the ordnance was rapidly weakening its strength. File after file the
men were swept down, their bodies making a horrid rampart for their
resolute brothers in arms, who, however, rendered desperate, at last
threw away their most cumbrous accoutrements, and crying to their
leader, "Freedom or death!" followed him sword in hand, and bearing
like a torrent upon the enemy's ranks, cut their way through the
forest. The Russians, exasperated that their prey should not only
escape, but escape by such dauntless valor, hung closely on their
rear, goading them with musketry, whilst they (like a wounded lion
closely pressed by the hunters, retreats, yet stands proudly at bay)
gradually retired towards the camp with a backward step, their faces
towards the foe.

Meanwhile the palatine Sobieski, anxious for the fate of the day,
mounted the dyke, and looked eagerly around for the arrival of some
messenger from the little army. As the wind blew strongly from the
south, a cloud of dust precluded his view; but from the approach of
firing and the clash of arms, he was led to fear that his friends had
been defeated, and were retreating towards the camp. He instantly
quitted the lines to call out a reinforcement; but before he could
advance, Kosciusko and his squadron on the full charge appeared in
flank of the enemy, who suddenly halted, and wheeling round, left the
harassed Polanders to enter the trenches unmolested.

Thaddeus, covered with dust and blood, flung himself into his
grandfather's arms. In the heat of action his left arm had been
wounded by a Cossack. [Footnote: Cossacks. There are two descriptions
of these formidable auxiliaries: those of clear Tartar race, the
other mixed with Muscovites and their tributaries. The first and the
fiercest are called Don Cossacks, because of their inhabiting the