I have the honor to be, Your very obedient servant, HUGH MACKAY. Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's Forces.
And this was the prayer, surely the most remarkable ever published by a general of the British army: O Almighty King of Kings, and Lord of Hosts, which by Thy Angels thereunto appointed, dost minister both War and Peace; Thou rulest and commandest all things, and sittest in the throne judging right; And, therefore, we make our Addresses to Thy Divine Majesty in this our necessity, that Thou wouldst take us and our Cause into Thine Own hand and judge between us and our Enemies. Stir up Thy strength, O Lord, and come and help us, for Thou givest not always the Battle to the strong, but canst save by Many or Few. O let not our sins now cry against us for vengeance, but hear us Thy poor servants, begging mercy, and imploring Thy help, and that Thou wouldst be a defence for us against the Enemy. Make it appear, that Thou art our Saviour, and Mighty Deliverer, through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Dundee ordered the English officers to be brought before him, and for thirty seconds he looked at them without speaking, as if he were searching their thoughts and estimating their character. During this scrutiny the shorter man looked sullen and defiant, as one prepared for the worst, but the other was as careless and gay as ever, with the expression either of one who was sure of a favorable issue, or of one who took life or death as a part of the game.
"If I tell you, gentlemen, that your general refuses to clear you from this charge, have ye anything to say before ye die?"
"Nothing," said their spokesman, with a light laugh, "except that we would take more kindly to a bullet than a rope. 'Tis a soldier's fancy, my lord, but I fear me ye will not humor it; perhaps ye will even say we have not deserved it."
When Dundee turned to the other, who had not yet spoken, this was all he got: "My lord, that it be quickly, and that no mention be made of our names. It was an adventure, and it has ended badly."
"Gentlemen, whoever ye may be, and that I do not know, and whatever ye may be about, and of that also I am not sure, I have watched you closely, and I freely grant that ye are both brave men. Each in his own way, and each to be trusted by his own cause, though there be one of you I would trust rather than the other.