Keeping as
near one side the road as possible, and dodging between the soldiers,
with myself following closely behind his heels, perspiring profusely
with fear and exertion until there was scarcely a dry thread upon us, we
managed at last to escape, and were profoundly thankful when we got
clear of the Black Watch and so ended one of the most exciting
adventures we ever had. It reminded my brother of the Charge of the
Light Brigade, a story he was very familiar with, an Irish friend of his
named Donoghue being one of the trumpeters who sounded it, and of
Tennyson's words:
Cannon to right of them.
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them,
Volley'd and thundered.
In our case, he said, we had guns at our back in addition.
We did not know at that time that the 42nd Highlanders were so famous,
but a friend of ours, an officer in the army, has since handed us a
description of that regiment, bringing its history down to a later
period.
The 42nd Highlanders were originally formed from the independent
companies raised in the year 1729 to keep the King's peace among the
Highland Hills; the Black Watch, so called from the dark hue of its
tartan, was first paraded as a regiment of the British army in 1740.
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