Kings Pinnacle Read Free

He thought that you were either born
to rule or else you were common folk. It was unthinkable for a
common person to try to improve his station in life. Patrick had
been born in Edinburgh. He was Lord Pitfour’s second son and was
raised among a number of major figures in the Scottish
Enlightenment, including the philosopher and historian David Hume
and the dramatist John Home. He had a large number of cousins
through his English mother's family including Sir William Pulteney,
5th Baronet Commodore George Johnstone, and, of course, retired
General Sir James Murray.
    Since Patrick was his second
son, Lord Pitfour and his wife encouraged Patrick toward a career
in the military at an early age. He was educated at the London
Military Academy and served briefly in Germany with the Royal North
British Dragoons (Scots Greys) as a captain during the Seven Years’
War. He left the Greys, under what some considered mysterious
circumstances, to return to England.
    Even though his fate had
allotted him the role of the second son, Patrick felt that he was
meant to be a solider and was satisfied with his lot in life. He
had a military mind, but he was not well adapted to leading men. He
had no empathy at all for the men that served under him, and he
gave them very little thought and consideration. His military
interest lay in firearms, swords, artillery, fortifications and
other such military subjects.
    As he gazed into the fire in
the fireplace, Patrick kept thinking about that phrase written by
his Scots Greys commanding officer on his performance report that
was filed with the Greys’ adjutant.
     
    “… possesses a fine
military bearing and mien, although he is not well-favored by the
men under his command. ”
     
    Patrick didn’t care if the
men under his command favored him or not. He was a Lord’s son, and
he expected the men under his command to follow his orders, and
follow them to the letter, without question. He had expressed that
sentiment to his Greys’ commanding officer, who was also a Lord’s
son, just prior to his discharge. The fact that he had brought up
several of his men in front of a court martial for failure to
follow orders never entered into his thinking about why he might
have been discharged from the Greys. He was actually still quite
puzzled about his discharge. He suspected that it was most likely a
personality conflict with his commanding officer.
    “Thank you, Pattie. As a
reward for your service to me and for a small favor I shall ask of
you, I intend to purchase you a commission to command a company in
Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Johnstone’s Highland Light Infantry,
the Seventieth Foot,” said Sir James.
    “Uncle Jamie, I can’t thank
you enough. You really are much too generous,” said Patrick, even
though it was exactly what he had been angling for. In fact, he had
done everything in his power to deliver that suggestion indirectly
to his uncle.
    Patrick had seen this rescue
as a way to curry favor with his uncle and as possible
stepping-stone to further his military career and
ambitions.
    “What is the favor you ask
of me, Uncle Jamie?”
    “I want to see the Mackenzie
lad hanged,” said Sir James, steely eyed as he watched his horses
train on the track beside the house and blew smoke toward the
window.
    “It would be my pleasure,”
replied Patrick. Since he had already planned on killing Alexander
Mackenzie anyway, it would be no problem to see that
done.
     
    * * * *
     
    Alex
     
    “ Alex, lad, yer gang to
hae to lie low for a spell, or maybe even leave Scotland for a
while and lat be the lass,” said John Mackenzie, Alex’s father, as
he and Alex huddled together at the edge of a stream in a secluded
area off the main road.
    Alex had been talking to his
father about the incident at Coldstream as he watered Hack at one
of the outlaws’ meeting places. The band of Reivers to which the
Mackenzies belonged had a number of secret meeting places that were
hidden in the Scottish