In the mean time, while these transactions had been taking place among

the Russians, the King of Sweden had been gradually making his way

toward the westward and southward, into the very heart of the Russian

dominions. The forces of the emperor, which were not strong enough to

offer him battle, had been gradually retiring before him; but they had

devastated and destroyed every thing on their way, in their retreat, so

as to leave nothing for the support of the Swedish army. They broke up

all the bridges too, and obstructed the roads by every means in their

power, so as to impede the progress of the Swedes as much as possible,

since they could not wholly arrest it.

The Swedes, however, pressed slowly onward. They sent off to great

distances to procure forage for the horses and food for the men. When

they found the bridges down, they made detours and crossed the rivers

at fording-places. When the roads were obstructed, they removed the

Impediments if they could, and if not, they opened new roads.

Sometimes, in these cases, their way led them across swampy places

where no solid footing could be found, and then the men would cut down

an immense quantity of bushes and trees growing in the neighborhood,

and make up the branches into bundles called _fascines_. They would

lay these bundles close together on the surface of the swamp, and then

level them off on the top by loose branches, and so make a road firm

enough for the army to march over.

Things went on in this way until, at last, the farther progress of King

Charles was arrested, and the tide of fortune was turned wholly against

him by a great battle which was fought at a place called Pultowa. This

battle, which, after so protracted a struggle, at length suddenly

terminated the contest between the king and the Czar, of course

attracted universal attention at the time, for Charles and Peter were

the greatest potentates and warriors of their age, and the struggle for

power which had so long been waged between them had been watched with

great interest, through all the stages of it, by the whole civilized

world. The battle of Pultowa was, in a word, one of those great final

conflicts by which, after a long struggle, the fate of an empire is

decided. It, of course, greatly attracted the attention of mankind,

and has since taken its place among the most renowned combats of

history.

Pultowa is a town situated in the heart of the Russian territories

three or four hundred miles north of the Black Sea. It stands on a

small river which flows to the southward and westward into the Dnieper.

It was at that time an important military station, as it contained

great arsenals where large stores of food and of ammunition were laid

up for the use of Peter's army. The King of Sweden determined to take

this town. His principal object in desiring to get possession of it

was to supply the wants of his army by the provisions that were stored

there. The place was strongly fortified, and it was defended by a

garrison; but the king thought that he should be able to take it, and

he accordingly advanced to the walls, invested the place closely on

every side, and commenced the siege.

The name of the general in command of the largest body of Russian

forces near the spot was Menzikoff, and as soon as the King of Sweden

had invested the place, Menzikoff began to advance toward it in order

to relieve it. Then followed a long series of manoeuvres and partial

combats between the two armies, the Swedes being occupied with the

double duty of attacking the town, and also of defending themselves

from Menzikoff; while Menzikoff, on the other hand, was intent, first

on harassing the Swedes and impeding as much as possible their siege

operations, and, secondly, on throwing succors into the town.

In this contest Menzikoff was, on the whole, most successful. He

contrived one night to pass a detachment of his troops through the

gates of Pultowa into the town to strengthen the garrison. This

irritated the King of Sweden, and made him more determined and reckless

than ever to press the siege. Under this excitement he advanced so

near the walls one day, in a desperate effort to take possession of an

advanced part of the works, that he exposed himself to a shot from the

ramparts, and was badly wounded in the heel.

This wound nearly disabled him. He was obliged by it to confine

himself to his tent, and to content himself with giving orders from his

couch or litter, where he lay helpless and in great pain, and in a

state of extreme mental disquietude.

His anxiety was greatly increased in a few days in consequence of

intelligence which was brought into his camp by the scouts, that Peter

himself was advancing to the relief of Pultowa at the head of a very

large army. Indeed, the tidings were that this great force was close

at hand. The king found that he was in danger of being surrounded.

Nor could he well hope to escape the danger by a retreat, for the broad

and deep river Dnieper, which he had crossed to come to the siege of

Pultowa, was behind him, and if the Russians were to fall upon him

while attempting to cross it, he knew very well that his whole army

would be cut to pieces.

He lay restless on his litter in his tent, his thoughts divided between

the anguish of the wound in his heel and the mental anxiety and

distress produced by the situation that he was in. He spent the night

in great perplexity and suffering. At length, toward morning, he came

to the desperate resolution of attacking the Russians in their camp,

inferior as his own numbers were now to theirs.

He accordingly sent a messenger to the field-marshal, who was chief

officer in command under himself, summoning him to his tent. The

field-marshal was aroused from his sleep, for it was not yet day, and

immediately repaired to the king's tent. The king was lying on his

couch, quiet and calm, and, with an air of great serenity and

composure, he gave the marshal orders to beat to arms and march out to

attack the Czar in his intrenchments as soon as daylight should appear.

The field-marshal was astonished at this order, for he knew that the

Russians were now far superior in numbers to the Swedes, and he

supposed that the only hope of the king would be to defend himself

where he was in his camp, or else to attempt a retreat. He, however,

knew that there was nothing to be done but to obey his orders. So he

received the instructions which the king gave him, said that he would

carry them into execution, and then retired. The king then at length

fell into a troubled sleep, and slept until the break of day.

By this time the whole camp was in motion. The Russians, too, who in

their intrenchments had received the alarm, had aroused themselves and

were preparing for battle. The Czar himself was not the commander. He

had prided himself, as the reader will recollect, in entering the army

at the lowest point, and in advancing regularly, step by step, through

all the grades, as any other officer would have done. He had now

attained the rank of major general; and though, as Czar, he gave orders

through his ministers to the commander-in-chief of the armies directing

them in general what to do, still personally, in camp and in the field

of battle, he received orders from his military superior there; and he

took a pride and pleasure in the subordination to his superior's

authority which the rules of the service required of him.

He, however, as it seems, did not always entirely lay aside his