"Viola is a devil of a fellow!" said he to his comrade. "He has retreated, and so cunningly too, that Satan's self would be at a loss to find him. Ej! what a general he would have been!"
"What does 'to retreat' mean?" asked Gatzi, who listened to the tales of his companion with the greatest interest.
"Did I ever!" cried the hussar. "Do you mean to say you don't know what it is to retreat? But, after all, it's but natural," added he, after a few moments' consideration. "You have not been in the wars, where they would have taught you. Now, mark me! to retreat is when they order you to fall back."
"Ah! I understand! It's when the enemy drives you."
"You're a fool!" said Janosh, angrily. "A good soldier won't run away, nor will he be driven. I have never been in a battle in which we did not beat the enemy, and yet we retreated!"
The old hussar, like many soldiers in the Austrian army, was firmly convinced that the Emperor's troops had never been defeated.
"To retreat," added he, "means to fall back, after you've given your enemy a drubbing. Do you understand me?"
"Oh yes! I understand!" replied Gatzi; "but I can't make out why you should fall back after a victory."
"Donkey!" said Janosh, with a compassionate smile; "you retreat because you're ordered to fall back; and a soldier who doesn't obey orders is shot. That's all!"
"But why do they order you back?"