CHAPTER V. BARRY FAR FROM MILITARY GLORY
After the death of my protector, Captain Fagan, I am forced to confessthat I fell into the very worst of courses and company. Being a roughsoldier of fortune himself, he had never been a favourite with theofficers of his regiment; who had a contempt for Irishmen, as Englishmensometimes will have, and used to mock his brogue, and his blunt uncouthmanners. I had been insolent to one or two of them, and had only beenscreened from punishment by his intercession; especially his successor,Mr. Rawson, had no liking for me, and put another man into thesergeant's place vacant in his company after the battle of Minden.This act of injustice rendered my service very disagreeable to me; and,instead of seeking to conquer the dislike of my superiors, and win theirgoodwill by good behaviour, I only sought for means to make my situationeasier to me, and grasped at all the amusements in my power. In aforeign country, with the enemy before us, and the people continuallyunder contribution from one side or the other, numberless irregularitieswere permitted to the troops which would not have been allowed in morepeaceable times. I descended gradually to mix with the sergeants, and toshare their amusements: drinking and gambling were, I am sorry to say,our principal pastimes; and I fell so readily into their ways, thatthough only a young lad of seventeen, I was the master of them all indaring wickedness; though there were some among them who, I promise you,were far advanced in the science of every kind of profligacy. I shouldhave been under the provost-marshal's hands, for a dead certainty, hadI continued much longer in the army: but an accident occurred which tookme out of the English service in rather a singular manner.
The year in which George II died, our regiment had the honour to bepresent at the battle of Warburg (where the Marquis of Granby and hishorse fully retrieved the discredit which had fallen upon the cavalrysince Lord George Sackville's defalcation at Minden), and where PrinceFerdinand once more completely defeated the Frenchmen. During theaction, my lieutenant, Mr. Fakenham, of Fakenham, the gentleman who hadthreatened me, it may be remembered, with the caning, was struck by amusket-ball in the side. He had shown no want of courage in this or anyother occasion where he had been called upon to act against the French;but this was his first wound, and the young gentleman was exceedinglyfrightened by it. He offered five guineas to be carried into the town,which was hard by; and I and another man, taking him up in a cloak,managed to transport him into a place of decent appearance, where we puthim to bed, and where a young surgeon (who desired nothing better thanto take himself out of the fire of the musketry) went presently to dresshis wound.
In order to get into the house, we had been obliged, it must beconfessed, to fire into the locks with our pieces; which summons broughtan inhabitant of the house to the door, a very pretty and black-eyedyoung woman, who lived there with her old half-blind father, a retiredJagdmeister of the Duke of Cassel, hard by. When the French were in thetown, Meinherr's house had suffered like those of his neighbours; andhe was at first exceedingly unwilling to accommodate his guests. But thefirst knocking at the door had the effect of bringing a speedy answer;and Mr. Fakenham, taking a couple of guineas out of a very full purse,speedily convinced the people that they had only to deal with a personof honour.
Leaving the doctor (who was very glad to stop) with his patient, whopaid me the stipulated reward, I was returning to my regiment with myother comrade--after having paid, in my German jargon, some deservedcompliments to the black-eyed beauty of Warburg, and thinking, with nosmall envy, how comfortable it would be to be billeted there--when theprivate who was with me cut short my reveries by suggesting that weshould divide the five guineas the lieutenant had given me.
'There is your share,' said I, giving the fellow one piece; which wasplenty, as I was the leader of the expedition. But he swore a dreadfuloath that he would have half; and when I told him to go to a quarterwhich I shall not name, the fellow, lifting his musket, hit me a blowwith the butt-end of it, which sent me lifeless to the ground: when Iawoke from my trance, I found myself bleeding with a large wound in thehead, and had barely time to stagger back to the house where I had leftthe lieutenant, when I again fell fainting at the door.
Here I must have been discovered by the surgeon on his issuing out; forwhen I awoke a second time I found myself in the ground-floor of thehouse, supported by the black-eyed girl, while the surgeon was copiouslybleeding me at the arm. There was another bed in the room where thelieutenant had been laid,--it was that occupied by Gretel, the servant;while Lischen, as my fair one was called, had, till now, slept in thecouch where the wounded officer lay.
'Who are you putting into that bed?' said he languidly, in German; forthe ball had been extracted from his side with much pain and loss ofblood.
They told him it was the corporal who had brought him.
'A corporal?' said he, in English; 'turn him out.' And you may be sureI felt highly complimented by the words. But we were both too faint tocompliment or to abuse each other much, and I was put to bed carefully;and, on being undressed, had an opportunity to find that my pocketshad been rifled by the English soldier after he had knocked me down.However, I was in good quarters: the young lady who sheltered mepresently brought me a refreshing drink; and, as I took it, I could nothelp pressing the kind hand that gave it me; nor, in truth, did thistoken of my gratitude seem unwelcome.
This intimacy did not decrease with further acquaintance. I foundLischen the tenderest of nurses. Whenever any delicacy was to beprovided for the wounded lieutenant, a share was always sent to thebed opposite his, and to the avaricious man's no small annoyance. Hisillness was long. On the second day the fever declared itself; for somenights he was delirious; and I remember it was when a commandingofficer was inspecting our quarters, with an intention, very likely, ofbilleting himself on the house, that the howling and mad words of thepatient overhead struck him, and he retired rather frightened. I hadbeen sitting up very comfortably in the lower apartment, for my hurt wasquite subsided; and it was only when the officer asked me, with arough voice, why I was not at my regiment, that I began to reflect howpleasant my quarters were to me, and that I was much better here thancrawling under an odious tent with a parcel of tipsy soldiers, or goingthe night-rounds or rising long before daybreak for drill.
The delirium of Mr. Fakenham gave me a hint, and I determined forthwithto GO MAD. There was a poor fellow about Brady's Town called 'WanderingBilly,' whose insane pranks I had often mimicked as a lad, and Iagain put them in practice. That night I made an attempt upon Lischen,saluting her with a yell and a grin which frightened her almost out ofher wits; and when anybody came I was raving. The blow on the head haddisordered my brain; the doctor was ready to vouch for this fact. Onenight I whispered to him that I was Julius Caesar, and considered himto be my affianced wife Queen Cleopatra, which convinced him of myinsanity. Indeed, if Her Majesty had been like my Aesculapius, she musthave had a carroty beard, such as is rare in Egypt.
A movement on the part of the French speedily caused an advance on ourpart. The town was evacuated, except by a few Prussian troops, whosesurgeons were to visit the wounded in the place; and, when we were well,we were to be drafted to our regiments. I determined that I never wouldjoin mine again. My intention was to make for Holland, almost the onlyneutral country of Europe in those times, and thence to get a passagesomehow to England, and home to dear old Brady's Town.
If Mr. Fakenham is now alive, I here tender him my apologies for myconduct to him. He was very rich; he used me very ill. I managed tofrighten away his servant who came to attend him after the affair ofWarburg, and from that time would sometimes condescend to wait upon thepatient, who always treated me with scorn; but it was my object tohave him alone, and I bore his brutality with the utmost civility andmildness, meditating in my own mind a very pretty return for all hisfavours to me. Nor was I the only person in the house to whom the worthygentleman was uncivil. He ordered the fair Lischen hither and thither,made impertinent love to her, abused her soups, quarrelled with heromelettes, and grudged the mone
y which was laid out for his maintenance;so that our hostess detested him as much as, I think, without vanity,she regarded me.
For, if the truth must be told, I had made very deep love to her duringmy stay under her roof; as is always my way with women, of whateverage or degree of beauty. To a man who has to make his way in the world,these dear girls can always be useful in one fashion or another; nevermind, if they repel your passion; at any rate, they are not offendedwith your declaration of it, and only look upon you with more favourableeyes in consequence of your misfortune. As for Lischen, I told her sucha pathetic story of my life (a tale a great deal more romantic than thathere narrated,--for I did not restrict myself to the exact truth in thathistory, as in these pages I am bound to do), that I won the poor girl'sheart entirely, and, besides, made considerable progress in theGerman language under her instruction. Do not think me very cruel andheartless, ladies; this heart of Lischen's was like many a town in theneighbourhood in which she dwelt, and had been stormed and occupiedseveral times before I came to invest it; now mounting French colours,now green and yellow Saxon, now black and white Prussian, as the casemay be. A lady who sets her heart upon a lad in uniform must prepare tochange lovers pretty quickly, or her life will be but a sad one.
The German surgeon who attended us after the departure of the Englishonly condescended to pay our house a visit twice during my residence;and I took care, for a reason I had, to receive him in a darkened room,much to the annoyance of Mr. Fakenham, who lay there: but I said thelight affected my eyes dreadfully since my blow on the head; and so Icovered up my head with clothes when the doctor came, and told him thatI was an Egyptian mummy, or talked to him some insane nonsense, in orderto keep up my character.
'What is that nonsense you were talking about an Egyptian mummy,fellow?' asked Mr. Fakenham peevishly.
'Oh! you'll know soon, sir,' said I.
The next time that I expected the doctor to come, instead of receivinghim in a darkened room, with handkerchiefs muffled, I took care to bein the lower room, and was having a game at cards with Lischen as thesurgeon entered. I had taken possession of a dressing-jacket of thelieutenant's, and some other articles of his wardrobe, which fitted mepretty well; and, I flatter myself, was no ungentlemanlike figure.
'Good-morrow, Corporal,' said the doctor, rather gruffly, in reply to mysmiling salute.
'Corporal! Lieutenant, if you please,' answered I, giving an arch lookat Lischen, whom I had instructed in my plot.
'How lieutenant?' asked the surgeon. 'I thought the lieutenant was'--
'Upon my word, you do me great honour,' cried I, laughing; 'you mistookme for the mad corporal upstairs. The fellow has once or twice pretendedto be an officer, but my kind hostess here can answer which is which.'
'Yesterday he fancied he was Prince Ferdinand,' said Lischen; 'the dayyou came he said he was an Egyptian mummy.'
'So he did,' said the doctor; 'I remember; but, ha! ha! do you know,Lieutenant, I have in my notes made a mistake in you two?'
'Don't talk to me about his malady; he is calm now.'
Lischen and I laughed at this error as at the most ridiculous thingin the world; and when the surgeon went up to examine his patient, Icautioned him not to talk to him about the subject of his malady, for hewas in a very excited state.
The reader will be able to gather from the above conversation what mydesign really was. I was determined to escape, and to escape under thecharacter of Lieutenant Fakenham; taking it from him to his face, asit were, and making use of it to meet my imperious necessity. Itwas forgery and robbery, if you like; for I took all his money andclothes,--I don't care to conceal it; but the need was so urgent, thatI would do so again: and I knew I could not effect my escape without hispurse, as well as his name. Hence it became my duty to take possessionof one and the other.
As the lieutenant lay still in bed upstairs, I did not hesitate atall about assuming his uniform, especially after taking care to informmyself from the doctor whether any men of ours who might know me were inthe town. But there were none that I could hear of; and so I calmly tookmy walks with Madame Lischen, dressed in the lieutenant's uniform, madeinquiries as to a horse that I wanted to purchase, reported myself tothe commandant of the place as Lieutenant Fakenham, of Gale's Englishregiment of foot, convalescent, and was asked to dine with the officersof the Prussian regiment at a very sorry mess they had. How Fakenhamwould have stormed and raged, had he known the use I was making of hisname!
Whenever that worthy used to inquire about his clothes, which he didwith many oaths and curses that he would have me caned at the regimentfor inattention, I, with a most respectful air, informed him that theywere put away in perfect safety below; and, in fact, had them veryneatly packed, and ready for the day when I proposed to depart. Hispapers and money, however, he kept under his pillow; and, as I hadpurchased a horse, it became necessary to pay for it.
At a certain hour, then, I ordered the animal to be brought round, whenI would pay the dealer for him. (I shall pass over my adieux with mykind hostess, which were very tearful indeed). And then, making up mymind to the great action, walked upstairs to Fakenham's room attired inhis full regimentals, and with his hat cocked over my left eye.
'You gWeat scoundWel!' said he, with a multiplicity of oaths; 'youmutinous dog! what do you mean by dWessing yourself in my Wegimentals?As sure as my name's Fakenham, when we get back to the Wegiment, I'llhave your soul cut out of your body.'
'I'm promoted, Lieutenant,' said I, with a sneer. 'I'm come to take myleave of you;' and then going up to his bed, I said, 'I intend to haveyour papers and purse.' With this I put my hand under his pillow; atwhich he gave a scream that might have called the whole garrison aboutmy ears. 'Hark ye, sir!' said I, 'no more noise, or you are a deadman!' and taking a handkerchief, I bound it tight around his mouth soas well-nigh to throttle him, and, pulling forward the sleeves of hisshirt, tied them in a knot together, and so left him; removing thepapers and the purse, you may be sure, and wishing him politely a goodday.
'It is the mad corporal,' said I to the people down below who wereattracted by the noise from the sick man's chamber; and so taking leaveof the old blind Jagdmeister, and an adieu (I will not say how tender)of his daughter, I mounted my newly purchased animal; and, as I prancedaway, and the sentinels presented arms to me at the town-gates, feltonce more that I was in my proper sphere, and determined never again tofall from the rank of a gentleman.
I took at first the way towards Bremen, where our army was, and gave outthat I was bringing reports and letters from the Prussian commandantof Warburg to headquarters; but, as soon as I got out of sight of theadvanced sentinels, I turned bridle and rode into the Hesse-Casselterritory, which is luckily not very far from Warburg: and I promise youI was very glad to see the blue-and-red stripes on the barriers, whichshowed me that I was out of the land occupied by our countrymen. I rodeto Hof, and the next day to Cassel, giving out that I was the bearer ofdespatches to Prince Henry, then on the Lower Rhine, and put up at thebest hotel of the place, where the field-officers of the garrison hadtheir ordinary. These gentlemen I treated to the best wines that thehouse afforded, for I was determined to keep up the character of theEnglish gentleman, and I talked to them about my English estates with afluency that almost made me believe in the stories which I invented. Iwas even asked to an assembly at Wilhelmshohe, the Elector's palace, anddanced a minuet there with the Hofmarshal's lovely daughter, and lost afew pieces to his excellency the first huntmaster of his Highness.
At our table at the inn there was a Prussian officer who treated me withgreat civility, and asked me a thousand questions about England; whichI answered as best I might. But this best, I am bound to say, was badenough. I knew nothing about England, and the Court, and the noblefamilies there; but, led away by the vaingloriousness of youth (and apropensity which I possessed in my early days, but of which I have longsince corrected myself, to boast and talk in a manner not altogetherconsonant with truth), I invented a thousand stories w
hich I told him;described the King and the Ministers to him, said the British Ambassadorat Berlin was my uncle, and promised my acquaintance a letter ofrecommendation to him. When the officer asked me my uncle's name, I wasnot able to give him the real name, and so said his name was O'Grady: itis as good a name as any other, and those of Kilballyowen, countyCork, are as good a family as any in the world, as I have heard. As forstories about my regiment, of these, of course, I had no lack. I wish myother histories had been equally authentic.
On the morning I left Cassel, my Prussian friend came to me with an opensmiling countenance, and said he, too, was bound for Dusseldorf, whitherI said my route lay; and so laying our horses' heads together we joggedon. The country was desolate beyond description. The prince in whosedominions we were was known to be the most ruthless seller of men inGermany. He would sell to any bidder, and during the five years whichthe war (afterwards called the Seven Years' War) had now lasted, hadso exhausted the males of his principality, that the fields remaineduntilled: even the children of twelve years old were driven off to thewar, and I saw herds of these wretches marching forwards, attended bya few troopers, now under the guidance of a red-coated Hanovariansergeant, now with a Prussian sub-officer accompanying them; with someof whom my companion exchanged signs of recognition.
'It hurts my feelings,' said he, 'to be obliged to commune with suchwretches; but the stern necessities of war demand men continually, andhence these recruiters whom you see market in human flesh. They getfive-and-twenty dollars from our Government for every man they bringin. For fine men--for men like you,' he added, laughing, 'we would go ashigh as a hundred. In the old King's time we would have given a thousandfor you, when he had his giant regiment that our present monarchdisbanded.'
'I knew one of them,' said I, 'who served with you: we used to call himMorgan Prussia.'
'Indeed; and who was this Morgan Prussia?'
'Why, a huge grenadier of ours, who was somehow snapped up in Hanover bysome of your recruiters.'
'The rascals!' said my friend: 'and did they dare take an Englishman?'
''Faith this was an Irishman, and a great deal too sharp for them;as you shall hear. Morgan was taken, then, and drafted into the giantguard, and was the biggest man almost among all the giants there. Manyof these monsters used to complain of their life, and their caning, andtheir long drills, and their small pay; but Morgan was not one of thegrumblers. "It's a deal better," said he, "to get fat here in Berlin,than to starve in rags in Tipperary!"'
'Where is Tipperary?' asked my companion.
'That is exactly what Morgan's friends asked him. It is a beautifuldistrict in Ireland, the capital of which is the magnificent city ofClonmel: a city, let me tell you, sir, only inferior to Dublin andLondon, and far more sumptuous than any on the Continent. Well, Morgansaid that his birthplace was near that city, and the only thing whichcaused him unhappiness, in his present situation, was the thought thathis brothers were still starving at home, when they might be so muchbetter off in His Majesty's service.
'"'Faith," says Morgan to the sergeant, to whom he imparted theinformation, "it's my brother Bin that would make the fine sergeant ofthe guards, entirely!"
'"Is Ben as tall as you are?" asked the sergeant.
'"As tall as ME, is it? Why, man, I'm the shortest of my family! There'ssix more of us, but Bin's the biggest of all. Oh! out and out thebiggest. Seven feet in his stockin-FUT, as sure as my name's Morgan!"
'"Can't we send and fetch them over, these brothers of yours?"
'"Not you. Ever since I was seduced by one of you gentlemen of the cane,they've a mortal aversion to all sergeants," answered Morgan: "butit's a pity they cannot come, too. What a monster Bin would be in agrenadier's cap!"
'He said nothing more at the time regarding his brothers, but onlysighed as if lamenting their hard fate. However, the story was told bythe sergeant to the officers, and by the officers to the King himself;and His Majesty was so inflamed by curiosity, that he actually consentedto let Morgan go home in order to bring back with him his seven enormousbrothers.'
'And were they as big as Morgan pretended?' asked my comrade. I couldnot help laughing at his simplicity.
'Do you suppose,' cried I, 'that Morgan ever came back? No, no; oncefree, he was too wise for that. He has bought a snug farm in Tipperarywith the money that was given him to secure his brothers; and I fancyfew men of the guards ever profited so much by it.'
The Prussian captain laughed exceedingly at this story, said that theEnglish were the cleverest nation in the world, and, on my setting himright, agreed that the Irish were even more so. We rode on very wellpleased with each other; for he had a thousand stories of the war totell, of the skill and gallantry of Frederick, and the thousand escapes,and victories, and defeats scarcely less glorious than victories,through which the King had passed. Now that I was a gentleman, I couldlisten with admiration to these tales: and yet the sentiment recordedat the end of the last chapter was uppermost in my mind but three weeksback, when I remembered that it was the great general got the glory, andthe poor soldier only insult and the cane.
'By the way, to whom are you taking despatches?' asked the officer.
It was another ugly question, which I determined to answer athap-hazard; and so I said 'To General Rolls.' I had seen the generala year before, and gave the first name in my head. My friend was quitesatisfied with it, and we continued our ride until evening came on; andour horses being weary, it was agreed that we should come to a halt.
'There is a very good inn,' said the Captain, as we rode up to whatappeared to me a very lonely-looking place.
'This may be a very good inn for Germany,' said I, 'but it would notpass in old Ireland. Corbach is only a league off: let us push on forCorbach.'
'Do you want to see the loveliest woman in Europe?' said the officer.'Ah! you sly rogue, I see THAT will influence you;' and, truth to say,such a proposal WAS always welcome to me, as I don't care to own. 'Thepeople are great farmers,' said the Captain, 'as well as innkeepers;'and, indeed, the place seemed more a farm than an inn yard. We enteredby a great gate into a Court walled round, and at one end of which wasthe building, a dingy ruinous place. A couple of covered waggens were inthe court, their horses were littered under a shed hard by, and loungingabout the place were some men and a pair of sergeants in the Prussianuniform, who both touched their hats to my friend the Captain. Thiscustomary formality struck me as nothing extraordinary, but the aspectof the inn had something exceedingly chilling and forbidding in it,and I observed the men shut to the great yard-gates as soon as we wereentered. Parties of French horsemen, the Captain said, were aboutthe country, and one could not take too many precautions against suchvillains.
We went into supper, after the two sergeants had taken charge of ourhorses; the Captain, also, ordering one of them to take my valise to mybedroom. I promised the worthy fellow a glass of schnapps for his pains.
A dish of fried eggs-and-bacon was ordered from a hideous old wench thatcame to serve us, in place of the lovely creature I had expected to see;and the Captain, laughing, said, 'Well, our meal is a frugal one, but asoldier has many a time a worse:' and, taking off his hat, sword-belt,and gloves, with great ceremony, he sat down to eat. I would not bebehindhand with him in politeness, and put my weapon securely on the oldchest of drawers where his was laid.
The hideous old woman before mentioned brought us in a pot of very sourwine, at which and at her ugliness I felt a considerable ill-humour.
'Where's the beauty you promised me?' said I, as soon as the old hag hadleft the room.
'Bah!' said he, laughing, and looking hard at me: 'it was my joke. I wastired, and did not care to go farther. There's no prettier woman herethan that. If she won't suit your fancy, my friend, you must wait awhile.'
This increased my ill-humour.
'Upon my word, sir,' said I sternly, 'I think you have acted verycoolly!'
'I have acted as I think fit!' replied the captain.
'Sir,' said
I, 'I'm a British officer!'
'It's a lie!' roared the other, 'you're a DESERTER! You're an impostor,sir; I have known you for such these three hours. I suspected youyesterday. My men heard of a man escaping from Warburg, and I thoughtyou were the man. Your lies and folly have confirmed me. You pretend tocarry despatches to a general who has been dead these ten months: youhave an uncle who is an ambassador, and whose name forsooth you don'tknow. Will you join and take the bounty, sir; or will you be given up?'
'Neither!' said I, springing at him like a tiger. But, agile as I was,he was equally on his guard. He took two pistols out of his pocket,fired one off, and said, from the other end of the table where he stooddodging me, as it were,--
'Advance a step, and I send this bullet into your brains!' In anotherminute the door was flung open, and the two sergeants entered, armedwith musket and bayonet to aid their comrade.
The game was up. I flung down a knife with which I had armed myself; forthe old hag on bringing in the wine had removed my sword.
'I volunteer,' said I.
'That's my good fellow. What name shall I put on my list?'
'Write Redmond Barry of Bally Barry,' said I haughtily; 'a descendant ofthe Irish kings!'
'I was once with the Irish brigade, Roche's,' said the recruiter,sneering, 'trying if I could get any likely fellows among the fewcountrymen of yours that are in the brigade, and there was scarcely oneof them that was not descended from the kings of Ireland.'
'Sir,' said I, 'king or not, I am a gentleman, as you can see.'
'Oh! you will find plenty more in our corps,' answered the Captain,still in the sneering mood. 'Give up your papers, Mr. Gentleman, and letus see who you really are.'
As my pocket-book contained some bank-notes as well as papers of Mr.Fakenham's, I was not willing to give up my property; suspecting veryrightly that it was but a scheme on the part of the Captain to get andkeep it.
'It can matter very little to you,' said I, 'what my private papers are:I am enlisted under the name of Redmond Barry.'
'Give it up, sirrah!' said the Captain, seizing his cane.
'I will not give it up!' answered I.
'HOUND! do you mutiny?' screamed he, and, at the same time, gave me alash across the face with the cane, which had the anticipated effectof producing a struggle. I dashed forward to grapple with him, the twosergeants flung themselves on me, I was thrown to the ground andstunned again; being hit on my former wound in the head. It was bleedingseverely when I came to myself, my laced coat was already torn off myback, my purse and papers gone, and my hands tied behind my back.
The great and illustrious Frederick had scores of these whiteslave-dealers all round the frontiers of his kingdom, debauching troopsor kidnapping peasants, and hesitating at no crime to supply thosebrilliant regiments of his with food for powder; and I cannot helptelling here, with some satisfaction, the fate which ultimately befellthe atrocious scoundrel who, violating all the rights of friendship andgood-fellowship, had just succeeded in entrapping me. This individualwas a person of high family and known talents and courage, but who hada propensity to gambling and extravagance, and found his calling as arecruit-decoy far more profitable to him than his pay of second captainin the line. The sovereign, too, probably found his services more usefulin the former capacity. His name was Monsieur de Galgenstein, and he wasone of the most successful of the practisers of his rascally trade. Hespoke all languages, and knew all countries, and hence had no difficultyin finding out the simple braggadocio of a young lad like me.
About 1765, however, he came to his justly merited end. He was at thistime living at Kehl, opposite Strasburg, and used to take his walk uponthe bridge there, and get into conversation with the French advancedsentinels; to whom he was in the habit of promising 'mountains andmarvels,' as the French say, if they would take service in Prussia.One day there was on the bridge a superb grenadier, whom Galgensteinaccosted, and to whom he promised a company, at least, if he wouldenlist under Frederick.
'Ask my comrade yonder,' said the grenadier; 'I can do nothing withouthim. We were born and bred together, we are of the same company, sleepin the same room, and always go in pairs. If he will go and you willgive him a captaincy, I will go too.'
'Bring your comrade over to Kehl,' said Galgenstein, delighted. 'I willgive you the best of dinners, and can promise to satisfy both of you.'
'Had you not better speak to him on the bridge?' said the grenadier.'I dare not leave my post; but you have but to pass, and talk over thematter.'
Galgenstein, after a little parley, passed the sentinel; but presently apanic took him, and he retraced his steps. But the grenadier broughthis bayonet to the Prussian's breast and bade him stand: that he was hisprisoner.
The Prussian, however, seeing his danger, made a bound across the bridgeand into the Rhine; whither, flinging aside his musket, the intrepidsentry followed him. The Frenchman was the better swimmer of the two,seized upon the recruiter, and bore him to the Strasburg side of thestream, where he gave him up.
'You deserve to be shot,' said the general to him, 'for abandoning yourpost and arms; but you merit reward for an act of courage and daring.The King prefers to reward you,' and the man received money andpromotion.
As for Galgenstein, he declared his quality as a nobleman and a captainin the Prussian service, and applications were made to Berlin to know ifhis representations were true. But the King, though he employed men ofthis stamp (officers to seduce the subjects of his allies) could notacknowledge his own shame. Letters were written back from Berlin tosay that such a family existed in the kingdom, but that the personrepresenting himself to belong to it must be an impostor, forevery officer of the name was at his regiment and his post. It wasGalgenstein's death-warrant, and he was hanged as a spy in Strasburg.
'Turn him into the cart with the rest,' said he, as soon as I awokefrom my trance.