The Life and Adventures of Baron Trenck Volume I Part 5

The alarm guns were fired before we were a hundred paces distant; at which my friend was very much terrified, knowing that in such cases it was generally impossible to escape from Glatz, unless the fugitives had got the start full two hours before the alarm guns were heard; the pa.s.ses being immediately all stopped by the peasants and hussars, who are exceedingly vigilant. No sooner is a prisoner missed than the gunner runs from the guard-house, and fires the cannon on the three sides of the fortress, which are kept loaded day and night for that purpose.

We were not five hundred paces from the walls, when all before us and behind us were in motion. It was daylight when we leaped, yet was our attempt as fortunate as it was wonderful: this I attributed to my presence of mind, and the reputation I had already acquired, which made it thought a service of danger for two or three men to attack me.

It was besides imagined we were well provided with arms for our defence; and it was little suspected that Sch.e.l.l had only his sword, and I an old corporal's sabre.

Among the officers commanded to pursue us was Lieutenant Bart, my intimate friend. Captain Zerbst, of the regiment of Fouquet, who had always testified the kindness of a brother towards me, met us on the Bohemian frontiers, and called to me, "Make to time left, brother, and you will see some lone houses, which are on the Bohemian confines: the hussars have ridden straight forward." He then pa.s.sed on as if he had not seen us.

We had nothing to fear from the officers; for the intimacy between the Prussian officers was at that time so great, and the word of honour so sacred, that during my rigorous detention at Glatz I had been once six- and-thirty hours hunting at Neurode, at the seat of Baron Stillfriede; Lunitz had taken my place in the prison, which the major knew when he came to make his visit. Hence may be conjectured how great was the confidence in which the word of the unfortunate Trenck was held at Glatz, since they did not fear letting him leave his dungeon, and hunt on the very confines of Bohemia. This, too, shows the governor was deceived, in despite of his watchfulness and order, and that a man of honour, with money, and a good head and heart, will never want friends.

These my memoirs will be the picture of what the national character then was; and will prove that, with officers who lived like brothers, and held their words so sacred, the great Frederick well might vanquish his enemies.

Arbitrary power has now introduced the whip of slavery, and mechanic subordination has eradicated those n.o.ble and rational incitements to concord and honour. Instead of which, mistrust and slavish fear having arisen, the enthusiastic spirit of the Brandenburg warrior declines, and into this error have most of the other European States fallen.

Scarcely had I borne my friend three hundred paces before I set him down, and I looked round me, but darkness came on so fast that I could see neither town nor citadel; consequently, we ourselves could not be seen.

My presence of mind did not forsake me: death or freedom was my determination. "Where are we, Sch.e.l.l?" said I to my friend. "Where does Bohemia lie? on which side is the river Neiss?" The worthy man could make no answer: his mind was all confusion, and he despaired of our escape: he still, however, entreated I would not let him be taken alive, and affirmed my labour was all in vain.

After having promised, by all that was sacred, I would save him from an infamous death, if no other means were left, and thus raised his spirits, he looked round, and knew, by some trees, we were not far from the city gates. I asked him, "Where is the Neiss?" He pointed sideways--"All Glatz has seen us fly towards the Bohemian mountains; it is impossible we should avoid the hussars, the pa.s.ses being all guarded, and we beset with enemies." So saying, I took him on my shoulders, and carried him to the Neiss; here we distinctly heard the alarm sounded in the villages, and the peasants, who likewise were to form the line of desertion, were everywhere in motion, and spreading the alarm. As it may not be known to all my readers in what manner they proceed on these occasions in Prussia, I will here give a short account of it.

Officers are daily named on the parade whose duty it is to follow fugitives as soon as the alarm-guns are fired.

The peasants in the villages, likewise, are daily appointed to rim to the guard of certain posts. The officers immediately fly to these posts to see that the peasants do their duty, and prevent the prisoner's escape.

Thus does it seldom happen that a soldier can effect his escape unless he be, at the very least, an hour on the road before the alarm-guns are fired.

I now return to my story.

I came to the Neiss, which was a little frozen, entered it with my friend, and carried him as long as I could wade, and when I could not feel the bottom, which did not continue for more than a s.p.a.ce of eighteen feet, he clung round me, and thus we got safely to the other sh.o.r.e.

My father taught all his sons to swim, for which I have often had to thank him; since by means of this art, which is easily learnt in childhood, I had on various occasions preserved my life, and was more bold in danger. Princes who wish to make their subjects soldiers, should have them educated so as to fear neither fire nor water. How great would be the advantage of being able to cross a river with whole battalions, when it is necessary to attack or retreat before the enemy, and when time will not permit to prepare bridges!

The reader will easily suppose swimming in the midst of December, and remaining afterwards eighteen hours in the open air, was a severe hardship. About seven o'clock the h.o.a.r-fog was succeeded by frost and moonlight. The carrying of my friend kept me warm, it is true, but I began to be tired, while he suffered everything that frost, the pain of a dislocated foot (which I in vain endeavoured to reset), and the danger of death from a thousand hands, could inflict.

We were somewhat more tranquil, however, having reached the opposite sh.o.r.e of the Neiss, since n.o.body would pursue us on the road to Silesia.

I followed the course of the river for half an hour, and having once pa.s.sed the first villages that formed the line of desertion, with which Sch.e.l.l was perfectly acquainted, we in a lucky moment found a fisherman's boat moored to the sh.o.r.e; into this we leaped, crossed the river again, and soon gained the mountains.

Here being come, we sat ourselves down awhile on the snow; hope revived in our hearts, and we held council concerning how it was best to act. I cut a stick to a.s.sist Sch.e.l.l in hopping forward as well as he could when I was tired of carrying him; and thus we continued our route, the difficulties of which were increased by the mountain snows.

Thus pa.s.sed the night; during which, up to the middle in snow, we made but little way. There were no paths to be traced in the mountains, and they were in many places impa.s.sable. Day at length appeared: we thought ourselves near the frontiers, which are twenty English miles from Glatz, when we suddenly, to our great terror, heard the city clock strike.

Overwhelmed, as we were, by hunger, cold, fatigue, and pain, it was impossible we should hold out through the day. After some consideration, and another half-hour's labour, we came to a village at the foot of the mountain, on the side of which, about three hundred paces from us, we perceived two separate houses, which inspired us with a stratagem that was successful.

We lost our hats in leaping the ramparts; but Sch.e.l.l had preserved his scarf and gorget, which would give him authority among the peasants.

I then cut my finger, rubbed the blood over my face, my shirt, and my coat, and bound up my head, to give myself the appearance of a man dangerously wounded.

In this condition I carried Sch.e.l.l to the end of the wood not far from these houses; here he tied my hands behind my back, but so that I could easily disengage them in ease of need: and hobbled after me, by aid of his staff, calling for help.

Two old peasants appeared, and Sch.e.l.l commanded them to run to the village, and tell a magistrate to come immediately with a cart. "I have seized this knave," added he, "who has killed my horse, and in the struggle I have put out my ankle; however, I have wounded and bound him; fly quickly, bring a cart, lest he should die before he is hanged."

As for me, I suffered myself to be led, as if half-dead, into the house.

A peasant was despatched to the village. An old woman and a pretty girl seemed to take great pity on me, and gave me some bread and milk: but how great was our astonishment when the aged peasant called Sch.e.l.l by his name, and told him he well knew we were deserters, having the night before been at a neighbouring alehouse where the officer in pursuit of us came, named and described us, and related the whole history of our flight. The peasant knew Sch.e.l.l, because his son served in his company, and had often spoken of him when he was quartered at Habelschwert.

Presence of mind and resolution were all that were now left. I instantly ran to the stable, while Sch.e.l.l detained the peasant in the chamber. He, however, was a worthy man, and directed him to the road toward Bohemia.

We were still about some seven miles from Glatz, having lost ourselves among the mountains, where we had wandered many miles. The daughter followed me: I found three horses in the stable, but no bridles. I conjured her, in the most pa.s.sionate manner, to a.s.sist me: she was affected, seemed half willing to follow me, and gave me two bridles. I led the horses to the door, called Sch.e.l.l, and helped him, with his lame leg, on horseback. The old peasant then began to weep, and beg I would not take his horses; but he luckily wanted courage, and perhaps the will to impede us; for with nothing more than a dung-fork, in our then feeble condition, he might have stopped us long enough to have called in a.s.sistance from the village.

And now behold us on horseback, without hats or saddles; Sch.e.l.l with his uniform scarf and gorget, and I in my red regimental coat. Still we were in danger of seeing all our hopes vanish, for my horse would not stir from the stable; however, at last, good horseman-like, I made him move: Sch.e.l.l led the way, and we had scarcely gone a hundred paces, before we perceived the peasants coming in crowds from the village.

As kind fortune would have it, the people were all at church, it being a festival: the peasants Sch.e.l.l had sent were obliged to call aid out of church. It was but nine in the morning; and had the peasants been at home, we had been lost past redemption.

We were obliged to take the road to Wunshelburg, and pa.s.s through the town where Sch.e.l.l had been quartered a month before, and in which he was known by everybody. Our dress, without hats or saddles, sufficiently proclaimed we were deserters: our horses, however, continued to go tolerably well, and we had the good luck to get through the town, although there was a garrison of one hundred and eighty infantry, and twelve horse, purposely to arrest deserters. Sch.e.l.l knew the road to Brummem, where we arrived at eleven o'clock, after having met, as I before mentioned, Captain Zerbst.

He who has been in the same situation only can imagine, though he never can describe, all the joy we felt. An innocent man, languishing in a dungeon, who by his own endeavours, has broken his chains, and regained his liberty, in despite of all the arbitrary power of princes, who vainly would oppose him, conceives in moments like these such an abhorrence of despotism, that I could not well comprehend how I ever could resolve to live under governments where wealth, content, honour, liberty, and life all depend upon a master's will, and who, were his intentions the most pure, could not be able, singly, to do justice to a whole nation.

Never did I, during life, feel pleasure more exquisite than at this moment. My friend for me had risked a shameful death, and now, after having carried him at least twelve hours on my shoulders, I had saved both him and myself. We certainly should not have suffered any man to bring us, alive, back to Glatz. Yet this was but the first act of the tragedy of which I was doomed the hero, and the mournful incidents of which all arose out of, and depended on, each other.

CHAPTER VII.

Could I have read the book of fate, and have seen the forty years'

fearful afflictions that were to follow, I certainly should not have rejoiced at this my escape from Glatz. One year's patience might have appeased the irritated monarch, and, taking a retrospect of all that has pa.s.sed, I now find it would have been a fortunate circ.u.mstance, had the good and faithful Sch.e.l.l and I never met, since he also fell into a train of misfortunes, which I shall hereafter relate, and from which he could never extricate himself, but by death. The sufferings which I have since undergone will be read with astonishment.

It is my consolation that both the laws of honour and nature justify the action. I may serve as an example of the fort.i.tude with which danger ought to be encountered, and show monarchs that in Germany, as well as in Rome, there are men who refuse to crouch beneath the yoke of despotism, and that philosophy and resolution are stronger than even those lords of slaves, with all their threats, whips, tortures, and instruments of death.

In Prussia, where my sufferings might have made me supposed the worst of traitors, is my innocence universally acknowledged; and instead of contempt, there have I gained the love of the whole nation, which is the best compensation for all the ills I have suffered, and for having persevered in the virtuous principles taught me in my youth, persecuted as I have been by envy and malicious power. I have not time further to moralise; the numerous incidents of my life would otherwise swell this volume to too great an extent.

Thus in freedom at Braunau, on the Bohemian frontiers, I sent the two horses, with the corporal's sword, back to General Fouquet, at Glatz. The letter accompanying them was so pleasing to him that all the sentinels before my prison door, as well as the guard under arms, and all those we pa.s.sed, were obliged to run the gauntlet, although the very day before he had himself declared my escape was now rendered impossible. He, however, was deceived; and thus do the mean revenge themselves on the miserable, and the tyrant on the innocent.

And now for the first time did I quit my country, and fly like Joseph from the pit into which his false brethren had cast him; and in this the present moment of joy for my escape, the loss even of friends and country appeared to me the excess of good fortune.

The estates which had been purchased by the blood of my forefathers were confiscated; and thus was a youth, of one of the n.o.blest families in the land, whose heart was all zeal for the service of his King and country, and who was among those most capable to render them service, banished by his unjust and misled King, and treated like the worst of miscreants, malefactors, and traitors.

I wrote to the King, and sent him a true state of my case; sent indubitable proofs of my innocence, and supplicated justice, but received no answer.

In this the monarch may be justified, at least in my apprehension. A wicked man had maliciously and falsely accused me; Colonel Jaschinsky had made him suspect me for a traitor, and it was impossible he should read my heart. The first act of injustice had been hastily committed; I had been condemned unheard, unjudged; and the injustice that had been done me was known too late; Frederic the Great found he was not infallible.

Pardon I would not ask, for I had committed no offence; and the King would not probably own, by a reverse of conduct, he had been guilty of injustice. My resolution increased his obstinacy: but, in the discussion of the cause, our power was very unequal.

The monarch once really loved me; he meant my punishment should only be temporary, and as a trial of my fidelity. That I had been condemned to no more than a year's imprisonment had never been told me, and was a fact I did not learn till long after.

Major Doo, who, as I have said, was the creature of Fouquet, a mean and covetous man, knowing I had money, had always acted the part of a protector as he pretended to me, and continually told me I was condemned for life. He perpetually turned the conversation on the great credit of his general with the King, and his own great credit with the general. For the present of a horse, on which I rode to Glatz, he gave me freedom of walking about the fortress; and for another, worth a hundred ducats, I rescued Ensign Reitz from death, who had been betrayed when endeavouring to effect our escape. I have been a.s.sured that on that very day on which I s.n.a.t.c.hed his sword from his side, desperately pa.s.sed through the garrison, and leaped the walls of the rampart, he was expressly come to tell me, after some prefatory threats, that by his general's intercession, my punishment was only to be a year's imprisonment, and that consequently I should be released in a few days.

How vile were means like these to wrest money from the unfortunate! The King, after this my mad flight, certainly was never informed of the major's base cunning; he could only be told that, rather than wait a few days, I had chosen, in this desperate manner, to make my escape, and go over to the enemy.

Thus deceived and strengthened in his suspicion, must he not imagine my desire to forsake my country, and desert to the enemy, was unbounded? How could he do otherwise than imprison a subject who thus endeavoured to injure him and aid his foes? Thus, by the calumnies of wicked men, did my cruel destiny daily become more severe; and at length render the deceived monarch irreconcilable and cruel.

Yet how could it be supposed that I would not willingly have remained three weeks longer in prison, to have been honourably restored to liberty, to have prevented the confiscation of my estate, and to have once more returned to my beloved mistress at Berlin.