More Than Once Had The Conqueror Been Indebted To
This Young Warrior, For Turning The Point Of The Destructive Sword
From
giving him the same death he was dealing about to others; yet in all the
dangers he had been
In never had he received one wound, and this often
made the king say, who was a firm believer in predestination, that
heaven designed him for a soldier: his fortune, his valour, his
activity, added to his obliging and modest behaviour, indeed rendered
him so dear to his royal master, that there were very few, if any, to
whom he gave greater marks of his favour. And had Dorilaus, or even
Charlotta herself, all tender as she was, and trembling for the hazards
she knew he had been exposed to, seen him thus caressed and honoured by
the most glorious prince and greatest hero in the world, they could
scarce have wished him to quit the post he was in, much less persuaded
him to do it.
He hitherto indeed had experienced only the happiness of a martial life,
for the fatigues, hardships, and dangers of it he as little regarded as
the intrepid and indefatigable prince he served; but now arrived the
time which was to inflict on him the worst miseries of it, and make him
almost curse a vocation he had been in his soul so much attached to.
The king of Sweden, with his usual success having passed the
Boristhenes, encountered a party of 10,000 Muscovites and 6000 Calmuck
Tartars; but they gave way on the first onset and fled into a wood,
where the king, following the dictates of his great courage more than
prudence, pursuing them, fell into an ambuscade, which, throwing
themselves between him and three regiments of horse that were with him,
hem'd him in, and now began a very unequal fight. - Many of the gallant
Swedes were cut to pieces, and the Muscovites made quite up to his
majesty: - two aid-de-camps were killed within his presence, his own
horse was shot under him, and as an equerry was presenting him with
another, both horse and man was struck dead in the same moment. - Horatio
immediately alighted in order to mount the king, who now on foot behaved
with incredible valour, in that action was surrounded and taken
prisoner, as were several others that had fought near his person. He had
the satisfaction, however, while they were disarming and tying his
hands, to see colonel Dardoff with his regiment force thro' the
Calmucks, and arrive timely enough to disengage the king, after which
the army recovering its rank, and pouring in upon the enemy, he was not
without hopes of regaining his liberty; but he was sat upon a horse and
bound fast to the saddle, and compelled, with the others that were taken
with him, to accompany the Muscovites in their flight, so was ignorant
in what manner this re-encounter ended. Soon after repairing to the
czar's quarters, these unfortunate officers of the king of Sweden were,
with some others who had before become their prize, sent under a strong
guard to Petersburgh, and thrown altogether into a miserable dungeon.
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