leitmeritz, lying as it did but a short distance beyond the mouth of the defiles leading into saxony, was an admirably chosen position. supplies for the army could be brought up by the elbe, and a retreat was assured, should an overwhelming force advance to the attack; while from this spot frederick could march, at once, either to the defence of silesia, or to check an enemy approaching from the west towards the defiles through the mountains.

the news of the defeat at kolin set all the enemies of prussia in movement. the russian army entered east prussia, where there was no adequate force to oppose it; the swedes issued from stralsund; the french pressed hard upon the so-called british column of observation, and forced the duke of cumberland to retreat before them. another french army, in conjunction with that of the german confederacy, threatened the western passes into saxony.

as yet, it was impossible to say where marshal daun and prince karl would deliver their blow, and great efforts were made to fill up the terrible gaps created at prague and kolin, in the regiments most hotly engaged, with fresh troops; who were speedily rendered, by incessant drills and discipline, fit to take their places in the ranks with the veterans.

the king was lodged in the cathedral close of the city. keith with his division occupied the other side of the river, across which a bridge was at once thrown. prince maurice and bevern had gone to bunzlau, at the junction of the iser and elbe; but when, upon a crowd of light austrian horse approaching, the prince sent to the king to ask whether he should retreat, he was at once recalled, and the prince of prussia appointed in his stead.

on the 2nd of july came news which, on the top of his other troubles, almost prostrated frederick. this was of the death of his mother, to whom he was most fondly attached. he retired from public view for some days; for although he was as iron in the hour of battle, he was a man of very sensitive disposition, and fondly attached to his family.

his chief confidant during this sad time was the english ambassador, mitchell; a bluff, shrewd, hearty man, for whom the king had conceived a close friendship. he had accompanied frederick from the time he left berlin, and had even been near him on the battlefields; and it was in no small degree due to his despatches and correspondence that we have obtained so close a view of frederick, the man, as distinct from frederick the king and general.

the prince of prussia, however, did no better than prince maurice. the main austrian army, after much hesitation, at last crossed the elbe and moved against him; thinking, doubtless, that he was a less formidable antagonist than the king. the prince fell back, but in such hesitating and blundering fashion that he allowed the austrians to get between him and his base, the town of zittau, where his magazines had been established.

zittau stood at the foot of the mountain, and was a saxon town. the austrians had come to deliver saxony, and they began the work by firing red-hot balls into zittau, thereby laying the whole town in ashes, rendering 10,000 people homeless, and doing no injury whatever to the prussian garrison or magazines.

the heat, however, from the ruins was so terrible that the five battalions in garrison there were unable to support it and, evacuating the town, joined the prince's army; which immediately retired to bautzen on the other side of the mountains, leaving the defiles to saxony and silesia both unguarded.

as messenger after messenger arrived at leitmeritz, with reports of the movements of the troops, the astonishment and indignation of frederick rose higher and higher. the whole fruits of the campaign were lost, by this astounding succession of blunders; and on hearing that zittau had been destroyed, and that the army had arrived at bautzen in the condition of a beaten and disheartened force, he at once started, with the bulk of the army, by the elbe passes for that town; leaving maurice of dessau, with 10,000 men, to secure the passes; and keith to follow more slowly with the baggage train and magazines.

on his arrival at bautzen frederick refused to speak to his brother, but sent him a message saying that he deserved to be brought before a court martial, which would sentence him and all his generals to death; but that he should not carry the matter so far, being unable to forget that the chief offender was his brother. the prince resigned his command, and the king, in answer to his letter to that effect, said that, in the situation created by him, nothing was left but to try the last extremity.

"i must go and give battle," he wrote, "and if we cannot conquer, we must all of us get ourselves killed."

frederick, indeed, as his letters show, had fully made up his mind that he would die in battle, rather than live beaten. the animosity of his enemies was, to a large extent, personal to himself; and he believed that they would, after his death, be inclined to give better terms to prussia than they would ever grant, while he lived. for three weeks the king vainly tried to get the austrians to give battle, but prince karl and daun remained on the hill from which they had bombarded zittau, and which they had now strongly fortified.

their barbarous and most useless bombardment of zittau had done their cause harm; for it roused a fierce cry of indignation throughout europe, even among their allies; excited public feeling in england to the highest point in favour of frederick; and created a strong feeling of hostility to the austrians throughout saxony.

as soon as keith and the waggon train arrived, bringing up the prussian strength to 56,000, the king started, on the 15th august (1757), for bernstadt; and then, to the stupefaction of the austrians--who had believed that they had either saxony or silesia at their mercy, whenever they could make up their mind which ought first to be gobbled up--so rapidly did the prussian cavalry push forward that generals beck and nadasti were both so taken by surprise that they had to ride for their lives, leaving baggage coaches, horses, and all their belongings behind them.

on the 16th, frederick with the army marched and offered battle to the austrians; but although so superior in numbers, they refused to be beguiled from their fortified hill. at last, after tempting them in vain, frederick was forced to abandon the attempt and return to saxony, bitterly disappointed. he had wanted, above all things, to finish with the austrians; so as to be able to move off to the other points threatened.

he now arranged that bevern and winterfeld should take the command in his absence, watch the austrians, and guard silesia; while he, with 23,000 men, marched on the 31st of august from dresden, with the intention of attacking the combined french and german confederacy force, under soubise, that had already reached erfurt. keith accompanied the king on his harassing march.

since the arrival of the army at leitmeritz, fergus had been incessantly engaged in carrying despatches between that town and dresden; and worked even harder while the king was trying, but in vain, to bring about an engagement with the austrians. for the first few days after starting for erfurt, he had a comparatively quiet time of it. the marshal was now constantly the king's companion, his cheerful and buoyant temper being invaluable to frederick, in this time of terrible anxiety. fergus would have found it dull work, had it not been for the companionship of lindsay, who was always light hearted, and ready to make the best of everything.

"i would rather be an aide-de-camp than a general, at present, drummond," he said one day. "thank goodness, we get our orders and have to carry them out, and leave all the thinking to be done by others! never was there such a mess as this. here we are in october, and we are very much as we were when we began in march."

"yes, except that all our enemies are drawing closer to us."

"they are closer, certainly, but none of them would seem to know what he wants to do; and as for fighting, it is of all things that which they most avoid. we have been trying, for the last two months, for a fight with the austrians, and cannot get one. now we are off to erfurt, and i will wager a month's pay that the french will retire, as soon as we approach; and we shall have all this long tramp for nothing, and will have to hurry back again, as fast as we came."

"it is unfortunate that we had to come, lindsay. things always seem to go badly, when the king himself is not present. the princes make blunder after blunder, and i have no faith in bevern."

"no," lindsay agreed, "but he has winterfeld with him."

"yes, he is a splendid fellow," drummond said; "but everyone knows that he and bevern do not get on well together, and that the duke would very much rather that winterfeld was not with him; and with two men like that, the one slow and cautious, the other quick and daring, there are sure to be disagreements. we are going to attack a force more than twice our own strength, but i am much more certain as to what will be the result, than i am that we shall find matters unchanged when we get back here."

the foreboding was very quickly confirmed. a day or two later came the news that the austrians had suddenly attacked an advanced position called the jakelsberg; where winterfeld, who commanded the van of bevern's army, had posted two thousand grenadiers. prince karl undertook the operation by no means willingly; but the indignation, at vienna, at his long delays had resulted in imperative orders being sent to him, to fight. nadasti was to lead the attack, with fifteen thousand men; while the main army remained, a short distance behind, ready to move up should a general battle be brought on.

the march was made at night, and at daybreak a thousand croats, and forty companies of regular infantry, rushed up the hill. although taken by surprise, the prussians promptly formed and drove them down again. winterfeld was some miles behind, having been escorting an important convoy; and rode at a gallop to the spot, as soon as he heard the sound of cannon; and brought up two regiments, at a run, just as the grenadiers were retiring from the hill, unable to withstand the masses hurled against them.

sending urgent messages to bevern, to hurry up reinforcements, winterfeld led his two regiments forward, joined the grenadiers and, rushing eagerly up the hill, regained the position. but the austrians were not to be denied, and the fight was obstinately sustained on both sides. no reinforcements reached winterfeld and, after an hour's desperate fighting, he was struck in the breast by a musket ball and fell, mortally wounded.

the prussians drew off, slowly and in good order, at two o'clock in the afternoon; and soon afterwards the austrians also retired, nothing having come of this useless battle save heavy loss to both sides, and the killing of one of frederick's best and most trusted generals. it was not, however, without result; for bevern, freed from the restraint of his energetic colleague, at once fell back to schlesien, where he was more comfortable, near his magazines.

keith sent for fergus, on the evening when this bad news had arrived.

"i want you, lad, to undertake a dangerous service. now that winterfeld has been killed, the king is more anxious than ever as to the situation. it is enough to madden anyone. it is imperative that he should get to erfurt, and fight the french. on the other hand, everything may go wrong with bevern while he is away, to say nothing of other troubles. cumberland is retreating to the sea; the russians are ever gaining ground in east prussia; there is nothing, now, to prevent the remaining french army from marching on berlin; and the swedes have issued from stralsund. it may be that by this time soubise has moved from erfurt; and this is what, above all things, we want to know.

"you showed so much shrewdness, in your last adventure, that i believe you might get through this safely. doubtless there are cavalry parties, far in advance of erfurt, and these would have to be passed. the point is, will you undertake this mission, to go to erfurt to ascertain the force there, and if possible their intentions, and bring us back word?"

"i shall be glad to try, marshal. there should be no difficulty about it. i shall, of course, go in disguise. i should not be likely to fall in with any of the enemy's cavalry patrols, till within a short distance of erfurt; but should i do so, there would be little chance of their catching me, mounted as i am.

"i could leave my horse within a short distance of the town. two or three hours would be sufficient to gather news of the strength of the force there, and the movements of any bodies of detached troops."

"yes, you should have no great difficulty about that. a large proportion of the population are favourable to us and, being so near the frontier of hanover, your accent and theirs must be so close that no one would suspect you of being aught but a townsman.

"of course, the great thing is speed. we shall march from eighteen to twenty miles a day. you will be able to go fifty. that is to say, if you start at once you can be there in the morning; and on the following morning you can bring us back news."

an hour later fergus, dressed as a small farmer, started. it was a main line of road, and therefore he was able to travel as fast, at night, as he would do in the day. there was the advantage, too, that the disparity between his attire and the appearance of the horse he rode would pass unnoticed, in the darkness. he had with him a map of the road, on a large scale; and beneath his cloak he carried a small lantern, so as to be able to make detours, to avoid towns where detachments of the enemy's cavalry might be lying.

he had started two hours after the troops halted, and had four hours of daylight still before him, which he made the most of, and by sunset he was within fifteen miles of erfurt. so far, he had not left the main road; but he now learned, from some peasants, that there was a small party of french hussars at a place three miles ahead. he therefore struck off by a byroad and, travelling slowly along, turned off two hours later to a farmhouse, the lights from which had made him aware of its proximity.

he dismounted a hundred yards from it, fastened his horse loosely to a fence, and then went forward on foot, and peeped in cautiously at the window. it was well that he had taken the precaution, for the kitchen into which he looked contained a dozen french hussars. he retired at once, led his horse until he reached the road again, and then mounted.

presently he met a man driving a cart.

"my friend," he said, "do you know of any place where a quiet man could put up, without running the risk of finding himself in the midst of these french and confederacy troops?"

"'tis not easy," the man replied, "for they are all over the country, pillaging and plundering. we are heartily sick of them, and there are not a few of us who would be glad, if the king of prussia would come and turn them out, neck and crop."

"i don't care what sort of a place it is, so that i could put my horse up. it is a good one and, like enough, some of these fellows would take a fancy to it."

"i don't think that it would be safe in any farmhouse within ten miles of here; but if you like to come with me, my hut stands at the edge of a wood, and you could leave him there without much risk."

"thank you, very much; that would suit me well. it is just what i had intended to do, but in the darkness i have no great chance of finding a wood.

"how far are we from erfurt, now?"

"about five miles."

"that will do very well. i have some business to do there, and can go and come back by the afternoon."

in a quarter of an hour they arrived at the man's house. it was but a small place.

"not much to rob here," his host said grimly. "they have taken my two cows, and all my poultry. my horse only escaped because they did not think him fit for anything.

"this is a stranger, wife," he went on, as a woman rose, in some alarm, from a stool upon which she was crouching by the fire. "he will stop here for the night and, though there is little enough to offer him, at least we can make him welcome."

he took a torch from the corner of the room, lighted it at the fire, and went out.

"you are right about your horse, my friend," he said; "and it is small chance you would have of taking him back with you, if any of these fellows set eyes on him. i see your saddlery hardly matches with your horse."

fergus had indeed, before starting, taken off his saddle and other military equipments; and had replaced them with a common country saddle and bridle, adding a pair of rough wallets and the commonest of horse cloths, so as to disguise the animal as much as possible.

"i am sorry that i cannot give you a feed for the animal," the man went on; "but i have none, and my horse has to make shift with what he can pick up."

"i have one of my wallets full. i baited the horse at inns, as i came along. he may as well have a feed, before i take him out into the wood."

he poured a good feed onto a flat stone. as he did so, the peasant's horse lifted up his head and snuffed the air.

"you shall have some too, old boy," fergus said; and going across, was about to empty some on to the ground before it, when its owner, taking off his hat, held it out.

"put it into this," he said. "it is seldom, indeed, that he gets such a treat; and i would not that he should lose a grain."

fergus poured a bountiful feed into the hat.

"now," he said, "i can supplement your supper, as well as your horse's;" and from the other wallet he produced a cold leg of pork, that karl had put in before he started; together with three loaves; and two bottles of wine, carefully done up in straw.

the peasant looked astonished, as fergus took these out and placed them upon the table.

"no, no, sir," he said, "we cannot take your food in that way."

"you are heartily welcome to it," fergus said. "if you do not assist me to eat it, it will be wasted. tomorrow i shall breakfast at erfurt, and maybe dine, also. i will start as soon as i get back."

"well, well, sir, it shall be as you please," the man said; "but it seems that we are reversing our parts, and that you have become the host, and we your guests."

it was a pleasant meal by the torch light. many a month had passed since the peasants had tasted meat; and the bread, fresh from the prussian bakeries, was of a very different quality to the black oaten bread to which they were accustomed. a horn of good wine completed their enjoyment.

when the meal was done, the man said:

"now, master, i will guide you to the wood."

there was no occasion to lead the horse; for it, as well as its companion, had been trained to follow their master like dogs, and to come to a whistle. the wood was but two or three hundred yards off, and the peasant led the way through the trees to a small open space in its centre. the saddle and bridle had been removed before they left the cottage; and fergus tethered the horse, by a foot rope, to a sapling growing on the edge of the clearing. then he patted it on the neck, and left it beginning to crop the short grass.

"it won't get much," the peasant said, "for my animal keeps it pretty short. it is his best feeding place, now; and i generally turn it out here, at night, when the day's work is done."

"what is its work, principally?"

"there is only one sort, now," the man said. "i cut faggots in the forest, and take a cart load into erfurt, twice a week. i hope, by the spring, that all these troubles will be over, and then i cultivate two or three acres of ground; but so long as these french, and the confederacy troops, who are as bad, are about, it is no use to think of growing anything.

"now, sir, is there anything that i can do for you?" he went on, after they returned to the cottage, and had both lit their pipes and seated themselves by the fire.

"i can see that you are not what you look. a farmer does not ride about the country on a horse fit for a king, or put up at a cottage like this."

"yes; you can help me by leading me by quiet paths to erfurt. i tell you frankly that my business, there, is to find out how strong the french and confederacy army is, in and around the town; also whether they are taking any precautions against an attack, and if there are any signs that they intend to enter hanover, or to move towards dresden."

"i daresay i can learn all that for you, without difficulty; for i supply several of the inns with faggots. there are troops quartered in all of them, and the helpers and servants are sure to hear what is going on. not, of course, in the inns where the french are quartered, but where the german men are lodged. they speak plainly enough there, and indeed everyone knows that a great many of them are there against their will. the hesse and gotha and dessau men would all prefer fighting on the prussian side, but when they were called out they had to obey.

"at what time will you start?"

"i should like to get to erfurt as soon as the place is astir."

"that is by five," the man said. "there is trumpeting and drumming enough by that time, and no one could sleep longer if they wanted to."

"then we will start at dawn."

the peasant would have given up his bed to fergus, but the latter would not hear of it, and said that he was quite accustomed to sleeping on the ground; whereupon the peasant went out, and returned with a large armful of rushes; which, as he told fergus, he had cut only the day before to mend a hole in the thatch. fergus was well content, for he knew well enough that he should sleep very much better, on fresh rushes, than he should in the peasant's bed place, where he would probably be assailed by an army of fleas.

as soon as the man and his wife were astir in the morning, fergus got up; bathed his head and face in a tiny streamlet, that ran within a few yards of the house; then, after cutting a hunch of bread to eat on their way, the two started.

they did not come down upon the main road until within a mile and a half of the town, and they then passed through a large village, where a troop of french cavalry were engaged in grooming their horses. they attracted no attention whatever, and entered erfurt at a quarter-past five. they separated when they got into the town, agreeing to meet in front of the cathedral, at eleven o'clock.

fergus went to an eating house, where he saw a party of french non-commissioned officers and soldiers seated. they were talking freely, confident that neither the landlord, the man who was serving them, nor the two or three germans present could understand them.

it was evident that they had very little confidence in soubise.

"one would think," a sergeant said, "that we were going to change our nationality, and to settle down here for life. here we have some fifty thousand men, and there is nothing to stop our going to dresden, except some ten thousand or twelve thousand prussians. they say that daun has an army that could eat up frederick, and it is certain that he could not spare a sergeant's guard to help bar the way.

"i cannot understand it, comrades. this leisurely way of making war may suit some people, but it is not our way."

"and we must admit that it is not the prussians' way," another said. "they are our enemies; though why, i am sure i don't know. that is not our business. but the way that they dash out, and set the austrians dancing, is really splendid. i wish that our own generals had a little of fritz's energy and go."

there was a general murmur of assent.

"here we are, september beginning, and next to nothing done. now there would be enough to do, if fritz could get away from daun and dash off in this direction."

"yes," another said, "there would be plenty to do, but i would not mind wagering that we should not wait for him; and after all, i am not sure if it would not be the best thing to do, for these germans with us are little better than a rabble."

"that is so, francois; but, mixed up with us as they would be, they would have to fight whether they liked it or not. at any rate, if we don't mean to fight, what are we here for?"

"that i cannot say," another laughed; "but i own i am not so eager to fight as you seem to be. we are very comfortable. we ride about the country, we take pretty well what we like. it is better than being in barracks, at home.

"while, on the other hand, it is no joke fighting these prussians. the fights are not skirmishes, they are battles. it is not a question of a few hundred killed, it is a question of ding-dong fighting, and of fifteen or twenty thousand killed on each side--no joke, that. for my part, i am quite content to take it easy at erfurt, and to leave it to the austrians to settle matters with these obstinate fellows."

so they continued talking, and fergus saw that, so far, no news whatever of frederick's march against erfurt had reached them. he learned, too, that although there were some outlying bodies to the north, the main bulk of the force lay in and around erfurt.

the contempt with which the french soldiers spoke of the german portion of the army was very great. each little state had, by the order of the council of the confederacy, been compelled to furnish a contingent, even if its representatives in the council had opposed the proposal; therefore very many of the men had joined unwillingly, while in other cases the french declared that the levy had been made up by hiring idlers and ne'er-do-wells in the towns, so as to avoid having to put the conscription into force in the rural districts.

the officers were declared to be as incapable as the men, and had it not been that an austrian contingent some five thousand strong had been joined with them, and the drilling largely undertaken by the non-commissioned officers of this force, nothing approaching order or discipline could have been maintained. all the frenchmen lamented their fortune in having to act with such allies, instead of being with the purely french army that was gradually pressing the duke of cumberland to the seaboard.

fergus waited until the party had left the inn, when the landlord himself came across to hand him his reckoning.

"bad times, master," he said. "bad times," shaking his head ruefully.

"yes, they are bad enough, landlord; but i should say that you must be doing a good trade, with all these soldiers in the town."

"a good trade!" the landlord repeated. "i am being ruined. do you not know that, in addition to levying a heavy contribution on the town, they issued a regulation settling the prices at which the troops were to be served, at beer shops and inns: breakfast--and you saw what those fellows ate--4 pence; a tumbler of wine, 1 pence; dinner, 5 pence. why, each item costs me more than double that; and as nobody brings in cattle, for these might be seized on the way, and no compensation given, so meat gets dearer. we are waiting until there is none to be had, on any terms; and then we shall send representatives to the general, to point out to him that it is absolutely impossible for us to obey the regulations.

"ah, these are terrible times! we could not have suffered more than this, had coburg joined frederick; though they say that richelieu's french army is plundering even worse, in hanover and the country beyond it, than soubise is doing here.

"moreover, one would rather be plundered by an enemy than by fellows who pretend to come hither as friends. if frederick would march in here, i would open my house free to all comers, and would not grudge the last drop of wine in my cellar."

"there is never any saying," fergus replied. "the king of prussia always appears when least expected, and more unlikely things have happened than that he should appear here, some fine morning."

as fergus was sallying out, a mounted officer dashed by at a gallop

having paid his reckoning, he went to the door. as he was sallying out, a mounted officer dashed by at a headlong gallop; his horse was flecked with foam, and it was evident that he had ridden far and fast, on an important errand.

having nothing to do until he should meet the peasant, fergus followed the officer at a leisurely pace; and in five minutes came up with the horse, held by a soldier at the entrance gate of a very large house. sentries were pacing up and down in front of it, and officers going in and out.

"is that the headquarters of the french general?" he asked a townsman.

"yes," and the man walked on with a muttered malediction.

a few minutes later several mounted officers rode out, and dashed off in haste in various directions.

"there is evidently something up," fergus said to himself. "perhaps they have got news of the prussian approach."

in a quarter of an hour several general officers arrived, and entered the house. it was evident that a council of war had been summoned. half an hour elapsed, and then a number of aides-de-camp and staff officers rode off in haste. a few minutes later, a trumpet sounded a regimental call, and then the assembly.

before it had died away, similar calls echoed from all parts of the town. soldiers ran hastily through the streets, mounted officers dashed in every direction, and the citizens came to their doors, in surprise at this sudden movement.

fergus had no longer any doubt about the cause of the stir. the great thing, now, was to ascertain whether the army would advance to take up some strong position outside the town and oppose the prussian advance, or whether they would march away.

being fifty thousand in number, the former would appear to be the natural course for a general to adopt; as frederick had with him but twenty-three thousand men. of this fact, however, soubise would be ignorant, and might only have heard that the prussian army was marching to annihilate him.

before long baggage waggons began to clatter through the streets. they were being driven westward, and it was in the same direction that the regiments made their way.

fergus followed them to the plain outside the town. the tents had already been struck; the troops, as they arrived from the town and camp, were marshalled in order; a long train of baggage waggons were already making their way westward; and there was no longer any grounds for doubt that soubise was retreating.

it was just eleven o'clock when fergus returned to the cathedral. the peasant was awaiting him.

"they all seem on the move," the latter said. "i have heard much about them."

"it does not matter, now," fergus replied. "i must get back to your place, as quickly as i can."

not a word was spoken, until they had left the town.

"they must be going up into hanover, to join the french army there," the peasant said.

"they are running away. frederick will be here tomorrow night, or at any rate next day."

"the news seems too good to be true, master. how have you learnt it?"

"i have learnt it from no one here. i am one of the king's officers, and i came on here to find out whether the enemy would be likely to come out and fight, or would bolt when they heard of his advance."

"the lord be praised!" the man said piously, taking off his hat as he spoke. "i thought, sir, that there was something curious in your having such a horse; and still more so, in your wanting to find out all about the force of the enemy here. but it was no business of mine; and i felt that you must be a friend for, had you been austrian or french, you would have ridden boldly into the town."

as they went along the road they were met by several troops of cavalry, riding at full speed.

"is the way we came this morning the shortest?"

"yes, sir, by a good mile."

"then we will return by it," said fergus.

as soon as they left the main road they went at a run for some distance, and then broke into a fast walk. in an hour from the time of leaving erfurt, they arrived at the hut.

"i will run along and fetch your horse, sir," the peasant said.

"no, i will go myself. he does not know you, and might refuse to let you come near him."

in a few minutes, fergus returned with his horse. the saddle, bridle, and wallets were quickly put on. fergus dropped his pistols into his saddlebags, and buckled on the sword he had brought with him. it was not his own, but one he had bought at starting--a good piece of steel, but with a battered and rusty sheath that showed that it had been lying for weeks, possibly for months, on some field of battle before being picked up.

then, with a word of adieu and thanks to the peasant and his wife, and slipping a crown piece into the hand of the latter, he mounted and rode off.