poured from Perthshire into Argyleshire, and to take possession of the
ancient seat of his family at Inverary. He might then hope to have four
or five thousand claymores at his command. With such a force he would be
able to defend that wild country against the whole power of the kingdom
of Scotland, and would also have secured an excellent base for offensive
operations. This seems to have been the wisest course open to him.
Rumbold, who had been trained in an excellent military school, and who,
as an Englishman, might be supposed to be an impartial umpire between
the Scottish factions, did all in his power to strengthen the Earl's
hands. But Hume and Cochrane were utterly impracticable. Their jealousy
of Argyle was, in truth, stronger than their wish for the success of the
expedition. They saw that, among his own mountains and lakes, and at the
head of an army chiefly composed of his own tribe, he would be able
to bear down their opposition, and to exercise the full authority of a
General. They muttered that the only men who had the good cause at heart
were the Lowlanders, and that the Campbells took up arms neither for
liberty nor for the Church of God, but for Mac Callum More alone.

Cochrane declared that he would go to Ayrshire if he went by himself,
and with nothing but a pitchfork in his hand. Argyle, after long
resistance, consented, against his better judgment, to divide his little
army. He remained with Rumbold in the Highlands. Cochrane and Hume were
at the head of the force which sailed to invade the Lowlands.

Ayrshire was Cochrane's object: but the coast of Ayrshire was guarded
by English frigates; and the adventurers were under the necessity of
running up the estuary of the Clyde to Greenock, then a small fishing
village consisting of a single row of thatched hovels, now a great and
flourishing port, of which the customs amount to more than five
times the whole revenue which the Stuarts derived from the kingdom of
Scotland. A party of militia lay at Greenock: but Cochrane, who
wanted provisions, was determined to land. Hume objected. Cochrane was
peremptory, and ordered an officer, named Elphinstone, to take twenty
men in a boat to the shore. But the wrangling spirit of the leaders had
infected all ranks. Elphinstone answered that he was bound to obey only
reasonable commands, that he considered this command as unreasonable,
and, in short, that he would not go. Major Fullarton, a brave man,
esteemed by al