l."

"You are very good to say so," Rupert said, smiling, "but I don't
feel all that change which you speak of. I hope that I am just as
much up to a bit of fun as ever I was. At present I strike you
perhaps as being more quiet; but you see I have hardly spoken to a
soul for eighteen months, and have got out of the way rather. All
that I do feel is, that I have gained greatly in strength, as that
unfortunate French trooper found to his cost today.

"But there, the trumpets are sounding; it's too late for a battle
today, so I suppose we have got a march before us."

Chapter 22: Oudenarde.

The trumpet call which summoned Rupert and his friends to horse
was, as he suspected, an indication that there was a general
movement of the troops in front.

Vendome had declined to attack the allies in the position they had
taken up, but had moved by his right to Braine le Leude, a village
close to the ground on which, more than a hundred years later,
Waterloo was fought, and whence he threatened alike Louvain and
Brussels. Marlborough moved his army on a parallel line to
Anderleet. No sooner had he arrived there, than he found that
Vendome was still moving towards his right--a proof that Louvain
was really the object of the attack. Again the allied troops were
set in motion, and all night, through torrents of rain, they
tramped wearily along, until at daybreak they were in position at
Parc, covering the fortress of Louvain. Vendome, finding himself
anticipated, fell back to Braine le Leude without firing a shot.

But though Marlborough had so far foiled the enemy, it was clear
that he was not in a condition to take the offensive before the
arrival of Prince Eugene, who would, he trusted, be able to come to
his assistance; and for weeks the armies watched each other without
movement.

On the 4th of July, Vendome suddenly marched from Braine le Leude,
intending to capture the fortress of Oudenarde. Small bodies of
troops were sent off at the same time to Ghent and Bruges, whose
inhabitants rose and admitted the French. Marlborough, seeing the
danger which threatened the very important fortress of Oudenarde,
sent orders to Lord Chandos who commanded at Ath, to collect all
the small garrisons in the neighbourhood, and to throw himself into
Oudenarde. This was done before Vendome could reach the place,
which was thus secured against a coup de main. Vendome invested the
fortress, brought up his siege train from Tournay, and