There Jessie Brown stood listening
Till a sudden gladness broke
All over her face; and she caught my hand
And drew me near as she spoke:--
"The Hielanders! O, dinna ye hear
The slogan far awa,
The McGregor's?--O, I ken it weel;
It's the grandest o' them a'!
"God bless thae bonny Hielanders!
We're saved! we're saved!" she cried;
And fell on her knees; and thanks to God
Flowed forth like a full flood-tide.
Along the battery-line her cry
Had fallen among the men,
And they started back;--they were there to die;
But was life so near them, then?
They listened for life; the rattling fire
Far off, and the far-off roar,
Were all; and the colonel shook his head,
And they turned to their guns once more.
But Jessie said, "The slogan's done;
But winna ye hear it noo,
_The Campbells are comin'_? It's no' a dream;
Our succors hae broken through!"
We heard the roar and the rattle afar,
But the pipes we could not hear;
So the men plied their work of hopeless war
And knew that the end was near.
It was not long ere it made its way,--
A thrilling, ceaseless sound:
It was no noise from the strife afar,
Or the sappers under ground.
It _was_ the pipes of the Highlanders!
And now they played _Auld Lang Syne;_
It came to our men like the voice of God,
And they shouted along the line.
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