Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 20.djvu/172

152 still at the distance of five leagues. He lost no time: he detached fifteen hundred horse of his own troops, in the evening, to surprise the King of Sweden in the town. This detachment, under favor of the darkness, arrived undiscovered at the first Swedish guard which, though consisting only of thirty men, sustained, for a few minutes, the efforts of the whole fifteen hundred. The king, who happened to be at the other end of the town, flew to their assistance with the rest of his six hundred men; upon which the Russians fled with precipitation. In a short time his army arrived, and he then set out in pursuit of the enemy. All the corps of the Russian army, dispersed through Lithuania, retired hastily into the palatinate of Minsk, near the frontiers of Muscovy, where their general rendezvous was appointed. The Swedes, who were likewise divided into several bodies, continued to pursue the enemy for more than thirty leagues. The fugitives and the pursuers made forced marches almost every day, though in the middle of winter. For a long time past, all seasons of the year had become indifferent to the Swedes and Russians; and the only difference between them now arose from the terror of Charles's arms.

From Grodno to the Boristhenes eastward, there is nothing but morasses, deserts, and immense forests. In the cultivated spots there are no provisions to be had, the peasants burying under ground all their grain, and whatever else can be preserved in these subterranean receptacles. In order to discover these hidden magazines, the earth must be pierced with long poles pointed with iron.