"That depends much, my lord, on the person who lifts the banner," said the Laird; "for you know we Highlanders are not easily commanded by one of our own Chiefs, or, to say the truth, by any other body. We have heard a rumour, indeed, that Colkitto—that is, young Colkitto, or Alaster M'Donald, is come over the Kyle from Ireland, with a body of the Earl of Antrim's people, and that they had got as far as Ardnamurchan. They might have been here before now, but, I suppose, they wanted to plunder the country as they came along."
"Will Colkitto not serve you for a leader, then?" said Lord Menteith.
"Colkitto!" said Allan M'Aulay, scornfully; "who talks of Colkitto?—There lives but one man whom we will follow, and that is Montrose."
"But Montrose, sir," said Sir Christopher Hall, "has not been heard of since our ineffectual attempt to rise in the North.
