Such a change took place on the
night in question. On the 14th the Austrians had made a close
reconnoisance of his position. Fearing some hostile purpose in this,
Frederick, as soon as the night had fallen, ordered his tents to be
struck and the camp to be moved with the utmost silence, so as to avoid
giving the foe a hint of his purpose. As it chanced, the new camp was
made on those very heights of Puffendorf towards which Laudon was
advancing with equal care and secrecy.
That there might be no suspicion of the Prussian movement, the
watch-fires were kept up in the old camp, peasants attending to them,
while patrols of hussars cried out the challenge every quarter of an
hour. The gleaming lights, the watch-cries of the sentinels, all
indicated that the Prussian army was sleeping on its old ground, without
suspicion of the overwhelming blow intended for it on the morrow.
Meanwhile the king and his army had reached their new quarters, where
the utmost caution and noiselessness was observed. The king, wrapped in
his military cloak, had fallen asleep beside his watch-fire; Ziethen,
his valiant cavalry leader, and a few others of his principal officers,
being with him.
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