iethen's side; and it was
supposed that he had already delivered his attack. Unfortunately,
he had not done so. He had calculated his pace accurately, but had
come upon a small Austrian force, like those Frederick had
encountered. It had for a time held its ground, and had replied to
his fire with cannon. Ziethen, not knowing how small the force was,
drew up in order of battle and drove it back on Lacy, far to the
east of his proper place of attack. Here he became engaged with
Lacy, and a cannonade was kept up for some hours--precious time
that should have been spent in ascending the hills, and giving aid
to the king.

When Frederick's column emerged from the woods, there was no sign
of either Hulsen or Holstein's divisions. The king sent out his
staff to hurry them up, and himself reconnoitred the ground and
questioned the peasants.

The ground proved so boggy as to be impassable, and Frederick
withdrew into the wood again, in order to attack the Austrian left.
This had, in Prince Henry's time, been defended by a strong
abattis; but since the cold weather set in, much of this had been
used by the Austrians as firewood, and it could therefore be
penetrated.

Frederick waited impatiently. He could hear the heavy cannonade on
Ziethen, and feared that that general would be crushed before he
could perform his part of the plan arranged. His staff were unable
to find Holstein's cavalry, which had taken the wrong turning at
some point, and were completely lost. Hulsen was still far away.

Nevertheless, in his desire to give support to Ziethen, the king
decided upon an attack with his own column, alone. The grenadiers
were placed in the front line, the rest of the infantry in the
centre. The cavalry, 800 strong, followed to do any service that
chance might afford them.

It took some time to bring the troops into their new position and,
while this was being done, Daun opened fire, with his four hundred
cannon, upon the forest through which they were marching, with a
din that Frederick declared exceeded anything that he ever heard
before. The small force of artillery took its place outside the
wood to cover the attack but, as soon as a few shots were fired,
the Austrian guns opened upon them and they were silenced.

Frederick's place was between the two lines of his grenadiers, and
they issued from the wood within eight hundred yards of Prince
Henry's abattis, and with marvellous bravery ran forward. Mowed
down in lines