"We are in for it now, my boy," whispered Sergeant Hyde, who was one
of the colour-party, and stood in the centre of the column, near
McKay.
"What is it?" asked the young sergeant-major eagerly. "A fight?"
"More than that--a general action. In another hour or two we shall be
engaged hotly along the whole line. Some of us will lose the number of
our mess before the day is done."
The Royal Picts formed part of the second division, under the command
of Sir de Lacy Evans, a fine old soldier, who had seen service for
half a century. This division was on the right of the English army. On
the left of Sir de Lacy Evans was the Light Division, beyond that the
Highlanders and Guards. The Third Division was in reserve behind the
Second, the Fourth far in the rear, still near the sea-shore.
The march had hitherto been in columns, a disposition that lent
itself readily to deployment into line--the traditional formation,
peculiar to the British arms, and the inevitable prelude to an attack.
The order now given to form line was, therefore, promptly recognised
as the signal for the approaching struggle. It was rendered the more
necessary by the galling fire opened upon our troops by the enemy's
batteries, which crowned every point of vantage on the hills in front.
Grandly, and with admirable precision, the three leading divisions of
the British army formed themselves into the historic "Thin Red Line,"
renowned in the annals of European warfare, from Blenheim to Waterloo.
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