Page 87 - A Jacobite Exile

"You are the last person I expected to see here, Jervoise. It is true that,
when we met last, you said that if matters went wrong in England you

should come out here, instead of taking refuge in France; but, as everything
is quiet, I had little hope of seeing you again, until I paid another visit to

Scotland, of which at present there is but little prospect. Have you grown
tired of doing nothing, and is it a desire to see something of a stirring life
that has brought you over here?"

Mr. Jervoise related, shortly, the events by which he had been driven into

exile, and expressed his desire to serve in the army of Sweden, and that his
son and young Carstairs should also enter the army.

"They are but sixteen yet," he said, "but are stout, active fellows, and could
hold their own in a day's march or in a stout fight with many men. Of

course, if I could obtain commissions for them, all the better, but if not they
are ready to enlist in the ranks. Roughing it will do them no harm."

"Their age is no drawback," Major Jamieson said. "There are many no
older, both in the ranks and as officers. Men in Sweden of all ages and of

all ranks are joining, for this unprovoked attack, on the part of Poland, has
raised the national spirit to boiling heat. The chief difficulty is their and
your ignorance of the language. Were it not for that, I could obtain, from

the minister of war, commissions for you at once."

He sat thinking for some minutes, in silence.

"I think I see how it can be managed, Jervoise. I have some twenty or thirty

Scotchmen in my regiment, and I know a colonel who has as many in his,
and these I could manage to get, in exchange for an equal number of my

Swedes. Ships are coming daily from Scotland, and most of them bring
young fellows who have come out to join the army.

"You know how the Scots fought, under Gustavus Adolphus, and there is
scarce a glen in Scotland where there are not traditions of fathers, or

grandfathers, who fought in Hepburn's Green Brigade. Therefore, it is
natural that, seeing there is no chance of military service at home, there