Page:The Hussite wars, by the Count Lützow.djvu/291

 yet caused great alarm among the Germans, who had on previous occasions distrusted the Elector’s conduct. He had issued this order without informing either the cardinal or the German princes of it. When, at about three o’clock in the afternoon, the cardinal, accompanied by the Elector of Saxony and several other German princes, rode up to the summit of a hill which overlooked the road by which the Bohemians were advancing, he was naturally astounded at seeing the long columns of provision-wagons that were being hurriedly driven off in the opposite direction, that of the German frontier. Though the Hussites were not yet even in sight, many wagons had already thrown off their loads to hasten their retreat. Matters, of course, became much worse when the advancing Bohemian columns were seen and the war-song “All ye warriors of God,” which the nationalists intoned, reached the ears of the crusaders. No resistance was even attempted, and before a single shot had been fired the whole German army, seized by a sudden panic, fled in the greatest disorder in the direction of the mountain passes which divide Bohemia from Bavaria. All discipline soon ceased, and in the narrow roads that lead to the frontier fierce struggles took place among the crusaders and particularly the wagon-drivers, each of whom tried to outstrip the others. A small number of crusaders, among whom were some Italian troopers who formed the body-guard of the cardinal, attempted to arrest the advance of the Bohemians, who, this time well provided with cavalry, sharply pursued the flying Germans. Cardinal Cesarini, who at first attempted to remonstrate with the flyers, was soon obliged to take part in the general flight. The German soldiers, most of whom had very reluctantly taken part in the campaign, were infuriated against the foreign priest as the cause of this disaster, and they threatened his life. He was at last obliged to fly in disguise, not from the Hussites, but from the crusaders. During the retreat through the mountain-passes the losses of