Page 119 - A Jacobite Exile

"I had no idea that the King of Sweden was there himself," the officer said
humbly.

"Bah, that is no excuse. There were officers, and you ought to have

captured them, instead of allowing yourself to be put to flight by a hundred
and fifty men."

"We must have killed half the horsemen before the infantry came up."

"All the worse, colonel, that you did not complete the business. The
infantry would not have been formidable, after they discharged their pieces.
However, it is your own affair, and I wash my hands of it. What the czar

will say when he hears of it, I know not, but I would not be in your shoes
for all my estates."

As Charlie learned afterwards, the colonel was degraded from his rank by
the angry czar, and ordered to serve as a private in the regiment he

commanded. The officer who acted as translator said something in his own
tongue to the general, who then, through him, said:

"This officer tells me that by your language you are not a Swede."

"I am not. I am English, and I am an ensign in the Malmoe Regiment."

"All the worse for you," the general said. "The czar has declared that he
will exchange no foreign officers who may be taken prisoners."

"Very well, sir," Charlie said, fearlessly. "He will be only punishing his
own officers. There are plenty of them in the King of Sweden's hands."

The general, when this reply was translated to him, angrily ordered Charlie
to be taken away, and he was soon lodged in a cell in the castle. His head

was still swimming from the effects of the blow that had stricken him
down, and, without even trying to think over his position, he threw himself

down on the straw pallet, and was soon asleep.