Page 101 - A Jacobite Exile

vast quantities of military stores and provisions. A hundred and fifty-one
colours, and twenty standards, and the greater proportion of their muskets,

together with the military chest, the Duke of Croy, their
commander-in-chief, and the whole of their generals, colonels, majors, and

captains, fell into the hands of the Swedes, as prisoners of war. The total
loss in killed and wounded of the Swedes was under two thousand, the
chief loss being due to the desperate resistance of the Russians, after the

battle was irretrievably lost. It may be doubted whether so complete and
surprising a victory, between armies so disproportionate in force, was ever

before gained.

The king had exposed himself, throughout the day, most recklessly, and

was everywhere in the thick of the Russian bullets, and yet he escaped
without so much as a scratch. The Malmoe Regiment had been with the left

wing, but suffered comparatively little loss, as they were one of the last to
enter the intrenchments, and it was only when darkness was closing in that
they were called up to take a part in the attack on the position held by the

Russians.

"Never was the saying, that fortune favours the brave, more signally
verified, Jervoise," Major Jamieson said, as he sat down to a rough
breakfast with the officers of the Scottish company, on the morning after

the Russian surrender.

"That's true enough, but Russians are brave, too, as they showed at the end
of the day. I fancy you have a scotch proverb to the effect that 'fou folk
come to no harm.' I think that is more applicable in the present case."

The major laughed.

"The fou folk relates rather to drunkenness than madness, Jervoise. But, of
course, it would do for both. I own that the whole enterprise did seem, to

me, to be absolute madness, but the result has justified it. That sudden
snowstorm was the real cause of our victory, and, had it not been for that, I

still think that we could not have succeeded. The Russian cannon certainly
continued to fire, but it was wholly at random, and they were taken by