"I have," answered a young pale man, standing by on foot; and he handed a small volume to the old commander.
"Let me see," continued Christian of Anhalt, "this is the twenty-third Sunday after Trinity, is it not? and the gospel is the twenty-second of St. Matthew; let me see;" and he sought out the chapter he spoke of, and ran his eye over it in silence for a minute or two: "Ah!" he said, at length, reading from the book; "'Render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and unto God the things that are God's'--but, by my grey hair! here comes Cæsar to take them; ay, and to take more than his own too; so we must try and prevent him.--Now, my good cousin of Hohenloe, see if you can make out what Maximilian of Bavaria and that damned Walloon, Bucquoy, are doing."
"Methinks they are going to attack the city on the other side," answered the Prince of Hohenloe, who was in command of the troops which had been gathered on the Weissenberg during old Anhalt's retreat.
"No," answered the other, "no; they are looking for a bridge. They will not show us their flank, depend upon it. That would be a greater fault than that which they are going to commit. Ride down to your men, Christian, my boy; wheel them a little upon their right, about the eighth of a circle; and be ready at a moment's notice. I will send down the Englishmen to you, when I see more."
About a quarter of an hour passed, during which the movements of the enemy seemed wavering and uncertain; at the end of that time, however, clouds of skirmishers, Croats and Albanians, as they were called, began to appear on the nearer side of the river. "It may yet be a feint," said Christian of Anhalt; "it may yet be a feint.--They are getting upon that swampy ground. Five minutes more and they cannot help themselves. By heavens! their columns are broken. What is Maximilian of Bavaria about?--he is trying to turn the march--The Austrians still come on--look, look, they are separating; they will never get their artillery over that little bridge!--Now, cousin of Hohenloe, now noble lords and gentlemen, the moment of victory is before us, if we choose to take it. In a quarter of an hour, the marsh, the stream, and a bridge of a span wide will be between Bucquoy and the Duke. Let us sweep down upon the Bavarian, who is already in confusion. We are more than double his numbers; he can receive no support from the Austrians; and if there be a thousand gallant men in our army, he is irretrievably ruined. The same movement brings us on the flank of Bucquoy; and he is between us and the guns of Prague.--I say, let us charge at once as one man, and the day is ours."
"But you do not consider, Anhalt," said the Prince of Hohenloe, "that we should so lose the advantage of our position; here, upon a high hill, they must climb to attack us, and undergo our whole fire as they advance."
"God of Heaven!" cried Christian of Anhalt.
"I think," said another general officer, close by, "that it would be a pity to give up the great advantage of this ground, which we have taken such pains to obtain."
"Besides," said another, "if we should be repulsed there, we lose the support of Prague, and are totally cut off from the city; we should fight to a disadvantage, and have no place of retreat."
"If we could count upon the zeal and steadiness of our men," cried another, "I should join my voice to the Prince of Anhalt's; but I very much doubt them. I believe that one-half would disperse ere we met the enemy."