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LAURENCE HAD PUT down his ground crew deep in the countryside on the far bank of the Saale, tucked into a well-hidden forested defile, not easily seen froest of the hands in front with axes and sabers and pistols held ready, and Keynes and the runners to the back, the eggs tucked safely in their swaddling and harness near a s near since you left us, sir," Fellowes said, anxiously, even as he and his e

"Yes," Laurence said, "they overran our position; we are falling back on Jena" He felt as though he were speaking froreat distance; an immense weariness had hold of him, which could not be allowed to show "A ration of ruht crew; see to it if you please, Mr Roland, Mr Dyer," he said, letting himself down; Elass, and the ratitude; the hot liquor was at least an immediate presence

He went back to speak with Keynes over the eggs "No hareon said "They could keep like this a month without difficulties"

"Have you any better sense of e ?" Laurence asked

"Nothing whatsoever has changed," Keynes said, in his peevish way "We still have anywhere from three weeks to five, or I should have said"

"Very good," Laurence said, and sent hin of injury to hishimself, which in the heat of battle or the present sorrow he ht not have noticed

"It was mostly that they took us by surprise," Temeraire said miserably, as Keynes clambered over hiht to have said more, and made them listen"

"There was scarcely any hope of your doing so under the circumstances," Laurence said "Do not reproach yourself; think rather how the for thereat confusion I hope we may persuade them to heed your advice, now, and if so, ill have repaired a grave fault in tactics, at no more cost than the loss of one skirmish; as painful a lesson as it has been, ill then count ourselves fortunate it was no worse"

They arrived at Jena in the s up close around the toithdrawing in upon itself The French had captured a badly needed supply-train at Gera, and the depots in the toere near-ele s Su stretched it by stewing, with the addition of soathered, and Temeraire made a better meal than the e, and hard-baked bread

There was an ugly h the ca in fro that they had borne the brunt of the attack, sacrificed to try and hold the French; and worse yet, there had been another defeat: General Tauentzein, retreating from Hof in the face of the French advance, had backed out of Marshal Soult&039;s ar-pan to fire, and had lost four hundred h to disquiet anyon an easy, assured victory; there was little sign of that early supreme confidence anymore

He found Dyhern and the other Prussian aviators having claie, hastily deserted by its peasant tenants when the dragons descended upon their fields, for theirany wholesale alteration," Laurence said urgently, laying out his diagraes can easily be accoe in the final hour can scarcely bebe done"

"You are kind enough not to say, I told you so," Dyhern said, "but I hear it nonetheless Very well; ill let a dragon be our instructor, and see what can be done; at least ill not be sitting in covert licking our wounds, like dogs after a beating"

He and his fellow captains had been sitting gloo in silence; now he rallied himself and them both with an immense effort, and by sheer force of personality put fresh heart into the into the dued theons The activity perked up their heads and spirits, Teht-eyed as they all asse the-patterns which he had devised

To these Laurence and Granby had contributed little but simplified much; elaborate ht were sion breeds Even considerably slowed down, the new patterns gave the Prussians, so long inculcated with their formal drills, some difficulty at first, but the precision which inforan to tell, and after a dozen passes or so they were tired but triuons with the army had crept up to observe, and shortly after their officers came too; when Dyhern and his formation dropped down at last for a rest, they were quickly mobbed with questions, and shortly a couple of other for their own hand

Their practice was interrupted that afternoon, however, by a fresh change of plans: the ar anew about Wei back to protect their lines of coons would lead the way An angry gru hither and yon, the changing orders, had been taken in good spirits, viewed as the inevitable shifting course of a war But to fall back again now pell-h to chase the to all; and the confusion of orders took on thethe commanders

In this hostile mood, the further news reached them that the ill-fated Prince Louis had taken his position across the Saale in answer to unclear orders by Hohenlohe, which had indeed ih this same advance had not been properly authorized by Brunswick or the King; the whole army had never stirred southward in the end, Hohenlohe evidently thinking better of his plans

"He sent fresh orders to fall back," Dyhern said, bitterly, having heard the news frogled back to ca the Saale "But ere already engaged by then, and our prince had not an hour left of life; so has Prussia throay one of her finest soldiers"

They could not be said to be ry all, and worse than that discouraged; the sense of achievement built over the afternoon worn away They went silently to their several clearings to oversee the work of packing

The sound of the courier-dragon leaving the covert had begun to be a hateful noise, signifying yet another of the endless futile conferences was under way Laurence woke to that flurry of wings in the still-black hours of the , and rolled out of his tent in bare feet and shirtsleeves to scrub his face at the water-barrel: no frost yet, but h to wake ain warm puffs frolanced into the cra Allen had kept the night&039;s watch over the eggs: the warmest place in ca

They were in covert now a little ways north of Jena, near the eastern edge of the Prussian Army, almost united: the Duke of Brunswick had ht The whole countryside seeled sadly with the burning town in the distance: so Hohenlohe&039;s forces the previous night over too little food and too ain just to the south, and several anticipated supply-trains had not arrived; too in with and now thoroughly disenchanted

Separated from the rest of the camp as the covert was, Laurence had not seen much of the unhappy events, but before cals, and now theash and s It was early on the thirteenth of October; almost a month now since their arrival in Prussia, and still he had received no word froland, the post slow and uncertain with the countryside full of are of the clearing, he looked northwards yearning; he deeply felt the want of connection, so tantalizingly close, and he had rarely known so great a desire to be at home, even when a thousandto ri all the encampment Sounds traveled only a short way, deadened queerly, or caureswithout sound and in another direction heard diseishly and went about their ithout speaking ry

The orders ca: the h Auerstadt, while Hohenlohe&039;s forces kept their position, covering the retreat Laurence read it silently and handed it back to Dyhern&039;s runner without comment: he would not speak critically of the Prussian command to a Prussian officer The Prussians were less reticent aue as the instructions went around

"They say we ought to give the French a proper battle here, and I think they are quite right," Teht have stayed at Dresden, for all thisaway"

"It is not our place to say such things," Laurence said "There ence which we lack that makes sense of all these maneuvers" This was a small sop to comfort; he did not very much believe it himself