e approaches they simply shut themselves up in
impregnable places, erect palisades and batteries, and hope that he
will dash himself against them; which he is not likely to do."

Fergus found that Frederick, when he marched, had left behind a
force sufficient to check any attempt that the Austrian garrison of
Dresden might make, towards the north; but that at present all was
quiet, the enemy venturing on no aggressive movements, never
knowing when the king might suddenly pounce down upon them. He
found that there was no attempt made to blockade the town. No carts
with provisions were allowed to pass in from the north side, but on
the west there was free ingress and egress, there being no Prussian
troops in that direction. Fergus therefore hired a peasant to carry
a letter for him to Count Eulenfurst, explaining how it was that he
had been unable to get leave during the winter; and that, for the
last two months and a half, he had been laid up in the hospital.

Three days later a carriage drove up to the house. The count
himself leapt out, and hurried across the garden to where Fergus
was sitting.

"This is indeed kind of you, count," Fergus said, as he rose.

"By no means, Drummond. I only wish that we had known your
situation before. You should have got someone to write, if you
could not do it yourself. We were not surprised at your not
visiting us in the winter, for with both armies on the alert we
knew that, in the first place, you were busy, and probably not able
to get leave of absence; and in the next place, you could hardly
have got in.

"You can imagine the concern we felt when your letter reached us,
yesterday evening. Of course, I determined to start at once. You
must indeed have had a hard time of it, for you have fallen away so
much that I should hardly have known you."

"I have picked up very much in the last fortnight, count; and I
hope, in another month, to be something like myself again; though
the doctor insists that I shall not be fit for campaigning work for
double that time."

"Well, I have come to take you back with me. The countess asks me
to tell you that if you do not come at once, she will drive hither
with two or three of her maids, and establish herself as your
nurse. It will not be a very long drive, for I am well known to the
Austrians, and have a pass from the governor to go through their
lines when I please, and to visit a small estate I have, thirty
miles to the north. And no dou