For Sceptre and Crown Volume II Part 5

"Shall his majesty be awakened?" asked Count Wedel.

"It will be time enough to call him if anything serious really appears," said Colonel Dammers. "I will go up to the top of the house, from whence one can overlook the whole plain."

He entered the house; Prince Hermann followed him, and the others listened anxiously to the sound of firing, which grew louder and more distinct every moment.

"After all, an omelette would be too much trouble," said the crown prince, putting his eggs into the kettle, the contents of which had not been much diminished by the general's grog. He placed it on the chafing-dish and blew the charcoal, listening attentively for the water to boil.

After a short time Colonel Dammers returned.

"Some strong columns are visible on the distant horizon; I can see their arms glittering through the dust!" he cried. "His majesty must be called."

Count Wedel hurried into the house.

Signals were heard from the plain. A general march was beginning in various parts of the camp.

George V. came out of the Pfarrhaus. They all approached the king.

"Your majesty," cried General Brandis, "I hear with joy the well-known voice of cannon; it makes my old heart young again."

The king's face expressed high courage and calm determination. He held out his hand to the general.

"I hear this voice in earnest for the first time," he said; "but, my dear general, my heart, too, beats higher at the sound. Now negotiations are impossible. G.o.d be with us!"

He folded his hands and raised his head silently to heaven. All those around him involuntarily followed his example.

The sound of horse's hoofs was heard. An officer of the garde du corps, springing from the saddle, informed the king, from the general in command, that the enemy were drawing up in strong columns upon the road from Gotha, and that the general begged his majesty to leave Thamsbruck immediately, and to go to the hills behind Merxleben.

Count Wedel hurried away; the horses were saddled and the carriages prepared.

"General von Arentschildt further begs your majesty's commands and instructions as to the capitulation which may be needful during the action," said the aide-de-camp.

General Brandis bit his moustache. Count Ingelheim stamped upon the ground.

"What does he mean?" asked the king quietly.

"The general staff," continued the officer, "has represented to the general that the troops are so worn out and badly fed that they may be unable to endure the fatigue of battle; he therefore begs permission to capitulate should he deem it needful. He has drawn up an instruction on this point, and he begs your majesty to send it back to him signed." He handed the king a paper.

The king had closed his teeth firmly, and he drew his breath with a sharp, almost hissing sound.

Without the slightest movement of haste or anger he took the paper and tore it through.

"Ride back to General Arentschildt," he said in a calm ringing voice, "and tell him my commands, to resist to the last man!"

The officer's face brightened. With a military salute he turned sharply round, sprang into the saddle, and galloped off.

"And now forwards! gentlemen," cried the king.

"Father, have a new-laid egg!" And the crown prince, hurrying up, offered the king a plate, on which was a specimen of his cooking.

"Eat it, your majesty," said General Brandis; "there is no saying when or where you may get anything else." And he handed the king an egg, after breaking the sh.e.l.l with the hilt of his sword.

The king ate it and turned to the horses.

They mounted and set out; dragoons preceded them and acted as a guard; the carriages and the led horses followed.

As the king rode out of the village of Thamsbruck, the artillery duel had already fully commenced.

From the hill above they saw the lines of the enemy's skirmishers before the town of Langensalza. The enemy's batteries were on the farther side of the Unstrut, and kept up an energetic fire, to which the Hanoverian artillery replied from the opposite bank. The infantry were engaged before the town, and the Hanoverian cavalry were seen on one side slowly withdrawing.

"Where shall we ride?" asked the king.

"To a hill behind Merxleben, from whence we can overlook the whole battle-field, your majesty," replied the adjutant-general.

"We are going away from the thunder of the cannon!" said the king.

"There is a turn in the road to the left," replied Colonel Dammers.

"Then we must ride to the right to keep near the fighting," said the king calmly, turning his head in the direction whence came the sound of firing. "Schweppe," he said to the major of guard cuira.s.siers who held his leading rein, "I command you to ride in that direction."

"There is no road, your majesty," he replied.

"Then we will ride through the fields." And the royal procession moved on, in the direction the king had indicated.

The sound of the cannon was heard nearer and nearer, mingled with the rattle of small arms.

The king and his suite rode to an eminence where the plain was bounded by a chain of hills; the party being rendered conspicuous to both sides from the dragoons, and the brilliant uniforms of the suite.

A few b.a.l.l.s flew over their heads and the horses began to be uneasy.

Suddenly the enemy's artillery appeared to choose the king's party as their mark, and sh.e.l.ls flew thicker and thicker over them, striking the ground now before them, now behind them.

The adjutant-general sprang to the king's side.

"Your majesty!" he cried, "we are under a heavy fire, I conjure your majesty--"

Count Platen and General von Brandis also implored the king to withdraw from such imminent peril.

The king reined in his horse.

The whole escort stood still.

"Can my troops see me here?" asked George V.

"Certainly, your majesty," replied the adjutant-general, "your majesty's position is visible from the whole of the plain."

"Good," said the king, simply. And he quietly remained on the spot.

The sh.e.l.ls flew hissing through the air, the bullets of the small arms whistled through the valley, and the frightened horses throwing up their heads snorted and trembled; the blind king, the Guelphic prince, who was ready to give his life for what his proud heart told him was the right, halted upon the brow of the hill, motionless as a marble statue, that his soldiers might see him.