"'Tis M'Lean who robbed him of his wife," said the sergeant, giving my plaid a twitch. "If they meet, there will be bloody work; and, as I have said, before morning the bell of Gometra will toll."
The night was dark, and a vapour from the sea rolled over the level land, concealing our movements. We passed the right flank of the enemy, by keeping so far out upon the shore that we marched mid-leg deep in the sea, where we were completely shrouded by the mist and gloom. All was still even in the Imperial camp, which lay partly on our right, and partly in our rear; lights twinkled at times among the tents and trenches, and the faint sound of voices in argument or merriment, or the scrap of some hoarse German drinking ditty, stole upon the night; but, unheard and unseen, we reached the Greifswalde road, and, according to the orders of Marshal Leslie, drew up in close columns under shelter of a thick wood, which grew on each side of the pathway. There we were to remain en perdue for three hours, after which we were to return to the city by the seashore; but, if we were discovered, or if the foe extended his flank towards the water, we ran the eminent risk of being cut off to a man. Even if we were successful—that is, if we captured the whole train of waggons, and succeeded in conveying them towards Stralsund, by breaking through the Austrians from their rear, it appeared to me that we would be swallowed up like Pharaoh's host, if not by waves of the sea, at least by the masses of men who were certain to close in upon us; but I knew not that, at the sound of the first shot, old Leslie was to sally forth at the head of his own regiment of Fife and Angus men, to scour the trenches of the enemy's left, and cause a complete diversion and confusion.
All occurred just as we would have wished. After two weary and anxious hours spent in the wood, listening to every passing sound, the cracking of whips, the creaking of wheels, and the heavy rolling sound of the laden wains, that groaned under their load of food (the very idea of which spread a glow from our hungry stomachs to our hearts), were heard approaching by the hard and dusty road from Greifswalde. At times we heard the drivers and the Croatian cavalry, which formed their escort, singing a wild chorus, that was swept past us upon occasional puffs of wind.
All our field-officers were on foot; each captain was at the head of his company; the pikemen were flanked by musketeers; the priming was looked to, and the matches were blown. By Sir Donald's orders, the regiments of Ludovick Leslie and the Lord Spynie drew up in line, flanked outwards, on each side of the road, but still under cover of the trees, and every man of them lay flat on the grass, with his weapon beside him. Our regiment (being then about a thousand strong) he divided into two wings. In person he led the right, and posted it across the roadway in front of the waggons, barring all passage. Ian led the left, with orders to "wheel, right shoulders forward, to close upon their rear, and cut the escort to pieces without a moment's hesitation, lest by their sharp sabres they might hamstring the horses, or sever the traces by which they drew the waggons."
These dispositions had scarcely been made when they were amidst us, and between our double lines—twenty waggons laden with bags of flour, and barrels of butter, beer, and brandy, each drawn by two horses, and escorted by two regiments of Croats and Pandoors, wearing short doublets of fur and chain-shirts, long white breeches, and triple-barred helmets, and armed with short crooked swords, iron maces, and long rifled muskets slung across their bodies.
"Ready—present—fire!" cried Sir Donald.
From the muzzles of eighteen hundred muskets the streaks of fire flashed upon the gloom of that darkened hollow, and struck the escort with terror and confusion, piling horses and men over each other in heaps. Then charging them headlong in the smoke, we closed in from four points with clubbed muskets, with levelled pike, with claymore, and Lochaber-axe; for we knew there was not a moment to be lost, as that volley would rouse all Wallenstein's mighty camp, like one vast hornet's nest upon us.
Taken at such disadvantage the Croats and Pandoors were soon routed, but not without a desperate struggle; for disdaining, or unable to use their long muskets, they attacked us with their cimetars. Their well-trained horses, light but active animals, with hides of spotless white, and long switch-tails, actually tore our men with their teeth like wild beasts; thus enabling their savage riders to make a terrible use of their slender lances, their sharp sabres, and maces of pointed steel, by one of which Captain M'Coll of that Ilk was struck down and left as dead. Shoulder to shoulder, Highlander and Lowlander poured through the narrow defile on each side of the waggons, driving out the Croats and Pandoors, forcing them by dint of pike and musket to retire in irremediable disorder, leaving at least five hundred men and horses strewn on the road. There, the killed and wounded Pandoors were distinctly visible by their white breeches and picturesque pelisses of white fur.
The waggons were now put in motion; and the drivers being all shot or unhorsed, a number of Spynie's pikemen, who had been Lowland plough-lads, sprang upon the trams or saddles, and grasped the reins; sword-points, pike-heads, and whips, were applied to the sluggish bullocks and Holsteiners; and at a tremendous pace the waggons were driven down towards the sea, the wheels bounding and crashing over the prostrate bodies of killed and wounded men and horses. Shrieks, yells, and hoarse maledictions followed us as we hurried towards the shore, forming in our ranks as we went. A partial gleam of moonlight now shot along the water, as it seemed between two banks of vapour. The aspect of the ocean, though it shone like a placid mirror, while shedding silent ripples on the yellow sand, stayed the fierce career of the horses, and they entered it fetlock deep, and then knee deep, with a slowness and caution that enabled us to overtake the waggons, and form in order between them and the now alarmed enemy, whose right flank we were skirting.
At that moment, far distant on the Imperial left, we heard several heavy volleys, and then one continued roar of musketry. This announced to us that Sir Alexander Leslie, with his own regiment of Scots, was scouring the trenches and causing a diversion in our favour. As the mist began to clear, we could perceive across the level landscape the locality of this other conflict by the murky air, the smoky, lurid and irregular light it occasioned.