'Ah, Beaujeu, mon cher ami,' said he, as he returned to his usual place
in the line of march, 'que mon metier de prince errant est ennuyant, par
fois. Mais, courage! c'est le grand jeu, apres tout.'
CHAPTER XXX
A SKIRMISH
The reader need hardly be reminded that, after a council of war held at
Derby on the 5th of December, the Highlanders relinquished their
desperate attempt to penetrate farther into England, and, greatly to the
dissatisfaction of their young and daring leader, positively determined
to return northward. They commenced their retreat accordingly, and, by
the extreme celerity of their movements, outstripped the motions of the
Duke of Cumberland, who now pursued them with a very large body of
cavalry.
This retreat was a virtual resignation of their towering hopes. None had
been so sanguine as Fergus Mac-Ivor; none, consequently, was so cruelly
mortified at the change of measures. He argued, or rather remonstrated,
with the utmost vehemence at the council of war; and, when his opinion
was rejected, shed tears of grief and indignation. From that moment his
whole manner was so much altered that he could scarcely have been
recognised for the same soaring and ardent spirit, for whom the whole
earth seemed too narrow but a week before.
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