Leaving the Prince at Macclesfield with
the bulk of his men, Murray had pushed with a big force as far as
Congleton on the Stafford road, and the news of his advance had made
Cumberland withdraw all his northerly outposts to his head-quarters at
Stone. It was the last body of horse, routed out of Congleton, which we
had watched from the pines last night, racing in fear and disorder back to
the main of their army. Before daybreak Murray had sent on a force of
Highlanders under Colonel Ker towards Newcastle, to maintain the illusion
that the Stafford road was the one the Prince would take, and the vanguard
of this force, under Maclachlan, had saved us at the "Red Bull." Murray
himself was marching from Congleton across country to Leek, while the
Prince was marching thither also from Macclesfield. Murray would be there
first, and did not mean to wait for the Prince, but to push on as far as
possible towards Derby. We, too, were bound for Leek, where we should be
safe at last, and the end of the Colonel's explanation came, not because
he had said all he could have said, but because Donald was yelling to the
clansmen in preparation for our retaking the road.
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