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Meanwhile
Scotland was divided up into areas of recruitment, and Montrose
given the most vital and dangerous sector, as far as internal
security went - Angus and the Mearns, flanking the disaffected
Aberdeenshire on the south. So at last he opened up his neglected
and semi-decayed house of Old Montrose as headquarters, and at least
temporarily gathered his little family around him again.

It
would be pleasant to recount that this was a joyful domestic
interlude; but perhaps that was more than could be hoped for.
Magdalen and the children came, dutifully enough at his request, the
few miles from Kinnaird - even she admitting that her husband could
scarcely use her father's house as base for his treasonable
activities. But her disapproval of his Involvement was even
more pronounced than before - and after the business at Glasgow, her
father and brother were scarcely on speaking terms with her husband,
a distressing situation for a young woman torn by a sense of
neglect, by self-doubts and divided loyalties. She would do her duty
as a wife — but obviously not much more meantime. And her very
evident belief that she was married to a renegade and
sedition-monger was no help to strained marital relations. They both
tried, and tried hard, to make their union meaningful, in more than
the mere necessary production of children to heir the Graham name
and tradition; but such strivings are not always a true basis
for marital bliss.

Not
that James Graham was able to devote a large proportion of his
time to improving domestic harmony. He was, in fact, exceedingly
busy whipping up and training armed men from his Angus area. In this
he had the useful aid of the young Earl Marischal, at Dunnottar
Castle, farther north -indeed dangerously near Aberdeen - and of the
Earl of Kinghome, head of the ancient Lyon family of Glamis. Also,
of course, many of his own Graham lairds, including Black Pate and
Sir Robert of Morphie. But he also had the opposition of the
Ogilyys, powerful indeed in the Angus glens, whose chief, the Earl
of Airlie, was a king-at-any-price man. And, of course, the
Carnegies. Matters did not come to actual blows; but it was a
tug-of-war business, and men recruited one day might be discovered
to have changed their minds the next. And, in the absence of any
obvious immediate military threat, enthusiasm was apt to be
confined to the ministers, rather than the would-be warriors.

This
was the situation at the beginning of March when a courier reached
Old Montrose from Edinburgh and the Tables - which meant in effect
the ruling triumvirate, Loudoun, Rothes and Henderson. The news was
serious and circumstantial. An armed clash looked to be unavoidable
and imminent. King Charles himself had come up to Newcastle, and the
army now there was reliably put at 21,000-14,000 infantry under the
Catholic Earl of Arundel, Norfolk's son; 2000 cavalry under the Earl
of Holland; and a special seaborne force of 5000 under Hamilton
himself, for which ships were assembling. This last was to sail up
to link with Huntly, who was appointed Lieutenant of all the
North-East, from the Esk to the Pentland Firth, and was to raise it
for the King so as to take the Covenanters in the rear while the
main army invaded over the Border. Moreover the Marquis of Strafford
was to descend on the Clyde area, by sea from Cumberland, with an
unspecified force; and the Earl of Antrim to invade Argyll and the
North-West from Ireland. All assaults to be synchronised. The Scots
intelligence services, at least, were proving their worth. The
Earl of Montrose was herewith appointed General Officer in
command of the North-East, with full powers, and the duty of dealing
with Huntly - and Hamilton when he should arrive.

Somewhat
shattered by this commitment, in his present circumstances, James
Graham found occasion furiously to think.

Out
of his cogitations, his first action was to call meetings of the
known supporting lords, lairds and burgh representatives, one
for the Angus area, one for the Mearns, and one for the anti-Gordon
and pro-Covenant people immediately to the north of Huntly's
domains, Forbeses, Frasers and Keiths, as a threat in Huntly's own
rear. He chose Forfar, Stonehaven and Turriff as the meeting-places
- the latter at the very north of Aberdeenshire, near the Banff
border, as a secret venue — and appointed the 14th of February
for the meetings. He would attend both of the southern ones
personally; but for that a Turriff he sent Johnnie Kilpont and
the young Earl of Kinghome as lieutenants, to convene it and convey
his views and commands. Meantime he greatly accelerated his
recruiting, now with promise of actually fighting, and with the
definite appointment of officers and responsibilities. Grahams were
sent for from other areas, far and near.

On
the 13th, in the late afternoon of the very day before the meetings
a messenger arrived from Keith, the Earl Marischal at Dunnottar, to
say that the word had leaked out somehow, and all Aberdeen knew that
the northern Covenant leadership would be assembling in Turriff the
next day; not only that, but that Huntly himself, with 2000 hastily
assembled Gordons, was going to descend upon the said meeting, show
who was master in the North-East, and strike the first blow for King
Charles against his upstart rebels.

Appalled,
Montrose cursed the folly of loud-mouthed irresponsibles. But he
wasted no time in recriminations. Almost before the courier was
finished, he was shouting for Black Pate and his 200 Graham horse.
Somebody else could attend the other meetings,

Turriff
was sixty-odd miles north of Montrose, as the crow flies, almost
double that by road. Moreover, Aberdeen city and all the Gordon
country lay between. No levelheaded man would suggest that a
troop of horse could go from one to the other in less than two days'
very hard riding, and without having to fight their way into the
bargain. But James Graham roused, was less than level-headed.
Without so much as waiting for his evening meal, he kissed his wife
and baby son an abrupt farewell, saluted his older two sons, and ran
out into the stableyard buckling on steel breastplate as he ran.
Vaulting into the saddle, with only young Morphie there ready, he
did not wait for his troop either, but yelled instructions to Pate
to follow on, and clattered off straight into a canter.

Montrose
rode north by west, up out of the wide vale of the South Esk, making
straight for the mighty barrier of mountains that formed the
fifty-mile-long north wall of Strathmore, the Grampian Line which
enclosed the High-land heart of Scotland. Crossing the South Esk by
Bridge of Dun, he began the long, long climb that was to take him
from sea-level to over 2500 feet. By Stracathro, where Edward of
England had humiliated King John Baliol, he rode, to the bridge over
the North Esk at Inchbare, and so on to Edzell, the red-stone
village and castle of the Lindsays within the jaws of Glen Esk. It
was important for his hastily made plans that he should ascertain
who was in residence and command here this night; for old Lord
Edzell, of Session, was a strong King's man; whereas his son, the
head-strong David Lindsay, was as keen for the Covenant, more to
spite his father than anything else, perhaps. And not only did
Edzell Castle command the entrance to long Glen Esk, but Lindsay
towers and little strongholds were dotted all the way up, barring it
and the high pass beyond, to those the Lindsays did not love. Hence
this dash here unattended. Fortunately, the old judge, who spent
most of the winter at Edinburgh and the law courts, was not present;
and his son was not only sympathetic but bored and looking for
diversion. He insisted on joining Montrose in this venture, with a
small, scratch contribution of tough Lindsay horsemen. When Black
Pate and the Graham troopers came beating up, there was no further
delay. The combined party faced one of the most taxing equestrian
assignments that the East of Scotland could produce, the Mounth
passes.

Lonely
Glen Esk led them north-west for some seventeen miles, through the
high mountains, by a passable track, an old drove road indeed. Its
strategically sited towers, however, would have sealed off access to
a still stronger company than this - hence the need for Lindsay
co-operation. Had the old lord been in charge at Edzell, a less
dramatic and easier route, by the Cairn o' Mounth, to the east,
would have been necessary — but with much more risk of trouble
with the Gordons.

By
nightfall they were climbing out of Glen Esk's northerly fork,
Glen Mark, well above the solitary Loch Lee, and out on to the great
bare hillsides. Old snow was still lying at this level, over
1500
feet,
but the track was marked at quarter-mile intervals by posts -
although some were down, and in the dusk, confusing as to direction.
But the Lindsays, on their own ground, were little at a loss —
and at least the snow gave off an eerie white glimmer which served
in lieu of light.

For
a full hour they climbed, slowly now, by a route few would have
deemed possible for horseflesh and in winter dark - though the
Graham mounts were, of course, garrons or half-garrons, the
short-legged, surefooted sturdy Scots mountain-horses, of which
there were none tougher. High up on the windy, bitter-cold shoulder
of Mount Keen, at nearly 2600 feet, in a spectral wilderness of snow
peaks sensed rather than seen, they paused to regroup. So far there
were no casualties, though some were tending to lag. Montrose
spoke, cheerfully, encouragingly, the biting wind catching at
his breath. Ahead of them, by a long, broken and slow descent of
seven miles, lay the deep valley of the Dee, at Ballater - Gordon
territory.

Avoiding
the Pass of Ballater, and the small Gordon castles of Knock and
Abergairn, they forded the Dee at Polhillock shallows, the
valley-foot seeming to be deeply dark in contrast to the open
heights. Unchallenged, an hour short of midnight, they began to
climb again almost at once, up Glen Gairn. Up and up, round the vast
flanks of the Morven hills they struggled now, back into the snows,
again almost to the 2000 feet line, their route now less known to
any. Many times they lost the track, and wasted precious time
beating about in that hellish, frozen desert of ice and granite
outcrops. As well, of course, that the underlying peat-hags were
indeed frozen, or they could not have made any progress in the
darkness. It took them over two hours more to cover the ten miles
from the Dee to the Don valley, near Cock Bridge, where Corgarff
Castle guarded this strategic crossing. It was a hold of the Earl of
Mar, not the Gordons; but the travellers gave it a wide berth
nevertheless, and forded the river discreetly half a mile downstream
- a dangerous preference. More mountains lay ahead of them.

Dawn
found them weary, going but slowly now, straggling out, but getting
into lower ground again, in the foothills of the Cabrach, with the
stripling Deveron winding in the misty valleys, and the border of
Banffshire near. From here Turriff was only some twenty-five miles
away - but with Strathbogie and the Huntly area directly in the way.
A roundabout route through the low Foudland Hills was necessary, and
then a dash across the still lower and populous lands of the Ythan
valley and Auchterless, going heedfully indeed, with Gordon
properties and castles thick around them. They could no doubt deal
with the forces which any Gordon laird could throw against them at
short notice - but not without delay, and word being carried to
Huntly. Many folk did see them, in their progress thereafter, of
course, and stared, wondering - but the travellers interfered
with none. And who would have been foolish enough to challenge such
armed and determined company, however travel-worn, lacking at least
like numbers?

An
hour before the Covenanters' meeting was arranged to start, at noon,
Montrose's scouts reporting the approach to be clear still, they
rode down the green haughs of the Idoch Water and up the brae into
Turriff, men all but asleep in their saddles, horses stumbling,
pecking, foundered. But they had achieved what it is safe to say had
never been visualised as possible, much less attempted by a horsed
squadron — an eighty-mile mountain circuit of Aberdeenshire in
eighteen hours non-stop.

The
Covenanting lairds of the North, quite unsuspecting of any danger,
were as surprised as they were delighted to see the visitor. But
Montrose quickly disillusioned them, more critical and less gracious
than his usual. He did not blame them for leaking the news —
although somebody had done so - but he pointed out that, had proper
watch been kept here, with scouts out, his own party's arrival would
not have surprised them as it had done. Kilpont and Kinghorne he
especially blamed, for having failed to take any steps for the
defence of the gathering, however secret they believed it to be.
They were not wholly defenceless, of course, for the Lord Pitsligo,
Viscount Frendraught, the Master of Forbes and others had brought
their usual 'tails' with them; and with lesser lairds, grooms and
servants, they totalled not far off 800 men.