The king put his horse to the gallop and posted himself on the top of the little hill. His horse was the only white one, and served as a target for bullets and b.a.l.l.s. The king wore his uniform as general of the forces, blue, turned up with red; the prince his uniform of the hussars of the guard.
Battle was joined. The Prussians had driven back the Hanoverian outposts, who had recrossed the river, and a hot cannonade was exchanged between the Hanoverian artillery before Merscleben, and Prussians on the other side of the Unstrut.
"Sire," said Benedict, "don"t you fear that the Prussians will send men to hold the wood which I searched just now, and will fire on the king as at a target from its outskirts, only three hundred metres away?"
"What would you suggest?" asked the prince.
"I propose, monseigneur, to take fifty men and go to guard the wood. Our fire will protect you as the enemy approach."
The prince exchanged a few words with the king, who nodded approvingly.
"Go," said Prince Ernest; "but for heaven"s sake don"t get killed."
Benedict showed the palm of his hand.
"Can a man be killed, who has a double line of life on his hand?"
And he galloped to the infantry of the line.
"Fifty good marksmen for me," said he in German.
A hundred presented themselves.
"Come," said Benedict, "we shall not be too many."
He left his horse with a hussar of the prince"s regiment, and threw himself into the underwood at the head of his men, who scattered. They had scarcely disappeared among the trees, when a terrible fusillade burst forth. Two hundred men had just pa.s.sed the Unstrut; but, as they were ignorant of the number of men following Benedict, they retreated fighting, supposing him to have superior forces, and leaving a dozen dead in the wood. Benedict guarded the bank of the Unstrut, and by a well-sustained fire, kept off all approach.
The king had been recognized, the bullets whistled around him and even between his horse"s legs.
"Sire," said Major Schweppe, "perhaps it would be well to seek a place a little further from the field of battle."
"Why so?" asked the king.
"The bullets may reach Your Majesty!"
"What does it matter! Am I not in the hands of the Lord?"
The prince came up to his father.
"Sire," said he, "the Prussians are advancing by great ma.s.ses towards Unstrut, despite our fire."
"What are the infantry doing?"
"They are marching to take the offensive."
"And--they march well?"
"As on parade, sire."
"The Hanoverian troops were once excellent troops; in Spain they held the elite of the French troops in check. To-day, when they fight before their king they will prove worthy of themselves, I trust."
And, in fact, all the Hanoverian infantry, formed in column, advanced with the calm of veterans under the fire of the Prussian batteries.
After having been a moment astounded at the hail of bullets which the muskets rained upon them, they continued their march, crossed the marshes of Unstrut, took the thicket of Badenwaeldschen by bayonet and struggled hand to hand with the enemy.
For a moment smoke and the unevenness of the ground hid the general aspect of the battle. But at that moment a horseman was seen to emerge from the smoke and to move towards the hill where the king was stationed, riding in hot haste and mounted on the horse of a Prussian officer. It was Benedict, who had killed the rider in order to take his horse, and who was coming to say that the Prussians had commenced the attack.
"Einem! Einem!" cried the king, "haste, order the cavalry to charge."
The captain hastened. He was a giant of over six feet, the most vigorous and handsomest man in the army. He put his horse to the gallop, crying, "Hurrah!" A minute afterwards, a sound like a hurricane was heard. It was the cuira.s.siers of the guard charging.
It would be impossible to describe the enthusiasm of the men as they pa.s.sed the base of the hill, where stood the heroic king who wished to be at the most dangerous post. Cries of "Long live the king! long live George V! long live Hanover!" made the air tremble as in a tempest. The horses tore up the earth like an earthquake.
Benedict could not restrain himself. He put his spurs to his horse and disappeared in the ranks of the cuira.s.siers. Seeing the storm which was bursting upon them, the Prussians formed into squares. The first which encountered the Hanoverian cavalry disappeared under their horses" feet; then, whilst the infantry fired in their faces, the cuira.s.siers took the Prussian army on the flank, which, after a desperate struggle, tried to retreat in order, but, ferociously pursued, found themselves routed.
The prince followed these movements with an excellent pair of field gla.s.ses and described everything to the king, his father. But soon his gla.s.ses followed only a group of fifty men, at the head of whom was Captain Einem, whom he recognized by his great stature, and of whom Benedict, recognizable by his blue uniform among the white cuira.s.siers, was one. The squadron pa.s.sed on by Nagelstadt and proceeded towards the last Prussian battery which still held out. The battery fired on the squadron from a distance of thirty yards. Everything vanished in the smoke. Twelve or fifteen men alone remained; Captain Einem was lying under his horse.
"Oh! poor Einem!" cried the prince.
"What has happened to him?" asked the king.
"I think he is dead," said the young man; "but no, he is not dead. There is Benedict helping to drag him from under his horse. He is only wounded. He is not even wounded! Oh, father, father! There are only seven left out of fifty; only one artilleryman is left; he is aiming at Einem, he is firing.... Oh, father! you are losing a brave officer, and King William a brave soldier; the artilleryman has killed Einem with a shot from his carbine, and Benedict has cut him down at his gun with his sabre."
The Prussian army was in full flight, the victory was with the Hanoverians!...
The Prussians retired to Gotha. The rapidity of the march to the field of battle had so fatigued the Hanoverian cavalry that they could not pursue the fugitives. In this respect the advantages of the battle were lost.
The results were: eight hundred prisoners, two thousand dead or wounded, two cannon taken.
The king rode round the field of battle to complete his task by showing himself to the unhappy wounded.
Benedict had become an artist once more, and was dreaming of his picture. He was seated on the first piece of cannon which had been taken, and was sketching a general view of the battlefield. He saw that the prince was searching among the killed and wounded officers of the cuira.s.siers.
"Pardon, monseigneur," said he, "you are looking for the brave Captain Einem, are you not?"
"Yes," said the prince.
"There, monseigneur, there, on your left, in the midst of that heap of dead."
"Oh," said the prince, "I saw him doing miracles."
"Can you believe that after I had drawn him from under his horse, he stabbed six with his sabre? Then he was. .h.i.t for the first time and fell.
They thought he was dead, and threw themselves upon him. He raised himself on one knee and killed two, who cried to him to surrender. Then he stood upright and it was at that moment that the last surviving artilleryman sent a ball into his forehead, which killed him. As I was not able to save him, being too much occupied myself, I avenged him!"
Then, presenting his sketch to the prince as calmly as if in the studio:
"Do you think that is right?" he asked.