arleton and longed to be on
the hills with a body of Highlanders, and have the chance of taking
by surprise the lumbering army of the Prince of Orange and sweeping it
away by one headlong charge. The day for this onslaught had come,
and by an irony, or felicity, of Providence, he has the troops he
had longed for and his rival has the inert and helpless regulars. News
had come that MacKay was marching with phlegmatic steadiness and
perfect confidence into the trap, and going to place himself at the
greatest disadvantage for his kind of army. The Lord was giving the
Whigs into his hand, and they would fall before the sun set, as a
prey unto his sword. The passion of battle was in his blood, and
the laurels of victory were within his reach. Graham forgot his
bitter disappointments and cowardly friends, the weary journeys and
worse anxieties of the past weeks, the cunning cautiousness of the
chiefs and their maddening jealousies. Even the pitiable scene at
Glenogilvie and his gnawing vain regret faded for the moment from
his memory and from his heart. If the Lowlands had been cold as death
to the good cause, the Highlands had at last taken fire; if he had not
one-tenth the army he should have commanded, had every Highlander
shared his loyalty to the ancient line, he had sufficient for the
day's work. If he had spoken in vain to the king at Whitehall and
miserably failed to put some spirit into his timid mind, and been
outvoted at the Convention, and been driven from Edinburgh by
Covenanting assassins and hunted like a brigand by MacKay's troops,
his day had now come. He was to taste for the first time the glorious
cup of victory. He had not been so glad or confident since his
marriage day, when he snatched his bride from the fastness of his
enemy, and as Grimond helped him to arm, and gave the last touches to
his martial dress, he jested merrily with that solemn servitor,
and sang aloud to Grimond's vast dismay, who held the good Scottish
faith that if you be quiet Providence may leave you alone, but if you
show any sign of triumph it will be an irresistible temptation to the
unseen powers.

"I'm judging my lord, that we'll win the day, and that it will be a
crownin' victory. I would like fine to see MacKay's army tumble in are
great heap into the Garry, with their general on the top o' them. I'm
expectin' to see ye ride into Edinburgh at the head o' the clans, and
the Duke o' Gordon come oot frae the castle to greet you,