The whole army which Gustav Adolf led into Germany
numbered only 14,000 soldiers, but it was made up of Swedish
veterans led by men whose names were to become famous for all time,
and welded together by an unshakable belief in their commander, a
rigid discipline and a religious enthusiasm that swayed master and
men with a common impulse. Such a combination has in all days proven
irresistible.
The King's farewell to his people--he was never to see Sweden
again--moved a nation to tears. He spoke to the nobles, the clergy
and to the people, admonishing them to stand together in the hard
years that were coming and gave them all into the keeping of God.
They stood on the beach and watched his ships sail into the sunset
until they were swallowed up in glory. Then they went back home to
take up the burden that was their share. On the Ruegen shore the King
knelt with his men and thanked God for having brought them safe
across the sea, then seized a spade, and himself turned the first
sod in the making of a camp. "Who prays well, fights well," he said.
He was not exactly hospitably received. The old Duke of Pommerania
would have none of him, begged him to go away, and only when the
King pointed to his guns and hinted that he had keys well able to
open the gates of Stettin, his capital, did he give in and promise
help.
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