With Frederick the Great Part 33

"May I ask if, by the last news, Marshal Daun is still near Hochkirch?"

"He was so, as far as the yesterday's courier brought news. At first we thought that he had won a tremendous victory, and had eaten up Frederick's army; but the later news is that the king marched safely away, and so far from being demolished he is now perfectly master of his movements; and ready, no doubt, for another tussle, if we should advance. However, I should imagine that the snow will soon put a stop to active operations."

Then, bowing courteously, he left them, to pay a visit to the prisoners in the next casemate.

Chapter 14: Breaking Prison.

"He seems to be a pleasant fellow," Fergus said, "and disposed to do his best to make us comfortable; so if we don't see any chance of getting away, we shall be able to get through the winter very fairly."

"You don't think there is any chance of escape, surely, major?"

"Pray, drop the major, Captain Stauffen, and let us call each other by our names, while we are here. The discipline of the Prussian army is admirable, and must, as a rule, be most stringently maintained by all sorts of forms and observances; but here by our three selves, confined in this casemate for no one can say how long, it is ridiculous that we should be always stiff and ceremonious. You are both some years older than I am. I have had the good fortune to have better opportunities than you have had, and have been promoted accordingly; but while here, let us try and forget all about that, and make things as pleasant all round as possible."

The two officers agreed, but not without grave doubts; for to them it was quite a serious matter to relax, even in a prison, the stringent rules that guided the relation of officers to each other in the Prussian army.

"It is a strong place," Fergus went on, "but I don't know that it is as difficult to break out of as the last place I was in."

"Have you been a prisoner before?" the two officers asked together, for both belonged to a regiment that was not with Frederick at Lobositz, and had indeed only recently come down from Berlin.

"Yes, I was taken at Lobositz and marched to Spielberg, and managed to get away from there. It is a long story, and will do to pa.s.s away the evening, when we have got the fire and can sit comfortably and talk round it. My cell there was so high in the castle that, with the wall and the rock below, there was a fall of a hundred and fifty feet, at least; so that the difficulties of escape were a good deal greater than they are here--or perhaps I should say seemed to be a good deal greater, for I don't know that they were.

"There is the tramp of a sentry outside. I suppose he walks up and down the whole length of the six casemates. I counted them as we came in. We are at one end, which, of course, is an advantage."

"Why so?" one of the others asked with a puzzled expression of face.

"Well, you see, the sentry only pa.s.ses us once to every twice he pa.s.ses the casemate in the middle, and has his back to us twice as long at a time."

"I should not have thought of that," Stauffen said. "Yes, I can see that if we were escaping through this door, which seems to me impossible, that it would be an advantage;" and he glanced at his companion, as if to say that there was more in this fortunate young officer than they had thought.

Among the officers who had served throughout with Frederick, the manner in which Fergus had gained his promotion was well known. His rescue of Count Eulenfurst and his family was the general subject of talk at Dresden, and even putting aside the gallantry of the action, it was considered that the army in general were indebted to him, for having saved them from the disgrace that would have attached to them had this murderous outrage been carried out successfully. The manner in which he had saved half the Prussian cavalry from destruction, by his charge through the Austrian squadron, had similarly been talked over, in every regiment engaged at Lobositz. Those who had been at Zorndorf were cognizant of the fact that he had gained his majority by saving the king's life, as this had been mentioned in the general orders of the day.

The regiment, however, to which the two officers belonged had come down from Berlin but six months before; and had formed a part of the command of Prince Maurice until Frederick had returned from Zorndorf, and had, with a portion of the force of Prince Maurice, marched out to compel Daun to abandon his impregnable position at Stolpen. They had not particularly observed Fergus on their journey south; and when, during the last two or three days of the march, they had noticed him, they had regarded him as some fortunate young fellow who had, by royal favour, received extraordinary promotion, and had been pushed up over the heads of older men simply from favouritism. Thus their manner towards him had been even more stiff and ceremonious than usual.

"Do you think, then," Stauffen said, "that there is any chance of our making our escape?"

"Oh, I have not had time to think about it, yet!" Fergus laughed.

"There is generally a way, if one can but find it out; but I have no doubt that it will take a good deal of thinking before we hit upon it, and if it does nothing else for us, it will be an amus.e.m.e.nt through the long evenings to have to puzzle it out. There is no hurry, for it is not likely that there will be any more fighting before the army goes into winter quarters; and so that we are there when the campaign opens in the spring, it will be soon enough."

The door opened now. Two soldiers brought in a stove. It was placed nearly in the centre of the room. The flue went up to the top of the arch, and then turned at right angles, and pa.s.sed out of the casemate through a hole just over the window.

After lighting the stove, they brought in two bundles of rushes and spread them over the floor; and then carried in a tray with dinner, and placed it on the little table. There were three stools standing by the side of the three barrack beds, each placed in a corner of the room. These they carried to the table.

The others waited to see upon which side Fergus placed his. He put it down on one side.

"Excuse me, major," Stauffen said, changing it--putting him facing the fire, and placing his own on one side, while his companion was opposite to him.

Then they stood, stiffly waiting, until Fergus, with a shrug of his shoulders, took his place.

The dinner consisted of a thin soup, followed by the meat of which it had been made, stewed up and served with a good gravy and two sorts of vegetables. The bread was white and good. A bottle of rough country wine was placed by the side of each.

"The commandant feeds us better here than I was fed at Spielberg,"

Fergus said cheerfully. "If I got broth there I did not get meat; if I had meat I had no broth; and they only gave me half a bottle of wine. The commandant evidently does as he says, and makes the money he gets for our keep go far. Let us drink his health, and a better employment to him. He evidently feels being kept here, instead of being with the army in the field. In fact, he is just as much a prisoner as we are, without even the satisfaction of being able to talk over plans for escape.

"Ah! I see he has sent a box of cigars, too. I finished my last as we rode here today, and was wondering when I should be able to get some more in; also tobacco for my pipe. I hope you both smoke."

Stauffen and his companion, whose name was Ritzer, both did so.

"I am glad of that," Fergus said. "I think it is very cheery and sociable when everyone smokes, but certainly when only two out of three do, it looks somehow as if the one who does not is left out in the cold. I never smoked until I came out here, two years and a half ago; but there is no doubt that at the end of a day's hard work, or when you have got to do a long ride in the dark, it is very comforting."

His efforts to keep the conversation going were not very successful. The two officers were evidently determined to maintain the distinction of rank and, saying to himself that they would probably soon get tired of it, he ceased to attempt to break down the barrier they insisted upon keeping up. After dinner was over they lighted their cigars, and then went out and mounted the steps from the yard to the ramparts.

They were soon joined by the officers from the other casemates and, separating into groups, strolled up and down, making remarks on the country round and the town behind them. Fergus had at once left his fellow prisoners and joined two or three others with whom he had been previously acquainted, one being a captain of the 3rd Royal Dragoons.

"You are with Stauffen and Ritzer, are you not, major?" the latter said. "I have a brother in the same regiment, and so know them. How do you get on with them?"

"At present they are rather stiff and distant, and insist upon treating me as the senior officer; which is absurd when we are prisoners, and they are both some fifteen years older than I am. I detest that sort of thing. Of course in a great garrison town like Berlin or Dresden the strict rules of discipline must be observed.

I think they are carried altogether too far, but as it is the custom of the service there is nothing to be said about it; but here, as we are all fellows in misfortune, it seems to me simply ridiculous."

"It becomes a second nature after a time," the officer said. "The two with me are both lieutenants, and I should feel a little surprised if they did not pay me the usual respect."

"Yes, but then you are the older man, and would naturally take the lead, in any case. To me, I can a.s.sure you, it is most disagreeable to have men much older than myself insisting upon treating me as their superior officer; especially as, their regiment having only recently joined us, I suppose they set me down as some young favourite or other, who has got his promotion over the heads of deserving officers because he is related to someone in power."

"They ought to know that there is not much promotion to be gained in that way in our army, major. The king is the last man who would promote anyone for that cause. Why, Schwerin's son has served for four years and is still a cornet in our regiment! No doubt the king would be glad to promote him if he specially distinguished himself, but as he has had no opportunity of doing so, he will probably work his way up in the regiment as everyone else does."

Two or three more officers came up and joined the party, and presently Captain Ronsfeldt strolled away and joined another group.

It was not long before he engaged Stauffen and Ritzer in conversation.

"You have Major Drummond in with you, have you not?"

"Yes," Stauffen said shortly. "Who is the young fellow, do you know him?"

"Yes, he first joined our regiment as junior cornet. It was less than two years and a half ago. I was senior lieutenant at the time, and now I am pretty well up on the list of captains, thanks to the work we have done and the vacancies that death has made."

"And that boy has gone over your head, and is now walking about as a major, with the order on his breast. It is enough to make one sick of soldiering. Who is he related to?"

"He is related to Marshal Keith," Ronsfeldt said quietly.

"Ah! That explains it."

"I don't think you quite understand the case, Stauffen. Certainly you don't, if you think that there has been any favouritism. I don't think anyone ever heard of Frederick promoting a man out of his turn, save for merit; and I suppose there is no one in the army who has won his rank more worthily, and who is more generally recognized as deserving it. I have never heard a single word raised against the honours he has received.

"When he rides through the camp men nudge each other and say, 'That young fellow in staff uniform is Major Drummond;' and there is not a soldier but tries to put a little extra respect into his salute."

"Are you joking, Ronsfeldt?" Ritzer asked in astonishment.

"I was never less so, Ritzer;" and he then gave them an account of the manner in which Fergus had obtained his promotion.