ore unlikely things have
happened than that he should appear here, some fine morning."

[Illustration: As Fergus was sallying out, a mounted officer
dashed by at a gallop]

Having paid his reckoning, he went to the door. As he was sallying
out, a mounted officer dashed by at a headlong gallop; his horse
was flecked with foam, and it was evident that he had ridden far
and fast, on an important errand.

Having nothing to do until he should meet the peasant, Fergus
followed the officer at a leisurely pace; and in five minutes came
up with the horse, held by a soldier at the entrance gate of a very
large house. Sentries were pacing up and down in front of it, and
officers going in and out.

"Is that the headquarters of the French general?" he asked a
townsman.

"Yes," and the man walked on with a muttered malediction.

A few minutes later several mounted officers rode out, and dashed
off in haste in various directions.

"There is evidently something up," Fergus said to himself. "Perhaps
they have got news of the Prussian approach."

In a quarter of an hour several general officers arrived, and
entered the house. It was evident that a council of war had been
summoned. Half an hour elapsed, and then a number of aides-de-camp
and staff officers rode off in haste. A few minutes later, a
trumpet sounded a regimental call, and then the assembly.

Before it had died away, similar calls echoed from all parts of the
town. Soldiers ran hastily through the streets, mounted officers
dashed in every direction, and the citizens came to their doors, in
surprise at this sudden movement.

Fergus had no longer any doubt about the cause of the stir. The
great thing, now, was to ascertain whether the army would advance
to take up some strong position outside the town and oppose the
Prussian advance, or whether they would march away.

Being fifty thousand in number, the former would appear to be the
natural course for a general to adopt; as Frederick had with him
but twenty-three thousand men. Of this fact, however, Soubise would
be ignorant, and might only have heard that the Prussian army was
marching to annihilate him.

Before long baggage waggons began to clatter through the streets.
They were being driven westward, and it was in the same direction
that the regiments made their way.

Fergus followed them to the plain outside the town. The tents had
already been struck; the troops, as they arrived from the town and
cam