fire from his unseen foes, who, falling back through the trees as he
advanced, continued to gain strength. Turenne had to fight every foot of
his way in order to dislodge the enemy, and it was not until Enghien
had brought the battle to a conclusion on his side, that Turenne arrived
and, forcing the intrenchments guarding the mouth of the defile, found
himself in contact with Merci, who was now able to concentrate his whole
force against him. The combat was a furious one. The troops were engaged
at but forty paces apart, and sometimes had hand-to-hand encounters.
Merci brought the whole of his cavalry into play, but Turenne was unable
to use his, as they were behind his infantry and could not make their
way out through the mouth of the defile.

For seven hours the battle raged in the darkness. After losing three
thousand men here, General Merci decided that his army would be totally
destroyed if Enghien should bring his troops down from the hill at
daybreak. Accordingly, leaving a body of musketeers to hide the movement
by their fire, he withdrew the rest of his army and took up another
strong position, partly on a height known as the Black Mountain,
covering the entrance of the valley of St. Pierre and partly in the
valley itself, thus covering his line of retreat. Had the French been
able to attack early the next morning before the Bavarians had time to
intrench themselves they might have won an easy victory; but for the
past twenty-four hours the rain had been falling incessantly, Turenne's
army had been marching on the previous day, and had been fighting for
seven hours, and was incapable of further exertions, while that of
Enghien was in little better plight, having passed the night in the rain
on the ground it had won.

After such hard fighting both commanders agreed that a twenty-four
hours' halt was absolutely necessary. The day could not be termed one of
rest, for there were thousands of wounded to be collected and cared for,
arms to be cleaned, for they had been rendered useless by the rain, and
provisions to be brought up from the rear. Merci made the most of the
time thus given him. The bottom of the mountain towards the plain was
fortified by several rows of felled trees, and a portion of his infantry
was posted between this point and the town of Freiburg, which was but
half a mile away. The intrenchments that had been formed during the
siege of the town were occupied by them; and as their front was covered