Ringan Gilhaize, or, The Covenanters
Page 93
CHAPTER XCII
General Mackay halted the host on a spacious green plain which lies atthe meeting of the Tummel and the Gary, and which the Highlanders callFascali, because, as the name in their tongue signifies, no trees aregrowing thereon. This place is the threshold of the Pass ofKillicrankie, through the dark and woody chasms of which the impatientwaters of the Gary come with hoarse and wrathful mutterings and murmurs.The hills and mountains around are built up in more olden and anticforms than those of our Lowland parts, and a wild and strange solemnityis mingled there with much fantastical beauty, as if, according to theminstrelsy of ancient times, sullen wizards and gamesome fairies hadjoined their arts and spells to make a common dwelling-place.
As the soldiers spread themselves over the green bosom of Fascali, andpiled their arms and furled their banners, and laid their drums on theground, and led their horses to the river, the General sent forward ascout through the Pass to discover the movements of Claverhouse, havingheard that he was coming from the castle of Blair-Athol, to prevent hisentrance into the Highlands.
The officer sent to make the espial had not been gone above half an hourwhen he came back in great haste to tell that the Highlanders were onthe brow of a hill above the house of Rinrorie, and that unless the Passwas immediately taken possession of, it would be mastered by Claverhousethat night.
Mackay, at this news, ordered the trumpets to sound, and as the echoesmultiplied and repeated the alarm, it was as if all the spirits of thehills called the men to arms. The soldiers looked around as they formedtheir ranks, listening with delight and wonder at the universal bravery,and I thought of the sight, which Elisha the prophet gave to the youngman at Dothan, of the mountains covered with horses and chariots of firefor his defence against the host of the King of Syria; and I wentforward with the confidence of assured victory.
As we issued forth from the Pass into the wide country, extendingtowards Lude and Blair-Athol, we saw, as the officer had reported, theHighland hosts of Claverhouse arrayed along the lofty brow of themountain, above the house of Rinrorie, their plaids waving in the breezeon the hill and their arms glittering to the sun.
Mackay directed the troops, at crossing a raging brook called theGirnaig, to keep along a flat of land above the house of Rinrorie, andto form, in order of battle, on the field beyond the garden, and underthe hill where the Highlanders were posted; the baggage and campequipages he at the same time ordered down into a plain that liesbetween the bank on the crown of which the house stands and the riverGary. An ancient monumental stone in the middle of the lower plainshows, that in some elder age a battle had been fought there, and thatsome warrior of might and fame had fallen.
In taking his ground on that elevated shelf of land, Mackay was mindedto stretch his left wing to intercept the return of the Highlanderstowards Blair, and, if possible, oblige them to enter the Pass ofKillicrankie, by which he would have cut them off from their resourcesin the North, and so perhaps mastered them without any great slaughter.
But Claverhouse discerned the intent of his movement, and before ourcovenanted host had formed their array, it was evident that he waspreparing to descend; and as a foretaste of the vehemence wherewith theHighlanders were coming, we saw them rolling large stones to the brow ofthe hill.
In the meantime the house of Rinrorie having been deserted by thefamily, the lady, with her children and maidens, had fled to Lude orStruan, Mackay ordered a party to take possession of it, and to postthemselves at the windows which look up the hill. I was among those whowent into the house, and my station was at the easternmost window, in asmall chamber which is entered by two doors,--the one opening from thestair-head, and the other from the drawing-room. In this situation wecould see but little of the distribution of the army or the positionsthat Mackay was taking, for our view was confined to the face of thehill whereon the Highlanders were busily preparing for their descent.But I saw Claverhouse on horseback riding to and fro, and plainlyinflaming their valour with many a courageous gesture; and as he turnedand winded his prancing war-horse, his breast-plate blazed to thesetting sun like a beacon on the hill.
When he had seemingly concluded his exhortation, the Highlanders stoopedforward and hurled down the rocks which they had gathered for theirforerunners; and while the stones came leaping and bounding with a noiselike thunder, the men followed in thick and separate bands, and Mackaygave the signal to commence firing.
We saw from the windows many of the Highlanders, at the first volley,stagger and fall, but the others came furiously down; and before thesoldiers had time to stick their bayonets into their guns, the broadswords of the Clansmen hewed hundreds to the ground.
Within a few minutes the battle was general between the two armies; butthe smoke of the firing involved all the field, and we could see nothingfrom the windows. The echoes of the mountains raged with the din, andthe sounds were multiplied by them in so many different places, that wecould not tell where the fight was hottest. The whole country aroundresounded as with the uproar of a universal battle.
I felt the passion of my spirit return; I could no longer restrainmyself, nor remain where I was. Snatching up my carabine, I left myactionless post at the window, and hurried down stairs, and out of thehouse. I saw by the flashes through the smoke, that the firing wasspreading down into the plain where the baggage was stationed, and bythis I knew that there was some movement in the battle; but whether theHighlanders or the Covenanters were shifting their ground, I could notdiscover, for the valley was filled with smoke, and it was only at timesthat a sword, like a glance of lightning, could be seen in the cloudwherein the thunders and tempest of the conflict were raging.