"I am sure I don't want
to get into them, colonel, and really I have never gone out of my
way to do so, unless you call my march to help the Count of Mansfeld
going out of my way. All the other things have come to me without
any fault of my own."
"Quite so, Graheme," the colonel said smiling; "that's always the
excuse of the boy who gets into scrapes. The question is, Why do
these things always happen to you and to nobody else? If you can
explain that your whole case is made out. But don't take it seriously,
Malcolm," he continued, seeing that the lad looked really crestfallen.
"You know I am only laughing, and there is not a man here, including
myself, who does not envy you a little for the numerous adventures
which have fallen to your lot, and for the courage and wisdom which
you have shown in extricating yourself from them."
"And now, please, will you tell me, colonel," Malcolm said more
cheerfully, "why we are turning our backs upon Ingolstadt and are
marching away without taking it? I have been away for ten days, you
know, and it is a mystery to me why we are leaving the only enemy
between us and Vienna, after having beaten him so heartily a
fortnight since, without making an effort to rout him thoroughly."
"Maximilian's position is a very strong one, my lad, and covered
as he is by the guns of Ingolstadt it would be even a harder task
to dislodge him than it was to cross the Lech in his teeth.
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