As he read his cheek flushed for a moment, and he made an impatient gesture with his hand, as one repudiating the shameful accusation, and then he spoke with his usual composure.
“You are right,” he said, addressing Cameron, who was on his staff, “in thinking that Lord Dundee is ready for the fight. I had expected nothing else from him, for I knew him of old, the bigotry of his principles, and the courage of his heart. We could never be else than foes, but I wish to say, whatever happens before the day is done, that I count 312 him a brave and honorable gentleman, as it pleases me to know he counts me also.
“This letter”––and MacKay threw it with irritation on the table of the room in which he had taken his morning meal, “is from Dundee explaining that two English officers have been arrested, who were serving as privates in his cavalry, and who are suspected of being sent by us to assassinate him. If no answer is sent back they will be hung at once, but if the charge is denied, they will be released, which, I take it, gentlemen, is merciful and generous conduct.
“I will write a letter with my own hand and clear our honor from this foul slander. Spying is allowed in war, though I have never liked it, and the spy need deserve no mercy, but assassination is unworthy of any soldier, and a work of the devil, of which I humbly trust I am incapable, and also my king. Give this letter”––when he had written and sealed it––“to the messenger, Major Lovel, and see that he has a safe conduct through our army, and past our outposts.” Lovel saluted and left the room, but outside he laughed, and said to himself, “Very likely it’s true all the same, and a quick and useful way of ending the war. When Claverhouse dies the rebellion dies, too, and there’s a text 313 somewhere which runs like this, ‘It is expedient that one man should die than all the people.’ I wonder who those fellows are, and if they’ll manage it, and what they’re going to get. They have the devil’s luck in this affair, for, of course, MacKay would be told nothing about it; he’s the piousest officer in the English army.”
Dundee received MacKay’s letter during the long wait before the battle, and this is what he read:
To My Lord Viscount Dundee, Commanding the forces raised in the interest of James Stuart.
My Lord: It gives me satisfaction that altho’ words once passed between us, and there be a far greater difference to-day, you have not believed that I was art and part in so base a work as assassination, and I hereby on my word of honor as an officer, and as a Christian, declare that I know nothing of the two men who are under arrest in your camp. So far as I am concerned their blood should not be shed, nor any evil befall them.
Before this letter reaches your hand we shall be arrayed against one another in order of battle, and though arms be my profession, I am filled with sorrow as I think that the conflict to-day will be between men of the same nation, and sometimes of the same family, for it seemeth to me as if brother will be slaying brother.
I fear that it is too late to avert battle and I have no authority to offer any terms of settlement to you and those that are with you. Unto God belongs the issue, and in His hands I leave it. We are divided by faith, and now also 314 by loyalty, but if any evil befel your person I pray you to believe that it would give me no satisfaction, and I beg that ye be not angry with me nor regard me with contempt if I send you as I now do the prayer which, as a believer in our common Lord I have drawn up for the use of our army. It may be the last communication that shall pass between us.
I have the honor to be,
Your very obedient servant,
Hugh MacKay.
Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty’s Forces.
And this was the prayer, surely the most remarkable ever published by a general of the British army:
O Almighty King of Kings, and Lord of Hosts, which by Thy Angels thereunto appointed, dost minister both War and Peace; Thou rulest and commandest all things, and sittest in the throne judging right; And, therefore, we make our Addresses to Thy Divine Majesty in this our necessity, that Thou wouldst take us and our Cause into Thine Own hand and judge between us and our Enemies. Stir up Thy strength, O Lord, and come and help us, for Thou givest not always the Battle to the strong, but canst save by Many or Few. O let not our sins now cry against us for vengeance, but hear us Thy poor servants, begging mercy, and imploring Thy help, and that Thou wouldst be a defence for us against the Enemy. Make it appear, that Thou art our Saviour, and Mighty Deliverer, through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Dundee ordered the English officers to be brought before him, and for thirty seconds 315 he looked at them without speaking, as if he were searching their thoughts and estimating their character. During this scrutiny the shorter man looked sullen and defiant, as one prepared for the worst, but the other was as careless and gay as ever, with the expression either of one who was sure of a favorable issue, or of one who took life or death as a part of the game.
“If I tell you, gentlemen, that your general refuses to clear you from this charge, have ye anything to say before ye die?”