ect the battle, paying no more attention
to bullets, balls and bombshells, than if they had been snow flakes.

Peter was equally prodigal of danger. Death in that hour was more
desirable to him than defeat, for Charles XII., victorious, would
march direct to Moscow, and Russia would share the fate of Poland. The
tzar was conspicuous at every point where the battle raged most
fiercely. Several bullets pierced his clothes; one passing through his
hat just grazed the crown of his head. At length, the Swedes,
overpowered by numbers, gave way, and fled in great confusion.
Charles, though agonized by his wound, was compelled to mount on
horseback as the only means of escape from capture. The black hour of
woe came, which sooner or later meets almost every warrior, however
successful for a time his career may be. The blow was fatal to Charles
XII. More than nine thousand of the Swedes were left dead upon the
field of battle. Eighteen thousand were taken prisoners. The Swedish
king, with a few hundred troops in his retinue, cut off from his
retreat towards Sweden, crossed the Dnieper and fled to Turkey. Peter
did not pursue him, but being informed of his desperate resolve to
seek refuge in the territory of the Turks, he magnanimously wrote a
letter to him, urging him not to take so perilous a step, assuring
him, upon his honor, that he would not detain him as a prisoner, but
that all their difficulties should be settled by a reasonable peace. A
special courier was dispatched with this letter, but he could not
overtake the fugitives. When the courier arrived at the river Boy,
which separates the deserts of Ukraine from the territories of the
Grand Seignor, the Swedes had already crossed the river. In the
character of Peter there was a singular compound of magnanimity and of
the most brutal insensibility and mercilessness. He ordered all the
Swedish generals, who were his captives, to be introduced to him,
returned to them their swords and invited them to dine. With a
gracefulness of courtesy rarely surpassed, he offered as a toast the
sentiment, "To the health of my masters in the art of war." And yet,
soon after, he consigned nearly all these captives to the horrors of
Siberian exile.

This utter defeat of Charles XII. produced a sudden revolution in
Poland, Sweden and Saxony. Peter immediately dispatched a large body
of cavalry, under Menzikoff, to Poland, to assist Augustus in
regaining his crown. Soon after, he followed hi