tout cavaliers, let us toil our brave trade in,
And fight for the Gospel and the bold King of Sweden."

Thus silencing his apprehensions with the but-end of a military ballad,
he followed his guide into a sort of guard-room filled with armed
Highlanders. It was intimated to him that he must remain here until his
arrival was communicated to the Marquis. To make this communication
the more intelligible, the doughty Captain gave to the Dunniewassel Sir
Duncan Campbell's packet, desiring, as well as he could, by signs, that
it should be delivered into the Marquis's own hand. His guide nodded,
and withdrew.

The Captain was left about half an hour in this place, to endure with
indifference, or return with scorn, the inquisitive, and, at the same
time, the inimical glances of the armed Gael, to whom his exterior and
equipage were as much subject of curiosity, as his person and country
seemed matter of dislike. All this he bore with military nonchalance,
until, at the expiration of the above period, a person dressed in black
velvet, and wearing a gold chain like a modern magistrate of Edinburgh,
but who was, in fact, steward of the household to the Marquis of Argyle,
entered the apartment, and invited, with solemn gravity, the Captain to
follow him to his master's presence.

The suite of apartments through which he passed, were filled with
attendants or visitors of various descriptions, disposed, perhaps, with
some ostentation, in order to impress the envoy of Montrose with an idea
of the superior power and magnificence belonging to the rival house of
Argyle. One ante-room was filled with lacqueys, arrayed in brown and
yellow, the colours of the family, who, ranged in double file, gazed in
silence upon Captain Dalgetty as he passed betwixt their ranks. Another
was occupied by Highland gentlemen and chiefs of small branches, who
were amusing themselves with chess, backgammon, and other games, which
they scarce intermitted to gaze with curiosity upon the stranger. A
third was filled with Lowland gentlemen and officers, who seemed also
in attendance; and, lastly, the presence-chamber of the Marquis himself
showed him attended by a levee which marked his high importance.

This apartment, the folding doors of which were opened for the reception
of Captain Dalgetty, was a long gallery, decorated with tapestry and
family portraits, and having a vaulted ceiling of open wood-work, the
extreme projections of the beams being rich