SAVED BY A GIPSY.
The late Archduke Joseph of Austria was fond of telling a story of how he bad been saved from disaster by a gipsy soldier.
It happened during the war with Prussia, in 1866, when the camp was pitched near a Bohemian village. A little before dawn the Duke was awakened by the sentry's challenge, 'Halt! who goes there?' and directly afterwards an adjutant came in to say that a gipsy was outside, and insisting on speaking to him in private.
The gipsy was a soldier, and on his being admitted, the Archduke asked him what he had to say.
'The enemy is stealing on us, and wishes to surprise us,' was the man's answer.
'But the outposts have seen nothing suspicious,' said the Archduke.
'No, your Highness,' said the gipsy, 'because the enemy is still far off; but he will soon be here, and then we are undone.'
'Well! but how do you know this?'
'Will your Highness step to the window?' said the soldier respectfully. 'Do you see the number of birds flying out of the woods to the south?'
'I see them—but what then?' said the Duke.