"Is math a thoill thu e, Eobhain, a choinn gun d'fhag thu d' aite," was the unsympathising rebuke. "Cha dean e tuille e co-dhiu!" said Ewen as he doubled back to his post. * "Do you see what that devil's son did to me?" "You well deserved it, Ewen, for leaving your place." "He won't do it again, whatever!" This story is also told in the "Memoir of Colonel John Cameron." CHAPTER VI. ON the 28th October the regiment marched to Colenzugby, near the Helder, and embarked on board H.M. ships Kent and Monarch, landing at Yarmouth next day with an effective strength of 24 sergeants, 20 drummers, and 446 rank and file; and were billeted in the town. In Orders of the 29th, the following regiments are ordered to Ipswich-2nd Battalion Royals, 25th Regiment, 92nd Regiment (or Gordon Highlanders). R.O., Yarmouth, 3rd November 1799.-The regiment will march to-morrow morning at half-past seven o'clock. The pipes will go round the town at seven. No sooner, however, had they arrived at Ipswich than they were ordered to Chelmsford, a three days' march. Such of the convalescents among the wounded as were able walked under charge of a sergeant; the others went on waggons. Captain Cameron, in a letter dated November 8th, gives an amusing account of the journey of some of the wounded officers:"Captain Grant with his arm broken, Lieutenant G. Fraser with a ball still lodged in his head, and your humble servant on crutches, set off from Yarmouth in a post-chaise together, with a stout fellow in his Highland dress mounted sometimes behind, sometimes before. You will readily conceive what an exhibition this appeared to honest John Bull. I every minute expected to be asked what was to be paid for the show."* At Chelmsford they were again under the orders of MajorGeneral Moore, to whom the commanding officer applied for leave to let a certain proportion of the men go on pass to Scotland for part of the winter. The journey was not so costly as might be thought, as the Carron Company ran packets * In a letter from Chelmsford, November 28th, "Captain M'Lean, who was wounded and taken prisoner, has been sent back, and has just joined us almost perfectly recovered. His accounts of the treatment he received are not much to the credit of the French." Captain Cameron goes on to mention the condition of such of the wounded as belonged to his father's neighbourhood, for the benefit of their friends, and as to money sent through him by one of them to his parents. from London to the Forth. These vessels were armed, for fear of privateers, and gave free passage to soldiers on furlough on their engaging to help to defend them. While at Chelmsford, the bard MacKinnon, who was a corporal in the Gordon Highlanders, composed his well-known poem describing the battle of the 2nd October, which, with another on the Egyptian campaign, is given in the Appendix. They are considered among the finest and most spirited pieces in the Gaelic language. Soldiers' letters signed by the commanding officer were allowed to go at a cheap rate of postage.* On January 1st, 1800, the regiment wanted to complete 381 men. R.O., January 9th.-Officers will appear in grey pantaloons, half-boots, bonnets, sash, and gorgets,† when the regiment is ordered to parade in marching order; the grey pantaloons to have red binding on them. By Horse Guards Order of February 3rd, 1800, hairpowder was ordered to be discontinued by His Majesty's command. This must have been an immense relief to the army, for although no gentleman of fashion was in those days considered properly turned out without it, it was very troublesome to those who did not aspire to that title. They, however, still wore false queues, "if their own hair does not admit of being tied in that form." Here the regiment received canvas knapsacks painted yellow, having a circle of red in the centre, in which the crown and thistle, with the words "Gordon Highlanders," were inserted, R.O. The bonnets to be fifteen inches in height, reckoning from the bottom of the velvet to the top of the feathers. The heckle to be worn upright, and to be of an equal height with the black feathers. * The regular rate from England to Scotland was, for a single sheet 1s. 8d., for 1 oz. 3s. + Gorgets were worn on duty till 1825. Pensioner Corporal Innes, Glenlivat, who served from 1794 till after Waterloo, told me that at one time they wore their feathers long "trailing ower oor shoulders," as he expressed it, while, he said, the 42nd wore them very short. Fashions change, as the 92nd certainly wore the feathers shorter at a later period. In February, a detachment of artillery with drivers, horses, and guns was attached to the regiment, and forty men were selected to learn the exercise of the guns, Ensign Campbell being put in charge of the whole. All the men were afterwards taught gun-drill. During the spring a few volunteers from Fencibles were received, and also recruits. The colonel had power to discharge men, and "by Lord Huntly's order," a man is discharged "having found another man in his place." R.O., February 22nd. The men who have been fixed upon to be detached as riflemen will take with them their new clothing, and they will immediately set about cocking and making up their new bonnets. The officers will take care that they be neatly cocked. R.O., February 24th.-The detachment of riflemen will march to-morrow at ten o'clock under command of Ensign Cameron. The major expects that the detachment will conduct themselves in such a manner as to do credit to the regiment they belong to, and that Ensign Cameron will so exert himself on the march, and after he has arrived at Horsham, that his detachment will appear as respectable in the corps they are to join, as the regiment has always done among other regiments. The meaning of the above Order was that H.R.H. the Commander-in-Chief had been impressed by the rapid movements and accurate fire of the enemy's riflemen, and by the execution they had done in Holland; he therefore determined to constitute a similar corps as part of the British establishment. The commanding officers of fourteen regiments of the line were directed to select from each 2 sergeants, 2 corporals, 30 privates, and 1 person qualified for a bugler, to compose a rifle corps; and to send in to the Commander-in-Chief the names of 1 captain, 1 lieutenant, and 1 ensign willing to volunteer for this service.* These detachments were assembled at Horsham, under Colonel Coote Manningham of the 41st Regiment, A.D.C. to His Majesty, and Colonel Steuart of the 67th,† as an "Experimental Corps." Three companies of these * Willoughby Verner's 'Rifle Military Journal, February 1801. † Colonel Coote Manningham, and Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. W. Steuart of riflemen, made up of the detachments of the Royals, 23rd, 25th, 27th, 79th, and 92nd Regiments, under Lieut.-Colonel Steuart, embarked with the force under Sir J. M. Pulteney, and landed at Ferrol in Spain on the 25th August 1800; they covered the advance, and particularly distinguished themselves in the two skirmishes which took place near that fortress, the Spaniards being defeated in both. Colonel Steuart was dangerously wounded, also 2 captains, 1 subaltern, and 8 rank and file, of whom some died of wounds. This was the first day a British rifleman ever fired a shot at an enemy. * The 79th and 92nd detachments formed the Highland Company, wearing their own dress. When the Rifle Corps was afterwards formed, the officers and men of the "Experimental Corps" were allowed to volunteer for it, but with two exceptions the men of the Gordon Highlanders elected to return to their own regiment. Lieutenant Alexander Clarke, Ensigns Charles Cameron and A. Cameron volunteered, however; but Lieutenant Clarke was killed in Egypt, and only the two ensigns donned the "green jacket" as lieutenants. The latter † the 67th (formerly of the 42nd Regiment), fourth son of the Earl of Galloway, had addressed a letter to the Secretary for War urging "the importance of having in the British army a regiment armed with a rifled arm.' The "Experimental Rifle Corps" being a success, it was determined to raise a "Corps of Riflemen." This corps had a great many men from the Scottish Fencibles; out of it grew the 95th Rifle Regiment, which became the Rifle Brigade.—W. Verner's "Rifle Brigade." [The rifle used by the " Experimental Rifle Corps," 1800, was supplied by a London gunmaker named Ezekiel Baker; known as the "Baker Rifle." It was 2 feet 6 inches long in the barrel, 7 grooved, and rifled one quarter turn. The balls were 20 to the lb. ; weight of arms 9 lbs. ; sighted to 100 yards, and by a folding sight to 200 yards; loaded with some difficulty, and small wooden mallets were supplied to assist in ramming down the ball. The corps carried a horn for powder and a pouch for bullets. In the stock of rifle was a brass box to contain the greased rag in which the ball was wrapped. A picker to clean the touch-hole and a brush were suspended by brass chains to the belts. A triangular sword-bayonet was fixed by a spring. The smooth bore bullets weighed 14 to the lb.—SIR J. COPE.] * There had previously been only foreigners in British pay armed with the rifle. The 60th were Germans. In the last century, when Ensign Cameron joined, candidates for commissions were not required to pass difficult examinations, and young Highland gentlemen, instead of being sent south, were generally educated at home, and brought up among the country people, joining in their sports and also in the work of the estate or farm. Young Cameron was clipping a sheep when a |