"Make or break," Szondi had said. Well, we were made, and the Austrians were broken.
Good little horse! On you go, straight as the crow flies. Never mind obstacles. We'll think of these to-morrow; for we're carrying good news, my beauty.
Cheer, my lads! You have the right. There's the general! How pleased he will be at the news!
I dashed up, breathless, while my horse trembled all over.
"Czern is ours, sir!" I panted. "The Austrians are in flight!"
There were several officers near, but my head was so dizzy that I could scarcely distinguish them.
One, whom I took to be Szondi, then helped me to dismount.
The ride, the excitement, and possibly an accidental blow, though I could not remember one, had made me feel quite strange.
The men around me became shadowy figures, their conversation mere disjointed scraps, such as, "Klapka--key of position--pay for Acz--Vienna--next to Görgei," which I heard without understanding.
Then Szondi put a flask to my lips, and I took a deep draught of something which stopped the shivering in my limbs, and enabled me to stand firm.