On the 28th of May the squadron of the regiment at Inverness, with some other troops, in all 640 men, accompanied General Mackay in his advance towards Ruthven Castle, where he expected to meet Colonel Ramsay with 600 Dutch infantry from Edinburgh; but before the general reached the Castle, he ascertained that Ramsay had been intimidated by the threatening aspect of the Athol men, and finding himself in a wild country, to which he was a stranger, surrounded by enemies, he had returned towards Perth: at the same time General Mackay was informed that Viscount Dundee with 2000 hardy mountaineers had arrived that morning at the heights of Badenoch. Under these perplexing circumstances, Mackay turned to the left; then, proceeding down Strathspey, he continued his march for twenty-four hours without a halt; when, having attained a considerable distance in advance of the enemy, he slackened his pace, and was soon afterwards joined by two troops of the Royal Scots Dragoons from the town of Dundee. In the mean time, the enemy followed with all possible expedition, and on their near approach, General Mackay ascertained that several of his officers carried on a secret correspondence with Viscount Dundee, at the same time he had reason to doubt the fidelity of the Scots dragoons. The general, having only the squadron of the FOURTH HORSE and a few Dutch infantry and Scots irregulars on whom he could depend, once more found himself in a perplexing situation; and, not deeming it prudent to march through an hostile country--all papists, with an enemy at his heels four times more numerous than his own little detachment--he commenced his march, at dusk in the evening, by the side of the river, with hungry men and hungry horses, though resolute, particularly the squadron of the FOURTH HORSE, and 200 fusileers, on whom he principally relied.[13] On arriving at Balveny, the troops halted to procure bread for the men and oats for the horses. Having, however, sent out scouts, and none of them returning, General Mackay ordered his party to march forward before the bread was baked, or the horses had eaten a feed of corn, nor halted until four o'clock on the next morning, when neither cavalry nor infantry were able to proceed. However, after two hours' rest, during which time the horses were permitted to feed in a field of corn, he proceeded three miles farther, and took post at the foot of Suy Hill, where he had a view for two miles in every direction in which the enemy could approach. Here the men had some repose, and, their provisions being exhausted, a further supply was sent for from a house in the neighbourhood belonging to the Lord Forbes; but before the food was prepared the general found it necessary to resume his march. On the same day he was joined by Berkeley's (now Fourth) Dragoons, and Leslie's (now Fifteenth) Regiment of Foot. Thus reinforced he resolved to confront the enemy; but the Highlanders, though not inferior in numbers to the King's forces,