et, probably exceeded any treasure that had ever been carried
into the wilds of Coryarrick. Half the sum was raised, not without
difficulty, by the inhabitants; and Dundee is said to have passed his
word for the remainder, [338]

He next tried to reconcile the Macdonalds with the Mackintoshes, and
flattered himself that the two warlike tribes, lately arrayed against
each other, might be willing to fight side by side under his command.
But he soon found that it was no light matter to take up a Highland
feud. About the rights of the contending Kings neither clan knew any
thing or cared any thing. The conduct of both is to be ascribed to local
passions and interests. What Argyle was to Keppoch, Keppoch was to the
Mackintoshes. The Mackintoshes therefore remained neutral; and their
example was followed by the Macphersons, another branch of the race of
the wild cat. This was not Dundee's only disappointment. The Mackenzies,
the Frasers, the Grants, the Munros, the Mackays, the Macleods, dwelt
at a great distance from the territory of Mac Callum More. They had no
dispute with him; they owed no debt to him: and they had no reason to
dread the increase of his power. They therefore did not sympathize with
his alarmed and exasperated neighbours, and could not be induced to join
the confederacy against him, [339] Those chiefs, on the other hand, who
lived nearer to Inverary, and to whom the name of Campbell had long been
terrible and hateful, greeted Dundee eagerly, and promised to meet him
at the head of their followers on the eighteenth of May. During the
fortnight which preceded that day, he traversed Badenoch and Athol, and
exhorted the inhabitants of those districts to rise in arms. He dashed
into the Lowlands with his horsemen, surprised Perth, and carried off
some Whig gentlemen prisoners to the mountains. Meanwhile the fiery
crosses had been wandering from hamlet to hamlet over all the heaths and
mountains thirty miles round Ben Nevis; and when he reached the trysting
place in Lochaber he found that the gathering had begun. The head
quarters were fixed close to Lochiel's house, a large pile built
entirely of fir wood, and considered in the Highlands as a superb
palace. Lochiel, surrounded by more than six hundred broadswords, was
there to receive his guests. Macnaghten of Macnaghten and Stewart of
Appin were at the muster with their little clans. Macdonald of Keppoch
led the warriors who had, a few months before, under his