Page 89 - A Jacobite Exile

"I wish I could shake off twenty of my years, Jervoise, and join also. Well,
well, I daresay I shall get on comfortably enough. I know there are a good

many English and Scotch Jacobites settled in the town or neighbourhood,
and I shall not be long before I meet someone I know.

"As the matter seems settled, I should advise you lads to go down, the first
thing in the morning, to the wharves. There is no saying when ships may

come in. Moreover, it is likely enough that you may light upon young
fellows who have landed within the last few weeks, and who have been

kept so far, by their ignorance of the language, from enlisting."

"That is a very good idea," Mr. Jervoise said. "They will be delighted to

hear a friendly voice, and be only too glad to enlist in a Scottish company.
You can say that each man will have a free outfit given him."

Accordingly, the next morning early, the two lads went down to the wharf.
Presently they saw three young fellows, who were evidently Scotch by their

dress and caps, talking together. They strolled up near enough to catch what
they were saying.

"It is hard," one said, "that, now we are here, we can make no one
understand us, and it seems to me we had far better have stayed at home."

"We shall find some one who speaks our language presently, Jock," another

said more cheerfully. "The old man, where we lodged last night, said in his
broken tongue, that we had but to go over to Malmoe, or some such place
as that, where there is a big camp, and walk up to an officer and say we

wish to enlist."

"Oh, that is all very well," the other grumbled; "but, if he did not
understand us, we should be no better off than before."

"Are you wanting to enlist?" Harry said, going up to them.

The men gave an exclamation of pleasure, at being addressed in their own
tongue.