XXIV
Of the Manner in Which Herzbruder Fell Into Such Evil Plight
Now by reason of the suddenness of this our meeting we could neither eat nor drink, but only ask one of the other how it had fared with each since we had last met. Yet as the host and the drawer went ever in and out, we could have no private discourse: and the host marvelling that I could suffer so lousy a companion by me, I told him that in time of war such was the custom among good soldiers that were comrades: and when I understood further how Herzbruder had till now been in the Spital, and there had been supported by alms, and his wounds but sorrily bound up, I hired of the host a separate chamber, put Herzbruder to bed, and sent for the best surgeon I could find, besides a tailor and a sempstress to clothe him and to rid him of his lice: and having in my purse those same doubloons that Oliver had fetched out of the dead Jew’s mouth, I cast them on the table, and says I to Herzbruder, in the host’s hearing, “See, brother; there is my money: that will I spend on thee and consume with thee.”
So with that the host entertained us nobly: but to the surgeon I showed the ruby that had belonged to the said Jew, and was worth some 20 thalers, and told him that as I purposed to spend such small moneys as I had for our food and for the clothing of my comrade, therefore I would give him that ring if he would quickly and thoroughly cure my said comrade, with which he was content, and bestowed his best care upon that cure. And so I tended Herzbruder like my second self, and caused a modest suit of grey cloth to be made for him. But first I went to the commandant for my pass, and told him how I had met a comrade sorely wounded: for him I would wait till he was sound, for were I to leave him behind me I could not answer for it to my regiment: which intention the commandant approved and allowed me to stay as long as I listed, with the further offer that when my comrade could follow me he would provide us both with sufficient passes.
Then, coming back to Herzbruder and sitting by his bed alone, I begged him he would freely tell me how he had come into so evil a plight: for I thought he might perchance have been driven from his former place for weighty reasons or for some fault, and so degraded and brought to his present evil case. But “Brother,” said he, “thou knowest that I was the Count of Götz his factotum and dearest intimate friend: on t’other hand thou knowest well how evil an end this last campaign hath come to under his generalship and command, wherein we not only lost the Battle of Wittenweier, but did also fail to raise the siege of Breisach. Seeing, then, that on this account all manner of rumours be afloat, and that most unfair ones, and in especial now that the said count is cited to Vienna to justify himself, therefore for fear and shame I do willingly live in this humble plight, and often do wish either to die in this misery or at least so long to lie concealed till the said Count shall have proved his innocence: for so far as I know he was at all times true to the Roman emperor: and that in this set year he hath had no good luck is, in my opinion, more to be ascribed to the Providence of God (who giveth victory to whom He will) than to the Count his neglectfulness.
“Now when we were to relieve Breisach and I saw that on our side all was done so sleepily, I armed mine own self and marched forth with the rest upon the bridge of boats as if I in person were to finish the business; which was neither my profession nor my duty: yet I did it for an example to others, because we had accomplished so little that summer then past. But luck or ill-luck would so have it that I, being among the first to sally forth, was also among the first to look the enemy in the face upon the bridge, where was a sharp encounter, and as I had been foremost in attack, so when we gave way before the furious charge of the French I was the last to retreat, and so fell into the enemy’s hands: and there did I receive a bullet in the right arm and another in the leg, so that I could neither run nor hold a sword: and as the straitness of the place and the desperateness of the action allowed no talk of giving or taking of quarter, I got me a crack on the head which brought me to the ground, and there, being finely clad, I was by some stripped and in the confusion thrown into the Rhine for dead: in which sore strait I called to God for help and left myself to His good pleasure; and while I offered up my prayers I found His help at hand: for the Rhine did cast me up on land where I did staunch my wounds with moss: and though in so doing I was nigh frozen, yet I found in me a special strength to creep from thence (for God helped me) so that I, though miserably wounded, came to certain Merode-brothers and soldiers’ wives, that one and all had compassion on me though they knew me not: yet all already despaired of the relief of that fortress; and that did hurt me more than all my wounds: but they refreshed and clothed me by their fire, and before I could even bandage up my wounds I must behold how our people prepared for a shameful retreat and gave up our cause as lost: which caused me dreadful pain: and for that reason I resolved to make myself known to none, and so not to make myself a mark for mockery: wherefore I joined myself to certain wounded men of our army that had their own surgeon with them: to him I gave a golden cross that I still had about my neck, for which he bound up my wounds so as to last till now. And in such poor plight, my good Simplicissimus, have I made shift so far, and am minded to reveal to no man who I am till I see how the Count of Götz his affair will turn out. And now that I see thy goodness and faith, it breedeth in me great comfort that the good God hath not forsaken me: for this very morning, when I came from early mass and saw thee stand before the commandant’s quarters, I did fancy that God had sent thee to me in shape of an angel to help me in my need.”
So I did comfort him as best I could, and secretly told him I had yet more money than those doubloons that he had seen; and that all was at his service. Therewith I also told him of Oliver’s end, and how I had perforce avenged his death, which so enlivened his spirits that it also helped his body, in such wise that every day he grew better of his wounds.