The English shouted out that the French were seeking to betray them, and the fight was resumed with such fury that for a brief while the rampart was in real danger of being taken, and the French General was in considerable anxiety.
But the odds were too great.

The gallant assailants were driven back, and when Fritz arrived with his news there was again a slight cessation in the vehemence of the attack.
Bradstreet eagerly snatched at the letter and opened it.

Fritz's face had told him something; the written words made assurance doubly sure.
He tore the paper across, and set his foot upon it.
"We can die but once," he said briefly; "but it goes to my heart to see these brave fellows led like sheep to the slaughter.

England will want to know the reason why when this story is told at home." The Highlanders were soon upon the scene of action filled to the brim with the stubborn fury with which they were wont to fight.

At their head marched their Major, the dark-faced Inverawe, his son only a little behind.
The arrival of reinforcements put new heart into the gallant but exhausted regiments which had led the attack; and now the Highlanders were swarming about the foot of the rampart, seeking to scale its bristling sides, often gaining the top, by using the bodies of their slain countrymen as ladders, but only to be cut down upon the other side.
The Major cheered on his men.