The men exchanged glances of pleasure, and Gavin, bringing the detachment down to a slow trot, and talking with St. Arnaud, presently heard the thunder of hoofs behind them. He looked back, and there, coming along the highroad, still muddy from the spring rains, was a small cavalry escort, and in front rode a tall, spare, red-haired man, whom he surmised to be the celebrated General Loudon.
Gavin, drawing his men up on the side of the road, placed himself slightly in advance of them, with St. Arnaud. As General Loudon came up, he stopped and courteously saluted both officers and men, the latter raising a hearty cheer as he approached. St. Arnaud then introduced Gavin, pronouncing his name much better than Gavin could.
“Hamilton!” said General Loudon. “That is a Scotch and also an English name. How comes Lieutenant Hamilton in my command?”
“It is a long story, sir,” responded Gavin; “but, like yourself, although I am of Scotch and English blood, I am a true soldier, if not a born subject, of the Empress Queen.”
General Loudon then made a few remarks; but his manner, though polite, was awkward, and he had by no means the graceful self-possession of St. Arnaud or the pleasant assurance of Gavin Hamilton.
When he had ridden on St. Arnaud said to Gavin:
“Do you see how cold, how awkward, how slow he is? That man under fire becomes animated, quicker than lightning, even graceful. It has been said that he grows actually handsome in the light of battle.”
“He looks like a Calvinist minister with dyspepsia,” was Gavin’s comment; nevertheless, he knew very well General Loudon’s reputation as the most dashing leader of light troops in Europe.
As soon as General Loudon’s arrival was known in Vienna, it was understood that the opening of the campaign was at hand, and there was the stir and excitement of the actual beginning of warlike events. The announcement was made that the Empress Queen would invest him with her great military order on the evening of the next day, and the morning after, at sunrise, he would be on the march for Leutomischl, with the last of the hussar regiments.
St. Arnaud and Gavin were in a fever of preparation all that day and the next; but a duty, not to be omitted, was their presence at the palace in the evening to see the bestowal of this splendid decoration on their commander. The Empress Queen, consonant with her lofty and unquenchable spirit, had commanded a splendid levee on the occasion, that she might show to all the world the courage and high hopes with which she renewed the struggle.