r shore of the river;
And if the dark swimmers' name you'd know,
'Tis Luetzow's wild Jaeger,--a-hunting they go!

How roars in the valley the angry fight;
Hark! how the keen swords are clashing!
High-hearted Ritter are fighting the fight,
The spark of Freedom awakens bright,
And in crimson flames it is flashing:
And if the dark Ritters' name you'd know,
'Tis Luetzow's wild Jaeger,--a-hunting they go!

Who gurgle in death, 'mid the groans of the foe,
No more the bright sunlight seeing?
The writhings of death on their face they show,
But no terror the hearts of the freemen know.
For the Franzmen are routed and fleeing;
And if the dark heroes' name you'd know,
'Tis Luetzow's wild Jaeger,--a-hunting they go!

The chase of the German, the chase of the free,
In hounding the tyrant we strained it!
Ye friends, that love us, look up with glee!
The night is scattered, the dawn we see,
Though we with our life-blood have gained it!
And from sire to son the tale shall go:
'Twas Luetzow's wild Jaeger that routed the foe!

Luetzow, the cavalry hero of Prussia, in the German war for freedom
against the rule of Napoleon, was born in 1782. He was a famous
hunter, and when Europe arose against Bonaparte in 1813, he called
for volunteers of adventurous spirit for cavalry service: "hunters"
of the enemy, who should hang about the French army, and, with the
destructive vigilance of birds or beasts of prey, give the enemy no
rest on the German side of the Rhine.

The boldest young men of Germany rushed to Luetzow; noblemen,
students, foresters. His corps of cavalry became the terror of the
French army. The enemy could never tell where they would be found.

Among the young volunteers was Koerner, the young German poet. He was
a slender young man; but he had an heroic soul, and the cavalry
corps of the fiery Luetzow seemed to him the place for it. He joined
the "wild hunters" in 1813.

"Germany rises," he said. "The Prussian eagle beats her wings; there
is hope of freedom.

"I know what happiness can fruit for me in life; I know that the
star of fortune shines upon me; but a mighty feeling and conviction
animates me: no sacrifice can be too great for my country's
freedom!"

The words glow.

He added,--

"I must forth,--I must oppose my breast to the storm. Can I
celebrate th