"
"Well, that is where we are going, Jervoise, nevertheless. At
least, that is what the colonel has told me."
"He must have been surely jesting, major. We may be going to push
forward in that direction, and occupy some strong position until
the army comes up, but it would be the height of madness to attack
an enemy, in a strong position, and just tenfold our force."
"Well, we shall see," Jamieson said coolly. "It is certain that
Narva cannot hold out much longer, and I know that the king has set
his heart on relieving it; but it does seem somewhat too dangerous
an enterprise to attack the Russians. At any rate, that is the
direction in which we are going, tomorrow. It is a good seventy
miles distant, and, as they say that the whole country has been
devastated, and the villagers have all fled, it is evident that
when the three days' bread and meat we carry are exhausted we shall
have to get some food, out of the Russian camp, if nowhere else."
Captain Jervoise laughed, as did the others.
"We can live for a short time on the horses, Jamieson, if we are
hard pushed for it, though most of them are little beyond skin and
bone."
"That is true. The cavalry are certainly scarcely fit for service.
Welling's troops have had a very hard time of it, and we may thank
our stars, though we did not think so at the time, that we were
kept nearly three months at Malmoe, instead of being here with
Welling.
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