y were the first to open fire, but their guns were small, and the
firing ill-directed; the balls went over the heads of the enemy and did
little harm. Then the great guns on the other side poured out the return
fire, raking the ranks of the Highlanders, clearing great gaps, and
carrying destruction even into the second line. For half an hour the
Highlanders stood exposed to this fire while comrade after comrade fell
at their side. It was all they could do to keep their ranks; their
white, drawn faces and kindling eyes spoke of the hunger for revenge
that possessed their hearts. Lord George was about to give the word to
charge, when the Mackintoshes impatiently rushed forward, and the whole
of the centre and left wing followed them. On they dashed blindly,
through the smoke and snow and rattling bullets. So irresistible was the
onset that they actually swept through two regiments in the first line,
though almost all the chiefs and front rank men had fallen in the
charge. The regiment in the second rank--Sempill's--was drawn up three
deep--the first rank kneeling, the third upright--all with bayonets
fixed. They received the onrushing Highlanders with a sharp fire. This
brought the clansmen to a halt, a few were forced back, more perished,
flinging themselves against the bayonets. Their bodies were afterwards
found in heaps three or four deep.

While the right and centre perished in this wild charge, the Macdonalds
on the left remained sullenly in their ranks, rage and angry pride in
their souls. In vain the Duke of Perth urged them to charge. 'Your
courage,' he cried, 'will turn the left into the right, and I will
henceforth call myself Macdonald.'

In vain Keppoch, with some of his kin, charged alone. 'My God! have the
children of my tribe forsaken me?' he cried, looking back to where his
clansmen stood stubborn and motionless. The stout old heart was broken
by this dishonour. A few minutes later he fell pierced by many bullets.

In the meantime the second line had been thrown into confusion. A
detachment of the Hanoverians--the Campbells, in fact--had broken down
the turf walls on the Prince's right. Through the gaps thus made, there
rode a body of dragoons, who fell on the rear and flanks of the Lowland
and French regiments, and scattered them in flight. Gillie MacBane held
a breach with the claymore, and slew fourteen men before he fell. But
the day was lost. All that courage, and pride, and devotion, and fierce
ha