The chiefs of Grant - Electric Scotland

171G.] SEUvicivs \viT)i ^IA.J(»^.-GI;^;KI;AL mack ay. 313
stores, in addition to wliat was lirou^^lit from j\[ora.v, there "was nmcli
scarcity m tlie little camp, and many horses died. \vt the oilicers and
men never repined, though several times reduced to great want. They
were also kept on the alert by their scoutf:. trnsty men of ;lie Laird's and
reco);i mended liy him, wip wont h: 'kwards and i'orwards Ik 'wixt the royal
troop,; and those of the eiiL-niy posi .
his n.nvements.
d
some miles up the river, and rejiorted
These men of Ctrant's in the end became the Ceneral's most relialile
sources of information, f>r here, at Culnakyle, it was that he had first
notice of the disatlected state of his men. fic had hern joined l>y Lieut.
Colonel Sir Thomas Livingstone, with two troojis nf diagdons, for whose
movements the ground, as stated, was suitable. The (lenei-al kejit his
whole pai-ty under arms, the horses saddled and bridled, in tlie night, with
outposts of dragoons in the woods, and foot-soldiers aluug tlie banks of the
little river, probablv the Nethy, and so believed himself sale against
surprise. But two davs after Livingstone had joined Mackay, tlie latter
was informed bv two deserters that he was betrayed by his men. After
hearing their stor\', the General despatched the fellows to Eallachastell.
where a garrison was stationed, there to be ke])t in ward, and notwith-
standing the suspicions thus cast on the loyalty of his men, he determined
to remain at his post. Li this purpose he was contirmed by the advice of
his principal othcers, and by the Laird of Freuchie, whose usefulness and
activity are specially acknowledged.^
That the Laird of Freuchie's men were more or less activelv
enfrao'ed at this time in the rov;d service, is evident from references in
General Mackays own narrative. Li tlie end of ]\Iay or beginning of June,
about sixty of the clan Grant, under their Captain, John Forbes of
Cidloden, marched into ]\Iackay's camp, bringing the intelligence that the
castle of Ruthven. in P(adenoch, which they had lately garrisoned, was now
a smoking ruin. (Jn the -iOth May, Dundee had summoned the castle to
surrender, and a fe^^• days later, after a sharp enc