meet the enemy in a pitched
battle. Since the 20th of August he stood near Jauer with his army,
which was ninety thousand strong, composed of Russians and
Prussians, and awaited nothing more ardently than the approach of
the enemy, in order to fight a general battle. Fortune seemed to
favor his wishes, for Napoleon himself was advancing. On the 21st of
August the scouts reported the approach of the hostile columns, who
had crossed the Bober at Lowenberg. Blucher's eyes lit up with
delight; he stroked his white mustache, and said: "We shall have a
fight! To-morrow we meet the French!"
But the morning of the 23d of August dawned, and the eyes of the
general were still unable to descry the advancing enemy. Yet his
scouts reported that the French army was advancing, and that only a
detachment had set out for Dresden. "Then Bonaparte has left with
this detachment," grumbled Blucher; "for if he were still with them,
the French would not creep along like snails."
At length, on the 26th of August, the general's wishes seemed to be
near fulfilment. The French were advancing. They approached the
banks of the Katzbach, to the other side of which the Silesian army
was moving. "We shall have a fight!" shouted General Blucher,
exultingly; "the good God will have mercy on me after all, and treat
me to a good breakfast! I have been hungering for the French so
long, that I really thought I should die of starvation.
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