It was some time before either Rupert or Hugh spoke.  The emotion had been too great for them.  That terrible, half hour facing death—­the sudden revulsion at their wonderful deliverance—­completely prostrated them, and they felt exhausted and weak, as if after some great exertion.  On the previous occasions in which they had seen great danger together—­at the mill of Dettingheim, the fight on the Dykes, the scuttling of the boat—­they had been actively engaged.  Their energies were fully employed, and they had had no time to think.  Now they had faced death in all his terrors, but without the power of action; and both felt they would far rather go through the three first risks again, than endure five minutes of that terrible watching the fire burn up.

Hugh was the first to speak when, nearly an hour after starting, they emerged from the wood into the plain at the foot of the hill.

“My mother used to say, Master Rupert, that curses, like chickens, came home to roost, and surely we have proved it’s the case with blessings.  Who would have thought that that little act of kindness was to save our lives?”

“No, indeed, Hugh.  Let it be a lesson to us to do good always when we can.”

At this moment they reached the main road from which that over the hill branched off.  Their guide paused, pointed in the direction they were to go, and with a “Godspeed you,” in his own language, extinguished his torch on the road, turned, and strode back by the path that they had come by.

The lads patted their horses, and glad to be again on level ground, the animals went on at a sharp canter along the road.  Two hours later they reached camp.

The Duke of Marlborough had already laid siege to the fortress of Ingoldstadt, the siege operations being conducted by Prince Louis of Baden with a portion of his troops, while the main army covered the siege.  But early in August the Elector of Bavaria left Augsburg with his army, and, altogether abandoning his dominions, marched to join Marshal Tallard, who was now coming up.

Marlborough at once broke up his camp, leaving Prince Louis to continue the siege of Ingoldstadt, and collecting as many of his troops as he could, marched with all speed in the same direction; as Prince Eugene, who, with his army, had marched in a parallel line with the French, now ran the risk of being crushed by their united force.

By dint of great exertion, Marlborough joined the prince with his cavalry on the tenth of August, and the infantry came up next day.

The two great armies now faced each other, their numerical force being not unequal, the French being about 60,000 strong; and the allies 66,000.  In other respects, however, the advantage lay wholly with the enemy.  They had ninety guns, while the allies had but fifty-one; while out of the 60,000 troops under Marshal Tallard 45,000 were the best troops France could produce.  The allied army was a motley assembly, composed of nearly equal numbers of English, Prussians, Danes, Wurtemburghers, Dutch, Hanoverians, and Hessians.  But although not more numerous than the troops of other nationalities, it was felt by all that the brunt of the battle would fall upon the British.