feared it might become still more so; but, however, it was clear that
if there was hatred for the subject there was no great affection for
the queen, and that the greater number came without fixed intentions and
with the idea of being led by circumstances.

The two armies encountered near Aberdeen. Murray at once posted the
troops he had brought from Edinburgh, and of which he was sure, on the
top of rising ground, and drew up in tiers on the hill slope all his
northern allies. Huntly advanced resolutely upon them, and attacked
his neighbours the Highlanders, who after a short resistance retired
in disorder. His men immediately threw away their lances, and, drawing
their swords, crying, "Cordon, Cordon!" pursued the fugitives, and
believed they had already gained the battle, when they suddenly ran
right against the main body of Murray's army, which remained motionless
as a rampart of iron, and which, with its long lances, had the advantage
of its adversaries, who were armed only with their claymores. It was
then the turn of the Cordons to draw back, seeing which, the northern
clans rallied and returned to the fight, each soldier having a sprig
of heather in his cap that his comrades might recognise him. This
unexpected movement determined the day: the Highlanders ran down the
hillside like a torrent, dragging along with them everyone who could
have wished to oppose their passage. Then Murray seeing that the moment
had come for changing the defeat into a rout, charged with his entire
cavalry: Huntly, who was very stout and very heavily armed, fell and
was crushed beneath the horses' feet; John Cordon, taken prisoner in
his flight, was executed at Aberdeen three days afterwards; finally, his
brother, too young to undergo the same fate at this time, was shut up in
a dungeon and executed later, the day he reached the age of sixteen.

Mary had been present at the battle, and the calm and courage she
displayed had made a lively impression on her wild defenders, who all
along the road had heard her say that she would have liked to be a man,
to pass her days on horseback, her nights under a tent, to wear a coat
of mail, a helmet, a buckler, and at her side a broadsword.

Mary made her entry into Edinburgh amid general enthusiasm; for this
expedition against the Earl of Huntly, who was a Catholic, had been very
popular among the inhabitants, who had no very clear idea of the real
motives which had caused her to undertake it: T