All leapt to their feet.
"Munro," he said, "get the musketeers of your brigade under arms
with all haste, form them up in the square before the town hall,
and desire Sir John Hepburn to meet me there."
The drum was at once beaten, and the troops came pouring from their
lodgings, and in three or four minutes the musketeers, 800 strong,
were formed up with Hepburn and Munro at their head. Malcolm had
prepared to take his arms on the summons, but Munro said at once:
"No, Malcolm, so sudden a summons augurs desperate duty, maybe a
long night march; you would break down before you got half a mile;
besides, as only the musketeers have to go, half the officers must
remain here."
Without a word the king placed himself at the head of the men,
and through the dark and stormy night the troops started on their
unknown mission. Hepburn and Munro were, like their men, on foot,
for they had not had time to have their horses saddled.
After marching two hours along the right bank of the Maine the
tramp of horses was heard behind them, and they were reinforced by
eighty troopers whom Gustavus before starting had ordered to mount
and follow. Hitherto the king had remained lost in abstraction,
but he now roused himself.
"I have just received the most serious news, Hepburn. Tilly has
been reinforced by 17,000 men under the Duke of Lorraine, and is
marching with all speed against me.
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