Page:The Siege of London - Posteritas - 1885.djvu/57

 and the Scotch were enabled to fall back upon Dingwall. Here they were joined by the scouts of the General Staff, who informed them that there were absolutely no troops in Inverness, and it would, therefore, be better to fall back upon Fort George. The troops were immediately set in motion again, but were speedily followed by the enemy, while a strong French force was ordered to occupy Inverness. This was not done, however, without considerable difficulty, for the inhabitants opposed them with great fury, even the women taking their share of the work. Such a struggle, however, could not last long, and the town fell into the hands of the enemy; and this was almost immediately followed by the seizure of Fort George, for, although the Scotch battalions succeeded in reaching the Fort, they found it to be unprovisioned, and, therefore, impossible to hold, and so they continued their retreat in order that they might strengthen the main body of the army then concentrating in Edinburgh.

Being winter, no steamers were plying on the Caledonian Canal, and the army of invasion was, therefore, obliged to march along the shores towards Fort William, where they hoped to find at anchor near that station four transports laden with provisions, and of whose departure from Cherbourg they had received information.

The march to the Fort was a most arduous and trying one, and during the whole way the invaders were harassed by bands of Highlanders, who, swooping down from their fastnesses, committed great havoc without offering the enemy a chance of attacking them. The French suffered terribly on this account, and lost a great number of men. The Fort, however, was at last reached, and occupied without a shot being fired; but the army was almost in disorder, for the incessant attacks made by the country people, heavy snowstorms, and intense cold, had caused great suffering, and both men and horses were in a state of utter exhaustion. It is certain that had there been a strong force of British in the neighbourhood of Fort William, the jaded French might have been crushed and the invasion stopped. But, with fatal oversight, this important point had been left defenceless, and the enemy was enabled to recru himself and draw ample supplies for his commissariat from