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Though the troops were ill-clad, exhausted, and had lost a third

of their number in killed, wounded, sick, and stragglers; though

a number of sick and wounded had been abandoned on the other side

of the Danube with a letter in which Kutuzov entrusted them to

the humanity of the enemy; and though the big hospitals and the

houses in Krems converted into military hospitals could no longer

accommodate all the sick and wounded, yet the stand made at Krems

and the victory over Mortier raised the spirits of the army

considerably. Throughout the whole army and at headquarters most

joyful though erroneous rumors were rife of the imaginary

approach of columns from Russia, of some victory gained by the

Austrians, and of the retreat of the frightened Bonaparte.