ere are no sentinels
there, and perhaps we may find a door, and get into the house."

Behind the hut was a little garden whose thick shrubs and bushes gave
complete concealment to the two grenadiers. Noiselessly they sprang
over the little fence, and made a reconnoissance of the terrain--unseen,
unnoticed, they drew near the house. As they stepped from behind
the bushes, Fritz Kober seized his friend's arm, and with difficulty
suppressed a cry of joy.

The scene which was presented to them was well calculated to rejoice the
hearts of brave soldiers. They had reached the goal, and might now hope
to fulfil the wishes of their king. The quarters of the Russian general
were plainly exposed to them. In this great room, which was evidently
the ball-room of the village, at a long oak-table, in the middle of the
room, sat General Soltikow, and around him sat and stood the generals
and officers. At the door, half a dozen Cossacks were crouching, staring
sleepily on the ground. The room was brilliantly illuminated with
wax-lights, and gave the two grenadiers an opportunity of seeing it in
every part. Fate appeared to favor them in every way, and gave them an
opportunity to hear as well as see. The window on the garden was opened
to give entrance to the cool night air, and near it there was a thick
branch of a tree in which a man could conceal himself.

"Look there," said Charles Henry, "I will hide in that tree. We will
make our observations from different stand-points. Perhaps one of us may
see what escapes the other. Let us attend closely, that we may tell all
to our king."

No man in this room guessed that in the silent little garden four
flashing eyes were observing all that passed.

At the table sat the Russian commander-in-chief, surrounded by his
generals and officers. Before him lay letters, maps, and plans, at which
he gazed from time to time, while he dictated an account of the battle
to the officer sitting near him, Soltikow was preparing a dispatch
for the Empress Elizabeth. A few steps farther off, in stiff military
bearing, stood the officers who were giving in their reports, and whose
statements brought a dark cloud to the brow of the victorious commander.
Turning with a hasty movement of the head to the small man with the
gold-embroidered uniform and the stiffly-frizzed wig, he said--

"Did you hear that, sir marquis? Ten thousand of my brave soldiers lie
dead upon the battle-field, and as many more are seve