answered that he would take no
action without the agreement of the rest, but in Edinburgh he would stay
no longer. He had made an appointment for that day with some friends
outside the walls, and he could not break it. His troopers had been in
readiness since an early hour, and Dundee returning to his lodgings gave
signal to mount. The streets were thronged with scowling faces, but they
shrank to right and left as those stern riders came clattering down the
Canongate. A friend called from the crowd to know whither they went.
Dundee raised his hat from his head and answered: "Wherever the spirit
of Montrose shall direct me." When clear of the walls he led his men to
the left up the Leith Wynd and along the bank of the North Loch, the
ground now occupied by the busy and handsome thoroughfare known as
Prince's Street. The road to Stirling winds beneath the Castle rock, and
as the cavalcade came on, their leader saw the Duke on the ramparts,
making signals to him for an interview. Dundee dismounted, and scrambled
up the steep face of the rock. What passed between them is not clearly
known. Balcarres says Dundee told the Duke of the design for Stirling,
and once more prayed him to stand firm. But it seems clear that Dundee
had by that time abandoned all hopes of a fresh Convention, and it is
doubtful whether he had any definite plan in his mind. Dalrymple's
report of the conversation seems more likely to be the true one.
According to him Dundee pressed the Duke to come north with him, leaving
the castle to the charge of the Lieutenant-Governor, Winram, a man who
had made himself too odious to the people to leave room for any doubt
of his fidelity to James. But these bold ventures were not to the Duke's
taste: his courage was of that sort which shows best behind stone walls:
and his answer was ingeniously framed to conceal his timidity under a
show of discipline. "A soldier," he said, "cannot in honour quit the
post that is assigned to him."

Meanwhile the city was in an uproar. A number of people had gathered
round the foot of the rock to stare at the strange sight. The watchers
from the city magnified this idle crowd into a hostile force. A
messenger came in haste to the Convention with the news that Dundee was
at the gates with an army, and that the Duke of Gordon was preparing to
fire on the town.

Hamilton, who, while affairs were still in the balance, had behaved with
unexpected moderation, now gave loose to his temper