ff his passage through it, rendering it thereby
impossible for him to join his comrades by that road. To attempt to cut
through the enemy's army with only one hundred and sixty horsemen,
would seem to be absolute madness. The only alternative left to him,
therefore,--and it was one more likely to lead to death than
deliverance,--was to make direct for the Neckar, which flowed between
him and his friends, and pass it by swimming across. Desperate as this
only resource of escape was, he determined to act upon it without loss
of time, and once having gained the banks of the river, he thought the
passage of it might be easily accomplished. By these means he might
hope to join the Duke; though it was but a forlorn hope. Five hundred
men of the Leaguist cavalry had by this time reached the foot of the
hill upon which he stood. He thought he recognized Truchses von
Waldburg at their head, and rather than surrender to him, he would
willingly have suffered death.

He gave the signal to his gallant Wuertembergers to follow him down the
side of the hill which led to the banks of the river. They staggered at
the fearful expedient, for it was scarcely to be expected that a fifth
part of them would escape, so steep was the descent, and besides which,
between the hill and the river stood a large body of the enemy's
infantry, ready to receive them. But their gallant young leader,
throwing open his vizor, discovered to them his noble countenance,
beaming with the inspiration of heroic magnanimity. The whole troop
were animated by the same bold spirit, and when they recollected they
had seen him but a few weeks back leading a beautiful maiden to the
altar, and that he had left this endearing object behind him, for the
sake of his Duke and country, they vociferated in loud shouts the
practices of their several vocations. "At them!" cried the butchers,
"we'll slaughter them like oxen;" "And we'll hammer them like hot
iron," cried the blacksmiths; and the saddlers vociferated "They
shall be beat as soft as leather." "Ulerich for ever!" cried their
bold-hearted leader, who putting spurs to his horse, was the first to
gallop down the dangerous declivity. The enemy's cavalry could scarcely
believe their eyes when they arrived at the top of the hill, in
expectation of capturing their daring adversaries, and saw them hotly
engaged with their infantry at the bottom of it. This bold step of
Albert's cost many a brave man his life: many were thrown