Having accomplished his object, Görgei once more broke fresh ground, and led us into the mountains, in order to draw off a part of the Austrian force, and, by a round-about route, to rejoin the principal army.
I was certainly serving a rough apprenticeship to the trade of war.
The roads were covered with ice, the valleys were piled with snow through which we had to force a passage, sometimes being sunk in it almost to our arm-pits; and as we stumbled along, huge avalanches thundered down the rocky cliffs that on either side overhung our path.
The majority of the soldiers, having newly joined, lost their spirits, which made the officers' work much harder; but we kept them going somehow, and struggled up and through the narrow defiles with the Austrians in our rear, and, for aught we knew, in front as well.
At the beginning of the last week in January, the frost broke up quite suddenly, and the narrow valleys were flooded by water, which swept through the gorges, carrying with it great pieces of floating ice.
As our regiment led the way, we were the first to bear the brunt of this new danger.
"Steady, men!" cried Rakoczy. "Plant your feet firmly on the ground and lock arms, or you'll be carried away."
The men responded instantly, but for a long time they could make no headway against the torrent.
Again and again we led them forward, but each time it was only for a few paces.
The noise of the rushing waters, the blows from detached pieces of ice, the difficulty of securing a foothold, told on the men's nerves, and kept them from fronting the danger.