He learned with great pleasure, upon questioning the
doctor, that the Swedes had got off safely in the darkness. Some
eight or ten men only had straggled and been made prisoners, and
not more than twenty had been left dead on the field. He had the
satisfaction, therefore, of knowing that the defence made by his
own pikemen had been the means of saving the whole force. In other
respects he had nothing to complain of, for he was well attended
to, and received the same treatment as the Russians.
For another ten days the roar of the cannon continued, some seventy
guns keeping up an incessant fire on the town. At the end of that
time the governor capitulated, and was allowed to march out with
the honours of war.
Only forty out of the brave garrison remained unwounded at the end
of the siege. They, as well as such of their comrades as were
strong enough to travel, passed through the lines of the Russians,
and marched to Vyburg.
Three weeks after being made a prisoner, Charlie's wound was so far
healed that the surgeon pronounced him able to sit a horse, and,
under the escort of an officer and four Cossacks, he was taken by
easy stages to Bercov, a prison fortress a short distance from
Moscow. He had inquired from the surgeon who attended him for
Doctor Kelly.
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