"It was not too small a party, sir, as they managed to beat off the attack made upon them."
The Russian was silent for a moment, then he asked:
"Who was the officer in command?"
"The officer in command was the King of Sweden," Charlie replied.
An exclamation of surprise and anger broke from the Russian general, when the answer was translated to him.
"You missed a good chance of distinguishing yourself," he said to the officer in command of the troops. "Here has this mad King of Sweden been actually putting himself in your hands, and you have let him slip through your fingers. It would have got you two steps in rank, and the favour of the czar, had you captured him, and now he will be in a rage, indeed, when he hears that five hundred cavalry could do nothing against a force only a third of their number."
"I had no idea that the King of Sweden was there himself," the officer said humbly.
"Bah, that is no excuse. There were officers, and you ought to have captured them, instead of allowing yourself to be put to flight by a hundred and fifty men."
"We must have killed half the horsemen before the infantry came up."
"All the worse, colonel, that you did not complete the business. The infantry would not have been formidable, after they discharged their pieces. However, it is your own affair, and I wash my hands of it. What the czar will say when he hears of it, I know not, but I would not be in your shoes for all my estates."