g
about sixty thousand men, met face to face near the village of
Ramillies, half way between Tirlemont and Namur, and near the head
waters of the Great and Little Gheet and the Mehaigne.

Lieutenants Fairburn and Blackett from their position on a bit of
rising ground could take in the general dispositions of the respective
forces, and the same thought passed through both their minds. The
French and Bavarian troops were drawn up in the form of an arc, whose
ends rested on the villages of Anderkirk, to the north, and Tavieres,
on the Mehaigne, to the south. The villages of Ramillies and Offuz,
with a mound known as the Tomb of Ottomond at the back of the former,
were held by a strong centre. Marlborough, on his part, had disposed
his men along a chord of that arc. If it came to a question of moving
men and guns from one wing to the other, it was plain that the Duke
had the advantage, the distance along an arc being necessarily greater
than that along its chord, and it was that thought which came into the
heads of the two lieutenants.

Marlborough directed his right to attack the enemy around the village
of Anderkirk, backing up the assault with a contingent from his
centre. Blackett and his friend were soon taking part in the gallop
over the swampy ground in the neighbourhood of the village. A sharp
encounter followed, the Frenchmen beginning to waver. Hereupon
Villeroy in alarm promptly sent from his centre a large number of men
to support his staggering left at Anderkirk, thereby leaving his
centre weak.

All at once Marlborough withdrew his troops to the high ground
opposite the hamlet of Offuz, as if for a fresh attack. Then sending
back a part to keep up the pretence of continuing the combat in the
marsh, he took advantage of the concealment afforded by the higher
ground, and, cleverly detaching a large body, ordered them to slip
away round to seize Tavieres, on the Mehaigne. George and his friend
were thus separated, the latter being of those who remained in the
swamp to keep up appearances. It was a clever bit of strategy, and,
before Villeroy realized the truth, Tavieres had been rushed with a
splendid charge. The fact that the attack on Anderkirk had been only a
feint came to the French commander's understanding too late. His
centre, with the village of Ramillies and the Tomb of Ottomond
commanding it, the really important positions of the day, was weakened
by the loss of troops sent on a wild-goose chase.