98 A JACOBITE EXILE

river that the king himself rode triumphantly into the place
surrounded by his staff, amid the wild enthusiasm of the
inhabitants, whom his victory had saved from ruin and
massacre. ‘The town, although strongly fortified, was not a
large one, and its houses were so dilapidated from the
effects of the Russian bombardment that but few of the
troops could be accommodated there; the rest were quar-
tered inthe Russian huts. On the 26th a solemn service of
thanksgiving for the victory was celebrated, with a salute
from all the cannon of the town and camp, and by salvos
of musketry from the troops. ‘The question of provisions
was the most important now. It was true that large quan-
tities had been captured in the Russian camp, but beyond
a magazine of corn, abandoned by the fugitives at Tama
and brought in, there was no prospect of replenishing the
store when exhausted, for the whole country for a great
distance round had been completely devastated by the
Russians. These had not retreated far, having been rallied
by the czar at Plescow, and quartered in the towns of the
frontier of Livonia, whence they made incursions into such
districts as had not been previously wasted.

“This is dull work,” Archie Cunningham said one day,
“the sooner we are busy again the better. There is noth-
ing to do, and very little to eat; the cold is bitter and fuel
scarce; one wants something to warm one’s blood.”

“Vou are not likely to have anything of that kind for
some months to come,” Major Jamieson replied dryly.
“You don’t suppose we are going to have a battle of Narva
once a week, do you? No doubt there will be a few skir-
mishes and outpost encounters, but beyond that there will
be little doing until next spring. You can make up your
mind for at least five months of the worst side of a soldier’s
life—duil quarters and probably bad ones, scanty food,
cold, and disease.”