peror himself, with Lannes and
Wrede, set out to sever the enemy's line. They had little difficulty.
The thin column dispersed before them to the north and south. Hiller
was driven back to Landshut, whence he fled to Neumarkt, leaving the
Isar in possession of the French. Davout advanced simultaneously
against the Archduke's army, which, although very much stronger than
Hiller's division, nevertheless retired and occupied Eckmuehl, standing
drawn up on the highroad toward Ratisbon. At Landshut the Emperor
became aware that the mass of the Austrian army was not before him,
but before Davout. Leaving Bessieres and two divisions of infantry,
with a body of cavalry, to continue the pursuit of Hiller, he turned
back toward Eckmuehl at three in the morning of the twenty-second.
Here, again, a great resolve was taken in the very nick of time and in
the presence of the enemy. With the same iron will and burning genius,
the same endurance and pertinacity, as of old, he pressed on at the
head of his soldiers. It was one o'clock when the eighteen-mile march
was accomplished and the enemy's outposts before Eckmuehl were reached.

Meantime one of the Austrian divisions left in Bohemia had arrived at
Ratisbon. Charles, strengthened by this reinforcement, had determined
to take the offensive, and at noon his advance began. Vandamme seemed
destined to bear the force of the onset, but in the moment before the
shock would have occurred, appeared Napoleon's van. Advancing rapidly
with Lannes, the Emperor rode to the top of a slight rise, and,
scanning the coming Austrians, suddenly ordered Vandamme to seize
Eckmuehl, and then despatched Lannes to cross the Laber and circumvent
the enemy. Davout, having learned the direction of the Austrian
charge, threw himself against the hostile columns on their right, and
after a stubborn resistance began to push back the dogged foe. In less
than two hours the French right, left, and center were all advancing,
and the enemy were steadily retreating, but fighting fiercely as they
withdrew. This continued until seven in the evening, when Lannes
finally accomplished his task.

This destroyed all resistance. The Emperor weakly yielded to his
generals' remonstrance that the troops were exhausted, and did not
order a pursuit. Charles withdrew into Ratisbon. During the night and
early morning he threw a pontoon bridge across the stream, which was
already spanned by a stone one, and next day, after a skirmish