"How have things gone, major?" Fergus asked eagerly.
"No one knows," he said. "The Austrians are broken up; and our battalions and theirs are so mixed that there is no saying where they are, or how matters will stand in the morning. The king has gone to Elsnig, two or three miles away."
"Is there no news of Ziethen?"
"None. They have just begun to fire heavily again in that direction, but what he has been doing all day, no one has any idea."
But little was said round the fires. A short distance away the surgeons were still at work with the more serious cases, while the soldiers roughly bandaged each other's wounds; but as, gradually, the distant firing increased in fury, and seemed to grow in distinctness, men who had lain down sat up to listen. There was no longer any talking, and a hush fell upon the forest.
"It is certainly coming closer, colonel," Karl said at last. "It seems that Ziethen has woke up in earnest. May the good God grant that he win his way up on to the heights!"
"If he does, we shall have the Austrians, in the morning. If he doesn't, we shall have a poor chance with them."
"I am afraid we sha'n't, colonel; but it certainly sounds as if Ziethen was making way."
At nine o'clock a cavalry officer came riding along. He drew rein at the fire.
"Can anyone tell me where I can find the king?"