No one was better pleased with the sight than the Earl of Mar. Such a goodly attendance augured well for the cause.
Full of glee, and expecting famous sport, the hunting party set out for a defile in the forest into which they knew the deer would be driven. Here the terrified animals were found, and great slaughter was made among them.
The rest of the day was devoted to feasting and carousing. Much venison was eaten—much wine drunk. Nor were the vassals neglected—but fared as well as their lords. As they could not, however, be accommodated in the castle, they found a couch amid the heather.
Early next day, the party again set out for the defile, and a repetition of the previous scene of slaughter took place.
But as soon as the hunt was over, the nobles and chiefs attended by their vassals repaired to a rendezvous agreed upon in the forest, where they found the Earl of Mar with General Hamilton and Colonel Hay.
When the entire party had assembled, the earl mounted upon a fragment of rock, jutting from the turf, and addressed them.
===He told them that the honour and independence of Scotland were at stake, and that all true Scotsmen who prized their liberty, must fly to arms to deliver their beloved country from the oppression under which it groaned, and restore their deeply-wronged sovereign to the throne, now occupied by the tyrannous Hanoverian Usurper. The Union—that bane of Scotland—must be abolished. Bitterly did he regret that he had ever countenanced the hateful measure, but he would make amends by helping to effect its dissolution. But they must not stop there. Scotland had many other grievances, all of which would be redressed when their rightful king was restored—and restored he should be soon.
On this, an extraordinary scene ensued. All the nobles and chiefs clustered around the speaker, drew their claymores, and their example being instantly followed by the vassals, more than two hundred broad swords flashed in the sun.
At the same time shouts were heard of “No Union!”
“Down with the Hanoverian Usurper!”