The Thirty Years' War - James Aitken Wylie

thick, and a mound of corpses, rising ever higher,
with the battle raging widely around it, termed
meanwhile the mausoleum of the great warrior.
From the officers the dreadful intelligence soon
descended to the ranks. The cry ran from brigade to
brigade of the Swedes, "The king is dead!" As the
terrible words fell on the soldier's ear his knitted
brow grew darker, and he seized his weapon with a
yet fiercer grasp. The most sacred life of all had
been spilled, and of what value was now his own?
He feared not to die on the same field with the
king, and a new energy animated the soldier. The
brave Bernard, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, took the
place of Gustavus, and his squadrons advanced to
the charge with a fire that showed that the spirit of
the fallen hero lived in the troops. They closed in
dreadful conflict with the enemy. His left wing was
chased completely out of the field; this was
followed by the rout of the right wing. Like a
whirlwind, the Swedes again passed the trenches,
and the artillery, which had clone such murderous
execution upon them, was seized, and its thunders
directed against the foe. The heavy battalions of the
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