"So, MacGregor, I have come at a fortunate time," said Sir James, as they walked in conference together by the shore of Loch Katrine; "your men I see are all in arms----" "And prepared to do all that men can do," replied Rob; "but the Lowlands are full of troops, close up to the Highland border; now ships of war come at times even into the salt lochs of the Campbells, and so the Highlands are scarcely what they were when we were boys, Sir James." "True; but one good battle may alter all that; and remember, Rob, that the Grampians are still the _Dorsum Britanniae_." "The what?" said MacGregor, with perplexity. "The Backbone of Britain, as they were called of old by a Scottish Kuldee." "Seaforth refers me to you for information; where is he now?" "At Madrid." "Madrid--oich; that is a long way from the Braes of Balquhidder!" said Rob, with fresh perplexity. "At Madrid," repeated Livingstone, "where his Majesty James VIII. has been received with all the honours due to the King of Great Britain by Philip V., who is too good a monarch not to remember the claim of King James to our throne--a claim derived from Scripture, which says, 'The right of the first-born is his.'" "But what help does the Spanish king offer the Blue Bonnets if they rise in arms?" "Six thousand Spanish soldiers of the line, with twelve thousand stands of arms, are to be embarked on board of ten ships of war, under the command of the Irish Duke of Ormond." "A brave man!" exclaimed Rob; "but where are these ships and Spaniards?" "At San Sebastian and elsewhere. This armament will sail in the early part of next year for the Western Isles, and will probably arrive while yet the Highland passes are blocked up by snow. Seaforth doubts not that you will join him, and if possible make short work with the Munroes, the Rosses, and other Whig clans, who will be sure to break into Kintail on the first tidings that the Spanish keels have passed through the Sound of Slate. With these Spanish soldiers, and with these twelve thousand stands of arms, when distributed among the loyal clans, and with the aid expected from the Welsh and Irish, we may well hope, Rob, to crush both the English and the Lowlanders; and by this day twelvemonth we may see every head wearing its own bonnet, and the elector at home in Hernhausen." All this sounded very well to Rob, who seldom required a great incentive to attempt anything desperate, especially against Highland Whigs, such as the Rosses, Munroes, or Grants; so he pledged himself "to meet the Marquis of Seaforth in Kintail in the spring of the following year, with at least four hundred good claymores;" and after spending a few days at Portnellan, Sir James Livingstone departed to visit some other Jacobite gentlemen, and seek their aid.