000 men, should also do so, and march to meet them.

The Saxons, however, were detained, owing to the terrible weather
and the enormous difficulty of the defiles, and only crossed on the
13th. In the meantime the Prussians had taken up positions to cut
off the Saxon retreat, and after crossing they found themselves
hemmed in, and the roads so commanded by newly-erected batteries
that, being utterly exhausted by fatigue and hardships, they had no
resource but to surrender.

The terms enforced were hard. The officers were allowed to depart,
on giving their parole not to serve again, but the whole of the
rank and file were incorporated in the Prussian army.

Fergus Drummond and Lindsay stood by their horses, with the other
members of the staff, some short distance behind the king and
Marshal Keith, as they anxiously endeavoured to discover the
whereabouts and intentions of the Austrian army; while the crack of
musketry, between the Croats and the troops who were gradually
pressing them down the hill, continued unabated.

"This is slow work, Drummond," Lindsay said, as hour after hour
passed. "I should not like to have anything to do with the king,
just at present. It is easy to see how fidgety he is, and no
wonder. For aught we know there may be only three or four thousand
men facing us and, while we are waiting here, the whole Austrian
army may have crossed over again, and be marching up the river bank
to form a junction with the Saxons; or they may have gone by the
defiles we traversed the last two days, and may come down into
Saxony and fall on the rear of our camp watching Pirna, while the
Saxons are attacking in front. No wonder his majesty paces
backwards and forwards like a wild beast in a cage."

From time to time an aide-de-camp was sent off, with some order
involving the movement of a battalion farther to the right or left,
and the addition of a few guns to the battery on Homolka Hill.
Fergus had taken his turn in carrying the orders. He had, two days
before, abandoned his sling; and scarcely felt any inconvenience
from the wound, which indeed would have been of slight consequence,
had it not been for the excessive loss of blood.

"These movements mean nothing," Lindsay said, as he returned from
one of these rides. "The marshal makes the changes simply for the
sake of doing something--partly, perhaps, to take the king's
attention off this confounded delay; partly to interest the troops,
who must be just a