Without warning or declaration of war a great
army was thrown into the Danish peninsula from the south. Another
advanced from Sweden upon the eastern provinces, and a fleet hired
in Holland for Swedish money came through the North Sea to help them
over to the Danish islands. If the two armies met, Denmark was lost.
In Swedish harbors a still bigger fleet was fitting out for the
Baltic.
King Christian was well up in the sixties, worn with the tireless
activities of a long reign; but once more he proved himself greater
than adversity. When the evil tidings reached him, in the midst of
profound peace, the enemy was already within the gates. The country
lay prostrate. The name of Torstenson, the Swedish general, spread
terror wherever it was heard. In the German campaigns he had been
known as the "Swedish Lightning." Beset on every side, never had
Denmark's need been greater. The one man who did not lose his head
was her king. By his personal example he put heart into the people
and shamed the cowardly nobles. He borrowed money wherever he could,
sent his own silver to the mint, crowded the work in the navy-yard
by night and by day, gathered an army, and hurried with it to the
Sounds where the enemy might cross. When the first ships were ready
he sailed around the Skaw to meet the Dutch hirelings.
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