“Yes, sire, at the door of Peter’s empty tent, making kvas, as they call the stuff they drink. She had a fur coat of uncouth cut and was all smeared with meal and honey, but in her way she is as beautiful as Aurora von Königsmarck.”
The King abruptly changed the subject as if he regretted having shown even so much interest in the affairs of his enemy.
“You learnt nothing of importance?” he asked with great indifference; he had only spoken to the spy because he wished to know if Peter was with his army; as to his own actions, he had decided what they were to be ever since he had landed at Pernau.
The Scotchman proceeded to tell him of what he had learnt of the enemy, their number, disposition, and probable plans.
Karl listened with patience, but with so cold a mien that the young man faltered in his speech; the King’s face, blank as it was of all but courageous steadfastness, overawed him and made him uneasy; he felt that he spoke to one utterly beyond his knowledge or liking; he was glad when he was dismissed.
As he went Karl rose from the tree roots, overtopping, by nearly half a head, his tallest officer; the air was still and freezing, and a few flakes of ghastly white snow began to flutter from the bitter sky.
“We should be able to attack at midday,” said the King; it was then about ten o’clock.
“Your Majesty has considered the peril?” asked General Rehnsköld. “By all accounts we must be outnumbered by a hundred to one, and they are entrenched and fortified.”
Karl stooped and took up his mantle, shaking from it the first flakes of snow that were large and hard.
“Do you doubt,” he answered, “that I, with 8000 Swedes, can pass over the bodies of 80,000 Muscovites?”