The king was at Revel when this engagement took place, and,
although but few of the troops had arrived, he was too impatient
for action to wait until the coming of the fleet. He therefore
marched to Wesenberg, with his bodyguard and a few troops from
Revel. He at once despatched a thousand men, to cover the frontier,
and issued orders for the rest of the troops to leave the whole of
their baggage behind them, to take three days' provision in their
haversacks, and to prepare to march the next morning.
Major Jamieson came into the cottage, occupied by Captain Jervoise
and his officers, late in the evening. They had a blazing fire, for
it was now the middle of November, and the nights were very sharp.
"Well, Jervoise, what do you think of the orders?" he asked, as he
seated himself on a log that had been brought in for the fire.
"I have not thought much about them, except that we are going to do
a long and quick march somewhere."
"And where is that somewhere, do you think?"
"That, I have not the slightest idea."
"You would not say that it was to Narva?"
"I certainly should not, considering that we have but five thousand
infantry, and three thousand cavalry, and of these a large number
have been so weakened, by fever, as to be unfit for fighting; while
at Narva, report says there are eighty thousand Russians, in a
strongly intrenched camp.
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