his, as they were behind his infantry and could not make their
way out through the mouth of the defile.

For seven hours the battle raged in the darkness. After losing three
thousand men here, General Merci decided that his army would be
totally destroyed if Enghien should bring his troops down from the
hill at daybreak. Accordingly, leaving a body of musketeers to
hide the movement by their fire, he withdrew the rest of his army
and took up another strong position, partly on a height known as
the Black Mountain, covering the entrance of the valley of St.
Pierre and partly in the valley itself, thus covering his line of
retreat. Had the French been able to attack early the next morning
before the Bavarians had time to intrench themselves they might
have won an easy victory; but for the past twenty-four hours the
rain had been falling incessantly, Turenne's army had been marching
on the previous day, and had been fighting for seven hours, and
was incapable of further exertions, while that of Enghien was in
little better plight, having passed the night in the rain on the
ground it had won.

After such hard fighting both commanders agreed that a twenty-four
hours' halt was absolutely necessary. The day could not be termed
one of rest, for there were thousands of wounded to be collected
and cared for, arms to be cleaned, for they had been rendered
useless by the rain, and provisions to be brought up from the rear.
Merci made the most of the time thus given him. The bottom of the
mountain towards the plain was fortified by several rows of felled
trees, and a portion of his infantry was posted between this point
and the town of Freiburg, which was but half a mile away. The
intrenchments that had been formed during the siege of the town