n the Rhine, was in fact a body specially chosen
for a very different task. Eugene continued to proceed in this open
fashion and slow as far as Tuebingen....

[Illustration: Map showing Eugene's march on the Danube from the Black
Forest.]

It was many days since Tallard had begun his advance; many days since
Villeroy, on the Rhine, had been watching the movements of Eugene; and
during all these days that great general had done no more than assure his
original positions with ample leisure, and to begin, with what was
apparently a gross lack of concealment, a return by the Neckar round the
north of the Black Forest to the Rhine valley.

Suddenly, from the moment of his reaching Tuebingen, all this slow and
patient work ceases. Eugene and his 15,000 abruptly disappear.

In place of the open march which all might follow, friend and foe alike,
there is a void; in place of clear and reiterated information upon his
unhurried movements, there is nothing but a fog, contradictory rumours,
fantastic and ill-credited.

Never was a design better kept or concealed to a moment so near its
accomplishment. When that design was accomplished, it was to determine, as
we shall see in what follows, the whole issue of the campaign of Blenheim.

THE THIRD PHASE

_The Appearance of Eugene_

The third phase in the operations which led up to the battle of Blenheim
is one of no more than nine days.

It stands distinct from all that went before, and must be regarded in
history as a sort of little definite and enclosed preface to the great
action. The distinctive character of this, the third phase, resides in the
completion of the Franco-Bavarian force, its manoeuvring in the presence
of the enemy, and its finding itself unexpectedly confronted with the
reinforcements of Eugene.

To seize the character of this third phase, the sketch map opposite must
be referred to.

It is the 5th of August. Tallard has fully effected his junction with
Marcin and the Elector of Bavaria, and the united Franco-Bavarian force
lies in and to the east of Augsburg. On the opposite bank of the river
Lech this force is watched by the army of Marlborough and Baden, which has
been ravaging Bavaria. But Marlborough and Baden, though they have an
advanced depot at Donauwoerth, have their forward munitions and supplies
far up northwards. Noerdlingen is their advanced base, two days' marching
beyond the Danube. A week away to the north Nuremberg contains their