第17章 CHAPTER V.(2)
Bach one day, sitting beside me, related how, the evening before, he had wounded a lieutenant, of the name of Schell, in the arm. Ireplied, laughing, "Had I my liberty, I believe you would find some trouble in wounding me, for I have some skill in the sword." The blood instantly flew in his face; we split off a kind of pair of foils from an old door, which had served me as a table, and at the first lunge I hit him on the breast.
His rage became ungovernable, and he left the prison. What was my astonishment when, a moment after, I saw him return with two soldiers' swords, which he had concealed under his coat.--"Now, then, boaster, prove," said he, giving me one of them, "what thou art able to do." I endeavoured to pacify him, by representing the danger, but ineffectually. He attacked me with the utmost fury, and I wounded him in the arm.
Throwing his sword down, he fell upon my neck, kissed me, and wept.
At length, after some convulsive emotions of pleasure, he said, "Friend, thou art my master; and thou must, thou shalt, by my aid, obtain thy liberty, as certainly as my name is Bach." We bound up his arm as well as we could. He left me, and secretly went to a surgeon, to have it properly dressed, and at night returned.
He now remarked, that it was humanly impossible I should escape, unless the officer on guard should desert with me;--that he wished nothing more ardently than to sacrifice his life in my behalf, but that he could not resolve so far to forget his honour and duty to desert, himself, while on guard: he notwithstanding gave me his word of honour he would find me such a person in a few days; and that, in the meantime, he would prepare everything for my flight.
He returned the same evening, bringing with him Lieutenant Schell, and as he entered said, "Here is your man." Schell embraced me, gave his word of honour, and thus was the affair settled, and as it proved, my liberty ascertained.
We soon began to deliberate on the means necessary to obtain our purpose. Schell was just come from garrison at Habelchwert to the citadel of Glatz, and in two days was to mount guard over me, till when our attempt was suspended. I have before said, I received no more supplies from my beloved mistress, and my purse at that time only contained some six pistoles. It was therefore resolved that Bach should go to Schweidnitz, and obtain money of a sure friend of mine in that city.
Here must I inform the reader that at this period the officers and Iall understood each other, Captain Roder alone excepted, who was exact, rigid, and gave trouble on all occasions.
Major Quaadt was my kinsman, by my mother's side, a good, friendly man, and ardently desirous I should escape, seeing my calamities were so much increased. The four lieutenants who successively mounted guard over me were Bach, Schroeder, Lunitz, and Schell. The first was the grand projector, and made all preparations; Schell was to desert with me; and Schroeder and Lunitz three days after were to follow.
No one ought to be surprised that officers of garrison regiments should be so ready to desert. They are, in general, either men of violent passions, quarrelsome, overwhelmed with debts, or unfit for service. They are usually sent to the garrison as a punishment, and are called the refuse of the army. Dissatisfied with their situation, their pay much reduced, and despised by the troops, such men, expecting advantage, may be brought to engage in the most desperate undertaking. None of them can hope for their discharge, and they live in the utmost poverty. They all hoped by my means to better their fortune, I always having had money enough; and, with money, nothing is more easy than to find friends, in places where each individual is desirous of escaping from slavery.