"'What, my friend, you are a reader as well as a soldier?'
"'Yes, sire, I have had the honour to read all the works of your majesty.'
"'A man of sense!" said Frederick, taking a pinch of rappee; 'your name?'
"'Peter Schreutzer, of Colonel Warriston's battalion of the Guards.'
"Frederick drew from one of his fingers a ring of small value (he was not a man given to trinkets or adornment), and gave it to the soldier, saying:
"'If you escape this field of Prague, bring this ring to me yourself, comrade Peter.'
"Mounting his horse, he galloped after his retreating army, and overtaking a few pieces of artillery he posted them on the height indicated by Schreutzer, and opened fire on the wooded defile—a measure which dislodged a great ambuscade of Marshal Daun's infantry, and saved from destruction the Prussian left wing, the retreat of which was nobly covered by the Warriston battalion.
"Three months after this, when Frederick was seated in his tent, surrounded by his staff and dictating orders, a private of the Guards limped in, supported by a stick, and kneeling presented him with a ring.
"'Ach, Gott, what is this?' said Frederick; 'Oho, 'tis my student of Macchiavelli; well, comrade, I followed your advice and saved my left wing.'
"'Thank God, who inspired me with the idea!' said Schreutzer.