“It may be so,” said Allan; “and,
it may be, you do well to enjoy these moments, which
to me are poisoned by auguries of future evil.
But I,” he continued—“I repeat
to you, that this weapon—that is, such a
weapon as this,” touching the hilt of the dirk
which he wore, “carries your fate.”
“In the meanwhile,” said Lord Menteith,
“you, Allan, have frightened the blood from
the cheeks of Annot Lyle—let us leave this
discourse, my friend, and go to see what we both understand,—the
progress of our military preparations.”
They joined Angus M’Aulay and his English guests,
and, in the military discussions which immediately
took place, Allan showed a clearness of mind, strength
of judgment, and precision of thought, totally inconsistent
with the mystical light in which his character has
been hitherto exhibited.
When Albin her claymore
indignantly draws,
When her bonneted chieftains
around her shall crowd,
Clan-Ranald the dauntless,
and Moray the proud,
All plaided and plumed
in their tartan array—LOCHEIL’S Warning.
Whoever saw that morning, the Castle of Darnlinvarach,
beheld a busy and a gallant sight.
The various Chiefs, arriving with their different
retinues, which, notwithstanding their numbers, formed
no more than their usual equipage and body-guard upon
occasions of solemnity, saluted the lord of the castle
and each other with overflowing kindness, or with haughty
and distant politeness, according to the circumstances
of friendship or hostility in which their clans had
recently stood to each other. Each Chief, however
small his comparative importance, showed the full
disposition to exact from the rest the deference due
to a separate and independent prince; while the stronger
and more powerful, divided among themselves by recent
contentions or ancient feuds, were constrained in
policy to use great deference to the feelings of their
less powerful brethren, in order, in case of need,
to attach as many well-wishers as might be to their
own interest and standard. Thus the meeting of
Chiefs resembled not a little those ancient Diets
of the Empire, where the smallest Frey-Graf,
who possessed a castle perched upon a barren crag,
with a few hundred acres around it, claimed the state
and honours of a sovereign prince, and a seat according
to his rank among the dignitaries of the Empire.
The followers of the different leaders were separately
arranged and accommodated, as room and circumstances
best permitted, each retaining however his henchman,
who waited, close as the shadow, upon his person,
to execute whatever might be required by his patron.
