an to their own eyes. The roar
and rattle of the firing increased in volume, every minute.

"That is more than an affair with the Croats, Karl."

"A good deal more, major. It looks as if the Austrians were beating
up our quarters in earnest."

"It does indeed."

When they reached Hochkirch they found the troops there astir. The
cavalry trumpets were sounding to horse, and the clamour round the
village told that the troops encamped there were getting under
arms.

"Do you know what is going on to the right, sir?" Fergus asked a
field officer, who was in the act of mounting. "Marshal Keith has
sent me to inquire."

"Not in the least; but as far as I can tell by the sound, they must
be attacking us in force, and they seem to be working round in rear
of our battery there. The sound is certainly coming this way."

"Then I will go on to the battery," Fergus said.

He had ridden but a little way farther, when he was convinced that
the officer was right. The crash of musketry volleys rose
continuously, but although the boom of guns was mingled with it,
there was nothing like the continuous fire that might have been
expected from a twenty-gun battery.

Suddenly from his right a crackle of firing broke out, and then
heavy volleys. The bullets sung overhead.

"They are attacking us in the rear, sir, sure enough," Karl said.

"I am afraid they have captured our big battery, Karl," Fergus
said, as he turned his horse.

It was but a few hundred yards back to the village but, just as he
reached it, a roar of fire broke out from its rear. They could make
their way but slowly along the streets, so crowded were they now
with infantry who, unable to see until a yard or two away, could
not make room for them to pass, as they would otherwise have done
for a staff officer. With feverish impatience Fergus pushed on,
until the road was clear; but even now he had to go comparatively
slowly, for unless they kept to the track across the open ground
that led to the farmhouse, they must miss it altogether.

Lights were moving about there as he rode up. Keith himself was at
the door, and the orderlies were bringing up the horses.

"What is it, Major Drummond?"

"It is an attack in force, sir, on the right flank and rear. The
enemy have crept up between Hochkirch and our battery, and as I
came through the village they were attacking it in rear. I cannot
say for certain, but I believe that the battery is taken, though
there is a he