The relief which it
afforded him was almost instantaneous, and he seemed to feel life
again coursing in his veins.
After a while he was sufficiently restored to be enabled to get
from his havresack some bread and meat which he had placed there
after finishing his breakfast on the previous morning. He ate a few
mouthfuls, took another long draught of wine, and then felt that
he could hope to hold on until morning. He was unable to rise even
into a sitting position, nor would it have availed him had he been
able to walk, for he knew not where the armies were lying, nor could
he have proceeded a yard in any direction without falling over the
bodies which so thickly strewed the ground around him.
Though in fact it wanted but two hours of daylight when he recovered
consciousness, the time appeared interminable; but at last, to his
delight, a faint gleam of light spread across the sky. Stronger
and stronger did it become until the day was fairly broken. It was
another hour before he heard voices approaching. Almost holding
his breath he listened as they approached, and his heart gave a
throb of delight as he heard that they were speaking in Swedish. A
victory had been won, then, for had it not been so, it would have
been the Imperialists, not the Swedes, who would have been searching
the field of battle.
"There are but few alive," one voice said, "the cold has finished
the work which the enemy began.
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