The Young Captives / A Narrative of the Shipwreck and Suffering of John and William Doyley

the town servant Jüchziger presented himself befor

new year, and congratulating you on the honour you have now attained. The new year promises to be a very hard one, and your new o

of public business. The care of more than sixty thousand souls is laid on me at a time when even a Solomon would have had need of all his wisdom. This thought has been much in my

r wise intentions aside to carry out their own selfish schemes,-men who would be only too glad, in a word, to leave you the mere name of acting-Burgomaster, and nothing more. I am quite sure it is your worship's kindly heart that has made you give

lent, gazing though

rg citizens should tear up the pavement in the streets of their own city to protect the houses from the Swedish cannon? Do you know, respected Herr Burgomaster, that that young Swedish turncoat who was so impudent to you in the St. Peter's Tower, and demanded

?' asked Sch?nlebe

plied Jüchziger. 'The fellow struts about the streets every day in h

hour's time,' said Sch?nleben angrily; 'and bid him be ready to expla

enemy comes, to ill-use his wife, children, and servants. These Swedes now are pressing the siege of our town so hard that we cannot possibly hold out for long. They say that even if Torstenson offers us fair terms, the commandant means to refuse them without even asking your worship anything about i

ontinued: 'As I was on my way to your worship's house this morning, I saw the Herr Burgomaster Richzenhayn going to call on the commandant, no doubt meaning to offer him a new year's greeting. Are you going to do the sa

nd his back, and paced slowly and

sciously to themselves, tools in the hands of their servants, the latter being permitted a freedom of speech that would never have been tolerated in equals. Such servants have always had the knack of ma

was, so to speak, ready to be loosed from the bow, he adroitly changed

the good fortune to apprentice the boy to Mistress Blüthgen, the carpenter's widow, but his mother has petted and pampered him until he is a good-for-nothing, lazy young rascal. And now that the workshops are closed and the craftsmen and journeymen all take their turn at military duty, the boy's mistress threatens to send him home and put me to the expense of keeping him,-me that scarcely knows which way to turn for bread to feed my wife and her servant! The w

l want all its strength, and all its money, to defend itself against the Swedes, and we shall have to leave our pri

on hearing these words, thanked the Burgomast

en called after him as he went out. In a compar

aster, and begs to inform his worship that he cannot have the honour of

g up. 'Are the ties of obedience that bi

Schweinitz forbid it. They are every instant expecting an attack to be made b

his angry brow grew smooth again. 'Badehorn could not act otherwise, a

he went on his way, he saw at various points large bodies of men standing silent in their ranks, waiting the call of duty and the word of command. Here were the vigorous journeymen of the different trades, and the stalwart country-people; there the trusty miners, some with nondescript weapons, others armed with pick-axes, mattocks, and long guns, or provided with ladders and gr

tain comfortable sense of security in the knowledge that they were the heads of the armed citizens mounting guard. Men standing still feel the cold severely,

ng defensive works. After firing a score of shots, however, Torstenson sent to the commandant, demanding the surrender of the town. He had, he said, paraded his army and fired a salute in his honour; should any further resistance be offered, he would the next day attack the town more vigorously, and destroy it. The commandant sent a polite but firm refusal, and on the following day Torstenson fulfilled the first part of his threat by opening a terrible fire against the town. In six hours his arti

arge quantities of hand-grenades and other ammunition were laid in readiness. Thus prepared, the citizens confidently awaited the threatened attack, which, however, did not take place, partly, it was supposed, because of a violent snow-storm that came on, and partly through the failu

ral others among the defenders severely wounded. On the next day, January 3d, the firing was renewed with heavy siege-guns in addition to the lighter pieces, and a second mine was sprung, making a breach seventy feet wide in the city wall. As so

ter Sch?nleben, to announce that Colonel von Schweinitz wished to speak w

senger to withdraw. 'Am I his slave?' he broke out angrily, as soon as the man was out of hearing. 'Have I not every bit as go

s anger had spent itself, qui

to a sense of his own offended dignity. 'One must not be too particular,' he said to himself, 'about an affront from a rough old s

if he thought he had knocked us into a cocked hat by that assault we repulsed so easily. He has been kind enough, too, to remind me that Breisach, Regensburg, Gross-Glogau, and Leipzig have all been besieged and taken by the Swedes, and to add that it is qui

his, Herr Colonel?' asked Sch?nleben. 'I suppose

, and there was not the smallest need to trouble you in any way about the matter. The enemy has received from me, take my word for it, th

e thousands of families under my care was at stake. Pray, what is to happen when you and your soldiers are all killed, the citizens and other combatants worn out wi

outburst. 'Is it the Burgomaster of the loyal cit

n her gates to the Swedish forces, she was not branded as disloyal. I am not speaking now of

. That being so, I stand in no need of advice from you, either now or at any other time. As commandant, I am here to give orders, and you are here to obey them. Whoever talks to me of surrender shall be considered a traitor to his country, and treated accordingly. Basta!'[3]

loyalty to my prince made me speak as I did. But when I think that the town may yet share the awful fate that befell Magdeburg, then indeed I set the wel

l German c

w worth about two

En