"`Trust me,' said Ogilvy, who appeared to have been one of those men who
regard a fight as a piece of good fun.

"Turning to the multitude, who had heard the commission given, and were
ready for anything, he shouted, `Now, boys, ye heard the Provost. I
need not ask if you are all ready to fight--'

"A deafening cheer interrupted the speaker, who, when it ceased,
proceeded--

"`Well, then, I've but one piece of advice to give ye: _Obey orders at
once_. When I tell ye to halt, stop dead like lampposts; when I say,
"Charge!" go at them like wild cats, and drive the Frenchmen into the
sea!' `Hurrah!' yelled the crowd, for they were wild with excitement
and rage, and only wanted a leader to organise them and make them
formidable. When the cheer ceased, Ogilvy cried, `Now, then, every man
who knows how to beat a kettledrum and blow a trumpet come here.'

"About twenty men answered to the summons, and to these Ogilvy said
aloud, in order that all might hear, `Go, get you all the trumpets,
drums, horns, bugles, and trombones in the town; beat the drums till
they split, and blow the bugles till they burst, and don't give in till
ye can't go on. The rest of you,' he added, turning to the crowd, `go,
get arms, guns, swords, pistols, scythes, pitchforks, pokers--any thing,
everything--and meet me at the head of Market-gate--away!'

"No king of necromancers ever dispersed his legions more rapidly than
did Ogilvy on that occasion. They gave one final cheer, and scattered
like chaff before the wind, leaving their commander alone, with a select
few, whom he kept by him as a sort of staff to consult with and despatch
with orders.

"The noise that instantly ensued in the town was something
pandemoniacal. Only three drums were found, but tin kettles and pans
were not wanting, and these, superintended by Hugh Barr, the town
drummer, did great execution. Three key-bugles, an old French horn, and
a tin trumpet of a mail-coach guard, were sounded at intervals in every
quarter of the town, while the men were marshalled, and made to march
hither and thither in detached bodies, as if all were busily engaged in
making preparations for a formidable defence.

"In one somewhat elevated position a number of men were set to work with
spades, picks, and shovels, to throw up an earthwork. When it had
assumed sufficiently large dimensions to attract the attention of the
French, a body of men, with blue jackets, and caps with bits of red