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.

Chapter 10: Rossbach

Fergus knew that there were several cavalry posts ahead, and thought it likely that some of these might be left to give warning of the Prussian approach. He therefore rode across the country for some miles. He had begun to think that he must have gone beyond the limit of their outposts, when he saw a hussar pacing across the line in front of him, his beat evidently being between two small woods three or four hundred yards apart.

He checked his horse, as he saw Fergus approaching. He was a good-tempered looking fellow, and nodded to Fergus as much as to say that, if he could speak his language, he should like a chat with him. The latter at once checked his horse, and said good day, in French.

"Ah, you speak our language!" the soldier said. "I am glad to exchange a word with someone. It is hot here, especially when one's time is up, and one ought to have been relieved, an hour ago."

"Yes, I can understand that. I expect you have been forgotten."

"Well, it does not make much difference. I shall get off my next guard, in consequence."

"You will have to wait some time before you are relieved, if you stop here."

"What do you mean?" the soldier asked.

"I mean that when I left Erfurt your army was all moving west, and as I rode along I met several troops of cavalry, galloping to join them."

"That is strange news. Nothing whatever was known, when I came out here."

"No, the news only arrived at Erfurt, this morning, that Frederick's army is within a day's march; and I saw the troops march out, and the baggage waggons on their way before I started. I don't say that your troop may have gone. They may have stopped to form a post of observation."

"Well, at any rate I shall go into the village and see. I ought to have been relieved an hour ago; and if they had such news as that, and had remained there, they would have been sure to have sent, to order all videttes to use special vigilance. We have only been posted here as a sort of practice, for we did not think that there was an enemy within a hundred and fifty miles; and now, if the news is true, we may have the Prussian cavalry coming along at any moment.

"Well, thank you for warning me," and turning his horse, he went off at a gallop.

As the outposts would not have been set, except by the party most in advance, Fergus knew that there was now no more risk of falling in with the enemy; unless a cavalry force had been sent forward, to endeavour to get an idea of the force of the Prussians. But as the generals had so precipitately decided upon a retreat, it was not likely that they would have ordered any reconnaissance of this kind to be made.

He therefore presently regained the main road and, riding fast, arrived at the place where the Prussians had pitched their camp, thirty miles from Erfurt, having made a twenty-miles march that day. He dismounted at the house where Keith had established his quarters.

"I have bad news for you, sir," he said. "Word of your coming reached Erfurt, at eight o'clock this morning; and by eleven the whole army were on their march westward, bag and baggage."

"That is bad news, Fergus. You could hardly have brought worse. The king had hoped to have struck a heavy blow, and then to be off again to face the Austrians. What strength were they?"

"About fifty thousand."

"How did they get the news of our coming?"

"That I cannot say, sir. I had gone into Erfurt soon after five, and had already picked up a good deal of news, from the talk of a party of French non-commissioned officers who were taking breakfast at a small inn; and who, not imagining that I could understand them, talked very freely over affairs. They sat over their meal some time, and I did not go out until they had left.

"Just as I did so, a mounted officer galloped past, at a speed that showed he was the bearer of an important despatch. I followed him to Soubise's headquarters. While there, I noticed several mounted officers rode out in great haste. A quarter of an hour later, several general officers arrived. There was a consultation for half an hour, and then officers rode off in all directions; and in a few minutes trumpets were sounding, and drums beating, all over the town.

"In a very short time a movement began towards the western gate. By ten o'clock the tents were all struck round the town, the waggons loaded, and they were on their way west. An hour later, and the whole force was in movement in that direction; and as I issued from the town on this side, I met the cavalry that had been scattered among the villages, galloping in. I don't think that there is, at the present moment, an enemy within ten miles of Erfurt."

"You were in no danger, yourself?"

"None at all, sir. I passed the night at a friendly peasant's hut, five miles this side of the town, inside their advanced posts. I left my horse in a wood, and my peasant guided me by bypaths to the town. I did not exchange a word with anyone, except the landlord of the hotel where I breakfasted. He was bitterly hostile to the enemy.

"I also spoke to a solitary French vidette who had, in the hurry of their retreat, been left behind; and told him that he had best be off, as the whole army was in full march for the west."

"Well, if you breakfasted at six this morning, you must be hungry. My dinner will be ready in half an hour, and you had better share it with me. I must go now, and tell the king the news that you have brought. I said nothing to him about my having sent you."

In twenty minutes the marshal returned.

"The king wishes to see you, Fergus. Of course he is vexed, but he always takes bad news well, unless it is the result of the blunder of one of the officers. He does not say much, even then; but it is very bad for that officer when he sees him. Frederick never forgives a blunder."

"Well, Captain Drummond, so you have been playing the spy for us?"

"I have been doing my best, your majesty."

"And the French are gone, bag and baggage?"

"Yes, sire, they have gone off west."

"To perch themselves somewhere among the mountains, I suppose. Perhaps they will get bolder, presently, when they hear that they are more than double my strength. Did you learn anything more than what Marshal Keith has told me?"

"I heard a great deal of talk among a party of French non-commissioned officers, sire. They expressed great dissatisfaction with their general, and at the long delays. They also spoke with absolute contempt of the Confederacy army, both officers and men; and said that, if it had not been for the drilling by the Austrian non-commissioned officers, they would be nothing better than a rabble."

"I daresay Soubise is of the same opinion," the king said, "and wants them to have a few weeks' more drill before he sets them in line of battle. However, I have no doubt we shall manage to bring him to book, before we return.

"Well, I am obliged to you for your zeal, Captain Drummond; and although Keith tells me that you got in without being questioned, such business is always dangerous. Mayhap next time you will have a better opportunity for distinguishing yourself. As you managed to pass so freely among them, after you made your escape from prison, you can clearly be trusted on work of this kind."

Fergus saluted, and retired.

The next morning the troops started, as usual, at daybreak. They were to make but a short march, for they had no longer any occasion for speed, and they had made the hundred and fifty miles at a very rapid pace; but when they halted, Frederick with the cavalry rode straight on into Erfurt.

"Don't wait to put on your uniform now," Keith said to Fergus, on his return from the royal quarters; "dinner is waiting; and I am ready, if you are not. Lindsay is going to dine with me, too."

"Well, Lindsay," the marshal said, as the latter entered, "you see the advantages of this young fellow being able to speak German well. If you had been taken prisoner at Lobositz, you would have been fast in Spielberg at present; and you see he is now able to undertake perilous missions, and peril means promotion."

"I quite see that, marshal," Lindsay said with a smile; "but though I can get on with French fairly enough, my tongue doesn't seem to be able to form these crack-jaw German words; and you see, marshal, it is not the only one that does not. I think, sir, that bad as my German is, it is not much worse than your own, and you have been here much longer than I have."

The marshal laughed.

"You are right. I cannot say half a dozen German words; but you see I have not had your motive for acquiring it, and cannot very well get promotion. And again, it would not do for me to speak better German than the King of Prussia; who, beyond a few words necessary for animating his troops on occasion, knows very little German himself. For general work here French is amply sufficient, because every officer speaks it; but as you see, German is very useful, too, to a young officer who wishes to push himself forward, and is willing to undertake special work of this kind."

"But even then, marshal, he would have no advantage over a Prussian officer who speaks French."

"It depends a good deal upon the Prussian officer. The greater portion of them are mere machines–splendid fighting machines, no doubt; but of no great use outside their own work. Anyone could detect, with half an eye, nineteen out of twenty of them; dress them how you would, disguise them as you like. They step the regulation length, bring their foot down in the regulation way, are as stiff as if they had swallowed a ramrod. They have neither suppleness nor adaptability. They are so accustomed to obey that they have almost lost the power of originating, and would be taken and shot before they were in the enemy's lines ten minutes. Now, Fergus has the advantage of knowing both languages, and of being quick-witted and sharp."

The next two months were passed in marches to and fro. Seidlitz, with some cavalry, took possession of Gotha, to the great satisfaction of the duke and duchess; and the king himself rode over and dined with them.

While Seidlitz remained there as governor, with a couple of regiments of horse, a strong body of French and Austrian hussars, grenadiers, and artillery marched against Gotha. Seidlitz, having so few men to oppose them, evacuated the place, and the enemy marched into it in triumphant procession. The duke and duchess made the best of matters, and invited all the principal officers to a banquet.

Just as they were sitting down to this, Seidlitz with his Prussians reappeared; his men being so artfully scattered about that they appeared a great deal stronger than they were. The enemy were seized with panic. Soubise and his generals mounted in great haste, and in a few minutes the whole were retreating at top speed; Seidlitz pursuing for some distance, killing thirty and taking sixty prisoners, with a large amount of baggage and plunder, and then returning to Gotha to eat the dinner prepared for the enemy.

Ferdinand of Brunswick, with his division, had been sent off to check, if possible, the movements of the French army under Richelieu, near Magdeburg.

In October came the startling news that Berlin itself was threatened, and that a force, said to be fifteen thousand strong, under General Haddick, was in rapid motion towards it. Prince Maurice was ordered to hasten to its defence, and the king also moved in that direction.

The invading force was but four thousand strong. Their numbers, however, were so magnified by rumour that the governor of Berlin, who had but four thousand troops, did not venture to oppose them, but sent the royal family and archives away under a strong escort. Haddick occupied a suburb of the city, but knowing that as soon as his real force was known he would be hotly opposed, and receiving news that Prince Maurice was rapidly approaching, demanded a ransom of 45,000 pounds; and finally accepted 27,000 pounds, and then hurried away. Prince Maurice arrived twenty-four hours later.

The consequences of this little success–magnified by report into "Berlin captured, Prussian royal family in flight."–turned out very advantageous to Frederick. The enthusiasm in Paris and Vienna was enormous, and orders were despatched to the armies to set to, without further delay, and finish the work. Fifteen thousand men were sent from Richelieu's army to reinforce Soubise, who thereupon issued from his mountain stronghold and marched against Leipzig.

Frederick, however, arrived there first, Ferdinand and Maurice joining him a day or two later; and while waiting there, Frederick received the joyful news that England requested him to appoint Duke Ferdinand, of Brunswick, commander-in-chief of the army until now commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, who had just sailed for England.

Pitt had now risen to almost absolute power in England, and was busied in reforming the abuses in the army and navy, dismissing incapable officials, and preparing to render some efficient aid to its hard-pressed ally. The proposal that Prince Ferdinand should assume the command of the army–whose efforts had hitherto been rendered nugatory by the utter incompetence of the Duke of Cumberland who, although personally as brave as a lion, was absolutely ignorant of war–afforded immense satisfaction to the king.

No better choice could have been made. Ferdinand was related to the royal families both of England and Prussia. He was a capable general, prudent and at the same time enterprising, firm under difficulties, ready to seize opportunities; and under his command there was no doubt that the northern army, which had hitherto been useless, and had only been saved from absolute destruction by the incompetence of the French generals, would now play a useful part.

On October 30th Soubise, in spite of his orders to fight, and the fact that he had double the strength of the Prussians, fell back before them. Soubise himself felt no confidence in his troops, but upon the other hand his officers and those of the Confederate army were puffed up with vanity, and remonstrated hotly against retreat.

The next day Frederick came in sight of Soubise's army, which was camped on a height near the town of Weissenfels. Frederick had but one-half of his force with him, the other half, under Keith, being still detached. Five thousand men garrisoned Weissenfels, but Frederick made short work of the place. His cannon burst down the gates, and his troops rushed forward with all speed; but the garrison fled across the bridge over the Saale, which had already been prepared for burning; and they set it on fire in such haste that four hundred were unable to cross, and were made prisoners. The fugitives joined their army on the other side of the Elbe, and its guns opened upon the burning bridge, to prevent the Prussians from trying to extinguish the flames.

The Prussians returned the fire, and the artillery duel was kept up until three o'clock, by which time the bridge was consumed. Frederick had already fixed upon a spot suitable for the erection of another, and during the night, while the enemy were falling back to take up a fresh position upon higher ground, the engineers, working diligently, succeeded in throwing a bridge across.

Keith arrived at Merseburg the next morning. A strong force lay opposite, ready to dispute the passage; but when Soubise found that the king was crossing by his new bridge, he called in all his detachments and marched away, to a strong position, and there set himself in array ready to receive an attack. Keith's bridges were finished on the 3rd of November, and that afternoon he crossed and joined Frederick.

On the 4th the army was on the move by two o'clock in the morning. A bright moon was shining and, by its light, it was discovered that the enemy had shifted his position for one much stronger, with approaches protected by patches of wood and bog. The Prussian army therefore marched back to their camp, the king hoping that, being so far from their base of supplies, the enemy would be forced ere long to make some movement that would afford him a chance of attacking them under better circumstances.

The ground from Weissenfels rises, very gradually, to a height of a hundred and twenty feet or so; which in so flat a country is regarded as a hill. On this slight swelling are several small villages. Of these Rossbach is the principal, standing high up on its crest. Here Frederick's right wing was posted, while his left was at Bedra. The king took up his quarters at a large house in Rossbach; and from its roof, at eight o'clock on the morning of the 5th, he saw that the enemy were getting into motion and moving away towards their left.

The movement had begun much earlier. Half an hour later they had passed through the village of Grost, and were apparently making their way to Freiburg, where they had some magazines. Hoping to have a chance of attacking their rear, Frederick ordered the cavalry to saddle, and the whole army to be in readiness, and then sat down to dinner with his officers at noon. Little did he dream, at the time, that the slow and clumsy movement that he was watching was intended, by the enemy, to end in a flank attack on himself.

On the previous day Soubise, with his generals, looking down on the Prussian camp, had reckoned their force at ten thousand. In reality they had seen only a portion of their camp, the site being hidden by a dip of the ground. Even Soubise thought that, with the odds of over five to one in his favour, he could fight a battle with a certainty of success; and planned a masterly march, by which he would place himself on Frederick's left and rear, drive him into the bend made by the Saale, and annihilate his army. In his enthusiasm at this happy idea, he sent off a courier to carry the news, to Versailles, that he was about to annihilate the Prussian army, and take the king prisoner.

Frederick's dinner was prolonged. There was nothing to be done, and patience was one of the king's strong points. At two o'clock an officer, who had remained on watch on the housetop, hurried down with news that the enemy had suddenly turned to the left. The king went up to the roof with his officers, and at once divined the intention of his foes.

It was a glorious moment for him. At last, after three weary months, he was to meet them in battle. Instantly his orders were given, and in half an hour the Prussian army was all in movement, with the exception of some irregular corps which were left to occupy the attention of the enemy's horse, which had been posted as if to threaten Rossbach. By the line taken, the Prussians were at once hidden behind the crest of the hill from the enemy; and so Soubise thought that the Prussians, being afraid of his attack, were marching away with all speed for Keith's bridge at Merseburg. He accordingly hurried on his cavalry, and ordered the infantry to go at a double, for the purpose of capturing the runaway Prussians.

In the meantime Seidlitz, with four thousand horse, trotted briskly along until he reached, still concealed from the enemy's sight, the spot towards which they were hurrying, in two great columns headed by seven thousand cavalry. He allowed them to move forward until he was on their flank, and then dashed over the crest of the hill, and charged like a thunderbolt upon them.

Taken completely by surprise, the enemy's cavalry had scarce time to form. Two Austrian regiments and two French were alone able to do so. But there was no withstanding the impetus of the Prussian charge. They rode right through the disordered cavalry; turned, formed, and recharged, and four times cut their way through them, until they broke away in headlong flight; and were pursued by Seidlitz until out of sight from the hill, when he turned and waited, to see where he could find an opportunity of striking another blow.

By this time Frederick, with the infantry, was now pouring over the crest of the hill, their advance heralded by the fire of twenty-four guns. Rapidly, in echelon, they approached the enemy. In vain Soubise endeavoured to face round the column, thus taken in flank, to meet the coming storm. He was seconded by Broglio and the commander of the Confederate army, but the two columns were jammed together, and all were in confusion at this astounding and unexpected attack. Orders were unheard or disobeyed, and everything was still in utter disorder, when six battalions of Prussian infantry hurled themselves upon them.

When forty paces distant, they poured in their first terrible volley, and then continued their fire as fast as they could load; creating great havoc among the French troops on whom they had fallen, while away on each flank the Prussian artillery made deep gaps in the line. Soon the mass, helpless under this storm of fire, wavered and shook; and then Seidlitz, who had been concealed with his cavalry in a hollow a short distance away, hurled himself like a thunderbolt on their rear, and in a moment they broke up in headlong flight. In less than half an hour from the first appearance of the Prussians on the hill, the struggle had ended, and an army of from fifty to sixty thousand men was a mob of fugitives; defeated by a force of but twenty-two thousand men, not above half of whom were engaged.

The loss of the allies was three thousand killed and wounded, five thousand prisoners, and seventy-two guns; while the Prussians lost but one hundred and sixty-five killed, and three hundred and seventy-six wounded. The victory was one of the most remarkable and surprising ever gained, for these figures by no means represent the full loss to the defeated.

The German portion of the army, after being chased for many miles, scattered in all directions; and only one regiment reached Erfurt in military order, and in two days the whole of the men were on their way to their homes, in the various states composing the Confederation. The French were in no less disgraceful a condition. Plundering as they went, a mere disorganized rabble, they continued their flight until fifty-five miles from the field of battle, and were long before they gathered again in fighting order.

The joy caused in Prussia and in England, by this astonishing victory, was shared largely by the inhabitants of the country through which the French army had marched. Everywhere they had plundered and pillaged, as if they had been moving through an enemy's country instead of one they had professed to come to deliver. The Protestant inhabitants had everywhere been most cruelly maltreated, the churches wrecked, and the pastors treated as criminals. The greater portion of Germany therefore regarded the defeat of the French as a matter for gratification, rather than the reverse.

In England the result was enormous. It had the effect of vastly strengthening Pitt's position, and twenty thousand British troops were, ere long, despatched to join the army under the Duke of Brunswick, which was now called the allied army, and from this time the French force under Richelieu ceased to be dangerous to Frederick. France and England were old antagonists, and entered upon a duel of their own; a duel that was to cost France Canada, and much besides; to establish England's naval preponderance; and to extinguish French influence in the Netherlands.

Fergus Drummond was not under fire, at the memorable battle of Rossbach. Keith's division was not, in fact, engaged; the affair having terminated before it arrived. Keith, however, had ridden to the position on the brow of the hill where the king had stationed himself; and his staff, following him, had the satisfaction of seeing the enemy's heavy columns melt into a mass of fugitives, and spread in all directions over the country, like dust driven before a sudden whirlwind.

"What next, I wonder?" Fergus said to Lindsay; who had, three days before, been promoted to the rank of captain, as much to the satisfaction of Fergus as to his own.

"I suppose some more marching," Lindsay replied. "You may be sure that we shall be off east again, to try conclusions with Prince Karl. Bevern seems to be making a sad mess of it there. Of course he is tremendously outnumbered, thirty thousand men against eighty thousand; but he has fallen back into Silesia without making a single stand, and suffered Prince Karl to plant himself between Breslau and Schweidnitz; and the Prince is besieging the latter town with twenty thousand men, while with sixty thousand he is facing Bevern."

Four days after the victory, indeed, Frederick set out with thirteen thousand men; leaving Prince Henry to maintain the line of the Saale, and guard Saxony; while Marshal Keith was to go into Bohemia, raise contributions there, and threaten as far as might be the Austrian posts in that country.

Fergus, however, went with the king's army, the king having said to the Marshal:

"Keith, lend me that young aide-de-camp of yours. I have seen how he can be trusted to carry a despatch, at whatever risk to his life. He is ingenious and full of devices; and he has luck, and luck goes for a great deal.

"I like him, too. I have observed that he is always lively and cheery, even at the end of the longest day's work. I notice too that, even though your relation, he never becomes too familiar; and his talk will be refreshing, when I want something to distract my thoughts from weighty matters."