Who shall blame the Highlanders for retiring when they did? Viewed,
not by desperate and surprised men, but in all calmness and sanity,
it may well seem to have been the very best thing which they could
do. Dashed into chaos, separated from their officers, with no one
who knew what was to be done, the first necessity was to gain
shelter from this deadly fire, which had already stretched six
hundred of their number upon the ground. The danger was that men so
shaken would be stricken with panic, scatter in the darkness over
the face of the country, and cease to exist as a military unit. But
the Highlanders were true to their character and their traditions.
There was shouting in the darkness, hoarse voices calling for the
Seaforths, for the Argylls, for Company C, for Company H, and
everywhere in the gloom there came the answer of the clansmen.
Within half an hour with the break of day the Highland regiments
had re-formed, and, shattered and weakened, but undaunted, prepared
to renew the contest. Some attempt at an advance was made upon the
right, ebbing and flowing, one little band even reaching the
trenches and coming back with prisoners and reddened bayonets.
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