"Why, then," asked she, "should the journey be undertaken at all? Can you not remain where you are? Carlo, Carlo," she added, with increasing tenderness, "I have abandoned the world. From the night when chance, or perhaps destiny, brought us together in this forest, I felt that with no other human being could I be happy-from that moment I felt a distaste for the world. The fêtes of Vienna had no longer charms for me. I thirsted for solitude. My mind had undergone a total change in that night; and I saw, as if a new spirit had given me new powers of understanding, the emptiness, monotony, and weariness of all that courts and cities call pleasure and distinction. If I could have put on the wings of a dove, I would have sought peace in some quiet valley of these mountains, and, with you for my protector and my guide, have forgotten that there were such frivolities as pomp and rank in existence."

"But dishonour, dishonour!" sighed Sebastiani. "I must vindicate your injured relative: I must next try if there is justice for myself. My heart is worn down with shame. I owe my life to you; for, but for your presence here, I should have been in my grave. Generous and high-hearted being, you shall come with me. can refuse you nothing. I feel your very presence a security for success. Yes, we shall vindicate ourselves

I

we shall clear the stain from names till now unknown to reproach; and then, leaving the tumults and troubles of the world behind, we shall return, and be vine-dressers on the banks of father Rhine." Carolina fell on his neck in silence; but her silence was eloquence-it spoke delight, confidence, and love.

tween two fires, and have had only to choose to which of the French generals it would lay down its arms.

But the temptation of menacing the hereditary states, and perhaps of mastering Vienna itself, glittered too strongly before the Frenchman's eye, to suffer him to see that every step of the pursuit only led him further from victory. Though the ablest tactician of France, and one of the most successful officers of a nation whose triumphs seemed almost supernatural, Moreau thus found himself in exactly the same peril in which he might have placed his adversary. The superior manœuvres of the Archduke had placed the French army between two fires. That great and heroic commander saw where the true battle was to be fought, and answered the remonstrances of the terrified court of Austria and her doubting generals, in language worthy of one of the old Roman deciders of the fates of nations. care not," said he, "where Moreau may go. Let him advance to the gates of Vienna, if he will. It is no matter, provided I beat Jourdan in the meantime."

"I

He beat Jourdan in the meantime; wheeled round from the Rhine to the Danube, and astonished Moreau, when two hundred miles within the depths of Germany, with the discovery that his was now the only remaining army of France, that the Archduke was thundering upon his rear, and that nothing but the most rapid retreat, and the most desperate fighting, could bring a remnant of his troops back to their own country again.

Moreau was at last awake to his perils, and then the genius of the great tactician broke out. He instantly commenced that memorable movement, which is celebrated to this day as the Retreat of the Black Forest. On the first movement to the rear, the whole of the detached corps of Austria, animated by the victories of the Archduke and the sight of a retiring enemy, pursued headlong, and in. creasing in numbers and daring hour by hour, inflicted dreadful havoc. Still the French marched on, sending their baggage and heavy artillery before them. But, in a war of this kind, when an enemy retreating in a compact body, is pursued by detached corps, nothing is more hazardous than the slightest failure in combination. The corps of Nauendorf, moving to the flank, and Latour following full on the rear of the French, at length became separated. Latour found him self instantly attacked by the whole French army. The Austrian general, isolated with a force of less than 30,000 men, in front of one of nearly three times their number, bad no resource but to take up a position, fight till he was reinforced by some of the detached corps, and retreat, if this hope failed. But, after a desperate struggle, numbers carried the day; the heights of Biberach were stormed on both flanks; and the Austrians were driven down, with the loss of cannon, some thousand prisoners, and the dispersion of their army.

During this stubbornly contested action, Carlo and his two companions had come inadvertently into the very scene of peril. The road to Vienna lay between the two Austrian corps, and they soon found the impossibility of pursuing their journey in that direction. They had procured one of the rude stuhl-wagens of the province, but the second day of their progress found them without horses. The French first, and the Austrians after, had stripped the country; and the travellers, at the end of a day of anxiety, were glad to find a roof in one of the half-depopulated villages, where they could rest their heads for the night. They had heard the cannonade heavily rolling round the horizon since noon, and knew that some great battle was fought, from the continual roar of artillery. But they soon had ocular demonstration of its consequences. Night had scarcely fallen, when the village was crowded with troops of all arms, seeking shelter and relief for their wounded. The dispersion of Latour's corps had filled the woods with Austrian fugitives, and the first man who was brought to the door of the cottage was Carlo's old captain in the Hulans. He had received a lancewound through the sabre arm, which disqualified him from playing the part of Roland, and sending heads flying from their shoulders at a blow, a feat of which he once boasted, like a Mussulman. Sebastiani bound up the wound, and the care of Carolina-that care which a woman alone knows how to offer-marvellously restored his spirits, and he almost forgot his wound in his sense of relief. His gratitude lent him a

new faculty of speech, and he overflowed with recollections.

" Carlo," said he, as he lay cooling his feverish lips with a draught of Hockeimer, turned into nectar by the skill of the lady, "I little thought that when I fought your battles in the regiment, I should have to thank you and your friends for this night's service.-I must confess that I felt you had taken rather a liberty with my troop, in carrying off yourself, your horse, and three of my best men.-But I hate calumny; I suffer no talkers under me; and to the last, though I fully believed that you had taken leave of your senses in leaving the regiment, I was sure that you would turn up yet a genius, if not a field-marshal. Do you guess at last who was your enemy?"

The little circle gathered round the bed, and were all ear. Carlo declared that he was not conscious of ever having made one.

"Ay, that shows your folly, my brave boy," said the captain. "You did two or three dashing things, which were enough to have made every sluggard in the army your enemy for life. But, do you remember the little corporal-the fellow who brought the regi ment into that desperate scrape on the Rhine. Think of my astonishment, when, on going to look for you at headquarters, the very man who gave me my answer was the corporal! but no longer the little, meagre, frisking knave that he was with us, but a pompous gentleman on the Archduke's staff, covered with embroidery, and his visage as much disguised as his coat. But I knew him through his double allowance of whisker; and told him so. There I showed my folly too, for his rage was tremendous: he denied every thing; and nothing but a French attack that very night, which gave them something else to do than shooting captains with too long memories, I verily believe, saved your humble servant, Captain Gustoff Nadermann, from the bullets of a platoon in the regular style.

"But by what contrivance could he possibly have got into such a situation?" asked Carlo, doubtingly.

"Was he not a Frenchman?" replied the captain; "and is not that enough any where round the world? Of course, he brought some plausible information, or some forged letter, or some huge bribe along with him. At all events, I have no more doubt than of my lying on this spot, that he was, is, and will be, a spy of Moreau. But he is now a great man-a Major Holzappel, or Holstetten, or I know not what; and, as his natural chance of being hanged must have been turned into a certainty in case of your remaining at headquarters, I am not much surprised that he preferred risking your neck to tying the string round his own."

"And can this traitor be still in the Archduke's camp?" asked Carolina, with an expressive look at her lover.

"In the camp!" exclaimed the captain; "ay, and in its highest confidence. I am told that the Archduke employs him to carry on the correspondence with the Aulic Council, and that he is as powerful at Vienna as at headquarters. I think that we owe him already some ill luck. This last unfortunate affair could not have happened, if the French had not received information of the order for detaching twenty thousand of the troops to the Tyrol; to fight, I suppose, against the chamois. This encouraged Moreau to turn back upon Latour, and break up his brave army into fragments as you see; but I shall have the honour of performing an act of justice on him yet, clever as he is."

A clamour outside interrupted the captain's newly acquired fluency. All was tumult. Carlo hurried out to ascertain what new calamity had occurred. A new rush of fugitives had come pouring into the street, with the intelligence that the enemy were in pursuit, and in great force. All was now tenfold confusion; for the army had been so thoroughly dispersed, that the soldiers were left almost wholly destitute of officers. The soundoffiring in the outskirts of the village, and the flight of the peasantry from the farm-houses, gave sufficient proof of the French advance; and the usual ravage of the enemy, flushed with success and eager for plunder, filled Carlo with apprehension for his invaluable charge. He returned speedily to the cottage; and, directing that all preparations should be made for flight, remained en vidette at the door, to give the first intelligence of the enemy's skirmishers. It was now midnight, and the darkness was broken only by the fire of a small

bivouac a few paces off. He suddenly heard his name called, and saw a party of his old regiment driven in before a sharp discharge of tirailleurs. The sight awoke all his slumbering recollections. He sprang into the midst of the disheartened squadron-was received with a hurrah-and was a soldier again.

"Where is the colonel-the major? What is become of your officers?" were his rapid questions.

"We know nothing of them; they have either fallen or been taken," was the universal answer.

"Then, comrades, follow me," he exclaimed; and, vaulting on a charger, put himself at their head. In another moment he had brought their ranks into some kind of order; and, after a few words, directing the troops in the street to stand to their arms, and barricade the village, he galloped to the front to observe the enemy. He had scarcely emerged at the head of his little band of gallant hearts and bold hands, when he fell in with a strong column of French infantry pushing for the village, with the haste of certain capture. He instantly charged them; and the unexpected shock as instantly broke them in all directions. A stand of colours, a couple of field-pieces, and, most welcome of all, an ammunition waggon, handsomely stored with bread and brandy, were the prizes of this brief exploit. He now returned to the village, divided the capture among the famishing soldiery, and only claimed, as his share of the trophies, the use of the waggon to carry off his companions. But, on his entering the house, he found the old general with a sword by his side, and a musket in his hand.

"Sebastiani, my young friend," said he, "you ought to escape if you can. I give you Carolina-you are worthy of each other. I give you with her this writing, which secures to you both whatever I am worth in the world; but, from this spot I am determined not to stir a step further. Say no more. Remonstrance is in vain. Here I finish my career as a soldier ought to do-here I shall show that Von Sharlheim, if he knew not how to be a match for treachery, yet knew how to die for his country country.' Carolina wept on his neck; but the general continued to load his musket.

" Then we will die together!" exclaimed Carlo, in despair.

"By no means, until we can do nothing better," said the general, with a sudden return to his former style. "You shall see what a soldier who served under Daun can do, even against these wonder working heroes of the new school. There are plainly troops enough in the village for three things; to be beaten, to be starved, and to be taken prisoners. I shall try a fourth, and see whether we cannot teach them to beat the Frenchmen.”

He

He sallied forth, followed by Sebastiani. A few words announced that "Major-General von Sharlheim was come to take the command of the division." The name was well known, and the soldiers quickly gathered from the cottages and fields. In half an hour they amounted to a considerable force; the entrance to the village was soon covered with a trench; the trench was covered by a palisade of trees; and the two field-pieces were masked, to sweep the flank. Their preparations were scarcely made, before the French drums were heard advancing. They had clearly given up the idea of a surprise, and were determined on carrying the place by main strength. The major-general was now once more in his element, and even Carlo was surprised at the combined activity and sagacity which he displayed. ordered universal silence, and that not a shot should be fired until he gave the word. The enemy made the attack in their usual rushing manner. They were suffered to advance to the trench, and even to jump down into it in considerable numbers, before the signal was given. But, when the command to fire produced its effect, nothing could be more deadly. Every bullet told among the crowded ranks of the enemy's column; and the fire of the fieldpieces, loaded to the muzzle with grape, split it asunder as if it had been divid. ed by a thunderbolt. In a few minutes five hundred men lay killed or wounded on the ground. The attack was now abandoned with still more haste than it had been made, and in this manner night passed. But the troops, animated by their victory, and directed by the general, had spent the time till morning, to the fullest advantage.

" My lads," said he, "this business has turned out well, and may yet turn out better. I see that, by some means

or other, we have got into the midst of the French army. Rely on it, they have not employed so much fire on us for nothing; and I shall undertake to say that our keeping this position will be felt in more quarters than one. They will attack us again. Therefore now fall to; fortify every spot where a man can stand; and remember, that Germany is looking on you this day!"

His words were amply verified; for, about noon, the adjoining woods were observed to be filled with the enemy's light troops, and an entrance was attempted by powerful columns at both extremities of the village. But the stubbornness of the defence was even superior to the obstinacy of the attack. The houses happened to be chiefly strong-built dwellings; and the thatch, usually adopted in that part of Germany, had been so often stripped by the successive belligerents, that it had been lately replaced with tiles. On such trifles may depend great things in war; and on this depended the defence of this accidental position, and with it the fate of the campaign. For on that day Moreau had been marching to strike a blow at the detached corps of Zeckendorf, as he had struck it at the corps of Latour, and the result of his success must have been either the retreat or the overthrow of the Archduke. The check in the village first warned the Austrian advancing corps of the approach of its wily and powerful antagonist; and next ens abled Zeckendorf to move his whole force unmolested-join the Archduke in the valley of the Rhine-and thus turn the Frenchman's victorious march into a retreat once more.

The tidings of this junction reached Moreau's headquarters, and there was now no hope, even of escape, but in manœuvring on the Black Forest. The Archduke boldly poured his battalions towards Waldkirch, and found

the French, strongly posted on the heights, debouching on the western border. An immediate assault was ordered, and one of the most desperate and memorable battles of the war began.

Von Sharlheim's predictions were now about to receive their accomplishment. He had no sooner observed the suddenness and completeness of the enemy's retreat, than he ordered the abandonment of the village. "They are gone to try their fortune somewhere else,” said he, " and we must follow them." Marching all night, and gathering all the scattered troops on his way, the brave old man reached the summit of the hills above Waldkirch by daybreak. Carlo rode at his side, and the view from the heights was one of the loveliest mixture of natural beauties, with the stern preparations of war. The French, still scarcely less than seventy thousand men, (for their losses had been filled up by frequent reinforcements,) were formed in order of battle, with their centre at Emmendingen, and their rear resting on the pine groves of Newburg. For some hours all was tranquil. The different positions of the guns, and salient points of the rising grounds, were undergoing that slight formation of field works which marked an expected attack: but all else was calm; and the rich sounds of the French military bands, as they rose up the mountain, more resembled those of a holiday than of an army anticipating battle.

But, about noon, the Austrian columns were seen advancing; and the engagement commenced by an attempt to turn the left flank of the French, and get possession of a height commanding Waldkirch, and forming the key of the enemy's position. The whole front of the French line was instantly covered with the fire of their powerful and well-served artillery. From the point where Carlo stood, the entire scene was visible far below, and nothing could be a more stimulating or splendid spectacle to the eye of one formed to be a soldier.

Republicanism, which had changed every thing else, had changed the art of war. The multitudes which it forced to the field had made life valueless in the computations of the French generals; and where the guillotine was the certain reward of defeat, the only thing to be considered was victory. Thus every manœuvre was made in immense masses, and the losses were tremendous. The German tactics, of course, underwent a similar change, and battles now consisted of a succession of furious attempts to throw a sudden weight of men and fire, at all risks, on the opposing battalions. The Astrians fought with the gallantry of men fighting under the eyes of their most distinguished general, and pursuing an enemy which sought only

" Moreau

"Look there," said he ; evidently knows what he is about. That column will be in rear of the Archduke's left within an hour, and the fate of Germany will be decided." "What is to be done?" asked his impatient hearer; " I see that their movement must be prevented. Can we not throw ourselves on them, as they debouche from the defile, and at least give time to prepare? Give the word at once."

"Spoken like a general, but a young one," was the reply. "If we were to advance now, we certainly might make an impression, but we should as certainly put the French on their guard. No; we must wait until the column is within sight of the Archduke, and then try what can be done. We must not lose our blow."

"Ha! we shall be too late!" exclaimed Carlo. "Look there; they are already sending their tirailleurs into the thicket." A cloud of dust suddenly rolled along the wide valley at their feet. "See, too, what a force of cavalry are galloping round the foot of the mountain: if they fall on the Austrian left, exposed to the sudden shock of the infantry, all is lost."

"Right, Carlo!" said the general; "I see that you were born for your profession." He ranged the field again with his telescope, and wrote a few lines. "Mount your horse, and take this note to the general commanding the division on the left; it may save the army. Farewell."

The veteran clasped his hand. "Yet stay a moment, my brave young friend," said he, in a voice of unusual emotion; " if we should meet again, all will be well; if we should not, let me thank you, for the last time, for the services which you have done me and mine. Your bravely venturing to look for me among the dead and dying in the fortress, was, as I then thought, the mere prolonging of an existence that I longed to lay down. But it has given me an opportunity, worth a thou