y. A volley
from the advancing troops decided the question. 'There is no time to be
lost; we must charge,' cried Lord George, and raising the Highland war
cry, 'Claymore, Claymore,' he was the first to dash through the hedge
(he lost his hat and wig among the thorns, and fought the rest of the
night bareheaded!). The dragoons were forced back on to the moor, while
another body of horse was similarly driven back along the high road by
the Stuarts and Macdonells of Glengarry. About a dozen Highlanders,
following too eagerly in pursuit, were killed on this moor, but the loss
on the other side was far greater. Nor did the Duke of Cumberland again
attack the retreating enemy; he had learned, like the other generals
before him, the meaning of a Highland onset.[39]

A small garrison of Highlanders had been left in Carlisle, but these
rejoined the main army as it passed through the town. There was an
unwillingness among the soldiers to hold a fort that was bound to be
taken by the enemy. Finally the Manchester regiment consented to remain,
probably arguing, in the words of one of the English volunteers, that
they 'might as well be hanged in England as starved in Scotland.'

The Esk was at this time in flood, running turbid and swift. But the
Highlanders have a peculiar way of crossing deep rivers. They stand
shoulder to shoulder, with their arms linked, and so pass in a
continuous chain across. As Charles was fording the stream on horseback,
one man was swept away from the rest and was being rapidly carried down.
The Prince caught him by the hair, shouting in Gaelic, 'Cohear, cohear!'
'Help, help!'

They were now again on Scottish ground, and the question was, whither
were they to go next? Edinburgh, immediately after the Prince's
departure, had gladly reverted to her Whig allegiance. She was
garrisoned and defended; any return thither was practically out of the
question. It was resolved that the army should retire to the Highlands
through the West country.

Dumfries, in the centre of the Covenanting district, had always been
hostile to the Stuarts. Two months before, when the Highland army
marched south, some of her citizens had despoiled them of tents and
baggage. To revenge this injury, Charles marched to Dumfries and levied
a large fine on the town. The Provost, Mr. Carson, was noted for his
hostility to the Jacobites. He was warned that his house was to be
burned, though the threat was not carried out. He had a little