your attendants will remain here and you will be duly recompensed for services.”
Then summoning to his presence a nobleman who stood in another group, Rudolph said: “I commit the superintendence of these men and their proceedings to your fidelity, Lord Zawis; I well know your humane and honorable character. Let the field be thoroughly searched, and if the body of the king of Bohemia be found let it be instantly entrusted to our physician present. You will see that the body be fully identified and proofs produced of its identity; and as you were personally closely acquainted with the king of Bohemia, I charge you that all promptitude and formality be observed.”
Lord Zawis at once selected his attendants from among Solomon’s new acquaintances and others. Solomon, Pietro and the old man remained at headquarters, to bestow needed attention on wounded officers. This duty occupied them constantly through the night; allowing only an interval during the darker hours, when effort to discover wounded men was useless, and exhaustion utterly prevented further exertion.
All night long plunderers and marauders stripped and robbed the dead. Armor, clothing, weapons, everything was remorselessly carried off by the hordes of the morning, and by troops of combatants also, now robbers for the occasion. The wounded, unable to defend themselves, were pillaged like the rest and left naked on the plain. The morning disclosed a frightful spectacle. Corpses of men, carcasses
