It may not be unnecessary to remark those fortunate circumstances that
favoured our enterprise.
The sun had just set as we took to flight; the hoar frost fell. No one
would run the risk that we had done, by making so dangerous a leap. We
heard a terrible noise behind us. Everybody knew us; but before they
could go round the citadel, and through the town, in order to pursue us,
we had got a full half league.
The alarm guns were fired before we were a hundred paces distant; at
which my friend was very much terrified, knowing that in such cases it
was generally impossible to escape from Glatz, unless the fugitives had
got the start full two hours before the alarm guns were heard; the passes
being immediately all stopped by the peasants and hussars, who are
exceedingly vigilant. No sooner is a prisoner missed than the gunner
runs from the guard-house, and fires the cannon on the three sides of the
fortress, which are kept loaded day and night for that purpose.
We were not five hundred paces from the walls, when all before us and
behind us were in motion. It was daylight when we leaped, yet was our
attempt as fortunate as it was wonderful: this I attributed to my
presence of mind, and the reputation I had already acquired, which made
it thought a service of danger for two or three men to attack me.
It was besides imagined we were well provided with arms for our defence;
and it was little suspected that Schell had only his sword, and I an old
corporal's sabre.
Among the officers commanded to pursue us was Lieutenant Bart, my
intimate friend. Captain Zerbst, of the regiment of Fouquet, who had
always testified the kindness of a brother towards me, met us on the
Bohemian frontiers, and called to me, "Make to time left, brother, and
you will see some lone houses, which are on the Bohemian confines: the
hussars have ridden straight forward." He then passed on as if he had
not seen us.
We had nothing to fear from the officers; for the intimacy between the
Prussian officers was at that time so great, and the word of honour so
sacred, that during my rigorous detention at Glatz I had been once six-
and-thirty hours hunting at Neurode, at the seat of Baron Stillfriede;
Lunitz had taken my place in the prison, which the major knew when he
came to make his visit. Hence may be conjectured how great was the
confidence in which the word of the unfortunate Trenck was held at Glatz,
since they did not fear letting him leave his dungeon, and hunt on the
very confines of Bohemia. This, too, shows the governor was deceived, in
despite of his watchfulness and order, and that a man of honour, with
money, and a good head and heart, will never want friends.
These my memoirs will be the picture of what the national character then
was; and will prove that, with officers who lived like brothers, and held
their words so sacred, the great Frederick well might vanquish his
enemies.
Arbitrary power has now introduced the whip of slavery, and mechanic
subordination has eradicated those noble and rational incitements to
concord and honour. Instead of which, mistrust and slavish fear having
arisen, the enthusiastic spirit of the Brandenburg warrior declines, and
into this error have most of the other European States fallen.
Scarcely had I borne my friend three hundred paces before I set him down,
and I looked round me, but darkness came on so fast that I could see
neither town nor citadel; consequently, we ourselves could not be seen.
My presence of mind did not forsake me: death or freedom was my
determination. "Where are we, Schell?" said I to my friend. "Where does
Bohemia lie? on which side is the river Neiss?" The worthy man could
make no answer: his mind was all confusion, and he despaired of our
escape: he still, however, entreated I would not let him be taken alive,
and affirmed my labour was all in vain.
After having promised, by all that was sacred, I would save him from an
infamous death, if no other means were left, and thus raised his spirits,
he looked round, and knew, by some trees, we were not far from the city
gates. I asked him, "Where is the Neiss?" He pointed sideways--"All
Glatz has seen us fly towards the Bohemian mountains; it is impossible we
should avoid the hussars, the passes being all guarded, and we beset with
enemies." So saying, I took him on my shoulders, and carried him to the
Neiss; here we distinctly heard the alarm sounded in the villages, and
the peasants, who likewise were to form the line of desertion, were
everywhere in motion, and spreading the alarm. As it may not be known to
all my readers in what manner they proceed on these occasions in Prussia,
I will here give a short account of it.
Officers are daily named on the parade whose duty it is to follow
fugitives as soon as the alarm-guns are fired.
The peasants in the villages, likewise, are daily appointed to rim to the
guard of certain posts. The officers immediately fly to these posts to
see that the peasants do their duty, and prevent the prisoner's escape.
Thus does it seldom happen that a soldier can effect his escape unless he
be, at the very least, an hour on the road before the alarm-guns are
fired.
I now return to my story.
I came to the Neiss, which was a little frozen, entered it with my
friend, and carried him as long as I could wade, and when I could not
feel the bottom, which did not continue for more than a space of eighteen
feet, he clung round me, and thus we got safely to the other shore.
My father taught all his sons to swim, for which I have often had to
thank him; since by means of this art, which is easily learnt in
childhood, I had on various occasions preserved my life, and was more
bold in danger. Princes who wish to make their subjects soldiers, should
have them educated so as to fear neither fire nor water. How great would
be the advantage of being able to cross a river with whole battalions,
when it is necessary to attack or retreat before the enemy, and when time
will not permit to prepare bridges!
The reader will easily suppose swimming in the midst of December, and
remaining afterwards eighteen hours in the open air, was a severe
hardship. About seven o'clock the hoar-fog was succeeded by frost and
moonlight. The carrying of my friend kept me warm, it is true, but I
began to be tired, while he suffered everything that frost, the pain of a
dislocated foot (which I in vain endeavoured to reset), and the danger of
death from a thousand hands, could inflict.
We were somewhat more tranquil, however, having reached the opposite
shore of the Neiss, since nobody would pursue us on the road to Silesia.
I followed the course of the river for half an hour, and having once
passed the first villages that formed the line of desertion, with which
Schell was perfectly acquainted, we in a lucky moment found a fisherman's
boat moored to the shore; into this we leaped, crossed the river again,
and soon gained the mountains.
Here being come, we sat ourselves down awhile on the snow; hope revived
in our hearts, and we held council concerning how it was best to act. I
cut a stick to assist Schell in hopping forward as well as he could when
I was tired of carrying him; and thus we continued our route, the
difficulties of which were increased by the mountain snows.
Thus passed the night; during which, up to the middle in snow, we made
but little way. There were no paths to be traced in the mountains, and
they were in many places impassable. Day at length appeared: we thought
ourselves near the frontiers, which are twenty English miles from Glatz,
when we suddenly, to our great terror, heard the city clock strike.
Overwhelmed, as we were, by hunger, cold, fatigue, and pain, it was
impossible we should hold out through the day. After some consideration,
and another half-hour's labour, we came to a village at the foot of the
mountain, on the side of which, about three hundred paces from us, we
perceived two separate houses, which inspired us with a stratagem that
was successful.
We lost our hats in leaping the ramparts; but Schell had preserved his
scarf and gorget, which would give him authority among the peasants.
I then cut my finger, rubbed the blood over my face, my shirt, and my
coat, and bound up my head, to give myself the appearance of a man
dangerously wounded.
In this condition I carried Schell to the end of the wood not far from
these houses; here he tied my hands behind my back, but so that I could
easily disengage them in ease of need: and hobbled after me, by aid of
his staff, calling for help.
Two old peasants appeared, and Schell commanded them to run to the
village, and tell a magistrate to come immediately with a cart. "I have
seized this knave," added he, "who has killed my horse, and in the
struggle I have put out my ankle; however, I have wounded and bound him;
fly quickly, bring a cart, lest he should die before he is hanged."
As for me, I suffered myself to be led, as if half-dead, into the house.
A peasant was despatched to the village. An old woman and a pretty girl
seemed to take great pity on me, and gave me some bread and milk: but how
great was our astonishment when the aged peasant called Schell by his
name, and told him he well knew we were deserters, having the night
before been at a neighbouring alehouse where the officer in pursuit of us
came, named and described us, and related the whole history of our
flight. The peasant knew Schell, because his son served in his company,
and had often spoken of him when he was quartered at Habelschwert.
Presence of mind and resolution were all that were now left. I instantly
ran to the stable, while Schell detained the peasant in the chamber. He,
however, was a worthy man, and directed him to the road toward Bohemia.
We were still about some seven miles from Glatz, having lost ourselves
among the mountains, where we had wandered many miles. The daughter
followed me: I found three horses in the stable, but no bridles. I
conjured her, in the most passionate manner, to assist me: she was
affected, seemed half willing to follow me, and gave me two bridles. I
led the horses to the door, called Schell, and helped him, with his lame
leg, on horseback. The old peasant then began to weep, and beg I would
not take his horses; but he luckily wanted courage, and perhaps the will
to impede us; for with nothing more than a dung-fork, in our then feeble
condition, he might have stopped us long enough to have called in
assistance from the village.
And now behold us on horseback, without hats or saddles; Schell with his
uniform scarf and gorget, and I in my red regimental coat. Still we were
in danger of seeing all our hopes vanish, for my horse would not stir
from the stable; however, at last, good horseman-like, I made him move:
Schell led the way, and we had scarcely gone a hundred paces, before we
perceived the peasants coming in crowds from the village.
As kind fortune would have it, the people were all at church, it being a
festival: the peasants Schell had sent were obliged to call aid out of
church. It was but nine in the morning; and had the peasants been at
home, we had been lost past redemption.
We were obliged to take the road to Wunshelburg, and pass through the
town where Schell had been quartered a month before, and in which he was
known by everybody. Our dress, without hats or saddles, sufficiently
proclaimed we were deserters: our horses, however, continued to go
tolerably well, and we had the good luck to get through the town,
although there was a garrison of one hundred and eighty infantry, and
twelve horse, purposely to arrest deserters. Schell knew the road to
Brummem, where we arrived at eleven o'clock, after having met, as I
before mentioned, Captain Zerbst.
He who has been in the same situation only can imagine, though he never
can describe, all the joy we felt. An innocent man, languishing in a
dungeon, who by his own endeavours, has broken his chains, and regained
his liberty, in despite of all the arbitrary power of princes, who vainly
would oppose him, conceives in moments like these such an abhorrence of
despotism, that I could not well comprehend how I ever could resolve to
live under governments where wealth, content, honour, liberty, and life
all depend upon a master's will, and who, were his intentions the most
pure, could not be able, singly, to do justice to a whole nation.
Never did I, during life, feel pleasure more exquisite than at this
moment. My friend for me had risked a shameful death, and now, after
having carried him at least twelve hours on my shoulders, I had saved
both him and myself. We certainly should not have suffered any man to
bring us, alive, back to Glatz. Yet this was but the first act of the
tragedy of which I was doomed the hero, and the mournful incidents of
which all arose out of, and depended on, each other.