"Yes," answered the Austrian. "It was then the Bohemian revolt broke
out, your King Frederick V of the Palatinate was slain here, and
there was great rejoicing at his death."
"If you forget who you are, forget not who I am."
"We will not quarrel about something that happened so long ago! But,
as a matter of fact, the revolt was crushed, and the Protestants had
to withdraw. What did they get by their trouble--the poor Bohemians?
Hussites, Taborites, Utraquists sacrificed their lives, but Bohemia
is still Catholic! It was all folly!"
"Do you belong to the Roman Church, First Lieutenant?"
"I don't belong to any Church at all; I belong to the army. And now
we will take Prague with a _coup de main_."
So it fell out. At midnight the foot-soldiers clambered over the
wall, threw the sentinels into the moat, cut down the guards at the
gates, and took that side of the town.
For three days the part of the city which lay on the left bank of
the Moldau was plundered, and Konigsmarck is said to have sent five
waggons laden with gold and silver to the north-west through
Germany, as his own share of the spoil. Odowalsky received six
thousand thalers for his trouble, and later on was raised to the
Swedish House of Peers with the title of "Von Streitberg."
But the right bank had not been captured.
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