NARVA 101

stone, throwing the caber, running and wrestling matches,
were all tried in turn, and the company suffered compara-
tively little from the illness which rendered so large a
proportion of the Swedish army inefficient.

Colonel Schlippenbach was an energetic officer, and had
several times ridden past when the men were engaged in
these exercises. He expressed to Captain Jervoise his
approval of the manner in which he kept his men in
strength and vigour.

“T shall not forget it,’’ he said one day, “and if there is
service to be done I see that I can depend upon your
company to do it.”

In January he took a party of horse and reconnoitred
along the River Aa to observe the motions of the Saxons
on the other side, and hearing that a party of them had
entered Marienburg he determined to take possession of
that place, as, were they to fortify it, they would be able
greatly to harass the Swedes. Sending word to the king of
his intention, and asking for an approval of his plan of
fortifying the town, he took three companies of infantry
and four hundred horse, made a rapid march to Marien-
burg, and occupied it without opposition. He had not
forgotten his promise, and the company of Captain Jer-
voise was one of those selected for the work. Its officers
were delighted at the prospect of a change, and when the
party started Captain Jervoise was proud of the show made
by his men, whose active and vigorous condition con-
trasted strongly with the debility and feebleness evident so
generally among the Swedish soldiers.

As soon as Marienburg was entered, the men were set
to work to raise and strengthen the rampart and to erect
bastions, and they were aided a few days later by a rein-
forcement of two hundred infantry, sent by the king with
some cannon from the garrison of Derpt. As the place