e, a fresh
and vigorous enemy awaited the exhausted troops in an impregnable
camp; and when they needed repose and refreshment they must prepare
for battle. With exhausted powers they must ascend the hostile
intrenchments, whose strength seemed to bid defiance to every assault.
A defeat sustained upon this shore would be attended with inevitable
destruction, since the same stream which impeded their advance would
also cut off their retreat, if fortune should abandon them.

The Swedish council of war, which the king now assembled, strongly
urged upon him all these considerations, in order to deter him from
this dangerous undertaking. The most intrepid were appalled, and a
troop of honorable warriors, who had grown gray in the field, did not
hesitate to express their alarm. But the king's resolution was fixed.
"What!" said he to Gustavus Horn, who spoke for the rest, "have we
crossed the Baltic, and so many great rivers of Germany, and shall we
now be checked by a brook like the Lech?" Gustavus had already, at a
great personal risk, reconnoitred the whole country, and discovered
that his own side of the river was higher than the other, and
consequently gave a considerable advantage to the fire of the Swedish
artillery over that of the enemy. With great presence of mind he
determined to profit by this circumstance. At the point where the left
bank of the Lech forms an angle with the right, he immediately caused
three batteries to be erected, from which 72 field-pieces maintained a
cross fire upon the enemy. While this tremendous cannonade drove the
Bavarians from the opposite bank, he caused to be erected a bridge
over the river with all possible rapidity. A thick smoke, kept up by
burning wood and wet straw, concealed for some time the progress of
the work from the enemy, while the continued thunder of the cannon
overpowered the noise of the axes. He kept alive by his own example
the courage of his troops, and discharged more than 60 cannon with his
own hand. The cannonade was returned by the Bavarians with equal
vivacity for two hours, though with less effect, as the Swedish
batteries swept the lower opposite bank, while their height served as
a breast-work to their own troops. In vain, therefore, did the
Bavarians attempt to destroy these works; the superior fire of the
Swedes threw them into disorder, and the bridge was completed under
their very eyes. On this dreadful day, Tilly did everything in his
power to encoura