noon
Tom Caldwell had lately been the means of organising an Orange lodge in the Flats , and at their last meeting the brethren had decreed that , upon the coming 12th of July , they must have a celebration . It was to be no ordinary affair either , Pete Nash himself told him ; but such a magnificent spectacle as the pioneers had never yet witnessed . Pete had received orders to prepare dinner for fifty guests and whiskey for twice as many . There was to be a grand rally early in the morning at the home of Tom Caldwell , who was to personate the great Protestant monarch , and at high noon a triumphal march up over the hills and down into the Glen to the feast , -- with fifes and drums and a greater display in crossing the Oro than King William himself had had in crossing the historic Boyne . Big Malcolm sat silent , his fists clenched . He was a Glencoe MacDonald , and , like all his clan , had an abhorrence of the name of Orange running fiercely in his veins . But he was saying to himself over and over that he who had repented of all his strife , who had set his face firmly against the evils of the day and become a leader of the new movement that was bringing the community into a higher and better life , he certainly must not be the one to stir up dissension .