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No
comparable play-acting was required of Montrose. A sensitive man, he
was in fact concerned that tears of emotion should not well up
into his eyes. For this resounding catalogue represented the greatest
clan in Scotland, greater even than Gordon or Campbell - the Clan
Donald Federation. Here were the chiefs, or their near
representatives, of the age-old dynasty which had been undisputed
rulers of the North-West and the Hebrides for half a millennium. He
held out his hand, stirred as he was not forgetting to do so in due
order of precedence, the same in which they had been presented.

'Gentlemen
- you gladden my eyes and my heart,' he cried. 'I salute the Sons of
Somerled!

That
pleased these proud Islesmen, it was clear - although none actually
smiled as Montrose grasped each hand.

Colkitto
was not finished. 'And here, to present to
An
Greumach Mor,
is
Clan Gillean. Sir Lachan Maclean of Duart; Hector Maclean of
Lochbuie; Ewan Maclean of Ardgour; Lachlan Maclean of Coll.'

'I
greet the great Clan Gillean.'

'Here
is Alan of Locheil, Captain of Clan Cameron; MacMaster Cameron of
Letterfinlay; MacSorley Cameron of Glen Nevis.'

'I
rejoice to meet the MacGillonie, the Camerons of Lochaber."

'Moreover,
Seumas my friend, here is Duncan Stewart of Appin; Alan Stewart of
Ardsheil; Ian Stewart of Invernahyle; and Dugald Stewart of
Achnacone.'

"The
Royal Race! My salutations...'

And
so it went on. With meticulous care, Colkitto presented group
after group of chiefs and chieftains and captains, all in their due
order, rank and precedence. And as heed-fully, Montrose acknowledged
them, thankful not only for their presence there but that he could
remember sufficient of the Gaelic polity and tradition to greet each
properly and aptly. For these men were prouder of their ancestry and
lineage than any grandees of Spain, the proudest probably in all
Christendom, and easier to offend by any failure in address or order.
Yet they were some of the finest irregular fighters ever born - and
for that the Graham's heart was full. Even though apparently they had
brought with them no more than some
500
clansmen,
mere token 'tails'. But engage and involve these chiefs, and they
could provide their thousands.

That
Colkitto was highly pleased with himself over producing this
impressive support for the King's wilting cause, went without saying.
That they were all probably more deeply imbued with hatred of the
Campbell than with loyalty to King Charles was beside the point.
Colkitto had been operating for the past month or two on the northern
fringes of Argyll, raiding into Campbell country - a proceeding which
commended itself to all other western chieftains. However much
they might disagree with each other, their antipathy to
MacCailean
Mor
was
sufficient to produce a kind of unity when opportunity arose to smite
the Campbell with some degree of success. Colkitto had promised them
such smiting, and consequent rich pickings, m this laudable pursuit.

If
the adherence of these Highland chiefs provided its own problems, at
least it cleared Montrose's mind as to what must be his next move -
something which had been concerning him not a little. Now there
could be no question. He had to continue to concentrate on Archibald
Campbell. And since the Campbell had retired to his own fastnesses,
there they must follow him. Mid-Argyll was a vast natural fortress,
of course; and no major assault on its central citadel area had been
attempted for centuries - not since the Bruce's campaign against John
of Lord in
1308,
when
the hero-king had won his brilliant victory at the Pass of Brander.
Modest hit-and-run raids such as Colkitto had been engaged on, mere
pinpricks, were always possible, on the perimeter; but full-scale
invasion was something other. There was probably not a commander in
Scotland who would even consider it But, on the other hand, neither
Archibald Campbell nor anyone else was likely to expect it,
therefore. It had taken the immortal Bruce to do it before. He, James
Graham, might humbly try his hand - with God's help. Only so could he
make best and enthusiastic use of his imposing new supporters.
And the King's cause meantime could as well be served in Argyll as
elsewhere.

So
it was decided. They would leave Atholl and turn their faces to the
west, marching by Breadalbane and Mamlorn. And, God willing, they
would teach Archibald Campbell who was king, even in Argyll.

Quickly
thereafter Montrose learned how difficult a team he now had to
handle. For Breadalbane was itself now largely Campbell territory,
stolen from the MacGregors, MacNabs and lesser clans, by the
Glenorchy branch of the Campbells. And Colkitto and his friends were
for letting the Campbells of Lawers, Balloch, Lochtayside, Finlarig,
Glen Dochart and Strathfillan learn something of what it meant to
have the same name as
MacCailean
Mor,
as
it were en route. James Graham's insistence that this should not be
was not well received. Indeed it looked almost as though the
authority of the King's Lieutenant was going to be flouted before
even it was acknowledged - for these men he now spoke to were little
kings in their own way. He declared earnestly that surprise was the
very basis of anything they might achieve against Argyll. Forfeit
that, and they might as well remain in Atholl. They must avoid all
such populous Campbell areas like the plague, meantime, lest word be
sent to Inveraray.
Their
turn
might come, afterwards
...

That
the Graham
^-
had his way, in the end, was thanks wholly to patient persuasion and
nothing to command.

28

God,
it seemed, on this occasion, was with Montrose -
or
so decided the Highland chiefs. As well He might be, of course, since
it was the heretical, Covenanting and thrice-damned Campbell who was
equally His enemy as well as theirs. For that month, from
mid-December
1644
to
mid-January
1645,
the
wind blew lightly but steadily from the east, cold but dry, frost and
clear skies, sun by day, bitter, splintering starlight by night, such
consistent cold as had not been experienced for long - but dry cold.
For moving an army across the very Highland roof of Scotland, nothing
could have been better. No snow fell - and what was already there was
solid as iron. Rushing rivers were frozen over, and crossable. Bogs
became level, if slippery, highways. The passes were not drifted up.
All the natural hazards of winter travel in the mountains were
modified - for men who could cope with the cold. This, admittedly,
was terrible - but there was fuel in plenty, for Breadalbane and
Mamlorn were well wooded with the old Caledonian pine-forest. And
cattle were available in large numbers, huddling conveniently on the
low ground, not scattered over the ironbound hills - and being
Campbell cattle, and therefore free, tasted the sweeter. Whatever the
chiefs thought of present Montrose tactics and strategy, they
recognised his luck. And acknowledged his energy, and the sustained
speed of their going.

They
made excellent time indeed, in this epic move - for nobody had
thought to transport an army, now numbering some
3000,
across
the highest and broadest barrier of Highland Scotland, in
deepest winter, in memory of man. Even the Bruce had done his Argyll
campaigning more seasonably. Leaving Atholl on the
11
th
of December, they marched south first, to Tay, and then west up
Strathtay by Aberfeldy -taking the opportunity to pay a call at
Castle Menzies, at Weem, and take into custody Sir Alexander Menzies,
who had betrayed Montrose before Tippermuir. His strong links with
the Campbells might well make him a useful hostage. Then on down both
sides of Loch Tay - carefully avoiding any assault on the Campbell
castles there however, much as the chiefs grumbled. In long Glen
Dochart they were joined by quite a large contingent of MacGregors
and MacNabs, welcome recruits, whose hatred of their dispossessors,
the Clan Campbell, was deep and personal indeed. And these saved a
bloody encounter at the narrows between Loch Dochart and great Ben
More, where a hastily assembled party of Glenorchy men might have
held them up indefinitely; and Montrose was shown how to avoid
the pass by a secret route on a high terrace to the north. Then up
Strathfillan to Tyndrum, where they had a most unexpected adherent -
none other than Patrick Campbell of Edinample, brother to Robert of
Glenorchy himself, who had quarrelled with his brother and Argyll
both, a shifty character but who also might be useful. The long pass
of Glen Lochy, under Ben Lui, then opened before them, stark white,
bleak savage -but unguarded by man. Through its grim miles they
passed unopposed, until the wide lowlands of Loch Awe spread
spectacularly before them, a stirring, heart-lifting sight after the
close constriction of the mountains. It was the Campbell homeland and
very fair.

They
had thus reached the borders of the central Argyll citadel in five
gruelling days, eighty miles across the high hunched back of the
land. And without a single conflict worth so calling. It seemed
highly unlikely that any warning could have gone ahead of them, to
Inveraray.

Kilchurn
Castle, the large and strong main seat of the Glenorchy Campbells,
stood in an almost unassailable marshy site at an inlet of the great
loch ahead of them. To take that would be difficult and
time-consuming, without artillery. But it had to be neutralised
somehow - and especially prevented from sending a warning boat up the
twenty-three-mile length of the great loch, from which word could be
got over the hill to Inveraray on Loch Fyne. Fortunately,
Campbell of Edinample, who had been reared here, knew how the
lochward approaches to the castle could be blocked by means of a boom
across the narrows of the inlet - part of the place's defences
against attack by water. The boom was permanently there and only a
constricted channel had to be blocked, and no boat could get past. A
small party was given this task, and the guarding of the boom
thereafter. Montrose was loth to thus use the services of a traitor -
but dealing with Archibald Campbell made such scruples too costly.

Farther
west still, the mighty jaws of the famous Pass of Brander yawned,
barring off all central and coastal Lome. This was where Bruce had
won his great victory, improbable as it seemed. Bruce had not been
aiming at Inveraray, however, but at Dunstaffnage, John
MacDougall of Lorn's fortress. It was on the MacDougal's
consequent fall that the Campbells arose. So Montrose did not require
to seek passage of that fearsome gorge between the steep sides of
towering Cruachan and die deep black waters of Awe. But it had to be
sealed off, nevertheless, lest any enemy assault developed through
it, to outflank them. So he sent a detachment of
200
MacGregors
and MacNabs, the former once owners of this territory, to stop it -
and
200
could
hold up
10,000
there,
one way as the other.