very day saw them striding over the hills to their own homes. By the
time he reached Dunkeld the royal army had shrunk to six hundred foot
and two hundred horse.

With this small force he entered Dundee, the great fortress of the
covenant, and his men took to drinking. At that moment news was brought
him that Baillie was at the gates, and with marvellous rapidity he
collected his men and marched them out of the east gate as the English
entered by the west. The Grampians were within a long march, and once
there Montrose knew he was safe.

And, far away in Sweden and in Germany, the generals who had been
trained under Wallenstein and under Gustavus Adolphus looked on, and
wondered at the skill with which Montrose met and defeated the armies
and the wealth arrayed against him.

* * * * *

But to those who had eyes to see the end was certain. It was to no
purpose that he, with the aid of the Gordons, now once more on his side,
gained a victory at Auldearn, between Inverness and Elgin, and another
at Alford, south of the Don, which cost him the life and support of
Huntly's son, lord Gordon. In vain did Ogilvies, Murrays, and Gordons
swell his ranks, and the covenanting committee play into his hands by
forcing Baillie to fight when the general knew that defeat was
inevitable. The battle of Kilsyth had been won near Glasgow on August
14, and the day was so hot that Montrose ordered his men to strip to
their shirts so that they might have no more weight to carry than was
strictly necessary. Baillie was not even allowed to choose his own
ground, but though he did all that man could do, the struggle was
hopeless, and the Fife levies were soon in flight.

Only a year had passed since Montrose, now captain-general and viceroy
of Scotland, had taken the field, and yet the whole country was subdued,
largely by the help of the Irish, and of their leader Macdonald, whom he
had knighted after Kilsyth. But for the royalist cause Naseby had been
lost, Wales was wavering, Ireland was useless, and Montrose was not
strong enough to make up for them all.

* * * * *

From Kilsyth, which is near Glasgow, it was easy for Macdonald to lead
his men across the hills and lay waste the territories of his hereditary
enemy Argyll. He would, he said, return to Montrose if he was wanted;
but the marquis took the words for what they were worth, and waited to
see whose turn to desert wou