them out of
shot-range;--you, Captain Carlowitz,' and calls twenty volunteers to go
with Carlowitz, and drag their own cannon, 'step you forward, keep the
gate of that Hradschin till we all pass!' In this manner, rapid, hard of
stroke, clear-headed and with stern regularity, drilled talent gets the
burning Nessus'-shirt wriggled off; and tramps successfully forth with
its baggages. About 11 A.M., this rearguard of Brandes's did; should
have been at seven,--right well that it could be at all.

"Einsiedel, after this, got tolerably well to Leitmeritz; left his heavy
baggage there; then turned at an acute angle right eastward, towards the
Silesian Combs, as ordered: still a good seventy miles to do, and the
weather getting snowy and the days towards their shortest. Worse still;
old Weissenfels, now in Prag with his Saxons, is aware that Einsiedel,
before ending, will touch on a wild high-lying corner of the Lausitz
which is Saxon Country; and thitherward Weissenfels has despatched
Chevalier de Saxe (in plenty of time, November 29th), with horse and
foot, to waylay Einsiedel, and block the entrance of the Silesian
Mountains for him. Whereupon, in the latter end of his long march,
and almost within sight of home, ensues the hardest brush of all for
Einsiedel. And, in the desolation of that rugged Hill country of the
Lausitz, 'HOCHWALD (Upper Weld),' twenty or more miles from Bohemian
Friedland, from his entrance on the Mountain Barrier and Silesian Combs,
there are scenes--which gave rise to a Court-Martial before long.
For unexpectedly, on the winter afternoon (December 9th), Einsiedel,
struggling among the snows and pathless Hills, comes upon Chevalier de
Saxe and his Saxon Detachment,--intrenched with trees, snow-redoubts,
and a hollow bog dividing us; plainly unassailable;--and stands there,
without covering, without 'food, fire, or salt,' says one Eye-witness,
'for the space of fourteen hours.' Gazing gloomily into it, exchanging a
few shots, uncertain what more to do; the much-dubitating Einsiedel. 'At
which the men were so disgusted and enraged, they deserted [the foreign
part of them, I fancy] in groups at a time,' says the above
Eye-witness. Not to think what became of the equipments, baggage-wagons,
sick-wagons:--too evident Einsiedel's loss, in all kinds, was very
considerable. Nassau, despatched by Leopold out of Glatz, from the other
side of the Combs, is marching to help Einsiedel;--who knows, at this
moment,