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diff --git a/11247-0.txt b/11247-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..27c7274 --- /dev/null +++ b/11247-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7547 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11247 *** + +The Exploits of BRIGADIER GERARD + + +SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE + + + + +_This book is published by arrangement with the Estate of the late Sir +Arthur Conan Doyle_ + + + +1896 + + + +BY SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE + +_The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes_ +_The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes_ +_The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes_ +_The Return of Sherlock Holmes_ +_His Last Bow_ +_The Hound of the Baskervilles_ +_The Sign of Four_ +_The Valley of Fear_ +_Sir Nigel_ +_The White Company_ +_Micah Clarke_ +_The Refugees_ +_Rodney Stone_ +_Uncle Bernac_ +_Adventures of Gerard_ +_The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard_ +_The Lost World_ +_The Tragedy of the Korosko_ + + +OMNIBUS VOLUMES + +_Great Stories_ +_The Conan Doyle Stories_ +_The Sherlock Holmes Short Stories_ +_The Sherlock Holmes Long Stories_ +_The Historical Romances_ +_The Complete Professor Challenger Stories_ +_The Complete Napoleonic Stories_ + + * * * * * + +_The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle_ + +by John Dickson Carr + + * * * * * + + + + +CONTENTS + +1. How the Brigadier came to the Castle of Gloom + +2. How the Brigadier slew the brothers of Ajaccio + +3. How the Brigadier held the King + +4. How the King held the Brigadier + +5. How the Brigadier took the field against the Marshal Millefleurs + +6. How the Brigadier played for a kingdom + +7. How the Brigadier won his Medal + +8. How the Brigadier was tempted by the Devil + + + + +1. HOW THE BRIGADIER CAME TO THE CASTLE OF GLOOM[A] + + +You do very well, my friends, to treat me with some little reverence, +for in honouring me you are honouring both France and yourselves. It is +not merely an old, grey-moustached officer whom you see eating his +omelette or draining his glass, but it is a fragment of history. In me +you see one of the last of those wonderful men, the men who were +veterans when they were yet boys, who learned to use a sword earlier +than a razor, and who during a hundred battles had never once let the +enemy see the colour of their knapsacks. For twenty years we were +teaching Europe how to fight, and even when they had learned their +lesson it was only the thermometer, and never the bayonet, which could +break the Grand Army down. Berlin, Naples, Vienna, Madrid, Lisbon, +Moscow--we stabled our horses in them all. Yes, my friends, I say again +that you do well to send your children to me with flowers, for these +ears have heard the trumpet calls of France, and these eyes have seen +her standards in lands where they may never be seen again. + +Even now, when I doze in my arm-chair, I can see those great warriors +stream before me--the green-jacketed chasseurs, the giant cuirassiers, +Poniatowsky's lancers, the white-mantled dragoons, the nodding bearskins +of the horse grenadiers. And then there comes the thick, low rattle of +the drums, and through wreaths of dust and smoke I see the line of high +bonnets, the row of brown faces, the swing and toss of the long, red +plumes amid the sloping lines of steel. And there rides Ney with his red +head, and Lefebvre with his bulldog jaw, and Lannes with his Gascon +swagger; and then amidst the gleam of brass and the flaunting feathers I +catch a glimpse of _him_, the man with the pale smile, the rounded +shoulders, and the far-off eyes. There is an end of my sleep, my +friends, for up I spring from my chair, with a cracked voice calling and +a silly hand outstretched, so that Madame Titaux has one more laugh at +the old fellow who lives among the shadows. + +Although I was a full Chief of Brigade when the wars came to an end, and +had every hope of soon being made a General of Division, it is still +rather to my earlier days that I turn when I wish to talk of the glories +and the trials of a soldier's life. For you will understand that when an +officer has so many men and horses under him, he has his mind full of +recruits and remounts, fodder and farriers, and quarters, so that even +when he is not in the face of the enemy, life is a very serious matter +for him. But when he is only a lieutenant or a captain he has nothing +heavier than his epaulettes upon his shoulders, so that he can clink his +spurs and swing his dolman, drain his glass and kiss his girl, thinking +of nothing save of enjoying a gallant life. That is the time when he is +likely to have adventures, and it is often to that time that I shall +turn in the stories which I may have for you. So it will be tonight when +I tell you of my visit to the Castle of Gloom; of the strange mission of +Sub-Lieutenant Duroc, and of the horrible affair of the man who was once +known as Jean Carabin, and afterwards as the Baron Straubenthal. + +You must know, then, that in the February of 1807, immediately after the +taking of Danzig, Major Legendre and I were commissioned to bring four +hundred remounts from Prussia into Eastern Poland. + +The hard weather, and especially the great battle at Eylau, had killed +so many of the horses that there was some danger of our beautiful Tenth +of Hussars becoming a battalion of light infantry. We knew, therefore, +both the Major and I, that we should be very welcome at the front. We +did not advance very rapidly, however, for the snow was deep, the roads +detestable, and we had but twenty returning invalids to assist us. +Besides, it is impossible, when you have a daily change of forage, and +sometimes none at all, to move horses faster than a walk. I am aware +that in the story-books the cavalry whirls past at the maddest of +gallops; but for my own part, after twelve campaigns, I should be very +satisfied to know that my brigade could always walk upon the march and +trot in the presence of the enemy. This I say of the hussars and +chasseurs, mark you, so that it is far more the case with cuirassiers or +dragoons. + +For myself I am fond of horses, and to have four hundred of them, of +every age and shade and character, all under my own hands, was a very +great pleasure to me. They were from Pomerania for the most part, though +some were from Normandy and some from Alsace, and it amused us to notice +that they differed in character as much as the people of those +provinces. We observed also, what I have often proved since, that the +nature of a horse can be told by his colour, from the coquettish light +bay, full of fancies and nerves, to the hardy chestnut, and from the +docile roan to the pig-headed rusty-black. All this has nothing in the +world to do with my story, but how is an officer of cavalry to get on +with his tale when he finds four hundred horses waiting for him at the +outset? It is my habit, you see, to talk of that which interests myself +and so I hope that I may interest you. + +We crossed the Vistula opposite Marienwerder, and had got as far as +Riesenberg, when Major Legendre came into my room in the post-house with +an open paper in his hand. + +'You are to leave me,' said he, with despair upon his face. + +It was no very great grief to me to do that, for he was, if I may say +so, hardly worthy to have such a subaltern. I saluted, however, in +silence. + +'It is an order from General Lasalle,' he continued; 'you are to +proceed to Rossel instantly, and to report yourself at the headquarters +of the regiment.' + +No message could have pleased me better. I was already very well thought +of by my superior officers. It was evident to me, therefore, that this +sudden order meant that the regiment was about to see service once more, +and that Lasalle understood how incomplete my squadron would be without +me. It is true that it came at an inconvenient moment, for the keeper of +the post-house had a daughter--one of those ivory-skinned, black-haired +Polish girls--with whom I had hoped to have some further talk. Still, it +is not for the pawn to argue when the fingers of the player move him +from the square; so down I went, saddled my big black charger, Rataplan, +and set off instantly upon my lonely journey. + +My word, it was a treat for those poor Poles and Jews, who have so +little to brighten their dull lives, to see such a picture as that +before their doors! The frosty morning air made Rataplan's great black +limbs and the beautiful curves of his back and sides gleam and shimmer +with every gambade. As for me, the rattle of hoofs upon a road, and the +jingle of bridle chains which comes with every toss of a saucy head, +would even now set my blood dancing through my veins. You may think, +then, how I carried myself in my five-and-twentieth year--I, Etienne +Gerard, the picked horseman and surest blade in the ten regiments of +hussars. Blue was our colour in the Tenth--a sky-blue dolman and pelisse +with a scarlet front--and it was said of us in the army that we could +set a whole population running, the women towards us, and the men away. +There were bright eyes in the Riesenberg windows that morning which +seemed to beg me to tarry; but what can a soldier do, save to kiss his +hand and shake his bridle as he rides upon his way? + +It was a bleak season to ride through the poorest and ugliest country in +Europe, but there was a cloudless sky above, and a bright, cold sun, +which shimmered on the huge snowfields. My breath reeked into the +frosty air, and Rataplan sent up two feathers of steam from his +nostrils, while the icicles drooped from the side-irons of his bit. I +let him trot to warm his limbs, while for my own part I had too much to +think of to give much heed to the cold. To north and south stretched the +great plains, mottled over with dark clumps of fir and lighter patches +of larch. A few cottages peeped out here and there, but it was only +three months since the Grand Army had passed that way, and you know what +that meant to a country. The Poles were our friends, it was true, but +out of a hundred thousand men, only the Guard had waggons, and the rest +had to live as best they might. It did not surprise me, therefore, to +see no signs of cattle and no smoke from the silent houses. A weal had +been left across the country where the great host had passed, and it was +said that even the rats were starved wherever the Emperor had led his +men. + +By midday I had got as far as the village of Saalfeldt, but as I was on +the direct road for Osterode, where the Emperor was wintering, and also +for the main camp of the seven divisions of infantry, the highway was +choked with carriages and carts. What with artillery caissons and +waggons and couriers, and the ever-thickening stream of recruits and +stragglers, it seemed to me that it would be a very long time before I +should join my comrades. The plains, however, were five feet deep in +snow, so there was nothing for it but to plod upon our way. It was with +joy, therefore, that I found a second road which branched away from the +other, trending through a fir-wood towards the north. There was a small +auberge at the cross-roads, and a patrol of the Third Hussars of +Conflans--the very regiment of which I was afterwards colonel--were +mounting their horses at the door. On the steps stood their officer, a +slight, pale young man, who looked more like a young priest from a +seminary than a leader of the devil-may-care rascals before him. + +'Good-day, sir,' said he, seeing that I pulled up my horse. + +'Good-day,' I answered. 'I am Lieutenant Etienne Gerard, of the Tenth.' + +I could see by his face that he had heard of me. Everybody had heard of +me since my duel with the six fencing masters. My manner, however, +served to put him at his ease with me. + +'I am Sub-Lieutenant Duroc, of the Third,' said he. + +'Newly joined?' I asked. + +'Last week.' + +I had thought as much, from his white face and from the way in which he +let his men lounge upon their horses. It was not so long, however, since +I had learned myself what it was like when a schoolboy has to give +orders to veteran troopers. It made me blush, I remember, to shout +abrupt commands to men who had seen more battles than I had years, and +it would have come more natural for me to say, 'With your permission, we +shall now wheel into line,' or, 'If you think it best, we shall trot.' I +did not think the less of the lad, therefore, when I observed that his +men were somewhat out of hand, but I gave them a glance which stiffened +them in their saddles. + +'May I ask, monsieur, whether you are going by this northern road?' I +asked. + +'My orders are to patrol it as far as Arensdorf,' said he. + +'Then I will, with your permission, ride so far with you,' said I. 'It +is very clear that the longer way will be the faster.' + +So it proved, for this road led away from the army into a country which +was given over to Cossacks and marauders, and it was as bare as the +other was crowded. Duroc and I rode in front, with our six troopers +clattering in the rear. He was a good boy, this Duroc, with his head +full of the nonsense that they teach at St Cyr, knowing more about +Alexander and Pompey than how to mix a horse's fodder or care for a +horse's feet. Still, he was, as I have said, a good boy, unspoiled as +yet by the camp. It pleased me to hear him prattle away about his +sister Marie and about his mother in Amiens. Presently we found +ourselves at the village of Hayenau. Duroc rode up to the post-house and +asked to see the master. + +'Can you tell me,' said he, 'whether the man who calls himself the Baron +Straubenthal lives in these parts?' + +The postmaster shook his head, and we rode upon our way. I took no +notice of this, but when, at the next village, my comrade repeated the +same question, with the same result, I could not help asking him who +this Baron Straubenthal might be. + +'He is a man,' said Duroc, with a sudden flush upon his boyish face, 'to +whom I have a very important message to convey.' + +Well, this was not satisfactory, but there was something in my +companion's manner which told me that any further questioning would be +distasteful to him. I said nothing more, therefore, but Duroc would +still ask every peasant whom we met whether he could give him any news +of the Baron Straubenthal. + +For my own part I was endeavouring, as an officer of light cavalry +should, to form an idea of the lay of the country, to note the course of +the streams, and to mark the places where there should be fords. Every +step was taking us farther from the camp round the flanks of which we +were travelling. Far to the south a few plumes of grey smoke in the +frosty air marked the position of some of our outposts. To the north, +however, there was nothing between ourselves and the Russian winter +quarters. Twice on the extreme horizon I caught a glimpse of the glitter +of steel, and pointed it out to my companion. It was too distant for us +to tell whence it came, but we had little doubt that it was from the +lance-heads of marauding Cossacks. + +The sun was just setting when we rode over a low hill and saw a small +village upon our right, and on our left a high black castle, which +jutted out from amongst the pine-woods. A farmer with his cart was +approaching us--a matted-haired, downcast fellow, in a sheepskin jacket. + +'What village is this?' asked Duroc. + +'It is Arensdorf,' he answered, in his barbarous German dialect. + +'Then here I am to stay the night,' said my young companion. Then, +turning to the farmer, he asked his eternal question, 'Can you tell me +where the Baron Straubenthal lives?' + +'Why, it is he who owns the Castle of Gloom,' said the farmer, pointing +to the dark turrets over the distant fir forest. + +Duroc gave a shout like the sportsman who sees his game rising in front +of him. The lad seemed to have gone off his head--his eyes shining, his +face deathly white, and such a grim set about his mouth as made the +farmer shrink away from him. I can see him now, leaning forward on his +brown horse, with his eager gaze fixed upon the great black tower. + +'Why do you call it the Castle of Gloom?' I asked. + +'Well, it's the name it bears upon the countryside,' said the farmer. +'By all accounts there have been some black doings up yonder. It's not +for nothing that the wickedest man in Poland has been living there these +fourteen years past.' + +'A Polish nobleman?' I asked. + +'Nay, we breed no such men in Poland,' he answered. + +'A Frenchman, then?' cried Duroc. + +'They say that he came from France.' + +'And with red hair?' + +'As red as a fox.' + +'Yes, yes, it is my man,' cried my companion, quivering all over in his +excitement. 'It is the hand of Providence which has led me here. Who can +say that there is not justice in this world? Come, Monsieur Gerard, for +I must see the men safely quartered before I can attend to this private +matter.' + +He spurred on his horse, and ten minutes later we were at the door of +the inn of Arensdorf, where his men were to find their quarters for the +night. + +Well, all this was no affair of mine, and I could not imagine what the +meaning of it might be. Rossel was still far off, but I determined to +ride on for a few hours and take my chance of some wayside barn in which +I could find shelter for Rataplan and myself. I had mounted my horse, +therefore, after tossing off a cup of wine, when young Duroc came +running out of the door and laid his hand upon my knee. + +'Monsieur Gerard,' he panted, 'I beg of you not to abandon me like +this!' + +'My good sir,' said I, 'if you would tell me what is the matter and what +you would wish me to do, I should be better able to tell you if I could +be of any assistance to you.' + +'You can be of the very greatest,' he cried. 'Indeed, from all that I +have heard of you, Monsieur Gerard, you are the one man whom I should +wish to have by my side tonight.' + +'You forget that I am riding to join my regiment.' + +'You cannot, in any case, reach it tonight. Tomorrow will bring you to +Rossel. By staying with me you will confer the very greatest kindness +upon me, and you will aid me in a matter which concerns my own honour +and the honour of my family. I am compelled, however, to confess to you +that some personal danger may possibly be involved.' + +It was a crafty thing for him to say. Of course, I sprang from +Rataplan's back and ordered the groom to lead him back into the stables. + +'Come into the inn,' said I, 'and let me know exactly what it is that +you wish me to do.' + +He led the way into a sitting-room, and fastened the door lest we should +be interrupted. He was a well-grown lad, and as he stood in the glare of +the lamp, with the light beating upon his earnest face and upon his +uniform of silver grey, which suited him to a marvel, I felt my heart +warm towards him. Without going so far as to say that he carried himself +as I had done at his age, there was at least similarity enough to make +me feel in sympathy with him. + +'I can explain it all in a few words,' said he. 'If I have not already +satisfied your very natural curiosity, it is because the subject is so +painful a one to me that I can hardly bring myself to allude to it. I +cannot, however, ask for your assistance without explaining to you +exactly how the matter lies. + +'You must know, then, that my father was the well-known banker, +Christophe Duroc, who was murdered by the people during the September +massacres. As you are aware, the mob took possession of the prisons, +chose three so-called judges to pass sentence upon the unhappy +aristocrats, and then tore them to pieces when they were passed out into +the street. My father had been a benefactor of the poor all his life. +There were many to plead for him. He had the fever, too, and was carried +in, half-dead, upon a blanket. Two of the judges were in favour of +acquitting him; the third, a young Jacobin, whose huge body and brutal +mind had made him a leader among these wretches, dragged him, with his +own hands, from the litter, kicked him again and again with his heavy +boots, and hurled him out of the door, where in an instant he was torn +limb from limb under circumstances which are too horrible for me to +describe. This, as you perceive, was murder, even under their own +unlawful laws, for two of their own judges had pronounced in my father's +favour. + +'Well, when the days of order came back again, my elder brother began to +make inquiries about this man. I was only a child then, but it was a +family matter, and it was discussed in my presence. The fellow's name +was Carabin. He was one of Sansterre's Guard, and a noted duellist. A +foreign lady named the Baroness Straubenthal having been dragged before +the Jacobins, he had gained her liberty for her on the promise that she +with her money and estates should be his. He had married her, taken her +name and title, and escaped out of France at the time of the fall of +Robespierre. What had become of him we had no means of learning. + +'You will think, doubtless, that it would be easy for us to find him, +since we had both his name and his title. You must remember, however, +that the Revolution left us without money, and that without money such a +search is very difficult. Then came the Empire, and it became more +difficult still, for, as you are aware, the Emperor considered that the +18th Brumaire brought all accounts to a settlement, and that on that day +a veil had been drawn across the past. None the less, we kept our own +family story and our own family plans. + +'My brother joined the army, and passed with it through all Southern +Europe, asking everywhere for the Baron Straubenthal. Last October he +was killed at Jena, with his mission still unfulfilled. Then it became +my turn, and I have the good fortune to hear of the very man of whom I +am in search at one of the first Polish villages which I have to visit, +and within a fortnight of joining my regiment. And then, to make the +matter even better, I find myself in the company of one whose name is +never mentioned throughout the army save in connection with some daring +and generous deed.' + +This was all very well, and I listened to it with the greatest interest, +but I was none the clearer as to what young Duroc wished me to do. + +'How can I be of service to you?' I asked. + +'By coming up with me.' + +'To the Castle?' + +'Precisely.' + +'When?' + +'At once.' + +'But what do you intend to do?' + +'I shall know what to do. But I wish you to be with me, all the same.' + +Well, it was never in my nature to refuse an adventure, and, besides, I +had every sympathy with the lad's feelings. It is very well to forgive +one's enemies, but one wishes to give them something to forgive also. I +held out my hand to him, therefore. + +'I must be on my way for Rossel tomorrow morning, but tonight I am +yours,' said I. + +We left our troopers in snug quarters, and, as it was but a mile to the +Castle, we did not disturb our horses. To tell the truth, I hate to see +a cavalry man walk, and I hold that just as he is the most gallant thing +upon earth when he has his saddle-flaps between his knees, so he is the +most clumsy when he has to loop up his sabre and his sabre-tasche in one +hand and turn in his toes for fear of catching the rowels of his spurs. +Still, Duroc and I were of the age when one can carry things off, and I +dare swear that no woman at least would have quarrelled with the +appearance of the two young hussars, one in blue and one in grey, who +set out that night from the Arensdorf post-house. We both carried our +swords, and for my own part I slipped a pistol from my holster into the +inside of my pelisse, for it seemed to me that there might be some wild +work before us. + +The track which led to the Castle wound through a pitch-black fir-wood, +where we could see nothing save the ragged patch of stars above our +heads. Presently, however, it opened up, and there was the Castle right +in front of us, about as far as a carbine would carry. It was a huge, +uncouth place, and bore every mark of being exceedingly old, with +turrets at every corner, and a square keep on the side which was nearest +to us. In all its great shadow there was no sign of light save from a +single window, and no sound came from it. To me there was something +awful in its size and its silence, which corresponded so well with its +sinister name. My companion pressed on eagerly, and I followed him along +the ill-kept path which led to the gate. + +There was no bell or knocker upon the great iron-studded door, and it +was only by pounding with the hilts of our sabres that we could attract +attention. A thin, hawk-faced man, with a beard up to his temples, +opened it at last. He carried a lantern in one hand, and in the other a +chain which held an enormous black hound. His manner at the first moment +was threatening, but the sight of our uniforms and of our faces turned +it into one of sulky reserve. + +'The Baron Straubenthal does not receive visitors at so late an hour,' +said he, speaking in very excellent French. + +'You can inform Baron Straubenthal that I have come eight hundred +leagues to see him, and that I will not leave until I have done so,' +said my companion. I could not myself have said it with a better voice +and manner. + +The fellow took a sidelong look at us, and tugged at his black beard in +his perplexity. + +'To tell the truth, gentlemen,' said he, 'the Baron has a cup or two of +wine in him at this hour, and you would certainly find him a more +entertaining companion if you were to come again in the morning.' + +He had opened the door a little wider as he spoke, and I saw by the +light of the lamp in the hall behind him that three other rough fellows +were standing there, one of whom held another of these monstrous hounds. +Duroc must have seen it also, but it made no difference to his +resolution. + +'Enough talk,' said he, pushing the man to one side. 'It is with your +master that I have to deal.' + +The fellows in the hall made way for him as he strode in among them, so +great is the power of one man who knows what he wants over several who +are not sure of themselves. My companion tapped one of them upon the +shoulder with as much assurance as though he owned him. + +'Show me to the Baron,' said he. + +The man shrugged his shoulders, and answered something in Polish. The +fellow with the beard, who had shut and barred the front door, appeared +to be the only one among them who could speak French. + +'Well, you shall have your way,' said he, with a sinister smile. 'You +shall see the Baron. And perhaps, before you have finished, you will +wish that you had taken my advice.' + +We followed him down the hall, which was stone-flagged and very +spacious, with skins scattered upon the floor, and the heads of wild +beasts upon the walls. At the farther end he threw open a door, and we +entered. + +It was a small room, scantily furnished, with the same marks of neglect +and decay which met us at every turn. The walls were hung with +discoloured tapestry, which had come loose at one corner, so as to +expose the rough stonework behind. A second door, hung with a curtain, +faced us upon the other side. Between lay a square table, strewn with +dirty dishes and the sordid remains of a meal. Several bottles were +scattered over it. At the head of it, and facing us, there sat a huge +man with a lion-like head and a great shock of orange-coloured hair. His +beard was of the same glaring hue; matted and tangled and coarse as a +horse's mane. I have seen some strange faces in my time, but never one +more brutal than that, with its small, vicious, blue eyes, its white, +crumpled cheeks, and the thick, hanging lip which protruded over his +monstrous beard. His head swayed about on his shoulders, and he looked +at us with the vague, dim gaze of a drunken man. Yet he was not so drunk +but that our uniforms carried their message to him. + +'Well, my brave boys,' he hiccoughed. 'What is the latest news from +Paris, eh? You're going to free Poland, I hear, and have meantime all +become slaves yourselves--slaves to a little aristocrat with his grey +coat and his three-cornered hat. No more citizens either, I am told, and +nothing but monsieur and madame. My faith, some more heads will have to +roll into the sawdust basket some of these mornings.' + +Duroc advanced in silence, and stood by the ruffian's side. + +'Jean Carabin,' said he. + +The Baron started, and the film of drunkenness seemed to be clearing +from his eyes. + +'Jean Carabin,' said Duroc, once more. + +He sat up and grasped the arms of his chair. + +'What do you mean by repeating that name, young man?' he asked. + +'Jean Carabin, you are a man whom I have long wished to meet.' + +'Supposing that I once had such a name, how can it concern you, since +you must have been a child when I bore it?' + +'My name is Duroc.' + +'Not the son of----?' + +'The son of the man you murdered.' + +The Baron tried to laugh, but there was terror in his eyes. + +'We must let bygones be bygones, young man,' he cried. 'It was our life +or theirs in those days: the aristocrats or the people. Your father was +of the Gironde. He fell. I was of the mountain. Most of my comrades +fell. It was all the fortune of war. We must forget all this and learn +to know each other better, you and I.' He held out a red, twitching hand +as he spoke. + +'Enough,' said young Duroc. 'If I were to pass my sabre through you as +you sit in that chair, I should do what is just and right. I dishonour +my blade by crossing it with yours. And yet you are a Frenchman, and +have even held a commission under the same flag as myself. Rise, then, +and defend yourself!' + +'Tut, tut!' cried the Baron. 'It is all very well for you young +bloods--' + +Duroc's patience could stand no more. He swung his open hand into the +centre of the great orange beard. I saw a lip fringed with blood, and +two glaring blue eyes above it. + +'You shall die for that blow.' + +'That is better,' said Duroc. + +'My sabre!' cried the other. 'I will not keep you waiting, I promise +you!' and he hurried from the room. + +I have said that there was a second door covered with a curtain. Hardly +had the Baron vanished when there ran from behind it a woman, young and +beautiful. So swiftly and noiselessly did she move that she was between +us in an instant, and it was only the shaking curtains which told us +whence she had come. + +'I have seen it all,' she cried. 'Oh, sir, you have carried yourself +splendidly.' She stooped to my companion's hand, and kissed it again and +again ere he could disengage it from her grasp. + +'Nay, madame, why should you kiss my hand?' he cried. + +'Because it is the hand which struck him on his vile, lying mouth. +Because it may be the hand which will avenge my mother. I am his +step-daughter. The woman whose heart he broke was my mother. I loathe +him, I fear him. Ah, there is his step!' In an instant she had vanished +as suddenly as she had come. A moment later, the Baron entered with a +drawn sword in his hand, and the fellow who had admitted us at his +heels. + +'This is my secretary,' said he. 'He will be my friend in this affair. +But we shall need more elbow-room than we can find here. Perhaps you +will kindly come with me to a more spacious apartment.' + +It was evidently impossible to fight in a chamber which was blocked by a +great table. We followed him out, therefore, into the dimly-lit hall. At +the farther end a light was shining through an open door. + +'We shall find what we want in here,' said the man with the dark beard. +It was a large, empty room, with rows of barrels and cases round the +walls. A strong lamp stood upon a shelf in the corner. The floor was +level and true, so that no swordsman could ask for more. Duroc drew his +sabre and sprang into it. The Baron stood back with a bow and motioned +me to follow my companion. Hardly were my heels over the threshold when +the heavy door crashed behind us and the key screamed in the lock. We +were taken in a trap. + +For a moment we could not realize it. Such incredible baseness was +outside all our experiences. Then, as we understood how foolish we had +been to trust for an instant a man with such a history, a flush of rage +came over us, rage against his villainy and against our own stupidity. +We rushed at the door together, beating it with our fists and kicking +with our heavy boots. The sound of our blows and of our execrations must +have resounded through the Castle. We called to this villain, hurling at +him every name which might pierce even into his hardened soul. But the +door was enormous--such a door as one finds in mediaeval castles--made +of huge beams clamped together with iron. It was as easy to break as a +square of the Old Guard. And our cries appeared to be of as little avail +as our blows, for they only brought for answer the clattering echoes +from the high roof above us. When you have done some soldiering, you +soon learn to put up with what cannot be altered. It was I, then, who +first recovered my calmness, and prevailed upon Duroc to join with me in +examining the apartment which had become our dungeon. + +There was only one window, which had no glass in it, and was so narrow +that one could not so much as get one's head through. It was high up, +and Duroc had to stand upon a barrel in order to see from it. + +'What can you see?' I asked. + +'Fir-woods and an avenue of snow between them,' said he. 'Ah!' he gave a +cry of surprise. + +I sprang upon the barrel beside him. There was, as he said, a long, +clear strip of snow in front. A man was riding down it, flogging his +horse and galloping like a madman. As we watched, he grew smaller and +smaller, until he was swallowed up by the black shadows of the forest. + +'What does that mean?' asked Duroc. + +'No good for us,' said I. 'He may have gone for some brigands to cut +our throats. Let us see if we cannot find a way out of this mouse-trap +before the cat can arrive.' + +The one piece of good fortune in our favour was that beautiful lamp. It +was nearly full of oil, and would last us until morning. In the dark our +situation would have been far more difficult. By its light we proceeded +to examine the packages and cases which lined the walls. In some places +there was only a single line of them, while in one corner they were +piled nearly to the ceiling. It seemed that we were in the storehouse of +the Castle, for there were a great number of cheeses, vegetables of +various kinds, bins full of dried fruits, and a line of wine barrels. +One of these had a spigot in it, and as I had eaten little during the +day, I was glad of a cup of claret and some food. As to Duroc, he would +take nothing, but paced up and down the room in a fever of anger and +impatience. 'I'll have him yet!' he cried, every now and then. 'The +rascal shall not escape me!' + +This was all very well, but it seemed to me, as I sat on a great round +cheese eating my supper, that this youngster was thinking rather too +much of his own family affairs and too little of the fine scrape into +which he had got me. After all, his father had been dead fourteen years, +and nothing could set that right; but here was Etienne Gerard, the most +dashing lieutenant in the whole Grand Army, in imminent danger of being +cut off at the very outset of his brilliant career. Who was ever to know +the heights to which I might have risen if I were knocked on the head in +this hole-and-corner business, which had nothing whatever to do with +France or the Emperor? I could not help thinking what a fool I had been, +when I had a fine war before me and everything which a man could desire, +to go off on a hare-brained expedition of this sort, as if it were not +enough to have a quarter of a million Russians to fight against, without +plunging into all sorts of private quarrels as well. + +'That is all very well,' I said at last, as I heard Duroc muttering his +threats. 'You may do what you like to him when you get the upper hand. +At present the question rather is, what is _he_ going to do to us?' + +'Let him do his worst!' cried the boy. 'I owe a duty to my father.' + +'That is mere foolishness,' said I. 'If you owe a duty to your father, I +owe one to my mother, which is to get out of this business safe and +sound.' + +My remark brought him to his senses. + +'I have thought too much of myself!' he cried. 'Forgive me, Monsieur +Gerard. Give me your advice as to what I should do.' + +'Well,' said I, 'it is not for our health that they have shut us up here +among the cheeses. They mean to make an end of us if they can. That is +certain. They hope that no one knows that we have come here, and that +none will trace us if we remain. Do your hussars know where you have +gone to?' + +'I said nothing.' + +'Hum! It is clear that we cannot be starved here. They must come to us +if they are to kill us. Behind a barricade of barrels we could hold our +own against the five rascals whom we have seen. That is, probably, why +they have sent that messenger for assistance.' + +'We must get out before he returns.' + +'Precisely, if we are to get out at all.' + +'Could we not burn down this door?' he cried. + +'Nothing could be easier,' said I. 'There are several casks of oil in +the corner. My only objection is that we should ourselves be nicely +toasted, like two little oyster pâtés.' + +'Can you not suggest something?' he cried, in despair. 'Ah, what is +that?' + +There had been a low sound at our little window, and a shadow came +between the stars and ourselves. A small, white hand was stretched into +the lamplight. Something glittered between the fingers. + +'Quick! quick!' cried a woman's voice. + +We were on the barrel in an instant. + +'They have sent for the Cossacks. Your lives are at stake. Ah, I am +lost! I am lost!' + +There was the sound of rushing steps, a hoarse oath, a blow, and the +stars were once more twinkling through the window. We stood helpless +upon the barrel with our blood cold with horror. Half a minute +afterwards we heard a smothered scream, ending in a choke. A great door +slammed somewhere in the silent night. + +'Those ruffians have seized her. They will kill her,' I cried. + +Duroc sprang down with the inarticulate shouts of one whose reason has +left him. He struck the door so frantically with his naked hands that he +left a blotch of blood with every blow. + +Here is the key!' I shouted, picking one from the floor. 'She must have +thrown it in at the instant that she was torn away.' + +My companion snatched it from me with a shriek of joy. A moment later he +dashed it down upon the boards. It was so small that it was lost in the +enormous lock. Duroc sank upon one of the boxes with his head between +his hands. He sobbed in his despair. I could have sobbed, too, when I +thought of the woman and how helpless we were to save her. + +But I am not easily baffled. After all, this key must have been sent to +us for a purpose. The lady could not bring us that of the door, because +this murderous step-father of hers would most certainly have it in his +pocket. Yet this other must have a meaning, or why should she risk her +life to place it in our hands? It would say little for our wits if we +could not find out what that meaning might be. + +I set to work moving all the cases out from the wall, and Duroc, gaining +new hope from my courage, helped me with all his strength. It was no +light task, for many of them were large and heavy. On we went, working +like maniacs, slinging barrels, cheeses, and boxes pell-mell into the +middle of the room. At last there only remained one huge barrel of +vodka, which stood in the corner. With our united strength we rolled it +out, and there was a little low wooden door in the wainscot behind it. +The key fitted, and with a cry of delight we saw it swing open before +us. With the lamp in my hand, I squeezed my way in, followed by my +companion. + +We were in the powder-magazine of the Castle--a rough, walled cellar, +with barrels all round it, and one with the top staved in in the centre. +The powder from it lay in a black heap upon the floor. Beyond there was +another door, but it was locked. + +'We are no better off than before,' cried Duroc. 'We have no key.' + +'We have a dozen!' I cried. + +'Where?' + +I pointed to the line of powder barrels. + +'You would blow this door open?' + +'Precisely.' + +'But you would explode the magazine.' + +It was true, but I was not at the end of my resources. + +'We will blow open the store-room door,' I cried. + +I ran back and seized a tin box which had been filled with candles. It +was about the size of my busby--large enough to hold several pounds of +powder. Duroc filled it while I cut off the end of a candle. When we had +finished, it would have puzzled a colonel of engineers to make a better +petard. I put three cheeses on the top of each other and placed it above +them, so as to lean against the lock. Then we lit our candle-end and ran +for shelter, shutting the door of the magazine behind us. + +It is no joke, my friends, to be among all those tons of powder, with +the knowledge that if the flame of the explosion should penetrate +through one thin door our blackened limbs would be shot higher than the +Castle keep. Who could have believed that a half-inch of candle could +take so long to burn? My ears were straining all the time for the +thudding of the hoofs of the Cossacks who were coming to destroy us. I +had almost made up my mind that the candle must have gone out when there +was a smack like a bursting bomb, our door flew to bits, and pieces of +cheese, with a shower of turnips, apples, and splinters of cases, were +shot in among us. As we rushed out we had to stagger through an +impenetrable smoke, with all sorts of débris beneath our feet, but there +was a glimmering square where the dark door had been. The petard had +done its work. + +In fact, it had done more for us than we had even ventured to hope. It +had shattered gaolers as well as gaol. The first thing that I saw as I +came out into the hall was a man with a butcher's axe in his hand, lying +flat upon his back, with a gaping wound across his forehead. The second +was a huge dog, with two of its legs broken, twisting in agony upon the +floor. As it raised itself up I saw the two broken ends flapping like +flails. At the same instant I heard a cry, and there was Duroc, thrown +against the wall, with the other hound's teeth in his throat. He pushed +it off with his left hand, while again and again he passed his sabre +through its body, but it was not until I blew out its brains with my +pistol that the iron jaws relaxed, and the fierce, bloodshot eyes were +glazed in death. + +There was no time for us to pause. A woman's scream from in front--a +scream of mortal terror--told us that even now we might be too late. +There were two other men in the hall, but they cowered away from our +drawn swords and furious faces. The blood was streaming from Duroc's +neck and dyeing the grey fur of his pelisse. Such was the lad's fire, +however, that he shot in front of me, and it was only over his shoulder +that I caught a glimpse of the scene as we rushed into the chamber in +which we had first seen the master of the Castle of Gloom. + +The Baron was standing in the middle of the room, his tangled mane +bristling like an angry lion. He was, as I have said, a huge man with +enormous shoulders; and as he stood there, with his face flushed with +rage and his sword advanced, I could not but think that, in spite of all +his villainies, he had a proper figure for a grenadier. The lady lay +cowering in a chair behind him. A weal across one of her white arms and +a dog-whip upon the floor were enough to show that our escape had hardly +been in time to save her from his brutality. He gave a howl like a wolf +as we broke in, and was upon us in an instant, hacking and driving, with +a curse at every blow. + +I have already said that the room gave no space for swordsmanship. My +young companion was in front of me in the narrow passage between the +table and the wall, so that I could only look on without being able to +aid him. The lad knew something of his weapon, and was as fierce and +active as a wild cat, but in so narrow a space the weight and strength +of the giant gave him the advantage. Besides, he was an admirable +swordsman. His parade and riposte were as quick as lightning. Twice he +touched Duroc upon the shoulder, and then, as the lad slipped on a +lunge, he whirled up his sword to finish him before he could recover his +feet. I was quicker than he, however, and took the cut upon the pommel +of my sabre. + +'Excuse me,' said I, 'but you have still to deal with Etienne Gerard.' + +He drew back and leaned against the tapestry-covered wall, breathing in +little, hoarse gasps, for his foul living was against him. + +'Take your breath,' said I. 'I will await your convenience.' + +'You have no cause of quarrel against me,' he panted. + +'I owe you some little attention,' said I, 'for having shut me up in +your store-room. Besides, if all other were wanting, I see cause enough +upon that lady's arm.' + +'Have your way, then!' he snarled, and leaped at me like a madman. For +a minute I saw only the blazing blue eyes, and the red glazed point +which stabbed and stabbed, rasping off to right or to left, and yet ever +back at my throat and my breast. I had never thought that such good +sword-play was to be found at Paris in the days of the Revolution. I do +not suppose that in all my little affairs I have met six men who had a +better knowledge of their weapon. But he knew that I was his master. He +read death in my eyes, and I could see that he read it. The flush died +from his face. His breath came in shorter and in thicker gasps. Yet he +fought on, even after the final thrust had come, and died still hacking +and cursing, with foul cries upon his lips, and his blood clotting upon +his orange beard. I who speak to you have seen so many battles, that my +old memory can scarce contain their names, and yet of all the terrible +sights which these eyes have rested upon, there is none which I care to +think of less than of that orange beard with the crimson stain in the +centre, from which I had drawn my sword-point. + +It was only afterwards that I had time to think of all this. His +monstrous body had hardly crashed down upon the floor before the woman +in the corner sprang to her feet, clapping her hands together and +screaming out in her delight. For my part I was disgusted to see a woman +take such delight in a deed of blood, and I gave no thought as to the +terrible wrongs which must have befallen her before she could so far +forget the gentleness of her sex. It was on my tongue to tell her +sharply to be silent, when a strange, choking smell took the breath from +my nostrils, and a sudden, yellow glare brought out the figures upon the +faded hangings. + +'Duroc, Duroc!' I shouted, tugging at his shoulder. 'The Castle is on +fire!' + +The boy lay senseless upon the ground, exhausted by his wounds. I rushed +out into the hall to see whence the danger came. It was our explosion +which had set alight to the dry frame-work of the door. Inside the +store-room some of the boxes were already blazing. I glanced in, and as +I did so my blood was turned to water by the sight of the powder barrels +beyond, and of the loose heap upon the floor. It might be seconds, it +could not be more than minutes, before the flames would be at the edge +of it. These eyes will be closed in death, my friends, before they cease +to see those crawling lines of fire and the black heap beyond. + +How little I can remember what followed. Vaguely I can recall how I +rushed into the chamber of death, how I seized Duroc by one limp hand +and dragged him down the hall, the woman keeping pace with me and +pulling at the other arm. Out of the gateway we rushed, and on down the +snow-covered path until we were on the fringe of the fir forest. It was +at that moment that I heard a crash behind me, and, glancing round, saw +a great spout of fire shoot up into the wintry sky. An instant later +there seemed to come a second crash, far louder than the first. I saw +the fir trees and the stars whirling round me, and I fell unconscious +across the body of my comrade. + + * * * * * + +It was some weeks before I came to myself in the post-house of +Arensdorf, and longer still before I could be told all that had befallen +me. It was Duroc, already able to go soldiering, who came to my bedside +and gave me an account of it. He it was who told me how a piece of +timber had struck me on the head and laid me almost dead upon the +ground. From him, too, I learned how the Polish girl had run to +Arensdorf, how she had roused our hussars, and how she had only just +brought them back in time to save us from the spears of the Cossacks who +had been summoned from their bivouac by that same black-bearded +secretary whom we had seen galloping so swiftly over the snow. As to the +brave lady who had twice saved our lives, I could not learn very much +about her at that moment from Duroc, but when I chanced to meet him in +Paris two years later, after the campaign of Wagram, I was not very +much surprised to find that I needed no introduction to his bride, and +that by the queer turns of fortune he had himself, had he chosen to use +it, that very name and title of the Baron Straubenthal, which showed him +to be the owner of the blackened ruins of the Castle of Gloom. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote A: The term Brigadier is used throughout in its English and +not in its French sense.] + + + + +2. HOW THE BRIGADIER SLEW THE BROTHERS OF AJACCIO + + +When the Emperor needed an agent he was always very ready to do me the +honour of recalling the name of Etienne Gerard, though it occasionally +escaped him when rewards were to be distributed. Still, I was a colonel +at twenty-eight, and the chief of a brigade at thirty-one, so that I +have no reason to be dissatisfied with my career. Had the wars lasted +another two or three years I might have grasped my bâton, and the man +who had his hand upon that was only one stride from a throne. Murat had +changed his hussar's cap for a crown, and another light cavalry man +might have done as much. However, all those dreams were driven away by +Waterloo, and, although I was not able to write my name upon history, it +is sufficiently well known by all who served with me in the great wars +of the Empire. + +What I want to tell you tonight is about the very singular affair which +first started me upon my rapid upward course, and which had the effect +of establishing a secret bond between the Emperor and myself. + +There is just one little word of warning which I must give you before I +begin. When you hear me speak, you must always bear in mind that you are +listening to one who has seen history from the inside. I am talking +about what my ears have heard and my eyes have seen, so you must not try +to confute me by quoting the opinions of some student or man of the pen, +who has written a book of history or memoirs. There is much which is +unknown by such people, and much which never will be known by the world. +For my own part, I could tell you some very surprising things were it +discreet to do so. The facts which I am about to relate to you tonight +were kept secret by me during the Emperor's lifetime, because I gave +him my promise that it should be so, but I do not think that there can +be any harm now in my telling the remarkable part which I played. + +You must know, then, that at the time of the Treaty of Tilsit I was a +simple lieutenant in the 10th Hussars, without money or interest. It is +true that my appearance and my gallantry were in my favour, and that I +had already won a reputation as being one of the best swordsmen in the +army; but amongst the host of brave men who surrounded the Emperor it +needed more than this to insure a rapid career. I was confident, +however, that my chance would come, though I never dreamed that it would +take so remarkable a form. + +When the Emperor returned to Paris, after the declaration of peace in +the year 1807, he spent much of his time with the Empress and the Court +at Fontainebleau. It was the time when he was at the pinnacle of his +career. He had in three successive campaigns humbled Austria, crushed +Prussia, and made the Russians very glad to get upon the right side of +the Niemen. The old Bulldog over the Channel was still growling, but he +could not get very far from his kennel. If we could have made a +perpetual peace at that moment, France would have taken a higher place +than any nation since the days of the Romans. So I have heard the wise +folk say, though for my part I had other things to think of. All the +girls were glad to see the army back after its long absence, and you may +be sure that I had my share of any favours that were going. You may +judge how far I was a favourite in those days when I say that even now, +in my sixtieth year--but why should I dwell upon that which is already +sufficiently well known? + +Our regiment of hussars was quartered with the horse chasseurs of the +guard at Fontainebleau. It is, as you know, but a little place, buried +in the heart of the forest, and it was wonderful at this time to see it +crowded with Grand Dukes and Electors and Princes, who thronged round +Napoleon like puppies round their master, each hoping that some bone +might be thrown to him. There was more German than French to be heard in +the street, for those who had helped us in the late war had come to beg +for a reward, and those who had opposed us had come to try and escape +their punishment. + +And all the time our little man, with his pale face and his cold, grey +eyes, was riding to the hunt every morning, silent and brooding, all of +them following in his train, in the hope that some word would escape +him. And then, when the humour seized him, he would throw a hundred +square miles to that man, or tear as much off the other, round off one +kingdom by a river, or cut off another by a chain of mountains. That was +how he used to do business, this little artilleryman, whom we had raised +so high with our sabres and our bayonets. He was very civil to us +always, for he knew where his power came from. We knew also, and showed +it by the way in which we carried ourselves. We were agreed, you +understand, that he was the finest leader in the world, but we did not +forget that he had the finest men to lead. + +Well, one day I was seated in my quarters playing cards with young +Morat, of the horse chasseurs, when the door opened and in walked +Lasalle, who was our Colonel. You know what a fine, swaggering fellow he +was, and the sky-blue uniform of the Tenth suited him to a marvel. My +faith, we youngsters were so taken by him that we all swore and diced +and drank and played the deuce whether we liked it or no, just that we +might resemble our Colonel! We forgot that it was not because he drank +or gambled that the Emperor was going to make him the head of the light +cavalry, but because he had the surest eye for the nature of a position +or for the strength of a column, and the best judgment as to when +infantry could be broken, or whether guns were exposed, of any man in +the army. We were too young to understand all that, however, so we +waxed our moustaches and clicked our spurs and let the ferrules of our +scabbards wear out by trailing them along the pavement in the hope that +we should all become Lasalles. When he came clanking into my quarters, +both Morat and I sprang to our feet. + +'My boy,' said he, clapping me on the shoulder, 'the Emperor wants to +see you at four o'clock.' + +The room whirled round me at the words, and I had to lean my hands upon +the edge of the card-table. + +'What?' I cried. 'The Emperor!' + +'Precisely,' said he, smiling at my astonishment. + +'But the Emperor does not know of my existence, Colonel,' I protested. +'Why should he send for me?' + +'Well, that's just what puzzles me,' cried Lasalle, twirling his +moustache. 'If he wanted the help of a good sabre, why should he descend +to one of my lieutenants when he might have found all that he needed at +the head of the regiment? However,' he added, clapping me on the +shoulder again in his hearty fashion, 'every man has his chance. I have +had mine, otherwise I should not be Colonel of the Tenth. I must not +grudge you yours. Forwards, my boy, and may it be the first step towards +changing your busby for a cocked hat.' + +It was but two o'clock, so he left me, promising to come back and to +accompany me to the palace. My faith, what a time I passed, and how many +conjectures did I make as to what it was that the Emperor could want of +me! I paced up and down my little room in a fever of anticipation. +Sometimes I thought that perhaps he had heard of the guns which we had +taken at Austerlitz; but, then, there were so many who had taken guns at +Austerlitz, and two years had passed since the battle. Or it might be +that he wished to reward me for my affair with the _aide-de-camp_ of the +Russian Emperor. But then again a cold fit would seize me, and I would +fancy that he had sent for me to reprimand me. There were a few duels +which he might have taken in ill part, and there were one or two little +jokes in Paris since the peace. + +But, no! I considered the words of Lasalle. 'If he had need of a brave +man,' said Lasalle. + +It was obvious that my Colonel had some idea of what was in the wind. If +he had not known that it was to my advantage, he would not have been so +cruel as to congratulate me. My heart glowed with joy as this conviction +grew upon me, and I sat down to write to my mother and to tell her that +the Emperor was waiting, at that very moment, to have my opinion upon a +matter of importance. It made me smile as I wrote it to think that, +wonderful as it appeared to me, it would probably only confirm my mother +in her opinion of the Emperor's good sense. + +At half-past three I heard a sabre come clanking against every step of +my wooden stair. It was Lasalle, and with him was a lame gentleman, very +neatly dressed in black with dapper ruffles and cuffs. We did not know +many civilians, we of the army, but, my word, this was one whom we could +not afford to ignore! I had only to glance at those twinkling eyes, the +comical, upturned nose, and the straight, precise mouth, to know that I +was in the presence of the one man in France whom even the Emperor had +to consider. + +'This is Monsieur Etienne Gerard, Monsieur de Talleyrand,' said Lasalle. + +I saluted, and the statesman took me in from the top of my panache to +the rowel of my spur, with a glance that played over me like a rapier +point. + +'Have you explained to the lieutenant the circumstances under which he +is summoned to the Emperor's presence?' he asked, in his dry, creaking +voice. + +They were such a contrast, these two men, that I could not help glancing +from one to the other of them: the black, sly politician, and the big, +sky-blue hussar with one fist on his hip and the other on the hilt of +his sabre. They both took their seats as I looked, Talleyrand without a +sound, and Lasalle with a clash and a jingle like a prancing charger. + +'It's this way, youngster,' said he, in his brusque fashion; 'I was with +the Emperor in his private cabinet this morning when a note was brought +in to him. He opened it, and as he did so he gave such a start that it +fluttered down on to the floor. I handed it up to him again, but he was +staring at the wall in front of him as if he had seen a ghost. "Fratelli +dell' Ajaccio," he muttered; and then again, "Fratelli dell' Ajaccio." I +don't pretend to know more Italian than a man can pick up in two +campaigns, and I could make nothing of this. It seemed to me that he had +gone out of his mind; and you would have said so also, Monsieur de +Talleyrand, if you had seen the look in his eyes. He read the note, and +then he sat for half an hour or more without moving.' + +'And you?' asked Talleyrand. + +'Why, I stood there not knowing what I ought to do. Presently he seemed +to come back to his senses. + +'"I suppose, Lasalle," said he, "that you have some gallant young +officers in the Tenth?" + +'"They are all that, sire," I answered. + +'"If you had to pick one who was to be depended upon for action, but who +would not think too much--you understand me, Lasalle--which would you +select?" he asked. + +'I saw that he needed an agent who would not penetrate too deeply into +his plans. + +'"I have one," said I, "who is all spurs and moustaches, with never a +thought beyond women and horses." + +'"That is the man I want," said Napoleon. "Bring him to my private +cabinet at four o'clock." + +'So, youngster, I came straight away to you at once, and mind that you +do credit to the 10th Hussars.' + +I was by no means flattered by the reasons which had led to my Colonel's +choice, and I must have shown as much in my face, for he roared with +laughter and Talleyrand gave a dry chuckle also. + +'Just one word of advice before you go, Monsieur Gerard,' said he: 'you +are now coming into troubled waters, and you might find a worse pilot +than myself. We have none of us any idea as to what this little affair +means, and, between ourselves, it is very important for us, who have the +destinies of France upon our shoulders, to keep ourselves in touch with +all that goes on. You understand me, Monsieur Gerard?' + +I had not the least idea what he was driving at, but I bowed and tried +to look as if it was clear to me. + +'Act very guardedly, then, and say nothing to anybody,' said Talleyrand. +'Colonel de Lasalle and I will not show ourselves in public with you, +but we will await you here, and we will give you our advice when you +have told us what has passed between the Emperor and yourself. It is +time that you started now, for the Emperor never forgives +unpunctuality.' + +Off I went on foot to the palace, which was only a hundred paces off. I +made my way to the ante-chamber, where Duroc, with his grand new scarlet +and gold coat, was fussing about among the crowd of people who were +waiting. I heard him whisper to Monsieur de Caulaincourt that half of +them were German Dukes who expected to be made Kings, and the other half +German Dukes who expected to be made paupers. Duroc, when he heard my +name, showed me straight in, and I found myself in the Emperor's +presence. + +I had, of course, seen him in camp a hundred times, but I had never been +face to face with him before. I have no doubt that if you had met him +without knowing in the least who he was, you would simply have said that +he was a sallow little fellow with a good forehead and fairly +well-turned calves. His tight white cashmere breeches and white +stockings showed off his legs to advantage. But even a stranger must +have been struck by the singular look of his eyes, which could harden +into an expression which would frighten a grenadier. It is said that +even Auguereau, who was a man who had never known what fear was, quailed +before Napoleon's gaze, at a time, too, when the Emperor was but an +unknown soldier. He looked mildly enough at me, however, and motioned me +to remain by the door. De Meneval was writing to his dictation, looking +up at him between each sentence with his spaniel eyes. + +'That will do. You can go,' said the Emperor, abruptly. Then, when the +secretary had left the room, he strode across with his hands behind his +back, and he looked me up and down without a word. Though he was a small +man himself, he was very fond of having fine-looking fellows about him, +and so I think that my appearance gave him pleasure. For my own part, I +raised one hand to the salute and held the other upon the hilt of my +sabre, looking straight ahead of me, as a soldier should. + +'Well, Monsieur Gerard,' said he, at last, tapping his forefinger upon +one of the brandebourgs of gold braid upon the front of my pelisse, 'I +am informed that you are a very deserving young officer. Your Colonel +gives me an excellent account of you.' + +I wished to make a brilliant reply, but I could think of nothing save +Lasalle's phrase that I was all spurs and moustaches, so it ended in my +saying nothing at all. The Emperor watched the struggle which must have +shown itself upon my features, and when, finally, no answer came he did +not appear to be displeased. + +'I believe that you are the very man that I want,' said he. 'Brave and +clever men surround me upon every side. But a brave man who----' He did +not finish his sentence, and for my own part I could not understand what +he was driving at. I contented myself with assuring him that he could +count upon me to the death. + +'You are, as I understand, a good swordsman?' said he. + +'Tolerable, sire,' I answered. + +'You were chosen by your regiment to fight the champion of the Hussars +of Chambarant?' said he. + +I was not sorry to find that he knew so much of my exploits. + +'My comrades, sire, did me that honour,' said I. + +'And for the sake of practice you insulted six fencing masters in the +week before your duel?' + +'I had the privilege of being out seven times in as many days, sire,' +said I. + +'And escaped without a scratch?' + +'The fencing master of the 23rd Light Infantry touched me on the left +elbow, sire.' + +'Let us have no more child's play of the sort, monsieur,' he cried, +turning suddenly to that cold rage of his which was so appalling. 'Do +you imagine that I place veteran soldiers in these positions that you +may practise quarte and tierce upon them? How am I to face Europe if my +soldiers turn their points upon each other? Another word of your +duelling, and I break you between these fingers.' + +I saw his plump white hands flash before my eyes as he spoke, and his +voice had turned to the most discordant hissing and growling. My word, +my skin pringled all over as I listened to him, and I would gladly have +changed my position for that of the first man in the steepest and +narrowest breach that ever swallowed up a storming party. He turned to +the table, drank off a cup of coffee, and then when he faced me again +every trace of this storm had vanished, and he wore that singular smile +which came from his lips but never from his eyes. + +'I have need of your services, Monsieur Gerard,' said he. 'I may be +safer with a good sword at my side, and there are reasons why yours +should be the one which I select. But first of all I must bind you to +secrecy. Whilst I live what passes between us today must be known to +none but ourselves.' + +I thought of Talleyrand and of Lasalle, but I promised. + +'In the next place, I do not want your opinions or conjectures, and I +wish you to do exactly what you are told.' + +I bowed. + +'It is your sword that I need, and not your brains. I will do the +thinking. Is that clear to you?' + +'Yes, sire.' + +'You know the Chancellor's Grove, in the forest?' + +I bowed. + +'You know also the large double fir-tree where the hounds assembled on +Tuesday?' + +Had he known that I met a girl under it three times a week, he would not +have asked me. I bowed once more without remark. + +'Very good. You will meet me there at ten o'clock tonight.' + +I had got past being surprised at anything which might happen. If he had +asked me to take his place upon the imperial throne I could only have +nodded my busby. + +'We shall then proceed into the wood together,' said the Emperor. 'You +will be armed with a sword, but not with pistols. You must address no +remark to me, and I shall say nothing to you. We will advance in +silence. You understand?' + +'I understand, sire.' + +'After a time we shall see a man, or more probably two men, under a +certain tree. We shall approach them together. If I signal to you to +defend me, you will have your sword ready. If, on the other hand, I +speak to these men, you will wait and see what happens. If you are +called upon to draw, you must see that neither of them, in the event of +there being two, escapes from us. I shall myself assist you.' + +'Sire,' I cried, 'I have no doubt that two would not be too many for my +sword; but would it not be better that I should bring a comrade than +that you should be forced to join in such a struggle?' + +'Ta, ta, ta,' said he. 'I was a soldier before I was an Emperor. Do you +think, then, that artillerymen have not swords as well as the hussars? +But I ordered you not to argue with me. You will do exactly what I tell +you. If swords are once out, neither of these men is to get away alive.' + +'They shall not, sire,' said I. + +'Very good. I have no more instructions for you. You can go.' + +I turned to the door, and then an idea occurring to me I turned. + +'I have been thinking, sire--' said I. + +He sprang at me with the ferocity of a wild beast. I really thought he +would have struck me. + +'Thinking!' he cried. 'You, _you_! Do you imagine I chose you out +because you could think? Let me hear of your doing such a thing again! +You, the one man--but, there! You meet me at the fir-tree at ten +o'clock.' + +My faith, I was right glad to get out of the room. If I have a good +horse under me, and a sword clanking against my stirrup-iron, I know +where I am. And in all that relates to green fodder or dry, barley and +oats and rye, and the handling of squadrons upon the march, there is no +one who can teach me very much. But when I meet a Chamberlain and a +Marshal of the Palace, and have to pick my words with an Emperor, and +find that everybody hints instead of talking straight out, I feel like a +troop-horse who has been put in a lady's calèche. It is not my trade, +all this mincing and pretending. I have learned the manners of a +gentleman, but never those of a courtier. I was right glad then to get +into the fresh air again, and I ran away up to my quarters like a +schoolboy who has just escaped from the seminary master. + +But as I opened the door, the very first thing that my eye rested upon +was a long pair of sky-blue legs with hussar boots, and a short pair of +black ones with knee breeches and buckles. They both sprang up together +to greet me. + +'Well, what news?' they cried, the two of them. + +'None,' I answered. + +'The Emperor refused to see you?' + +'No, I have seen him.' + +'And what did he say?' + +'Monsieur de Talleyrand,' I answered, 'I regret to say that it is quite +impossible for me to tell you anything about it. I have promised the +Emperor.' + +'Pooh, pooh, my dear young man,' said he, sidling up to me, as a cat +does when it is about to rub itself against you. 'This is all among +friends, you understand, and goes no farther than these four walls. +Besides, the Emperor never meant to include me in this promise.' + +'It is but a minute's walk to the palace, Monsieur de Talleyrand,' I +answered; 'if it would not be troubling you too much to ask you to step +up to it and bring back the Emperor's written statement that he did not +mean to include you in this promise, I shall be happy to tell you every +word that passed.' + +He showed his teeth at me then like the old fox that he was. + +'Monsieur Gerard appears to be a little puffed up,' said he. 'He is too +young to see things in their just proportion. As he grows older he may +understand that it is not always very discreet for a subaltern of +cavalry to give such very abrupt refusals.' + +I did not know what to say to this, but Lasalle came to my aid in his +downright fashion. + +'The lad is quite right,' said he. 'If I had known that there was a +promise I should not have questioned him. You know very well, Monsieur +de Talleyrand, that if he had answered you, you would have laughed in +your sleeve and thought as much about him as I think of the bottle when +the burgundy is gone. As for me, I promise you that the Tenth would have +had no room for him, and that we should have lost our best swordsman if +I had heard him give up the Emperor's secret.' + +But the statesman became only the more bitter when he saw that I had +the support of my Colonel. + +'I have heard, Colonel de Lasalle,' said he, with an icy dignity, 'that +your opinion is of great weight upon the subject of light cavalry. +Should I have occasion to seek information about that branch of the +army, I shall be very happy to apply to you. At present, however, the +matter concerns diplomacy, and you will permit me to form my own views +upon that question. As long as the welfare of France and the safety of +the Emperor's person are largely committed to my care, I will use every +means in my power to secure them, even if it should be against the +Emperor's own temporary wishes. I have the honour, Colonel de Lasalle, +to wish you a very good-day!' + +He shot a most unamiable glance in my direction, and, turning upon his +heel, he walked with little, quick, noiseless steps out of the room. + +I could see from Lasalle's face that he did not at all relish finding +himself at enmity with the powerful Minister. He rapped out an oath or +two, and then, catching up his sabre and his cap, he clattered away down +the stairs. As I looked out of the window I saw the two of them, the big +blue man and the limping black one, going up the street together. +Talleyrand was walking very rigidly, and Lasalle was waving his hands +and talking, so I suppose he was trying to make his peace. + +The Emperor had told me not to think, and I endeavoured to obey him. I +took up the cards from the table where Morat had left them, and I tried +to work out a few combinations at écarté. But I could not remember which +were trumps, and I threw them under the table in despair. Then I drew my +sabre and practised giving point until I was weary, but it was all of no +use at all. My mind _would_ work, in spite of myself. At ten o'clock I +was to meet the Emperor in the forest. Of all extraordinary combinations +of events in the whole world, surely this was the last which would have +occurred to me when I rose from my couch that morning. But the +responsibility--- the dreadful responsibility! It was all upon my +shoulders. There was no one to halve it with me. It made me cold all +over. Often as I have faced death upon the battle-field, I have never +known what real fear was until that moment. But then I considered that +after all I could but do my best like a brave and honourable gentleman, +and above all obey the orders which I had received, to the very letter. +And, if all went well, this would surely be the foundation of my +fortunes. Thus, swaying between my fears and my hopes, I spent the long, +long evening until it was time to keep my appointment. + +I put on my military overcoat, as I did not know how much of the night I +might have to spend in the woods, and I fastened my sword outside it. I +pulled off my hussar boots also, and wore a pair of shoes and gaiters, +that I might be lighter upon my feet. Then I stole out of my quarters +and made for the forest, feeling very much easier in my mind, for I am +always at my best when the time of thought has passed and the moment for +action arrived. + +I passed the barracks of the Chasseurs of the Guards, and the line of +cafes all filled with uniforms. I caught a glimpse as I went by of the +blue and gold of some of my comrades, amid the swarm of dark infantry +coats and the light green of the Guides. There they sat, sipping their +wine and smoking their cigars, little dreaming what their comrade had on +hand. One of them, the chief of my squadron, caught sight of me in the +lamplight, and came shouting after me into the street. I hurried on, +however, pretending not to hear him, so he, with a curse at my deafness, +went back at last to his wine bottle. + +It is not very hard to get into the forest at Fontainebleau. The +scattered trees steal their way into the very streets, like the +tirailleurs in front of a column. I turned into a path, which led to the +edge of the woods, and then I pushed rapidly forward towards the old +fir-tree. It was a place which, as I have hinted, I had my own reasons +for knowing well, and I could only thank the Fates that it was not one +of the nights upon which Léonie would be waiting for me. The poor child +would have died of terror at sight of the Emperor. He might have been +too harsh with her--and worse still, he might have been too kind. + +There was a half moon shining, and, as I came up to our trysting-place, +I saw that I was not the first to arrive. The Emperor was pacing up and +down, his hands behind him and his face sunk somewhat forward upon his +breast. He wore a grey great-coat with a capote over his head. I had +seen him in such a dress in our winter campaign in Poland, and it was +said that he used it because the hood was such an excellent disguise. He +was always fond, whether in the camp or in Paris, of walking round at +night, and overhearing the talk in the cabarets or round the fires. His +figure, however, and his way of carrying his head and his hands were so +well known that he was always recognized, and then the talkers would say +whatever they thought would please him best. + +My first thought was that he would be angry with me for having kept him +waiting, but as I approached him, we heard the big church clock of +Fontainebleau clang out the hour of ten. It was evident, therefore, that +it was he who was too soon, and not I too late. I remembered his order +that I should make no remark, so contented myself with halting within +four paces of him, clicking my spurs together, grounding my sabre, and +saluting. He glanced at me, and then without a word he turned and walked +slowly through the forest, I keeping always about the same distance +behind him. Once or twice he seemed to me to look apprehensively to +right and to left, as if he feared that someone was observing us. I +looked also, but although I have the keenest sight, it was quite +impossible to see anything except the ragged patches of moonshine +between the great black shadows of the trees. My ears are as quick as +my eyes, and once or twice I thought that I heard a twig crack; but you +know how many sounds there are in a forest at night, and how difficult +it is even to say what direction they come from. + +We walked for rather more than a mile, and I knew exactly what our +destination was, long before we got there. In the centre of one of the +glades, there is the shattered stump of what must at some time have been +a most gigantic tree. It is called the Abbot's Beech, and there are so +many ghostly stories about it, that I know many a brave soldier who +would not care about mounting sentinel over it. However, I cared as +little for such folly as the Emperor did, so we crossed the glade and +made straight for the old broken trunk. As we approached, I saw that two +men were waiting for us beneath it. + +When I first caught sight of them they were standing rather behind it, +as if they were not anxious to be seen, but as we came nearer they +emerged from its shadow and walked forward to meet us. The Emperor +glanced back at me, and slackened his pace a little so that I came +within arm's length of him. You may think that I had my hilt well to the +front, and that I had a very good look at these two people who were +approaching us. + +The one was tall, remarkably so, and of very spare frame, while the +other was rather below the usual height, and had a brisk, determined way +of walking. They each wore black cloaks, which were slung right across +their figures, and hung down upon one side, like the mantles of Murat's +dragoons. They had flat black caps, like those I have since seen in +Spain, which threw their faces into darkness, though I could see the +gleam of their eyes from beneath them. With the moon behind them and +their long black shadows walking in front, they were such figures as one +might expect to meet at night near the Abbot's Beech. I can remember +that they had a stealthy way of moving, and that as they approached, the +moonshine formed two white diamonds between their legs and the legs of +their shadows. + +The Emperor had paused, and these two strangers came to a stand also +within a few paces of us. I had drawn up close to my companion's elbow, +so that the four of us were facing each other without a word spoken. My +eyes were particularly fixed upon the taller one, because he was +slightly the nearer to me, and I became certain as I watched him that he +was in the last state of nervousness. His lean figure was quivering all +over, and I heard a quick, thin panting like that of a tired dog. +Suddenly one of them gave a short, hissing signal. The tall man bent his +back and his knees like a diver about to spring, but before he could +move, I had jumped with drawn sabre in front of him. At the same instant +the smaller man bounded past me, and buried a long poniard in the +Emperor's heart. + +My God! the horror of that moment! It is a marvel that I did not drop +dead myself. As in a dream, I saw the grey coat whirl convulsively +round, and caught a glimpse in the moonlight of three inches of red +point which jutted out from between the shoulders. Then down he fell +with a dead man's gasp upon the grass, and the assassin, leaving his +weapon buried in his victim, threw up both his hands and shrieked with +joy. But I--I drove my sword through his midriff with such frantic +force, that the mere blow of the hilt against the end of his breast-bone +sent him six paces before he fell, and left my reeking blade ready for +the other. I sprang round upon him with such a lust for blood upon me as +I had never felt, and never have felt, in all my days. As I turned, a +dagger flashed before my eyes, and I felt the cold wind of it pass my +neck and the villain's wrist jar upon my shoulder. I shortened my sword, +but he winced away from me, and an instant afterwards was in full +flight, bounding like a deer across the glade in the moonlight. + +But he was not to escape me thus. I knew that the murderer's poniard +had done its work. Young as I was, I had seen enough of war to know a +mortal blow. I paused but for an instant to touch the cold hand. + +'Sire! Sire!' I cried, in an agony; and then as no sound came back and +nothing moved, save an ever-widening dark circle in the moonlight, I +knew that all was indeed over. I sprang madly to my feet, threw off my +great-coat, and ran at the top of my speed after the remaining assassin. + +Ah, how I blessed the wisdom which had caused me to come in shoes and +gaiters! And the happy thought which had thrown off my coat. He could +not get rid of his mantle, this wretch, or else he was too frightened to +think of it. So it was that I gained upon him from the beginning. He +must have been out of his wits, for he never tried to bury himself in +the darker parts of the woods, but he flew on from glade to glade, until +he came to the heath-land which leads up to the great Fontainebleau +quarry. There I had him in full sight, and knew that he could not escape +me. He ran well, it is true--ran as a coward runs when his life is the +stake. But I ran as Destiny runs when it gets behind a man's heels. Yard +by yard I drew in upon him. He was rolling and staggering. I could hear +the rasping and crackling of his breath. The great gulf of the quarry +suddenly yawned in front of his path, and glancing at me over his +shoulder, he gave a shriek of despair. The next instant he had vanished +from my sight. + +Vanished utterly, you understand. I rushed to the spot, and gazed down +into the black abyss. Had he hurled himself over? I had almost made up +my mind that he had done so, when a gentle sound rising and falling came +out of the darkness beneath me. It was his breathing once more, and it +showed me where he must be. He was hiding in the tool-house. + +At the edge of the quarry and beneath the summit there is a small +platform upon which stands a wooden hut for the use of the labourers. +It was into this, then, that he had darted. Perhaps he had thought, the +fool, that, in the darkness, I would not venture to follow him. He +little knew Etienne Gerard. With a spring I was on the platform, with +another I was through the doorway, and then, hearing him in the corner, +I hurled myself down upon the top of him. + +He fought like a wild cat, but he never had a chance with his shorter +weapon. I think that I must have transfixed him with that first mad +lunge, for, though he struck and struck, his blows had no power in them, +and presently his dagger tinkled down upon the floor. When I was sure +that he was dead, I rose up and passed out into the moonlight. I climbed +on to the heath again, and wandered across it as nearly out of my mind +as a man could be. + +With the blood singing in my ears, and my naked sword still clutched in +my hand, I walked aimlessly on until, looking round me, I found that I +had come as far as the glade of the Abbot's Beech, and saw in the +distance that gnarled stump which must ever be associated with the most +terrible moment of my life. I sat down upon a fallen trunk with my sword +across my knees and my head between my hands, and I tried to think about +what had happened and what would happen in the future. + +The Emperor had committed himself to my care. The Emperor was dead. +Those were the two thoughts which clanged in my head, until I had no +room for any other ones. He had come with me and he was dead. I had done +what he had ordered when living. I had revenged him when dead. But what +of all that? The world would look upon me as responsible. They might +even look upon me as the assassin. What could I prove? What witnesses +had I? Might I not have been the accomplice of these wretches? Yes, yes, +I was eternally dishonoured--the lowest, most despicable creature in all +France. This, then, was the end of my fine military ambitions--of the +hopes of my mother. I laughed bitterly at the thought. And what was I +to do now? Was I to go into Fontainebleau, to wake up the palace, and to +inform them that the great Emperor had been murdered within a pace of +me? I could not do it--no, I could not do it! There was but one course +for an honourable gentleman whom Fate had placed in so cruel a position. +I would fall upon my dishonoured sword, and so share, since I could not +avert, the Emperor's fate. I rose with my nerves strung to this last +piteous deed, and as I did so, my eyes fell upon something which struck +the breath from my lips. The Emperor was standing before me! + +He was not more than ten yards off, with the moon shining straight upon +his cold, pale face. He wore his grey overcoat, but the hood was turned +back, and the front open, so that I could see the green coat of the +Guides, and the white breeches. His hands were clasped behind his back, +and his chin sunk forward upon his breast, in the way that was usual +with him. + +'Well,' said he, in his hardest and most abrupt voice, 'what account do +you give of yourself?' + +I believe that, if he had stood in silence for another minute, my brain +would have given way. But those sharp military accents were exactly what +I needed to bring me to myself. Living or dead, here was the Emperor +standing before me and asking me questions. I sprang to the salute. + +'You have killed one, I see,' said he, jerking his head towards the +beech. + +'Yes, sire.' + +'And the other escaped?' + +'No, sire, I killed him also.' + +'What!' he cried. 'Do I understand that you have killed them both?' He +approached me as he spoke with a smile which set his teeth gleaming in +the moonlight. + +'One body lies there, sire,' I answered. 'The other is in the tool-house +at the quarry.' + +'Then the Brothers of Ajaccio are no more,' he cried, and after a +pause, as if speaking to himself: 'The shadow has passed me for ever.' +Then he bent forward and laid his hand upon my shoulder. + +'You have done very well, my young friend,' said he. 'You have lived up +to your reputation.' + +He was flesh and blood, then, this Emperor. I could feel the little, +plump palm that rested upon me. And yet I could not get over what I had +seen with my own eyes, and so I stared at him in such bewilderment that +he broke once more into one of his smiles. + +'No, no, Monsieur Gerard,' said he, 'I am not a ghost, and you have not +seen me killed. You will come here, and all will be clear to you.' + +He turned as he spoke, and led the way towards the great beech stump. + +The bodies were still lying upon the ground, and two men were standing +beside them. As we approached I saw from the turbans that they were +Roustem and Mustafa, the two Mameluke servants. The Emperor paused when +he came to the grey figure upon the ground, and turning back the hood +which shrouded the features, he showed a face which was very different +from his own. + +'Here lies a faithful servant who has given up his life for his master,' +said he. 'Monsieur de Goudin resembles me in figure and in manner, as +you must admit.' + +What a delirium of joy came upon me when these few words made everything +clear to me. He smiled again as he saw the delight which urged me to +throw my arms round him and to embrace him, but he moved a step away, as +if he had divined my impulse. + +'You are unhurt?' he asked. + +'I am unhurt, sire. But in another minute I should in my despair----' + +'Tut, tut!' he interrupted. 'You did very well. He should himself have +been more on his guard. I saw everything which passed.' + +'You saw it, sire!' + +'You did not hear me follow you through the wood, then? I hardly lost +sight of you from the moment that you left your quarters until poor De +Goudin fell. The counterfeit Emperor was in front of you and the real +one behind. You will now escort me back to the palace.' + +He whispered an order to his Mamelukes, who saluted in silence and +remained where they were standing. For my part, I followed the Emperor +with my pelisse bursting with pride. My word, I have always carried +myself as a hussar should, but Lasalle himself never strutted and swung +his dolman as I did that night. Who should clink his spurs and clatter +his sabre if it were not I--I, Etienne Gerard--the confidant of the +Emperor, the chosen swordsman of the light cavalry, the man who slew the +would-be assassins of Napoleon? But he noticed my bearing and turned +upon me like a blight. + +'Is that the way you carry yourself on a secret mission?' he hissed, +with that cold glare in his eyes. 'Is it thus that you will make your +comrades believe that nothing remarkable has occurred? Have done with +this nonsense, monsieur, or you will find yourself transferred to the +sappers, where you would have harder work and duller plumage.' + +That was the way with the Emperor. If ever he thought that anyone might +have a claim upon him, he took the first opportunity to show him the +gulf that lay between. I saluted and was silent, but I must confess to +you that it hurt me after all that had passed between us. He led on to +the palace, where we passed through the side door and up into his own +cabinet. There were a couple of grenadiers at the staircase, and their +eyes started out from under their fur caps, I promise you, when they saw +a young lieutenant of hussars going up to the Emperor's room at +midnight. I stood by the door, as I had done in the afternoon, while he +flung himself down in an arm-chair, and remained silent so long that it +seemed to me that he had forgotten all about me. I ventured at last upon +a slight cough to remind him. + +'Ah, Monsieur Gerard,' said he, 'you are very curious, no doubt, as to +the meaning of all this?' + +'I am quite content, sire, if it is your pleasure not to tell me,' I +answered. + +'Ta, ta, ta,' said he impatiently. 'These are only words. The moment +that you were outside that door you would begin making inquiries about +what it means. In two days your brother officers would know about it, in +three days it would be all over Fontainebleau, and it would be in Paris +on the fourth. Now, if I tell you enough to appease your curiosity, +there is some reasonable hope that you may be able to keep the matter to +yourself.' + +He did not understand me, this Emperor, and yet I could only bow and be +silent. + +'A few words will make it clear to you,' said he, speaking very swiftly +and pacing up and down the room. 'They were Corsicans, these two men. I +had known them in my youth. We had belonged to the same +society--Brothers of Ajaccio, as we called ourselves. It was founded in +the old Paoli days, you understand, and we had some strict rules of our +own which were not infringed with impunity.' + +A very grim look came over his face as he spoke, and it seemed to me +that all that was French had gone out of him, and that it was the pure +Corsican, the man of strong passions and of strange revenges, who stood +before me. His memory had gone back to those early days of his, and for +five minutes, wrapped in thought, he paced up and down the room with his +quick little tiger steps. Then with an impatient wave of his hands he +came back to his palace and to me. + +'The rules of such a society,' he continued, 'are all very well for a +private citizen. In the old days there was no more loyal brother than I. +But circumstances change, and it would be neither for my welfare nor +for that of France that I should now submit myself to them. They wanted +to hold me to it, and so brought their fate upon their own heads. These +were the two chiefs of the order, and they had come from Corsica to +summon me to meet them at the spot which they named. I knew what such a +summons meant. No man had ever returned from obeying one. On the other +hand, if I did not go, I was sure that disaster would follow. I am a +brother myself, you remember, and I know their ways.' + +Again there came that hardening of his mouth and cold glitter of his +eyes. + +'You perceive my dilemma, Monsieur Gerard,' said he. 'How would you have +acted yourself, under such circumstances?' + +'Given the word to the l0th Hussars, sire,' I cried. 'Patrols could have +swept the woods from end to end, and brought these two rascals to your +feet.' + +He smiled, but he shook his head. + +'I had very excellent reasons why I did not wish them taken alive,' said +he. 'You can understand that an assassin's tongue might be as dangerous +a weapon as an assassin's dagger. I will not disguise from you that I +wished to avoid scandal at all cost. That was why I ordered you to take +no pistols with you. That also is why my Mamelukes will remove all +traces of the affair, and nothing more will be heard about it. I thought +of all possible plans, and I am convinced that I selected the best one. +Had I sent more than one guard with De Goudin into the woods, then the +brothers would not have appeared. They would not change their plans nor +miss their chance for the sake of a single man. It was Colonel Lasalle's +accidental presence at the moment when I received the summons which led +to my choosing one of his hussars for the mission. I selected you, +Monsieur Gerard, because I wanted a man who could handle a sword, and +who would not pry more deeply into the affair than I desired. I trust +that, in this respect, you will justify my choice as well as you have +done in your bravery and skill.' + +'Sire,' I answered, 'you may rely upon it.' + +'As long as I live,' said he, 'you never open your lips upon this +subject.' + +'I dismiss it entirely from my mind, sire. I will efface it from my +recollection as if it had never been. I will promise you to go out of +your cabinet at this moment exactly as I was when I entered it at four +o'clock.' + +'You cannot do that,' said the Emperor, smiling. 'You were a lieutenant +at that time. You will permit me, Captain, to wish you a very +good-night.' + + + + +3. HOW THE BRIGADIER HELD THE KING + + +Here, upon the lapel of my coat, you may see the ribbon of my +decoration, but the medal itself I keep in a leathern pouch at home, and +I never venture to take it out unless one of the modern peace generals, +or some foreigner of distinction who finds himself in our little town, +takes advantage of the opportunity to pay his respects to the well-known +Brigadier Gerard. Then I place it upon my breast, and I give my +moustache the old Marengo twist which brings a grey point into either +eye. Yet with it all I fear that neither they, nor you either, my +friends, will ever realize the man that I was. You know me only as a +civilian--with an air and a manner, it is true--but still merely as a +civilian. Had you seen me as I stood in the doorway of the inn at Alamo, +on the 1st of July, in the year 1810, you would then have known what the +hussar may attain to. + +For a month I had lingered in that accursed village, and all on account +of a lance-thrust in my ankle, which made it impossible for me to put my +foot to the ground. There were three besides myself at first: old +Bouvet, of the Hussars of Bercheny, Jacques Regnier, of the Cuirassiers, +and a funny little voltigeur captain whose name I forget; but they all +got well and hurried on to the front, while I sat gnawing my fingers and +tearing my hair, and even, I must confess, weeping from time to time as +I thought of my Hussars of Conflans, and the deplorable condition in +which they must find themselves when deprived of their colonel. I was +not a chief of brigade yet, you understand, although I already carried +myself like one, but I was the youngest colonel in the whole service, +and my regiment was wife and children to me. It went to my heart that +they should be so bereaved. It is true that Villaret, the senior major, +was an excellent soldier; but still, even among the best there are +degrees of merit. + +Ah, that happy July day of which I speak, when first I limped to the +door and stood in the golden Spanish sunshine! It was but the evening +before that I had heard from the regiment. They were at Pastores, on the +other side of the mountains, face to face with the English--not forty +miles from me by road. But how was I to get to them? The same thrust +which had pierced my ankle had slain my charger. I took advice both from +Gomez, the landlord, and from an old priest who had slept that night in +the inn, but neither of them could do more than assure me that there was +not so much as a colt left upon the whole countryside. + +The landlord would not hear of my crossing the mountains without an +escort, for he assured me that El Cuchillo, the Spanish guerilla chief, +was out that way with his band, and that it meant a death by torture to +fall into his hands. The old priest observed, however, that he did not +think a French hussar would be deterred by that, and if I had had any +doubts, they would of course have been decided by his remark. + +But a horse! How was I to get one? I was standing in the doorway, +plotting and planning, when I heard the clink of shoes, and, looking up, +I saw a great bearded man, with a blue cloak frogged across in military +fashion, coming towards me. He was riding a big black horse with one +white stocking on his near fore-leg. + +'Halloa, comrade!' said I, as he came up to me. + +'Halloa!' said he. + +'I am Colonel Gerard, of the Hussars,' said I. 'I have lain here wounded +for a month, and I am now ready to rejoin my regiment at Pastores.' + +'I am Monsieur Vidal, of the commissariat,' he answered, 'and I am +myself upon my way to Pastores. I should be glad to have your company, +Colonel, for I hear that the mountains are far from safe.' + +'Alas,' said I, 'I have no horse. But if you will sell me yours, I will +promise that an escort of hussars shall be sent back for you.' + +He would not hear of it, and it was in vain that the landlord told him +dreadful stories of the doings of El Cuchillo, and that I pointed out +the duty which he owed to the army and to the country. He would not even +argue, but called loudly for a cup of wine. I craftily asked him to +dismount and to drink with me, but he must have seen something in my +face, for he shook his head; and then, as I approached him with some +thought of seizing him by the leg, he jerked his heels into his horse's +flanks, and was off in a cloud of dust. + +My faith! it was enough to make a man mad to see this fellow riding away +so gaily to join his beef-barrels, and his brandy-casks, and then to +think of my five hundred beautiful hussars without their leader. I was +gazing after him with bitter thoughts in my mind, when who should touch +me on the elbow but the little priest whom I have mentioned. + +'It is I who can help you,' he said. 'I am myself travelling south.' + +I put my arms about him and, as my ankle gave way at the same moment, we +nearly rolled upon the ground together. + +'Get me to Pastores,' I cried, 'and you shall have a rosary of golden +beads.' I had taken one from the Convent of Spiritu Santo. It shows how +necessary it is to take what you can when you are upon a campaign, and +how the most unlikely things may become useful. + +'I will take you,' he said, in very excellent French, 'not because I +hope for any reward, but because it is my way always to do what I can to +serve my fellow-man, and that is why I am so beloved wherever I go.' + +With that he led me down the village to an old cow-house, in which we +found a tumble-down sort of diligence, such as they used to run early +in this century, between some of our remote villages. There were three +old mules, too, none of which were strong enough to carry a man, but +together they might draw the coach. The sight of their gaunt ribs and +spavined legs gave me more delight than the whole two hundred and twenty +hunters of the Emperor which I have seen in their stalls at +Fontainebleau. In ten minutes the owner was harnessing them into the +coach, with no very good will, however, for he was in mortal dread of +this terrible Cuchillo. It was only by promising him riches in this +world, while the priest threatened him with perdition in the next, that +we at last got him safely upon the box with the reins between his +fingers. Then he was in such a hurry to get off, out of fear lest we +should find ourselves in the dark in the passes, that he hardly gave me +time to renew my vows to the innkeeper's daughter. I cannot at this +moment recall her name, but we wept together as we parted, and I can +remember that she was a very beautiful woman. You will understand, my +friends, that when a man like me, who has fought the men and kissed the +women in fourteen separate kingdoms, gives a word of praise to the one +or the other, it has a little meaning of its own. + +The little priest had seemed a trifle grave when we kissed good-bye, but +he soon proved himself the best of companions in the diligence. All the +way he amused me with tales of his little parish up in the mountains, +and I in my turn told him stories about the camp; but, my faith, I had +to pick my steps, for when I said a word too much he would fidget in his +seat and his face would show the pain that I had given him. And of +course it is not the act of a gentleman to talk in anything but a proper +manner to a religious man, though, with all the care in the world, one's +words may get out of hand sometimes. + +He had come from the north of Spain, as he told me, and was going to see +his mother in a village of Estremadura, and as he spoke about her little +peasant home, and her joy in seeing him, it brought my own mother so +vividly to my thoughts that the tears started to my eyes. In his +simplicity he showed me the little gifts which he was taking to her, and +so kindly was his manner that I could readily believe him when he said +he was loved wherever he went. He examined my own uniform with as much +curiosity as a child, admiring the plume of my busby, and passing his +fingers through the sable with which my dolman was trimmed. He drew my +sword, too, and then when I told him how many men I had cut down with +it, and set my finger on the notch made by the shoulder-bone of the +Russian Emperor's aide-de-camp, he shuddered and placed the weapon under +the leathern cushion, declaring that it made him sick to look at it. + +Well, we had been rolling and creaking on our way whilst this talk had +been going forward, and as we reached the base of the mountains we could +hear the rumbling of cannon far away upon the right. This came from +Massena, who was, as I knew, besieging Ciudad Rodrigo. There was nothing +I should have wished better than to have gone straight to him, for if, +as some said, he had Jewish blood in his veins, he was the best Jew that +I have heard of since Joshua's time. If you were in sight of his beaky +nose and bold, black eyes, you were not likely to miss much of what was +going on. Still, a siege is always a poor sort of a pick-and-shovel +business, and there were better prospects with my hussars in front of +the English. Every mile that passed, my heart grew lighter and lighter, +until I found myself shouting and singing like a young ensign fresh from +St Cyr, just to think of seeing all my fine horses and my gallant +fellows once more. + +As we penetrated the mountains the road grew rougher and the pass more +savage. At first we had met a few muleteers, but now the whole country +seemed deserted, which is not to be wondered at when you think that the +French, the English, and the guerillas had each in turn had command over +it. So bleak and wild was it, one great brown wrinkled cliff succeeding +another, and the pass growing narrower and narrower, that I ceased to +look out, but sat in silence, thinking of this and that, of women whom I +had loved and of horses which I had handled. I was suddenly brought back +from my dreams, however, by observing the difficulties of my companion, +who was trying with a sort of brad-awl, which he had drawn out, to bore +a hole through the leathern strap which held up his water-flask. As he +worked with twitching fingers the strap escaped his grasp, and the +wooden bottle fell at my feet. I stooped to pick it up, and as I did so +the priest silently leaped upon my shoulders and drove his brad-awl into +my eye! + +My friends, I am, as you know, a man steeled to face every danger. When +one has served from the affair of Zurich to that last fatal day of +Waterloo, and has had the special medal, which I keep at home in a +leathern pouch, one can afford to confess when one is frightened. It may +console some of you, when your own nerves play you tricks, to remember +that you have heard even me, Brigadier Gerard, say that I have been +scared. And besides my terror at this horrible attack, and the maddening +pain of my wound, there was a sudden feeling of loathing such as you +might feel were some filthy tarantula to strike its fangs into you. + +I clutched the creature in both hands, and, hurling him on to the floor +of the coach, I stamped on him with my heavy boots. He had drawn a +pistol from the front of his soutane, but I kicked it out of his hand, +and again I fell with my knees upon his chest. Then, for the first time, +he screamed horribly, while I, half blinded, felt about for the sword +which he had so cunningly concealed. My hand had just lighted upon it, +and I was dashing the blood from my face to see where he lay that I +might transfix him, when the whole coach turned partly over upon its +side, and my weapon was jerked out of my grasp by the shock. + +Before I could recover myself the door was burst open, and I was +dragged by the heels on to the road. But even as I was torn out on to +the flint stones, and realized that thirty ruffians were standing around +me, I was filled with joy, for my pelisse had been pulled over my head +in the struggle and was covering one of my eyes, and it was with my +wounded eye that I was seeing this gang of brigands. You see for +yourself by this pucker and scar how the thin blade passed between +socket and ball, but it was only at that moment, when I was dragged from +the coach, that I understood that my sight was not gone for ever. The +creature's intention, doubtless, was to drive it through into my brain, +and indeed he loosened some portion of the inner bone of my head, so +that I afterwards had more trouble from that wound than from any one of +the seventeen which I have received. + +They dragged me out, these sons of dogs, with curses and execrations, +beating me with their fists and kicking me as I lay upon the ground. I +had frequently observed that the mountaineers wore cloth swathed round +their feet, but never did I imagine that I should have so much cause to +be thankful for it. Presently, seeing the blood upon my head, and that I +lay quiet, they thought that I was unconscious, whereas I was storing +every ugly face among them into my memory, so that I might see them all +safely hanged if ever my chance came round. Brawny rascals they were, +with yellow handkerchiefs round their heads, and great red sashes +stuffed with weapons. They had rolled two rocks across the path, where +it took a sharp turn, and it was these which had torn off one of the +wheels of the coach and upset us. As to this reptile, who had acted the +priest so cleverly and had told me so much of his parish and his mother, +he, of course, had known where the ambuscade was laid, and had attempted +to put me beyond all resistance at the moment when we reached it. + +I cannot tell you how frantic their rage was when they drew him out of +the coach and saw the state to which I had reduced him. If he had not +got all his deserts, he had, at least, something as a souvenir of his +meeting with Etienne Gerard, for his legs dangled aimlessly about, and +though the upper part of his body was convulsed with rage and pain, he +sat straight down upon his feet when they tried to set him upright. But +all the time his two little black eyes, which had seemed so kindly and +so innocent in the coach, were glaring at me like a wounded cat, and he +spat, and spat, and spat in my direction. My faith! when the wretches +jerked me on to my feet again, and when I was dragged off up one of the +mountain paths, I understood that a time was coming when I was to need +all my courage and resource. My enemy was carried upon the shoulders of +two men behind me, and I could hear his hissing and his reviling, first +in one ear and then in the other, as I was hurried up the winding track. + +I suppose that it must have been for an hour that we ascended, and what +with my wounded ankle and the pain from my eye, and the fear lest this +wound should have spoiled my appearance, I have made no journey to which +I look back with less pleasure. I have never been a good climber at any +time, but it is astonishing what you can do, even with a stiff ankle, +when you have a copper-coloured brigand at each elbow and a nine-inch +blade within touch of your whiskers. + +We came at last to a place where the path wound over a ridge, and +descended upon the other side through thick pine-trees into a valley +which opened to the south. In time of peace I had little doubt that the +villains were all smugglers, and that these were the secret paths by +which they crossed the Portuguese frontier. There were many mule-tracks, +and once I was surprised to see the marks of a large horse where a +stream had softened the track. These were explained when, on reaching a +place where there was a clearing in the fir wood, I saw the animal +itself haltered to a fallen tree. My eyes had hardly rested upon it, +when I recognized the great black limbs and the white near fore-leg. It +was the very horse which I had begged for in the morning. + +What, then, had become of Commissariat Vidal? Was it possible that +there was another Frenchman in as perilous a plight as myself? The +thought had hardly entered my head when our party stopped and one of +them uttered a peculiar cry. It was answered from among the brambles +which lined the base of a cliff at one side of a clearing, and an +instant later ten or a dozen more brigands came out from amongst them, +and the two parties greeted each other. The new-comers surrounded my +friend of the brad-awl with cries of grief and sympathy, and then, +turning upon me, they brandished their knives and howled at me like the +gang of assassins that they were. So frantic were their gestures that I +was convinced that my end had come, and was just bracing myself to meet +it in a manner which should be worthy of my past reputation, when one of +them gave an order and I was dragged roughly across the little glade to +the brambles from which this new band had emerged. + +A narrow pathway led through them to a deep grotto in the side of the +cliff. The sun was already setting outside, and in the cave itself it +would have been quite dark but for a pair of torches which blazed from a +socket on either side. Between them there was sitting at a rude table a +very singular-looking person, whom I saw instantly, from the respect +with which the others addressed him, could be none other than the +brigand chief who had received, on account of his dreadful character, +the sinister name of El Cuchillo. + +The man whom I had injured had been carried in and placed upon the top +of a barrel, his helpless legs dangling about in front of him, and his +cat's eyes still darting glances of hatred at me. I understood, from the +snatches of talk which I could follow between the chief and him, that he +was the lieutenant of the band, and that part of his duties was to lie +in wait with his smooth tongue and his peaceful garb for travellers like +myself. When I thought of how many gallant officers may have been lured +to their death by this monster of hypocrisy, it gave me a glow of +pleasure to think that I had brought his villainies to an end--though I +feared it would be at the price of a life which neither the Emperor nor +the army could well spare. + +As the injured man still supported upon the barrel by two comrades, was +explaining in Spanish all that had befallen him, I was held by several +of the villains in front of the table at which the chief was seated, and +had an excellent opportunity of observing him. I have seldom seen any +man who was less like my idea of a brigand, and especially of a brigand +with such a reputation that in a land of cruelty he had earned so dark a +nickname. His face was bluff and broad and bland, with ruddy cheeks and +comfortable little tufts of side-whiskers, which gave him the appearance +of a well-to-do grocer of the Rue St Antoine. He had not any of those +flaring sashes or gleaming weapons which distinguished his followers, +but on the contrary he wore a good broadcloth coat like a respectable +father of a family, and save for his brown leggings there was nothing to +indicate a life among the mountains. His surroundings, too, corresponded +with himself, and beside his snuff-box upon the table there stood a +great brown book, which looked like a commercial ledger. Many other +books were ranged along a plank between two powder-casks, and there was +a great litter of papers, some of which had verses scribbled upon them. +All this I took in while he, leaning indolently back in his chair, was +listening to the report of his lieutenant. Having heard everything, he +ordered the cripple to be carried out again, and I was left with my +three guards, waiting to hear my fate. He took up his pen, and tapping +his forehead with the handle of it, he pursed up his lips and looked out +of the corner of his eyes at the roof of the grotto. + +'I suppose,' said he at last, speaking very excellent French, 'that you +are not able to suggest a rhyme for the word Covilha.' + +I answered him that my acquaintance with the Spanish language was so +limited that I was unable to oblige him. + +'It is a rich language,' said he, 'but less prolific in rhymes than +either the German or the English. That is why our best work has been +done in blank verse, a form of composition which is capable of reaching +great heights. But I fear that such subjects are somewhat outside the +range of a hussar.' + +I was about to answer that if they were good enough for a guerilla, they +could not be too much for the light cavalry, but he was already stooping +over his half-finished verse. Presently he threw down the pen with an +exclamation of satisfaction, and declaimed a few lines which drew a cry +of approval from the three ruffians who held me. His broad face blushed +like a young girl who receives her first compliment. + +'The critics are in my favour, it appears,' said he; 'we amuse ourselves +in our long evenings by singing our own ballads, you understand. I have +some little facility in that direction, and I do not at all despair of +seeing some of my poor efforts in print before long, and with "Madrid" +upon the title-page, too. But we must get back to business. May I ask +what your name is?' + +'Etienne Gerard.' + +'Rank?' + +'Colonel.' + +'Corps?' + +'The Third Hussars of Conflans.' + +'You are young for a colonel.' + +'My career has been an eventful one.' + +'Tut, that makes it the sadder,' said he, with his bland smile. + +I made no answer to that, but I tried to show him by my bearing that I +was ready for the worst which could befall me. + +'By the way, I rather fancy that we have had some of your corps here,' +said he, turning over the pages of his big brown register. 'We +endeavour to keep a record of our operations. Here is a heading under +June 24th. Have you not a young officer named Soubiron, a tall, slight +youth with light hair?' + +'Certainly.' + +'I see that we buried him upon that date.' + +'Poor lad!' I cried. 'And how did he die?' + +'We buried him.' + +'But before you buried him?' + +'You misunderstand me, Colonel. He was not dead before we buried him.' + +'You buried him alive!' + +For a moment I was too stunned to act. Then I hurled myself upon the +man, as he sat with that placid smile of his upon his lips, and I would +have torn his throat out had the three wretches not dragged me away from +him. Again and again I made for him, panting and cursing, shaking off +this man and that, straining and wrenching, but never quite free. At +last, with my jacket torn nearly off my back and blood dripping from my +wrists, I was hauled backwards in the bight of a rope and cords passed +round my ankles and my arms. + +'You sleek hound!' I cried. 'If ever I have you at my sword's point, I +will teach you to maltreat one of my lads. You will find, you +bloodthirsty beast, that my Emperor has long arms, and though you lie +here like a rat in its hole, the time will come when he will tear you +out of it, and you and your vermin will perish together.' + +My faith, I have a rough side to my tongue, and there was not a hard +word that I had learned in fourteen campaigns which I did not let fly at +him; but he sat with the handle of his pen tapping against his forehead +and his eyes squinting up at the roof as if he had conceived the idea of +some new stanza. It was this occupation of his which showed me how I +might get my point into him. + +'You spawn!' said I; 'you think that you are safe here, but your life +may be as short as that of your absurd verses, and God knows that it +could not be shorter than that.' + +Ah, you should have seen him bound from his chair when I said the words. +This vile monster, who dispensed death and torture as a grocer serves +out his figs, had one raw nerve then which I could prod at pleasure. His +face grew livid, and those little bourgeois side-whiskers quivered and +thrilled with passion. + +'Very good, Colonel. You have said enough,' he cried, in a choking +voice. 'You say that you have had a very distinguished career. I promise +you also a very distinguished ending. Colonel Etienne Gerard of the +Third Hussars shall have a death of his own.' + +'And I only beg,' said I, 'that you will not commemorate it in verse.' I +had one or two little ironies to utter, but he cut me short by a furious +gesture which caused my three guards to drag me from the cave. + +Our interview, which I have told you as nearly as I can remember it, +must have lasted some time, for it was quite dark when we came out, and +the moon was shining very clearly in the heavens. The brigands had +lighted a great fire of the dried branches of the fir-trees; not, of +course, for warmth, since the night was already very sultry, but to cook +their evening meal. A huge copper pot hung over the blaze, and the +rascals were lying all round in the yellow glare, so that the scene +looked like one of those pictures which Junot stole out of Madrid. There +are some soldiers who profess to care nothing for art and the like, but +I have always been drawn towards it myself, in which respect I show my +good taste and my breeding. I remember, for example, that when Lefebvre +was selling the plunder after the fall of Danzig, I bought a very fine +picture, called 'Nymphs Surprised in a Wood,' and I carried it with me +through two campaigns, until my charger had the misfortune to put his +hoof through it. + +I only tell you this, however, to show you that I was never a mere +rough soldier like Rapp or Ney. As I lay in that brigands' camp, I had +little time or inclination to think about such matters. They had thrown +me down under a tree, the three villains squatting round and smoking +their cigarettes within hands' touch of me. What to do I could not +imagine. In my whole career I do not suppose that I have ten times been +in as hopeless a situation. 'But courage,' thought I. 'Courage, my brave +boy! You were not made a Colonel of Hussars at twenty-eight because you +could dance a cotillon. You are a picked man, Etienne; a man who has +come through more than two hundred affairs, and this little one is +surely not going to be the last.' I began eagerly to glance about for +some chance of escape, and as I did so I saw something which filled me +with great astonishment. + +I have already told you that a large fire was burning in the centre of +the glade. What with its glare, and what with the moonlight, everything +was as clear as possible. On the other side of the glade there was a +single tall fir-tree which attracted my attention because its trunk and +lower branches were discoloured, as if a large fire had recently been +lit underneath it. A clump of bushes grew in front of it which concealed +the base. Well, as I looked towards it, I was surprised to see +projecting above the bush, and fastened apparently to the tree, a pair +of fine riding boots with the toes upwards. At first I thought that they +were tied there, but as I looked harder I saw that they were secured by +a great nail which was hammered through the foot of each. And then, +suddenly, with a thrill of horror, I understood that these were not +empty boots; and moving my head a little to the right, I was able to see +who it was that had been fastened there, and why a fire had been lit +beneath the tree. It is not pleasant to speak or to think of horrors, my +friends, and I do not wish to give any of you bad dreams tonight--but I +cannot take you among the Spanish guerillas without showing you what +kind of men they were, and the sort of warfare that they waged. I will +only say that I understood why Monsieur Vidal's horse was waiting +masterless in the grove, and that I hoped he had met this terrible fate +with sprightliness and courage, as a good Frenchman ought. + +It was not a very cheering sight for me, as you can imagine. When I had +been with their chief in the grotto I had been so carried away by my +rage at the cruel death of young Soubiron, who was one of the brightest +lads who ever threw his thigh over a charger, that I had never given a +thought to my own position. Perhaps it would have been more politic had +I spoken the ruffian fair, but it was too late now. The cork was drawn +and I must drain the wine. Besides, if the harmless commissariat man +were put to such a death, what hope was there for me, who had snapped +the spine of their lieutenant? No, I was doomed in any case, and it was +as well perhaps that I should have put the best face on the matter. This +beast could bear witness that Etienne Gerard had died as he had lived, +and that one prisoner at least had not quailed before him. I lay there +thinking of the various girls who would mourn for me, and of my dear old +mother, and of the deplorable loss which I should be, both to my +regiment and to the Emperor, and I am not ashamed to confess to you that +I shed tears as I thought of the general consternation which my +premature end would give rise to. + +But all the time I was taking the very keenest notice of everything +which might possibly help me. I am not a man who would lie like a sick +horse waiting for the farrier sergeant and the pole-axe. First I would +give a little tug at my ankle cords, and then another at those which +were round my wrists, and all the time that I was trying to loosen them +I was peering round to see if I could find something which was in my +favour. There was one thing which was very evident. A hussar is but half +formed without a horse, and there was my other half quietly grazing +within thirty yards of me. Then I observed yet another thing. The path +by which we had come over the mountains was so steep that a horse could +only be led across it slowly and with difficulty, but in the other +direction the ground appeared to be more open, and to lead straight down +into a gently-sloping valley. Had I but my feet in yonder stirrups and +my sabre in my hand, a single bold dash might take me out of the power +of these vermin of the rocks. + +I was still thinking it over and straining with my wrists and my ankles, +when their chief came out from his grotto, and after some talk with his +lieutenant, who lay groaning near the fire, they both nodded their heads +and looked across at me. He then said some few words to the band, who +clapped their hands and laughed uproariously. Things looked ominous, and +I was delighted to feel that my hands were so far free that I could +easily slip them through the cords if I wished. But with my ankles I +feared that I could do nothing, for when I strained it brought such pain +into my lance-wound that I had to gnaw my moustache to keep from crying +out. I could only lie still, half-free and half-bound, and see what turn +things were likely to take. + +For a little I could not make out what they were after. One of the +rascals climbed up a well-grown fir-tree upon one side of the glade, and +tied a rope round the top of the trunk. He then fastened another rope in +the same fashion to a similar tree upon the other side. The two loose +ends were now dangling down, and I waited with some curiosity, and just +a little trepidation also, to see what they would do next. The whole +band pulled upon one of the ropes until they had bent the strong young +tree down into a semi-circle, and they then fastened it to a stump, so +as to hold it so. When they had bent the other tree down in a similar +fashion, the two summits were within a few feet of each other, though, +as you understand, they would each spring back into their original +position the instant that they were released. I already saw the +diabolical plan which these miscreants had formed. + +'I presume that you are a strong man, Colonel,' said the chief, coming +towards me with his hateful smile. + +'If you will have the kindness to loosen these cords,' I answered, 'I +will show you how strong I am.' + +'We were all interested to see whether you were as strong as these two +young saplings,' said he. 'It is our intention, you see, to tie one end +of each rope round your ankles and then let the trees go. If you are +stronger than the trees, then, of course, no harm would be done; if, on +the other hand, the trees are stronger than you, why, in that case, +Colonel, we may have a souvenir of you upon each side of our little +glade.' + +He laughed as he spoke, and at the sight of it the whole forty of them +laughed also. Even now if I am in my darker humour, or if I have a touch +of my old Lithuanian ague, I see in my sleep that ring of dark, savage +faces, with their cruel eyes, and the firelight flashing upon their +strong white teeth. + +It is astonishing--and I have heard many make the same remark--how acute +one's senses become at such a crisis as this. I am convinced that at no +moment is one living so vividly, so acutely, as at the instant when a +violent and foreseen death overtakes one. I could smell the resinous +fagots, I could see every twig upon the ground, I could hear every +rustle of the branches, as I have never smelled or seen or heard save at +such times of danger. And so it was that long before anyone else, before +even the time when the chief had addressed me, I had heard a low, +monotonous sound, far away indeed, and yet coming nearer at every +instant. At first it was but a murmur, a rumble, but by the time he had +finished speaking, while the assassins were untying my ankles in order +to lead me to the scene of my murder, I heard, as plainly as ever I +heard anything in my life, the clinking of horseshoes and the jingling +of bridle-chains, with the clank of sabres against stirrup-irons. Is it +likely that I, who had lived with the light cavalry since the first hair +shaded my lip, would mistake the sound of troopers on the march? + +'Help, comrades, help!' I shrieked, and though they struck me across +the mouth and tried to drag me up to the trees, I kept on yelling, 'Help +me, my brave boys! Help me, my children! They are murdering your +colonel!' + +For the moment my wounds and my troubles had brought on a delirium, and +I looked for nothing less than my five hundred hussars, kettle-drums and +all, to appear at the opening of the glade. + +But that which really appeared was very different to anything which I +had conceived. Into the clear space there came galloping a fine young +man upon a most beautiful roan horse. He was fresh-faced and +pleasant-looking, with the most debonair bearing in the world and the +most gallant way of carrying himself--a way which reminded me somewhat +of my own. He wore a singular coat which had once been red all over, but +which was now stained to the colour of a withered oak-leaf wherever the +weather could reach it. His shoulder-straps, however, were of golden +lace, and he had a bright metal helmet upon his head, with a coquettish +white plume upon one side of its crest. He trotted his horse up the +glade, while behind him rode four cavaliers in the same dress--all +clean-shaven, with round, comely faces, looking to me more like monks +than dragoons. At a short, gruff order they halted with a rattle of +arms, while their leader cantered forward, the fire beating upon his +eager face and the beautiful head of his charger. I knew, of course, by +the strange coats that they were English. It was the first sight that I +had ever had of them, but from their stout bearing and their masterful +way I could see at a glance that what I had always been told was true, +and that they were excellent people to fight against. + +'Well, well, well!' cried the young officer, in sufficiently bad French, +'what game are you up to here? Who was that who was yelling for help, +and what are you trying to do to him?' + +It was at that moment that I learned to bless those months which +Obriant, the descendant of the Irish kings, had spent in teaching me the +tongue of the English. My ankles had just been freed, so that I had only +to slip my hands out of the cords, and with a single rush I had flown +across, picked up my sabre where it lay by the fire, and hurled myself +on to the saddle of poor Vidal's horse. Yes, for all my wounded ankle, I +never put foot to stirrup, but was in the seat in a single bound. I tore +the halter from the tree, and before these villains could so much as +snap a pistol at me I was beside the English officer. + +'I surrender to you, sir,' I cried; though I daresay my English was not +very much better than his French. 'If you will look at that tree to the +left you will see what these villains do to the honourable gentlemen who +fall into their hands.' + +The fire had flared up at that moment, and there was poor Vidal exposed +before them, as horrible an object as one could see in a nightmare. +'Godam!' cried the officer, and 'Godam!' cried each of the four +troopers, which is the same as with us when we cry 'Mon Dieu!' Out +rasped the five swords, and the four men closed up. One, who wore a +sergeant's chevrons, laughed and clapped me on the shoulder. + +'Fight for your skin, froggy,' said he. + +Ah, it was so fine to have a horse between my thighs and a weapon in my +grip. I waved it above my head and shouted in my exultation. The chief +had come forward with that odious smiling face of his. + +'Your excellency will observe that this Frenchman is our prisoner,' said +he. + +'You are a rascally robber,' said the Englishman, shaking his sword at +him. 'It is a disgrace to us to have such allies. By my faith, if Lord +Wellington were of my mind we would swing you up on the nearest tree.' + +'But my prisoner?' said the brigand, in his suave voice. + +'He shall come with us to the British camp.' + +'Just a word in your ear before you take him.' + +He approached the young officer, and then turning as quick as a flash, +he fired his pistol in my face. The bullet scored its way through my +hair and burst a hole on each side of my busby. Seeing that he had +missed me, he raised the pistol and was about to hurl it at me when the +English sergeant, with a single back-handed cut, nearly severed his head +from his body. His blood had not reached the ground, nor the last curse +died on his lips, before the whole horde was upon us, but with a dozen +bounds and as many slashes we were all safely out of the glade, and +galloping down the winding track which led to the valley. + +It was not until we had left the ravine far behind us and were right out +in the open fields that we ventured to halt, and to see what injuries we +had sustained. For me, wounded and weary as I was, my heart was beating +proudly, and my chest was nearly bursting my tunic to think that I, +Etienne Gerard, had left this gang of murderers so much by which to +remember me. My faith, they would think twice before they ventured again +to lay hands upon one of the Third Hussars. So carried away was I that I +made a small oration to these brave Englishmen, and told them who it was +that they had helped to rescue. I would have spoken of glory also, and +of the sympathies of brave men, but the officer cut me short. + +'That's all right,' said he. 'Any injuries, Sergeant?' + +'Trooper Jones's horse hit with a pistol bullet on the fetlock.' + +'Trooper Jones to go with us. Sergeant Halliday, with troopers Harvey +and Smith, to keep to the right until they touch the vedettes of the +German Hussars.' + +So these three jingled away together, while the officer and I, followed +at some distance by the trooper whose horse had been wounded, rode +straight down in the direction of the English camp. Very soon we had +opened our hearts, for we each liked the other from the beginning. He +was of the nobility, this brave lad, and he had been sent out scouting +by Lord Wellington to see if there were any signs of our advancing +through the mountains. It is one advantage of a wandering life like +mine, that you learn to pick up those bits of knowledge which +distinguish the man of the world. I have, for example, hardly ever met a +Frenchman who could repeat an English title correctly. If I had not +travelled I should not be able to say with confidence that this young +man's real name was Milor the Hon. Sir Russell, Bart., this last being +an honourable distinction, so that it was as the Bart that I usually +addressed him, just as in Spanish one might say 'the Don.' + +As we rode beneath the moonlight in the lovely Spanish night, we spoke +our minds to each other, as if we were brothers. We were both of an age, +you see, both of the light cavalry also (the Sixteenth Light Dragoons +was his regiment), and both with the same hopes and ambitions. Never +have I learned to know a man so quickly as I did the Bart. He gave me +the name of a girl whom he had loved at a garden called Vauxhall, and, +for my own part, I spoke to him of little Coralie, of the Opera. He took +a lock of hair from his bosom, and I a garter. Then we nearly quarrelled +over hussar and dragoon, for he was absurdly proud of his regiment, and +you should have seen him curl his lip and clap his hand to his hilt when +I said that I hoped it might never be its misfortune to come in the way +of the Third. Finally, he began to speak about what the English call +sport, and he told such stories of the money which he had lost over +which of two cocks could kill the other, or which of two men could +strike the other the most in a fight for a prize, that I was filled with +astonishment. He was ready to bet upon anything in the most wonderful +manner, and when I chanced to see a shooting star he was anxious to bet +that he would see more than me, twenty-five francs a star, and it was +only when I explained that my purse was in the hands of the brigands +that he would give over the idea. + +Well, we chatted away in this very amiable fashion until the day began +to break, when suddenly we heard a great volley of musketry from +somewhere in front of us. It was very rocky and broken ground, and I +thought, although I could see nothing, that a general engagement had +broken out. The Bart laughed at my idea, however, and explained that the +sound came from the English camp, where every man emptied his piece each +morning so as to make sure of having a dry priming. + +'In another mile we shall be up with the outposts,' said he. + +I glanced round at this, and I perceived that we had trotted along at so +good a pace during the time that we were keeping up our pleasant chat, +that the dragoon with the lame horse was altogether out of sight. I +looked on every side, but in the whole of that vast rocky valley there +was no one save only the Bart and I--both of us armed, you understand, +and both of us well mounted. I began to ask myself whether after all it +was quite necessary that I should ride that mile which would bring me to +the British outposts. + +Now, I wish to be very clear with you on this point, my friends, for I +would not have you think that I was acting dishonourably or ungratefully +to the man who had helped me away from the brigands. You must remember +that of all duties the strongest is that which a commanding officer owes +to his men. You must also bear in mind that war is a game which is +played under fixed rules, and when these rules are broken one must at +once claim the forfeit. If, for example, I had given a parole, then I +should have been an infamous wretch had I dreamed of escaping. But no +parole had been asked of me. Out of over-confidence, and the chance of +the lame horse dropping behind, the Bart had permitted me to get upon +equal terms with him. Had it been I who had taken him, I should have +used him as courteously as he had me, but, at the same time, I should +have respected his enterprise so far as to have deprived him of his +sword, and seen that I had at least one guard beside myself. I reined +up my horse and explained this to him, asking him at the same time +whether he saw any breach of honour in my leaving him. + +He thought about it, and several times repeated that which the English +say when they mean 'Mon Dieu.' + +'You would give me the slip, would you?' said he. + +'If you can give no reason against it.' + +'The only reason that I can think of,' said the Bart, 'is that I should +instantly cut your head off if you were to attempt it.' + +'Two can play at that game, my dear Bart,' said I. + +'Then we'll see who can play at it best,' he cried, pulling out his +sword. + +I had drawn mine also, but I was quite determined not to hurt this +admirable young man who had been my benefactor. + +'Consider,' said I, 'you say that I am your prisoner. I might with equal +reason say that you are mine. We are alone here, and though I have no +doubt that you are an excellent swordsman, you can hardly hope to hold +your own against the best blade in the six light cavalry brigades.' + +His answer was a cut at my head. I parried and shore off half of his +white plume. He thrust at my breast. I turned his point and cut away the +other half of his cockade. + +'Curse your monkey-tricks!' he cried, as I wheeled my horse away from +him. + +'Why should you strike at me?' said I. 'You see that I will not strike +back.' + +'That's all very well,' said he; 'but you've got to come along with me +to the camp.' + +'I shall never see the camp,' said I. + +'I'll lay you nine to four you do,' he cried, as he made at me, sword in +hand. + +But those words of his put something new into my head. Could we not +decide the matter in some better way than fighting? The Bart was +placing me in such a position that I should have to hurt him, or he +would certainly hurt me. I avoided his rush, though his sword-point was +within an inch of my neck. + +'I have a proposal,' I cried. 'We shall throw dice as to which is the +prisoner of the other.' + +He smiled at this. It appealed to his love of sport. + +'Where are your dice?' he cried. + +'I have none.' + +'Nor I. But I have cards.' + +'Cards let it be,' said I. + +'And the game?' + +'I leave it to you.' + +'Écarté, then--the best of three.' + +I could not help smiling as I agreed, for I do not suppose that there +were three men in France who were my masters at the game. I told the +Bart as much as we dismounted. He smiled also as he listened. + +'I was counted the best player at Watier's,' said he. 'With even luck +you deserve to get off if you beat me.' + +So we tethered our two horses and sat down one on either side of a great +flat rock. The Bart took a pack of cards out of his tunic, and I had +only to see him shuffle to convince me that I had no novice to deal +with. We cut, and the deal fell to him. + +My faith, it was a stake worth playing for. He wished to add a hundred +gold pieces a game, but what was money when the fate of Colonel Etienne +Gerard hung upon the cards? I felt as though all those who had reason to +be interested in the game--my mother, my hussars, the Sixth Corps +d'Armée, Ney, Massena, even the Emperor himself--were forming a ring +round us in that desolate valley. Heavens, what a blow to one and all of +them should the cards go against me! But I was confident, for my écarté +play was as famous as my swordsmanship, and save old Bouvet of the +Hussars of Bercheny, who won seventy-six out of one hundred and fifty +games off me, I have always had the best of a series. + +The first game I won right off, though I must confess that the cards +were with me, and that my adversary could have done no more. In the +second, I never played better and saved a trick by a finesse, but the +Bart voled me once, marked the king, and ran out in the second hand. My +faith, we were so excited that he laid his helmet down beside him and I +my busby. + +'I'll lay my roan mare against your black horse,' said he. + +'Done!' said I. + +'Sword against sword.' + +'Done!' said I. + +'Saddle, bridle, and stirrups!' he cried. + +'Done!' I shouted. + +I had caught this spirit of sport from him. I would have laid my hussars +against his dragoons had they been ours to pledge. + +And then began the game of games. Oh, he played, this Englishman--he +played in a way that was worthy of such a stake. But I, my friends, I +was superb! Of the five which I had to make to win, I gained three on +the first hand. The Bart bit his moustache and drummed his hands, while +I already felt myself at the head of my dear little rascals. On the +second, I turned the king, but lost two tricks--and my score was four to +his two. When I saw my next hand I could not but give a cry of delight. +'If I cannot gain my freedom on this,' thought I, 'I deserve to remain +for ever in chains.' + +Give me the cards, landlord, and I will lay them out on the table for +you. + +Here was my hand: knave and ace of clubs, queen and knave of diamonds, +and king of hearts. Clubs were trumps, mark you, and I had but one point +between me and freedom. He knew it was the crisis, and he undid his +tunic. I threw my dolman on the ground. He led the ten of spades. I took +it with my ace of trumps. One point in my favour. The correct play was +to clear the trumps, and I led the knave. Down came the queen upon it, +and the game was equal. He led the eight of spades, and I could only +discard my queen of diamonds. Then came the seven of spades, and the +hair stood straight up on my head. We each threw down a king at the +final. He had won two points, and my beautiful hand had been mastered by +his inferior one. I could have rolled on the ground as I thought of it. +They used to play very good écarté at Watier's in the year '10. I say +it--I, Brigadier Gerard. + +The last game was now four all. This next hand must settle it one way or +the other. He undid his sash, and I put away my sword-belt. He was cool, +this Englishman, and I tried to be so also, but the perspiration would +trickle into my eyes. The deal lay with him, and I may confess to you, +my friends, that my hands shook so that I could hardly pick my cards +from the rock. But when I raised them, what was the first thing that my +eyes rested upon? It was the king, the king, the glorious king of +trumps! My mouth was open to declare it when the words were frozen upon +my lips by the appearance of my comrade. + +He held his cards in his hand, but his jaw had fallen, and his eyes were +staring over my shoulder with the most dreadful expression of +consternation and surprise. I whisked round, and I was myself amazed at +what I saw. + +Three men were standing quite close to us--fifteen mètres at the +farthest. The middle one was of a good height, and yet not too +tall--about the same height, in fact, that I am myself. He was clad in a +dark uniform with a small cocked hat, and some sort of white plume upon +the side. But I had little thought of his dress. It was his face, his +gaunt cheeks, his beak-like nose, his masterful blue eyes, his thin, +firm slit of a mouth which made one feel that this was a wonderful man, +a man of a million. His brows were tied into a knot, and he cast such a +glance at my poor Bart from under them that one by one the cards came +fluttering down from his nerveless fingers. Of the two other men, one, +who had a face as brown and hard as though it had been carved out of old +oak, wore a bright red coat, while the other, a fine portly man with +bushy side-whiskers, was in a blue jacket with gold facings. Some little +distance behind, three orderlies were holding as many horses, and an +escort of dragoons was waiting in the rear. + +'Heh, Crauford, what the deuce is this?' asked the thin man. + +'D'you hear, sir?' cried the man with the red coat. 'Lord Wellington +wants to know what this means.' + +My poor Bart broke into an account of all that had occurred, but that +rock-face never softened for an instant. + +'Pretty fine, 'pon my word, General Crauford,' he broke in. 'The +discipline of this force must be maintained, sir. Report yourself at +headquarters as a prisoner.' + +It was dreadful to me to see the Bart mount his horse and ride off with +hanging head. I could not endure it. I threw myself before this English +General. I pleaded with him for my friend. I told him how I, Colonel +Gerard, would witness what a dashing young officer he was. Ah, my +eloquence might have melted the hardest heart; I brought tears to my own +eyes, but none to his. My voice broke, and I could say no more. + +'What weight do you put on your mules, sir, in the French service?' he +asked. Yes, that was all this phlegmatic Englishman had to answer to +these burning words of mine. That was his reply to what would have made +a Frenchman weep upon my shoulder. + +'What weight on a mule?' asked the man with the red coat. + +'Two hundred and ten pounds,' said I. + +'Then you load them deucedly badly,' said Lord Wellington. 'Remove the +prisoner to the rear.' + +His dragoons closed in upon me, and I--I was driven mad, as I thought +that the game had been in my hands, and that I ought at that moment to +be a free man. I held the cards up in front of the General. + +'See, my lord!' I cried; 'I played for my freedom and I won, for, as you +perceive, I hold the king.' + +For the first time a slight smile softened his gaunt face. + +'On the contrary,' said he, as he mounted his horse, 'it is I who won, +for, as you perceive, my King holds you.' + + + + +4. HOW THE KING HELD THE BRIGADIER + + +Murat was undoubtedly an excellent cavalry officer, but he had too much +swagger, which spoils many a good soldier. Lasalle, too, was a very +dashing leader, but he ruined himself with wine and folly. Now I, +Etienne Gerard, was always totally devoid of swagger, and at the same +time I was very abstemious, except, maybe, at the end of a campaign, or +when I met an old comrade-in-arms. For these reasons I might, perhaps, +had it not been for a certain diffidence, have claimed to be the most +valuable officer in my own branch of the Service. It is true that I +never rose to be more than a chief of brigade, but then, as everyone +knows, no one had a chance of rising to the top unless he had the good +fortune to be with the Emperor in his early campaigns. Except Lasalle, +and Labau, and Drouet, I can hardly remember any one of the generals who +had not already made his name before the Egyptian business. Even I, with +all my brilliant qualities, could only attain the head of my brigade, +and also the special medal of honour, which I received from the Emperor +himself, and which I keep at home in a leathern pouch. + +But though I never rose higher than this, my qualities were very well +known to those who had served with me, and also to the English. After +they had captured me in the way which I described to you the other +night, they kept a very good guard over me at Oporto, and I promise you +that they did not give such a formidable opponent a chance of slipping +through their fingers. It was on the 10th of August that I was escorted +on board the transport which was to take us to England, and behold me +before the end of the month in the great prison which had been built for +us at Dartmoor! + +'L'hôtel Français, et Pension,' we used to call it, for you understand +that we were all brave men there, and that we did not lose our spirits +because we were in adversity. + +It was only those officers who refused to give their parole who were +confined at Dartmoor, and most of the prisoners were seamen, or from the +ranks. You ask me, perhaps, why it was that I did not give this parole, +and so enjoy the same good treatment as most of my brother officers. +Well, I had two reasons, and both of them were sufficiently strong. + +In the first place, I had so much confidence in myself, that I was quite +convinced that I could escape. In the second, my family, though of good +repute, has never been wealthy, and I could not bring myself to take +anything from the small income of my mother. On the other hand, it would +never do for a man like me to be outshone by the bourgeois society of an +English country town, or to be without the means of showing courtesies +and attentions to those ladies whom I should attract. It was for these +reasons that I preferred to be buried in the dreadful prison of +Dartmoor. I wish now to tell you of my adventures in England, and how +far Milor Wellington's words were true when he said that his King would +hold me. + +And first of all I may say that if it were not that I have set off to +tell you about what befell myself, I could keep you here until morning +with my stories about Dartmoor itself, and about the singular things +which occurred there. It was one of the very strangest places in the +whole world, for there, in the middle of that great desolate waste, were +herded together seven or eight thousand men--warriors, you understand, +men of experience and courage. Around there were a double wall and a +ditch, and warders and soldiers; but, my faith! you could not coop men +like that up like rabbits in a hutch! They would escape by twos and tens +and twenties, and then the cannon would boom, and the search parties +run, and we, who were left behind, would laugh and dance and shout +'Vive l'Empereur' until the warders would turn their muskets upon us in +their passion. And then we would have our little mutinies, too, and up +would come the infantry and the guns from Plymouth, and that would set +us yelling 'Vive l'Empereur' once more, as though we wished them to hear +us in Paris. We had lively moments at Dartmoor, and we contrived that +those who were about us should be lively also. + +You must know that the prisoners there had their own Courts of Justice, +in which they tried their own cases, and inflicted their own +punishments. Stealing and quarrelling were punished--but most of all +treachery. When I came there first there was a man, Meunier, from +Rheims, who had given information of some plot to escape. Well, that +night, owing to some form or other which had to be gone through, they +did not take him out from among the other prisoners, and though he wept +and screamed, and grovelled upon the ground, they left him there amongst +the comrades whom he had betrayed. That night there was a trial with a +whispered accusation and a whispered defence, a gagged prisoner, and a +judge whom none could see. In the morning, when they came for their man +with papers for his release, there was not as much of him left as you +could put upon your thumb-nail. They were ingenious people, these +prisoners, and they had their own way of managing. + +We officers, however, lived in a separate wing, and a very singular +group of people we were. They had left us our uniforms, so that there +was hardly a corps which had served under Victor, or Massena, or Ney, +which was not represented there, and some had been there from the time +when Junot was beaten at Vimiera. We had chasseurs in their green +tunics, and hussars, like myself, and blue-coated dragoons, and +white-fronted lancers, and voltigeurs, and grenadiers, and the men of +the artillery and engineers. But the greater part were naval officers, +for the English had had the better of us upon the seas. I could never +understand this until I journeyed myself from Oporto to Plymouth, when +I lay for seven days upon my back, and could not have stirred had I seen +the eagle of the regiment carried off before my eyes. It was in +perfidious weather like this that Nelson took advantage of us. + +I had no sooner got into Dartmoor than I began to plan to get out again, +and you can readily believe that, with wits sharpened by twelve years of +warfare, it was not very long before I saw my way. + +You must know, in the first place, that I had a very great advantage in +having some knowledge of the English language. I learned it during the +months that I spent before Danzig, from Adjutant Obriant, of the +Regiment Irlandais, who was sprung from the ancient kings of the +country. I was quickly able to speak it with some facility, for I do not +take long to master anything to which I set my mind. In three months I +could not only express my meaning, but I could use the idioms of the +people. It was Obriant who taught me to say 'Be jabers,' just as we +might say 'Ma foi'; and also 'The curse of Crummle!' which means 'Ventre +bleu!' Many a time I have seen the English smile with pleasure when they +have heard me speak so much like one of themselves. + +We officers were put two in a cell, which was very little to my taste, +for my room-mate was a tall, silent man named Beaumont, of the Flying +Artillery, who had been taken by the English cavalry at Astorga. + +It is seldom I meet a man of whom I cannot make a friend, for my +disposition and manners are--as you know them. But this fellow had never +a smile for my jests, nor an ear for my sorrows, but would sit looking +at me with his sullen eyes, until sometimes I thought that his two years +of captivity had driven him crazy. Ah, how I longed that old Bouvet, or +any of my comrades of the hussars, was there, instead of this mummy of a +man. But such as he was I had to make the best of him, and it was very +evident that no escape could be made unless he were my partner in it, +for what could I possibly do without him observing me? I hinted at it, +therefore, and then by degrees I spoke more plainly, until it seemed to +me that I had prevailed upon him to share my lot. + +I tried the walls, and I tried the floor, and I tried the ceiling, but +though I tapped and probed, they all appeared to be very thick and +solid. The door was of iron, shutting with a spring lock, and provided +with a small grating, through which a warder looked twice in every +night. Within there were two beds, two stools, two washstands--nothing +more. It was enough for my wants, for when had I had as much during +those twelve years spent in camps? But how was I to get out? Night after +night I thought of my five hundred hussars, and had dreadful nightmares, +in which I fancied that the whole regiment needed shoeing, or that my +horses were all bloated with green fodder, or that they were foundered +from bogland, or that six squadrons were clubbed in the presence of the +Emperor. Then I would awake in a cold sweat, and set to work picking and +tapping at the walls once more; for I knew very well that there is no +difficulty which cannot be overcome by a ready brain and a pair of +cunning hands. + +There was a single window in our cell, which was too small to admit a +child. It was further defended by a thick iron bar in the centre. It was +not a very promising point of escape, as you will allow, but I became +more and more convinced that our efforts must be directed towards it. To +make matters worse, it only led out into the exercise yard, which was +surrounded by two high walls. Still, as I said to my sullen comrade, it +is time to talk of the Vistula when you are over the Rhine. I got a +small piece of iron, therefore, from the fittings of my bed, and I set +to work to loosen the plaster at the top and the bottom of the bar. +Three hours I would work, and then leap into my bed upon the sound of +the warder's step. Then another three hours, and then very often another +yet, for I found that Beaumont was so slow and clumsy at it that it was +on myself only that I could rely. + +I pictured to myself my Third of Hussars waiting just outside that +window, with kettle-drums and standards and leopard-skin schabraques all +complete. Then I would work like a madman, until my iron was crusted +with blood, as if with rust. And so, night by night, I loosened that +stony plaster, and hid it away in the stuffing of my pillow, until the +hour came when the iron shook; and then with one good wrench it came off +in my hand, and my first step had been made towards freedom. + +You will ask me what better off I was, since, as I have said, a child +could not have fitted through the opening. I will tell you. I had gained +two things--a tool and a weapon. With the one I might loosen the stone +which flanked the window. With the other I might defend myself when I +had scrambled through. So now I turned my attention to that stone, and I +picked and picked with the sharpened end of my bar until I had worked +out the mortar all round. You understand, of course, that during the day +I replaced everything in its position, and that the warder was never +permitted to see a speck upon the floor. At the end of three weeks I had +separated the stone, and had the rapture of drawing it through, and +seeing a hole left with ten stars shining through it, where there had +been but four before. All was ready for us now, and I had replaced the +stone, smearing the edges of it round with a little fat and soot, so as +to hide the cracks where the mortar should have been. In three nights +the moon would be gone, and that seemed the best time for our attempt. + +I had now no doubt at all about getting into the yards, but I had very +considerable misgivings as to how I was to get out again. It would be +too humiliating, after trying here, and trying there, to have to go back +to my hole again in despair, or to be arrested by the guards outside, +and thrown into those damp underground cells which are reserved for +prisoners who are caught in escaping. I set to work, therefore, to plan +what I should do. I have never, as you know, had the chance of showing +what I could do as a general. Sometimes, after a glass or two of wine, I +have found myself capable of thinking out surprising combinations, and +have felt that if Napoleon had intrusted me with an army corps, things +might have gone differently with him. But however that may be, there is +no doubt that in the small stratagems of war, and in that quickness of +invention which is so necessary for an officer of light cavalry, I could +hold my own against anyone. It was now that I had need of it, and I felt +sure that it would not fail me. + +The inner wall which I had to scale was built of bricks, 12ft. high, +with a row of iron spikes, 3in. apart upon the top. The outer I had only +caught a glimpse of once or twice, when the gate of the exercise yard +was open. It appeared to be about the same height, and was also spiked +at the top. The space between the walls was over twenty feet, and I had +reason to believe that there were no sentries there, except at the +gates. On the other hand, I knew that there was a line of soldiers +outside. Behold the little nut, my friends, which I had to open with no +crackers, save these two hands. + +One thing upon which I relied was the height of my comrade Beaumont. I +have already said that he was a very tall man, six feet at least, and it +seemed to me that if I could mount upon his shoulders, and get my hands +upon the spikes, I could easily scale the wall. Could I pull my big +companion up after me? That was the question, for when I set forth with +a comrade, even though it be one for whom I bear no affection, nothing +on earth would make me abandon him. If I climbed the wall and he could +not follow me, I should be compelled to return to him. He did not seem +to concern himself much about it, however, so I hoped that he had +confidence in his own activity. + +Then another very important matter was the choice of the sentry who +should be on duty in front of my window at the time of our attempt. +They were changed every two hours to insure their vigilance, but I, who +watched them closely each night out of my window, knew that there was a +great difference between them. There were some who were so keen that a +rat could not cross the yard unseen, while others thought only of their +own ease, and could sleep as soundly leaning upon a musket as if they +were at home upon a feather bed. There was one especially, a fat, heavy +man, who would retire into the shadow of the wall and doze so +comfortably during his two hours, that I have dropped pieces of plaster +from my window at his very feet, without his observing it. By good luck, +this fellow's watch was due from twelve to two upon the night which we +had fixed upon for our enterprise. + +As the last day passed, I was so filled with nervous agitation that I +could not control myself, but ran ceaselessly about my cell, like a +mouse in a cage. Every moment I thought that the warder would detect the +looseness of the bar, or that the sentry would observe the unmortared +stone, which I could not conceal outside, as I did within. As for my +companion, he sat brooding upon the end of his bed, looking at me in a +sidelong fashion from time to time, and biting his nails like one who is +deep in thought. + +'Courage, my friend!' I cried, slapping him upon the shoulder. 'You will +see your guns before another month be past.' + +'That is very well,' said he. 'But whither will you fly when you get +free?' + +'To the coast,' I answered. 'All comes right for a brave man, and I +shall make straight for my regiment.' + +'You are more likely to make straight for the underground cells, or for +the Portsmouth hulks,' said he. + +'A soldier takes his chances,' I remarked. 'It is only the poltroon who +reckons always upon the worst.' + +I raised a flush in each of his sallow cheeks at that, and I was glad +of it, for it was the first sign of spirit which I had ever observed in +him. For a moment he put his hand out towards his water-jug, as though +he would have hurled it at me, but then he shrugged his shoulders and +sat in silence once more, biting his nails, and scowling down at the +floor. I could not but think, as I looked at him, that perhaps I was +doing the Flying Artillery a very bad service by bringing him back to +them. + +I never in my life have known an evening pass as slowly as that one. +Towards nightfall a wind sprang up, and as the darkness deepened it blew +harder and harder, until a terrible gale was whistling over the moor. As +I looked out of my window I could not catch a glimpse of a star, and the +black clouds were flying low across the heavens. The rain was pouring +down, and what with its hissing and splashing, and the howling and +screaming of the wind, it was impossible for me to hear the steps of the +sentinels. 'If I cannot hear them,' thought I, 'then it is unlikely that +they can hear me'; and I waited with the utmost impatience until the +time when the inspector should have come round for his nightly peep +through our grating. Then having peered through the darkness, and seen +nothing of the sentry, who was doubtless crouching in some corner out of +the rain, I felt that the moment was come. I removed the bar, pulled out +the stone, and motioned to my companion to pass through. + +'After you, Colonel,' said he. + +'Will you not go first?' I asked. + +'I had rather you showed me the way.' + +'Come after me, then, but come silently, as you value your life.' + +In the darkness I could hear the fellow's teeth chattering, and I +wondered whether a man ever had such a partner in a desperate +enterprise. I seized the bar, however, and mounting upon my stool, I +thrust my head and shoulders into the hole. I had wriggled through as +far as my waist, when my companion seized me suddenly by the knees, and +yelled at the top of his voice: 'Help! Help! A prisoner is escaping!' + +Ah, my friends, what did I not feel at that moment! Of course, I saw in +an instant the game of this vile creature. Why should he risk his skin +in climbing walls when he might be sure of a free pardon from the +English for having prevented the escape of one so much more +distinguished than himself? I had recognized him as a poltroon and a +sneak, but I had not understood the depth of baseness to which he could +descend. One who has spent his life among gentlemen and men of honour +does not think of such things until they happen. + +The blockhead did not seem to understand that he was lost more certainly +than I. I writhed back in the darkness, and seizing him by the throat, I +struck him twice with my iron bar. At the first blow he yelped as a +little cur does when you tread upon its paw. At the second, down he fell +with a groan upon the floor. Then I seated myself upon my bed, and +waited resignedly for whatever punishment my gaolers might inflict upon +me. + +But a minute passed and yet another, with no sound save the heavy, +snoring breathing of the senseless wretch upon the floor. Was it +possible, then, that amid the fury of the storm his warning cries had +passed unheeded? At first it was but a tiny hope, another minute and it +was probable, another and it was certain. There was no sound in the +corridor, none in the courtyard. I wiped the cold sweat from my brow, +and asked myself what I should do next. + +One thing seemed certain. The man on the floor must die. If I left him I +could not tell how short a time it might be before he gave the alarm. I +dare not strike a light, so I felt about in the darkness until my hand +came upon something wet, which I knew to be his head. I raised my iron +bar, but there was something, my friends, which prevented me from +bringing it down. In the heat of fight I have slain many men--men of +honour, too, who had done me no injury. Yet here was this wretch, a +creature too foul to live, who had tried to work me so great a mischief, +and yet I could not bring myself to crush his skull in. Such deeds are +very well for a Spanish partida--or for that matter a sansculotte of the +Faubourg St Antoine--but not for a soldier and a gentleman like me. + +However, the heavy breathing of the fellow made me hope that it might be +a very long time before he recovered his senses. I gagged him, +therefore, and bound him with strips of blanket to the bed, so that in +his weakened condition there was good reason to think that, in any case, +he might not get free before the next visit of the warder. But now again +I was faced with new difficulties, for you will remember that I had +relied upon his height to help me over the walls. I could have sat down +and shed tears of despair had not the thought of my mother and of the +Emperor come to sustain me. 'Courage!' said I. 'If it were anyone but +Etienne Gerard he would be in a bad fix now; that is a young man who is +not so easily caught.' + +I set to work therefore upon Beaumont's sheet as well as my own, and by +tearing them into strips and then plaiting them together, I made a very +excellent rope. This I tied securely to the centre of my iron bar, which +was a little over a foot in length. Then I slipped out into the yard, +where the rain was pouring and the wind screaming louder than ever. I +kept in the shadow of the prison wall, but it was as black as the ace of +spades, and I could not see my own hand in front of me. Unless I walked +into the sentinel I felt that I had nothing to fear from him. When I had +come under the wall I threw up my bar, and to my joy it stuck the very +first time between the spikes at the top. I climbed up my rope, pulled +it after me, and dropped down on the other side. Then I scaled the +second wall, and was sitting astride among the spikes upon the top, when +I saw something twinkle in the darkness beneath me. It was the bayonet +of the sentinel below, and so close was it (the second wall being rather +lower than the first) that I could easily, by leaning over, have +unscrewed it from its socket. There he was, humming a tune to himself, +and cuddling up against the wall to keep himself warm, little thinking +that a desperate man within a few feet of him was within an ace of +stabbing him to the heart with his own weapon. I was already bracing +myself for the spring when the fellow, with an oath, shouldered his +musket, and I heard his steps squelching through the mud as he resumed +his beat. I slipped down my rope, and, leaving it hanging, I ran at the +top of my speed across the moor. + +Heavens, how I ran! The wind buffeted my face and buzzed in my nostrils. +The rain pringled upon my skin and hissed past my ears. I stumbled into +holes. I tripped over bushes. I fell among brambles. I was torn and +breathless and bleeding. My tongue was like leather, my feet like lead, +and my heart beating like a kettle-drum. Still I ran, and I ran, and I +ran. + +But I had not lost my head, my friends. Everything was done with a +purpose. Our fugitives always made for the coast. I was determined to go +inland, and the more so as I had told Beaumont the opposite. I would fly +to the north, and they would seek me in the south. Perhaps you will ask +me how I could tell which was which on such a night. I answer that it +was by the wind. I had observed in the prison that it came from the +north, and so, as long as I kept my face to it, I was going in the right +direction. + +Well, I was rushing along in this fashion when, suddenly, I saw two +yellow lights shining out of the darkness in front of me. I paused for a +moment, uncertain what I should do. I was still in my hussar uniform, +you understand, and it seemed to me that the very first thing that I +should aim at was to get some dress which should not betray me. If these +lights came from a cottage, it was probable enough that I might find +what I wanted there. I approached, therefore, feeling very sorry that I +had left my iron bar behind; for I was determined to fight to the death +before I should be retaken. + +But very soon I found that there was no cottage there. The lights were +two lamps hung upon each side of a carriage, and by their glare I saw +that a broad road lay in front of me. Crouching among the bushes, I +observed that there were two horses to the equipage, that a small +post-boy was standing at their heads, and that one of the wheels was +lying in the road beside him. I can see them now, my friends: the +steaming creatures, the stunted lad with his hands to their bits, and +the big, black coach, all shining with the rain, and balanced upon its +three wheels. As I looked, the window was lowered, and a pretty little +face under a bonnet peeped out from it. + +'What shall I do?' the lady cried to the post-boy, in a voice of +despair. 'Sir Charles is certainly lost, and I shall have to spend the +night upon the moor.' + +'Perhaps I can be of some assistance to madame,' said I, scrambling out +from among the bushes into the glare of the lamps. A woman in distress +is a sacred thing to me, and this one was beautiful. You must not forget +that, although I was a colonel, I was only eight-and-twenty years of +age. + +My word, how she screamed, and how the post-boy stared! You will +understand that after that long race in the darkness, with my shako +broken in, my face smeared with dirt, and my uniform all stained and +torn with brambles, I was not entirely the sort of gentleman whom one +would choose to meet in the middle of a lonely moor. Still, after the +first surprise, she soon understood that I was her very humble servant, +and I could even read in her pretty eyes that my manner and bearing had +not failed to produce an impression upon her. + +'I am sorry to have startled you, madame,' said I. 'I chanced to +overhear your remark, and I could not refrain from offering you my +assistance.' I bowed as I spoke. You know my bow, and can realize what +its effect was upon the lady. + +'I am much indebted to you, sir,' said she. 'We have had a terrible +journey since we left Tavistock. Finally, one of our wheels came off, +and here we are helpless in the middle of the moor. My husband, Sir +Charles, has gone on to get help, and I much fear that he must have lost +his way.' + +I was about to attempt some consolation, when I saw beside the lady a +black travelling coat, faced with astrakhan, which her companion must +have left behind him. It was exactly what I needed to conceal my +uniform. It is true that I felt very much like a highway robber, but +then, what would you have? Necessity has no law, and I was in an enemy's +country. + +'I presume, madame, that this is your husband's coat,' I remarked. 'You +will, I am sure, forgive me, if I am compelled to--' I pulled it through +the window as I spoke. + +I could not bear to see the look of surprise and fear and disgust which +came over her face. + +'Oh, I have been mistaken in you!' she cried. 'You came to rob me, then, +and not to help me. You have the bearing of a gentleman, and yet you +steal my husband's coat.' + +'Madame,' said I, 'I beg that you will not condemn me until you know +everything. It is quite necessary that I should take this coat, but if +you will have the goodness to tell me who it is who is fortunate enough +to be your husband, I shall see that the coat is sent back to him.' + +Her face softened a little, though she still tried to look severe. 'My +husband,' she answered, 'is Sir Charles Meredith, and he is travelling +to Dartmoor Prison, upon important Government business. I only ask you, +sir, to go upon your way, and to take nothing which belongs to him.' + +'There is only one thing which belongs to him that I covet,' said I. + +'And you have taken it from the carriage,' she cried. + +'No,' I answered. 'It still remains there.' + +She laughed in her frank English way. + +'If, instead of paying me compliments, you were to return my husband's +coat--' she began. + +'Madame,' I answered, 'what you ask is quite impossible. If you will +allow me to come into the carriage, I will explain to you how necessary +this coat is to me.' + +Heaven knows into what foolishness I might have plunged myself had we +not, at this instant, heard a faint halloa in the distance, which was +answered by a shout from the little post-boy. In the rain and the +darkness, I saw a lantern some distance from us, but approaching +rapidly. + +'I am sorry, madame, that I am forced to leave you,' said I. 'You can +assure your husband that I shall take every care of his coat.' Hurried +as I was, I ventured to pause a moment to salute the lady's hand, which +she snatched through the window with an admirable pretence of being +offended at my presumption. Then, as the lantern was quite close to me, +and the post-boy seemed inclined to interfere with my flight, I tucked +my precious overcoat under my arm, and dashed off into the darkness. + +And now I set myself to the task of putting as broad a stretch of moor +between the prison and myself as the remaining hours of darkness would +allow. Setting my face to the wind once more, I ran until I fell from +exhaustion. Then, after five minutes of panting among the heather, I +made another start, until again my knees gave way beneath me. I was +young and hard, with muscles of steel, and a frame which had been +toughened by twelve years of camp and field. Thus I was able to keep up +this wild flight for another three hours, during which I still guided +myself, you understand, by keeping the wind in my face. At the end of +that time I calculated that I had put nearly twenty miles between the +prison and myself. Day was about to break, so I crouched down among the +heather upon the top of one of those small hills which abound in that +country, with the intention of hiding myself until nightfall. It was no +new thing for me to sleep in the wind and the rain, so, wrapping myself +up in my thick warm cloak, I soon sank into a doze. + +But it was not a refreshing slumber. I tossed and tumbled amid a series +of vile dreams, in which everything seemed to go wrong with me. At last, +I remember, I was charging an unshaken square of Hungarian Grenadiers, +with a single squadron upon spent horses, just as I did at Elchingen. I +stood in my stirrups to shout 'Vive l'Empereur!' and as I did so, there +came the answering roar from my hussars, 'Vive l'Empereur!' I sprang +from my rough bed, with the words still ringing in my ears, and then, as +I rubbed my eyes, and wondered if I were mad, the same cry came again, +five thousand voices in one long-drawn yell. I looked out from my screen +of brambles, and saw in the clear light of morning the very last thing +that I should either have expected or chosen. + +It was Dartmoor Prison! There it stretched, grim and hideous, within a +furlong of me. Had I run on for a few more minutes in the dark, I should +have butted my shako against the wall. I was so taken aback at the +sight, that I could scarcely realize what had happened. Then it all +became clear to me, and I struck my head with my hands in my despair. +The wind had veered from north to south during the night, and I, keeping +my face always towards it, had run ten miles out and ten miles in, +winding up where I had started. When I thought of my hurry, my falls, my +mad rushing and jumping, all ending in this, it seemed so absurd, that +my grief changed suddenly to amusement, and I fell among the brambles, +and laughed, and laughed, until my sides were sore. Then I rolled myself +up in my cloak and considered seriously what I should do. + +One lesson which I have learned in my roaming life, my friends, is +never to call anything a misfortune until you have seen the end of it. +Is not every hour a fresh point of view? In this case I soon perceived +that accident had done for me as much as the most profound cunning. My +guards naturally commenced their search from the place where I had taken +Sir Charles Meredith's coat, and from my hiding-place I could see them +hurrying along the road to that point. Not one of them ever dreamed that +I could have doubled back from there, and I lay quite undisturbed in the +little bush-covered cup at the summit of my knoll. The prisoners had, of +course, learned of my escape, and all day exultant yells, like that +which had aroused me in the morning, resounded over the moor, bearing a +welcome message of sympathy and companionship to my ears. How little did +they dream that on the top of that very mound, which they could see from +their windows, was lying the comrade whose escape they were celebrating? +As for me--I could look down upon this poor herd of idle warriors, as +they paced about the great exercise yard, or gathered in little groups, +gesticulating joyfully over my success. Once I heard a howl of +execration, and I saw Beaumont, his head all covered with bandages, +being led across the yard by two of the warders. I cannot tell you the +pleasure which this sight gave me, for it proved that I had not killed +him, and also that the others knew the true story of what had passed. +They had all known me too well to think that I could have abandoned him. + +All that long day I lay behind my screen of bushes, listening to the +bells which struck the hours below. + +My pockets were filled with bread which I had saved out of my allowance, +and on searching my borrowed overcoat I came upon a silver flask, full +of excellent brandy and water, so that I was able to get through the day +without hardship. The only other things in the pockets were a red silk +handkerchief, a tortoise-shell snuff-box, and a blue envelope, with a +red seal, addressed to the Governor of Dartmoor Prison. As to the first +two, I determined to send them back when I should return the coat +itself. + +The letter caused me more perplexity, for the Governor had always shown +me every courtesy, and it offended my sense of honour that I should +interfere with his correspondence. I had almost made up my mind to leave +it under a stone upon the roadway within musket-shot of the gate. This +would guide them in their search for me, however, and so, on the whole, +I saw no better way than just to carry the letter with me in the hope +that I might find some means of sending it back to him. Meanwhile I +packed it safely away in my inner-most pocket. + +There was a warm sun to dry my clothes, and when night fell I was ready +for my journey. I promise you that there were no mistakes this time. I +took the stars for my guides, as every hussar should be taught to do, +and I put eight good leagues between myself and the prison. My plan now +was to obtain a complete suit of clothes from the first person whom I +could waylay, and I should then find my way to the north coast, where +there were many smugglers and fishermen who would be ready to earn the +reward which was paid by the Emperor to those who brought escaping +prisoners across the Channel. I had taken the panache from my shako so +that it might escape notice, but even with my fine overcoat I feared +that sooner or later my uniform would betray me. My first care must be +to provide myself with a complete disguise. + +When day broke, I saw a river upon my right and a small town upon my +left--the blue smoke reeking up above the moor. I should have liked well +to have entered it, because it would have interested me to see something +of the customs of the English, which differ very much from those of +other nations. Much as I should have wished, however, to have seen them +eat their raw meat and sell their wives, it would have been dangerous +until I had got rid of my uniform. My cap, my moustache, and my speech +would all help to betray me. I continued to travel towards the north +therefore, looking about me continually, but never catching a glimpse of +my pursuers. + +About midday I came to where, in a secluded valley, there stood a single +small cottage without any other building in sight. It was a neat little +house, with a rustic porch and a small garden in front of it, with a +swarm of cocks and hens. I lay down among the ferns and watched it, for +it seemed to be exactly the kind of place where I might obtain what I +wanted. My bread was finished, and I was exceedingly hungry after my +long journey; I determined, therefore, to make a short reconnaissance, +and then to march up to this cottage, summon it to surrender, and help +myself to all that I needed. It could at least provide me with a chicken +and with an omelette. My mouth watered at the thought. + +As I lay there, wondering who could live in this lonely place, a brisk +little fellow came out through the porch, accompanied by another older +man, who carried two large clubs in his hands. These he handed to his +young companion, who swung them up and down, and round and round, with +extraordinary swiftness. The other, standing beside him, appeared to +watch him with great attention, and occasionally to advise him. Finally +he took a rope, and began skipping like a girl, the other still gravely +observing him. As you may think, I was utterly puzzled as to what these +people could be, and could only surmise that the one was a doctor, and +the other a patient who had submitted himself to some singular method of +treatment. + +Well, as I lay watching and wondering, the older man brought out a +great-coat, and held it while the other put it on and buttoned it to his +chin. The day was a warmish one, so that this proceeding amazed me even +more than the other. 'At least,' thought I, 'it is evident that his +exercise is over'; but, far from this being so, the man began to run, in +spite of his heavy coat, and as it chanced, he came right over the moor +in my direction. His companion had re-entered the house, so that this +arrangement suited me admirably. I would take the small man's clothing, +and hurry on to some village where I could buy provisions. The chickens +were certainly tempting, but still there were at least two men in the +house, so perhaps it would be wiser for me, since I had no arms, to keep +away from it. + +I lay quietly then among the ferns. Presently I heard the steps of the +runner, and there he was quite close to me, with his huge coat, and the +perspiration running down his face. He seemed to be a very solid +man--but small--so small that I feared that his clothes might be of +little use to me. When I jumped out upon him he stopped running, and +looked at me in the greatest astonishment. + +'Blow my dickey,' said he, 'give it a name, guv'nor! Is it a circus, or +what?' + +That was how he talked, though I cannot pretend to tell you what he +meant by it. + +'You will excuse me, sir,' said I, 'but I am under the necessity of +asking you to give me your clothes.' + +'Give you what?' he cried. + +'Your clothes.' + +'Well, if this don't lick cock-fighting!' said he. 'What am I to give +you my clothes for?' + +'Because I need them.' + +'And suppose I won't?' + +'Be jabers,' said I, 'I shall have no choice but to take them.' + +He stood with his hands in the pockets of his great-coat, and a most +amused smile upon his square-jawed, clean-shaven face. + +'You'll take them, will you?' said he. 'You're a very leery cove, by the +look of you, but I can tell you that you've got the wrong sow by the ear +this time. I know who you are. You're a runaway Frenchy, from the prison +yonder, as anyone could tell with half an eye. But you don't know who I +am, else you wouldn't try such a plant as that. Why, man, I'm the +Bristol Bustler, nine stone champion, and them's my training quarters +down yonder.' + +He stared at me as if this announcement of his would have crushed me to +the earth, but I smiled at him in my turn, and looked him up and down, +with a twirl of my moustache. + +'You may be a very brave man, sir,' said I, 'but when I tell you that +you are opposed to Colonel Etienne Gerard, of the Hussars of Conflans, +you will see the necessity of giving up your clothes without further +parley.' + +'Look here, mounseer, drop it!' he cried; 'this'll end by your getting +pepper.' + +'Your clothes, sir, this instant!' I shouted, advancing fiercely upon +him. + +For answer he threw off his heavy great-coat, and stood in a singular +attitude, with one arm out, and the other across his chest, looking at +me with a curious smile. For myself, I knew nothing of the methods of +fighting which these people have, but on horse or on foot, with arms or +without them, I am always ready to take my own part. You understand that +a soldier cannot always choose his own methods, and that it is time to +howl when you are living among wolves. I rushed at him, therefore, with +a warlike shout, and kicked him with both my feet. At the same moment my +heels flew into the air, I saw as many flashes as at Austerlitz, and the +back of my head came down with a crash upon a stone. After that I can +remember nothing more. + +When I came to myself I was lying upon a truckle-bed, in a bare, +half-furnished room. My head was ringing like a bell, and when I put up +my hand, there was a lump like a walnut over one of my eyes. My nose was +full of a pungent smell, and I soon found that a strip of paper soaked +in vinegar was fastened across my brow. At the other end of the room +this terrible little man was sitting with his knee bare, and his +elderly companion was rubbing it with some liniment. The latter seemed +to be in the worst of tempers, and he kept up a continual scolding, +which the other listened to with a gloomy face. + +'Never heard tell of such a thing in my life,' he was saying. 'In +training for a month with all the weight of it on my shoulders, and then +when I get you as fit as a trout, and within two days of fighting the +likeliest man on the list, you let yourself into a by-battle with a +foreigner.' + +'There, there! Stow your gab!' said the other, sulkily. 'You're a very +good trainer, Jim, but you'd be better with less jaw.' + +'I should think it was time to jaw,' the elderly man answered. 'If this +knee don't get well before next Wednesday, they'll have it that you +fought a cross, and a pretty job you'll have next time you look for a +backer.' + +'Fought a cross!' growled the other. 'I've won nineteen battles, and no +man ever so much as dared to say the word "cross" in my hearin'. How the +deuce was I to get out of it when the cove wanted the very clothes off +my back?' + +'Tut, man; you knew that the beak and the guards were within a mile of +you. You could have set them on to him as well then as now. You'd have +got your clothes back again all right.' + +'Well, strike me!' said the Bustler. 'I don't often break my trainin', +but when it comes to givin' up my clothes to a Frenchy who couldn't hit +a dint in a pat o' butter, why, it's more than I can swaller.' + +'Pooh, man, what are the clothes worth? D'you know that Lord Rufton +alone has five thousand pounds on you? When you jump the ropes on +Wednesday, you'll carry every penny of fifty thousand into the ring. A +pretty thing to turn up with a swollen knee and a story about a +Frenchman!' + +'I never thought he'd ha' kicked,' said the Bustler. + +'I suppose you expected he'd fight Broughton's rules, and strict P.R.? +Why, you silly, they don't know what fighting is in France.' + +'My friends,' said I, sitting up on my bed, 'I do not understand very +much of what you say, but when you speak like that it is foolishness. We +know so much about fighting in France, that we have paid our little +visit to nearly every capital in Europe, and very soon we are coming to +London. But we fight like soldiers, you understand, and not like gamins +in the gutter. You strike me on the head. I kick you on the knee. It is +child's play. But if you will give me a sword, and take another one, I +will show you how we fight over the water.' + +They both stared at me in their solid, English way. + +'Well, I'm glad you're not dead, mounseer,' said the elder one at last. +'There wasn't much sign of life in you when the Bustler and me carried +you down. That head of yours ain't thick enough to stop the crook of the +hardest hitter in Bristol.' + +'He's a game cove, too, and he came for me like a bantam,' said the +other, still rubbing his knee. 'I got my old left-right in, and he went +over as if he had been pole-axed. It wasn't my fault, mounseer. I told +you you'd get pepper if you went on.' + +'Well, it's something to say all your life, that you've been handled by +the finest light-weight in England,' said the older man, looking at me +with an expression of congratulation upon his face. 'You've had him at +his best, too--in the pink of condition, and trained by Jim Hunter.' + +'I am used to hard knocks,' said I, unbuttoning my tunic, and showing my +two musket wounds. Then I bared my ankle also, and showed the place in +my eye where the guerilla had stabbed me. + +'He can take his gruel,' said the Bustler. + +'What a glutton he'd have made for the middle-weights,' remarked the +trainer; 'with six months' coaching he'd astonish the fancy. It's a pity +he's got to go back to prison.' + +I did not like that last remark at all. I buttoned up my coat and rose +from the bed. + +'I must ask you to let me continue my journey,' said I. + +'There's no help for it, mounseer,' the trainer answered. 'It's a hard +thing to send such a man as you back to such a place, but business is +business, and there's a twenty pound reward. They were here this +morning, looking for you, and I expect they'll be round again.' + +His words turned my heart to lead. + +'Surely, you would not betray me!' I cried. 'I will send you twice +twenty pounds on the day that I set foot upon France. I swear it upon +the honour of a French gentleman.' + +But I only got head-shakes for a reply. I pleaded, I argued, I spoke of +the English hospitality and the fellowship of brave men, but I might as +well have been addressing the two great wooden clubs which stood +balanced upon the floor in front of me. There was no sign of sympathy +upon their bull-faces. + +'Business is business, mounseer,' the old trainer repeated. 'Besides, +how am I to put the Bustler into the ring on Wednesday if he's jugged by +the beak for aidin' and abettin' a prisoner of war? I've got to look +after the Bustler, and I take no risks.' + +This, then, was the end of all my struggles and strivings. I was to be +led back again like a poor silly sheep who has broken through the +hurdles. They little knew me who could fancy that I should submit to +such a fate. I had heard enough to tell me where the weak point of these +two men was, and I showed, as I have often showed before, that Etienne +Gerard is never so terrible as when all hope seems to have deserted him. +With a single spring I seized one of the clubs and swung it over the +head of the Bustler. + +'Come what may,' I cried, '_you_ shall be spoiled for Wednesday.' + +The fellow growled out an oath, and would have sprung at me, but the +other flung his arms round him and pinned him to the chair. + +'Not if I know it, Bustler,' he screamed. 'None of your games while I am +by. Get away out of this, Frenchy. We only want to see your back. Run +away, run away, or he'll get loose!' + +It was good advice, I thought, and I ran to the door, but as I came out +into the open air my head swam round and I had to lean against the porch +to save myself from falling. Consider all that I had been through, the +anxiety of my escape, the long, useless flight in the storm, the day +spent amid wet ferns, with only bread for food, the second journey by +night, and now the injuries which I had received in attempting to +deprive the little man of his clothes. Was it wonderful that even I +should reach the limits of my endurance? + +I stood there in my heavy coat and my poor battered shako, my chin upon +my chest, and my eyelids over my eyes. I had done my best, and I could +do no more. It was the sound of horses' hoofs which made me at last +raise my head, and there was the grey-moustached Governor of Dartmoor +Prison not ten paces in front of me, with six mounted warders behind +him! + +'So, Colonel,' said he, with a bitter smile, 'we have found you once +more.' + +When a brave man has done his utmost, and has failed, he shows his +breeding by the manner in which he accepts his defeat. For me, I took +the letter which I had in my pocket, and stepping forward, I handed it +with such grace of manner as I could summon to the Governor. + +'It has been my misfortune, sir, to detain one of your letters,' said I. + +He looked at me in amazement, and beckoned to the warders to arrest me. +Then he broke the seal of the letter. I saw a curious expression come +over his face as he read it. + +'This must be the letter which Sir Charles Meredith lost,' said he. + +'It was in the pocket of his coat.' + +'You have carried it for two days?' + +'Since the night before last.' + +'And never looked at the contents?' + +I showed him by my manner that he had committed an indiscretion in +asking a question which one gentleman should not have put to another. + +To my surprise he burst out into a roar of laughter. + +'Colonel,' said he, wiping the tears from his eyes, 'you have really +given both yourself and us a great deal of unnecessary trouble. Allow me +to read the letter which you carried with you in your flight.' + +And this was what I heard:-- + +'On receipt of this you are directed to release Colonel Etienne Gerard, +of the 3rd Hussars, who has been exchanged against Colonel Mason, of the +Horse Artillery, now in Verdun.' + +And as he read it, he laughed again, and the warders laughed, and the +two men from the cottage laughed, and then, as I heard this universal +merriment, and thought of all my hopes and fears, and my struggles and +dangers, what could a debonair soldier do but lean against the porch +once more, and laugh as heartily as any of them? And of them all was it +not I who had the best reason to laugh, since in front of me I could see +my dear France, and my mother, and the Emperor, and my horsemen; while +behind lay the gloomy prison, and the heavy hand of the English King? + + + + +5. HOW THE BRIGADIER TOOK THE FIELD AGAINST THE MARSHAL MILLEFLEURS + + +Massena was a thin, sour little fellow, and after his hunting accident +he had only one eye, but when it looked out from under his cocked hat +there was not much upon a field of battle which escaped it. He could +stand in front of a battalion, and with a single sweep tell you if a +buckle or a gaiter button were out of place. Neither the officers nor +the men were very fond of him, for he was, as you know, a miser, and +soldiers love that their leaders should be free-handed. At the same +time, when it came to work they had a very high respect for him, and +they would rather fight under him than under anyone except the Emperor +himself, and Lannes, when he was alive. After all, if he had a tight +grasp upon his money-bags, there was a day also, you must remember, when +that same grip was upon Zurich and Genoa. He clutched on to his +positions as he did to his strong box, and it took a very clever man to +loosen him from either. + +When I received his summons I went gladly to his headquarters, for I was +always a great favourite of his, and there was no officer of whom he +thought more highly. That was the best of serving with those good old +generals, that they knew enough to be able to pick out a fine soldier +when they saw one. He was seated alone in his tent, with his chin upon +his hand, and his brow as wrinkled as if he had been asked for a +subscription. He smiled, however, when he saw me before him. + +'Good day, Colonel Gerard.' + +'Good day, Marshal.' + +'How is the Third of Hussars?' + +'Seven hundred incomparable men upon seven hundred excellent horses.' + +'And your wounds--are they healed?' + +'My wounds never heal, Marshal,' I answered. + +'And why?' + +'Because I have always new ones.' + +'General Rapp must look to his laurels,' said he, his face all breaking +into wrinkles as he laughed. 'He has had twenty-one from the enemy's +bullets, and as many from Larrey's knives and probes. Knowing that you +were hurt, Colonel, I have spared you of late.' + +'Which hurt me most of all.' + +'Tut, tut! Since the English got behind these accursed lines of Torres +Vedras, there has been little for us to do. You did not miss much during +your imprisonment at Dartmoor. But now we are on the eve of action.' + +'We advance?' + +'No, retire.' + +My face must have shown my dismay. What, retire before this sacred dog +of a Wellington--he who had listened unmoved to my words, and had sent +me to his land of fogs? I could have sobbed as I thought of it. + +'What would you have?' cried Massena impatiently. 'When one is in check, +it is necessary to move the king.' + +'Forwards,' I suggested. + +He shook his grizzled head. + +'The lines are not to be forced,' said he. 'I have already lost General +St. Croix and more men than I can replace. On the other hand, we have +been here at Santarem for nearly six months. There is not a pound of +flour nor a jug of wine on the countryside. We must retire.' + +'There are flour and wine in Lisbon,' I persisted. + +'Tut, you speak as if an army could charge in and charge out again like +your regiment of hussars. If Soult were here with thirty thousand +men--but he will not come. I sent for you, however, Colonel Gerard, to +say that I have a very singular and important expedition which I intend +to place under your direction.' + +I pricked up my ears, as you can imagine. The Marshal unrolled a great +map of the country and spread it upon the table. He flattened it out +with his little, hairy hands. + +'This is Santarem,' he said pointing. + +I nodded. + +'And here, twenty-five miles to the east, is Almeixal, celebrated for +its vintages and for its enormous Abbey.' + +Again I nodded; I could not think what was coming. + +'Have you heard of the Marshal Millefleurs?' asked Massena. + +'I have served with all the Marshals,' said I, 'but there is none of +that name.' + +'It is but the nickname which the soldiers have given him,' said +Massena. 'If you had not been away from us for some months, it would not +be necessary for me to tell you about him. He is an Englishman, and a +man of good breeding. It is on account of his manners that they have +given him his title. I wish you to go to this polite Englishman at +Almeixal.' + +'Yes, Marshal.' + +'And to hang him to the nearest tree.' + +'Certainly, Marshal.' + +I turned briskly upon my heels, but Massena recalled me before I could +reach the opening of his tent. + +'One moment, Colonel,' said he; 'you had best learn how matters stand +before you start. You must know, then, that this Marshal Millefleurs, +whose real name is Alexis Morgan, is a man of very great ingenuity and +bravery. He was an officer in the English Guards, but having been broken +for cheating at cards, he left the army. In some manner he gathered a +number of English deserters round him and took to the mountains. French +stragglers and Portuguese brigands joined him, and he found himself at +the head of five hundred men. With these he took possession of the +Abbey of Almeixal, sent the monks about their business, fortified the +place, and gathered in the plunder of all the country round.' + +'For which it is high time he was hanged,' said I, making once more for +the door. + +'One instant!' cried the Marshal, smiling at my impatience. 'The worst +remains behind. Only last week the Dowager Countess of La Ronda, the +richest woman in Spain, was taken by these ruffians in the passes as she +was journeying from King Joseph's Court to visit her grandson. She is +now a prisoner in the Abbey, and is only protected by her----' + +'Grandmotherhood,' I suggested. + +'Her power of paying a ransom,' said Massena. 'You have three missions, +then: To rescue this unfortunate lady; to punish this villain; and, if +possible, to break up this nest of brigands. It will be a proof of the +confidence which I have in you when I say that I can only spare you half +a squadron with which to accomplish all this.' + +My word, I could hardly believe my ears! I thought that I should have +had my regiment at the least. + +'I would give you more,' said he, 'but I commence my retreat today, and +Wellington is so strong in horse that every trooper becomes of +importance. I cannot spare you another man. You will see what you can +do, and you will report yourself to me at Abrantes not later than +tomorrow night.' + +It was very complimentary that he should rate my powers so high, but it +was also a little embarrassing. I was to rescue an old lady, to hang an +Englishman, and to break up a band of five hundred assassins--all with +fifty men. But after all, the fifty men were Hussars of Conflans, and +they had an Etienne Gerard to lead them. As I came out into the warm +Portuguese sunshine my confidence had returned to me, and I had already +begun to wonder whether the medal which I had so often deserved might +not be waiting for me at Almeixal. + +You may be sure that I did not take my fifty men at hap-hazard. They +were all old soldiers of the German wars, some of them with three +stripes, and most of them with two. Oudet and Papilette, two of the best +sub-officers in the regiment, were at their head. When I had them formed +up in fours, all in silver grey and upon chestnut horses, with their +leopard skin shabracks and their little red panaches, my heart beat high +at the sight. I could not look at their weather-stained faces, with the +great moustaches which bristled over their chin-straps, without feeling +a glow of confidence, and, between ourselves, I have no doubt that that +was exactly how they felt when they saw their young Colonel on his great +black war-horse riding at their head. + +Well, when we got free of the camp and over the Tagus, I threw out my +advance and my flankers, keeping my own place at the head of the main +body. Looking back from the hills above Santarem, we could see the dark +lines of Massena's army, with the flash and twinkle of the sabres and +bayonets as he moved his regiments into position for their retreat. To +the south lay the scattered red patches of the English outposts, and +behind the grey smoke-cloud which rose from Wellington's camp--thick, +oily smoke, which seemed to our poor starving fellows to bear with it +the rich smell of seething camp-kettles. Away to the west lay a curve of +blue sea flecked with the white sails of the English ships. + +You will understand that as we were riding to the east, our road lay +away from both armies. Our own marauders, however, and the scouting +parties of the English, covered the country, and it was necessary with +my small troop that I should take every precaution. During the whole day +we rode over desolate hill-sides, the lower portions covered by the +budding vines, but the upper turning from green to grey, and jagged +along the skyline like the back of a starved horse. Mountain streams +crossed our path, running west to the Tagus, and once we came to a deep, +strong river, which might have checked us had I not found the ford by +observing where houses had been built opposite each other upon either +bank. Between them, as every scout should know, you will find your ford. +There was none to give us information, for neither man nor beast, nor +any living thing except great clouds of crows, was to be seen during our +journey. + +The sun was beginning to sink when we came to a valley clear in the +centre, but shrouded by huge oak trees upon either side. We could not be +more than a few miles from Almeixal, so it seemed to me to be best to +keep among the groves, for the spring had been an early one and the +leaves were already thick enough to conceal us. We were riding then in +open order among the great trunks, when one of my flankers came +galloping up. + +'There are English across the valley, Colonel,' he cried, as he saluted. + +'Cavalry or infantry?' + +'Dragoons, Colonel,' said he; 'I saw the gleam of their helmets, and +heard the neigh of a horse.' + +Halting my men I hastened to the edge of the wood. There could be no +doubt about it. A party of English cavalry was travelling in a line with +us, and in the same direction. I caught a glimpse of their red coats and +of their flashing arms glowing and twinkling among the tree-trunks. +Once, as they passed through a small clearing, I could see their whole +force, and I judged that they were of about the same strength as my +own--a half squadron at the most. + +You who have heard some of my little adventures will give me credit for +being quick in my decisions, and prompt in carrying them out. But here I +must confess that I was in two minds. On the one hand there was the +chance of a fine cavalry skirmish with the English. On the other hand, +there was my mission at the Abbey of Almeixal, which seemed already to +be so much above my power. If I were to lose any of my men, it was +certain that I should be unable to carry out my orders. I was sitting +my horse, with my chin in my gauntlet, looking across at the rippling +gleams of light from the further wood, when suddenly one of these +red-coated Englishmen rode out from the cover, pointing at me and +breaking into a shrill whoop and halloa as if I had been a fox. Three +others joined him, and one who was a bugler sounded a call, which +brought the whole of them into the open. They were, as I had thought, a +half squadron, and they formed a double line with a front of +twenty-five, their officer--the one who had whooped at me--at their +head. + +For my own part, I had instantly brought my own troopers into the same +formation, so that there we were, hussars and dragoons, with only two +hundred yards of grassy sward between us. They carried themselves well, +those red-coated troopers, with their silver helmets, their high white +plumes, and their long, gleaming swords; while, on the other hand, I am +sure that they would acknowledge that they had never looked upon finer +light horsemen than the fifty hussars of Conflans who were facing them. +They were heavier, it is true, and they may have seemed the smarter, for +Wellington used to make them burnish their metal work, which was not +usual among us. On the other hand, it is well known that the English +tunics were too tight for the sword-arm, which gave our men an +advantage. As to bravery, foolish, inexperienced people of every nation +always think that their own soldiers are braver than any others. There +is no nation in the world which does not entertain this idea. But when +one has seen as much as I have done, one understands that there is no +very marked difference, and that although nations differ very much in +discipline, they are all equally brave--except that the French have +rather more courage than the rest. + +Well, the cork was drawn and the glasses ready, when suddenly the +English officer raised his sword to me as if in a challenge, and +cantered his horse across the grassland. My word, there is no finer +sight upon earth than that of a gallant man upon a gallant steed! I +could have halted there just to watch him as he came with such careless +grace, his sabre down by his horse's shoulder, his head thrown back, his +white plume tossing--youth and strength and courage, with the violet +evening sky above and the oak trees behind. But it was not for me to +stand and stare. Etienne Gerard may have his faults, but, my faith, he +was never accused of being backward in taking his own part. The old +horse, Rataplan, knew me so well that he had started off before ever I +gave the first shake to the bridle. + +There are two things in this world that I am very slow to forget: the +face of a pretty woman, and the legs of a fine horse. Well, as we drew +together, I kept on saying, 'Where have I seen those great roan +shoulders? Where have I seen that dainty fetlock?' Then suddenly I +remembered, and as I looked up at the reckless eyes and the challenging +smile, whom should I recognize but the man who had saved me from the +brigands and played me for my freedom--he whose correct title was Milor +the Hon. Sir Russell Bart! + +'Bart!' I shouted. + +He had his arm raised for a cut, and three parts of his body open to my +point, for he did not know very much about the use of the sword. As I +brought my hilt to the salute he dropped his hand and stared at me. + +'Halloa!' said he. 'It's Gerard!' You would have thought by his manner +that I had met him by appointment. For my own part, I would have +embraced him had he but come an inch of the way to meet me. + +'I thought we were in for some sport,' said he. 'I never dreamed that it +was you.' + +I found this tone of disappointment somewhat irritating. Instead of +being glad at having met a friend, he was sorry at having missed an +enemy. + +'I should have been happy to join in your sport, my dear Bart,' said I. +'But I really cannot turn my sword upon a man who saved my life.' + +'Tut, never mind about that.' + +'No, it is impossible. I should never forgive myself.' + +'You make too much of a trifle.' + +'My mother's one desire is to embrace you. If ever you should be in +Gascony----' + +'Lord Wellington is coming there with 60,000 men.' + +'Then one of them will have a chance of surviving,' said I, laughing. +'In the meantime, put your sword in your sheath!' + +Our horses were standing head to tail, and the Bart put out his hand and +patted me on the thigh. + +'You're a good chap, Gerard,' said he. 'I only wish you had been born on +the right side of the Channel.' + +'I was,' said I. + +'Poor devil!' he cried, with such an earnestness of pity that he set me +laughing again. 'But look here, Gerard,' he continued; 'this is all very +well, but it is not business, you know. I don't know what Massena would +say to it, but our Chief would jump out of his riding-boots if he saw +us. We weren't sent out here for a picnic--either of us.' + +'What would you have?' + +'Well, we had a little argument about our hussars and dragoons, if you +remember. I've got fifty of the Sixteenth all chewing their carbine +bullets behind me. You've got as many fine-looking boys over yonder, who +seem to be fidgeting in their saddles. If you and I took the right +flanks we should not spoil each other's beauty--though a little +blood-letting is a friendly thing in this climate.' + +There seemed to me to be a good deal of sense in what he said. For the +moment Mr Alexis Morgan and the Countess of La Ronda and the Abbey of +Almeixal went right out of my head, and I could only think of the fine +level turf and of the beautiful skirmish which we might have. + +'Very good, Bart,' said I. 'We have seen the front of your dragoons. We +shall now have a look at their backs.' + +'Any betting?' he asked. + +'The stake,' said I, 'is nothing less than the honour of the Hussars of +Conflans.' + +'Well, come on!' he answered. 'If we break you, well and good--if you +break us, it will be all the better for Marshal Millefleurs.' + +When he said that I could only stare at him in astonishment. + +'Why for Marshal Millefleurs?' I asked. + +'It is the name of a rascal who lives out this way. My dragoons have +been sent by Lord Wellington to see him safely hanged.' + +'Name of a name!' I cried. 'Why, my hussars have been sent by Massena +for that very object.' + +We burst out laughing at that, and sheathed our swords. There was a +whirr of steel from behind us as our troopers followed our example. + +'We are allies!' he cried. + +'For a day.' + +'We must join forces.' + +'There is no doubt of it.' + +And so, instead of fighting, we wheeled our half squadrons round and +moved in two little columns down the valley, the shakos and the helmets +turned inwards, and the men looking their neighbours up and down, like +old fighting dogs with tattered ears who have learned to respect each +other's teeth. The most were on the broad grin, but there were some on +either side who looked black and challenging, especially the English +sergeant and my own sub-officer Papilette. They were men of habit, you +see, who could not change all their ways of thinking in a moment. +Besides, Papilette had lost his only brother at Busaco. As for the Bart +and me, we rode together at the head and chatted about all that had +occurred to us since that famous game of écarté of which I have told +you. + +For my own part, I spoke to him of my adventures in England. They are a +very singular people, these English. Although he knew that I had been +engaged in twelve campaigns, yet I am sure that the Bart thought more +highly of me because I had had an affair with the Bristol Bustler. He +told me, too, that the Colonel who presided over his court-martial for +playing cards with a prisoner acquitted him of neglect of duty, but +nearly broke him because he thought that he had not cleared his trumps +before leading his suit. Yes, indeed, they are a singular people. + +At the end of the valley the road curved over some rising ground before +winding down into another wider valley beyond. We called a halt when we +came to the top; for there, right in front of us, at the distance of +about three miles, was a scattered, grey town, with a single enormous +building upon the flank of the mountain which overlooked it. We could +not doubt that we were at last in sight of the Abbey that held the gang +of rascals whom we had come to disperse. It was only now, I think, that +we fully understood what a task lay in front of us, for the place was a +veritable fortress, and it was evident that cavalry should never have +been sent out upon such an errand. + +'That's got nothing to do with us,' said the Bart; Wellington and +Massena can settle that between them.' + +'Courage!' I answered. 'Piré took Leipzig with fifty hussars.' + +'Had they been dragoons,' said the Bart, laughing, 'he would have had +Berlin. But you are senior officer; give us a lead, and we'll see who +will be the first to flinch.' + +'Well,' said I, 'whatever we do must be done at once, for my orders are +to be on my way to Abrantes by tomorrow night. But we must have some +information first, and here is someone who should be able to give it to +us.' + +There was a square, whitewashed house standing by the roadside, which +appeared, from the bush hanging over the door, to be one of those +wayside tabernas which are provided for the muleteers. A lantern was +hung in the porch, and by its light we saw two men, the one in the brown +habit of a Capuchin monk, and the other girt with an apron, which showed +him to be the landlord. They were conversing together so earnestly that +we were upon them before they were aware of us. The innkeeper turned to +fly, but one of the Englishmen seized him by the hair, and held him +tight. + +'For mercy's sake, spare me,' he yelled. 'My house has been gutted by +the French and harried by the English, and my feet have been burned by +the brigands. I swear by the Virgin that I have neither money nor food +in my inn, and the good Father Abbot, who is starving upon my doorstep, +will be witness to it.' + +'Indeed, sir,' said the Capuchin, in excellent French, 'what this worthy +man says is very true. He is one of the many victims to these cruel +wars, although his loss is but a feather-weight compared to mine. Let +him go,' he added, in English, to the trooper, 'he is too weak to fly, +even if he desired to.' + +In the light of the lantern I saw that this monk was a magnificent man, +dark and bearded, with the eyes of a hawk, and so tall that his cowl +came up to Rataplan's ears. He wore the look of one who had been through +much suffering, but he carried himself like a king, and we could form +some opinion of his learning when we each heard him talk our own +language as fluently as if he were born to it. + +'You have nothing to fear,' said I, to the trembling innkeeper. 'As to +you, father, you are, if I am not mistaken, the very man who can give us +the information which we require.' + +'All that I have is at your service, my son. But,' he added, with a wan +smile, 'my Lenten fare is always somewhat meagre, and this year it has +been such that I must ask you for a crust of bread if I am to have the +strength to answer your questions.' + +We bore two days' rations in our haversacks, so that he soon had the +little he asked for. It was dreadful to see the wolfish way in which he +seized the piece of dried goat's flesh which I was able to offer him. + +'Time presses, and we must come to the point,' said I. 'We want your +advice as to the weak points of yonder Abbey, and concerning the habits +of the rascals who infest it.' + +He cried out something which I took to be Latin, with his hands clasped +and his eyes upturned. 'The prayer of the just availeth much,' said he, +'and yet I had not dared to hope that mine would have been so speedily +answered. In me you see the unfortunate Abbot of Almeixal, who has been +cast out by this rabble of three armies with their heretical leader. Oh! +to think of what I have lost!' his voice broke, and the tears hung upon +his lashes. + +'Cheer up, sir,' said the Bart. 'I'll lay nine to four that we have you +back again by tomorrow night.' + +It is not of my own welfare that I think,' said he, 'nor even of that of +my poor, scattered flock. But it is of the holy relics which are left in +the sacrilegious hands of these robbers.' + +'It's even betting whether they would ever bother their heads about +them,' said the Bart. 'But show us the way inside the gates, and we'll +soon clear the place out for you.' + +In a few short words the good Abbot gave us the very points that we +wished to know. But all that he said only made our task more formidable. +The walls of the Abbey were forty feet high. The lower windows were +barricaded, and the whole building loopholed for musketry fire. The gang +preserved military discipline, and their sentries were too numerous for +us to hope to take them by surprise. It was more than ever evident that +a battalion of grenadiers and a couple of breaching pieces were what was +needed. I raised my eyebrows, and the Bart began to whistle. + +'We must have a shot at it, come what may,' said he. + +The men had already dismounted, and, having watered their horses, were +eating their suppers. For my own part I went into the sitting-room of +the inn with the Abbot and the Bart, that we might talk about our plans. + +I had a little cognac in my _sauve vie_, and I divided it among us--just +enough to wet our moustaches. + +'It is unlikely,' said I, 'that those rascals know anything about our +coming. I have seen no signs of scouts along the road. My own plan is +that we should conceal ourselves in some neighbouring wood, and then, +when they open their gates, charge down upon them and take them by +surprise.' + +The Bart was of opinion that this was the best that we could do, but, +when we came to talk it over, the Abbot made us see that there were +difficulties in the way. + +'Save on the side of the town, there is no place within a mile of the +Abbey where you could shelter man or horse,' said he. 'As to the +townsfolk, they are not to be trusted. I fear, my son, that your +excellent plan would have little chance of success in the face of the +vigilant guard which these men keep.' + +'I see no other way,' answered I. 'Hussars of Conflans are not so +plentiful that I can afford to run half a squadron of them against a +forty-foot wall with five hundred infantry behind it.' + +'I am a man of peace,' said the Abbot, 'and yet I may, perhaps, give a +word of counsel. I know these villains and their ways. Who should do so +better, seeing that I have stayed for a month in this lonely spot, +looking down in weariness of heart at the Abbey which was my own? I will +tell you now what I should myself do if I were in your place.' + +'Pray tell us, father,' we cried, both together. + +'You must know that bodies of deserters, both French and English, are +continually coming in to them, carrying their weapons with them. Now, +what is there to prevent you and your men from pretending to be such a +body, and so making your way into the Abbey?' + +I was amazed at the simplicity of the thing, and I embraced the good +Abbot. The Bart, however, had some objections to offer. + +'That is all very well,' said he, 'but if these fellows are as sharp as +you say, it is not very likely that they are going to let a hundred +armed strangers into their crib. From all I have heard of Mr Morgan, or +Marshal Millefleurs, or whatever the rascal's name is, I give him credit +for more sense than that.' + +'Well, then,' I cried, 'let us send fifty in, and let them at daybreak +throw open the gates to the other fifty, who will be waiting outside.' + +We discussed the question at great length and with much foresight and +discretion. If it had been Massena and Wellington instead of two young +officers of light cavalry, we could not have weighed it all with more +judgment. At last we agreed, the Bart and I, that one of us should +indeed go with fifty men, under pretence of being deserters, and that in +the early morning he should gain command of the gate and admit the +others. The Abbot, it is true, was still of opinion that it was +dangerous to divide our force, but finding that we were both of the same +mind, he shrugged his shoulders and gave in. + +'There is only one thing that I would ask,' said he. 'If you lay hands +upon this Marshal Millefleurs--this dog of a brigand--what will you do +with him?' + +'Hang him,' I answered. + +'It is too easy a death,' cried the Capuchin, with a vindictive glow in +his dark eyes. 'Had I my way with him--but, oh, what thoughts are these +for a servant of God to harbour!' He clapped his hands to his forehead +like one who is half demented by his troubles, and rushed out of the +room. + +There was an important point which we had still to settle, and that was +whether the French or the English party should have the honour of +entering the Abbey first. My faith, it was asking a great deal of +Etienne Gerard that he should give place to any man at such a time! But +the poor Bart pleaded so hard, urging the few skirmishes which he had +seen against my four-and-seventy engagements, that at last I consented +that he should go. We had just clasped hands over the matter when there +broke out such a shouting and cursing and yelling from the front of the +inn, that out we rushed with our drawn sabres in our hands, convinced +that the brigands were upon us. + +You may imagine our feelings when, by the light of the lantern which +hung from the porch, we saw a score of our hussars and dragoons all +mixed in one wild heap, red coats and blue, helmets and busbies, +pommelling each other to their hearts' content. We flung ourselves upon +them, imploring, threatening, tugging at a lace collar, or at a spurred +heel, until, at last, we had dragged them all apart. There they stood, +flushed and bleeding, glaring at each other, and all panting together +like a line of troop horses after a ten-mile chase. It was only with our +drawn swords that we could keep them from each other's throats. The poor +Capuchin stood in the porch in his long brown habit, wringing his hands +and calling upon all the saints for mercy. + +He was, indeed, as I found upon inquiry, the innocent cause of all the +turmoil, for, not understanding how soldiers look upon such things, he +had made some remark to the English sergeant that it was a pity that his +squadron was not as good as the French. The words were not out of his +mouth before a dragoon knocked down the nearest hussar, and then, in a +moment, they all flew at each other like tigers. We would trust them no +more after that, but the Bart moved his men to the front of the inn, and +I mine to the back, the English all scowling and silent, and our fellows +shaking their fists and chattering, each after the fashion of their own +people. + +Well, as our plans were made, we thought it best to carry them out at +once, lest some fresh cause of quarrel should break out between our +followers. The Bart and his men rode off, therefore, he having first +torn the lace from his sleeves, and the gorget and sash from his +uniform, so that he might pass as a simple trooper. He explained to his +men what it was that was expected of them, and though they did not raise +a cry or wave their weapons as mine might have done, there was an +expression upon their stolid and clean-shaven faces which filled me with +confidence. Their tunics were left unbuttoned, their scabbards and +helmets stained with dirt, and their harness badly fastened, so that +they might look the part of deserters, without order or discipline. At +six o'clock next morning they were to gain command of the main gate of +the Abbey, while at that same hour my hussars were to gallop up to it +from outside. The Bart and I pledged our words to it before he trotted +off with his detachment. My sergeant, Papilette, with two troopers, +followed the English at a distance, and returned in half an hour to say +that, after some parley, and the flashing of lanterns upon them from the +grille, they had been admitted into the Abbey. + +So far, then, all had gone well. It was a cloudy night with a sprinkling +of rain, which was in our favour, as there was the less chance of our +presence being discovered. My vedettes I placed two hundred yards in +every direction, to guard against a surprise, and also to prevent any +peasant who might stumble upon us from carrying the news to the Abbey. +Oudin and Papilette were to take turns of duty, while the others with +their horses had snug quarters in a great wooden granary. Having walked +round and seen that all was as it should be, I flung myself upon the bed +which the innkeeper had set apart for me, and fell into a dreamless +sleep. + +No doubt you have heard my name mentioned as being the beau-ideal of a +soldier, and that not only by friends and admirers like our +fellow-townsfolk, but also by old officers of the great wars who have +shared the fortunes of those famous campaigns with me. Truth and modesty +compel me to say, however, that this is not so. There are some gifts +which I lack--very few, no doubt--but, still, amid the vast armies of +the Emperor there may have been some who were free from those blemishes +which stood between me and perfection. Of bravery I say nothing. Those +who have seen me in the field are best fitted to speak about that. I +have often heard the soldiers discussing round the camp-fires as to who +was the bravest man in the Grand Army. Some said Murat, and some said +Lasalle, and some Ney; but for my own part, when they asked me, I merely +shrugged my shoulders and smiled. It would have seemed mere conceit if I +had answered that there was no man braver than Brigadier Gerard. At the +same time, facts are facts, and a man knows best what his own feelings +are. But there are other gifts besides bravery which are necessary for a +soldier, and one of them is that he should be a light sleeper. Now, from +my boyhood onwards, I have been hard to wake, and it was this which +brought me to ruin upon that night. + +It may have been about two o'clock in the morning that I was suddenly +conscious of a feeling of suffocation. I tried to call out, but there +was something which prevented me from uttering a sound. I struggled to +rise, but I could only flounder like a hamstrung horse. I was strapped +at the ankles, strapped at the knees, and strapped again at the wrists. +Only my eyes were free to move, and there at the foot of my couch, by +the light of a Portuguese lamp, whom should I see but the Abbot and the +innkeeper! + +The latter's heavy, white face had appeared to me when I looked upon it +the evening before to express nothing but stupidity and terror. Now, on +the contrary, every feature bespoke brutality and ferocity. Never have I +seen a more dreadful-looking villain. In his hand he held a long, +dull-coloured knife. The Abbot, on the other hand, was as polished and +as dignified as ever. His Capuchin gown had been thrown open, however, +and I saw beneath it a black, frogged coat, such as I have seen among +the English officers. As our eyes met he leaned over the wooden end of +the bed and laughed silently until it creaked again. + +'You will, I am sure, excuse my mirth, my dear Colonel Gerard,' said he. +'The fact is, that the expression upon your face when you grasped the +situation was just a little funny. I have no doubt that you are an +excellent soldier, but I hardly think that you are fit to measure wits +with the Marshal Millefleurs, as your fellows have been good enough to +call me. You appear to have given me credit for singularly little +intelligence, which argues, if I may be allowed to say so, a want of +acuteness upon your own part. Indeed, with the single exception of my +thick-headed compatriot, the British dragoon, I have never met anyone +who was less competent to carry out such a mission.' + +You can imagine how I felt and how I looked, as I listened to this +insolent harangue, which was all delivered in that flowery and +condescending manner which had gained this rascal his nickname. I could +say nothing, but they must have read my threat in my eyes, for the +fellow who had played the part of the innkeeper whispered something to +his companion. + +'No, no, my dear Chenier, he will be infinitely more valuable alive,' +said he. 'By the way, Colonel, it is just as well that you are a sound +sleeper, for my friend here, who is a little rough in his ways, would +certainly have cut your throat if you had raised any alarm. I should +recommend you to keep in his good graces, for Sergeant Chenier, late of +the 7th Imperial Light Infantry, is a much more dangerous person than +Captain Alexis Morgan, of His Majesty's foot-guards.' + +Chenier grinned and shook his knife at me, while I tried to look the +loathing which I felt at the thought that a soldier of the Emperor could +fall so low. + +'It may amuse you to know,' said the Marshal, in that soft, suave voice +of his, 'that both your expeditions were watched from the time that you +left your respective camps. I think that you will allow that Chenier and +I played our parts with some subtlety. We had made every arrangement +for your reception at the Abbey, though we had hoped to receive the +whole squadron instead of half. When the gates are secured behind them, +our visitors will find themselves in a very charming little mediaeval +quadrangle, with no possible exit, commanded by musketry fire from a +hundred windows. They may choose to be shot down; or they may choose to +surrender. Between ourselves, I have not the slightest doubt that they +have been wise enough to do the latter. But since you are naturally +interested in the matter, we thought that you would care to come with us +and to see for yourself. I think I can promise you that you will find +your titled friend waiting for you at the Abbey with a face as long as +your own.' + +The two villains began whispering together, debating, as far as I could +hear, which was the best way of avoiding my vedettes. + +'I will make sure that it is all clear upon the other side of the barn,' +said the Marshal at last. 'You will stay here, my good Chenier, and if +the prisoner gives any trouble you will know what to do.' + +So we were left together, this murderous renegade and I--he sitting at +the end of the bed, sharpening his knife upon his boot in the light of +the single smoky little oil-lamp. As to me, I only wonder now, as I look +back upon it, that I did not go mad with vexation and self-reproach as I +lay helplessly upon the couch, unable to utter a word or move a finger, +with the knowledge that my fifty gallant lads were so close to me, and +yet with no means of letting them know the straits to which I was +reduced. It was no new thing for me to be a prisoner; but to be taken by +these renegades, and to be led into their Abbey in the midst of their +jeers, befooled and out-witted by their insolent leaders--that was +indeed more than I could endure. The knife of the butcher beside me +would cut less deeply than that. + +I twitched softly at my wrists, and then at my ankles, but whichever of +the two had secured me was no bungler at his work. I could not move +either of them an inch. Then I tried to work the handkerchief down over +my mouth, but the ruffian beside me raised his knife with such a +threatening snarl that I had to desist. I was lying still looking at his +bull neck, and wondering whether it would ever be my good fortune to fit +it for a cravat, when I heard returning steps coming down the inn +passage and up the stair. What word would the villain bring back? If he +found it impossible to kidnap me, he would probably murder me where I +lay. For my own part, I was indifferent which it might be, and I looked +at the doorway with the contempt and defiance which I longed to put into +words. But you can imagine my feelings, my dear friends, when, instead +of the tall figure and dark, sneering face of the Capuchin, my eyes fell +upon the grey pelisse and huge moustaches of my good little sub-officer, +Papilette! + +The French soldier of those days had seen too much to be ever taken by +surprise. His eyes had hardly rested upon my bound figure and the +sinister face beside me before he had seen how the matter lay. + +'Sacred name of a dog!' he growled, and out flashed his great sabre. +Chenier sprang forward at him with his knife, and then, thinking better +of it, he darted back and stabbed frantically at my heart. For my own +part, I had hurled myself off the bed on the side opposite to him, and +the blade grazed my side before ripping its way through blanket and +sheet. An instant later I heard the thud of a heavy fall, and then +almost simultaneously a second object struck the floor--something +lighter but harder, which rolled under the bed. I will not horrify you +with details, my friends. Suffice it that Papilette was one of the +strongest swordsmen in the regiment, and that his sabre was heavy and +sharp. It left a red blotch upon my wrists and my ankles, as it cut the +thongs which bound me. + +When I had thrown off my gag, the first use which I made of my lips was +to kiss the sergeant's scarred cheeks. The next was to ask him if all +was well with the command. Yes, they had had no alarms. Oudin had just +relieved him, and he had come to report. Had he seen the Abbot? No, he +had seen nothing of him. Then we must form a cordon and prevent his +escape. I was hurrying out to give the orders, when I heard a slow and +measured step enter the door below, and come creaking up the stairs. + +Papilette understood it all in an instant. 'You are not to kill him,' I +whispered, and thrust him into the shadow on one side of the door; I +crouched on the other. Up he came, up and up, and every footfall seemed +to be upon my heart. The brown skirt of his gown was not over the +threshold before we were both on him, like two wolves on a buck. Down we +crashed, the three of us, he fighting like a tiger, and with such +amazing strength that he might have broken away from the two of us. +Thrice he got to his feet, and thrice we had him over again, until +Papilette made him feel that there was a point to his sabre. He had +sense enough then to know that the game was up, and to lie still while I +lashed him with the very cords which had been round my own limbs. + +'There has been a fresh deal, my fine fellow,' said I, 'and you will +find that I have some of the trumps in _my_ hand this time.' + +'Luck always comes to the aid of a fool,' he answered. 'Perhaps it is as +well, otherwise the world would fall too completely into the power of +the astute. So, you have killed Chenier, I see. He was an insubordinate +dog, and always smelt abominably of garlic. Might I trouble you to lay +me upon the bed? The floor of these Portuguese tabernas is hardly a +fitting couch for anyone who has prejudices in favour of cleanliness.' + +I could not but admire the coolness of the man, and the way in which he +preserved the same insolent air of condescension in spite of this sudden +turning of the tables. I dispatched Papilette to summon a guard, whilst +I stood over our prisoner with my drawn sword, never taking my eyes off +him for an instant, for I must confess that I had conceived a great +respect for his audacity and resource. + +'I trust,' said he, 'that your men will treat me in a becoming manner.' + +'You will get your deserts--you may depend upon that.' + +'I ask nothing more. You may not be aware of my exalted birth, but I am +so placed that I cannot name my father without treason, nor my mother +without a scandal. I cannot _claim_ Royal honours, but these things are +so much more graceful when they are conceded without a claim. The thongs +are cutting my skin. Might I beg you to loosen them?' + +'You do not give me credit for much intelligence,' I remarked, repeating +his own words. + +'_Touché_,' he cried, like a pinked fencer. 'But here come your men, so +it matters little whether you loosen them or not.' + +I ordered the gown to be stripped from him and placed him under a strong +guard. Then, as morning was already breaking, I had to consider what my +next step was to be. The poor Bart and his Englishmen had fallen victims +to the deep scheme which might, had we adopted all the crafty +suggestions of our adviser, have ended in the capture of the whole +instead of the half of our force. I must extricate them if it were still +possible. Then there was the old lady, the Countess of La Ronda, to be +thought of. As to the Abbey, since its garrison was on the alert it was +hopeless to think of capturing that. All turned now upon the value which +they placed upon their leader. The game depended upon my playing that +one card. I will tell you how boldly and how skilfully I played it. + +It was hardly light before my bugler blew the assembly, and out we +trotted on to the plain. My prisoner was placed on horseback in the very +centre of the troops. It chanced that there was a large tree just out of +musket-shot from the main gate of the Abbey, and under this we halted. +Had they opened the great doors in order to attack us, I should have +charged home upon them; but, as I had expected, they stood upon the +defensive, lining the long wall and pouring down a torrent of hootings +and taunts and derisive laughter upon us. A few fired their muskets, but +finding that we were out of reach they soon ceased to waste their +powder. It was the strangest sight to see that mixture of uniforms, +French, English, and Portuguese, cavalry, infantry, and artillery, all +wagging their heads and shaking their fists at us. + +My word, their hubbub soon died away when we opened our ranks, and +showed whom we had got in the midst of us! There was silence for a few +seconds, and then such a howl of rage and grief! I could see some of +them dancing like mad-men upon the wall. He must have been a singular +person, this prisoner of ours, to have gained the affection of such a +gang. + +I had brought a rope from the inn, and we slung it over the lower bough +of the tree. + +'You will permit me, monsieur, to undo your collar,' said Papilette, +with mock politeness. + +'If your hands are perfectly clean,' answered our prisoner, and set the +whole half-squadron laughing. + +There was another yell from the wall, followed by a profound hush as the +noose was tightened round Marshal Millefleurs' neck. Then came a shriek +from a bugle, the Abbey gates flew open, and three men rushed out waving +white cloths in their hands. Ah, how my heart bounded with joy at the +sight of them. And yet I would not advance an inch to meet them, so that +all the eagerness might seem to be upon their side. I allowed my +trumpeter, however, to wave a handkerchief in reply, upon which the +three envoys came running towards us. The Marshal, still pinioned, and +with the rope round his neck, sat his horse with a half smile, as one +who is slightly bored and yet strives out of courtesy not to show it. +If I were in such a situation I could not wish to carry myself better, +and surely I can say no more than that. + +They were a singular trio, these ambassadors. The one was a Portuguese +caçadore in his dark uniform, the second a French chasseur in the +lightest green, and the third a big English artilleryman in blue and +gold. They saluted, all three, and the Frenchman did the talking. + +'We have thirty-seven English dragoons in our hands,' said he. 'We give +you our most solemn oath that they shall all hang from the Abbey wall +within five minutes of the death of our Marshal.' + +'Thirty-seven!' I cried. 'You have fifty-one.' + +'Fourteen were cut down before they could be secured.' + +'And the officer?' + +'He would not surrender his sword save with his life. It was not our +fault. We would have saved him if we could.' + +Alas for my poor Bart! I had met him but twice, and yet he was a man +very much after my heart. I have always had a regard for the English for +the sake of that one friend. A braver man and a worse swordsman I have +never met. + +I did not, as you may think, take these rascals' word for anything. +Papilette was dispatched with one of them, and returned to say that it +was too true. I had now to think of the living. + +'You will release the thirty-seven dragoons if I free your leader?' + +'We will give you ten of them.' + +'Up with him!' I cried. + +'Twenty,' shouted the chasseur. + +'No more words,' said I. 'Pull on the rope!' + +'All of them,' cried the envoy, as the cord tightened round the +Marshal's neck. + +'With horses and arms?' + +They could see that I was not a man to jest with. + +'All complete,' said the chasseur, sulkily. + +'And the Countess of La Ronda as well?' said I. + +But here I met with firmer opposition. No threats of mine could induce +them to give up the Countess. We tightened the cord. We moved the horse. +We did all but leave the Marshal suspended. If once I broke his neck the +dragoons were dead men. It was as precious to me as to them. + +'Allow me to remark,' said the Marshal, blandly, 'that you are exposing +me to a risk of a quinsy. Do you not think, since there is a difference +of opinion upon this point, that it would be an excellent idea to +consult the lady herself? We would neither of us, I am sure, wish to +override her own inclinations.' + +Nothing could be more satisfactory. You can imagine how quickly I +grasped at so simple a solution. In ten minutes she was before us, a +most stately dame, with her grey curls peeping out from under her +mantilla. Her face was as yellow as though it reflected the countless +doubloons of her treasury. + +'This gentleman,' said the Marshal, 'is exceedingly anxious to convey +you to a place where you will never see us more. It is for you to decide +whether you would wish to go with him, or whether you prefer to remain +with me.' + +She was at his horse's side in an instant. 'My own Alexis,' she cried, +'nothing can ever part us.' + +He looked at me with a sneer upon his handsome face. + +'By the way, you made a small slip of the tongue, my dear Colonel,' said +he. 'Except by courtesy, no such person exists as the Dowager Countess +of La Ronda. The lady whom I have the honour to present to you is my +very dear wife, Mrs Alexis Morgan--or shall I say Madame la Marèchale +Millefleurs?' + +It was at this moment that I came to the conclusion that I was dealing +with the cleverest, and also the most unscrupulous, man whom I had ever +met. As I looked upon this unfortunate old woman my soul was filled with +wonder and disgust. As for her, her eyes were raised to his face with +such a look as a young recruit might give to the Emperor. + +'So be it,' said I at last; 'give me the dragoons and let me go.' + +They were brought out with their horses and weapons, and the rope was +taken from the Marshal's neck. + +'Good-bye, my dear Colonel,' said he. 'I am afraid that you will have +rather a lame account to give of your mission, when you find your way +back to Massena, though, from all I hear, he will probably be too busy +to think of you. I am free to confess that you have extricated yourself +from your difficulties with greater ability than I had given you credit +for. I presume that there is nothing which I can do for you before you +go?' + +'There is one thing.' + +'And that is?' + +'To give fitting burial to this young officer and his men.' + +'I pledge my word to it.' + +'And there is one other.' + +'Name it.' + +'To give me five minutes in the open with a sword in your hand and a +horse between your legs.' + +'Tut, tut!' said he. 'I should either have to cut short your promising +career, or else to bid adieu to my own bonny bride. It is unreasonable +to ask such a request of a man in the first joys of matrimony.' + +I gathered my horsemen together and wheeled them into column. + +'Au revoir,' I cried, shaking my sword at him. 'The next time you may +not escape so easily.' + +'Au revoir,' he answered. 'When you are weary of the Emperor, you will +always find a commission waiting for you in the service of the Marshal +Millefleurs.' + + + + +6. HOW THE BRIGADIER PLAYED FOR A KINGDOM + + +It has sometimes struck me that some of you, when you have heard me tell +these little adventures of mine, may have gone away with the impression +that I was conceited. There could not be a greater mistake than this, +for I have always observed that really fine soldiers are free from this +failing. It is true that I have had to depict myself sometimes as brave, +sometimes as full of resource, always as interesting; but, then, it +really was so, and I had to take the facts as I found them. It would be +an unworthy affectation if I were to pretend that my career has been +anything but a fine one. The incident which I will tell you tonight, +however, is one which you will understand that only a modest man would +describe. After all, when one has attained such a position as mine, one +can afford to speak of what an ordinary man might be tempted to conceal. + +You must know, then, that after the Russian campaign the remains of our +poor army were quartered along the western bank of the Elbe, where they +might thaw their frozen blood and try, with the help of the good German +beer, to put a little between their skin and their bones. There were +some things which we could not hope to regain, for I daresay that three +large commissariat fourgons would not have sufficed to carry the fingers +and the toes which the army had shed during that retreat. Still, lean +and crippled as we were, we had much to be thankful for when we thought +of our poor comrades whom we had left behind, and of the snowfields--the +horrible, horrible snowfields. To this day, my friends, I do not care to +see red and white together. Even my red cap thrown down upon my white +counterpane has given me dreams in which I have seen those monstrous +plains, the reeling, tortured army, and the crimson smears which glared +upon the snow behind them. You will coax no story out of me about that +business, for the thought of it is enough to turn my wine to vinegar and +my tobacco to straw. + +Of the half-million who crossed the Elbe in the autumn of the year '12 +about forty thousand infantry were left in the spring of '13. But they +were terrible men, these forty thousand: men of iron, eaters of horses, +and sleepers in the snow; filled, too, with rage and bitterness against +the Russians. They would hold the Elbe until the great army of +conscripts, which the Emperor was raising in France, should be ready to +help them to cross it once more. + +But the cavalry was in a deplorable condition. My own hussars were at +Borna, and when I paraded them first, I burst into tears at the sight of +them. My fine men and my beautiful horses--it broke my heart to see the +state to which they were reduced. 'But, courage,' I thought, 'they have +lost much, but their Colonel is still left to them.' I set to work, +therefore, to repair their disasters, and had already constructed two +good squadrons, when an order came that all colonels of cavalry should +repair instantly to the depôts of the regiments in France to organize +the recruits and the remounts for the coming campaign. + +You will think, doubtless, that I was over-joyed at this chance of +visiting home once more. I will not deny that it was a pleasure to me to +know that I should see my mother again, and there were a few girls who +would be very glad at the news; but there were others in the army who +had a stronger claim. I would have given my place to any who had wives +and children whom they might not see again. However, there is no arguing +when the blue paper with the little red seal arrives, so within an hour +I was off upon my great ride from the Elbe to the Vosges. At last I was +to have a period of quiet. War lay behind my mare's tail and peace in +front of her nostrils. So I thought, as the sound of the bugles died in +the distance, and the long, white road curled away in front of me +through plain and forest and mountain, with France somewhere beyond the +blue haze which lay upon the horizon. + +It is interesting, but it is also fatiguing, to ride in the rear of an +army. In the harvest time our soldiers could do without supplies, for +they had been trained to pluck the grain in the fields as they passed, +and to grind it for themselves in their bivouacs. It was at that time of +year, therefore, that those swift marches were performed which were the +wonder and the despair of Europe. But now the starving men had to be +made robust once more, and I was forced to draw into the ditch +continually as the Coburg sheep and the Bavarian bullocks came streaming +past with waggon loads of Berlin beer and good French cognac. Sometimes, +too, I would hear the dry rattle of the drums and the shrill whistle of +the fifes, and long columns of our good little infantry men would swing +past me with the white dust lying thick upon their blue tunics. These +were old soldiers drawn from the garrisons of our German fortresses, for +it was not until May that the new conscripts began to arrive from +France. + +Well, I was rather tired of this eternal stopping and dodging, so that I +was not sorry when I came to Altenburg to find that the road divided, +and that I could take the southern and quieter branch. There were few +wayfarers between there and Greiz, and the road wound through groves of +oaks and beeches, which shot their branches across the path. You will +think it strange that a Colonel of hussars should again and again pull +up his horse in order to admire the beauty of the feathery branches and +the little, green, new-budded leaves, but if you had spent six months +among the fir trees of Russia you would be able to understand me. + +There was something, however, which pleased me very much less than the +beauty of the forests, and that was the words and looks of the folk who +lived in the woodland villages. We had always been excellent friends +with the Germans, and during the last six years they had never seemed to +bear us any malice for having made a little free with their country. We +had shown kindnesses to the men and received them from the women, so +that good, comfortable Germany was a second home to all of us. But now +there was something which I could not understand in the behaviour of the +people. The travellers made no answer to my salute; the foresters turned +their heads away to avoid seeing me; and in the villages the folk would +gather into knots in the roadway and would scowl at me as I passed. Even +women would do this, and it was something new for me in those days to +see anything but a smile in a woman's eyes when they were turned upon +me. + +It was in the hamlet of Schmolin, just ten miles out of Altenburg, that +the thing became most marked. I had stopped at the little inn there just +to damp my moustache and to wash the dust out of poor Violette's throat. +It was my way to give some little compliment, or possibly a kiss, to the +maid who served me; but this one would have neither the one nor the +other, but darted a glance at me like a bayonet-thrust. Then when I +raised my glass to the folk who drank their beer by the door they turned +their backs on me, save only one fellow, who cried, 'Here's a toast for +you, boys! Here's to the letter T!' At that they all emptied their beer +mugs and laughed; but it was not a laugh that had good-fellowship in it. + +I was turning this over in my head and wondering what their boorish +conduct could mean, when I saw, as I rode from the village, a great T +new carved upon a tree. I had already seen more than one in my morning's +ride, but I had given no thought to them until the words of the +beer-drinker gave them an importance. It chanced that a +respectable-looking person was riding past me at the moment, so I turned +to him for information. + +'Can you tell me, sir,' said I, 'what this letter T is?' + +He looked at it and then at me in the most singular fashion. 'Young +man,' said he, 'it is not the letter N.' Then before I could ask further +he clapped his spurs into his horses ribs and rode, stomach to earth, +upon his way. + +At first his words had no particular significance in my mind, but as I +trotted onwards Violette chanced to half turn her dainty head, and my +eyes were caught by the gleam of the brazen N's at the end of the +bridle-chain. It was the Emperor's mark. And those T's meant something +which was opposite to it. Things had been happening in Germany, then, +during our absence, and the giant sleeper had begun to stir. I thought +of the mutinous faces that I had seen, and I felt that if I could only +have looked into the hearts of these people I might have had some +strange news to bring into France with me. It made me the more eager to +get my remounts, and to see ten strong squadrons behind my kettle-drums +once more. + +While these thoughts were passing through my head I had been alternately +walking and trotting, as a man should who has a long journey before, and +a willing horse beneath, him. The woods were very open at this point, +and beside the road there lay a great heap of fagots. As I passed there +came a sharp sound from among them, and, glancing round, I saw a face +looking out at me--a hot, red face, like that of a man who is beside +himself with excitement and anxiety. A second glance told me that it was +the very person with whom I had talked an hour before in the village. + +'Come nearer!' he hissed. 'Nearer still! Now dismount and pretend to be +mending the stirrup leather. Spies may be watching us, and it means +death to me if I am seen helping you.' + +'Death!' I whispered. 'From whom?' + +'From the Tugendbund. From Lutzow's night-riders. You Frenchmen are +living on a powder magazine, and the match has been struck that will +fire it.' + +'But this is all strange to me,' said I, still fumbling at the leathers +of my horse. 'What is this Tugendbund?' + +'It is the secret society which has planned the great rising which is to +drive you out of Germany, just as you have been driven out of Russia.' + +'And these T's stand for it?' + +'They are the signal. I should have told you all this in the village, +but I dared not be seen speaking with you. I galloped through the woods +to cut you off, and concealed both my horse and myself.' + +'I am very much indebted to you,' said I, 'and the more so as you are +the only German that I have met today from whom I have had common +civility.' + +'All that I possess I have gained through contracting for the French +armies,' said he. 'Your Emperor has been a good friend to me. But I beg +that you will ride on now, for we have talked long enough. Beware only +of Lutzow's night-riders!' + +'Banditti?' I asked. + +'All that is best in Germany,' said he. 'But for God's sake ride +forwards, for I have risked my life and exposed my good name in order to +carry you this warning.' + +Well, if I had been heavy with thought before, you can think how I felt +after my strange talk with the man among the fagots. What came home to +me even more than his words was his shivering, broken voice, his +twitching face, and his eyes glancing swiftly to right and left, and +opening in horror whenever a branch cracked upon a tree. It was clear +that he was in the last extremity of terror, and it is possible that he +had cause, for shortly after I had left him I heard a distant gunshot +and a shouting from somewhere behind me. It may have been some sportsman +halloaing to his dogs, but I never again heard of or saw the man who had +given me my warning. + +I kept a good look-out after this, riding swiftly where the country was +open, and slowly where there might be an ambuscade. It was serious for +me, since 500 good miles of German soil lay in front of me; but somehow +I did not take it very much to heart, for the Germans had always seemed +to me to be a kindly, gentle people, whose hands closed more readily +round a pipe-stem than a sword-hilt--not out of want of valour, you +understand, but because they are genial, open souls, who would rather be +on good terms with all men. I did not know then that beneath that homely +surface there lurks a devilry as fierce as, and far more persistent +than, that of the Castilian or the Italian. + +And it was not long before I had shown to me that there was something +more serious abroad than rough words and hard looks. I had come to a +spot where the road runs upwards through a wild tract of heath-land and +vanishes into an oak wood. I may have been half-way up the hill when, +looking forward, I saw something gleaming under the shadow of the +tree-trunks, and a man came out with a coat which was so slashed and +spangled with gold that he blazed like a fire in the sunlight. He +appeared to be very drunk, for he reeled and staggered as he came +towards me. One of his hands was held up to his ear and clutched a great +red handkerchief, which was fixed to his neck. + +I had reined up the mare and was looking at him with some disgust, for +it seemed strange to me that one who wore so gorgeous a uniform should +show himself in such a state in broad daylight. For his part, he looked +hard in my direction and came slowly onwards, stopping from time to time +and swaying about as he gazed at me. Suddenly, as I again advanced, he +screamed out his thanks to Christ, and, lurching forwards, he fell with +a crash upon the dusty road. His hands flew forward with the fall, and I +saw that what I had taken for a red cloth was a monstrous wound, which +had left a great gap in his neck, from which a dark blood-clot hung, +like an epaulette upon his shoulder. + +'My God!' I cried, as I sprang to his aid. 'And I thought that you were +drunk!' + +'Not drunk, but dying,' said he. 'But thank Heaven that I have seen a +French officer while I have still strength to speak.' + +I laid him among the heather and poured some brandy down his throat. All +round us was the vast countryside, green and peaceful, with nothing +living in sight save only the mutilated man beside me. + +'Who has done this?' I asked, 'and what are you? You are French, and yet +the uniform is strange to me.' + +'It is that of the Emperor's new guard of honour. I am the Marquis of +Château St Arnaud, and I am the ninth of my blood who has died in the +service of France. I have been pursued and wounded by the night-riders +of Lutzow, but I hid among the brushwood yonder, and waited in the hope +that a Frenchman might pass. I could not be sure at first if you were +friend or foe, but I felt that death was very near, and that I must take +the chance.' + +'Keep your heart up, comrade,' said I; 'I have seen a man with a worse +wound who has lived to boast of it.' + +'No, no,' he whispered; 'I am going fast.' He laid his hand upon mine as +he spoke, and I saw that his finger-nails were already blue. 'But I have +papers here in my tunic which you must carry at once to the Prince of +Saxe-Felstein, at his Castle of Hof. He is still true to us, but the +Princess is our deadly enemy. She is striving to make him declare +against us. If he does so, it will determine all those who are wavering, +for the King of Prussia is his uncle and the King of Bavaria his cousin. +These papers will hold him to us if they can only reach him before he +takes the last step. Place them in his hands tonight, and, perhaps, you +will have saved all Germany for the Emperor. Had my horse not been shot, +I might, wounded as I am----' He choked, and the cold hand tightened +into a grip, which left mine as bloodless as itself. Then, with a groan, +his head jerked back, and it was all over with him. + +Here was a fine start for my journey home. I was left with a commission +of which I knew little, which would lead me to delay the pressing needs +of my hussars, and which at the same time was of such importance that it +was impossible for me to avoid it. I opened the Marquis's tunic, the +brilliance of which had been devised by the Emperor in order to attract +those young aristocrats from whom he hoped to raise these new regiments +of his Guard. It was a small packet of papers which I drew out, tied up +with silk, and addressed to the Prince of Saxe-Felstein. In the corner, +in a sprawling, untidy hand, which I knew to be the Emperor's own, was +written: 'Pressing and most important.' It was an order to me, those +four words--an order as clear as if it had come straight from the firm +lips with the cold grey eyes looking into mine. My troopers might wait +for their horses, the dead Marquis might lie where I had laid him +amongst the heather, but if the mare and her rider had a breath left in +them the papers should reach the Prince that night. + +I should not have feared to ride by the road through the wood, for I +have learned in Spain that the safest time to pass through a guerilla +country is after an outrage, and that the moment of danger is when all +is peaceful. When I came to look upon my map, however, I saw that Hof +lay further to the south of me, and that I might reach it more directly +by keeping to the moors. Off I set, therefore, and had not gone fifty +yards before two carbine shots rang out of the brushwood and a bullet +hummed past me like a bee. It was clear that the night-riders were +bolder in their ways than the brigands of Spain, and that my mission +would have ended where it had begun if I had kept to the road. + +It was a mad ride, that--a ride with a loose rein, girth-deep in heather +and in gorse, plunging through bushes, flying down hill-sides, with my +neck at the mercy of my dear little Violette. But she--she never +slipped, she never faltered, as swift and as surefooted as if she knew +that her rider carried the fate of all Germany beneath the buttons of +his pelisse. And I--I had long borne the name of being the best +horseman in the six brigades of light cavalry, but I never rode as I +rode then. My friend the Bart had told me of how they hunt the fox in +England, but the swiftest fox would have been captured by me that day. +The wild pigeons which flew overhead did not take a straighter course +than Violette and I below. As an officer, I have always been ready to +sacrifice myself for my men, though the Emperor would not have thanked +me for it, for he had many men, but only one--well, cavalry leaders of +the first class are rare. + +But here I had an object which was indeed worth a sacrifice, and I +thought no more of my life than of the clods of earth that flew from my +darling's heels. + +We struck the road once more as the light was failing, and galloped into +the little village of Lobenstein. But we had hardly got upon the +cobblestones when off came one of the mare's shoes, and I had to lead +her to the village smithy. His fire was low, and his day's work done, so +that it would be an hour at the least before I could hope to push on to +Hof. Cursing at the delay, I strode into the village inn and ordered a +cold chicken and some wine to be served for my dinner. It was but a few +miles to Hof, and I had every hope that I might deliver my papers to the +Prince on that very night, and be on my way for France next morning with +despatches for the Emperor in my bosom. I will tell you now what befell +me in the inn of Lobenstein. + +The chicken had been served and the wine drawn, and I had turned upon +both as a man may who has ridden such a ride, when I was aware of a +murmur and a scuffling in the hall outside my door. At first I thought +that it was some brawl between peasants in their cups, and I left them +to settle their own affairs. But of a sudden there broke from among the +low, sullen growl of the voices such a sound as would send Etienne +Gerard leaping from his death-bed. It was the whimpering cry of a woman +in pain. Down clattered my knife and my fork, and in an instant I was +in the thick of the crowd which had gathered outside my door. + +The heavy-cheeked landlord was there and his flaxen-haired wife, the two +men from the stables, a chambermaid, and two or three villagers. All of +them, women and men, were flushed and angry, while there in the centre +of them, with pale cheeks and terror in her eyes, stood the loveliest +woman that ever a soldier would wish to look upon. With her queenly head +thrown back, and a touch of defiance mingled with her fear, she looked +as she gazed round her like a creature of a different race from the +vile, coarse-featured crew who surrounded her. I had not taken two steps +from my door before she sprang to meet me, her hand resting upon my arm +and her blue eyes sparkling with joy and triumph. + +'A French soldier and gentleman!' she cried. 'Now at last I am safe.' + +'Yes, madam, you are safe,' said I, and I could not resist taking her +hand in mine in order that I might reassure her. 'You have only to +command me,' I added, kissing the hand as a sign that I meant what I was +saying. + +'I am Polish,' she cried; 'the Countess Palotta is my name. They abuse +me because I love the French. I do not know what they might have done to +me had Heaven not sent you to my help.' + +I kissed her hand again lest she should doubt my intentions. Then I +turned upon the crew with such an expression as I know how to assume. In +an instant the hall was empty. + +'Countess,' said I, 'you are now under my protection. You are faint, and +a glass of wine is necessary to restore you.' I offered her my arm and +escorted her into my room, where she sat by my side at the table and +took the refreshment which I offered her. + +How she blossomed out in my presence, this woman, like a flower before +the sun! She lit up the room with her beauty. She must have read my +admiration in my eyes, and it seemed to me that I also could see +something of the sort in her own. Ah! my friends, I was no +ordinary-looking man when I was in my thirtieth year. In the whole light +cavalry it would have been hard to find a finer pair of whiskers. +Murat's may have been a shade longer, but the best judges are agreed +that Murat's were a shade too long. And then I had a manner. Some women +are to be approached in one way and some in another, just as a siege is +an affair of fascines and gabions in hard weather and of trenches in +soft. But the man who can mix daring with timidity, who can be +outrageous with an air of humility, and presumptuous with a tone of +deference, that is the man whom mothers have to fear. For myself, I felt +that I was the guardian of this lonely lady, and knowing what a +dangerous man I had to deal with, I kept strict watch upon myself. +Still, even a guardian has his privileges, and I did not neglect them. + +But her talk was as charming as her face. In a few words she explained +that she was travelling to Poland, and that her brother who had been her +escort had fallen ill upon the way. She had more than once met with +ill-treatment from the country folk because she could not conceal her +good-will towards the French. Then turning from her own affairs she +questioned me about the army, and so came round to myself and my own +exploits. They were familiar to her, she said, for she knew several of +Poniatowski's officers, and they had spoken of my doings. Yet she would +be glad to hear them from my own lips. Never have I had so delightful a +conversation. Most women make the mistake of talking rather too much +about their own affairs, but this one listened to my tales just as you +are listening now, ever asking for more and more and more. The hours +slipped rapidly by, and it was with horror that I heard the village +clock strike eleven, and so learned that for four hours I had forgotten +the Emperor's business. + +'Pardon me, my dear lady,' I cried, springing to my feet, 'but I must +go on instantly to Hof.' + +She rose also, and looked at me with a pale, reproachful face. 'And me?' +she said. 'What is to become of me?' + +'It is the Emperor's affair. I have already stayed far too long. My duty +calls me, and I must go.' + +'You must go? And I must be abandoned alone to these savages? Oh, why +did I ever meet you? Why did you ever teach me to rely upon your +strength?' Her eyes glazed over, and in an instant she was sobbing upon +my bosom. + +Here was a trying moment for a guardian! Here was a time when he had to +keep a watch upon a forward young officer. But I was equal to it. I +smoothed her rich brown hair and whispered such consolations as I could +think of in her ear, with one arm round her, it is true, but that was to +hold her lest she should faint. She turned her tear-stained face to +mine. 'Water,' she whispered. 'For God's sake, water!' + +I saw that in another moment she would be senseless. I laid the drooping +head upon the sofa, and then rushed furiously from the room, hunting +from chamber to chamber for a carafe. It was some minutes before I could +get one and hurry back with it. You can imagine my feelings to find the +room empty and the lady gone. + +Not only was she gone, but her cap and silver-mounted riding switch +which had lain upon the table were gone also. I rushed out and roared +for the landlord. He knew nothing of the matter, had never seen the +woman before, and did not care if he never saw her again. Had the +peasants at the door seen anyone ride away? No, they had seen nobody. I +searched here and searched there, until at last I chanced to find myself +in front of a mirror, where I stood with my eyes staring and my jaw as +far dropped as the chin-strap of my shako would allow. + +Four buttons of my pelisse were open, and it did not need me to put my +hand up to know that my precious papers were gone. Oh! the depth of +cunning that lurks in a woman's heart. She had robbed me, this creature, +robbed me as she clung to my breast. Even while I smoothed her hair, and +whispered kind words into her ear, her hands had been at work beneath my +dolman. And here I was, at the very last step of my journey, without the +power of carrying out this mission which had already deprived one good +man of his life, and was likely to rob another one of his credit. What +would the Emperor say when he heard that I had lost his despatches? +Would the army believe it of Etienne Gerard? And when they heard that a +woman's hand had coaxed them from me, what laughter there would be at +mess-table and at camp-fire! I could have rolled upon the ground in my +despair. + +But one thing was certain--all this affair of the fracas in the hall and +the persecution of the so-called Countess was a piece of acting from the +beginning. This villainous innkeeper must be in the plot. From him I +might learn who she was and where my papers had gone. I snatched my +sabre from the table and rushed out in search of him. But the scoundrel +had guessed what I would do, and had made his preparations for me. It +was in the corner of the yard that I found him, a blunderbuss in his +hands and a mastiff held upon a leash by his son. The two stable-hands, +with pitchforks, stood upon either side, and the wife held a great +lantern behind him, so as to guide his aim. + +'Ride away, sir, ride away!' he cried, with a crackling voice. 'Your +horse is at the door, and no one will meddle with you if you go your +way; but if you come against us, you are alone against three brave men.' + +I had only the dog to fear, for the two forks and the blunderbuss were +shaking about like branches in a wind. Still, I considered that, though +I might force an answer with my sword-point at the throat of this fat +rascal, still I should have no means of knowing whether that answer was +the truth. It would be a struggle, then, with much to lose and nothing +certain to gain. I looked them up and down, therefore, in a way that +set their foolish weapons shaking worse than ever, and then, throwing +myself upon my mare, I galloped away with the shrill laughter of the +landlady jarring upon my ears. + +I had already formed my resolution. Although I had lost my papers, I +could make a very good guess as to what their contents would be, and +this I would say from my own lips to the Prince of Saxe-Felstein, as +though the Emperor had commissioned me to convey it in that way. It was +a bold stroke and a dangerous one, but if I went too far I could +afterwards be disavowed. It was that or nothing, and when all Germany +hung on the balance the game should not be lost if the nerve of one man +could save it. + +It was midnight when I rode into Hof, but every window was blazing, +which was enough it itself, in that sleepy country, to tell the ferment +of excitement in which the people were. There was hooting and jeering as +I rode through the crowded streets, and once a stone sang past my head, +but I kept upon my way, neither slowing nor quickening my pace, until I +came to the palace. It was lit from base to battlement, and the dark +shadows, coming and going against the yellow glare, spoke of the turmoil +within. For my part, I handed my mare to a groom at the gate, and +striding in I demanded, in such a voice as an ambassador should have, to +see the Prince instantly, upon business which would brook no delay. + +The hall was dark, but I was conscious as I entered of a buzz of +innumerable voices, which hushed into silence as I loudly proclaimed my +mission. Some great meeting was being held then--a meeting which, as my +instincts told me, was to decide this very question of war and peace. It +was possible that I might still be in time to turn the scale for the +Emperor and for France. As to the major-domo, he looked blackly at me, +and showing me into a small ante-chamber he left me. A minute later he +returned to say that the Prince could not be disturbed at present, but +that the Princess would take my message. + +The Princess! What use was there in giving it to her? Had I not been +warned that she was German in heart and soul, and that it was she who +was turning her husband and her State against us? + +'It is the Prince that I must see,' said I. + +'Nay, it is the Princess,' said a voice at the door, and a woman swept +into the chamber. 'Von Rosen, you had best stay with us. Now, sir, what +is it that you have to say to either Prince or Princess of +Saxe-Felstein?' + +At the first sound of the voice I had sprung to my feet. At the first +glance I had thrilled with anger. Not twice in a lifetime does one meet +that noble figure, that queenly head, and those eyes as blue as the +Garonne, and as chilling as her winter waters. + +'Time presses, sir!' she cried, with an impatient tap of her foot. 'What +have you to say to me?' + +'What have I to say to you?' I cried. 'What can I say, save that you +have taught me never to trust a woman more? You have ruined and +dishonoured me for ever.' + +She looked with arched brows at her attendant. + +'Is this the raving of fever, or does it come from some less innocent +cause?' said she. 'Perhaps a little blood-letting--' + +'Ah, you can act!' I cried. 'You have shown me that already.' + +'Do you mean that we have met before?' + +'I mean that you have robbed me within the last two hours.' + +'This is past all bearing,' she cried, with an admirable affectation of +anger. 'You claim, as I understand, to be an ambassador, but there are +limits to the privileges which such an office brings with it.' + +'You brazen it admirably,' said I. 'Your Highness will not make a fool +of me twice in one night.' I sprang forward and, stooping down, caught +up the hem of her dress. 'You would have done well to change it after +you had ridden so far and so fast,' said I. + +It was like the dawn upon a snow-peak to see her ivory cheeks flush +suddenly to crimson. + +'Insolent!' she cried. 'Call the foresters and have him thrust from the +palace' + +'I will see the Prince first.' + +'You will never see the Prince. Ah! Hold him, Von Rosen, hold him.' + +She had forgotten the man with whom she had to deal--was it likely that +I would wait until they could bring their rascals? She had shown me her +cards too soon. Her game was to stand between me and her husband. Mine +was to speak face to face with him at any cost. One spring took me out +of the chamber. In another I had crossed the hall. An instant later I +had burst into the great room from which the murmur of the meeting had +come. At the far end I saw a figure upon a high chair under a daïs. +Beneath him was a line of high dignitaries, and then on every side I saw +vaguely the heads of a vast assembly. Into the centre of the room I +strode, my sabre clanking, my shako under my arm. + +'I am the messenger of the Emperor,' I shouted. 'I bear his message to +His Highness the Prince of Saxe-Felstein.' + +The man beneath the daïs raised his head, and I saw that his face was +thin and wan, and that his back was bowed as though some huge burden was +balanced between his shoulders. + +'Your name, sir?' he asked. + +'Colonel Etienne Gerard, of the Third Hussars.' + +Every face in the gathering was turned upon me, and I heard the rustle +of the innumerable necks and saw countless eyes without meeting one +friendly one amongst them. The woman had swept past me, and was +whispering, with many shakes of her head and dartings of her hands, into +the Prince's ear. For my own part I threw out my chest and curled my +moustache, glancing round in my own debonair fashion at the assembly. +They were men, all of them, professors from the college, a sprinkling of +their students, soldiers, gentlemen, artisans, all very silent and +serious. In one corner there sat a group of men in black, with +riding-coats drawn over their shoulders. They leaned their heads to each +other, whispering under their breath, and with every movement I caught +the clank of their sabres or the clink of their spurs. + +'The Emperor's private letter to me informs me that it is the Marquis +Château St Arnaud who is bearing his despatches,' said the Prince. + +'The Marquis has been foully murdered,' I answered, and a buzz rose up +from the people as I spoke. Many heads were turned, I noticed, towards +the dark men in the cloaks. + +'Where are your papers?' asked the Prince. + +'I have none.' + +A fierce clamour rose instantly around me. 'He is a spy! He plays a +part!' they cried. 'Hang him!' roared a deep voice from the corner, and +a dozen others took up the shout. For my part, I drew out my +handkerchief and nicked the dust from the fur of my pelisse. The Prince +held out his thin hands, and the tumult died away. + +'Where, then, are your credentials, and what is your message?' + +'My uniform is my credential, and my message is for your private ear.' + +He passed his hand over his forehead with the gesture of a weak man who +is at his wits' end what to do. The Princess stood beside him with her +hand upon his throne, and again whispered in his ear. + +'We are here in council together, some of my trusty subjects and +myself,' said he. 'I have no secrets from them, and whatever message the +Emperor may send to me at such a time concerns their interests no less +than mine.' + +There was a hum of applause at this, and every eye was turned once more +upon me. My faith, it was an awkward position in which I found myself, +for it is one thing to address eight hundred hussars, and another to +speak to such an audience on such a subject. But I fixed my eyes upon +the Prince, and tried to say just what I should have said if we had been +alone, shouting it out, too, as though I had my regiment on parade. + +'You have often expressed friendship for the Emperor,' I cried. 'It is +now at last that this friendship is about to be tried. If you will stand +firm, he will reward you as only he can reward. It is an easy thing for +him to turn a Prince into a King and a province into a power. His eyes +are fixed upon you, and though you can do little to harm him, you can +ruin yourself. At this moment he is crossing the Rhine with two hundred +thousand men. Every fortress in the country is in his hands. He will be +upon you in a week, and if you have played him false, God help both you +and your people. You think that he is weakened because a few of us got +the chilblains last winter. Look there!' I cried, pointing to a great +star which blazed through the window above the Prince's head. 'That is +the Emperor's star. When it wanes, he will wane--but not before.' + +You would have been proud of me, my friends, if you could have seen and +heard me, for I clashed my sabre as I spoke, and swung my dolman as +though my regiment was picketed outside in the courtyard. They listened +to me in silence, but the back of the Prince bowed more and more as +though the burden which weighed upon it was greater than his strength. +He looked round with haggard eyes. + +'We have heard a Frenchman speak for France,' said he. 'Let us have a +German speak for Germany.' + +The folk glanced at each other, and whispered to their neighbours. My +speech, as I think, had its effect, and no man wished to be the first to +commit himself in the eyes of the Emperor. The Princess looked round +her with blazing eyes, and her clear voice broke the silence. + +'Is a woman to give this Frenchman his answer?' she cried. 'Is it +possible, then, that among the night-riders of Lutzow there is none who +can use his tongue as well as his sabre?' + +Over went a table with a crash, and a young man had bounded upon one of +the chairs. He had the face of one inspired--pale, eager, with wild hawk +eyes, and tangled hair. His sword hung straight from his side, and his +riding-boots were brown with mire. + +'It is Korner!' the people cried. 'It is young Korner, the poet! Ah, he +will sing, he will sing.' + +And he sang! It was soft, at first, and dreamy, telling of old Germany, +the mother of nations, of the rich, warm plains, and the grey cities, +and the fame of dead heroes. But then verse after verse rang like a +trumpet-call. It was of the Germany of now, the Germany which had been +taken unawares and overthrown, but which was up again, and snapping the +bonds upon her giant limbs. What was life that one should covet it? What +was glorious death that one should shun it? The mother, the great +mother, was calling. Her sigh was in the night wind. She was crying to +her own children for help. Would they come? Would they come? Would they +come? + +Ah, that terrible song, the spirit face and the ringing voice! Where +were I, and France, and the Emperor? They did not shout, these +people--they howled. They were up on the chairs and the tables. They +were raving, sobbing, the tears running down their faces. Korner had +sprung from the chair, and his comrades were round him with their sabres +in the air. A flush had come into the pale face of the Prince, and he +rose from his throne. + +'Colonel Gerard,' said he, 'you have heard the answer which you are to +carry to your Emperor. The die is cast, my children. Your Prince and you +must stand or fall together.' + +He bowed to show that all was over, and the people with a shout made +for the door to carry the tidings into the town. For my own part, I had +done all that a brave man might, and so I was not sorry to be carried +out amid the stream. Why should I linger in the palace? I had had my +answer and must carry it, such as it was. I wished neither to see Hof +nor its people again until I entered it at the head of a vanguard. I +turned from the throng, then, and walked silently and sadly in the +direction in which they had led the mare. + +It was dark down there by the stables, and I was peering round for the +hostler, when suddenly my two arms were seized from behind. There were +hands at my wrists and at my throat, and I felt the cold muzzle of a +pistol under my ear. + +'Keep your lips closed, you French dog,' whispered a fierce voice. 'We +have him, captain.' + +'Have you the bridle?' + +'Here it is.' + +'Sling it over his head.' + +I felt the cold coil of leather tighten round my neck. An hostler with a +stable lantern had come out and was gazing upon the scene. In its dim +light I saw stern faces breaking everywhere through the gloom, with the +black caps and dark cloaks of the night-riders. + +'What would you do with him, captain?' cried a voice. + +'Hang him at the palace gate.' + +'An ambassador?' + +'An ambassador without papers.' + +'But the Prince?' + +'Tut, man, do you not see that the Prince will then be committed to our +side? He will be beyond all hope of forgiveness. At present he may swing +round tomorrow as he has done before. He may eat his words, but a dead +hussar is more than he can explain.' + +'No, no, Von Strelitz, we cannot do it,' said another voice. + +'Can we not? I shall show you that!' and there came a jerk on the +bridle which nearly pulled me to the ground. At the same instant a sword +flashed and the leather was cut through within two inches of my neck. + +'By Heaven, Korner, this is rank mutiny,' cried the captain. 'You may +hang yourself before you are through with it.' + +'I have drawn my sword as a soldier and not as a brigand,' said the +young poet. 'Blood may dim its blade, but never dishonour. Comrades, +will you stand by and see this gentleman mishandled?' + +A dozen sabres flew from their sheaths, and it was evident that my +friends and my foes were about equally balanced. But the angry voices +and the gleam of steel had brought the folk running from all parts. + +'The Princess!' they cried. 'The Princess is coming!' + +And even as they spoke I saw her in front of us, her sweet face framed +in the darkness. I had cause to hate her, for she had cheated and +befooled me, and yet it thrilled me then and thrills me now to think +that my arms have embraced her, and that I have felt the scent of her +hair in my nostrils. I know not whether she lies under her German earth, +or whether she still lingers, a grey-haired woman in her Castle of Hof, +but she lives ever, young and lovely, in the heart and memory of Etienne +Gerard. + +'For shame!' she cried, sweeping up to me, and tearing with her own +hands the noose from my neck. 'You are fighting in God's own quarrel, +and yet you would begin with such a devil's deed as this. This man is +mine, and he who touches a hair of his head will answer for it to me.' + +They were glad enough to slink off into the darkness before those +scornful eyes. Then she turned once more to me. + +'You can follow me, Colonel Gerard,' she said. 'I have a word that I +would speak to you.' + +I walked behind her to the chamber into which I had originally been +shown. She closed the door, and then looked at me with the archest +twinkle in her eyes. + +'Is it not confiding of me to trust myself with you?' said she. 'You +will remember that it is the Princess of Saxe-Felstein and not the poor +Countess Palotta of Poland.' + +'Be the name what it might,' I answered, 'I helped a lady whom I +believed to be in distress, and I have been robbed of my papers and +almost of my honour as a reward.' + +'Colonel Gerard,' said she, 'we have been playing a game, you and I, and +the stake was a heavy one. You have shown by delivering a message which +was never given to you that you would stand at nothing in the cause of +your country. My heart is German and yours is French, and I also would +go all lengths, even to deceit and to theft, if at this crisis I could +help my suffering fatherland. You see how frank I am.' + +'You tell me nothing that I have not seen.' + +'But now that the game is played and won, why should we bear malice? I +will say this, that if ever I were in such a plight as that which I +pretended in the inn of Lobenstein, I should never wish to meet a more +gallant protector or a truer-hearted gentleman than Colonel Etienne +Gerard. I had never thought that I could feel for a Frenchman as I felt +for you when I slipped the papers from your breast.' + +'But you took them, none the less.' + +'They were necessary to me and to Germany. I knew the arguments which +they contained and the effect which they would have upon the Prince. If +they had reached him all would have been lost.' + +'Why should your Highness descend to such expedients when a score of +these brigands, who wished to hang me at your castle gate, would have +done the work as well?' + +'They are not brigands, but the best blood of Germany,' she cried, +hotly. 'If you have been roughly used, you will remember the indignities +to which every German has been subjected, from the Queen of Prussia +downwards. As to why I did not have you waylaid upon the road, I may say +that I had parties out on all sides, and that I was waiting at +Lobenstein to hear of their success. When instead of their news you +yourself arrived I was in despair, for there was only the one weak woman +betwixt you and my husband. You see the straits to which I was driven +before I used the weapon of my sex.' + +'I confess that you have conquered me, your Highness, and it only +remains for me to leave you in possession of the field.' + +'But you will take your papers with you.' She held them out to me as she +spoke. 'The Prince has crossed the Rubicon now, and nothing can bring +him back. You can return these to the Emperor, and tell him that we +refused to receive them. No one can accuse you then of having lost your +despatches. Good-bye, Colonel Gerard, and the best I can wish you is +that when you reach France you may remain there. In a year's time there +will be no place for a Frenchman upon this side of the Rhine.' + +And thus it was that I played the Princess of Saxe-Felstein with all +Germany for a stake, and lost my game to her. I had much to think of as +I walked my poor, tired Violette along the highway which leads westward +from Hof. But amid all the thoughts there came back to me always the +proud, beautiful face of the German woman, and the voice of the +soldier-poet as he sang from the chair. And I understood then that there +was something terrible in this strong, patient Germany--this mother root +of nations--and I saw that such a land, so old and so beloved, never +could be conquered. And as I rode I saw that the dawn was breaking, and +that the great star at which I had pointed through the palace window was +dim and pale in the western sky. + + + + +7. HOW THE BRIGADIER WON HIS MEDAL + + +The Duke of Tarentum, or Macdonald, as his old comrades prefer to call +him, was, as I could perceive, in the vilest of tempers. His grim, +Scotch face was like one of those grotesque door-knockers which one sees +in the Faubourg St Germain. We heard afterwards that the Emperor had +said in jest that he would have sent him against Wellington in the +South, but that he was afraid to trust him within the sound of the +pipes. Major Charpentier and I could plainly see that he was smouldering +with anger. + +'Brigadier Gerard of the Hussars,' said he, with the air of the corporal +with the recruit. + +I saluted. + +'Major Charpentier of the Horse Grenadiers.' + +My companion answered to his name. + +'The Emperor has a mission for you.' + +Without more ado he flung open the door and announced us. + +I have seen Napoleon ten times on horseback to once on foot, and I think +that he does wisely to show himself to the troops in this fashion, for +he cuts a very good figure in the saddle. As we saw him now he was the +shortest man out of six by a good hand's breadth, and yet I am no very +big man myself, though I ride quite heavy enough for a hussar. It is +evident, too, that his body is too long for his legs. With his big, +round head, his curved shoulders, and his clean-shaven face, he is more +like a Professor at the Sorbonne than the first soldier in France. Every +man to his taste, but it seems to me that, if I could clap a pair of +fine light cavalry whiskers, like my own, on to him, it would do him no +harm. He has a firm mouth, however, and his eyes are remarkable. I have +seen them once turned on me in anger, and I had rather ride at a square +on a spent horse than face them again. I am not a man who is easily +daunted, either. + +He was standing at the side of the room, away from the window, looking +up at a great map of the country which was hung upon the wall. Berthier +stood beside him, trying to look wise, and just as we entered, Napoleon +snatched his sword impatiently from him and pointed with it on the map. +He was talking fast and low, but I heard him say, 'The valley of the +Meuse,' and twice he repeated 'Berlin.' As we entered, his aide-de-camp +advanced to us, but the Emperor stopped him and beckoned us to his side. + +'You have not yet received the cross of honour, Brigadier Gerard?' he +asked. + +I replied that I had not, and was about to add that it was not for want +of having deserved it, when he cut me short in his decided fashion. + +'And you, Major?' he asked. + +'No, sire.' + +'Then you shall both have your opportunity now.' + +He led us to the great map upon the wall and placed the tip of +Berthier's sword on Rheims. + +'I will be frank with you, gentlemen, as with two comrades. You have +both been with me since Marengo, I believe?' He had a strangely pleasant +smile, which used to light up his pale face with a kind of cold +sunshine. 'Here at Rheims are our present headquarters on this the 14th +of March. Very good. Here is Paris, distant by road a good twenty-five +leagues. Blucher lies to the north, Schwarzenberg to the south.' He +prodded at the map with the sword as he spoke. + +'Now,' said he, 'the further into the country these people march, the +more completely I shall crush them. They are about to advance upon +Paris. Very good. Let them do so. My brother, the King of Spain, will be +there with a hundred thousand men. It is to him that I send you. You +will hand him this letter, a copy of which I confide to each of you. It +is to tell him that I am coming at once, in two days' time, with every +man and horse and gun to his relief. I must give them forty-eight hours +to recover. Then straight to Paris! You understand me, gentlemen?' + +Ah, if I could tell you the glow of pride which it gave me to be taken +into the great man's confidence in this way. As he handed our letters to +us I clicked my spurs and threw out my chest, smiling and nodding to let +him know that I saw what he would be after. He smiled also, and rested +his hand for a moment upon the cape of my dolman. I would have given +half my arrears of pay if my mother could have seen me at that instant. + +'I will show you your route,' said he, turning back to the map. 'Your +orders are to ride together as far as Bazoches. You will then separate, +the one making for Paris by Oulchy and Neuilly, and the other to the +north by Braine, Soissons, and Senlis. Have you anything to say, +Brigadier Gerard?' + +I am a rough soldier, but I have words and ideas. I had begun to speak +about glory and the peril of France when he cut me short. + +'And you, Major Charpentier?' + +'If we find our route unsafe, are we at liberty to choose another?' said +he. + +'Soldiers do not choose, they obey.' He inclined his head to show that +we were dismissed, and turned round to Berthier. I do not know what he +said, but I heard them both laughing. + +Well, as you may think, we lost little time in getting upon our way. In +half an hour we were riding down the High Street of Rheims, and it +struck twelve o'clock as we passed the Cathedral. I had my little grey +mare, Violette, the one which Sebastiani had wished to buy after +Dresden. It is the fastest horse in the six brigades of light cavalry, +and was only beaten by the Duke of Rovigo's racer from England. As to +Charpentier, he had the kind of horse which a horse grenadier or a +cuirassier would be likely to ride: a back like a bedstead, you +understand, and legs like the posts. He is a hulking fellow himself, so +that they looked a singular pair. And yet in his insane conceit he ogled +the girls as they waved their handkerchiefs to me from the windows, and +he twirled his ugly red moustache up into his eyes, just as if it were +to him that their attention was addressed. + +When we came out of the town we passed through the French camp, and then +across the battle-field of yesterday, which was still covered both by +our own poor fellows and by the Russians. But of the two the camp was +the sadder sight. Our army was thawing away. The Guards were all right, +though the young guard was full of conscripts. The artillery and the +heavy cavalry were also good if there were more of them, but the +infantry privates with their under officers looked like schoolboys with +their masters. And we had no reserves. When one considered that there +were 80,000 Prussians to the north and 150,000 Russians and Austrians to +the south, it might make even the bravest man grave. + +For my own part, I confess that I shed a tear until the thought came +that the Emperor was still with us, and that on that very morning he had +placed his hand upon my dolman and had promised me a medal of honour. +This set me singing, and I spurred Violette on, until Charpentier had to +beg me to have mercy on his great, snorting, panting camel. The road was +beaten into paste and rutted two feet deep by the artillery, so that he +was right in saying that it was not the place for a gallop. + +I have never been very friendly with this Charpentier; and now for +twenty miles of the way I could not draw a word from him. He rode with +his brows puckered and his chin upon his breast, like a man who is heavy +with thought. More than once I asked him what was on his mind, thinking +that, perhaps, with my quicker intelligence I might set the matter +straight. His answer always was that it was his mission of which he was +thinking, which surprised me, because, although I had never thought much +of his intelligence, still it seemed to me to be impossible that anyone +could be puzzled by so simple and soldierly a task. + +Well, we came at last to Bazoches, where he was to take the southern +road and I the northern. He half turned in his saddle before he left me, +and he looked at me with a singular expression of inquiry in his face. + +'What do you make of it, Brigadier?' he asked. + +'Of what?' + +'Of our mission.' + +'Surely it is plain enough.' + +'You think so? Why should the Emperor tell us his plans?' + +'Because he recognized our intelligence.' + +My companion laughed in a manner which I found annoying. + +'May I ask what you intend to do if you find these villages full of +Prussians?' he asked. + +'I shall obey my orders.' + +'But you will be killed.' + +'Very possibly.' + +He laughed again, and so offensively that I clapped my hand to my sword. +But before I could tell him what I thought of his stupidity and rudeness +he had wheeled his horse, and was lumbering away down the other road. I +saw his big fur cap vanish over the brow of the hill, and then I rode +upon my way, wondering at his conduct. From time to time I put my hand +to the breast of my tunic and felt the paper crackle beneath my fingers. +Ah, my precious paper, which should be turned into the little silver +medal for which I had yearned so long. All the way from Braine to +Sermoise I was thinking of what my mother would say when she saw it. + +I stopped to give Violette a meal at a wayside auberge on the side of a +hill not far from Soissons--a place surrounded by old oaks, and with so +many crows that one could scarce hear one's own voice. It was from the +innkeeper that I learned that Marmont had fallen back two days before, +and that the Prussians were over the Aisne. An hour later, in the fading +light, I saw two of their vedettes upon the hill to the right, and then, +as darkness gathered, the heavens to the north were all glimmering from +the lights of a bivouac. + +When I heard that Blucher had been there for two days, I was much +surprised that the Emperor should not have known that the country +through which he had ordered me to carry my precious letter was already +occupied by the enemy. Still, I thought of the tone of his voice when he +said to Charpentier that a soldier must not choose, but must obey. I +should follow the route he had laid down for me as long as Violette +could move a hoof or I a finger upon her bridle. All the way from +Sermoise to Soissons, where the road dips up and down, curving among fir +woods, I kept my pistol ready and my sword-belt braced, pushing on +swiftly where the path was straight, and then coming slowly round the +corners in the way we learned in Spain. + +When I came to the farmhouse which lies to the right of the road just +after you cross the wooden bridge over the Crise, near where the great +statue of the Virgin stands, a woman cried to me from the field, saying +that the Prussians were in Soissons. A small party of their lancers, she +said, had come in that very afternoon, and a whole division was expected +before midnight. I did not wait to hear the end of her tale, but clapped +spurs into Violette, and in five minutes was galloping her into the +town. + +Three Uhlans were at the mouth of the main street, their horses +tethered, and they gossiping together, each with a pipe as long as my +sabre. I saw them well in the light of an open door, but of me they +could have seen only the flash of Violette's grey side and the black +flutter of my cloak. A moment later I flew through a stream of them +rushing from an open gateway. Violette's shoulder sent one of them +reeling, and I stabbed at another but missed him. Pang, pang, went two +carbines, but I had flown round the curve of the street, and never so +much as heard the hiss of the balls. Ah, we were great, both Violette +and I. She lay down to it like a coursed hare, the fire flying from her +hoofs. I stood in my stirrups and brandished my sword. Someone sprang +for my bridle. I sliced him through the arm, and I heard him howling +behind me. Two horsemen closed upon me. I cut one down and outpaced the +other. A minute later I was clear of the town, and flying down a broad +white road with the black poplars on either side. For a time I heard the +rattle of hoofs behind me, but they died and died until I could not tell +them from the throbbing of my own heart. Soon I pulled up and listened, +but all was silent. They had given up the chase. + +Well, the first thing that I did was to dismount and to lead my mare +into a small wood through which a stream ran. There I watered her and +rubbed her down, giving her two pieces of sugar soaked in cognac from my +flask. She was spent from the sharp chase, but it was wonderful to see +how she came round with a half-hour's rest. When my thighs closed upon +her again, I could tell by the spring and the swing of her that it would +not be her fault if I did not win my way safe to Paris. + +I must have been well within the enemy's lines now, for I heard a number +of them shouting one of their rough drinking songs out of a house by the +roadside, and I went round by the fields to avoid it. At another time +two men came out into the moonlight (for by this time it was a cloudless +night) and shouted something in German, but I galloped on without +heeding them, and they were afraid to fire, for their own hussars are +dressed exactly as I was. It is best to take no notice at these times, +and then they put you down as a deaf man. + +It was a lovely moon, and every tree threw a black bar across the road. +I could see the countryside just as if it were daytime, and very +peaceful it looked, save that there was a great fire raging somewhere in +the north. In the silence of the night-time, and with the knowledge that +danger was in front and behind me, the sight of that great distant fire +was very striking and awesome. But I am not easily clouded, for I have +seen too many singular things, so I hummed a tune between my teeth and +thought of little Lisette, whom I might see in Paris. My mind was full +of her when, trotting round a corner, I came straight upon half-a-dozen +German dragoons, who were sitting round a brushwood fire by the +roadside. + +I am an excellent soldier. I do not say this because I am prejudiced in +my own favour, but because I really am so. I can weigh every chance in a +moment, and decide with as much certainty as though I had brooded for a +week. Now I saw like a flash that, come what might, I should be chased, +and on a horse which had already done a long twelve leagues. But it was +better to be chased onwards than to be chased back. On this moonlit +night, with fresh horses behind me, I must take my risk in either case; +but if I were to shake them off, I preferred that it should be near +Senlis than near Soissons. + +All this flashed on me as if by instinct, you understand. My eyes had +hardly rested on the bearded faces under the brass helmets before my +rowels had touched Violette, and she was off with a rattle like a +pas-de-charge. Oh, the shouting and rushing and stamping from behind us! +Three of them fired and three swung themselves on to their horses. A +bullet rapped on the crupper of my saddle with a noise like a stick on a +door. Violette sprang madly forward, and I thought she had been wounded, +but it was only a graze above the near fore-fetlock. Ah, the dear little +mare, how I loved her when I felt her settle down into that long, easy +gallop of hers, her hoofs going like a Spanish girl's castanets. I could +not hold myself. I turned on my saddle and shouted and raved, 'Vive +l'Empereur!' I screamed and laughed at the gust of oaths that came back +to me. + +But it was not over yet. If she had been fresh she might have gained a +mile in five. Now she could only hold her own with a very little over. +There was one of them, a young boy of an officer, who was better mounted +than the others. He drew ahead with every stride. Two hundred yards +behind him were two troopers, but I saw every time that I glanced round +that the distance between them was increasing. The other three who had +waited to shoot were a long way in the rear. + +The officer's mount was a bay--a fine horse, though not to be spoken of +with Violette; yet it was a powerful brute, and it seemed to me that in +a few miles its freshness might tell. I waited until the lad was a long +way in front of his comrades, and then I eased my mare down a little--a +very, very little, so that he might think he was really catching me. +When he came within pistol-shot of me I drew and cocked my own pistol, +and laid my chin upon my shoulder to see what he would do. He did not +offer to fire, and I soon discerned the cause. The silly boy had taken +his pistols from his holsters when he had camped for the night. He +wagged his sword at me now and roared some threat or other. He did not +seem to understand that he was at my mercy. I eased Violette down until +there was not the length of a long lance between the grey tail and the +bay muzzle. + +'Rendez-vous!' he yelled. + +'I must compliment monsieur upon his French,' said I, resting the barrel +of my pistol upon my bridle-arm, which I have always found best when +shooting from the saddle. I aimed at his face, and could see, even in +the moonlight, how white he grew when he understood that it was all up +with him. But even as my finger pressed the trigger I thought of his +mother, and I put my ball through his horse's shoulder. I fear he hurt +himself in the fall, for it was a fearful crash, but I had my letter to +think of, so I stretched the mare into a gallop once more. + +But they were not so easily shaken off, these brigands. The two troopers +thought no more of their young officer than if he had been a recruit +thrown in the riding-school. They left him to the others and thundered +on after me. I had pulled up on the brow of a hill, thinking that I had +heard the last of them; but, my faith, I soon saw there was no time for +loitering, so away we went, the mare tossing her head and I my shako, to +show what we thought of two dragoons who tried to catch a hussar. But at +this moment, even while I laughed at the thought, my heart stood still +within me, for there at the end of the long white road was a black patch +of cavalry waiting to receive me. To a young soldier it might have +seemed the shadow of the trees, but to me it was a troop of hussars, +and, turn where I could, death seemed to be waiting for me. + +Well, I had the dragoons behind me and the hussars in front. Never since +Moscow have I seemed to be in such peril. But for the honour of the +brigade I had rather be cut down by a light cavalryman than by a heavy. +I never drew bridle, therefore, or hesitated for an instant, but I let +Violette have her head. I remember that I tried to pray as I rode, but I +am a little out of practice at such things, and the only words I could +remember were the prayer for fine weather which we used at the school on +the evening before holidays. Even this seemed better than nothing, and I +was pattering it out, when suddenly I heard French voices in front of +me. Ah, mon Dieu, but the joy went through my heart like a musket-ball. +They were ours--our own dear little rascals from the corps of Marmont. +Round whisked my two dragoons and galloped for their lives, with the +moon gleaming on their brass helmets, while I trotted up to my friends +with no undue haste, for I would have them understand that though a +hussar may fly, it is not in his nature to fly very fast. Yet I fear +that Violette's heaving flanks and foam-spattered muzzle gave the lie +to my careless bearing. + +Who should be at the head of the troop but old Bouvet, whom I saved at +Leipzig! When he saw me his little pink eyes filled with tears, and, +indeed, I could not but shed a few myself at the sight of his joy. I +told him of my mission, but he laughed when I said that I must pass +through Senlis. + +'The enemy is there,' said he. 'You cannot go.' + +'I prefer to go where the enemy is,' I answered. + +'But why not go straight to Paris with your despatch? Why should you +choose to pass through the one place where you are almost sure to be +taken or killed?' + +'A soldier does not choose--he obeys,' said I, just as I had heard +Napoleon say it. + +Old Bouvet laughed in his wheezy way, until I had to give my moustachios +a twirl and look him up and down in a manner which brought him to +reason. + +'Well', said he, 'you had best come along with us, for we are all bound +for Senlis. Our orders are to reconnoitre the place. A squadron of +Poniatowski's Polish Lancers are in front of us. If you must ride +through it, it is possible that we may be able to go with you.' + +So away we went, jingling and clanking through the quiet night until we +came up with the Poles--fine old soldiers all of them, though a trifle +heavy for their horses. It was a treat to see them, for they could not +have carried themselves better if they had belonged to my own brigade. +We rode together, until in the early morning we saw the lights of +Senlis. A peasant was coming along with a cart, and from him we learned +how things were going there. + +His information was certain, for his brother was the Mayor's coachman, +and he had spoken with him late the night before. There was a single +squadron of Cossacks--or a polk, as they call it in their frightful +language--quartered upon the Mayor's house, which stands at the corner +of the market-place, and is the largest building in the town. A whole +division of Prussion infantry was encamped in the woods to the north, +but only the Cossacks were in Senlis. Ah, what a chance to avenge +ourselves upon these barbarians, whose cruelty to our poor countryfolk +was the talk at every camp fire. + +We were into the town like a torrent, hacked down the vedettes, rode +over the guard, and were smashing in the doors of the Mayor's house +before they understood that there was a Frenchman within twenty miles of +them. We saw horrid heads at the windows--heads bearded to the temples, +with tangled hair and sheepskin caps, and silly, gaping mouths. 'Hourra! +Hourra!' they shrieked, and fired with their carbines, but our fellows +were into the house and at their throats before they had wiped the sleep +out of their eyes. It was dreadful to see how the Poles flung themselves +upon them, like starving wolves upon a herd of fat bucks--for, as you +know, the Poles have a blood feud against the Cossacks. The most were +killed in the upper rooms, whither they had fled for shelter, and the +blood was pouring down into the hall like rain from a roof. They are +terrible soldiers, these Poles, though I think they are a trifle heavy +for their horses. Man for man, they are as big as Kellerman's +cuirassiers. Their equipment is, of course, much lighter, since they are +without the cuirass, back-plate, and helmet. + +Well, it was at this point that I made an error--a very serious error it +must be admitted. Up to this moment I had carried out my mission in a +manner which only my modesty prevents me from describing as remarkable. +But now I did that which an official would condemn and a soldier excuse. + +There is no doubt that the mare was spent, but still it is true that I +might have galloped on through Senlis and reached the country, where I +should have had no enemy between me and Paris. But what hussar can ride +past a fight and never draw rein? It is to ask too much of him. +Besides, I thought that if Violette had an hour of rest I might have +three hours the better at the other end. Then on the top of it came +those heads at the windows, with their sheepskin hats and their +barbarous cries. I sprang from my saddle, threw Violette's bridle over a +rail-post, and ran into the house with the rest. It is true that I was +too late to be of service, and that I was nearly wounded by a +lance-thrust from one of these dying savages. Still, it is a pity to +miss even the smallest affair, for one never knows what opportunity for +advancement may present itself. I have seen more soldierly work in +outpost skirmishes and little gallop-and-hack affairs of the kind than +in any of the Emperor's big battles. + +When the house was cleared I took a bucket of water out for Violette, +and our peasant guide showed me where the good Mayor kept his fodder. My +faith, but the little sweetheart was ready for it. Then I sponged down +her legs, and leaving her still tethered I went back into the house to +find a mouthful for myself, so that I should not need to halt again +until I was in Paris. + +And now I come to the part of my story which may seem singular to you, +although I could tell you at least ten things every bit as queer which +have happened to me in my lifetime. You can understand that, to a man +who spends his life in scouting and vedette duties on the bloody ground +which lies between two great armies, there are many chances of strange +experiences. I'll tell you, however, exactly what occurred. + +Old Bouvet was waiting in the passage when I entered, and he asked me +whether we might not crack a bottle of wine together. 'My faith, we must +not be long,' said he. 'There are ten thousand of Theilmann's Prussians +in the woods up yonder.' + +'Where is the wine?' I asked. + +'Ah, you may trust two hussars to find where the wine is,' said he, and +taking a candle in his hand, he led the way down the stone stairs into +the kitchen. + +When we got there we found another door, which opened on to a winding +stair with the cellar at the bottom. The Cossacks had been there before +us, as was easily seen by the broken bottles littered all over it. +However, the Mayor was a _bon-vivant_, and I do not wish to have a +better set of bins to pick from. Chambertin, Graves, Alicant, white wine +and red, sparkling and still, they lay in pyramids peeping coyly out of +sawdust. Old Bouvet stood with his candle looking here and peeping +there, purring in his throat like a cat before a milk-pail. He had +picked upon a Burgundy at last, and had his hand outstretched to the +bottle when there came a roar of musketry from above us, a rush of feet, +and such a yelping and screaming as I have never listened to. The +Prussians were upon us! + +Bouvet is a brave man: I will say that for him. He flashed out his sword +and away he clattered up the stone steps, his spurs clinking as he ran. +I followed him, but just as we came out into the kitchen passage a +tremendous shout told us that the house had been recaptured. + +'It is all over,' I cried, grasping at Bouvet's sleeve. + +'There is one more to die,' he shouted, and away he went like a madman +up the second stair. In effect, I should have gone to my death also had +I been in his place, for he had done very wrong in not throwing out his +scouts to warn him if the Germans advanced upon him. For an instant I +was about to rush up with him, and then I bethought myself that, after +all, I had my own mission to think of, and that if I were taken the +important letter of the Emperor would be sacrificed. I let Bouvet die +alone, therefore, and I went down into the cellar again, closing the +door behind me. + +Well, it was not a very rosy prospect down there either. Bouvet had +dropped the candle when the alarm came, and I, pawing about in the +darkness, could find nothing but broken bottles. At last I came upon +the candle, which had rolled under the curve of a cask, but, try as I +would with my tinderbox, I could not light it. The reason was that the +wick had been wet in a puddle of wine, so suspecting that this might be +the case, I cut the end off with my sword. Then I found that it lighted +easily enough. But what to do I could not imagine. The scoundrels +upstairs were shouting themselves hoarse, several hundred of them from +the sound, and it was clear that some of them would soon want to moisten +their throats. There would be an end to a dashing soldier, and of the +mission and of the medal. I thought of my mother and I thought of the +Emperor. It made me weep to think that the one would lose so excellent a +son and the other the best light cavalry officer he ever had since +Lasalle's time. But presently I dashed the tears from my eyes. +'Courage!' I cried, striking myself upon the chest. 'Courage, my brave +boy. Is it possible that one who has come safely from Moscow without so +much as a frost-bite will die in a French wine-cellar?' At the thought I +was up on my feet and clutching at the letter in my tunic, for the +crackle of it gave me courage. + +My first plan was to set fire to the house, in the hope of escaping in +the confusion. My second to get into an empty wine-cask. I was looking +round to see if I could find one, when suddenly, in the corner, I espied +a little low door, painted of the same grey colour as the wall, so that +it was only a man with quick sight who would have noticed it. I pushed +against it, and at first I imagined that it was locked. Presently, +however, it gave a little, and then I understood that it was held by the +pressure of something on the other side. I put my feet against a +hogshead of wine, and I gave such a push that the door flew open and I +came down with a crash upon my back, the candle flying out of my hands, +so that I found myself in darkness once more. I picked myself up and +stared through the black archway into the gloom beyond. + +There was a slight ray of light coming from some slit or grating. The +dawn had broken outside, and I could dimly see the long, curving sides +of several huge casks, which made me think that perhaps this was where +the Mayor kept his reserves of wine while they were maturing. At any +rate, it seemed to be a safer hiding-place than the outer cellar, so +gathering up my candle, I was just closing the door behind me, when I +suddenly saw something which filled me with amazement, and even, I +confess, with the smallest little touch of fear. + +I have said that at the further end of the cellar there was a dim grey +fan of light striking downwards from somewhere near the roof. Well, as I +peered through the darkness, I suddenly saw a great, tall man skip into +this belt of daylight, and then out again into the darkness at the +further end. My word, I gave such a start that my shako nearly broke its +chin-strap! It was only a glance, but, none the less, I had time to see +that the fellow had a hairy Cossack cap on his head, and that he was a +great, long-legged, broad-shouldered brigand, with a sabre at his waist. +My faith, even Etienne Gerard was a little staggered at being left alone +with such a creature in the dark. + +But only for a moment. 'Courage!' I thought. 'Am I not a hussar, a +brigadier, too, at the age of thirty-one, and the chosen messenger of +the Emperor?' After all, this skulker had more cause to be afraid of me +than I of him. And then suddenly I understood that he was +afraid--horribly afraid. I could read it from his quick step and his +bent shoulders as he ran among the barrels, like a rat making for its +hole. And, of course, it must have been he who had held the door against +me, and not some packing-case or wine-cask as I had imagined. He was the +pursued then, and I the pursuer. Aha, I felt my whiskers bristle as I +advanced upon him through the darkness! He would find that he had no +chicken to deal with, this robber from the North. For the moment I was +magnificent. + +At first I had feared to light my candle lest I should make a mark of +myself, but now, after cracking my shin over a box, and catching my +spurs in some canvas, I thought the bolder course the wiser. I lit it, +therefore, and then I advanced with long strides, my sword in my hand. +'Come out, you rascal!' I cried. 'Nothing can save you. You will at last +meet with your deserts.' + +I held my candle high, and presently I caught a glimpse of the man's +head staring at me over a barrel. He had a gold chevron on his black +cap, and the expression of his face told me in an instant that he was an +officer and a man of refinement. + +'Monsieur,' he cried, in excellent French, 'I surrender myself on a +promise of quarter. But if I do not have your promise, I will then sell +my life as dearly as I can.' + +'Sir,' said I, 'a Frenchman knows how to treat an unfortunate enemy. +Your life is safe.' With that he handed his sword over the top of the +barrel, and I bowed with the candle on my heart. 'Whom have I the honour +of capturing?' I asked. + +'I am the Count Boutkine, of the Emperor's own Don Cossacks,' said he. +'I came out with my troop to reconnoitre Senlis, and as we found no sign +of your people we determined to spend the night here.' + +'And would it be an indiscretion,' I asked, 'if I were to inquire how +you came into the back cellar?' + +'Nothing more simple,' said he. 'It was our intention to start at early +dawn. Feeling chilled after dressing, I thought that a cup of wine would +do me no harm, so I came down to see what I could find. As I was +rummaging about, the house was suddenly carried by assault so rapidly +that by the time I had climbed the stairs it was all over. It only +remained for me to save myself, so I came down here and hid myself in +the back cellar, where you have found me.' + +I thought of how old Bouvet had behaved under the same conditions, and +the tears sprang to my eyes as I contemplated the glory of France. Then +I had to consider what I should do next. It was clear that this Russian +Count, being in the back cellar while we were in the front one, had not +heard the sounds which would have told him that the house was once again +in the hands of his own allies. If he should once understand this the +tables would be turned, and I should be his prisoner instead of he being +mine. What was I to do? I was at my wits' end, when suddenly there came +to me an idea so brilliant that I could not but be amazed at my own +invention. + +'Count Boutkine,' said I, 'I find myself in a most difficult position.' + +'And why?' he asked. + +'Because I have promised you your life.' + +His jaw dropped a little. + +'You would not withdraw your promise?' he cried. + +'If the worst comes to the worst I can die in your defence,' said I; +'but the difficulties are great.' + +'What is it, then?' he asked. + +'I will be frank with you,' said I. 'You must know that our fellows, and +especially the Poles, are so incensed against the Cossacks that the mere +sight of the uniform drives them mad. They precipitate themselves +instantly upon the wearer and tear him limb from limb. Even their +officers cannot restrain them.' + +The Russian grew pale at my words and the way in which I said them. + +'But this is terrible,' said he. + +'Horrible!' said I. 'If we were to go up together at this moment I +cannot promise how far I could protect you.' + +'I am in your hands,' he cried. 'What would you suggest that we should +do? Would it not be best that I should remain here?' + +'That worst of all.' + +'And why?' + +'Because our fellows will ransack the house presently, and then you +would be cut to pieces. No, no, I must go and break it to them. But even +then, when once they see that accursed uniform, I do not know what may +happen.' + +'Should I then take the uniform off?' + +'Excellent!' I cried. 'Hold, we have it! You will take your uniform off +and put on mine. That will make you sacred to every French soldier.' + +'It is not the French I fear so much as the Poles.' + +'But my uniform will be a safeguard against either.' + +'How can I thank you?' he cried. 'But you--what are you to wear?' + +'I will wear yours.' + +'And perhaps fall a victim to your generosity?' + +'It is my duty to take the risk,' I answered; 'but I have no fears. I +will ascend in your uniform. A hundred swords will be turned upon me. +"Hold!" I will shout, "I am the Brigadier Gerard!" Then they will see my +face. They will know me. And I will tell them about you. Under the +shield of these clothes you will be sacred.' + +His fingers trembled with eagerness as he tore off his tunic. His boots +and breeches were much like my own, so there was no need to change them, +but I gave him my hussar jacket, my dolman, my shako, my sword-belt, and +my sabre-tasche, while I took in exchange his high sheepskin cap with +the gold chevron, his fur-trimmed coat, and his crooked sword. Be it +well understood that in changing the tunics I did not forget to change +my thrice-precious letter also from my old one to my new. + +'With your leave,' said I, 'I shall now bind you to a barrel.' + +He made a great fuss over this, but I have learned in my soldiering +never to throw away chances, and how could I tell that he might not, +when my back was turned, see how the matter really stood, and break in +upon my plans? He was leaning against a barrel at the time, so I ran six +times round it with a rope, and then tied it with a big knot behind. If +he wished to come upstairs he would, at least, have to carry a thousand +litres of good French wine for a knapsack. I then shut the door of the +back cellar behind me, so that he might not hear what was going forward, +and tossing the candle away I ascended the kitchen stair. + +There were only about twenty steps, and yet, while I came up them, I +seemed to have time to think of everything that I had ever hoped to do. +It was the same feeling that I had at Eylau when I lay with my broken +leg and saw the horse artillery galloping down upon me. Of course, I +knew that if I were taken I should be shot instantly as being disguised +within the enemy's lines. Still, it was a glorious death--in the direct +service of the Emperor--and I reflected that there could not be less +than five lines, and perhaps seven, in the _Moniteur_ about me. Palaret +had eight lines, and I am sure that he had not so fine a career. + +When I made my way out into the hall, with all the nonchalance in my +face and manner that I could assume, the very first thing that I saw was +Bouvet's dead body, with his legs drawn up and a broken sword in his +hand. I could see by the black smudge that he had been shot at close +quarters. I should have wished to salute as I went by, for he was a +gallant man, but I feared lest I should be seen, and so I passed on. + +The front of the hall was full of Prussian infantry, who were knocking +loopholes in the wall, as though they expected that there might be yet +another attack. Their officer, a little man, was running about giving +directions. They were all too busy to take much notice of me, but +another officer, who was standing by the door with a long pipe in his +mouth, strode across and clapped me on the shoulder, pointing to the +dead bodies of our poor hussars, and saying something which was meant +for a jest, for his long beard opened and showed every fang in his head. +I laughed heartily also, and said the only Russian words that I knew. I +learned them from little Sophie, at Wilna, and they meant: 'If the night +is fine we shall meet under the oak tree, but if it rains we shall meet +in the byre.' It was all the same to this German, however, and I have no +doubt that he gave me credit for saying something very witty indeed, for +he roared laughing, and slapped me on my shoulder again. I nodded to him +and marched out of the hall-door as coolly as if I were the commandant +of the garrison. + +There were a hundred horses tethered about outside, most of them +belonging to the Poles and hussars. Good little Violette was waiting +with the others, and she whinnied when she saw me coming towards her. +But I would not mount her. No. I was much too cunning for that. On the +contrary, I chose the most shaggy little Cossack horse that I could see, +and I sprang upon it with as much assurance as though it had belonged to +my father before me. It had a great bag of plunder slung over its neck, +and this I laid upon Violette's back, and led her along beside me. Never +have you seen such a picture of the Cossack returning from the foray. It +was superb. + +Well, the town was full of Prussians by this time. They lined the +side-walks and pointed me out to each other, saying, as I could judge +from their gestures, 'There goes one of those devils of Cossacks. They +are the boys for foraging and plunder.' + +One or two officers spoke to me with an air of authority, but I shook my +head and smiled, and said, 'If the night is fine we shall meet under the +oak tree, but if it rains we shall meet in the byre,' at which they +shrugged their shoulders and gave the matter up. In this way I worked +along until I was beyond the northern outskirt of the town. I could see +in the roadway two lancer vedettes with their black and white pennons, +and I knew that when I was once past these I should be a free man once +more. I made my pony trot, therefore, Violette rubbing her nose against +my knee all the time, and looking up at me to ask how she had deserved +that this hairy doormat of a creature should be preferred to her. I was +not more than a hundred yards from the Uhlans when, suddenly, you can +imagine my feelings when I saw a real Cossack coming galloping along the +road towards me. + +Ah, my friend, you who read this, if you have any heart, you will feel +for a man like me, who had gone through so many dangers and trials, only +at this very last moment to be confronted with one which appeared to put +an end to everything. I will confess that for a moment I lost heart, and +was inclined to throw myself down in my despair, and to cry out that I +had been betrayed. But, no; I was not beaten even now. I opened two +buttons of my tunic so that I might get easily at the Emperor's message, +for it was my fixed determination when all hope was gone to swallow the +letter and then die sword in hand. Then I felt that my little, crooked +sword was loose in its sheath, and I trotted on to where the vedettes +were waiting. They seemed inclined to stop me, but I pointed to the +other Cossack, who was still a couple of hundred yards off, and they, +understanding that I merely wished to meet him, let me pass with a +salute. + +I dug my spurs into my pony then, for if I were only far enough from the +lancers I thought I might manage the Cossack without much difficulty. He +was an officer, a large, bearded man, with a gold chevron in his cap, +just the same as mine. As I advanced he unconsciously aided me by +pulling up his horse, so that I had a fine start of the vedettes. On I +came for him, and I could see wonder changing to suspicion in his brown +eyes as he looked at me and at my pony, and at my equipment. I do not +know what it was that was wrong, but he saw something which was as it +should not be. He shouted out a question, and then when I gave no answer +he pulled out his sword. I was glad in my heart to see him do so, for I +had always rather fight than cut down an unsuspecting enemy. Now I made +at him full tilt, and, parrying his cut, I got my point in just under +the fourth button of his tunic. Down he went, and the weight of him +nearly took me off my horse before I could disengage. I never glanced at +him to see if he were living or dead, for I sprang off my pony and on to +Violette, with a shake of my bridle and a kiss of my hand to the two +Uhlans behind me. They galloped after me, shouting, but Violette had had +her rest, and was just as fresh as when she started. I took the first +side road to the west and then the first to the south, which would take +me away from the enemy's country. On we went and on, every stride taking +me further from my foes and nearer to my friends. At last, when I +reached the end of a long stretch of road, and looking back from it +could see no sign of any pursuers, I understood that my troubles were +over. + +And it gave me a glow of happiness, as I rode, to think that I had done +to the letter what the Emperor had ordered. What would he say when he +saw me? What could he say which would do justice to the incredible way +in which I had risen above every danger? He had ordered me to go through +Sermoise, Soissons, and Senlis, little dreaming that they were all three +occupied by the enemy. And yet I had done it. I had borne his letter in +safety through each of these towns. Hussars, dragoons, lancers, +Cossacks, and infantry--I had run the gauntlet of all of them, and had +come out unharmed. + +When I had got as far as Dammartin I caught a first glimpse of our own +outposts. There was a troop of dragoons in a field, and of course I +could see from the horsehair crests that they were French. I galloped +towards them in order to ask them if all was safe between there and +Paris, and as I rode I felt such a pride at having won my way back to my +friends again, that I could not refrain from waving my sword in the air. + +At this a young officer galloped out from among the dragoons, also +brandishing his sword, and it warmed my heart to think that he should +come riding with such ardour and enthusiasm to greet me. I made +Violette caracole, and as we came together I brandished my sword more +gallantly than ever, but you can imagine my feelings when he suddenly +made a cut at me which would certainly have taken my head off if I had +not fallen forward with my nose in Violette's mane. My faith, it +whistled just over my cap like an east wind. Of course, it came from +this accursed Cossack uniform which, in my excitement, I had forgotten +all about, and this young dragoon had imagined that I was some Russian +champion who was challenging the French cavalry. My word, he was a +frightened man when he understood how near he had been to killing the +celebrated Brigadier Gerard. + +Well, the road was clear, and about three o'clock in the afternoon I was +at St Denis, though it took me a long two hours to get from there to +Paris, for the road was blocked with commissariat waggons and guns of +the artillery reserve, which was going north to Marmont and Mortier. You +cannot conceive the excitement which my appearance in such a costume +made in Paris, and when I came to the Rue de Rivoli I should think I had +a quarter of a mile of folk riding or running behind me. Word had got +about from the dragoons (two of whom had come with me), and everybody +knew about my adventures and how I had come by my uniform. It was a +triumph--men shouting and women waving their handkerchiefs and blowing +kisses from the windows. + +Although I am a man singularly free from conceit, still I must confess +that, on this one occasion, I could not restrain myself from showing +that this reception gratified me. The Russian's coat had hung very loose +upon me, but now I threw out my chest until it was as tight as a +sausage-skin. And my little sweetheart of a mare tossed her mane and +pawed with her front hoofs, frisking her tail about as though she said, +'We've done it together this time. It is to us that commissions should +be intrusted.' When I kissed her between the nostrils as I dismounted at +the gate of the Tuileries, there was as much shouting as if a bulletin +had been read from the Grand Army. + +I was hardly in costume to visit a King; but, after all, if one has a +soldierly figure one can do without all that. I was shown up straight +away to Joseph, whom I had often seen in Spain. He seemed as stout, as +quiet, and as amiable as ever. Talleyrand was in the room with him, or I +suppose I should call him the Duke of Benevento, but I confess that I +like old names best. He read my letter when Joseph Buonaparte handed it +to him, and then he looked at me with the strangest expression in those +funny little, twinkling eyes of his. + +'Were you the only messenger?' he asked. + +'There was one other, sir,' said I. 'Major Charpentier, of the Horse +Grenadiers.' + +'He has not yet arrived,' said the King of Spain. + +'If you had seen the legs of his horse, sire, you would not wonder at +it,' I remarked. + +'There may be other reasons,' said Talleyrand, and he gave that singular +smile of his. + +Well, they paid me a compliment or two, though they might have said a +good deal more and yet have said too little. I bowed myself out, and +very glad I was to get away, for I hate a Court as much as I love a +camp. Away I went to my old friend Chaubert, in the Rue Miromesnil, and +there I got his hussar uniform, which fitted me very well. He and +Lisette and I supped together in his rooms, and all my dangers were +forgotten. In the morning I found Violette ready for another +twenty-league stretch. It was my intention to return instantly to the +Emperor's headquarters, for I was, as you may well imagine, impatient to +hear his words of praise, and to receive my reward. + +I need not say that I rode back by a safe route, for I had seen quite +enough of Uhlans and Cossacks. I passed through Meaux and Château +Thierry, and so in the evening I arrived at Rheims, where Napoleon was +still lying. The bodies of our fellows and of St Prest's Russians had +all been buried, and I could see changes in the camp also. The soldiers +looked better cared for; some of the cavalry had received remounts, and +everything was in excellent order. It was wonderful what a good general +can effect in a couple of days. + +When I came to the headquarters I was shown straight into the Emperor's +room. He was drinking coffee at a writing-table, with a big plan drawn +out on paper in front of him. Berthier and Macdonald were leaning, one +over each shoulder, and he was talking so quickly that I don't believe +that either of them could catch a half of what he was saying. But when +his eyes fell upon me he dropped the pen on to the chart, and he sprang +up with a look in his pale face which struck me cold. + +'What the deuce are you doing here?' he shouted. When he was angry he +had a voice like a peacock. + +'I have the honour to report to you, sire,' said I, 'that I have +delivered your despatch safely to the King of Spain.' + +'What!' he yelled, and his two eyes transfixed me like bayonets. Oh, +those dreadful eyes, shifting from grey to blue, like steel in the +sunshine. I can see them now when I have a bad dream. + +'What has become of Charpentier?' he asked. + +'He is captured,' said Macdonald. + +'By whom?' + +'The Russians.' + +'The Cossacks?' + +'No, a single Cossack.' + +'He gave himself up?' + +'Without resistance.' + +'He is an intelligent officer. You will see that the medal of honour is +awarded to him.' + +When I heard those words I had to rub my eyes to make sure that I was +awake. + +'As to you,' cried the Emperor, taking a step forward as if he would +have struck me, 'you brain of a hare, what do you think that you were +sent upon this mission for? Do you conceive that I would send a really +important message by such a hand as yours, and through every village +which the enemy holds? How you came through them passes my +comprehension; but if your fellow-messenger had had but as little sense +as you, my whole plan of campaign would have been ruined. Can you not +see, coglione, that this message contained false news, and that it was +intended to deceive the enemy whilst I put a very different scheme into +execution?' + +When I heard those cruel words and saw the angry, white face which +glared at me, I had to hold the back of a chair, for my mind was failing +me and my knees would hardly bear me up. But then I took courage as I +reflected that I was an honourable gentleman, and that my whole life had +been spent in toiling for this man and for my beloved country. + +'Sire,' said I, and the tears would trickle down my cheeks whilst I +spoke, 'when you are dealing with a man like me you would find it wiser +to deal openly. Had I known that you had wished the despatch to fall +into the hands of the enemy, I would have seen that it came there. As I +believed that I was to guard it, I was prepared to sacrifice my life for +it. I do not believe, sire, that any man in the world ever met with more +toils and perils than I have done in trying to carry out what I thought +was your will.' + +I dashed the tears from my eyes as I spoke, and with such fire and +spirit as I could command I gave him an account of it all, of my dash +through Soissons, my brush with the dragoons, my adventure in Senlis, my +rencontre with Count Boutkine in the cellar, my disguise, my meeting +with the Cossack officer, my flight, and how at the last moment I was +nearly cut down by a French dragoon. The Emperor, Berthier, and +Macdonald listened with astonishment on their faces. When I had finished +Napoleon stepped forward and he pinched me by the ear. + +'There, there!' said he. 'Forget anything which I may have said. I +would have done better to trust you. You may go.' + +I turned to the door, and my hand was upon the handle, when the Emperor +called upon me to stop. + +'You will see,' said he, turning to the Duke of Tarentum, 'that +Brigadier Gerard has the special medal of honour, for I believe that if +he has the thickest head he has also the stoutest heart in my army.' + + + + +8. HOW THE BRIGADIER WAS TEMPTED BY THE DEVIL + + +The spring is at hand, my friends. I can see the little green +spear-heads breaking out once more upon the chestnut trees, and the cafe +tables have all been moved into the sunshine. It is more pleasant to sit +there, and yet I do not wish to tell my little stories to the whole +town. You have heard my doings as a lieutenant, as a squadron officer, +as a colonel, as the chief of a brigade. But now I suddenly become +something higher and more important. I become history. + +If you have read of those closing years of the life of the Emperor which +were spent in the Island of St Helena, you will remember that, again and +again, he implored permission to send out one single letter which should +be unopened by those who held him. Many times he made this request, and +even went so far as to promise that he would provide for his own wants +and cease to be an expense to the British Government if it were granted +to him. But his guardians knew that he was a terrible man, this pale, +fat gentleman in the straw hat, and they dared not grant him what he +asked. Many have wondered who it was to whom he could have had anything +so secret to say. Some have supposed that it was to his wife, and some +that it was to his father-in-law; some that it was to the Emperor +Alexander, and some to Marshal Soult. What will you think of me, my +friends, when I tell you it was to me--to me, the Brigadier Gerard--that +the Emperor wished to write? Yes, humble as you see me, with only my 100 +francs a month of half-pay between me and hunger, it is none the less +true that I was always in the Emperor's mind, and that he would have +given his left hand for five minutes' talk with me. I will tell you +tonight how this came about. + +It was after the Battle of Fére-Champenoise where the conscripts in +their blouses and their sabots made such a fine stand, that we, the more +long-headed of us, began to understand that it was all over with us. Our +reserve ammunition had been taken in the battle, and we were left with +silent guns and empty caissons. Our cavalry, too, was in a deplorable +condition, and my own brigade had been destroyed in the charge at +Craonne. Then came the news that the enemy had taken Paris, that the +citizens had mounted the white cockade; and finally, most terrible of +all, that Marmont and his corps had gone over to the Bourbons. We looked +at each other and asked how many more of our generals were going to turn +against us. Already there were Jourdan, Marmont, Murat, Bernadotte, and +Jomini--though nobody minded much about Jomini, for his pen was always +sharper than his sword. We had been ready to fight Europe, but it looked +now as though we were to fight Europe and half of France as well. + +We had come to Fontainebleau by a long, forced march, and there we were +assembled, the poor remnants of us, the corps of Ney, the corps of my +cousin Gerard, and the corps of Macdonald: twenty-five thousand in all, +with seven thousand of the guard. But we had our prestige, which was +worth fifty thousand, and our Emperor, who was worth fifty thousand +more. He was always among us, serene, smiling, confident, taking his +snuff and playing with his little riding-whip. Never in the days of his +greatest victories have I admired him as much as I did during the +Campaign of France. + +One evening I was with a few of my officers, drinking a glass of wine of +Suresnes. I mention that it was wine of Suresnes just to show you that +times were not very good with us. Suddenly I was disturbed by a message +from Berthier that he wished to see me. When I speak of my old +comrades-in-arms, I will, with your permission, leave out all the fine +foreign titles which they had picked up during the wars. They are +excellent for a Court, but you never heard them in the camp, for we +could not afford to do away with our Ney, our Rapp, or our Soult--names +which were as stirring to our ears as the blare of our trumpets blowing +the reveille. It was Berthier, then, who sent to say that he wished to +see me. + +He had a suite of rooms at the end of the gallery of Francis the First, +not very far from those of the Emperor. In the ante-chamber were waiting +two men whom I knew well: Colonel Despienne, of the 57th of the line, +and Captain Tremeau, of the Voltigeurs. They were both old +soldiers--Tremeau had carried a musket in Egypt--and they were also both +famous in the army for their courage and their skill with weapons. +Tremeau had become a little stiff in the wrist, but Despienne was +capable at his best of making me exert myself. He was a tiny fellow, +about three inches short of the proper height for a man--he was exactly +three inches shorter than myself--but both with the sabre and with the +small-sword he had several times almost held his own against me when we +used to exhibit at Verron's Hall of Arms in the Palais Royal. You may +think that it made us sniff something in the wind when we found three +such men called together into one room. You cannot see the lettuce and +dressing without suspecting a salad. + +'Name of a pipe!' said Tremeau, in his barrack-room fashion. 'Are we +then expecting three champions of the Bourbons?' + +To all of us the idea appeared not improbable. Certainly in the whole +army we were the very three who might have been chosen to meet them. + +'The Prince of Neufchâtel desires to speak with the Brigadier Gerard,' +said a footman, appearing at the door. + +In I went, leaving my two companions consumed with impatience behind me. +It was a small room, but very gorgeously furnished. Berthier was seated +opposite to me at a little table, with a pen in his hand and a note-book +open before him. He was looking weary and slovenly--very different from +that Berthier who used to give the fashion to the army, and who had so +often set us poorer officers tearing our hair by trimming his pelisse +with fur one campaign, and with grey astrakhan the next. On his +clean-shaven, comely face there was an expression of trouble, and he +looked at me as I entered his chamber in a way which had in it something +furtive and displeasing. + +'Chief of Brigade Gerard!' said he. + +'At your service, your Highness!' I answered. + +'I must ask you, before I go further, to promise me, upon your honour as +a gentleman and a soldier, that what is about to pass between us shall +never be mentioned to any third person.' + +My word, this was a fine beginning! I had no choice but to give the +promise required. + +'You must know, then, that it is all over with the Emperor,' said he, +looking down at the table and speaking very slowly, as if he had a hard +task in getting out the words. 'Jourdan at Rouen and Marmont at Paris +have both mounted the white cockade, and it is rumoured that Talleyrand +has talked Ney into doing the same. It is evident that further +resistance is useless, and that it can only bring misery upon our +country. I wish to ask you, therefore, whether you are prepared to join +me in laying hands upon the Emperor's person, and bringing the war to a +conclusion by delivering him over to the allies?' + +I assure you that when I heard this infamous proposition put forward by +the man who had been the earliest friend of the Emperor, and who had +received greater favours from him than any of his followers, I could +only stand and stare at him in amazement. For his part he tapped his +pen-handle against his teeth, and looked at me with a slanting head. + +'Well?' he asked. + +'I am a little deaf on one side,' said I, coldly. 'There are some +things which I cannot hear. I beg that you will permit me to return to +my duties.' + +'Nay, but you must not be headstrong,' rising up and laying his hand +upon my shoulder. 'You are aware that the Senate has declared against +Napoleon, and that the Emperor Alexander refuses to treat with him.' + +'Sir,' I cried, with passion, 'I would have you know that I do not care +the dregs of a wine-glass for the Senate or for the Emperor Alexander +either.' + +'Then for what do you care?' + +'For my own honour and for the service of my glorious master, the +Emperor Napoleon.' + +'That is all very well,' said Berthier, peevishly, shrugging his +shoulders. 'Facts are facts, and as men of the world, we must look them +in the face. Are we to stand against the will of the nation? Are we to +have civil war on the top of all our misfortunes? And, besides, we are +thinning away. Every hour comes the news of fresh desertions. We have +still time to make our peace, and, indeed, to earn the highest regard, +by giving up the Emperor.' + +I shook so with passion that my sabre clattered against my thigh. + +'Sir,' I cried, 'I never thought to have seen the day when a Marshal of +France would have so far degraded himself as to put forward such a +proposal. I leave you to your own conscience; but as for me, until I +have the Emperor's own order, there shall always be the sword of Etienne +Gerard between his enemies and himself.' + +I was so moved by my own words and by the fine position which I had +taken up, that my voice broke, and I could hardly refrain from tears. I +should have liked the whole army to have seen me as I stood with my head +so proudly erect and my hand upon my heart proclaiming my devotion to +the Emperor in his adversity. It was one of the supreme moments of my +life. + +'Very good,' said Berthier, ringing a bell for the lackey. 'You will +show the Chief of Brigade Gerard into the salon.' + +The footman led me into an inner room, where he desired me to be seated. +For my own part, my only desire was to get away, and I could not +understand why they should wish to detain me. When one has had no change +of uniform during a whole winter's campaign, one does not feel at home +in a palace. + +I had been there about a quarter of an hour when the footman opened the +door again, and in came Colonel Despienne. Good heavens, what a sight he +was! His face was as white as a guardsman's gaiters, his eyes +projecting, the veins swollen upon his forehead, and every hair of his +moustache bristling like those of an angry cat. He was too angry to +speak, and could only shake his hands at the ceiling and make a gurgling +in his throat. 'Parricide! Viper!' those were the words that I could +catch as he stamped up and down the room. + +Of course it was evident to me that he had been subjected to the same +infamous proposals as I had, and that he had received them in the same +spirit. His lips were sealed to me, as mine were to him, by the promise +which we had taken, but I contented myself with muttering 'Atrocious! +Unspeakable!'--so that he might know that I was in agreement with him. + +Well, we were still there, he striding furiously up and down, and I +seated in the corner, when suddenly a most extraordinary uproar broke +out in the room which we had just quitted. There was a snarling, +worrying growl, like that of a fierce dog which has got his grip. Then +came a crash and a voice calling for help. In we rushed, the two of us, +and, my faith, we were none too soon. + +Old Tremeau and Berthier were rolling together upon the floor, with the +table upon the top of them. The Captain had one of his great, skinny +yellow hands upon the Marshal's throat, and already his face was +lead-coloured, and his eyes were starting from their sockets. As to +Tremeau, he was beside himself, with foam upon the corners of his lips, +and such a frantic expression upon him that I am convinced, had we not +loosened his iron grip, finger by finger, that it would never have +relaxed while the Marshal lived. His nails were white with the power of +his grasp. + +'I have been tempted by the devil!' he cried, as he staggered to his +feet. 'Yes, I have been tempted by the devil!' + +As to Berthier, he could only lean against the wall, and pant for a +couple of minutes, putting his hands up to his throat and rolling his +head about. Then, with an angry gesture, he turned to the heavy blue +curtain which hung behind his chair. + +The curtain was torn to one side and the Emperor stepped out into the +room. We sprang to the salute, we three old soldiers, but it was all +like a scene in a dream to us, and our eyes were as far out as +Berthier's had been. Napoleon was dressed in his green-coated chasseur +uniform, and he held his little, silver-headed switch in his hand. He +looked at us each in turn, with a smile upon his face--that frightful +smile in which neither eyes nor brow joined--and each in turn had, I +believe, a pringling on his skin, for that was the effect which the +Emperor's gaze had upon most of us. Then he walked across to Berthier +and put his hand upon his shoulder. + +'You must not quarrel with blows, my dear Prince,' said he; 'they are +your title to nobility.' He spoke in that soft, caressing manner which +he could assume. There was no one who could make the French tongue sound +so pretty as the Emperor, and no one who could make it more harsh and +terrible. + +'I believe he would have killed me,' cried Berthier, still rolling his +head about. + +'Tut, tut! I should have come to your help had these officers not heard +your cries. But I trust that you are not really hurt!' He spoke with +earnestness, for he was in truth very fond of Berthier--more so than of +any man, unless it were of poor Duroc. + +Berthier laughed, though not with a very good grace. + +'It is new for me to receive my injuries from French hands,' said he. + +'And yet it was in the cause of France,' returned the Emperor. Then, +turning to us, he took old Tremeau by the ear. 'Ah, old grumbler,' said +he, 'you were one of my Egyptian grenadiers, were you not, and had your +musket of honour at Marengo. I remember you very well, my good friend. +So the old fires are not yet extinguished! They still burn up when you +think that your Emperor is wronged. And you, Colonel Despienne, you +would not even listen to the tempter. And you, Gerard, your faithful +sword is ever to be between me and my enemies. Well, well, I have had +some traitors about me, but now at last we are beginning to see who are +the true men.' + +You can fancy, my friends, the thrill of joy which it gave us when the +greatest man in the whole world spoke to us in this fashion. Tremeau +shook until I thought he would have fallen, and the tears ran down his +gigantic moustache. If you had not seen it, you could never believe the +influence which the Emperor had upon those coarse-grained, savage old +veterans. + +'Well, my faithful friends,' said he, 'if you will follow me into this +room, I will explain to you the meaning of this little farce which we +have been acting. I beg, Berthier, that you will remain in this chamber, +and so make sure that no one interrupts us.' + +It was new for us to be doing business, with a Marshal of France as +sentry at the door. However, we followed the Emperor as we were ordered, +and he led us into the recess of the window, gathering us around him and +sinking his voice as he addressed us. + +'I have picked you out of the whole army,' said he, 'as being not only +the most formidable but also the most faithful of my soldiers. I was +convinced that you were all three men who would never waver in your +fidelity to me. If I have ventured to put that fidelity to the proof, +and to watch you while attempts were at my orders made upon your honour, +it was only because, in the days when I have found the blackest treason +amongst my own flesh and blood, it is necessary that I should be doubly +circumspect. Suffice it that I am well convinced now that I can rely +upon your valour.' + +'To the death, sire!' cried Tremeau, and we both repeated it after him. + +Napoleon drew us all yet a little closer to him, and sank his voice +still lower. + +'What I say to you now I have said to no one--not to my wife or my +brothers; only to you. It is all up with us, my friends. We have come to +our last rally. The game is finished, and we must make provision +accordingly.' + +My heart seemed to have changed to a nine-pounder ball as I listened to +him. We had hoped against hope, but now when he, the man who was always +serene and who always had reserves--when he, in that quiet, impassive +voice of his, said that everything was over, we realized that the clouds +had shut for ever, and the last gleam gone. Tremeau snarled and gripped +at his sabre, Despienne ground his teeth, and for my own part I threw +out my chest and clicked my heels to show the Emperor that there were +some spirits which could rise to adversity. + +'My papers and my fortune must be secured,' whispered the Emperor. 'The +whole course of the future may depend upon my having them safe. They are +our base for the next attempt--for I am very sure that these poor +Bourbons would find that my footstool is too large to make a throne for +them. Where am I to keep these precious things? My belongings will be +searched--so will the houses of my supporters. They must be secured and +concealed by men whom I can trust with that which is more precious to me +than my life. Out of the whole of France, you are those whom I have +chosen for this sacred trust. + +'In the first place, I will tell you what these papers are. You shall +not say that I have made you blind agents in the matter. They are the +official proof of my divorce from Josephine, of my legal marriage to +Marie Louise, and of the birth of my son and heir, the King of Rome. If +we cannot prove each of these, the future claim of my family to the +throne of France falls to the ground. Then there are securities to the +value of forty millions of francs--an immense sum, my friends, but of no +more value than this riding-switch when compared to the other papers of +which I have spoken. I tell you these things that you may realize the +enormous importance of the task which I am committing to your care. +Listen, now, while I inform you where you are to get these papers, and +what you are to do with them. + +'They were handed over to my trusty friend, the Countess Walewski, at +Paris, this morning. At five o'clock she starts for Fontainebleau in her +blue berline. She should reach here between half-past nine and ten. The +papers will be concealed in the berline, in a hiding-place which none +know but herself. She has been warned that her carriage will be stopped +outside the town by three mounted officers, and she will hand the packet +over to your care. You are the younger man, Gerard, but you are of the +senior grade. I confide to your care this amethyst ring, which you will +show the lady as a token of your mission, and which you will leave with +her as a receipt for her papers. + +'Having received the packet, you will ride with it into the forest as +far as the ruined dove-house--the Colombier. It is possible that I may +meet you there--but if it seems to me to be dangerous, I will send my +body-servant, Mustapha, whose directions you may take as being mine. +There is no roof to the Colombier, and tonight will be a full moon. At +the right of the entrance you will find three spades leaning against the +wall. With these you will dig a hole three feet deep in the +north-eastern corner--that is, in the corner to the left of the door, +and nearest to Fontainebleau. Having buried the papers, you will replace +the soil with great care, and you will then report to me at the palace.' + +These were the Emperor's directions, but given with an accuracy and +minuteness of detail such as no one but himself could put into an order. +When he had finished, he made us swear to keep his secret as long as he +lived, and as long as the papers should remain buried. Again and again +he made us swear it before he dismissed us from his presence. + +Colonel Despienne had quarters at the 'Sign of the Pheasant,' and it was +there that we supped together. We were all three men who had been +trained to take the strangest turns of fortune as part of our daily life +and business, yet we were all flushed and moved by the extraordinary +interview which we had had, and by the thought of the great adventure +which lay before us. For my own part, it had been my fate three several +times to take my orders from the lips of the Emperor himself, but +neither the incident of the Ajaccio murderers nor the famous ride which +I made to Paris appeared to offer such opportunities as this new and +most intimate commission. + +'If things go right with the Emperor,' said Despienne, 'we shall all +live to be marshals yet.' + +We drank with him to our future cocked hats and our bâtons. + +It was agreed between us that we should make our way separately to our +rendezvous, which was to be the first mile-stone upon the Paris road. In +this way we should avoid the gossip which might get about if three men +who were so well known were to be seen riding out together. My little +Violette had cast a shoe that morning, and the farrier was at work upon +her when I returned, so that my comrades were already there when I +arrived at the trysting-place. I had taken with me not only my sabre, +but also my new pair of English rifled pistols, with a mallet for +knocking in the charges. They had cost me a hundred and fifty francs at +Trouvel's, in the Rue de Rivoli, but they would carry far further and +straighter than the others. It was with one of them that I had saved old +Bouvet's life at Leipzig. + +The night was cloudless, and there was a brilliant moon behind us, so +that we always had three black horsemen riding down the white road in +front of us. The country is so thickly wooded, however, that we could +not see very far. The great palace clock had already struck ten, but +there was no sign of the Countess. We began to fear that something might +have prevented her from starting. + +And then suddenly we heard her in the distance. Very faint at first were +the birr of wheels and the tat-tat-tat of the horses' feet. Then they +grew louder and clearer and louder yet, until a pair of yellow lanterns +swung round the curve, and in their light we saw the two big brown +horses tearing along the high, blue carriage at the back of them. The +postilion pulled them up panting and foaming within a few yards of us. +In a moment we were at the window and had raised our hands in a salute +to the beautiful pale face which looked out at us. + +'We are the three officers of the Emperor, madame,' said I, in a low +voice, leaning my face down to the open window. 'You have already been +warned that we should wait upon you.' + +The Countess had a very beautiful, cream-tinted complexion of a sort +which I particularly admire, but she grew whiter and whiter as she +looked up at me. Harsh lines deepened upon her face until she seemed, +even as I looked at her, to turn from youth into age. + +'It is evident to me,' she said, 'that you are three impostors.' + +If she had struck me across the face with her delicate hand she could +not have startled me more. It was not her words only, but the bitterness +with which she hissed them out. + +'Indeed, madame,' said I. 'You do us less than justice. These are the +Colonel Despienne and Captain Tremeau. For myself, my name is Brigadier +Gerard, and I have only to mention it to assure anyone who has heard of +me that----' + +'Oh, you villains!' she interrupted. 'You think that because I am only a +woman I am very easily to be hoodwinked! You miserable impostors!' + +I looked at Despienne, who had turned white with anger, and at Tremeau, +who was tugging at his moustache. + +'Madame,' said I, coldly, 'when the Emperor did us the honour to intrust +us with this mission, he gave me this amethyst ring as a token. I had +not thought that three honourable gentlemen would have needed such +corroboration, but I can only confute your unworthy suspicions by +placing it in your hands.' + +She held it up in the light of the carriage lamp, and the most dreadful +expression of grief and of horror contorted her face. + +'It is his!' she screamed, and then, 'Oh, my God, what have I done? What +have I done?' + +I felt that something terrible had befallen. 'Quick, madame, quick!' I +cried. 'Give us the papers!' + +'I have already given them.' + +'Given them! To whom?' + +'To three officers.' + +'When?' + +'Within the half-hour.' + +'Where are they?' + +'God help me, I do not know. They stopped the berline, and I handed them +over to them without hesitation, thinking that they had come from the +Emperor.' + +It was a thunder-clap. But those are the moments when I am at my finest. + +'You remain here,' said I, to my comrades. 'If three horsemen pass you, +stop them at any hazard. The lady will describe them to you. I will be +with you presently.' One shake of the bridle, and I was flying into +Fontainebleau as only Violette could have carried me. At the palace I +flung myself off, rushed up the stairs, brushed aside the lackeys who +would have stopped me, and pushed my way into the Emperor's own cabinet. +He and Macdonald were busy with pencil and compasses over a chart. He +looked up with an angry frown at my sudden entry, but his face changed +colour when he saw that it was I. + +'You can leave us, Marshal,' said he, and then, the instant the door was +closed: 'What news about the papers?' + +'They are gone!' said I, and in a few curt words I told him what had +happened. His face was calm, but I saw the compasses quiver in his hand. + +'You must recover them, Gerard!' he cried. 'The destinies of my dynasty +are at stake. Not a moment is to be lost! To horse, sir, to horse!' + +'Who are they, sire?' + +'I cannot tell. I am surrounded with treason. But they will take them to +Paris. To whom should they carry them but to the villain Talleyrand? +Yes, yes, they are on the Paris road, and may yet be overtaken. With the +three best mounts in my stables and----' + +I did not wait to hear the end of the sentence. I was already clattering +down the stairs. I am sure that five minutes had not passed before I was +galloping Violette out of the town with the bridle of one of the +Emperor's own Arab chargers in either hand. They wished me to take +three, but I should have never dared to look my Violette in the face +again. I feel that the spectacle must have been superb when I dashed up +to my comrades and pulled the horses on to their haunches in the +moonlight. + +'No one has passed?' + +'No one.' + +'Then they are on the Paris road. Quick! Up and after them!' + +They did not take long, those good soldiers. In a flash they were upon +the Emperor's horses, and their own left masterless by the roadside. +Then away we went upon our long chase, I in the centre, Despienne upon +my right, and Tremeau a little behind, for he was the heavier man. +Heavens, how we galloped! The twelve flying hoofs roared and roared +along the hard, smooth road. Poplars and moon, black bars and silver +streaks, for mile after mile our course lay along the same chequered +track, with our shadows in front and our dust behind. We could hear the +rasping of bolts and the creaking of shutters from the cottages as we +thundered past them, but we were only three dark blurs upon the road by +the time that the folk could look after us. It was just striking +midnight as we raced into Corbail; but an hostler with a bucket in +either hand was throwing his black shadow across the golden fan which +was cast from the open door of the inn. + +'Three riders!' I gasped. 'Have they passed?' + +'I have just been watering their horses,' said he. 'I should think +they----' + +'On, on, my friends!' and away we flew, striking fire from the +cobblestones of the little town. A gendarme tried to stop up, but his +voice was drowned by our rattle and clatter. The houses slid past, and +we were out on the country road again, with a clear twenty miles between +ourselves and Paris. How could they escape us, with the finest horses in +France behind them? Not one of the three had turned a hair, but Violette +was always a head and shoulders to the front. She was going within +herself too, and I knew by the spring of her that I had only to let her +stretch herself, and the Emperor's horses would see the colour of her +tail. + +'There they are!' cried Despienne. + +'We have them!' growled Tremeau. + +'On, comrades, on!' I shouted, once more. + +A long stretch of white road lay before us in the moonlight. Far away +down it we could see three cavaliers, lying low upon their horses' +necks. Every instant they grew larger and clearer as we gained upon +them. I could see quite plainly that the two upon either side were +wrapped in mantles and rode upon chestnut horses, whilst the man between +them was dressed in a chasseur uniform and mounted upon a grey. They +were keeping abreast, but it was easy enough to see from the way in +which he gathered his legs for each spring that the centre horse was far +the fresher of the three. And the rider appeared to be the leader of the +party, for we continually saw the glint of his face in the moonshine as +he looked back to measure the distance between us. At first it was only +a glimmer, then it was cut across with a moustache, and at last when we +began to feel their dust in our throats I could give a name to my man. + +'Halt, Colonel de Montluc!' I shouted. 'Halt, in the Emperor's name!' + +I had known him for years as a daring officer and an unprincipled +rascal. Indeed, there was a score between us, for he had shot my friend, +Treville, at Warsaw, pulling his trigger, as some said, a good second +before the drop of the handkerchief. + +Well, the words were hardly out of my mouth when his two comrades +wheeled round and fired their pistols at us. I heard Despienne give a +terrible cry, and at the same instant both Tremeau and I let drive at +the same man. He fell forward with his hands swinging on each side of +his horse's neck. His comrade spurred on to Tremeau, sabre in hand, and +I heard the crash which comes when a strong cut is met by a stronger +parry. For my own part I never turned my head, but I touched Violette +with the spur for the first time and flew after the leader. That he +should leave his comrades and fly was proof enough that I should leave +mine and follow. + +He had gained a couple of hundred paces, but the good little mare set +that right before we could have passed two milestones. It was in vain +that he spurred and thrashed like a gunner driver on a soft road. His +hat flew off with his exertions, and his bald head gleamed in the +moonshine. But do what he might, he still heard the rattle of the hoofs +growing louder and louder behind him. I could not have been twenty yards +from him, and the shadow head was touching the shadow haunch, when he +turned with a curse in his saddle and emptied both his pistols, one +after the other, into Violette. + +I have been wounded myself so often that I have to stop and think before +I can tell you the exact number of times. I have been hit by musket +balls, by pistol bullets, and by bursting shells, besides being pierced +by bayonet, lance, sabre, and finally by a brad-awl, which was the most +painful of any. Yet out of all these injuries I have never known the +same deadly sickness as came over me when I felt the poor, silent, +patient creature, which I had come to love more than anything in the +world except my mother and the Emperor, reel and stagger beneath me. I +pulled my second pistol from my holster and fired point-blank between +the fellow's broad shoulders. He slashed his horse across the flank with +his whip, and for a moment I thought that I had missed him. But then on +the green of his chasseur jacket I saw an ever-widening black smudge, +and he began to sway in his saddle, very slightly at first, but more and +more with every bound, until at last over he went, with his foot caught +in the stirrup, and his shoulders thud-thud-thudding along the road, +until the drag was too much for the tired horse, and I closed my hand +upon the foam-spattered bridle-chain. As I pulled him up it eased the +stirrup leather, and the spurred heel clinked loudly as it fell. + +'Your papers!' I cried, springing from my saddle. 'This instant!' + +But even as I said, it, the huddle of the green body and the fantastic +sprawl of the limbs in the moonlight told me clearly enough that it was +all over with him. My bullet had passed through his heart, and it was +only his own iron will which had held him so long in the saddle. He had +lived hard, this Montluc, and I will do him justice to say that he died +hard also. + +But it was the papers--always the papers--of which I thought. I opened +his tunic and I felt in his shirt. Then I searched his holsters and his +sabre-tasche. Finally I dragged off his boots, and undid his horse's +girth so as to hunt under the saddle. There was not a nook or crevice +which I did not ransack. It was useless. They were not upon him. + +When this stunning blow came upon me I could have sat down by the +roadside and wept. Fate seemed to be fighting against me, and that is an +enemy from whom even a gallant hussar might not be ashamed to flinch. I +stood with my arm over the neck of my poor wounded Violette, and I tried +to think it all out, that I might act in the wisest way. I was aware +that the Emperor had no great respect for my wits, and I longed to show +him that he had done me an injustice. Montluc had not the papers. And +yet Montluc had sacrificed his companions in order to make his escape. I +could make nothing of that. On the other hand, it was clear that, if he +had not got them, one or other of his comrades had. One of them was +certainly dead. The other I had left fighting with Tremeau, and if he +escaped from the old swordsman he had still to pass me. Clearly, my work +lay behind me. + +I hammered fresh charges into my pistols after I had turned this over in +my head. Then I put them back in the holsters, and I examined my little +mare, she jerking her head and cocking her ears the while, as if to tell +me that an old soldier like herself did not make a fuss about a scratch +or two. The first shot had merely grazed her off-shoulder, leaving a +skin-mark, as if she had brushed a wall. The second was more serious. It +had passed through the muscle of her neck, but already it had ceased to +bleed. I reflected that if she weakened I could mount Montluc's grey, +and meanwhile I led him along beside us, for he was a fine horse, worth +fifteen hundred francs at the least, and it seemed to me that no one had +a better right to him than I. + +Well, I was all impatience now to get back to the others, and I had just +given Violette her head, when suddenly I saw something glimmering in a +field by the roadside. It was the brass-work upon the chasseur hat which +had flown from Montluc's head; and at the sight of it a thought made me +jump in the saddle. How could the hat have flown off? With its weight, +would it not have simply dropped? And here it lay, fifteen paces from +the roadway! Of course, he must have thrown it off when he had made sure +that I would overtake him. And if he threw it off--I did not stop to +reason any more, but sprang from the mare with my heart beating the +_pas-de-charge_. Yes, it was all right this time. There, in the crown of +the hat was stuffed a roll of papers in a parchment wrapper bound round +with yellow ribbon. I pulled it out with the one hand and, holding the +hat in the other, I danced for joy in the moonlight. The Emperor would +see that he had not made a mistake when he put his affairs into the +charge of Etienne Gerard. + +I had a safe pocket on the inside of my tunic just over my heart, where +I kept a few little things which were dear to me, and into this I thrust +my precious roll. Then I sprang upon Violette, and was pushing forward +to see what had become of Tremeau, when I saw a horseman riding across +the field in the distance. At the same instant I heard the sound of +hoofs approaching me, and there in the moonlight was the Emperor upon +his white charger, dressed in his grey overcoat and his three-cornered +hat, just as I had seen him so often upon the field of battle. + +'Well!' he cried, in the sharp, sergeant-major way of his. 'Where are my +papers?' + +I spurred forward and presented them without a word. He broke the ribbon +and ran his eyes rapidly over them. Then, as we sat our horses head to +tail, he threw his left arm across me with his hand upon my shoulder. +Yes, my friends, simple as you see me, I have been embraced by my great +master. + +'Gerard,' he cried, 'you are a marvel!' + +I did not wish to contradict him, and it brought a flush of joy upon my +cheeks to know that he had done me justice at last. + +'Where is the thief, Gerard?' he asked. + +'Dead, sire.' + +'You killed him?' + +'He wounded my horse, sire, and would have escaped had I not shot him.' + +'Did you recognize him?' + +'De Montluc is his name, sire--a Colonel of Chasseurs.' + +'Tut,' said the Emperor. 'We have got the poor pawn, but the hand which +plays the game is still out of our reach.' He sat in silent thought for +a little, with his chin sunk upon his chest. 'Ah, Talleyrand, +Talleyrand,' I heard him mutter, 'if I had been in your place and you in +mine, you would have crushed a viper when you held it under your heel. +For five years I have known you for what you are, and yet I have let you +live to sting me. Never mind, my brave,' he continued, turning to me, +'there will come a day of reckoning for everybody, and when it arrives, +I promise you that my friends will be remembered as well as my enemies.' + +'Sire,' said I, for I had had time for thought as well as he, 'if your +plans about these papers have been carried to the ears of your enemies, +I trust you do not think that it was owing to any indiscretion upon the +part of myself or of my comrades.' + +'It would be hardly reasonable for me to do so,' he answered, 'seeing +that this plot was hatched in Paris, and that you only had your orders a +few hours ago.' + +'Then how----?' + +'Enough,' he cried, sternly. 'You take an undue advantage of your +position.' + +That was always the way with the Emperor. He would chat with you as with +a friend and a brother, and then when he had wiled you into forgetting +the gulf which lay between you, he would suddenly, with a word or with a +look, remind you that it was as impassable as ever. When I have fondled +my old hound until he has been encouraged to paw my knees, and I have +then thrust him down again, it has made me think of the Emperor and his +ways. + +He reined his horse round, and I followed him in silence and with a +heavy heart. But when he spoke again his words were enough to drive all +thought of myself out of my mind. + +'I could not sleep until I knew how you had fared,' said he. 'I have +paid a price for my papers. There are not so many of my old soldiers +left that I can afford to lose two in one night.' + +When he said 'two' it turned me cold. + +'Colonel Despienne was shot, sire,' I stammered. + +'And Captain Tremeau cut down. Had I been a few minutes earlier, I might +have saved him. The other escaped across the fields.' + +I remembered that I had seen a horseman a moment before I had met the +Emperor. He had taken to the fields to avoid me, but if I had known, and +Violette been unwounded, the old soldier would not have gone unavenged. +I was thinking sadly of his sword-play, and wondering whether it was his +stiffening wrist which had been fatal to him, when Napoleon spoke again. + +'Yes, Brigadier,' said he, 'you are now the only man who will know where +these papers are concealed.' + +It must have been imagination, my friends, but for an instant I may +confess that it seemed to me that there was a tone in the Emperor's +voice which was not altogether one of sorrow. But the dark thought had +hardly time to form itself in my mind before he let me see that I was +doing him an injustice. + +'Yes, I have paid a price for my papers,' he said, and I heard them +crackle as he put his hand up to his bosom. 'No man has ever had more +faithful servants--no man since the beginning of the world.' + +As he spoke we came upon the scene of the struggle. Colonel Despienne +and the man whom we had shot lay together some distance down the road, +while their horses grazed contentedly beneath the poplars. Captain +Tremeau lay in front of us upon his back, with his arms and legs +stretched out, and his sabre broken short off in his hand. His tunic was +open, and a huge blood-clot hung like a dark handkerchief out of a slit +in his white shirt. I could see the gleam of his clenched teeth from +under his immense moustache. + +The Emperor sprang from his horse and bent down over the dead man. + +'He was with me since Rivoli,' said he, sadly. 'He was one of my old +grumblers in Egypt.' + +And the voice brought the man back from the dead. I saw his eyelids +shiver. He twitched his arm, and moved the sword-hilt a few inches. He +was trying to raise it in salute. Then the mouth opened, and the hilt +tinkled down on to the ground. + +'May we all die as gallantly,' said the Emperor, as he rose, and from my +heart I added 'Amen.' + +There was a farm within fifty yards of where we were standing, and the +farmer, roused from his sleep by the clatter of hoofs and the cracking +of pistols, had rushed out to the roadside. We saw him now, dumb with +fear and astonishment, staring open-eyed at the Emperor. It was to him +that we committed the care of the four dead men and of the horses also. +For my own part, I thought it best to leave Violette with him and to +take De Montluc's grey with me, for he could not refuse to give me back +my own mare, whilst there might be difficulties about the other. +Besides, my little friend's wound had to be considered, and we had a +long return ride before us. + +The Emperor did not at first talk much upon the way. Perhaps the deaths +of Despienne and Tremeau still weighed heavily upon his spirits. He was +always a reserved man, and in those times, when every hour brought him +the news of some success of his enemies or defection of his friends, one +could not expect him to be a merry companion. Nevertheless, when I +reflected that he was carrying in his bosom those papers which he valued +so highly, and which only a few hours ago appeared to be for ever lost, +and when I further thought that it was I, Etienne Gerard, who had placed +them there, I felt that I had deserved some little consideration. The +same idea may have occurred to him, for when we had at last left the +Paris high road, and had entered the forest, he began of his own accord +to tell me that which I should have most liked to have asked him. + +'As to the papers,' said he, 'I have already told you that there is no +one now, except you and me, who knows where they are to be concealed. My +Mameluke carried the spades to the pigeon-house, but I have told him +nothing. Our plans, however, for bringing the packet from Paris have +been formed since Monday. There were three in the secret, a woman and +two men. The woman I would trust with my life; which of the two men has +betrayed us I do not know, but I think that I may promise to find out.' + +We were riding in the shadow of the trees at the time, and I could hear +him slapping his riding-whip against his boot, and taking pinch after +pinch of snuff, as was his way when he was excited. + +'You wonder, no doubt,' said he, after a pause, 'why these rascals did +not stop the carriage at Paris instead of at the entrance to +Fontainebleau.' + +In truth, the objection had not occurred to me, but I did not wish to +appear to have less wits than he gave me credit for, so I answered that +it was indeed surprising. + +'Had they done so they would have made a public scandal, and run a +chance of missing their end. Short of taking the berline to pieces, they +could not have discovered the hiding-place. He planned it well--he could +always plan well--and he chose his agents well also. But mine were the +better.' + +It is not for me to repeat to you, my friends, all that was said to me +by the Emperor as we walked our horses amid the black shadows and +through the moon-silvered glades of the great forest. Every word of it +is impressed upon my memory, and before I pass away it is likely that I +will place it all upon paper, so that others may read it in the days to +come. He spoke freely of his past, and something also of his future; of +the devotion of Macdonald, of the treason of Marmont, of the little King +of Rome, concerning whom he talked with as much tenderness as any +bourgeois father of a single child; and, finally, of his father-in-law, +the Emperor of Austria, who would, he thought, stand between his enemies +and himself. For myself, I dared not say a word, remembering how I had +already brought a rebuke upon myself; but I rode by his side, hardly +able to believe that this was indeed the great Emperor, the man whose +glance sent a thrill through me, who was now pouring out his thoughts to +me in short, eager sentences, the words rattling and racing like the +hoofs of a galloping squadron. It is possible that, after the +word-splittings and diplomacy of a Court, it was a relief to him to +speak his mind to a plain soldier like myself. + +In this way the Emperor and I--even after years it sends a flush of +pride into my cheeks to be able to put those words together--the Emperor +and I walked our horses through the Forest of Fontainebleau, until we +came at last to the Colombier. The three spades were propped against the +wall upon the right-hand side of the ruined door, and at the sight of +them the tears sprang to my eyes as I thought of the hands for which +they were intended. The Emperor seized one and I another. + +'Quick!' said he. 'The dawn will be upon us before we get back to the +palace.' + +We dug the hole, and placing the papers in one of my pistol holsters to +screen them from the damp, we laid them at the bottom and covered them +up. We then carefully removed all marks of the ground having been +disturbed, and we placed a large stone upon the top. I dare say that +since the Emperor was a young gunner, and helped to train his pieces +against Toulon, he had not worked so hard with his hands. He was mopping +his forehead with his silk handkerchief long before we had come to the +end of our task. + +The first grey cold light of morning was stealing through the tree +trunks when we came out together from the old pigeon-house. The Emperor +laid his hand upon my shoulder as I stood ready to help him to mount. + +'We have left the papers there,' said he, solemnly, 'and I desire that +you shall leave all thought of them there also. Let the recollection of +them pass entirely from your mind, to be revived only when you receive a +direct order under my own hand and seal. From this time onwards you +forget all that has passed.' + +'I forget it, sire,' said I. + +We rode together to the edge of the town, where he desired that I should +separate from him. I had saluted, and was turning my horse, when he +called me back. + +'It is easy to mistake the points of the compass in the forest,' said +he. 'Would you not say that it was in the north-eastern corner that we +buried them?' + +'Buried what, sire?' + +'The papers, of course,' he cried, impatiently. + +'What papers, sire?' + +'Name of a name! Why, the papers that you have recovered for me.' + +'I am really at a loss to know what your Majesty is talking about.' + +He flushed with anger for a moment, and then he burst out laughing. + +'Very good, Brigadier!' he cried. 'I begin to believe that you are as +good a diplomatist as you are a soldier, and I cannot say more than +that.' + + * * * * * + +So that was my strange adventure in which I found myself the friend and +confident agent of the Emperor. When he returned from Elba he refrained +from digging up the papers until his position should be secure, and they +still remained in the corner of the old pigeon-house after his exile to +St Helena. It was at this time that he was desirous of getting them into +the hands of his own supporters, and for that purpose he wrote me, as I +afterwards learned, three letters, all of which were intercepted by his +guardians. Finally, he offered to support himself and his own +establishment--which he might very easily have done out of the gigantic +sum which belonged to him--if they would only pass one of his letters +unopened. This request was refused, and so, up to his death in '21, the +papers still remained where I have told you. How they came to be dug up +by Count Bertrand and myself, and who eventually obtained them, is a +story which I would tell you, were it not that the end has not yet come. + +Some day you will hear of those papers, and you will see how, after he +has been so long in his grave, that great man can still set Europe +shaking. When that day comes, you will think of Etienne Gerard, and you +will tell your children that you have heard the story from the lips of +the man who was the only one living of all who took part in that strange +history--the man who was tempted by Marshal Berthier, who led that wild +pursuit upon the Paris road, who was honoured by the embrace of the +Emperor, and who rode with him by moonlight in the Forest of +Fontainebleau. The buds are bursting and the birds are calling, my +friends. You may find better things to do in the sunlight than listening +to the stories of an old, broken soldier. And yet you may well treasure +what I say, for the buds will have burst and the birds sung in many +seasons before France will see such another ruler as he whose servants +we were proud to be. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Exploits Of Brigadier Gerard +by Arthur Conan Doyle + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11247 *** |