“My first step,” said the earl, when silence was restored, “shall be to set up the standard at Castletown, and proclaim King James. The Fiery Cross shall then be sent round to summon the clans to war. My headquarters will be fixed at Dunkeld.”
“Within a month I will join you there with three thousand men,” said the Earl of Searforth.
“Your arrival will be impatiently expected, my lord,” said Mar. “But by that time I hope to be in possession of Perth. How many men will your father, the Duke of Athole, give us, marquis?” he added to Tullibardine.
“Very few, in comparison with Lord Seaforth,” replied the other. “But I will bring all I can.”
“The duke, I know, is lukewarm in the cause,” said Mar. “But since both his sons are pledged, there can be no fear of him.”
“None whatever,” replied Lord Charles Murray, the Duke of Athole's younger son.
Promises of substantial aid were then given by the Earls of Southesk, Panmure, and other nobles, and by the chiefs Glengarry, and Gordon of Glendarule.
Last of all came Colonel Mackintosh, head of the powerful Clan Chattan. He engaged to raise six or seven hundred well-disciplined Highlanders, but stipulated that his kinsman, Brigadier Mackintosh of Borluni, should have the command of the regiment.
“Be it so, colonel, since you desire it,” said Mar. “But I have a more important command for your brave kinsman. Tell Brigadier Mackintosh that I desire to speak to him,” he added to Colonel Hay.
On hearing this order, those who were grouped around retired to a little distance, and a vacant space was thus left for the old Highland warrior.
|A VERY remarkable person was Brigadier Mackintosh, Laird of Borlum, and since he is destined to play a conspicuous part in our story, it may be proper to describe him.
The redoubted Laird of Borlum, then, was an old campaigner, having served in Holland years ago, in Ireland under James the Second, where he gained laurels, but little pay, and in France, where he had attained the rank of brigadier, which he still held. Devotedly attached to James the Second, on the death of that monarch, he had transferred all his loyalty to his son. The Chevalier de Saint George had no more zealous adherent than the brave Laird of Borlum.