The
rocks, which formed the background of the scene, and the very sky itself,
rang with the clang of the bagpipers, summoning forth, each with his
appropriate pibroch, his chieftain and clan. The mountaineers, rousing
themselves from their couch under the canopy of heaven with the hum and
bustle of a confused and irregular multitude, like bees alarmed and
arming in their hives, seemed to possess all the pliability of movement
fitted to execute military manoeuvres. Their motions appeared spontaneous
and confused, but the result was order and regularity; so that a general
must have praised the conclusion, though a martinet might have ridiculed
the method by which it was attained.
The sort of complicated medley created by the hasty arrangements of the
various clans under their respective banners, for the purpose of getting
into the order of march, was in itself a gay and lively spectacle. They
had no tents to striket having generally, and by choice, slept upon the
open field, although the autumn was now waning and the nights began to be
frosty. For a little space, while they were getting into order, there was
exhibited a changing, fluctuating, and confused appearance of waving
tartans and floating plumes, and of banners displaying the proud
gathering word of Clanronald, Ganion Coheriga (Gainsay who dares),
Loch-Sloy, the watchword of the MacFarlanes; Forth, fortune, and fill the
fetters, the motto of the Marquis of Tullibardine; Bydand, that of Lord
Lewis Gordon, and the appropriate signal words and emblems of many other
chieftains and clans.
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