e neither of us slow to take advantage of the opportunity, but
set off at a sharp walk at the moment that O'Kyan on the right flank was
slowly moving in the direction of Argile's line.

John broke his sharp walk so quickly into a canter that I wondered what
he meant I ran close at his heels, but I forbore to ask, and we had
put a good lump of moorland between us and the MacDonalds before he
explained.

"You perhaps wondered what my hurry was," he said, with the sweat
standing in beads on his face, though the air was full of frost. "It
wasn't for exercise, as you might guess at anyrate. The fact is, we were
within five minutes of getting a wheen Stewart dirks in our doublets,
and if there was no brulzie on foot we were even yet as good as lost on
Brae Lochaber."

"How does that happen?" I asked. "They seemed to let us away generously
enough and with no great ill-will."

"Just so! But when Montrose gave us the _conge_, I happened to turn an
eye up Glen Nevis and I saw some tardy Stewarts (by their tartan) come
running down the road. These were the lads Dol Ruadh left behind last
night, and they could scarcely miss in daylight the corpse we left by
the road, and their clansmen missed in the mirk. That was my notion at
the first glance I got of them, and when we ran they ran too, and what
do you make of that?"

"What we should make of it," I said in alarm, "is as good a pace into
Lorn as we can: they may be on the heels of us now,"--for we were in
a little dip of the ground from which the force we had just parted so
gladly were not to be seen.

On that point M'Iver speedily assured me.

"No, no!" he said. "If Seumas Grahame himself were stretched out
yonder instead of a Glenart cearnoch of no great importance to any one,
Alasdair MacDonald would be scarcely zealous fool enough to spoil his
battle order to prosecute a private feud. Look at that," he proceeded,
turning round on a little knowe he ran lightly up on and I after him--
"Look at that! the battle's begun."

We stood on that knowe of Brae Lochaber, and I saw from thence a
spectacle whose like, by the grace of God, I have never seen before nor
since in its agony for any eye that was friendly to Diarmaid Clan. I
need not here set down the sorry end of that day at Inverlochy. It has
been written many times, though I harbour no book on my shelves that
tells the story. We saw MacDonald's charge; we saw the wings of Argile's
army--the rotten Lowland levies--break