Page 139 - A Jacobite Exile

Captain Jervoise entered the room where he was sitting, propped up by
pillows.

"I have a bit of news that will please you, Charlie. The king sent for the

major this morning, and told him that he intended to increase our company
to a regiment, if he could do so. He had heard that a considerable number of
Scotchmen and Englishmen had come over, and were desirous of enlisting,

but, from their ignorance of the language, their services had been declined.
He said that he was so pleased, not only with the conduct of the company in

that fight, but with its discipline, physique, and power of endurance, that he
had decided to convert it into a regiment. He said he was sorry to lose its
services for a time; but, as we lost twenty men in the fight, and have some

fifteen still too disabled to take their places in the ranks, this was of the less
importance.

"So we are all going to march down to Revel with you. Major Jamieson is
appointed colonel, and I am promoted to be major. The king himself

directed that Cunningham and Forbes shall have commissions as captains,
and you and Harry as lieutenants. The colonel has authority given him to

nominate Scotch and English gentlemen of good name to make up the
quota of officers, while most of our own men will be appointed
non-commissioned officers, to drill the new recruits. The king has been

good enough, at Colonel Jamieson's request, to say that, as soon as the
regiment is raised and organized, it shall be sent up to the front."

"That is good news, indeed," Charlie said, with more animation than he had
evinced since his illness. "I have been so accustomed to be attended to, in

every way, that I was quite looking forward with dread to the journey
among strangers. Still, if you are all going, it will be a different thing

altogether. I don't think you will be long in raising the regiment. We only
were a week in getting the company together, and, if they have been
refusing to accept the services of our people, there must be numbers of

them at Gottenburg."

Early on the following morning, Charlie and the men unable to march were
placed in waggons, and the company started on its march to Revel. It was a