Alexandria Gazette

Skaterunners.--At Dronthelm, in Norway, they have a regiment of soldiers, called Skaterunners. They wear long gaiters, for travelling in deep snow, and a green uniform. They carry a short sword, a rifle fastened by a small strap passing over the shoulder, and a climbing staff seven feet long, with an iron spike at the end. They move so fast in the snow, that no cavalry or infantry can overtake them; and it is little good to fire cannon balls at them, as they go two or three hundred paces apart. They are very useful soldiers in following an enemy on a march. They go over mountains and marshes, rivers and lakes, at a great rate. When King Charles XII. was shot at Frederickshall, a Skaterunner carried the news four hundred miles in twelve hours sooner than a mail messenger, who started at the same time.---

There were then 7000 Swedes laying siege to Drontheim. When the news came, they broke up their quarters, and retreated as fast as possible. They were obliged to go over the mountains, and the snow was deep and the weather exceedingly cold.

Two hundred Skaterunners followed hard after them, and came up with them one very cold morning. But all the troops were dead, having been frozen in their tents, among the mountain snow drifts. They had burnt every morsel of wood, even the stocks of their muskets, to warm themselves.--Boston Transcript.