their
task completely done. The king, riding up the line, asked if any
battalion would volunteer to follow him to Lissa, a village on the
river bank. Three battalions stepped out. The landlord of the
little inn, carrying a lantern, walked by the king's side.

As they approached the village, ten or twelve musket shots flashed
out in the fields to the right. They were aimed at the lantern, but
no one was hurt. There were other shots from Lissa, and it was
evident that the village was still not wholly evacuated.

The infantry rushed forward, scattered through the fields, and
drove out the lurking Croats. The king rode quietly on into the
village, and entered the principal house. To his astonishment, he
found it full of Austrian officers, who could easily have carried
him off, his infantry being still beyond the village. They had but
a small force remaining there and, believing that the Prussians had
halted for the night at Saara, they were as much astonished as
Frederick at his entrance. The king had the presence of mind to
hide his surprise.

"Good evening, gentlemen!" he said. "Is there still room left for
me, do you think?"

The Austrian officers, supposing, of course, that he had a large
force outside, bowed deeply, escorted him to the best room in the
house, and then slipped out at the back, collected what troops they
could as they went, and hurried across the bridge. The Prussians
were not long in entering, and very speedily cleared out the rest
of the Austrians. They then crossed the bridge, and with a few guns
followed in pursuit.

The army at Saara, on hearing the firing, betook itself again to
arms and marched to the king's assistance, the twenty-five thousand
men and their bands again joining in the triumphant hymn, "Nun
danket alle Gott," as they tramped through the darkness. When they
arrived at Lissa they found that all was safe, and bivouacked in
the fields.

Never was there a greater or more surprising victory, never one in
which the military genius of the commander was more strikingly
shown. The Austrians were in good heart. They were excellent
soldiers and brave, well provided with artillery, and strongly
placed; and yet they were signally defeated by a force little over
one-third their number. Had there been two more hours of daylight,
the Austrians would have been not only routed but altogether
crushed. Their loss was ten thousand left on the field, of whom
three thousand were killed. Twelve