In it sat old General von Tschirschnitz with folded arms, gazing gloomily before him.
"This, then, is the end of a long service commenced on the battle-fields of 1813, and continued through many a year of war and peace,--and now to be sent off when before the enemy,--and why? because certain young officers, ambitious climbers, wish to have the road open, and seize the opportunity of freeing themselves from the firm strict rule of old Tschirschnitz."
He took up his sword, and laid it on the opposite side of the carriage.
"Lie there," he said gloomily, "thou worthy old sword; thou art too stiff and too straight for the present generation,--they write a great deal, also they run to and fro continually,--they make plans, they proclaim orders and counter-orders, but they don't trouble themselves about the soldiers; they will not march, and they will only fight when they are obliged. But," he said with a deep breath, "the army will fight, the troops will rush at the enemy if they meet, in spite of instructions and theories--of that I am sure."
He had arrived at the railway, and as he was stepping, sabre in hand, into an empty train, about to return to Hanover for more troops, the Cambridge dragoon regiment drew up with clattering of arms in the court of the station under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Kielmansegge, who was at their head on a snorting spirited horse, and who was about to lead his regiment through the town to the villages of Harste and Gladebeck lying before Göttingen.
The old general looked from his coupé affectionately at the flashing arms of the gallant horsemen.
Then he leant back with a melancholy smile, the engine whistled, and the train rushed towards Hanover.
At the same moment the trumpet sounded, the strains of the regimental band rose in the air, the horses threw up their heads, their riders settled themselves in the saddle, the ranks closed up, and the glorious regiment rode through the city of Georgia Augusta.
In front of the fourth squadron, on a curveting horse, rode a tall handsome man, the Rittmeister von Einem,[[8]] and beside his troop rode Lieutenant von Wendenstein, looking fresh, and dazzling in full uniform. His eyes shone brightly, and it was evident that only duty constrained him to keep his place in the line, and restrain his spirited horse; he would rather have rushed in a wild gallop straight at the enemy. Yet a low sad strain rang in his heart when he thought of the old house in Blechow,--of the last evening amongst his family, and of the song which had so strangely affected him,--yet still this strain mingled harmoniously with the warlike fanfare of the trumpets, with the neighing of horses, and the clashing of arms,--his eyes flashed in the sunshine, and his lips smiled as he whispered the hopeful words, "Auf Wiedersehn!"
The regiment rode past the Crown Hotel; the squadrons greeted the king at the window with an echoing hurrah, then they rode out by the further gate to the villages, where the peasants gave them a hearty welcome, for the Hanoverian cavalry is always popular with the Hanoverian peasantry; how much the more now, when the brave horsemen were riding out with their king?