He offered me a lieutenancy in his regiment; but, being urged by Dundrennan, and flattered by the Marquis our captain, I thanked him, and begged leave to remain with my comrades of the Guard. CHAPTER XXI. A CHARGE OF THE SCOTTISH GUARD. We came in sight of Bitche on the morning of the 25th March, which was still in that year (1634), _New Year's-day_ in England; though the governments of Scotland and of France altered that festival to the 1st of January in 1599, during the reigns of James VI. and Charles IX. We were with the advanced guard of cavalry, which consisted of the dragoons of Marshal Brissac and the light horse of the Guard, two hundred Navarrese chevaliers, the pride of Henry the Great; and as the Marquis de Gordon, who commanded the whole, understood that a strong force lay in Bitche, he halted, reconnoitred, and bivouacked as the night had set in and our main body had not yet come up. We slept overnight in our cloaks, under a chill dew, at the heads of our horses, which remained fully accoutred, unbitted, and ready for action at a moment's notice--a fortunate precaution; for with the first pale streak of dawn, when all were weary, cold, and shivering, I was roused by the bracing cry of-- 'Aux armes! à cheval!' and _to horse!_ blew all our trumpets, while the long roll of the 'Scottish march,' beaten sharply on the drum, rang along the far-extended lines of Hepburn, Lesly, and Ramsay. And now a body of imperial cavalry, the old-whiskered reitres, and German lanzknechts of the Empire, accoutred in black iron and buff leather, with lance, arquebuse, and espadone, appeared in dark masses and in solid squadron, about a thousand strong, on the narrow road that lay direct to Bitche. The latter, a little town on the Alsatian frontier, which gave the title of count to a gentleman of the house of Lorraine, stands upon a rock, and was deemed impregnable. Beyond it rose the sombre masses of the Vosges mountains, around the peaks of which the morning mist was wreathing and curling upward--golden, white, and purple in the rising sun; and on the highest towers of the old and dun-coloured citadel waved the white flag, bearing the black eagle of the Empire, and the yellow banner with the three blue wings of Lorraine. As the artillery had not yet come up, the cavalry were to open a passage for the infantry through these Imperialists; and to us was reserved the honour of attacking the enemy's cavalry if our comrades failed, for it has been a maxim in war since the days of Julius Cæsar to keep the best troops in reserve.