The march was continued by three or four regiments of infantry
marching in open column, their fixed bayonets showing like successive
hedges of steel, and their arms glancing like lightning, as, at a
signal given, they also at once wheeled up, and were placed in direct
opposition to the Highlanders. A second train of artillery, with another
regiment of horse, closed the long march, and formed on the left flank
of the infantry, the whole line facing southward.
While the English army went through these evolutions, the Highlanders
showed equal promptitude and zeal for battle. As fast as the clans came
upon the ridge which fronted their enemy, they were formed into line, so
that both armies got into complete order of battle at the same moment.
When this was accomplished, the Highlanders set up a tremendous yell,
which was re-echoed by the heights behind them. The regulars, who were
in high spirits, returned a loud shout of defiance, and fired one or
two of their cannon upon an advanced post of the Highlanders. The latter
displayed great earnestness to proceed instantly to the attack, Evan Dhu
urging to Fergus, by way of argument, that 'the SIDIER ROY was tottering
like an egg upon a staff, and that they had a' the vantage of the onset,
for even a haggis (God bless her!) could charge down hill.
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