Trembling with eager desire to enter the lists, Arwed instantly threw himself out of his saddle, and asked, his foot still in the stirrup: 'may I lead these troops once more against the battery?'
'You may make the attempt!' replied the king kindly to him, and immediately galloped to the other side of the battery, where also the Swedes had begun to give ground. In a transport of joy Arwed sprang from his horse, drew his sword, and cried to the soldiers: 'in the king's name, halt, left wheel!'
The soldiers obeyed, and Arwed placed himself at their head.
'Think of the hero whose soldiers you are,' cried he: 'and of your own glory; and, in God's name, march!'
'God be with us!' cried the newly encouraged band, rushing on after their leader. Several lives were lost in the advance, but the main part, strengthened by the fragments of the other battalions, soon stood by the palisades safely sheltered from the fire of the enemy's cannon. But now the little musket balls whistled from the breastworks, and murderous grenades were bursting among them at almost every moment.
'Force out the palisades and pass the trench!' commanded Arwed, and with prodigious strength he removed some of the pales, which he placed over the hard frozen ditch and pushed forward. The soldiers followed the example, and the opposite side of the wall was soon covered with the clambering troops. The Danes defended themselves with great fury, and the dear victory was purchased with the sacrifice of many Swedish lives. Two musket balls passed through Arwed's hat, but in an instant thereafter, he stood upon the breastwork and pierced the heart of one of the marksmen with his sword. A bayonet-thrust of the other grazed his cheek. This one fell under the blows given by the clubbed muskets of the closely following Swedes, and soon the Swedish banner floated proudly over the stormed works.
Meanwhile the king, who had been attempting an entrance on the other side of the wall, hastened hither at the head of one of his battalions, and the few remaining Danes threw down their arms and begged for quarter.
'What, before me, upon the walls!' cried the royal hero, embracing the bleeding Arwed. 'There is yet a true Swede! You are a captain of the guards, Gyllenstierna.'
'We have two companies, prisoners,' said Siquier, stepping up to the king with a sanguinary expression of countenance. They have compelled us to storm the place, and their lives are forfeited. Does your majesty command their execution?'
'Right, Siquier,' answered Charles, affecting to misunderstand him, 'Let the poor creatures be fed in our camp,--and when they have satiated their appetites, let them promise not to fight against me again in this war--and then, in God's name, let them go in peace.'