Tales from the German. Volume I.

by C. F. van der Velde

CHAPTER VII.

The afternoon service of the first Advent Sunday had ended in the camp before Frederickshall. The warriors were dispersing, and, arm in arm with adjutant Kolbert, Arwed sauntered towards the nearest sutler's barrack, to play a game of chess. The place was wholly-unoccupied, and the hostess was standing at the door, waiting for her guests, her parti-colored holiday dress serving as a sign board. The two friends sat themselves down, with a flask of Burgundy, to the bloodless battle. The sleet was lightly drizzling upon the hard frozen ground out of doors. From the walls of the city and from high Fredericksteen the heavy artillery sent a dull sound through the storm, whilst, in the camp, the besieging laborers ceased from work to honor the consecrated day of rest. The Sabbath stillness was only interrupted now and then by a crash in the barracks and a cry from the soldiers, when one of the enemy's balls happened to take effect. But that did not interrupt the players. They had become so deeply interested in their game that they did not once perceive how the room gradually became filled with officers, many of whom placed themselves behind their chairs to overlook the game.

Suddenly, with angry impetuosity, Arwed took one of his opponent's knights with his king.

'Stop!' cried Kolbert, holding fast his officer. 'Your bishop will by that movement remain uncovered, and I shall immediately take him.'

'Take him,' said Arwed. 'Your knight is troublesome to me, and must die.'

'A mere exchange, for the sake of exchanging,--that is manifestly contrary to the etiquette of the game!'

'It was not a mere exchange,' protested Arwed. 'You had a mischievous plan. Had you led him out, I were lost. Your knight in the place where he stood was worth more than an ordinary officer, and I could no longer defend myself against him. Wherefore I exchanged to advantage, and I should always do the same under like circumstances. Even if my opponent lose no more than myself by the movement, yet I win temporary relief at least, break up his attack, and compel him to resort to new manœuvres.'

'And to use the king like a subaltern officer is not civil,' grumbled Kolbert.

'My king shall not keep himself behind the cannon, like a Persian shah,' answered Arwed. 'Whenever necessity requires it, he must expose himself as well as one of his soldiers.'

'A regular Charles XIIth,' cried some one behind him, with a scornful laugh. Arwed turned suddenly round and perceived the chief engineer, Megret, a Frenchman by birth, who with a satyr-like face was leaning over the back of his chair.

'I thank you for the comparison, colonel, even though it was ironically intended,' said the youth in a decidedly cutting tone. 'Would to God that we all, not excepting even you, were able to imitate the elevated character of our noble king in good and evil fortune; what accomplished men should we then be!'

Megret bit his lips and retired to another table, where he got up a company to play pharo.

'This is my first campaign,' proceeded Arwed with enthusiasm: 'and I have seen the king in battle only twice in my life, but that has furnished sufficient proof of his worth as a brave warrior and skilful commander. He is always great, but when he has his sword in his hand he is more than man--almost a demi-god--and one feels tempted to worship him.'

'Not so, young man,' answered a hollow voice. 'That was a very improper speech.'

Arwed recognised the voice as one he had heard before. Raising his eyes, he saw behind Kolbert's chair a meagre man about thirty years of age, in the dress of a civilian. His close-bodied coat, with broad turned-up sleeves, his long waistcoat and his small clothes, all of one colour, ash-gray velvet, together with his dark colored wig, gave him an uncommonly strange and solemn appearance, which his fixed and expressive eye rendered still more disagreeable.

Indignant at the reproof conveyed by the words of the stranger, Arwed abruptly and harshly asked the gray form, 'what do you mean by that, sir?'

'I mean,' answered the gray coat, 'that it always makes my flesh crawl to hear a true hero so excessively praised. His renown cannot be increased thereby, and the old Fatum becomes easily jealous of such idolatry and oftentimes wreaks its vengeance upon the idol. Think of the anticipations of the great Gustavus Adolphus, to whom Germany did slavish homage in the altitude of his fortunes, and recollect his sad fate.'

'I do not like these nursery tales,' said Arwed angrily; 'and superstition, when it makes lofty pretensions, is highly offensive to me.'

'You cannot know the man to whom you speak,' said captain count Posse, stepping forward to appease Arwed. 'That we are here so near to Frederickshall, and that you have here acquired your first laurels, you may thank him alone. Through his deep science was general Duecker enabled to construct the wooden pier between the bays of Stevemstadt and Idefiall, over which our ships were transported upon ingenious machines from one navigable water to the other.'

'Is it possible! Swedenborg?' quickly exclaimed the softened Arwed with joyful surprise, offering the hand of peace to the gray-coat. 'Swedenborg! Swebenborg!' the murmur ran through the company, and the officers pressed around to catch a glance at the wonderful man.

'Swedenborg!' cried Megret, laughingly, from the other table, 'do you find yourself here again? What news do you bring with you? How stand affairs in the celestial and subterranean regions?'

'The angels axe weeping and the devils laughing!' answered Swedenborg with awful earnestness.

'And what say your spirits thereto?' sneeringly added the Frenchman.

'They are silent in the presence of impure souls,' resumed the prophet in a tone of thunder, which closed the lips of the scorner.

'Is captain Gyllenstierna here?' cried adjutant general Siquier, putting his head in at the door.

'He is here,' answered Arwed, rising from his seat.

'In an hour the king will expect you at his quarters,' said Siquier, stepping to the pharo table.

'Most certainly, he wishes to say a friendly word in relation to your conduct in the late action,' observed count Posse. 'Your enemies, even, must acknowledge that you have deserved it.'

'Thank you, captain, for the acknowledgment that I did my duty,' said Arwed modestly. 'Yet there were many others who did as much, if not more, in that action.'

'Whoso abaseth himself shall be exalted,' said Swedenborg, with benevolent kindness, laying his hand upon Arwed's shoulder.

'You are come opportunely, Siquier,' said Megret derisively. 'You have long been desirous of having your horoscope cast. There stands a professor of the high art, the great Swedenborg. Give him a good word.'

'It would occupy too much of my time,' answered Siquier. 'It takes long, I have heard, to make the calculations, and I must shortly return to the prince. But Swedenborg must also be an experienced chiromancer, and can foretell my good fortune from my hand.'

With malicious levity, he held out his hand to the insulted man. But the latter threw it forcibly back, exclaiming, 'your hand smells of blood. I have nothing to do with you!'

The scoffer stood a long time, as if suddenly struck by a thunderbolt, staring with amazement at the prophet. Soon collecting himself, however, he strode out of the room.

'What was that?' asked count Posse, looking inquiringly at Megret. The latter, visibly disturbed, shuffled the cards anew, and at length said with a forced smile, 'one fool makes many others.'

'That was too much in earnest for folly,' thought Posse.

'If it be agreeable to you,' said Arwed in ill humor to Kolbert, 'we will leave our game unfinished. I have no longer the ability to play. My head has become unusually disturbed by the strange conversation to which I have been compelled to listen.'

Kolbert, acquiescing, threw the chessmen in a heap. Arwed stepped to the pharo table and seized some cards which were quickly thrown to him.

'Take the king,' said Swedenborg to him: 'he is the banker's enemy.'

Megret was evidently startled, and with a Vehemence vastly disproportionate to the occasion, he asked Swedenborg, 'what do you mean? Do you intend to insult me?'

'He who is evil has evil thoughts,' answered Swedenborg quietly. 'I gave to my young friend good advice, founded upon my calculations of the game.'

'I prefer to advise myself,' said Arwed,--impatient of the obtrusiveness of the stranger,--retaining the old cards which uninterruptedly fell from the banker.

'Make the experiment with the king once, to gratify me,' begged Kolbert in an under tone, 'if only from curiosity. If you lose we shall then be enabled to ridicule your adviser.'

'Not willingly,' said Arwed. Finally, however, he set the card which had been recommended.--It won.

'His majesty bears himself bravely,' said Kolbert, laughing; 'the banker can obtain no advantage over him.'

Megret angrily threw to Arwed his winnings, at the same time fixing his rolling eyes upon the prophet. A passionate remark appeared to hover upon his tongue, but he suppressed it and the playing proceeded.

'How stands it now with our expedition against Drontheim?' asked Kolbert at the close of the game. 'I am surprised that we have had no well-founded intelligence from thence for so long a time.'

'According to my calculations,' said Posse, 'Armfelt must have already entered Drontheim. Have you no news from thence, Herr Swedenborg? What is our army about?'

'They are plundering the copper mines of Roeraas,' answered Swedenborg coolly.

'That would not be very agreeable to me!' said Posse jestingly, 'The position is somewhat distant from the capital, and would give the appearance of a retreat. This time, however, I firmly believe in a glorious victory for our arms. Do you not, also?'

'Excuse my answering,' said Swedenborg sorrowfully. 'The powerful elements hate mankind, and they are the stronger!'

The officers looked thoughtfully at each other, and a profound stillness pervaded the assembly.

'Let the Finlanders protect their own skins,' said Kolbert, finally breaking the mournful silence. 'We will stick to Frederickshall, which we have already in our hands. The golden lion battery has been won after a brilliant engagement. When once the trenches are pushed a little further, then with a resolute escalade, we shall be there.'

'For God's sake, my dear friend!' said Swedenborg, anxiously, 'rely not so confidently upon the uncertain fortune of war! Bound to the wild steed of accident, the goddess of fortune ranges through the world--and when she stops and looks back upon her bloody and smoking path, she finds that she has only described a hopeless circle. She stands upon the point whence she started, and all the life and happiness, which she has trampled down in her furious course, is offered up in vain.'

'You speak so learnedly that I cannot wholly understand you,' laughingly observed Kolbert; 'but I gather from your conversation, that you lack the true soldier's faith. You have done well, therefore, in consecrating yourself to the pen. The sword would make you too deeply anxious. We, on the contrary, when our king leads us forth, would cheerfully grapple with the devil himself in his own dominions, and sing over him the te deum prænumerando.'

'And who can guarantee, proud man,' asked Swedenborg with a piercing glance, 'that your king will see the breaking of another morning, to lead you on to strife and victory?'

He speedily withdrew. An indignant murmur arose among the officers; 'It is almost too bad,' said count Posse.

'Yes, indeed!' grumbled Megret. 'And the worst of it is, that they should permit such fools to run about freely in the camp, exciting and perplexing weak minds.'

'Swedenborg certainly is not a fool,' said Posse; 'but a warning example of the disorder which fanciful ideas may create in a clear and ripe understanding.'

'Besides, he is never once original,' said Kolbert. 'The prophecy of the king's approaching death has been circulating through the camp for several days.'

'Original or copy,' said Megret, spitefully, 'one should not publish his fanciful ideas on every occasion. And whatever of sound understanding he may have, according to the count's opinion, might be allowed by all parties to circulate freely, and no harm done.'

At this moment Siquier re-entered with evident agitation, and whispered to Megret, 'the king visits the trenches this evening.'

'Diable!' cried Megret, snapping his fingers. 'Cannot you dissuade him from it?'

'Dissuade him!' said Siquier. 'Dost thou not know the king? Make your preparations.'

'To-morrow evening I shall have the honor to give the gentlemen their revenge,' said Megret courteously, closing his box. 'I must now repair to the trenches, Come, Siquier, our way lies in the same direction for some distance, and I have yet much to say to you.'

The two Frenchmen went, forth together, arm in arm. Arwed followed them, out, and saw that they were engaged in very earnest conversation and struck their hands together with much vehemence. The circumstance surprised him, he knew not wherefore, and he made an effort to catch something of their conversation, which was carried on in rather a loud voice. The tones came distinctly to his ear in the stillness of the evening, but he could not understand a word of it, and soon convinced himself that they were conversing in a language whose barbarous sounds were unknown to him. 'What can all this mean?' he asked himself, looking dubiously after the two officers until they disappeared from his eyes into the trenches.

'The hour has elapsed,' suddenly observed some one near him. 'You may as well go now to the king, sir captain.'

Arwed peered about him through the evening dusk, and thought he perceived near him the tall, meagre form of Swedenborg.

'How came you here, sir, taking so active a part in my affairs?' asked he morosely.

'I have perceived in you a strong mind and a pure heart,' answered Swedenborg: 'and for that reason I consider you as one of those chosen vessels of the Lord, of whom he has need in these wicked times. Therefore I conjure you to repair instantly to the king and stir not from his side until this night is past. I am convinced that there is danger of most fearful doings, as I have recently observed appalling signs in the heavens.'

'Spare me your astrological dreamings,' answered Arwed impatiently. 'So long as God leaves me in possession of my senses, I can never give credence to them.'

'Do you always judge so hastily and uncharitably, my young warrior?' asked Swedenborg, mildly reproaching him: 'and do you absolutely despise and reject every thing that your weak understanding cannot comprehend? Know you the central power of nature, that point in infinite space whence issue the streams of power in an eternal spiral motion, bringing forth the forms of life and activity in endless succession? And while you remain ignorant of all these things, how can you presume to reject calculations founded upon this eternal basis?'

'I cannot argue with you,' answered Arwed, 'while I do not understand you:--and, in the mean time, I must be permitted to consider as perfect nonsense what you have been serving up to me as the highest wisdom.'

'Hold me and my doctrines in what light you please,' said Swedenborg, 'so you but fulfill my request. Lose not sight of the king, during this night. The powers of hell are busy.'

'What can threaten the hero from which I may be able to defend him?' asked Arwed.

'He who eats my bread tramples me under foot,' chanted Swedenborg, with a deep hollow voice. 'Thus it happened to Gustavus, by the fourth rider who left the camp with him. Do you know the tale from the faithful Hastenfeld, of his king's assassination?'

'What mean you by that?' asked Arwed earnestly.--But the prophet had disappeared.