With Frederick the Great: A Story of the Seven Years' War by G. A. Henty (best classic romance novels txt) 📗

Drummond's servant and horse. It is not so very far, and surely it might be done in a week.'

"'Well thought of!' I said. 'It is a hundred and seventy miles. A courier with relays of horses could do it in three days, without difficulty; and might be back here again, with Drummond's servant, in another four days. I will give orders at once. We can manage to get Drummond to delay his departure for a day or two.'

"So the thing was done."

Chapter 16: At Minden.

On the following day Fergus started, riding the new horse the count had given him, while Karl led Tartar. The journey to Breslau was performed without adventure. He found on arrival that the king had, ten days before, gone to Landshut, round which place a portion of his army was cantoned. At Landshut he commanded the main pass into Bohemia, was in a position to move rapidly towards any point where Daun might endeavour to break through into Silesia, and was yet but a few marches from Dresden, should the tide of war flow in that direction.

Already several blows had been struck at the enemy. As early as the 16th of February, Prince Henry had attacked the Confederate army which, strengthened by some Austrian regiments, had intended to fortify itself in Erfurt, and driven it far away; while the Prince of Brunswick had made a raid into the small Federal states, and carried off two thousand prisoners. Early in March a force from Glogau had marched into Poland, and destroyed many Russian magazines; while on April 13th, the very day on which Fergus arrived at Breslau, Duke Ferdinand had fought a battle with the French army under Broglio, near Bergen. The French, however, were very strongly posted, and Ferdinand was unable to capture their position, and lost twenty-five hundred men, while the French loss was but nineteen hundred.

On the same day Prince Henry crossed the mountains, and destroyed all the Austrian magazines through the country between Eger and Prague--containing food for an army of fifty thousand for five months--captured three thousand prisoners, and burnt two hundred boats collected on the Elbe, near Leitmeritz; and was back again after an absence of but nine days. A fortnight later he was off again, marching this time towards Bamberg, burning magazines and carrying off supplies. He captured Bayreuth and Bamberg, took twenty-five hundred prisoners, and struck so heavy a blow at the little princelings of the Confederacy that he was able to leave matters to themselves in the west, should the king require his aid against Daun or the Russians.

On the 16th of April Fergus arrived at Landshut, and proceeded to the royal quarters. On sending his name to the king, he was at once ushered in.

"So you have returned, Major Drummond," Frederick said cordially, "and in plenty of time to see the play! Though indeed, I should not be surprised if it is some time before the curtain draws up. I had some hopes that you might rejoin, for after your last escape I doubted whether any Austrian prison would hold you long. I am glad to see you back again.

"Ah! it was a heavy loss, that of our good marshal. None but myself can say how I miss him. He was not only, as a general, one of the best and most trustworthy; but as a friend he was always cheery, always hopeful, one to whom I could tell all my thoughts. Ah! If I had but taken his advice at Hochkirch, I should not have had to mourn his loss.

"It was a heavy blow to you also, Major Drummond."

"A heavy blow indeed, your Majesty. He was as kind to me as if he had been my father."

"I will try to supply his place," the king said gravely. "He died in my service, and through my error.

"For my own sake, I am glad that you are here. You have something of his temperament, and I can talk freely with you, too, whatever comes into my head."

"I did not know whether I did rightly in coming to report myself direct to you, sire; but your kindness has always been so great to me that I thought it would be best to come straight to you, instead of reporting myself elsewhere, having indeed no fixed post or commander."

"You did quite right. By the way, Keith's brother, the Scottish Earl Marischal, is here."

He touched a bell, and said to the officer who came in:

"Will you give my compliments to Earl Marischal Keith, and beg him to come to me for a few minutes."

Two minutes later Keith entered--a tall man, less strongly built than his brother, but much resembling him.

"Excuse my sending for you, Earl Marischal," the king said, "but I wanted to introduce to you your young cousin, Major Drummond; a very brave young officer, as you may well imagine, since he has already gained that rank, and wears our military order of the Black Eagle. He tells me that he has not hitherto met you; but he came over here at your brother's invitation, was a very great favourite of his, and was deeply attached to him."

"My brother mentioned you frequently, in his letters to me," Keith said, holding out his hand to Fergus. "I knew but little of your mother, first cousin as she is; for being ten years older than my brother, she was but a little child in my eyes when I last saw her. Were it not that I am past military work, I would gladly try to fill my brother's place to you; but if I cannot aid you in your profession, I can at least give you a share of my affection."

"As to his profession, Keith, that is my business," the king said. "He saved my life at Zorndorf, and has in so many ways distinguished himself that his success in his career is already assured. He is, by many years, the youngest major in the service; and if this war goes on, there is no saying to what height he may rise.

"He has just returned from an Austrian prison where, as I told you when you joined me, he was carried after Hochkirch. I don't know yet how he escaped. He must dine with me this evening, and afterwards he shall tell us about it. Mitchell dines with us, also. He, too, is a friend of this young soldier, and has a high opinion of him."

That evening after dinner Fergus related to the party, which consisted only of the king, Keith, and the British ambassador, how he had escaped from prison.

"The next time the Austrians catch you, Major Drummond," the king said when he had finished, "if they want to keep you, they will have to chain you by the leg, as they used to do in the old times."

For months the Prussian and Austrian armies lay inactive. Daun had supposed that, as the king had begun the three previous campaigns by launching his forces into Bohemia, he would be certain to follow the same policy; and he had therefore placed his army in an almost impregnable position, and waited for the king to assume the offensive. Frederick, however, felt that with his diminished forces he could no longer afford to dash himself against the strong positions so carefully chosen and intrenched by the enemy; and must now confine himself to the defensive, and leave it to the Austrians to attempt to cross the passes and give battle. The slowness with which they marched, in comparison with the speed at which the Prussian troops could be taken from one point to another, gave him good ground for believing that he should find many opportunities for falling upon the enemy, when in movement.

It was a long time before the Austrian general recognized the change in Frederick's strategy, still longer before he could bring himself to abandon his own tactics of waiting and fortifying, and determine to abandon his strongholds and assume the offensive. When July opened he had, by various slow and careful marches, planted himself in a very strong position at Marklissa; while Frederick, as usual, was watching him. Daun was well aware that Frederick, of all things, desired to bring on a battle; but knowing that the Russians, one hundred thousand strong, under Soltikoff, were steadily approaching, he determined to wait where he was, and to allow the brunt of the fighting, for once, to fall on them.

Fergus, by this time, was far away. The long weeks had passed as slowly to him as they had to the king, and he was very glad indeed when, on the 2nd of June, Frederick said to him:

"I know that you are impatient for action, Major Drummond. Your blood is younger than mine, and I feel it hard enough to be patient, myself. However, I can find some employment for you. Duke Ferdinand has now, you know, twelve thousand English troops with him. He has written to me saying that, as neither of his aides-de-camp can speak English, he begs that I would send him an officer who can do so; for very few of the British are able to speak German, and serious consequences might arise from the misapprehension of orders on the day of battle. Therefore I have resolved to send you to him, and you can start tomorrow, at daybreak. I will have a despatch prepared for you to carry to the duke; who of course, by the way, knows you, and will, I am sure, be glad to have you with him. Later on I must send another of my Scottish officers to take your place with him, for I like having you with me. However, at present you are wasting your time, and may as well go."

"We are off again tomorrow morning, Karl," Fergus said, in high spirits, as he reached his quarters.

"That is the best news that I have heard since the count's messenger brought me word, at Erfurt, that you had returned, major. It has been the dullest six weeks we have had since we first marched from Berlin; for while in winter one knows that nothing can be done, and so is content to rest quietly, in spring one is always expecting something, and if nothing comes of it one worries and grumbles."

"It is a long ride we are going this time, Karl."

"I don't care how how long it is, major, so that one is moving."

"I am going to join the Duke of Brunswick's staff."

"That is something like a ride, major," Karl said in surprise, "for it is right from one side of Prussia to the other."

"Yes, it is over four hundred and fifty miles."

"Well, major, we have got good horses, and they have had an easy time of it, lately."

"How long do you think that we shall take?"

"Well, major, the horses can do forty miles a day, if they have a day to rest, halfway. Your horses could do more, riding them on alternate days; but it would be as much as mine could do to manage that."

"We must take them by turns, Karl. That will give each horse a partial rest--one day out of three."

"Like that they could do it, I should say, major, in about a fortnight."

They rode first to Breslau, and thence to Magdeburg, passing through many towns on the long journey, but none of any great importance. At Magdeburg they heard that they must make for Hanover, where they would be able to ascertain the precise position of the duke's army, which was on the northern frontier of Westphalia.

While the French, under the Duke of Broglio, were advancing north from Frankfort-on-Maine; another French army, under Contades, was moving against Ferdinand from the west. As it was probable that there would, at least, be no great battle until the two French armies combined, Fergus, who had already given his horses two days' complete rest, remained for three days at Magdeburg; as it was likely that he would have to work them hard, when he joined the duke.

Five days later he rode into the Duke of Brunswick's principal camp, which was near Osnabrueck, where was situated his central magazine.

"I am glad to see you, Major Drummond," the duke said cordially, when Fergus reported himself. "I thought perhaps the king would select you for the service, and I know how zealous and active you are. I am greatly in need of a staff officer who can speak English, for none of mine can do so.

"I think that we shall have some hard fighting here, soon. You see that I am very much in the position of the king, menaced from two directions. If I move to attack Contades, Broglio will have Hanover entirely open to him; while if I move against him, Contades will capture Muenster and Osnabrueck and get all my magazines, and might even push on and occupy the town of Hanover, before I could get back. So you see, I have nothing to do