His force had dwindled to three or four hundred men: even in those men he could put little trust; and the Macdonalds and Camerons were advancing fast.

He therefore raised the siege of Blair Castle, and retired with a few followers into the defile of Killiecrankie.

There he was soon joined by a detachment of two hundred fusileers whom Mackay had sent forward to secure the pass.

The main body of the Lowland army speedily followed, [361] Early in the morning of Saturday the twenty-seventh of July, Dundee arrived at Blair Castle.

There he learned that Mackay's troops were already in the ravine of Killiecrankie.