This diversion was not so complete as the marshal expected it to prove; for the sudden clearing of the mist and the beaming of the moon upon the water, enabled Colonel M'Lean, who commanded a brigade of Spaniards on the Imperial right, to perceive the long and straggling line of men, horses, and waggons, dotting, as it were, with black spots the shining water, as they came out of one bank of vapour and vanished into another in the direction of the city.
Filing from his trenches by a double-quick march, the colonel (a brave soldier of fortune and a Catholic) brought his brigade of Spanish musketeers to the shore; and there, supported by a squadron of cuirassiers and some companies of Walloon infantry, threw forward his left flank to give us a cross fire.
Sir Donald, with our pikes, five hundred strong, led the van, which marched above their garters in the sea till every kilt was floating. The Spaniards fired a volley, by which, at least, one hundred men were shot, or drowned, by being severely wounded; but, ere they could reload, we were among them, and at their very throats; and now ensued one of the deadliest conflicts ever witnessed by the walls of Stralsund, since Jaromar built them by the Baltic sea.
The three regiments formed at once in brigade order by double companies, pikes in the centre and musketeers on the flanks; Sir Donald was in front, with his silver target braced upon his left arm, and his long claymore in his right hand.
"Santiago!" shouted the Spaniards of Camargo's regiment; "Santiago y cierra Espana!"
"Keep together like a wall!" exclaimed their colonel. "God and St. James of Compostella will open a path for us through this herd of Scottish curs."
Then came the hoarse hurrah of the German cuirassiers, and the wilder cheer of the Walloon infantry.
"Forward, gentlemen and comrades!" exclaimed Mackay, with a voice that swept over the water like a trumpet; "forward at push of pike, and hew me a passage through these Spaniards!"
"St. Andrew, St. Andrew!" cried Lord Spynie, who was on foot by his side, and the whole brigade repeated the old Scottish war-cry, as we swept forward splashing through the silvery water like a mighty phalanx towards the Spaniards, upon whom we burst with incredible fury, as I have said, before they had time to reload. Highland clansmen and Lowland musketeers went on like a wall of steel. It was a renewal of the wars of old; for again the dark-browed Celt and the fair-haired Goth were fighting against the descendants of the old Iberians.
Being formed in eight ranks deep, after the old fashion of Tilly, they withstood our charge with a solid front, and a ferocious conflict began; the pikemen charging with their shortened pikes, others plying their clubbed muskets like flails, and the officers using their claymores with both hands, or withdrawing their left only to handle their dirks, or fire their long Scottish pistols right into the eyes of the Spaniards.