When this became known to the clansmen whom he had with him, and from whom he had so far succeeded in concealing his real designs, they called upon him to let them know what course of action he had resolved upon, and plainly told him that if he meant to join Dundee they would follow him, but that if he refused to do so, they would immediately forsake him. In vain he attempted to threaten them into submission. They were true to their word. Filling their bonnets with water, they drank the King’s health, and turned their backs on the chief who had thought to make them traitors, against their will, to the cause of the Stuarts. In the meantime, Dundee had been active in other directions. His summons to the clans had again been sent forth, and orders given for a general meeting at Blair, where he himself arrived, at latest, on the 26th of July. That same day Mackay marched from Perth to Dunkeld, with about four thousand foot, and two troops of horse and dragoons. There still remained two days to the date fixed for the gathering of the claymores, when Dundee moved from the camp at Blair to meet Mackay’s advance. He could not wait for the arrival of his full force; but he hoped that the deficiency in numbers would be compensated by the mettle and determination of those who had joined. To satisfy himself that the martial ardour of the clans had not suffered from the long years of inactivity which had elapsed since last they met an enemy, at Philiphaugh, he put it to an effective test. At early dawn, when the men were still sleeping in their plaids, in the heather, he caused the alarm to be sounded. In an instant, every man had sprung to his feet, and seizing his arms had run to take up his position in front of the camp. When the Viscount perceived this, says one of the chroniclers who record the incident, and that not a man of them retired, with full assurance, he instantly began his march to meet the enemy. Before deciding to leave Blair, Dundee had called together a council of war composed of all the leading men who had joined him. The question to be discussed was, whether it was wiser to remain encamped until the arrival of all the Highland contingents, or to march forward at once to meet Mackay. The old officers, who were accustomed to the command of regular troops, favoured the former alternative, and urged that it would be imprudent to risk an engagement against an army which exceeded theirs by more than half, and was composed of trained soldiers, whilst their own forces consisted of raw, undisciplined men, who had never seen blood, whose strength was impaired by the sufferings and privations of a long march, and whose spirit was damped by disappointments.