"That is the best news that I have heard since the count's messenger brought me word, at Erfurt, that you had returned, major. It has been the dullest six weeks we have had since we first marched from Berlin; for while in winter one knows that nothing can be done, and so is content to rest quietly, in spring one is always expecting something, and if nothing comes of it one worries and grumbles."
"It is a long ride we are going this time, Karl."
"I don't care how how long it is, major, so that one is moving."
"I am going to join the Duke of Brunswick's staff."
"That is something like a ride, major," Karl said in surprise, "for it is right from one side of Prussia to the other."
"Yes, it is over four hundred and fifty miles."
"Well, major, we have got good horses, and they have had an easy time of it, lately."
"How long do you think that we shall take?"
"Well, major, the horses can do forty miles a day, if they have a day to rest, halfway. Your horses could do more, riding them on alternate days; but it would be as much as mine could do to manage that."
"We must take them by turns, Karl. That will give each horse a partial rest--one day out of three."