ch he had fallen.

The Austrians were keenly on the alert, biding their time and watchful
for an opportunity to take the Prussians at advantage. The time had now
arrived, as they thought, and they laid their plans accordingly. On the
night before the 15th of August Laudon set out on a secret march, his
purpose being to gain the heights of Puffendorf, from which the
Prussians might be assailed in the rear. At the same time the other
corps were to close in on every side, completely surrounding Frederick,
and annihilating him if possible.

It was a well-laid and promising plan, but accident befriended the
Prussian king. Accident and alertness, we may say; since, to prevent a
surprise from the Austrians, he was in the habit of changing the
location of his camp almost every night. Such a change took place on the
night in question. On the 14th the Austrians had made a close
reconnoisance of his position. Fearing some hostile purpose in this,
Frederick, as soon as the night had fallen, ordered his tents to be
struck and the camp to be moved with the utmost silence, so as to avoid
giving the foe a hint of his purpose. As it chanced, the new camp was
made on those very heights of Puffendorf towards which Laudon was
advancing with equal care and secrecy.

That there might be no suspicion of the Prussian movement, the
watch-fires were kept up in the old camp, peasants attending to them,
while patrols of hussars cried out the challenge every quarter of an
hour. The gleaming lights, the watch-cries of the sentinels, all
indicated that the Prussian army was sleeping on its old ground, without
suspicion of the overwhelming blow intended for it on the morrow.

Meanwhile the king and his army had reached their new quarters, where
the utmost caution and noiselessness was observed. The king, wrapped in
his military cloak, had fallen asleep beside his watch-fire; Ziethen,
his valiant cavalry leader, and a few others of his principal officers,
being with him. Throughout the camp the greatest stillness prevailed,
all noise having been forbidden. The soldiers slept with their arms
close at hand, and ready to be seized at a moment's notice. Frederick
fully appreciated the peril of his situation, and was not to be taken by
surprise by his active foes. And thus the night moved on until midnight
passed, and the new day began its course in the small hours.

About two o'clock a sudden change came in the situation. A horseman
galloped at full s