He anticipated no advantage from the
knowledge he was gaining, but regarded it simply as a pleasant way
of getting through a portion of the day.
Thus for three months the armies confronted each other. Provisions
were becoming terribly scarce, the magazines of the city were
emptying fast, and although working night and day, the mills of
the place did not suffice to grind flour for the needs of so many
mouths. The population of the city itself was greatly swollen by
the crowds of Protestant fugitives who had fled there for refuge
on the approach of the Imperialists, and the magazines of the city
dwindled fast under the demands made upon them by this addition,
and that of the Swedish army, to the normal population. Fever broke
out in the city and camp. The waters of the Pegnitz were tainted
by the carcasses of dead horses and other animals. The supplies
of forage had long since been exhausted, and the baggage and troop
animals died in vast numbers.
Still there was no sign of a change. Wallenstein would not attack,
Gustavus could not. The Swedish king waited to take advantage of some
false move on the part of the Imperial commander; but Wallenstein
was as great a general as himself, and afforded him no opening,
turning a deaf ear to the entreaties and importunities of Maximilian
that he would end the tedious siege by an attack upon the small
and enfeebled army around Nuremberg.
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