wound had so unfavorable an appearance as greatly to alarm the
attendants.

Charles behaved heroically, as usual. He held his leg to the surgeon
with his own hands, nor did a single groan escape him during the
terrible operation which the cutting away of some of the fractured
bones rendered necessary. At one time his life was despaired of, and
a general panic seized the army, but though the wound proved decisive
of his fate, the unhappy monarch had what may well be termed the
misfortune to recover.

The foe drew near. The Czar, well aware of the importance of Pultowa,
advanced to its relief with an army of 80,000 men, besides 40,000
irregulars, Kalmucks and Tartars. He brought 150 pieces of artillery
along with him. Even with this vast superiority, and after the
training of a nine years' war, the Russians did not venture to attack
the Swedes, but drew closer and closer around them, till they began at
last to intrench themselves within a league of the king's camp.
Charles's illness gave them but too much leisure.

A hostile fortress on one side, a hostile army on the other, nothing
but a victory could save the Swedes; and on the morning of the 8th of
July, only ten days after Charles had been wounded, they marched out
to battle. Their whole army did not amount to 20,000 men, 4,000 of
whom were left in the trenches and with the baggage. Their artillery
consisted of four field-pieces; and their powder was so bad that it
did not, as Count Poniatowsky and Lewenhaupt both affirm, throw the
musket-balls more than thirty yards from the muzzles of the pieces.
And yet these brave soldiers balanced fortune even against such
overwhelming numbers. Three out of the seven Russian redoubts were
taken; on the left wing the cavalry were victorious, and it is really
difficult to say what the result would have proved, had Charles been
able to exert his usual energy and activity. Certain it is that errors
were committed which could not have happened under his immediate
command; for the cavalry of the left wing did not follow up their
success, and the cavalry of the right wing lost their direction, and
took no share in the action. The king, who was carried on a litter
between two horses, was present in the hottest of the fire, and
exerted himself as much as was possible for a man in such a situation.
A shot broke the litter, and the wounded monarch was for some time
left alone on the ground. A lifeguardsman brought him a horse, and he
e