point of the bayonet, and then closing up the pass with twelve hundred
men, the French succeeded in holding fifteen to eighteen thousand
Russians in check for eight hours. At length night came, and Molitor
evacuated the Klon Thal, and retired towards the Linth, to defend the
bridges of Noefels and Mollis.

The old field-marshal rushed like a torrent over Glaris and Miltodi;
there he learnt that Molitor had told him the truth, and that Jallachieh
and Linsken had been beaten and dispersed, that Massena was advancing on
Schwitz, and that General Rosenberg, who had been given the defence of
the bridge of Muotta, had been forced to retreat, so that he found
himself in the position in which he had hoped to place Molitor.

No time was to be lost in retreating. Souvarow hurried through the
passes of Engi, Schwauden, and Elm. His flight was so hurried that he
was obliged to abandon his wounded and part of his artillery. Immediately
the French rushed in pursuit among the precipices and clouds. One saw
whole armies passing over places where chamois-hunters took off their
shoes and walked barefoot, holding on by their hands to prevent
themselves from falling. Three nations had come from three different
parts to a meeting-place in the home of the eagles, as if to allow those
nearest God to judge the justice of their cause. There were times when
the frozen mountains changed into volcanoes, when cascades now filled
with blood fell into the valleys, and avalanches of human beings rolled
down the deepest precipices. Death reaped such a harvest there where
human life had never been before, that the vultures, becoming fastidious
through the abundance, picked out only the eyes of the corpses to carry
to their young--at least so says the tradition of the peasants of these
mountains.