"Your letter, of the 12th of February, from Berlin, informs me you
desire to have some Hungarian horses. On these you would come and
attack me and my pandours. I saw with pleasure, during the last
campaign, that the Prussian Trenck was a good soldier; and that I
might give you some proofs of my attachment, I then returned the
horses which my men had taken. If, however, you wish to have
Hungarian horses, you must take mine in like manner from me in the
field of battle: or, should you so think fit, come and join one who
will receive you with open arms, like his friend and son, and who
will procure you every advantage you can desire," &c.

At first I was terrified at reading this letter, yet could not help
smiling. Cornet Wagenitz, now general in chief of the Hesse Cassel
forces, and Lieutenant Grotthausen, both now alive, and then
present, were my camp comrades. I gave them the letter to read, and
they laughed at its contents. It was determined to show it to our
superior officer, Jaschinsky, on a promise of secrecy, and it was
accordingly shown him within an hour after it was received.

The reader will be so kind as to recollect that, as I have before
said, it was this Colonel Jaschinsky who on the 12th of February,
the same year, at Berlin, prevailed on me to write to the Austrian
Trenck, my cousin; that he received the letter open, and undertook
to send it according to its address; also that, in this letter, I in
jest had asked him to send me some Hungarian horses, and, should
they come, had promised one to Jaschinsky. He read the letter with
an air of some surprise; we laughed, and, it being whispered through
the army that, in consequence of our late victory, detached corps
would be sent into Hungary, Jaschinsky said, "We shall now go and
take Hungarian horses for ourselves." Here the conversation ended,