Frederick the Great and His Family [147]
"What!" cried the officer, "I forbid it, and you refuse to obey?-- Sentinels, forward!"
The four guards, who, until now, had walked quietly to and fro before the hut, placed themselves at the door and shouldered arms.
"Fire at the first one who dares to touch another piece of wood," commanded the officer. But the wanton soldiers paid no attention to this order; they regarded it as an empty threat.
"Fire," cried one, laughing, "fire is just what we want--without fire, no noodles; and to make fire we must have wood."
"Whew! I have a big splinter in my finger," cried another soldier, who was on the roof, and had just broken off a plank; "I must draw it out and put it back, mustn't I, lieutenant?"
At this question the gay group broke into a loud laugh; but it was interrupted by the angry words of the officer.
Suddenly a mild voice asked: "What is the matter?" At the first sound of this voice the soldiers seemed dismayed; they stopped their work, and their merry faces became earnest and thoughtful. Stiff and motionless they remained on the roof awaiting their punishment; they knew that voice only too well, they had heard it in the thunder of battle. The king repeated his question. The officer approached him.
"Sire, these dragoons are tearing the roof from your majesty's quarters, all my threats are useless; therefore I ordered the sentinels forward."
"What do you want with the sentinels?" asked the king.
"To fire amongst them, if they do not desist."
"Have you tried kindness?" said the king, sternly; "do you think, on the day before a battle, I have soldiers to spare, and you may shoot them down because of a piece of wood?"
The officer murmured a few confused words; but the king paid no attention to him; he looked up at the soldiers sitting stiff and motionless upon the roof.
"Listen, dragoons," said the king; "if you take off my roof, the snow will fall in my bed to-night, and you do not wish that, do you?"
"No, we do not wish it, sire," said Fritz Kober, ashamed, slipping softly from the roof; the others followed his example, and prepared to be off, giving melancholy glances at the wood lying on the ground. The king looked thoughtfully after them, and murmured, softly, "Poor fellows, I have deprived them of a pleasure.--Halloo, dragoons," he cried aloud, "listen!"
The soldiers looked back, frightened and trembling.
"Tell me," said the king. "what use were you going to make of the wood?"
"Cook noodles, sire," said Fritz Kober; "Henry Buschman promised to cook noodles for us, and the bacon is already cut; but we have no wood."
"Well, if the bacon is cut," said the king, smiling, "and if Henry Buschman has promised to make the noodles, he must certainly keep his word; take the wood away with you."
"Hurrah! long life to our king and to our good Fritz Kober," cried the soldiers, and, collecting the wood, they hastened away.
The king stepped back, silently, into the small, low room of the hut. Alone, there once more the smile disappeared, and his countenance became sad and anxious. He confessed to himself what he had never admitted to friend or confidant, that it was a daring and most dangerous undertaking to meet the Austrian army of seventy thousand with his thirty-three thousand men.
"And should I fail," said the king, thoughtfully, "and lead these brave troops to their death without benefit to my country--should they die an unknown death--should we be conquered, instead of conquering! Oh, the fortune of battles lies in the hands of Providence; the wisest disposition of troops, the most acute calculations are brought to naught by seeming accident. Should I expose my army to the fearful odds, should I hazard so many lives to gratify my ambition and my pride? My generals say it will be wiser not to attack, but to wait and be attacked. Oh, Winterfeldt, Winterfeldt, were you but here, you would not advise this, not you! Why have you been taken from me, my friend? Why have you left me alone among my enemies? I can find, perhaps, resources against my enemies, but I will