The Life and Adventures of Baron Trenck Volume 1

B >> Baron Trenck >> The Life and Adventures of Baron Trenck Volume 1

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

Two years after I met with this extraordinary man at Ofenbourg,
where hue was a writer: he entered immediately into my service, and
became my friend, but died some months after of a burning fever, at
my quarters in Hungary, at which I was deeply grieved, for his
memory will be ever dear to me.

Now was I exposed to all the storms of ill-fortune: a prosecution
was entered against me as a conspirator, who wanted to corrupt the
officers and soldiers of the King. They commanded me to name the
remaining conspirators; but to these questions I made no answer,
except by steadfastly declaring I was an innocent prisoner, an
officer unjustly broken; unjustly, because I had never been brought
to trial; that consequently I was released from all my engagements;
nor could it be thought extraordinary that I should avail myself of
that law of nature which gives every man a right to defend his
honour defamed, and seek by every possible means to regain his
liberty: that such had been my sole purpose in every enterprise I
had formed, and such should still continue to be, for I was
determined to persist, till I should either be crowned with success,
or lose my life in the attempt.

Things thus remained: every precaution was taken except that I was
not put in irons; it being a law in Prussia that no gentleman or
officer can be loaded with chains, unless he has first for some
crime been delivered over to the executioner; and certainly this had
not been my case.

The soldiers were withdrawn from my chamber; but the greatest ill
was I had expended all my money, and my kind mistress, at Berlin,
with whom I had always corresponded, and which my persecutors could
not prevent, at last wrote -

"My tears flow with yours; the evil is without remedy--I dare no
more--escape if you can. My fidelity will ever be the same, when it
shall be possible for me to serve you.--Adieu, unhappy friend: you
merit a better fate."

This letter was a thunderbolt:- my comfort, however, still was that
the officers were not suspected, and that it was their duty to visit
my chamber several times a day, and examine what passed: from which
circumstance I felt my hopes somewhat revive. Hence an adventure
happened which is almost unexampled in tales of knight-errantry.

A lieutenant, whose name was Bach, a Dane by nation, mounted guard
every fourth day, and was the terror of the whole garrison; for,
being a perfect master of arms, he was incessantly involved in
quarrels, and generally left his marks behind him. He had served in
two regiments, neither of which would associate with him for this
reason, and he had been sent to the garrison regiment at Glatz as
punishment.

Bach one day, sitting beside me, related how, the evening before, he
had wounded a lieutenant, of the name of Schell, in the arm. I
replied, 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 I
all 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.

The talents of Schell were of a superior order; he spoke and wrote
six languages, and was well acquainted with all the fine arts. He
had served in the regiment of Fouquet, had been injured by his
colonel, who was a Pomeranian; and Fouquet, who was no friend to
well-informed officers, had sent him to a garrison regiment. He had
twice demanded his dismissal, but the King sent him to this species
of imprisonment; he then determined to avenge himself by deserting,
and was ready to aid me in recovering my freedom, that he might, by
that means, spite Fouquet.

I shall speak more hereafter of this extraordinary man, that I must
not in this place interrupt my story. We determined everything
should be prepared against the first time Schell mounted guard, and
that our project should be executed on our next. Thus, as he
mounted guard every four days, the eighth was to be that of our
flight.

The governor meantime had been informed how familiar I was become
with the officers, at which taking offence, he sent orders that my
door should no more be opened, but that I should receive my food
through a small window that had been made for the purpose. The care
of the prison was committed to the major, and he was forbidden to
eat with me, under pain of being broken.

His precautions were ineffectual; the officers procured a false key,
and remained with me half the day and night.

Captain Damnitz was imprisoned in an apartment by the side of mine.
This man had deserted from the Prussian service, with the money
belonging to his company, to Austria, where he obtained a commission
in his cousin's regiment, who having prevailed on him to serve as a
spy, during the campaign of 1744, he was taken in the Prussian
territories, known, and condemned to be hanged.

Some Swedish volunteers, who were then in the army, interested
themselves in his behalf, and his sentence was changed to perpetual
imprisonment, with a sentence of infamy.

This wretch, who two years after, by the aid of his protectors, not
only obtained his liberty but a lieutenant-colonel's commission, was
the secret spy of the major over the prisoners; and he remarked
that, notwithstanding the express prohibition laid on the officers,
they still passed the greater part of their time in my company.

The 24th of December came, and Schell mounted guard. He entered my
prison immediately, where he continued a long time, and we made our
arrangements for flight when he next should mount guard.

Lieutenant Schroeder that day dined with the governor, and heard
orders given to the adjutant that Schell should be taken from the
guard, and put under arrest.

Schroeder, who was in the secret, had no doubt but that we were
betrayed, not knowing that the spy Damnitz had informed the governor
that Schell was then in my chamber.

Schroeder, full of terror, came running to the citadel, and said to
Schell, "Save thyself, friend; all is discovered, and thou wilt
instantly be put under arrest."

Schell might easily have provided for his own safety, by flying
singly, Schroeder having prepared horses, on one of which he himself
offered to accompany him into Bohemia. How did this worthy man, in
a moment so dangerous, act toward his friend?

Running suddenly into my prison, he drew a corporal's sabre from
under his coat, and said, "Friend, we are betrayed; follow me, only
do not suffer me to fall alive into the hands of my enemies."

I would have spoken: but interrupting me, and taking me by the
hand, he added, "Follow me; we have not a moment to lose." I
therefore slipped on my coat and boots, without having time to take
the little money I had left; and, as we went out of the prison,
Schell said to the sentinel, "I am taking the prisoner into the
officer's apartment; stand where you are."

Into this room we really went, but passed out at the other door.
The design of Schell was to go under the arsenal, which was not far
off, to gain the covered way, leap the palisadoes, and afterwards
escape after the best manner we might.

We had scarcely gone a hundred paces before we met the adjutant and
Major Quaadt.

Schell started back, sprang upon the rampart, and leaped from the
wall, which was there not very high. I followed, and alighted
unhurt, except having grazed my shoulder. My poor friend was not so
fortunate; having put out his ankle. He immediately drew his sword,
presented it to me, and begged me to despatch him, and fly. He was
a small, weak man: but, far from complying with his request, I took
him in my arms, threw him over the palisadoes, afterwards got him on
my back, and began to run, without very well knowing which way I
went.

CHAPTER VI.

It may not be unnecessary to remark those fortunate circumstances
that favoured our enterprise.

The sun had just set as we took to flight; the hoar frost fell. No
one would run the risk that we had done, by making so dangerous a
leap. We heard a terrible noise behind us. Everybody knew us; but
before they could go round the citadel, and through the town, in
order to pursue us, we had got a full half league.

The alarm guns were fired before we were a hundred paces distant; at
which my friend was very much terrified, knowing that in such cases
it was generally impossible to escape from Glatz, unless the
fugitives had got the start full two hours before the alarm guns
were heard; the passes being immediately all stopped by the peasants
and hussars, who are exceedingly vigilant. No sooner is a prisoner
missed than the gunner runs from the guard-house, and fires the
cannon on the three sides of the fortress, which are kept loaded day
and night for that purpose.

We were not five hundred paces from the walls, when all before us
and behind us were in motion. It was daylight when we leaped, yet
was our attempt as fortunate as it was wonderful: this I attributed
to my presence of mind, and the reputation I had already acquired,
which made it thought a service of danger for two or three men to
attack me.

It was besides imagined we were well provided with arms for our
defence; and it was little suspected that Schell had only his sword,
and I an old corporal's sabre.

Among the officers commanded to pursue us was Lieutenant Bart, my
intimate friend. Captain Zerbst, of the regiment of Fouquet, who
had always testified the kindness of a brother towards me, met us on
the Bohemian frontiers, and called to me, "Make to time left,
brother, and you will see some lone houses, which are on the
Bohemian confines: the hussars have ridden straight forward." He
then passed on as if he had not seen us.

We had nothing to fear from the officers; for the intimacy between
the Prussian officers was at that time so great, and the word of
honour so sacred, that during my rigorous detention at Glatz I had
been once six-and-thirty hours hunting at Neurode, at the seat of
Baron Stillfriede; Lunitz had taken my place in the prison, which
the major knew when he came to make his visit. Hence may be
conjectured how great was the confidence in which the word of the
unfortunate Trenck was held at Glatz, since they did not fear
letting him leave his dungeon, and hunt on the very confines of
Bohemia. This, too, shows the governor was deceived, in despite of
his watchfulness and order, and that a man of honour, with money,
and a good head and heart, will never want friends.

These my memoirs will be the picture of what the national character
then was; and will prove that, with officers who lived like
brothers, and held their words so sacred, the great Frederick well
might vanquish his enemies.

Arbitrary power has now introduced the whip of slavery, and mechanic
subordination has eradicated those noble and rational incitements to
concord and honour. Instead of which, mistrust and slavish fear
having arisen, the enthusiastic spirit of the Brandenburg warrior
declines, and into this error have most of the other European States
fallen.

Scarcely had I borne my friend three hundred paces before I set him
down, and I looked round me, but darkness came on so fast that I
could see neither town nor citadel; consequently, we ourselves could
not be seen.

My presence of mind did not forsake me: death or freedom was my
determination. "Where are we, Schell?" said I to my friend. "Where
does Bohemia lie? on which side is the river Neiss?" The worthy man
could make no answer: his mind was all confusion, and he despaired
of our escape: he still, however, entreated I would not let him be
taken alive, and affirmed my labour was all in vain.

After having promised, by all that was sacred, I would save him from
an infamous death, if no other means were left, and thus raised his
spirits, he looked round, and knew, by some trees, we were not far
from the city gates. I asked him, "Where is the Neiss?" He pointed
sideways--"All Glatz has seen us fly towards the Bohemian mountains;
it is impossible we should avoid the hussars, the passes being all
guarded, and we beset with enemies." So saying, I took him on my
shoulders, and carried him to the Neiss; here we distinctly heard
the alarm sounded in the villages, and the peasants, who likewise
were to form the line of desertion, were everywhere in motion, and
spreading the alarm. As it may not be known to all my readers in
what manner they proceed on these occasions in Prussia, I will here
give a short account of it.

Officers are daily named on the parade whose duty it is to follow
fugitives as soon as the alarm-guns are fired.

The peasants in the villages, likewise, are daily appointed to rim
to the guard of certain posts. The officers immediately fly to
these posts to see that the peasants do their duty, and prevent the
prisoner's escape. Thus does it seldom happen that a soldier can
effect his escape unless he be, at the very least, an hour on the
road before the alarm-guns are fired.

I now return to my story.

I came to the Neiss, which was a little frozen, entered it with my
friend, and carried him as long as I could wade, and when I could
not feel the bottom, which did not continue for more than a space of
eighteen feet, he clung round me, and thus we got safely to the
other shore.

My father taught all his sons to swim, for which I have often had to
thank him; since by means of this art, which is easily learnt in
childhood, I had on various occasions preserved my life, and was
more bold in danger. Princes who wish to make their subjects
soldiers, should have them educated so as to fear neither fire nor
water. How great would be the advantage of being able to cross a
river with whole battalions, when it is necessary to attack or
retreat before the enemy, and when time will not permit to prepare
bridges!

The reader will easily suppose swimming in the midst of December,
and remaining afterwards eighteen hours in the open air, was a
severe hardship. About seven o'clock the hoar-fog was succeeded by
frost and moonlight. The carrying of my friend kept me warm, it is
true, but I began to be tired, while he suffered everything that
frost, the pain of a dislocated foot (which I in vain endeavoured to
reset), and the danger of death from a thousand hands, could
inflict.

We were somewhat more tranquil, however, having reached the opposite
shore of the Neiss, since nobody would pursue us on the road to
Silesia. I followed the course of the river for half an hour, and
having once passed the first villages that formed the line of
desertion, with which Schell was perfectly acquainted, we in a lucky
moment found a fisherman's boat moored to the shore; into this we
leaped, crossed the river again, and soon gained the mountains.

Here being come, we sat ourselves down awhile on the snow; hope
revived in our hearts, and we held council concerning how it was
best to act. I cut a stick to assist Schell in hopping forward as
well as he could when I was tired of carrying him; and thus we
continued our route, the difficulties of which were increased by the
mountain snows.

Thus passed the night; during which, up to the middle in snow, we
made but little way. There were no paths to be traced in the
mountains, and they were in many places impassable. Day at length
appeared: we thought ourselves near the frontiers, which are twenty
English miles from Glatz, when we suddenly, to our great terror,
heard the city clock strike.

Overwhelmed, as we were, by hunger, cold, fatigue, and pain, it was
impossible we should hold out through the day. After some
consideration, and another half-hour's labour, we came to a village
at the foot of the mountain, on the side of which, about three
hundred paces from us, we perceived two separate houses, which
inspired us with a stratagem that was successful.

We lost our hats in leaping the ramparts; but Schell had preserved
his scarf and gorget, which would give him authority among the
peasants.

I then cut my finger, rubbed the blood over my face, my shirt, and
my coat, and bound up my head, to give myself the appearance of a
man dangerously wounded.

In this condition I carried Schell to the end of the wood not far
from these houses; here he tied my hands behind my back, but so that
I could easily disengage them in ease of need: and hobbled after
me, by aid of his staff, calling for help.

Two old peasants appeared, and Schell commanded them to run to the
village, and tell a magistrate to come immediately with a cart. "I
have seized this knave," added he, "who has killed my horse, and in
the struggle I have put out my ankle; however, I have wounded and
bound him; fly quickly, bring a cart, lest he should die before he
is hanged."

As for me, I suffered myself to be led, as if half-dead, into the
house. A peasant was despatched to the village. An old woman and a
pretty girl seemed to take great pity on me, and gave me some bread
and milk: but how great was our astonishment when the aged peasant
called Schell by his name, and told him he well knew we were
deserters, having the night before been at a neighbouring alehouse
where the officer in pursuit of us came, named and described us, and
related the whole history of our flight. The peasant knew Schell,
because his son served in his company, and had often spoken of him
when he was quartered at Habelschwert.

Presence of mind and resolution were all that were now left. I
instantly ran to the stable, while Schell detained the peasant in
the chamber. He, however, was a worthy man, and directed him to the
road toward Bohemia. We were still about some seven miles from
Glatz, having lost ourselves among the mountains, where we had
wandered many miles. The daughter followed me: I found three
horses in the stable, but no bridles. I conjured her, in the most
passionate manner, to assist me: she was affected, seemed half
willing to follow me, and gave me two bridles. I led the horses to
the door, called Schell, and helped him, with his lame leg, on
horseback. The old peasant then began to weep, and beg I would not
take his horses; but he luckily wanted courage, and perhaps the will
to impede us; for with nothing more than a dung-fork, in our then
feeble condition, he might have stopped us long enough to have
called in assistance from the village.

And now behold us on horseback, without hats or saddles; Schell with
his uniform scarf and gorget, and I in my red regimental coat.
Still we were in danger of seeing all our hopes vanish, for my horse
would not stir from the stable; however, at last, good horseman-
like, I made him move: Schell led the way, and we had scarcely gone
a hundred paces, before we perceived the peasants coming in crowds
from the village.

As kind fortune would have it, the people were all at church, it
being a festival: the peasants Schell had sent were obliged to call
aid out of church. It was but nine in the morning; and had the
peasants been at home, we had been lost past redemption.

We were obliged to take the road to Wunshelburg, and pass through
the town where Schell had been quartered a month before, and in
which he was known by everybody. Our dress, without hats or
saddles, sufficiently proclaimed we were deserters: our horses,
however, continued to go tolerably well, and we had the good luck to
get through the town, although there was a garrison of one hundred
and eighty infantry, and twelve horse, purposely to arrest
deserters. Schell knew the road to Brummem, where we arrived at
eleven o'clock, after having met, as I before mentioned, Captain
Zerbst.

He who has been in the same situation only can imagine, though he
never can describe, all the joy we felt. An innocent man,
languishing in a dungeon, who by his own endeavours, has broken his
chains, and regained his liberty, in despite of all the arbitrary
power of princes, who vainly would oppose him, conceives in moments
like these such an abhorrence of despotism, that I could not well
comprehend how I ever could resolve to live under governments where
wealth, content, honour, liberty, and life all depend upon a
master's will, and who, were his intentions the most pure, could not
be able, singly, to do justice to a whole nation.

Never did I, during life, feel pleasure more exquisite than at this
moment. My friend for me had risked a shameful death, and now,
after having carried him at least twelve hours on my shoulders, I
had saved both him and myself. We certainly should not have
suffered any man to bring us, alive, back to Glatz. Yet this was
but the first act of the tragedy of which I was doomed the hero, and
the mournful incidents of which all arose out of, and depended on,
each other.

CHAPTER VII.

Could I have read the book of fate, and have seen the forty years'
fearful afflictions that were to follow, I certainly should not have
rejoiced at this my escape from Glatz. One year's patience might
have appeased the irritated monarch, and, taking a retrospect of all
that has passed, I now find it would have been a fortunate
circumstance, had the good and faithful Schell and I never met,
since he also fell into a train of misfortunes, which I shall
hereafter relate, and from which he could never extricate himself,
but by death. The sufferings which I have since undergone will be
read with astonishment.

It is my consolation that both the laws of honour and nature justify
the action. I may serve as an example of the fortitude with which
danger ought to be encountered, and show monarchs that in Germany,
as well as in Rome, there are men who refuse to crouch beneath the
yoke of despotism, and that philosophy and resolution are stronger
than even those lords of slaves, with all their threats, whips,
tortures, and instruments of death.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12