Page:Scott - Tales of my Landlord - 3rd series - 1819.djvu/205

havena sae mickle as a German whistle, or a drum, to beat a march, an alarm, a charge, a retreat, a reveillee, or the tattoo, or any other point of war; and their damnable skirlin' pipes, whilk they themselves pretend to understand, are as unintelligible to the ears of any cavaliero accustomed to civilized warfare. So that, were I undertaking to discipline such a breechless mob, it were impossible for me to be understood; and, if I were understood, judge ye, my lord, what chance I had of being obeyed among a band of half salvages, who are accustomed to pay to their own lairds and chiefs, allenarly, that respect and obedience whilk ought to be paid to commissionate officers. If I were teaching them to form battalia by extracting the square root, that is, by forming your square battalion of equal number of men of rank and file, corresponding to the square root of the full number present, what return could I expect for communicating this golden secret of military tactic, except it may be a dirk in my wame, on