At the head of a hundred horsemen, sheathed in complete armour, and magnificently mounted, the very flower of his numerous vassalage, the chief of the Hays left his house of Errol, and attended by the heir of Bonnitoun, Crichton of Invernytie, and Innes of that Ilk, with all his clan, who bore with them the skull of their patron St. Marnan, marched to the castle of Strathbogie, the muster-place of the Gordons, in their pastoral district, the Garioch.
On the way he was joined by Halbert Gordon of the moated Tower, with his twenty horsemen.
To Strathbogie also came Allan M'Ildhui, chief of the clan Cameron, and, after this junction, Huntly, whose forces amounted to only 1500 men, marched towards the Calvinists, after each soldier had made his confession, received communion, and sworn a solemn oath on the Holy Iron, to conquer or to die.
Full of enthusiasm for battle, this little troop marched down by the Bogie, and, as they defiled past the castle of Huntly, it is related that his countess—the fair Henrietta of Lennox—held up her youngest son to see the martial array. Pleased with the flash of steel, the note of the trumpet, and patter of the kettledrum, he clapped his little hands and cried—
"Lord Daddy shall conquer and beat the Campbells!"
This was considered an omen of victory.
Crossing the dun mountains of the Garioch, they halted at Auchindoune, on the same day that the overwhelming force of Argyle encamped at Drimnin.
Passionate indeed was the eagerness, and fierce the joy, with which young Kenneth Logie heard that the troops of Lord Huntly were in the neighbourhood of the camp, and would soon be in view.
Young, brave, and enthusiastic, the valiant Argyle, the boy warrior—unlike the traitors who succeeded him, and in after years betrayed their country, and their king—sent forward a few horsemen under the Earl of Athole, and with these went Kenneth Logie; for, being a gentleman volunteer, without vassalage or attendants, his post was among the cavalry, and wherever there was most danger.
The evening of Wednesday, the 2nd October, had closed on the vast purple mountains and woods of sombre pine and silver birch that look down on the glens of the Livat and Fiddich, when these reconnoitring troopers, with their armour glittering in the starlight of the dying gloaming, rode softly and silently in extended order, with swords drawn and matches lighted, towards that part of the hills where they expected to see the forces of Huntly appear.