
largest city in Scotland, and complete victor over the country's
second-line army. Admittedly this was a poor affair compared with
Leslie's great professional force in England; but it had represented
the largest assembly of armed men mobilised north of the Border, and
had been well equipped. To all this equipment, arms, ammunition,
commissariat, tentage and some horses, as well as the nine cannon,
Montrose fell heir - as well as whatever Perth could supply to him.
By the most abrupt change of fortune, he who could lay hands on
little or nothing, now had a superabundance at his disposal; and for
the moment, undisputed sway over a large area. It was exactly
fourteen days since the victor had crossed the Border disguised as a
groom.

Before
he slept that night, between sheets for the first time for long, in
the house of one Mistress Donaldson, he was concerned to send out
invitations to all the ministers of Perth to dine with him next day.
The diplomat and statesman was in control again. Not that this
precluded him from sending a messenger hot-foot to Kinnaird
Castle.

23

T
hree
days later, the army of
K
ing
C
harles
was on
the
move again - they were daring to call it that, now, though perhaps
still a little ambitiously. Certainly it looked, and was, a very
different host from that which had fought the Battle of Tippermuir.
It was no larger - for though some Perthshire lairds had rediscovered
their courage and duty to the King, and some numbers of Elcho's men
had elected to change sides, nevertheless most of the Athollmen, not
to mention the Highlanders recruited by Colkitto earlier in Badcnoch
and Lochaber, were no longer present. This was not desertion, but the
normal pattern of Highland military service. These clansmen were
nobody's servants, crofters, cattle-herds, drovers, fishermen,
hunters, supporting a chief but not employed by him or by any man.
They would gladly wield their swords in his cause, unpaid; but when
the battle was over, they went home, to get on with the business of
living and keeping their families alive. Moreover, this was
harvest-time in the Highlands, and their cattle stock, the basis of
the whole Highland economy, could not survive the long winter without
the oats now waiting to be gathered in from a thousand glens. They
would fight for the Lord Marquis another time, and for this King
Charles perhaps, to a lesser extent - but meantime they were going
home, with die booty of their victory.

Montrose
knew all this too well to seek to dissuade them. And he saw that they
went adequately rewarded.

So
there were large changes in personnel. And those who remained
looked
different
- the Irish, the Islesmen, the Grahams, Kilpont's bowmen and some
Gordons. They were no longer ragged and ill-equipped. Now all who
wanted them had breastplates, helmets, good Lowland clothing and
boots, and were armed comprehensively with firearms, and ample
ammunition therefor - for, after all, they had captured over
5000
stands
of arms. Most of the Gaelic warriors would by no means wear Lowland
gear, so Montrose had demanded a vast amount of cloth, tartan where
possible, from the Perth merchants, to renew kilts, plaids and
jerkins. Apart from that, the horses, and a
£50
levy
- to give Alastair, who had not a penny-piece left in his war-chest -
James Graham had imposed no further penalty upon the city, and had
kept his troops from any excesses, with a stern hand. It was
important, since he could by no means remain there to hold the
place, that Perth should thereafter look fairly kindly on him and on
the royal cause.

For
he had to move. Static warfare was not for him and his - and Perth no
place to be besieged in even if it had been. Already there were
reports that the Estates were mobilising feverishly in Edinburgh,
Glasgow and Dundee; and they said that Callander, with Leslie's
reserve army on the Border, had been called home. More immediately
threatening, Argyll himself was known to be hastening eastwards from
his own Highland territories with a large force of Campbells and
their allies, and demanding reinforcements from all sides in the name
of the Privy Council and Estates. And there was said to be a sizeable
Covenant force in the North-East, based on Aberdeen - although who
was its general was not clear, the young Lord Graham adhering but
presumably not in command.

Above
all things, the royalist force must not be trapped between three
converging armies — or two, for that matter. Montrose decided
to move north by east, pardy because the opposition in that direction
was the least specific, and with die Gordon element in it liable
perhaps to change allegiance again; and partly because he wanted to
recruit men in Angus and the Mearns, Graham and Ogilvy territory.
Even the Carnegies might now be persuaded to join forces with him, on
the King's behalf. But few would risk it, he believed, if the city of
Dundee remained hostile, so close at hand. Therefore he would make
for Dundee first of all, where he had hopes that the ruling party
might be dislodged without too much difficulty — the Graham
lairdships of Claverhouse, Claypotts, Fintry, Strathdichty and Mains
circling the place on north and east.

So,
on Wednesday the
4th
of
September, they marched away from Perth, crossing the Tay and up its
eastern bank, making for the wide mouth of Strathmore in the first
instance, and the Ogilvy country. They made quite a gallant show, foi
they had cavalry now, to the number of
200
-
Grahams,
Drummonds and
100
Hays
under George, Lord Dupplin, the old Earl of Kinnoull's heir, the only
new recruit of any note. Most of the officers were mounted - although
Alastair MacDonald scornfully refused a horse, preferring to march
with his men. As indeed Montrose would have done, had he not had
occasion to ride escort. For this day, trotting at his side, were his
Marchioness and his eldest two sons, the Earl of Kincardine and the
Lord James Graham.

On
the Sunday night, after victory, Montrose's messenger to Kinnaird, as
well as informing Magdalen of success, had also invited her to join
him for a day or two at Perth, with John and Jamie. None would hinder
or assail the Graham's family, within a fair radius of Perth, in the
meantime - so it would be safe enough. They had come the next day, to
a joyful reunion - even though Magdalen did not fail to declare her
continued fears for the future, and her loathing of all warfare,
victorious or otherwise. The boys, of course, were in a seventh
heaven of delight, sons of a manifest hero now, for all to
acknowledge. Two nights and a day they had had together - and at
least the nights had been their own.

Now
they rode, and marched, up the wide pastoral vale of fair Strathmore,
between the Sidlaws and the Tay, through the pleasant settled land of
North Gowrie and the Stormont. At the junction of Isla and Tay, they
swung eastwards for Coupar-Angus, the slow cannon already left far
behind. And near where the Romans had once made their great camp, at
Lintrose, Montrose halted likewise, and sent out probing parties
southwards through the Sidlaw passes of Balshando and Glack of
Newtyle, to discover the state of affairs at

Dundee,
and to make contact with the Grahams of that area, while he waited
for the slow cannon to catch up. Meanwhile, he sent to the Earl of
Airlie, at Cortachy Castle, and to the Earl of Kinghome at Glamis,
for reinforcements, mounted if possible.

He
gained little joy at Coupar-Angus - save for what he obtained from
his wife and sons. Airlie was loyal King's man enough, and answered
the call personally, bringing his sons Sir Thomas and Sir David
Ogilvy with him - but only forty-five men. This was a grievous
disappointment, even though they were all horsed, from one of the
most powerful lords in the East of Scotland. Montrose had looked for
many times that number. And Kinghome sent only his regrets. He did
not actually declare that he was not so agile at changing sides as
was James Graham - but he indicated that he still adhered to the
Covenant which he had signed, and did not feel that he could rise
against it in arms, with a clear conscience. Nor was he in the
best of health .. .

Only
a comparatively few other recruits joined them at Coupar-Angus.

Old
Airlie brought sad news as well as few men. His eldest son,
Montrose's faithful lieutenant, the Lord Ogilvy, with most of the
rest of the Scots whom James Graham had left so dramatically and
secretly south of Carlisle, had fallen into an ambush on the way to
the King at Oxford, at Ribble Bridge, and were now the English
parliamentarians' prisoners. Aboyne had apparendy escaped, for he it
was had sent the word from Carlisle; but many others were taken.
Airlie may not actually have blamed Montrose for desertion of his
son; but undoubtedly it still rankled that he had failed to save the
Ogilvy castles of Airlie and Forter, and the Countess herself,
from Argyll's savagery, when he was still Covenant
Lieutenant-General in these parts. Probably this accounted for
the merely token force of Ogilvys he brought with him.

On
the second night at Coupar, while still they awaited firm news of
Dundee, Montrose was aroused in the tent he was sharing with Magdalen
by the agitated captain of the guard. Not attack, no. But trouble.
Great shameful trouble. Murder...!

Hastily
seeking to quieten and reassure his alarmed wife, James Graham ran,
half-naked, through the drizzling night and the slumbering camp, to
another tent, where three men lay dead, horribly contorted in a sea
of blood - his friend, John, Lord Kilpont, and two sentries, all
stabbed with savage, multiple wounds. By the light of a flickering
lamp, he starred, appalled.

'John!
Johnnie!' he choked. 'God in heaven - what is this? Dead? Dead? All
dead ... ?'

'Dead,
my lord. When I got to him. The sentries gave the alarm. Then these
two slain likewise. Another wounded .. .'

'But...
why ? Who ? How came this...?'

'Ardvorlich,
my lord. Major Stewart of Ardvorlich. He did it. Him they call the
Mad Major.'

'But
. . . but Kilpont was Ardvorlich's friend. His closest friend, in
this host. Some mistake, here...'

‘
No,
my lord Marquis - none. They were together in this tent all the
night. Playing at the cards. See.' He pointed to the overturned
ammunition-box, the scattered cards and the fallen wine-flagon and
tankards. 'The wounded sentry is one of my lord Kilpont's bowmen. He
heard shouting, and came running. He saw his lordship on the grass,
and the Major stabbing at him, stabbing and stabbing with his dirk.
He ran for aid. Fetched these two others, and went back. Ardvorlich
was a man crazed. He knifed them all. He shouted "MacGregor!"
at them. MacGregor - though they were none of MacGregor. Then he
bolted. I heard noise at the horse-lines. He is gone. And ... these
are dead. All dead.'

'Sweet
Jesu - MacGregor! That old story! Of a mercy -so sore a sin, so
ancient a sin !'