“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.  Were my whole army collected here he would outnumber us by two to one, but many columns are away, and the position is well nigh desperate.

“I have resolved to hold Ochsenfurt.  The place is not strong, but it lies in a sharp bend of the river and may be defended for a time.  If any can do so it is surely you and your Scots.  Tilly is already close to the town; indeed the man who brought me the news said that when he left it his advanced pickets were just entering, hence the need for this haste.

“You must hold it to the last, Hepburn, and then, if you can, fall back to Wurtzburg; even a day’s delay will enable me to call in some of the detachments and to prepare to receive Tilly.”

Without halting, the little column marched sixteen miles, and then, crossing the bridge over the Maine, entered Ochsenfurt.

It was occupied by a party of fifty Imperialist arquebusiers, but these were driven headlong from it.  The night was extremely dark, all were ignorant of the locality, and the troops were formed up in the marketplace to await either morning or the attack of Tilly.  Fifty troopers were sent half a mile in advance to give warning of the approach of the enemy.  They had scarcely taken their place when they were attacked by the Imperialists, who had been roused by the firing in the town.  The incessant flash of fire and the heavy rattle of musketry told Gustavus that they were in force, and a lieutenant of Lumsden’s regiment with fifty musketeers was sent off to reinforce the cavalry.  The Imperialists were, however, too strong to be checked, and horse and foot were being driven in when Colonel Munro sallied out with a hundred of his own regiment, and the Imperialists after a brisk skirmish, not knowing what force they had to deal with, fell back.

As soon as day broke the king and Hepburn made a tour of the walls, which were found to be in a very bad condition and ill calculated to resist an assault.  The Imperialists were not to be seen, and the king, fearing they might have marched by some other route against Wurtzburg, determined to return at once, telling Hepburn to mine the bridge, and to blow it up if forced to abandon the town.