Page 98 - A Jacobite Exile

had already reconnoitred a portion of their position, exposing himself
recklessly to their shot, and, as soon as the troops came up, he issued orders

for them to prepare to attack in two columns. First, however, several of the
regiments were ordered to fall out, and to cut down bushes and make

fascines, to enable the troops to cross the ditches.

The intrenchment was a formidable one, being provided with parapets

armed with chevaux de frise, and flanked by strong exterior works, while
several batteries had been placed to sweep the ground across which an

enemy must advance.

The right column, under General Welling, was to march to a point nearly in

the centre of the great semicircle; while the left, under General Rhenschild,
was to assault a point about halfway between the centre and the river,

where one of the largest and most powerful of the enemy's batteries was
placed. The king himself was with this wing, with his bodyguard, and he
hoped that here he might meet the czar commanding in person. The Russian

emperor had, however, left the camp that morning, to fetch up forty
thousand men who were advancing from Plescow, and the command of the

army had been assumed by the Duke of Croy.

The Swedish left wing had with it a battery of twenty-one guns, while

sixteen guns covered the attack on the right. It was two o'clock in the
afternoon when two guns gave the signal for the advance. Hitherto the

weather had been fine, but it had become gradually overcast, and, just as
the signal was given, a tremendous storm of snow and hail began. It set
right in the face of the Russians, and concealed from them the movement of

the Swedes, for which, indeed, they were wholly unprepared, believing that
the small force they saw was but the advance guard of a great Swedish

army, and that no attack need be expected until the main body arrived. The
consequence was, the Swedes were almost at the edge of the ditch before
they were perceived, and both columns attacked with such vigour and

courage that, in a quarter of an hour, they had gained a footing in the
intrenchments, and had so filled up the ditch with the fascines that the

cavalry were able to follow them.