shouted to us that they were surrendering; I accepted this and as
they came to the bank, made them throw down their arms. Most of these
men and horses were wounded, but as I wished to have some trophy from
our victory, I chose seventeen horses and riders who were fit, and
placing them in the middle of the detachment,I abandoned the rest and
went off at the gallop, going round the village, as before.

It was just as well that I made a rapid retreat, for as I had
foreseen, the fugitives had run to warn the nearby troops who had
already been alerted by the sound of gunfire, and within half an hour
there were five hundred horsemen on the banks of the little pond and
some thousands of infantrymen close behind them. We, however, were
two leagues away, our wounded having been able to sustain a full
gallop. We stopped for a short time on top of a hill to bandage
their wounds, and we laughed to see in the distance several enemy
columns following our trail, since we knew that they had no hope of
catching us, because in their fear of falling into an ambush they
were feeling their way forward very slowly. Being now out of danger,
I gave Pertelay two of the best-mounted troopers and sent him off
post-haste to inform general Séras of the success of our mission;
then marshalling the detachment into good order, with our prisoners
in the centre and well guarded, I set off at a slow trot down the
road to the inn.

It would be impossible for me to describe the joy of my companions
and the praises which they heaped on me during this journey. It
could be summed up in these words, which in their minds was the
highest commendation, "You are truly worthy to serve in Bercheny's
Hussars, the finest regiment in the world."