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20 - With Frederick The Great - A Story of the Seven Years' War by G A Henty · With Frederick The Great: A Story of the Seven Years' War

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Gary Olmen, chapter nineteen Leagueits. I have news, the Count said,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: when he came in to lunch, after he had been
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: down into the town. A message has come in with
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: a dispatcher of this morning, saying that the King with
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: his army, is marching hither at all speed. An exclamation
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: of alarm broke from Theiser, and one of surprise from Fergus.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: They had been in the garden together all the morning.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: It will be but a day or two earlier. Fergus said,
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  Speaker 1: in a low tone to her, I told you that
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  Speaker 1: in three days at the most I must leave. The
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  Speaker 1: surgeon gave me six weeks. But I have so thoroughly
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: recovered that I feel I ought to be with the king.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Then he raised his voice. That is startling news, indeed, Count,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: But I can hardly believe that he intends to besiege Dresden.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: He has no siege guns with him, though I suppose
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: he has, as usual, got a start of dawn. We
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  Speaker 1: can hardly hope to capture the city before the Austrians
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  Speaker 1: come up. At any rate, I must ride out, report
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  Speaker 1: myself and join him as soon as he gets close.
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  Speaker 1: It is hard, indeed, at this moment still there is
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  Speaker 1: no question, but that it is my duty. I see that,
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  Speaker 1: and I am sure that Thursa would not wish to
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  Speaker 1: keep you from it, as long as you are a soldier.
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  Speaker 1: Duty is the first thing. However, as the King is
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  Speaker 1: coming hither, we shall doubtless see you sometimes. As we
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  Speaker 1: are half a mile outside the walls, we shall be
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  Speaker 1: within the besieging lines. I hope that if the King
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  Speaker 1: besieges Count, it will not be on this side, for
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: you might be exposed to shot from the town batteries.
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  Speaker 1: If we are so, we must move beyond their range
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  Speaker 1: and go to our place at Wirzau, that is but
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  Speaker 1: twelve miles away. It is a small house, but will
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  Speaker 1: do very well for a time. I should hope Count
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  Speaker 1: that there will be no occasion for that. The King
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  Speaker 1: cannot hope to lay siege in regular form, though he
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  Speaker 1: may try an assault slow as Dawn is. He must
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  Speaker 1: be here within ten days or so of Frederick's arrival,
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  Speaker 1: and it is probable that the march here is intended
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  Speaker 1: rather to draw Dawn away from his Russian allies than
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  Speaker 1: with any hope of taking Dresden. When you go this afternoon,
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  Speaker 1: I think that I ought to count if the news
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  Speaker 1: has come that Frederick is marching to Becee Dresden. He
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  Speaker 1: cannot be far away, for it is certain that he
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: will march as fast as he can, and will himself
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: followed closely on the news' tis playing that Lacey feels
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  Speaker 1: himself unable to oppose him, and must be falling back
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  Speaker 1: with all speed before him. If I were to report
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  Speaker 1: myself this evening as convalescent, I can join him tomorrow.
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  Speaker 1: If I find that he is but a march away,
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  Speaker 1: I will take you in my carriage as before, the
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  Speaker 1: Count said, I can get back here before dawn. Two
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: hours later they started. There is a console to some
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: extent by the insurance that in all probability Fergus would
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: be back again in the course of two or three days.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: They found that the Austrian advance posts had already been withdrawn,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: and experienced no difficulty with the Prussians, so that by
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: five o'clock they arrived at the hospital. The Count at
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  Speaker 1: once starting on his return journey, Karl was delighted at
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: seeing his master looking himself against I hardly thought that
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: a month could do so much for you, he said,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: especially as you were mending but slowly before you went yes,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: I was a poor creature, then, Carl, and I did
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  Speaker 1: not think myself that I should be really for work
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: for some time to come. But at any rate, in
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  Speaker 1: such weather as this, I have no fear of breaking down.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: Putting on his uniform, he went to the Principal medical
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  Speaker 1: officer and reported his return and his fitness for duty.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: You have certainly gained strength a great deal, fairs, and
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: I expected, Colonel Gruman. I don't know that you are
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  Speaker 1: fit for any really hard work, but I suppose that
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: you will be at least a week before you join
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  Speaker 1: the king, and by that time you may be able
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  Speaker 1: to do a fair amount of work. I fancy I
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  Speaker 1: shall join the King tomorrow, Doctor, tomorrow, the surgeon repeated,
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  Speaker 1: in surprise. Yes, sir, have you not heard the news.
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  Speaker 1: The King is marching with all speed this way. I
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  Speaker 1: do not know what his intention is, to force Lacey
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  Speaker 1: to give battle single handed before dawn can arrive, or
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  Speaker 1: to besiege Dresden. But in the city they believe that
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: they are going to be besieged. This is news. Indeed,
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  Speaker 1: the surgeon said. The scouts brought in worried this morning
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  Speaker 1: that a considerable force was seen coming along the road
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  Speaker 1: from Botsen. It must be Lacy's onmy we may be
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  Speaker 1: sure that the king is pretty close at his heels.
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  Speaker 1: Fergus said, I have no doubt that by tomorrow morning
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  Speaker 1: we shall have news of him, and I fancy that
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  Speaker 1: I shall not have far to ride to join him.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: The opinion was justified that evening Lacey joined the Confederate
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: army in their strong position behind the gap of Poland.
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  Speaker 1: He had been hotly chased. Indeed, Frederick had been maneuvering
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  Speaker 1: to pass on and carry on a campaign in Silesia,
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  Speaker 1: but the Austrian general had been two cautious and it
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: was impossible to pass them without fighting. So on the
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: night of the eighth he left Watson suddenly and silently,
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  Speaker 1: and marched all night in hopes of catching Lacy at Goddo.
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  Speaker 1: The Lattice quoats, however, brought him news in time, and
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  Speaker 1: he at once retreated. After a short halt, Oppressions pressed
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  Speaker 1: on for another eighteen miles, capturing some of Lacey's hussars,
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  Speaker 1: but failing to come up with his main body, which,
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  Speaker 1: marching all that day and the next night, arrived near Dresden.
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  Speaker 1: On the morning of the tenth. Lacey himself, reaching the
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  Speaker 1: town the evening before. By Thursday evening, the whole of
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  Speaker 1: his army had crossed Dresden Bridge and got in safely
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  Speaker 1: behind Poland, leaving ten thousand men to aid the four
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  Speaker 1: thousand in the garrison at Nude Fergus. Hearing that without
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  Speaker 1: doubt the whole of the enemy had fallen back, started
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  Speaker 1: with call, and that evening rode into the royal camp
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  Speaker 1: and reported himself to the King. I am glad to
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: see you back, Trummond, Frederick said heartily. I have solely
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  Speaker 1: missed you. Indeed, when I rode away, the accounts of
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  Speaker 1: you were so bad that I doubted whether you would
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: ever be able to be with me again. You don't
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: look quite yourself yet, but no doubt the air and
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: exercise will soon bring you around. Have you any news?
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Lacey has left ten thousand men in Dresden, Sire, and
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: with the rest of his force, has joined the Confederate
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  Speaker 1: Army of Poland. Just what I wish, the King said.
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  Speaker 1: It has saved me a long march. We will now
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  Speaker 1: go straight to Dresden. The next day, the army marched forward,
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  Speaker 1: circled round the western and certain sides of Dresden and
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  Speaker 1: encamped at Brunner a while to the southeast of the city,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: and throughout the night labored at getting up batteries. The
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  Speaker 1: division on the Holstein was planted on an eminence on
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  Speaker 1: the other side of the river, across which a pontoon
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  Speaker 1: bridge was at once thrown. There was no fear of
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: disturbance from Lacy, the united force of the enemy having
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: retreated to the old Saxon camp at Pirna. The King,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: after seeing the batteries marked out, retire to bed early,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: and Fergus was able to ride round and pay a
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: short visit to the count. On the fourteenth the batteries
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  Speaker 1: opened fire, McGuire having refused the summons to surrender, and
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  Speaker 1: continued for four days without making much impression upon the walls,
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  Speaker 1: the heaviest guns being only twenty five pounders. On the eighteenth,
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  Speaker 1: some heavy guns arrived at Magdeburg. The batteries were all
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  Speaker 1: ready for them, and as soon as they arrived they
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  Speaker 1: were set to work. McGuire burnt the subways outside the
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  Speaker 1: town and answered the cannonade hotly. Finding that the guns
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  Speaker 1: on the walls did but little damage to the Prussian batteries,
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  Speaker 1: McGuire mounted two or three guns on to the leads
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  Speaker 1: of the Protestant church, and from this commanding position he
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  Speaker 1: was able to throw shot right into them. The Prussian
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  Speaker 1: fire was at once concentrated on the church, which was
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  Speaker 1: speedily set on fire. This spread through the surrounding streets,
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  Speaker 1: and the tremendous confogation raged for the next forty eight hours.
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  Speaker 1: But by this time Dawn, who had lost some days
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  Speaker 1: before setting out in pursuit of Frederick, was within five
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  Speaker 1: miles of the town, had driven Holstein across the river,
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  Speaker 1: and was in commun u occasion with McGuire. On the
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: night of the twenty first twenty second, McGuire's garrison, led
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  Speaker 1: by General Nugent, salied out from Dresden, while four thousand
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: of Dawn's men marched round from the north side. For
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  Speaker 1: a time, the assault on the Prussian entrenchments was successful,
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  Speaker 1: although Nugent was on his first attack repulsed and taken prisoner.
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  Speaker 1: But when Dawn's people arrived, the regiments defending the Trenchants
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: were driven out. Then fresh battalions came up and drove
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  Speaker 1: the Austrians out, taking many prisoners. Dawn remained passive for
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  Speaker 1: some days after this, and Frederick continued to candidate the
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  Speaker 1: city until the twenty ninth, making, however, his preparations for
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  Speaker 1: departure and going off unmolested by the enemy towards Maisen.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: The news reached them at Glatts one of the barrier
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: fortresses of Celicia had been taken by Lauden, that the
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  Speaker 1: latter was beseeched Breslau. Dawn had guessed the way by
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  Speaker 1: which Frederick would retire, and had broken up the roads
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  Speaker 1: and bridges and felled trees in a forest so as
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: to render them impassable, And as soon as Frederick started,
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  Speaker 1: he moved in the same direction his position, so serving
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  Speaker 1: him that, marching by a road parallel to that taken
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  Speaker 1: by the king, he was ahead of him. Lacey had
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  Speaker 1: been warned to be prepared, and he too started with
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  Speaker 1: his army, so that the three forces moved eastward at
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  Speaker 1: a comparatively short distance apart. Although hampered by the obstacles
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: in their way and by a train of two thousand wagons,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: the Prussians moved rapidly and covered one hundred miles in
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  Speaker 1: five days. Dawn made what was for him prodigious effort
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  Speaker 1: also and kept the lead he had gained. On the
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: seventh of August, Frederick was thirty miles west of Leaguenitz.
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  Speaker 1: Here he halted for a day and on the ninth
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  Speaker 1: morn to the Catsback Valley, only to find that Dawn
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: was securely posted on the other side of the river
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  Speaker 1: and Lacy on the hills a few miles off. The
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  Speaker 1: next morning, Frederick marched down the bank of the Cat's
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Back to leading its Dawn keeping parallel with him on
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: the other side of the river, Knowing that Dawn had
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: been joined during the night by Loudon and that they
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: were vastly too strong to be attacked. Frederick started at
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  Speaker 1: eleven a night, and at daybreak was back on his
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: old camping ground. He crossed the river, hoping to be
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: able to fall upon Lacy, but the latter had moved off,
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: and Frederick, pressing on, would have got fairly ahead of
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  Speaker 1: his enemies if it had not been for the heavy
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: bagus train, which delayed him for five hours, and by
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  Speaker 1: the time it came up he found that Lacey, Dawn,
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  Speaker 1: and Lowden were all round him. Again, the situation seemed desperate.
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  Speaker 1: The army had but four days provisions left, and the
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: scouts sent out on the twelfth reported that the roads
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: over the hills were absolutely impassable for baggage. At eight
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: o'clock the army set out again, recrossed the cat's back
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: and again made for Leaguenance, which they reached after a
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: sixteen hour march. He and the king hold for thirty hours,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: and his three enemies gathered round him again. They were
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: ninety thousand strong while he was but thirty. Dawn made
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: elaborate reconnaissances, and Frederick had no doubt that he who
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: would be attacked that night or early morning. After dark,
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: the army marched quietly away and took up its position
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: on the heights of Torberger, its fires being left burning
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: brightly with two drummers to beat occasionally. Dawn's and Lacy's
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: fires were clearly visible, but Day, like his own, were deserted,
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  Speaker 1: both having marched to catch him as they hoped at Liegnitz.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: But it chanced that London had been ordered to take
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: posts just where Frederick had halted, and his troops came
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  Speaker 1: suddenly upon the Russians in the dark. A battalion was
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: dispatched at once with some cannon to seize the crest
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: of the Wolfburg Lauden, whose work was to prevent Frederick
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: from flying Eastwood, had hurried forward his scouts having informed
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  Speaker 1: him that a number of the Prussian baggage wagons were passing,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: and hoped to effect the capture of them, and he
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: was vastly surprised when, instead of finding the baggage guard
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: before him, he was received with a tremendous musketry fire
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  Speaker 1: and volleys of case shot. He had once rallied his troops,
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: and with five battalions in front, dashed forward. He was repulsed,
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: but returned to the attack three times. He kept edging
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: round towards the right to take Frederick in flank, but
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: the Prussians also shifted their ground and met him. The
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Austrian cavalry poured down again and again, and fresh battalions
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: of infantry were continually brought up. At last, Louden felt
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: that the contest was hopeless and fell back across the
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: cast back. The Prussians captured six thousand of his men
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: before they can get across the river. Four thousand were
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: killed and wounded, and eighty two cannon captured. Thus his
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: army of thirty five thousand strong had been wrecked by
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: the Prussian left wing, numbering fifteen thousand, the rest of
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: the Prussian forces under Zithan keeping god lest Dawn and
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: Lacy should come on to aid him. Dawn, however, was
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: miles away intent upon catching Frederick, and did not know
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: until morning that his camp had been deserted and loud
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: and beaten. As soon as he was assured of this,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: he poured his cavalry across the river, but Zithan's cannon
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: drove them back again, and he saw that with zel
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: And standing in order of battle in a commanding position,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: with his guns sweeping the bridges, he could do nothing.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: Frederick remained four hours on the battlefield, collected five thousand
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: muskets lying on the field, and with the six thousand prisoners,
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: his wounded and newly captured cannon, marched away. At nine
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: o'clock in the morning. A Russian force of twenty four
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: thousand still blocked away, but desirous above all things to
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: affect the junction with Prince Henry. Frederick got rid of
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: them by sending a peasant with instructions to let himself
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: be taken by the Russians. The slip of paper he
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: carried candaigined the word Austrians stoutly beaten this day. Now
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: for the Russians, dear brother, and swift, do what we
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: have agreed upon. The roofs had its effect. The Russian general,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: believing that Frederick and Prince Henry were both about to
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: fall upon him, retreat, did at once, burning the bridge
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: behind him, and the king pushed on to Breslau, which
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: he reached on the sixteenth, having, thanks to the wonderful
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: marching of his troops and his own talent, escaped as
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: if by a miracle, from what seemed certain destruction. For
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: a fortnight, Frederic remained encamped at a short distance from Breslau,
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: waiting to see what Dawn and Sultekoff intended to do.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Dawn was busy urging the Russians to come on. Sultekov
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: was sulky that Dawn had failed in all his endeavors,
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: and that the brunt of the affair was likely again
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: to fall on him and his Russians. Elsewhere, things had
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: gone more favorably for the king. Ferdinand of Brunswick had
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: now twenty thousand British with him, and fifty thousand had
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: no Varians and Brunswicker's, while the French army under Broglio
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: was one hundred and thirty thousand strong. A Czech was
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: first inflected on the French at Korbec, and a few
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: days later an English cavalry regiment and a battalion of
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: Scotch infantry cut up or captured a brigade of French dragoons.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: On the twenty ninth of July, as Frederick was leaving Dresden,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: a serious engagement took place at Warburg. Here, Broglio's rear
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: guard of thirty thousand infantry in cavalry under the Chevalier
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: du Mois was attacked in the first place by a
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: free corpse called the British Legions, composed of men of
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: many nationalities who turned to Moy's right wing out of Warburg.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Then the Prince of Bunsbrick fell upon the whole French
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: line and a fight was a stubborn one for two
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: or three hours. Maxwell's British brigade, fighting most obstinately. They
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: were greatly outnumbered or were presently joined by Lord Granby
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: at the head of the English cavalry, and these decided
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: the battle. The French lost fifteen hundred killed, over two
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: thousand prisoners, and their guns. The Allies twelve hundred killed
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: and wounded, of whom eight hundred were British, showing how
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: large a share that they had taken in the fighting.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: Another good bit of news for Frederick was that Holsen,
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: whom he had left to watch the enemy in Saxony,
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: had with ten thousand men that feed in an army
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: thirty thousand strong, who, as they thought, had caught him
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: in a net. The Russians had fallen back, but only
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: to besiege Colbert again. Prince Henry was ill, but Frederick
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: had made a junction with his army, bringing his force
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: up to fifty thousand. During the whole of September there
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: were marches and countermarches, Frederick bushing Dawn backwards and preventing
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: him from besieging any of his fortresses, and gradually cutting
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: the Austrians from their magazines. General Warriner, on the eighteenth,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: with five thousand men, fell suddenly upon fifteen thousand Russians
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: covering the siege of Colbert, defeeded and scattered them in
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: all directions. The Russian army had once launched away from Colbert, not, however,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: as Frederick hope back to Poland, but in agreement with
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: dawn to make a rush on Berlin. One force twenty
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: thousand strong crossed the Odour. The main body under firmer
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: force saulked to call at Fallen Sick moved to Frankfort,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: while Lacey with fifteen thousand, marched from Celesia. On the
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: third of Octoba, the Russian vanguard reached the neighborhood of
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Berlin and summoned it to surrender and pay a ransom
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: of four million thallers. The garrisone of twelve hundred strong,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: joined by no small part of the male population, took
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: post at the gates and threw up redoubts, and Prince
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: Eugene of Wurtemberg, after a tremendous mon march of forty miles,
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: threw himself into the city. The Russian vanguard drew off
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: until joined by Lacey. Ulsen with nine thousand, had followed
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Lacey with all speed and managed to throw himself into
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: Berlin before the twenty thousand Russians arrived. There were now
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: fourteen thousand Prussians in the city, thirty five thousand Russians
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: and Austrians outside. The odds were too great. Negotiations were
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: therefore begun with the Russian general Tottenben, and Berlin agreed
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: to pay one minute and a half thollars in the
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: debased coin that now served as the medium of circulation.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: Lacey was furious, and when he and the Russians watched in,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: his men behaved so badly that the Russians had two
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: or three times to fire upon them. Saxon and Austrian
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: party sacked Potsdam and other palaces in the neighborhood, but
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: the Russians behaved admirably, and so things went on until
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: October eleventh came the news that Frederick was coming. Lacey
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: at once marched off at all speeds towards Turgo, while
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Tottenben and the Russians made for frankfort on Oder, the
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: Cossacks committing terrible depredations on the march. The king halted
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: when he heard that Berlin had been evacuated. He was
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: deeply grieved and mortified that his capital should have been
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: in the hands of the invaders even for three days,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: and his own loss from the sacking of Potstad and
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: other palaces was very heavy. However, he paid the ransom
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: from his own pocket and bitterly determined to get even
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: with the enemy. Before winter came on. While Holsten was away,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: the Confederate Army had captured all the strongholds in Saxony.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Dawn had as usual advanced with his sixty thousand men
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: and intended to winter in Saxony. But before he could
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: get there, Frederick had theirhed south and recaptured Wittenberg and Leipsic,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: crossed the Elbe and driven the scattered corps of the
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Confederate army before him. Prince Eugene had also hurried that
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: way and defeated his brother, the reigning Duke of Wurtemberg.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Dawn moved with the intention of aiding the Confederate army,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: but before he could reach them, Olsen had driven them
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: across the mountain range into Bohemia and fell back towards Torgo.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Long before this, Fergus had received a reply from his
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: mother to his letter announcing the glad news of the
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: restoration of the estate. It will be doubly dear to me,
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: she said, as having been won back by your own
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: exertions in bravery. These four years have been an anxious
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: time indeed for me Fergus. But the thought that you
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: are restored to your own as the result of what
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: you have done make up for it all. I quite
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: see that as long as the war continues, you cannot
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: with honor leave the king. But I cannot think that
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: this war will go on very much longer, and I
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: can wait patiently for the end. And Fergus I am
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: not quite sure that the end will be that you
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: will quietly settle down in the glens. A mother's eye
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: is sharp, and it seems to me that young Conness
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: near Dresden is a very conspicuous figure. In your letters
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: during the four years that you have been out, you
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: have not mentioned the name of any lady but her
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: and her mother, and you always speak of going back
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: there as if it were your German home. This is
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: natural enough, after the service that you have rendered them.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Still tis strange that you should apparently have made the
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: acquaintance of no other ladies. I don't think that you
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: have written a single letter since you have been away
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: in which you have not said so something about the
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: sex Incount and his family. However, even if it should
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: be so, Fergus I should not be discontented. It is
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: only natural that you should sooner or later marry. And
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: although I would rather that it had been into a
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: Scotch family. It is for you to choose, not me.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: I am grateful, already, very grateful for the kindness the
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: family have shown you, and am quite inclined to love
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: this pretty little countess if she, on her part, is
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: inclined to love you. I don't think I could have
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: said so quite as heartily before I received your last letter,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: for I had a great fear that you might marry
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: and settle down altogether in Germany. But now that the
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: estate is yours and you are the head of your clan,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: I feel sure that you will, at any rate spend
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: the part of your time among your own people. A
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: second letter reached Fergus at the beginning of October in
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: answer to his from the camp in front of Dresden
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: in the middle of July, which had been delayed much
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: on its way owing to the rapid marches of the army,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: until it had shaken itself free from its pursuers after
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: the Battle of Leagueness it began. I congratulate you, my
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: dear Fergus, congratulate you with all my heart. And there's
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: just a shadow of regret that you should not have
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: married and settled here Entirely it is, but a small
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: regret in proportion to the pleasure I feel it is
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: not even reasonable, for when I consented to your going
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: abroad to take service in Pressure, I knew that this
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: would probably end in your settling down there altogether, for
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: it was hardly likely that you could win a fortune
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: that would admit of your coming back to live here.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Of course, had your estate at that time been restored
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: to you, you would probably not have gone at all,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: or if you had done so, it would have been
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: but to stay for a few year years see service
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: under your cousin Keith, and then return to live among
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: your own people. As it was, there was no reason
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: why you should greatly wish to return to Scotland, where
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: you were landless, with no avanes open to employment. However,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: what you tell me that the count and Countess are
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: willing that you should spend some months here every year
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: is far better than I could have expected or even hoped, and,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: as you may imagine, quite reconciles me to the thought
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: of your marrying abroad. In all other respects, nothing could
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: be more satisfactory than what you tell me. Your promised
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: wife must be a charming young lady, and her father
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: and mother the kindest of people. Of course, your worldly
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: prospects would be vastly beyond anything that even my wildest
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: dreams have ever pictured for you. And in this respect,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: all my cares for you are rather the end. It
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: will be delight, indeed, to look forward to your homecoming
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: every year, and I consider myself in every way a
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: fortunate woman. I am sure that I shall come to
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: love your thirds very dearly. The only question is when
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: is the first visit to take place. Everyone says that
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: it does not seem that the war can go on
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: very much longer, and that wonderful as the King's resistance
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: to so many enemies has been, it cannot continue. However,
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: from what you say of his determination and the spirit
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: of the people, I cannot think that the end can
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: be so near as people think. They have been saying
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: nearly the same thing for the last three years, and
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: yet though everything seemed as dark as possible, he always
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: extricated himself somehow from his difficulties. Besides, his enemies must
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: at last get tired of a warm witch. So far
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: they have had more defeats than victory, and have lavished
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: such enormous sums of money. France has already impublished herself,
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: and Russia and Austria must feel the strain too. In
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: every church here prayers are offered for the success of
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: the champion of Protestism. And I am sure that if
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: he had sent Scottish officers as Gustavus Adolphus did to
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: raise troops in Scotland, he could have obtained forty or
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: fifty thousand men in a very few weeks. So excited
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: is everyone over this struggle. You would be surprised what
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: numbers of people have called upon me to congratulate me
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: upon your rising to be a colonel in Frederick Zombi
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: people I have never seen before, and I can assure
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: you that I never felt so important a person, even
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: before the evil days of Clodin. When you come back,
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: the whole countryside will flock to give you welcome. This
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: letter was a great comfort to Fergus that his mother
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: would be he jo he said. His good fortune, he knew,
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: but he feared that his marriage with a German lady,
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: whatever her rank, would be a sore disappointment to her.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: Not so much perhaps for her own sake, as for
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: that of the klansmen. The English ambassador was no longer
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: with the army at the fierce fights of Lignance. He
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: had been with Fredericks, but had passed the night in
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: his carriage, which was jammed up among the baggage wagons,
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: and had had been unable to extricate himself ought to
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: discover how the battle was going. Several times the Austrian
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: cavalry had fallen upon the baggage and had with great
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: difficulty been beaten off by its god. And the discomforts
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: of the time, and the anxiety for which he had
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: gone so unhinged him that he was unable to follow
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: Frederick's rapid movements throughout the rest of the campaign. Fergus
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: had confided to Earl mareschal Keith later his engagement to
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: the Count julen First's daughter. You are a lucky young dog, Fergus,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: he said. My brother and I came abroad too late
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: for any young coldress to fall in love with us.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: There is nothing like taking young to the business of
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: soldiering abroad. Bravery is excellent in its way, but youth
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: and bravery combined with good looks are irresistible to the
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: female mind. I am harghly glad that one of your
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: kids should have won something more than six feet of
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: earth by his sword. Count eulen Verst is one of
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: the few men that everyone speaks well of. There is
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: no man in Saxony who stands higher in any other country.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: He would have been the leading statesman of his time,
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: But the wretched king and his still more wretched minister
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: held into favor all who oppose their wanton extravagance and
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: their dangerous plans. It is an honor, indeed to be
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: connected with such a family, putting aside all questions of money.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: But indeed, in this respect nothing could be more satisfactorily.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: His daughter is the sole heiress of his wide estates,
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: and as her husband you will have a splendid position.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: I am very glad glad that the Count has no
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: objection to your passing a portion of your time in Scotland.
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: They say, you know that much as Scotchmen boasted their
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: love of their country, they are always ready to leave
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: it to better themselves, and that as very seldom they
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: ever returned to it, such was unhappily the case with
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: my brother, such will probably be the case with myself.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: But I am glad you will be an exception, and
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: that you will still keep up your connection with your
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: old home. I hope lad, that you will have more
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: than one son. The first, of course, will make Saxony
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: his home. But bring up the second as a Scotchman.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: Send them home to be educated. Let him succeed you
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: in the Glens. If he has the family instinct for fighting,
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: let him go into the British Army. He can go
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: in to know better. But let your people have someone
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: who will be their own lard, and whose interests will
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: be identified with their own. Fergus smiled at the old
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: man's earnestness. That is rather looking aheads there. He said, However,
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: it's certainly what I should like to do myself. And if,
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: as you say, and more than one seven, I will
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: certainly give the second the training you suggest and make
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: a scotchman of them. Certainly, if he has fighting incidincts,
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: he will see that he will have more opportunities of
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: active service in the British Army than he could and
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: have in that of Saxony, which has been proved unable
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: to stand alone and can only act as a small
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: ally to either Prussia or Austria. Even putting aside my nationality,
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: I would rather be fighting on the Clive in India
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: than in any service in the world, even in that
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: of Prussia. You're right, lad. Since the days of Marlborough,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: people had begun to think that the British were no
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: longer at fighting people. But the way in which they
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: have wrested Canada from the French and achieved marbles in India,
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: to say nothing of the conduct of their infantry and Mendon,
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: shows that the qualities of the race are unchanged, and
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: someday they will astonish the world again, as they have
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: done several times in their history. The King soon heard
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: the news from Earl, and one evening said to Fergus, so,
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: as the Earl Myreschall tells me, you have found time,
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: Colonel Drummond for love making. I thought that day i
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: went to express my regrets for the outrage that it
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: had committed at Count Universe, that it would make a
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: pretty real romance if the young lady who received me
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: should take a fancy to you, which was not altogether unlikely.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: After the gallant manner in which you had saved them
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: all from those rasks, and when you told me at
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: Dresden that they had been nursing you, the idea again
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: occurred to me, well, I am glad you have done
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: so well for yourself. As a king, I rejoice that
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: one who has fought so bravely should obtain a meet reward.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: And as one who dabbles in poetry, there romance that
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: the thing is very pleasant to me. But I am
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: not to lose your services. I hope no, sire. So
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: long as the war goes on, I shall continue to
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: serve your majesty to the best of my powers. The
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: king nodded. It is what I should have expected from
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: one of Marshall Keith's relations, he said, But is not
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: everyone who would care to go on leading this dog's
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: life when a pretty and well endowed bride is awaiting him. However,
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: it cannot last much longer. The crisis must come ere
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: long if we can defeat the one that may be
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: put off for a time. If we are beat, I
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: do not see I can struggle longer against fate. With
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: Berlin already in their hands, with the country denuded of
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: men and almost exhausted in means, with the Russian and
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: Austrian armies already planted on Prussian soil, I can do
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: no more. If I lose another great Batan. We must
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: hope that it will not be so, Sire. The spirit
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: of the soldiers is as high as ever, and now
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: that you will be fighting nearly within sight of their homes,
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: they can be trusted to achieve almost impossibilities. The men
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: are good men, the king said, and if I had
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: Keith and schwerwud By by side, I should feel more hopeful.
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: But they are gone, and there are none to fill
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: their places. My brother Henry is a good soldier, but
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: he is over cautious. Sibletz has not recovered from his wounds.
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: Houlsen has done well of late, and has shown wonderful energy,
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: considering that he is an old man. But there are
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: none of them who are at once prudent when it
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: behold them to be prudent, and quick to strike when
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: they opening, like Schowin and Keith. Zeithan is a splendid
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: cabarety officer, but he is fit to command cavalry only.
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: And the whole burden falls upon my shoulders, which are
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: getting too old to bear so heavy a weight. I trust, Sire,
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: that they will not have to bear the burden much longer.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: Just at present, Russia and Austria are doubtless encouraged by success.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: But the strain must be heavy on them also, and
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: another defeat my will cause them to doubt whether it
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: is worthwhile to continue to make sacrifices that produce such
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: small results. Heaven grant that it may be so, the
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: King said, earnestly. God knows that I never wanted this war,
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: and that from the day it began, I have eagerly
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: grasped every chance that presented itself of making peace short
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: of the dismemberment of my kingdom. I would at this
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: moment willingly accede to any terms, however onerous, in order
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: to secure peace for my country. End of Chapter nineteen.