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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/35540-8.txt b/35540-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ef01a15 --- /dev/null +++ b/35540-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8258 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great White Army, by Max Pemberton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Great White Army + +Author: Max Pemberton + +Release Date: March 10, 2011 [EBook #35540] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT WHITE ARMY *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + +THE GREAT WHITE ARMY + + + +By + +Max Pemberton + + + + +CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD + +London, New York, Toronto & Melbourne + +1916 + + + + +_Works by the same Author_ + + MILLIONAIRE'S ISLAND + THE IRON PIRATE + WHITE MOTLEY + THE VIRGIN FORTRESS + WAR AND THE WOMAN + CAPTAIN BLACK. A sequel to "The Iron Pirate" + THE GIRL WITH THE RED HAIR + THE SHOW GIRL + THE HOUSE UNDER THE SEA + THE SEA-WOLVES + THE IMPREGNABLE CITY + THE GIANT'S GATE + A PURITAN'S WIFE + THE GARDEN OF SWORDS + KRONSTADT. A Novel + THE LITTLE HUGUENOT + RED MORN + THE HUNDRED DAYS + THE DIAMOND SHIP + WHEELS OF ANARCHY + SIR RICHARD ESCOMBE + +CASSELL AND CO., LTD., + +LONDON, NEW YORK, TORONTO AND MELBOURNE. + + + + +AUTHOR'S NOTE + +_The greatest military tragedy in history is the retreat of Napoleon's +Grand Army from Moscow. Napoleon set out to invade Russia in the +spring of the year 1812. In the month of June 600,000 men crossed the +River Niemen. Of this vast army, but 20,000 "famished, frost-bitten +spectres" staggered across the Bridge of Kovno in the month of +December._ + +_Many pens have described, with more or less fidelity, the details of +this unsurpassable tragedy. The story which we are now about to +represent to our readers is that of Surgeon-Major Constant, a veteran +who accompanied Napoleon to Moscow, and was one of the survivors who +returned ultimately to Paris. Constant had fled from Paris at the +beginning of the French Revolution in the year 1792. He lived for a +while at Leipsic, where he gave lessons in French and studied medicine. +His nephew, Captain Léon de Courcelles, was one of the famous Vélites +of the Guard. It is with the exploits of this young and daring soldier +that the veteran's narrative is often concerned._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + 1. THE WOMAN ON THE STAIRS + 2. THE GUILLOTINE + 3. THE TREASURE IN THE WOODS + 4. PHANTOM MUSIC + 5. THE CAMP BY THE RIVER + 6. THE WITCH IN ERMINE + 7. LITTLE PETROVKA + 8. THE AFFAIR AT THE POST-HOUSE + 9. WE CROSS THE BÉRÉZINA + 10. THE LAST REVIEW + + + +THE GREAT WHITE ARMY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE WOMAN ON THE STAIRS + +I + +I, Janil de Constant, remember very well the moment when we first +beheld the glorious city of Moscow, which we had marched twelve +thousand leagues to take. + +It would have been the fourteenth day of September. The sun shone +fiercely upon our splendid cavalcade, and even in the forests, which we +now quitted very willingly, there were oases of light like golden lakes +in a wonderland. + +It was half-past three o'clock when I myself reached the Mont du Salut, +a hill from whose summit the traveller first looks down upon the city. + +And what a spectacle to see! What domes and minarets and mighty +towers! What a mingling of East and West, of Oriental beauty and the +stately splendour of a European capital! You will not wonder that our +men drew rein to gaze with awe upon so transcendent a spectacle. This +was Mecca truly. Here they would end their labours and here lay their +reward. + +We thought, with reason surely, that there would be no more talk of +war. The Russians had learned their lesson at Borodino, and all that +remained for the Russian Tsar to do was to make peace with our Emperor. +Meanwhile there would be many days of holiday such as we had not known +since we left France. The riches of this city passed the fables, they +told us. You will imagine with what feelings the advance posts of the +Guard set out to descend the hill and take up their quarters in the +governor's palace. + +I had hoped to enter Moscow with my nephew Léon, who is one of the +Vélites of the Guard. I wished to be near that young man at so +critical a moment. Even old soldiers lose their heads when they enter +an enemy's city, and what could one expect of the young ones? Léon, +however, had ridden on with Major Pavart, of the _chasseurs à cheval_, +and so it was with old Sergeant Bourgogne, of the Vélites, that I +entered Moscow and began to think of quarters. + +We heard some shots as we went down into the town, and when we came to +that broad street which leads to the Place du Gouvernement, a soldier +of the line told us that the governor had released the convicts and +that they were holding the palace against our outposts. We thought +very little of the matter at the time, and were more concerned to +admire the magnificence of the street and the beauty of many of its +houses. These, it appeared, belonged to the nobility, but we began to +perceive that none of the princely owners had remained in Moscow, and +that only a few servants occupied these mansions. Many of the latter +watched us as we rode by, and at the corner of the great square one of +them, a dandy fellow with mincing gait, had the temerity to catch my +horse by the bridle and to hold him while he told me that his name was +Heriot, and that he had left Paris with the Count of Provence in the +year 1790. + +"You are a surgeon, are you not?" he went on before I had time to +exclaim upon his effrontery. Amazed, I told him that I was. + +"Then," said he, "be good enough to come into yonder house and see to +one of your own men who is lying there." + +I suppose it was a proper thing for the fellow to ask me, yet the +_naïveté_ of it brought a smile to my lips. + +"Bon garçon," said I, "you must have many surgeons of your own in +Moscow. Why ask me, who am on my way to the Emperor?" + +"Because," he said, still holding the bridle, "you will not regret your +visit, monsieur. This is a rich house: they will know how to pay you +for your services." + +There was something mysterious about this remark which excited my +curiosity, and turning my horse aside I permitted him to lead it into +the stable courtyard. It was to be observed that he slammed the great +gate quickly behind us, and bolted it with great bars of iron which +would almost have defied artillery. Then he tethered my horse to a +pillar and bade me follow him. It was just at the moment when the band +of the Fusiliers began to play a lively air and many thousands of our +infantry pressed on into the square. + + +II + +We entered the house itself by a wicket upon the left-hand side, which +should have led to the kitchens. + +It was here, perhaps, that I thought it not a little extraordinary, and +it may be somewhat less than prudent, that I, who should have been +already at the gates of the palace, had turned aside at the mere nod of +this dandy to enter a house of whose people I knew nothing. +Nevertheless, it was the case, and I reflected that if one of my own +countrymen were indeed in distress, then was the delay not ill-timed. + +We were at the foot of a cold stone staircase by this time, and I +observed that the lackey began to mount it with some caution. There +was no sound in the house, and when presently we emerged in the gallery +of a vast hall the place had all the air of a church which has been +long closed. + +Here for the first time I discovered the purpose for which I had been +brought to the place. A man lay dead upon the flags of the gallery, +and it was clear that he had died by a bullet from the pistol which was +flung down at his side. + +Thousands of men had I seen die since we crossed the River Niemen, yet +the sight of this mere youth lying dead upon the flags afflicted me +strangely. Perchance it was the great cold hall, or the dim light +which filtered through its heavy windows, or the silence of that +immense house and all the suggestions of mystery which attended it. Be +it as it may, I had less than my usual resource when I knelt by the +young man's side and made that brief examination which quickly +convinced me that he was dead. The dandy, meanwhile, stood near by +taking prodigious pinches of snuff from a box edged with diamonds. His +unconcern was remarkable. I could make nothing of such a picture. + +"Who is this youth?" I asked him. + +He shrugged his shoulders and took another pinch of the snuff. + +"One of your own countrymen, as I say--an artist from Fréjus who is in +the service of my lord, the prince." + +"How did he die, then?" + +The dandy averted his eyes. Then he said: + +"I returned from the great square ten minutes ago and found him here. +You can see as well as I that he shot himself." + +"That is not true," I rejoined, looking at him sternly. "Men do not +shoot themselves in the middle of the back!" + +He was still unconcerned. + +"Very well, then," he retorted; "someone must have shot him." And +almost upon the words he turned as white as a sheet. + +"Listen," he cried in a loud whisper; "did you not hear them?" + +I listened and certainly heard the sound of voices. + +It came through an open door at the far end of the gallery and rose in +a sharp crescendo, which seemed to say that men were quarrelling. + +"Who is in the house?" I asked the fellow. + +"I do not know," he said gravely enough. "There should be no one here +but ourselves. Perhaps you will be good enough to see. You are a +soldier; it is your business." + +I laughed at his impudence, and having looked to the priming of my +pistol, I caught him suddenly by the arm and pushed him on ahead of me. +Justly or not, it had flashed upon me that this might be a trap. Yet +why it should be so or what it had to do with a surgeon-major of the +Guards I knew no more than the dead. + +"We will go together," said I; and so I pushed him down the corridor. + +My presence seemed to give him courage. He entered the room with me, +and before a man could have counted three he fell headlong with a great +gash in his throat that all the surgeons in the French army could not +have stitched up. + +This was a memorable scene, but I was to witness many a one like it in +those days of rapine and of pillage to come. + +We had entered a lofty room, the furniture of which would not have been +out of place in the Emperor's palace at Paris. Most of it, indeed, was +French, and some of the cabinets were such as you may see to this day +both in the Tuileries and at Fontainebleau. So much I observed at a +glance, but infinitely of more import at the moment was the tenants of +the room. Three greater ruffians I have never seen in any city of +Europe; neither men so dirty and ill-kempt nor so ferocious in their +mien. All wore ragged sheepskins and had their legs bare at the knee. +They were armed with knives and bludgeons, and two of them carried +torches in their hands. Instantly I saw that these were three of the +convicts whom the governor had released. They had come to sack the +house, and they would have killed any who opposed them as a butcher +kills a sheep. But for the dead man at my feet, I could have laughed +aloud at their predicament when they suddenly realised that a soldier +and not a civilian must now be dealt with. It was just as though their +valour went ebbing away in a torrent. + +I struck the first man down with the butt end of my pistol, and, +fearing the effect of a shot, drew my sword and made for the others who +held the torches. They fled headlong, slamming the heavy door at the +far end of the room behind them--and there was I alone with the dead, +and the house had fallen again to the silence of a tomb. + + +III + +I stooped over the man I had struck down, and found him breathing +stertorously but still alive. The lackey, however, was quite dead, and +his blood had made a great pool upon the rich Eastern carpet of the +salon. + +My first impulse was to go to the windows and open the heavy shutters; +and when this was done I found myself looking out upon a pretty garden +in the Italian fashion. It was surrounded by high walls on three +sides, and seemed as void of humanity as the house. The salon itself +stood at a considerable height from the ground, and although there was +a wide balcony before the windows, I perceived no possible means of +escape thereby. + +This will tell you that I now had a considerable apprehension both of +the deserted house and of the adventure which had befallen me. Not +only did I blame my own folly for listening to the servant in the first +instance--that was bad enough--but upon it there came a desire to +return to my comrades, which was almost an obsession. There I stood +upon the balcony listening to the rolling of the drums and the blare of +the bugles, and yet I might have been a thousand leagues from friends +and comrades. Moreover, it was evident that I had not seen the last of +the assassins, and that they would return. + +Such was the situation at a moment when I realised that escape by the +balcony was impossible. Returning to the room, its beauty and riches +stood fully revealed by the warm sunlight, and they recalled to me the +tales of Moscow's wealth which we had heard directly we entered Russia. +The Grand Army, I said, would be well occupied for many days to come in +an employment it had always found congenial. Vases of the rarest +porcelain, statues from Italy, pictures and furniture from my own +France, gems in gold and stones most precious were the common ornaments +of this magnificent apartment. Here and there an empty cabinet seemed +to say that some attempt had been made already to remove these +treasures, and that the entry of our troops had disturbed the robbers. +What remained, however, would have been riches to a prince, and it +would have been possible for me to have put a fortune into my wallet +that very hour. + +Already it seemed to me that I should have a difficulty in finding my +way out of the house. The idea had been in my mind when I stood upon +the balcony and contemplated the solitude and the security of the +garden below. There I had listened to the rolling music of the bands, +the blare of bugles, and the tramping of many thousands of exulting +soldiers; but all sounds were lost when I returned to the great hall +and stood alone with the dead. + +Who was this youth to whom I had been called? + +I bent over him and discovered such a face as one might find in the +picture of an Italian master. The lad would have been about one and +twenty, and no woman's hair could have been finer than his. Such a +skin I had rarely seen; the face might have been chiselled from the +purest marble; the eyes were open and blue as the sea by which I +imagined this young fellow had lived. There was firmness in the chin, +and a contour of neck and shoulders which even a physician could admire. + +His clothes, I observed, were well chosen and made of him a man of some +taste. He wore breeches of black velvet and a shirt of the finest +cambric, open at the neck. His shoes had jewelled buckles, and his +stockings were of silk. Who, then, was the lad, and why had the lackey +killed him? That was a question I meant to answer when I had some of +my comrades with me. It remained to escape from this house of mystery +as quickly as might be. + +I passed down the staircase and came to an ante-room with a vast door +at the end of it. It was heavily bolted, and the keys of it were gone. +So much I had expected, and yet it seemed that where the assassins had +gone there might I follow. Ridiculous to be a prisoner of a house from +within, and of such a house, when there must be half a dozen doors that +gave upon the streets about it. And yet I could find none of them that +was not locked and barred as the chief door I have named, while every +window upon the ground floor might have been that of a prison. + +Vainly I went from place to place--here by corridors that were as dark +as night, there into rooms where the lightest sounds gave an echo as of +thunder, back again to the great hall I had left--and always with the +fear of the assassins upon me and the irony of my condition +unconcealed. Good God! That I had shut myself in such a trap! A +thousand times I cursed the builder of such a house and all his works. +The night, I said, would find me alone in a tomb of marble. + +I shall not weary you by a recital of all that befell in the hours of +daylight that remained. I had a horrid fear of the dark, and when at +length it overtook me I returned to the salon, and, having covered the +dead men with the rugs lying about, went thence to the balcony and so +watched the night come down. + +Consider my situation--so near and yet so far from all that was taking +place in this fallen city. + +Above me the great bowl of the sky glowed with the lights of many a +bivouac in square or market. It was as though the whole city trembled +beneath the footsteps of the thousands who now trampled down her +ancient glory and cast her banners to the earth. The blare of bands +was to be heard everywhere; the murmur of voices rose and fell like the +angry surf that beats upon a shore. Cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" rent +the air from time to time, and to them were added the fierce shouting +of the rabble or the frenzied screams of those who fled before the +glittering bayonets of this mighty host. And to crown all, as though +mockingly, there rang out the music of those unsurpassable bells--the +bells of Moscow, of which all the world has heard. + +These were the sights and sounds which came to me as I stood upon that +balcony and laughed grimly at my situation. But a stone's throw away, +said I, there would be merry fellows enough to call me by my name and +lead me to my comrades. + +Janil de Constant, I flattered myself, was as well known as any man in +all the Guard, old or young. Never did his Majesty pass me but I had a +warm word from him or that little pinch upon the ear which denoted his +favour. + +My art was considerable, as all the world knows. + +I had been a professor in the University of Paris until this fever of +war fell upon me, and I set out to discover its realities for myself. +What skill could do for suffering men, I had done these many months, +and yet here was I as far from it all as though a ship had carried me +to the Indies and the desolation of the ocean lay all about me. + +These, I say, were my thoughts, and the night--that wonderful night of +summer--did nothing to better them. Perchance I should have spent it +there upon the balcony but for that which I had expected--the return of +the assassins to the spoils from which they had been scared. It could +not have befallen otherwise. The time, I suppose, would have been +about ten of the clock. They entered the garden below me, and I heard +their footsteps upon the grass. But now there were many of them, and +even from the balcony it was apparent to me that all were armed. + + +IV + +I returned to the room, and, crossing it swiftly, had my hand already +upon the key of the door when a new sound arrested me. + +The sound proceeded from the gallery of the great staircase. I heard a +key turned and a door creak upon its hinges. A moment later the faint +light of a candle illumined the staircase, and the figure of a woman +appeared. + +It was all very sudden. But the half of a minute, I suppose, elapsed +between the first sound of the key and the appearance of the beautiful +creature who now stood in the gallery; yet to me it seemed an age of +waiting. There I stood motionless, watching that vision which the +candle revealed--the vision of the sleeper awakened, and a woman's +cloak thrown about her shoulders. + +"Good God!" I cried, "the dead have come to life!" Beyond all doubt +this must be the sister of the murdered man. + +"Mademoiselle," I said, taking a step forward. And at that she cried +out in terror and let the candle drop. Instantly I strode to her side +and caught both her hands, for it was evident she was swooning. + +"Mademoiselle," I repeated, "I am a Frenchman, and came to this house +to help your brother. Help me in your turn. There are men in the +garden, and they are coming in--we must be quick, mademoiselle." + +She shivered a little in my arms and then pressed forward towards me. + +"I am Valerie," she murmured in a low voice, as though I would +recognise the name. "My brother is dead; François the steward killed +him. Oh, take me away--take me from this place." + +I told her that I would do so, that my only desire was to escape from +the house if I could. + +"But, mademoiselle," said I, "every door is locked. I cannot find the +way, and the brigands are returning. We have no time to lose." + +The tidings appeared to rouse her. She passed her hand across her +forehead and, staggering forward a little way, stood very still as +though in thought. + +I shall never forget that picture of her as the moonbeams came down +from the dome above, and she stood there in a robe of white and silver. +A more beautiful thing I have never seen upon God's earth. The story +of her brother's death appeared no longer a mystery. + +"My God!" she cried, "they are in the house!" + +We bent over the balustrade together and listened to the sounds. There +was a crashing as of woodwork, and then the hum of voices. Instantly +upon that there came the heavy trampling of feet. Those who entered +the house were not afraid--they were even laughing as they came. + +"What shall we do?" she cried. "What shall we do?" + +I caught her hand and dragged her back from the railing. + +"There must be some room which will hide us," said I. "You know the +way. Think, child; is there no such place?" + +She did not answer me, but turned and led the way up the narrow flight +of stairs by which she had appeared. Here was her bedroom. + +We passed through it without delay and entered an oratory which lay at +the head of a second flight of stairs immediately beyond. Here she +shut a heavy door of oak and bolted it. The only light in the room +flickered from a golden lamp before the altar, and as far as I could +see there was no way out other than the door by which we had come in. + +Now, this chapel was built in one of the eastern turrets of the house. +I came to learn later that the owner of the place was Prince Boris, a +man of some culture and of European notoriety, and that, while he was +himself an orthodox Greek, he had permitted this use of a secret chapel +to the young Frenchwoman who now knelt before its altar. + +Wonderfully decorated in gold and silver, with rare pictures upon its +walls and superb gems in the crucifixes above the tabernacle, the whole +bore witness to a man of Catholic sympathies and abundant wealth. At +any other time, no doubt, I would have made much of this hidden chapel +and of its treasures; but the hour was not propitious, and, glad of its +momentous security, I turned to the girl and would have questioned her. +She, however, was already at her prayers, nor did she seem to hear me +when I addressed her. A second question merely caused her to turn her +head and cry, "Hush! they will hear us!" And so she went on praying--I +doubt not for her dead brother's soul--while I paced up and down in as +great a state of anger and of self-reproach as I had ever been in all +my life. + +What a situation for a surgeon-major of the Guards--to be locked up +here in this puny chapel with a houseful of assassins below, and my own +regiment not a stone's throw from the gate! And yet that was the truth +of it, and anon I heard some of the robbers come leaping up the stairs, +and presently they began to beat upon the door of the chapel, and I +knew that they carried axes in their hands. + + +V + +The sounds were deep and ominous, and might well have quelled a +stronger spirit. The girl herself turned her head at the first blow, +and then, staggering to her feet, she caught me by the arm and +whispered her fears in my ear. + +"They will beat it down," she said, indicating the door. + +I answered that I thought it quite possible. + +"Why do your soldiers let them?" she asked me; and upon that she said, +"Why did you come here alone?" + +I told her that the steward, for such I supposed the lackey to be, had +brought me to the place; and so much she understood readily enough. + +"He was insolent to me," she exclaimed. "My brother struck him. He +carried a pistol, but we did not know it. God help me, what I have +suffered this day! And now this----" And again she indicated the +peril beyond the door. + +Yet with it all her courage was not lacking. She no longer wept now +that danger threatened us, and presently she pointed to the gilded dome +above, and said that it could be reached from the little gallery behind +the altar. + +"Then," said I, "let us see what we can do." And, taking her hand, we +went up to the gallery together; and there sure enough in the angle was +a Gothic window large enough for a man to pass through. When I opened +it I saw a narrow gallery at the very summit of the cupola, and to this +I helped her immediately. The height was considerable and the parapet +but trifling. She stood there by my side without flinching, and when +we had closed the window it seemed as though the peril were now far +distant. + +"I could hold this place against a regiment," said I, drawing my sword +and indicating the narrow window. + +She understood as much, and, nodding her head, she gazed out over +Moscow, as though some help were to be expected from the turbid streets +which the night now revealed to us. + +Surely this was a wonderful hour! The gallery of the cupola stood some +eighty feet above the pavement of the courtyard below. We looked out +over the stables of the prince's house to the great gate by which I had +entered and the Place du Gouvernement where the lackey had accosted me. +It must have been nearly midnight, and yet Moscow was as wide awake as +ever she had been in her history. I saw thousands of my own countrymen +marching with light steps to the bivouacs prepared for them. Great +fires had been kindled in every open space. There were lanterns +swinging and bugles blaring. Bayonets shimmered in the crimson light, +bells rang joyously, the triumphant war songs of the victors were +unceasing. And all this amid a clamour, a restless going to and fro, a +fevered movement of awakened people that capitulation alone could +provoke. The Grand Army had reached its goal, and here was the end of +its labours. So I doubt not the thousands thought as they pressed on +towards the Kremlin and soldiers began to enter every house and demand +the fruits of their labours. + +I have told you that the beautiful young Frenchwoman had hardly spoken +to me hitherto, but here at this dizzy height she began for the first +time, I think, to realise that I was a friend and not a foe, and her +tongue was loosened. I have never seen greater dignity in a woman nor +one whose self-possession was so remarkable under such tragic +circumstances. She indicated the busy street below and asked me to +which of those regiments I belonged. + +I told her at once that I was a surgeon-major of the Vélites, and +should be now in the governor's palace with the Emperor. + +"Then," she said, "your friends will come to look for you, will they +not?" + +I told her that it was not impossible. + +"But, mademoiselle," said I, "they will not imagine that I have become +a bird." + +She liked the humour of it and smiled very sweetly. + +"Oh," she said, closing her eyes and shuddering, "what a day it has +been! Prince Boris left yesterday to rejoin the army. My brother and +I were to have followed him to Nishni this afternoon. Then the steward +said that he could not be left alone, for the convicts were out and +were robbing the houses. The governor released them at noon to-day. +They have been pillaging all Moscow, and your friends will find little +when they come." + +I was greatly interested in this, for some such story had reached us +even before we entered the city. + +The desperate resolve to deliver Moscow to the evil element in its +population had been taken by its rulers some days previously to the +arrival of the army, but neither the Emperor nor his staff had been +greatly moved by it. The cavalry would soon make short work of these +fellows in the open, while we trusted to the predatory instincts of the +rank and file to deal with such scum in the houses. + +I was about to tell her as much when a movement of the window behind us +caused me to turn round, and to discover a shaggy head protruding +therefrom. Without a thought, I fired my pistol point blank at it, and +I shall always say that this was as unlucky a stroke as ever I made. +The flash and the report on that high tower drew the attention of the +passers-by in the street without, and presently some infantry who were +passing began to fire on the tower, and the bullets rained thick around +us. There was nothing for it but to plump down beneath the balustrade +and so wait until their humour was done. And so we sat, the girl +wide-eyed and silent, myself with drawn sword to thrust at any face +which should be shown at the window above us. + +"Janil," said I to myself, "this will be a pretty tale for the regiment +to-morrow." Had you pressed me, I would have confessed a doubt that +that to-morrow would ever be. + +An hour passed, I suppose, and still found us in the same position. +There were no longer any bullets from the street, and anon, when I +stood up and looked again over the great gate of the palace, whom +should I see but my own nephew Léon riding up and down upon his famous +white horse and evidently searching for his old uncle who had played so +scurvy a trick upon him. + + +VI + +Now this was a splendid sight; and, waving my sword and crying with all +my lungs, I strove in vain to attract his attention. As for the girl +at my side, she watched me in some astonishment. Presently, seeing +what I was after, she asked me if it were not the young soldier on the +white horse in whom I was interested. + +"Mademoiselle," said I, "it is Léon, my nephew. If I can make myself +known to him, I will warrant that he will be inside this house before +you can count ten. A fine soldier, mademoiselle; I am very proud of +him." + +She nodded her head and looked at the boy with a new interest. There +was such a great bivouac fire at the corner of the square that you +could see him almost as if he were upon the stage of a theatre, and +surely a handsomer man did not ride with the Grand Army. Well I knew +what this pretty woman would think of him, and I watched her with an +old man's interest. + +"He does not see you," she remarked presently. + +It was all too true. + +"But he will not abandon me," I retorted; and, turning at the same +moment, I struck with the butt of my pistol at a second face which +showed itself at the window. The fellow withdrew with a curse that +plainly meant mischief. I could hear other voices in the room, and by +and by a stranger sound, and the smell of fire upon it. + +"Good God!" I said, "they are burning the chapel!" + +At that she uttered a low cry, the first of fear that I had heard +escape her lips. + +I opened the window and looked down into the chapel. There were but +two men there, and one was firing the curtains of the altar. So little +did he fear interruption that I leaped down on him while his torch was +still upraised, and, running him through with my sword, I pulled the +burning curtain upon him and stamped the fire out upon his body. The +other assassin watched me with eyes grown wide with fear. He had a +torch in his hand, but he stood there as though spellbound, and when I +made at him he fell headlong upon the staircase, and man and fire went +rolling over and over together. + +This did not alarm me, for the stairs were all stone, and there was +nothing that could be kindled. Following the fellow through the +bedroom, I came again upon the great staircase, and there looked down +upon as strange a spectacle as I shall ever see in all my years. It +was as though all the rabble of Moscow had come together in that +magnificent hall--giant Tartars, low-caste assassins from the Indies, +black-browed Slavs, patriarchs with long beards and youths with +none--all were filling their sacks with the spoils of the prince's +house and carrying them, when full, to the garden beyond. Animals in a +den never fought more fiercely than some of these rogues when their +lusts had clashed. Nor might a man have found a fiercer company in all +the foul havens of the East. + +For myself, I watched them aghast, knowing that it were death to be +discovered where I stood. So eager, however, were they that none saw +me, and the pillage and the riot were still at their height when one +amongst them cried "Fire!" and in an instant every man sprang to +attention, and the roar of a great conflagration burst upon their +astonished ears. + + +VII + +The palace had been fired; there could be no doubt about it. + +Volumes of smoke poured into the hall and went floating to the ceiling +in dense and looming clouds. The marble reflected a ruddy light as of +flames vomited from a fiery pit. There was a crackling of wood, a +rending of glass, and upon that the oaths and curses of the assassins +below. Now truly were they hoist of their own petard. The palace had +been fired while their plunder was yet unpacked, and they roared and +barked around it like wolves robbed of their prey. + +I say that we were all taken unawares, and that is true enough. For +myself, I stood there listening to the roar of the flames, and watching +the mad, frenzied struggles of the scum below, and with no more idea of +how to get out of the place than the veriest child might have had. +None but a madman would have attempted to fight his way through the +raving mob of brigands who grovelled about the doors in seeming +impotence, as though their shaking hands could not unlock the bars +which imprisoned them. Yet passed they must be if I and the child with +me were not to perish in the flames. + +So much could not be hidden from either of us. We beheld them +wrangling still upon their plunder while the flames were all about +them, and those who did run from the hall returned immediately to warn +their friends in a tongue which had no meaning for me. From this time +they became as demons possessed. It was a terrible thing to see them +running round and round like dogs driven by a whip, to hear the clash +of their knives, and the shrieks of those who fell. Nor could I wonder +that my little companion's courage deserted her at last and that a loud +cry of fear escaped her. + +"Oh, come," she cried, "come from this dreadful place." And, so +saying, she caught me almost savagely by the arm and led me from the +gallery. Whither she would take me, I knew not at all. Her eyes were +alight with the fear which animated her. She stretched out her arms as +though to feel her way in the gathering smoke which threatened us. I +could see already that she had little hope of the venture. + +We crossed a corridor and entered a lofty room which I took to be the +library of the palace. Farther on there was an antechamber, whose door +was locked and barred as the others had been in the room below. Upon +this she beat furiously as though someone beyond could hear us and +would open. Solid as a gate of iron, twenty men could not have forced +it. I saw already that our errand was vain, and I was about to lead +her away when what should happen but that the door was opened from +within, and a Russian soldier stood before me. "Nicholas!" cried +mademoiselle; and instantly the child was in the arms of a Russian, who +kissed her as a lover might have done. + +Now, this man was an officer who wore the white uniform and the black +cuirass of Prince Boris's famous regiment. I took him for the prince's +son, and there I was not wrong, as I learned at a subsequent date. + +And it needed no clever eye to tell me how things stood between the +girl and himself, and there was a smile on my lips while I watched them +and then looked over his shoulder into the room beyond, full of his +fellows and ablaze with the glitter of uniforms. + +The presence of these men needed little explanation. I perceived that +there had been a secret conclave in the palace, and I understood in an +instant what my own presence must mean. It was no coward's alarm. +There were half a dozen of them atop of me before I could lift a hand +to save myself. In vain the girl pleaded with them. They discovered +immediately that the palace was on fire, and, mad with rage and fury, +they fell upon me like wild beasts. The French had done this thing, +they cried; then let the Frenchmen pay the price. I knew now that they +meant to kill me. Their very gestures would have told me as much. "A +spy!" they shouted--to Janil de Constant! + +Well, there it was, and that is the simple truth of the story. + +I remember that they pushed me headlong from the room, then down a +steep flight of stairs, and so to a garden at the foot of it. There +one of them cried for a sergeant to come to him. After that my memory +is chiefly of the glitter of bayonets and of a man who called to his +fellow to bind my hands with cord. It came to me as in a dream that +they were about to shoot me, and that this was the hour of my death. I +recollect that I was thrust up against a rough stone wall, and that the +sergeant asked me a question in Russian of which I could make nothing. + +From the room there now came the loud shouts of the officers, who had +discovered that the palace was on fire, and were leading some of the +troopers to attack the flames. Their voices and that of the sergeant +mingled oddly in my ears; but presently I began to perceive that the +man wished to bandage my eyes, and as this promised an instant of +grace, I assented willingly. To say that I was afraid is to give but a +child's idea of the circumstances. It had all come upon me so +swiftly--the discovery of the fire and of the assassins, the passing of +hope and the coming of despair, that this new turn found my wits +paralysed and all resources gone from me. In my head there were +buzzing sounds as of a man stricken suddenly by sickness. I thought of +nothing except of the wall against which I stood, of the man who +bandaged my eyes and of the bayonets which had glittered in the ruddy +glow of flames. That I should be dead when ten seconds were counted I +could not believe, and then as swiftly the truth must be heard. "You +are about to die," said the secret voice in my ear. "You will never +see the day. This is night; you will sleep." + +An intolerable interval of silence followed upon this. I heard the +shuffling of feet and the sound of voices as though from the far +distance. Men were speaking in whispers, and these whispers grew in +volume until they were like a hoarse murmur of winds about me. I was +tempted to cry, "Fire, for God's sake!" and yet I could not utter the +words. Indeed, a faintness had come upon me, and I swayed to and fro +until the volley rang out with a crash of thunder and lights danced +fantastically before my eyes. Then I think that I must have fallen +prone upon the grass. If this were death, it had come without pain, +and men had laughed because it came. God! Was there ever such +laughter heard by a man so situated? Peal upon peal of it--and a +woman's laughter! + +Someone loosed the bands which held my hands, and another forced a +little brandy between my clenched lips. I raised myself up, shivering +as though with an ague. + +All about me it was as light and bright as though the sun had risen. +The great palace flamed with a thunder of sounds and a crash of beams +most dreadful to hear. But otherwise the scene was as I had known it +before they bandaged me, save that Valerie stood at the stairs' head +swaying in an outburst of mad laughter which fear and pity had +provoked, while my nephew Léon watched her as she laughed. A moment +later and a man appeared and caught her in his arms. It was the +Russian, Prince Nicholas, who passed down the steps and was gone from +the garden before any man could draw upon him. + + +VIII + +Léon told me that he thought I must be in the house all the while, but +that he had hesitated to break in until the assassins had fired it. +When he found me, I stood alone by the wall, blinded and helpless, but +not a Russian to be seen. Who could wonder when the whole garden was +full of French bayonets. + +I left the house with him and we went together to the governor's +palace. None knew what had become of my horse, nor did I care +overmuch. The Place du Gouvernement itself was alive with our soldiers +called to put out the fire if they could. By these we went quickly, +Léon asking me a hundred questions which I could not answer yet. + +"There was a woman there," said I. + +He interrupted me with a laugh. + +"You think that I did not see her!" he asked. + +It being Léon, I thought no such thing. + +"We will hunt her out to-morrow," said he, and then we turned about and +together watched the burning palace. + +"A welcome to Moscow!" he cried sardonically. + +Ah, if we had known how this welcome was to be repeated in the days to +come! + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE GUILLOTINE + + +I + +My nephew, Léon, had sworn to seek out the beautiful young Frenchwoman, +Valerie, whom we had last seen in the gardens of the burning house; but +many days elapsed before that came to be, as you shall presently learn. + +In the first place, there was far too much to do in Moscow for the army +to think about women at all. + +We had arrived at the end of our journey, and the twelve hundred +leagues of marching had tired the strongest of us. Now we would rest +at the heart of Russia, while the Emperor dictated peace to the Tsar +and his army made good its losses. We never so much as dreamed that we +had pursued a phantom, and that it would lead the Grand Army to its +destruction. + +So you must behold us for many days in Moscow enjoying the fruits of +our labours and yet finding plenty of work to do. I have told you +already that the Guards were quartered in the Palace of the Kremlin, +whither the Emperor had repaired; and there I took up my residence with +my nephew Léon, and was occupied for some days in attending to the sick +who had accompanied us on our long journey from Smolensk. Though many +rumours came to me of the strange things that were happening in the +city beyond the palace, I paid little heed to them. His Majesty the +Emperor had set out to conquer Russia, and here he was at the heart of +their empire. What remained, then, but to sign a splendid peace and to +return in triumph to Paris? + +This is how things should have been, yet how different they were! + +We had been prepared to find the Russian nobles fled from Moscow, but +the absolute desertion of the city by its people astonished us beyond +compare. + +Often would I go forth into these magnificent streets, to find the +great houses all shut up, their gardens a solitude, the cafés closed, +and none but our own soldiers abroad. + +Deserted houses everywhere! The hotels shut up and boarded against the +stranger. All the shops denuded of their goods and shuttered and +barred as though they were prisons. + +Such Russians as we met had the most revolting aspect and were clad in +the coarsest sheepskins. We knew that the best of them were convicts +who had been released by the governor on our advent, and now they +skulked like wolves to do us a mischief in every alley or by-street +which sheltered them. + +For the rest, Moscow might have been a mausoleum. We danced to the +music of our own voices; the cheers that were raised were the cheers +from French throats which heralded only a hollow victory. + +The plunder that we seized came to our hands undisputed. No man +contended with us save the brigands, and they were like jackals, whose +howls were chiefly heard by night. + +I have often wondered at the sang-froid with which all this was +received at head-quarters. None of the staff appeared aware of the +perils of our situation, nor did the fact that we were already running +short of provisions alarm our leaders. Many things we had in +abundance, and they should have provoked our irony. It was ridiculous +to see whole companies of the Guard making merry over casks of French +liqueur or wallowing like schoolgirls in boxes of sweetmeats. Yet such +was the case, and nothing but the actual riches of the city blinded the +rank and file to the truth. + +Oh, what days of plunder they were, and how our good fellows revelled +in them! + +A man had but to sally forth with an axe in his hand to reach the +riches of a Croesus. I have seen the veriest Gascons so laden with +furs and jewels and the wealth of nobles that they themselves, could +they have conveyed their burdens to Paris, might never have had an +anxiety about their bread to the end of their days. It was the +commonest thing to discover carts and wagons in Moscow piled high with +the treasures of centuries and led uncontested to the camps of an enemy +which had found the gates open and the ramparts undefended. Even the +Imperial edict against pillage and rapine was useless to prevent this +spoliation. The men had suffered much to reach the Holy City, and His +Majesty the Emperor was wise enough to reward them according to their +hopes. + +Here I must tell you that the common troopers were by no means the only +offenders in this respect. There was not an officer in or out of the +Guards who did not claim his share of the plunder, while he shut his +eyes to the doings of those under him. If I myself forbore to take a +hand in this profitable amusement, it was because my burdens were heavy +and owed not a little to the state of Moscow even in the early days of +our occupation. + +Then, as afterwards, fire was our almost daily enemy. One day it would +be in the bazaars; the next in the poorest quarters of the city; again +in the houses of the rich, which our troopers had pillaged. We were +told the convicts fired the buildings by the governor's orders. We +could not believe it, and yet we hunted the rascals down as though they +were vermin. + +I have often wondered what His Majesty the Emperor would have done had +he known the true state of affairs in Moscow. He did not know them, +however, and he was still anxious to propitiate those whom he believed +to be its people. Every day we heard the story of the peace which was +to be signed, and of the profit which was to come to our arms thereby; +and every day we who served were abroad in street or alley wrestling +with the flames and smoke of the burning houses, or hanging and +shooting the incendiaries who had become the enemy. + +Little wonder that my nephew Léon had no time for love-making. Often +would I ask him if he had heard of or seen the beautiful Valerie again. +The rascal pretended that he had forgotten her very existence, and yet +I knew in my heart that he had remembered her. It was no surprise to +me when, at the end of the third week, I heard from his servant, +Gascogne, that he had received a letter from Valerie herself, and that +it had contained an invitation to dinner in a house beyond the suburbs +of the city. When I charged Léon with it he shook his head and smiled +in his boyish way. + +"Oh, mon oncle," he protested, "what time have I for anything like +that?" + +I rejoined that a man has always time for a pretty woman, and at that +he laughed loudly. + +"She asked me to dinner," says he, "but, of course, I shall not go. +Why, my dear uncle, it would be very dangerous to do so. Do you not +know that her friend is Prince Nicholas, who has sworn a vendetta +against every Frenchman in Moscow? I should be a fool to do anything +of the kind." + +I agreed that he would be, and really I was not a little astonished at +his common sense. + +Captains of the Guard are rarely prudent where a pretty face is +concerned, and Valerie St. Antoine was one of the most beautiful women +I had ever seen in all my life. It was amazing to me that Léon should +have learned so much wisdom in so short a space of time, and I plumed +myself upon his sagacity. Oh, how easily do we old fogeys deceive +ourselves! Not three days had elapsed before I learned that he had +written to the lady, and on the fourth I heard with some regret that he +had gone to dine with her. + + +II + +Now, I do not know why it was, but this affair had caused me much +uneasiness from the beginning, and when I heard, upon the evening of +September 28, that my nephew had left the palace and gone to dine with +Valerie, a disquietude quite beyond ordinary attended the discovery. + +Possibly Léon's own words had something to do with it. He had said +that such an invitation might be a trap, and although the opinion was +expressed as a joke, there remained a doubt in my own mind which no +mere assurance could remove. + +Remember the circumstances. We had discovered already that Valerie St. +Antoine was the friend, and more than the friend, of a man who had +sworn to exterminate the French in Moscow. The reality of the tie +which bound them had been made apparent to me when I was with her in +Prince Boris's house, and I could conceive no honest circumstance which +would justify the invitation to my nephew Léon. When I questioned his +servant, Gascogne, that good fellow seemed no less uneasy than I myself. + +"There have been five officers from this regiment lost in Moscow this +very week," said he. "I warned Captain Léon, but he would not listen +to me. A woman. Faugh! It is the usual story, major. They all have +a rendezvous, and none of them returns. Why did not the captain +consult you? I told him that it was a trick, and he answered me by +putting on his best uniform and calling a droshky. Major, we shall be +lucky if we see him again." + +I took no such view as this, and yet a certain foreboding of ill was +not lightly to be put aside. + +Léon had done as so many others in his regiment, and some of those had +never returned to the palace. It might even be that the girl Valerie +had not written the letter at all; and this latter thought was so +disquieting that I sent Gascogne out to seek the driver of the droshky +and to bring the fellow to the palace. When he came, a few sharp words +soon had the truth from him. + +"My good fellow," said I, "you will drive me immediately to the house +to which you have just taken my nephew, Captain de Courcelles. If you +play any trick upon me I will have you hanged at the gate of the +Kremlin. Now, choose for yourself." + +This was no idle threat, nor was it without its effect. The man fell +into a frenzy of fear, while great drops of sweat stood upon his +forehead, and he protested his innocence before God and the saints. + +"Then let him put it to the proof," said I to the interpreter, "and +bring his droshky here immediately." + +Ten minutes later we were passing out of the western gate, and Sergeant +Bardot, of the Fusiliers, was at my side. They called him "the +antelope" in the regiment, and there was no nimbler fellow in all the +Guards. + +"Captain Léon has gone to meet a woman," said I. "It may be a trap, +and, if so, we must get him out of it. I can count upon your +discretion, sergeant?" + +He answered that he was altogether at my service, and I could see that +the prospect of an adventure pleased him greatly. + +"They are devils, these Russians," said he, "and it is just as well +that we should go. I trust we shall be in good time, major. The +regiment could not afford to lose Captain Léon. There is no better +officer in the Guards." + +I agreed with that. There was no better officer in the Guards. If he +were in any danger we must save him. So many had fallen in Moscow at a +woman's nod that I ceased to ask myself what part curiosity played in +this adventure. + +Sufficient that Léon had gone to dine with Nicholas, the Russian, who +had sworn a vendetta against every French officer in the city. + + +III + +It was nine o'clock when we left the barracks, and half an hour later +when the droshky rolled out upon the great north road to Petersburg. + +So hot was it that hundreds of our fellows were sleeping in the open +parks which abound on the border of the city, and their bivouac fires +glowed beneath the pines and showed many a scene of tipsy revelry. +With them were some of those women who cling to the skirts of an army +as flies to a pasty, and these hussies capered about the fires in song +and dance, while the sorriest music set them whooping like wild men at +a fair. We paid little attention to them, but thought rather of the +wide road ahead of us and of our unknown destination. + +Now, this was a hazardous journey, as any man who was with me in Moscow +will bear witness. + +It is true that the city and surrounding country were wholly in our +power; but we knew very well that bands of wild Cossacks ravaged the +neighbourhood and were ready enough to butcher any Frenchman they could +find. The road itself lay chiefly through pine woods, which afforded +good harbourage to these brigands, and more than once I thought that I +saw a horseman watching us as we went. When I mentioned as much to the +sergeant he pooh-poohed it, as such a man would, declaring that our own +patrols were in the district and would deal with such scum. + +"We are not worth powder and shot," he said with a laugh, "and, in any +case, we shall have the satisfaction of shooting the driver if anything +happens to us." + +This seemed to afford him some consolation. I noticed that he took out +his pistol and primed it, as though very ready to begin if the +miserable coachman afforded him any pretext. We, however, drove on +without event, and when we had covered perhaps a couple of leagues the +driver turned suddenly down a grassy path through the wood and +presently declared that we had reached our destination. + +It was not very dark here, and for the moment I thought that the fellow +had played a trick upon us. + +We appeared to have reached a veritable forest, great chestnut trees +taking the place of the pines and a wide pool shining under the moon's +rays where the roadway ended. Presently, however, I discerned the +glimmer of a lamp amidst a copse upon the right-hand side, and the +droshky driver indicated with his whip that it was the house which +Captain Léon had visited. + +An uglier place could not be imagined. The dark groves of stupendous +trees, the silent pool, the remote situation of the habitation, +affected me strangely. I was convinced by this time that my nephew had +fallen into a trap, and that we should be lucky men if we found him +alive. Even the imperturbable Bardot could not put a good face upon +it. He showed his pistol to the coachman and commanded him to stay +where he was. Then he followed me down the grove towards the house. + +I have told you that it was hidden in the trees; but this will give you +but a poor idea of its situation. We saw upon nearer approach that the +pool or lake was fed by a winding river, upon an island of which the +house was built, so that it was entirely surrounded by water, which a +mediæval drawbridge spanned. + +The building itself had all the air of the keep of an ancient castle, +being no more than a great round tower built upon the island, with a +miserable outhouse at its foot and a barn-like structure to the south, +which served, I doubt not, for a stable. Save for a glimmer of light +which showed through a considerable loophole above the drawbridge, +there was no evidence of occupation either above or below. The place +seemed as silent as the grave; our own footsteps upon the sward were a +heavy sound upon the silence of that summer's night. + +To be sure, we approached very cautiously. We must have been at least +fifty paces from the water's edge when Bardot went down flat upon his +stomach and began to crawl towards the river. + +"If I whistle," he said, "come to me." + +I answered that I would; and after an interminable interval of waiting +I heard his signal. When I came up to his side he pointed to the +figure of a man who stood sentry beyond the bridge. + +"Look," he said. "The fellow is drunk. They are all drunk in this +cursed country. If we sounded the réveillé he would not hear us. We +must go over and tell him so. You can swim, of course?" + +I shook my head, for the truth was I could not swim a stroke. When I +discovered that he was in a like predicament, the tragic irony of our +position began to be realised for the first time. There we were, fifty +paces from the door, behind which poor Léon might already be in +jeopardy. I knew now that the girl Valerie had not written the letter, +and this was just the trap I had supposed it to be. Yet there we +stood, as helpless as any child from a woodlander's hut. Even Bardot +could make nothing of it. + +"If I had known!" he would say, just as though it had been in my power +to tell him. Such folly angered me. I got up regardless of the risk +of discovery, and began to make my way back to the carriage. The man +should gallop back to Moscow, said I, and we would return within the +hour with a troop of cavalry, and this time we would bring our own +bridge. + +This was in my mind, though the despair of it needs no apology. + +"A thousand to one," I argued, "that Léon will not be alive when we +return; and yet we might avenge him!" + +A fierce desire to beat down the walls of the accursed house, to break +in upon the assassins and to butcher them where they stood, possessed +me as a fever. There was not a man in the regiment who, would not have +galloped through the night at Léon's call. Pity then if we might not +avenge him. + +This I had said, when another whistle from the river bank arrested my +attention and sent me back to Bardot. + +He still lay behind the bush which concealed us, and his hand was +raised in warning. When I rejoined him he pulled me down, and speaking +in a deep whisper, he bade me listen. A boat was being rowed across +the river. We saw it plainly in the moonlight--a great, crazy tub with +a frail girl for its pilot. It touched the bank some fifty yards from +the place where we lay hidden, and instantly the girl leapt from it and +disappeared in the brushwood. + +"Valerie St. Antoine, by all that is holy!" said I. + +The mystery was deepening truly, but we were nearer to it now, and +without a word spoken we strode toward the deserted boat and +immediately began to pull across the river. + + +IV + +Meanwhile what of Léon, and what had happened to him since he left +Moscow? I shall try to tell you in a few words, that you may +understand both his situation and ours, and the meaning of what was to +come after. + +The letter he had received was such as a soldier of the Guard is well +acquainted with, and he discovered in it nothing out of the ordinary. + +A pretty woman had fallen in love with him and desired to see him +again. There must have been two hundred who had done that since he +quitted Paris, yet few who drew from him so swift a response. + +Was not Mademoiselle Valerie a fellow-countrywoman, and had not these +two looked into each other's eyes as lovers are wont to do? + +I remembered the impression she had made upon him in the prince's +palace, and how he had sworn to hunt her out at Moscow; and I for one +could not wonder that his heart leapt when she wrote to him and named a +rendezvous to his liking. + +He was to dine with her, the letter said, and her carriage would carry +him to the barracks afterwards. He little knew the kind of journey +that it was meant to be, nor what would lie under the tarpaulin which +the assassins had made ready for him. + +So off goes our gay cavalier, dressed in his best and as cock-a-hoop as +a page-boy who has been kissed by a duchess. + +The warnings he received fell on deaf ears. He knew that the regiment +had lost good officers who went out upon just such a foolish errand as +this; but they had gone to Russian houses, while Valerie was a +Frenchwoman who bore an honoured name. There could be nothing to fear +in such society. He would dine with her and tell her what she most +desired to hear. This was a Guardsman's proper employment, and he +would not be doing his duty if he shirked it. To give him his due, +Léon was rarely remiss in these matters. + +So you will understand why he did not suspect anything--even when they +drove through the wood and came to the drawbridge. She would desire +secrecy, of course, and this place appeared to be a very citadel of +love. Léon merely remarked that aspect of it when he crossed the +bridge and the great gate which Ivan the Terrible had built was shut +upon him. + +She would be alone, and he would find her complacent. The words were +hardly said when he found himself face to face with Nicholas, the +princely assassin, whose name had struck terror to the heart of many a +French prisoner. Now a man trained to the surprises of war has some +command of himself whatever the circumstances. + +Léon was such a man, and you may be sure he did not betray himself. + +Though the peril of the situation was now fully revealed, and he +understood the trap into which he had fallen, what should he do but bow +in a grand manner to his Highness, and declare his pleasure at that +_rencontre_? The prince in his turn affected to be as agreeably +surprised. He apologised for the absence of Mademoiselle Valerie, whom +he declared to be confined to her room with an indisposition; and upon +that he led the way immediately to the great apartment in which the +supper was to be served. + +This was nothing else than the round tower which Ivan had built, and a +strange place it was, surely, for the entertainment of a man's friends. +Léon observed that the walls of the apartment were hung entirely in +black velvet, while at the northern arch there was a platform similarly +draped in black, but with its plain boards strewn with rushes, as they +strew a scaffold in my own country. So ominous was this that even my +nephew's sang-froid was hard put to it to forbear a remark; but the +prince smiled affably all the time, and appeared to be quite unaware +that there was anything extraordinary about this habitation. Léon +admitted that he spoke French like a fellow-countryman, and his first +act was to introduce my nephew to some dozen officers of the Russian +Guard who had come to the house to make merry with him. + +These were fine fellows, clad, as he, in the splendid white and gold +uniform of the Tsar's cuirassiers. They welcomed a brother officer +with professed cordiality, and the prince commanding that supper should +be served, they turned with one accord to the table and began to fall +upon the viands as though ravenous with hunger. Will you be surprised +to hear that Léon did not imitate them in this? I shall tell you why +in a word: he had seen a dead body in the straw upon the platform, and, +looking at it a second time, he perceived that it was a trunk without a +head. + +You may imagine what this discovery meant--even to a man of Léon's +disposition. At first he would have it that the whole thing was one of +Nicholas's jokes--the draping of the room, the straw upon the mock +scaffold, and the ghastly figure which the rushes tried to hide. Then +he remembered the prince's evil reputation and the stories of his +savagery, which had been told at many a bivouac. Here was one of those +fanatics who believed that Moscow was the holy city, and that we, the +French, were so many barbarians who had profaned the sacred shrine of +Russia. No trick was too treacherous to be employed against us, no +trap was not justified which had Frenchmen for its object. Again and +again, as we had marched across Russia, the throats of our fellows had +been cut in many a lonely farmhouse, and many a courtesan had lured +honest men to their destruction. + +So Léon sat there with his eyes fixed upon the body and the secret +words of warning drumming in his ears. What hope had he of escape from +such a place? He remembered the moat and the drawbridge, the lonely +wood and the dark groves about it, and despair fell upon him. It +remained but to die as the Guards know how; and, believing that his +death was imminent, he refused no longer the goblets of wine which were +offered to him, and affected a merriment as loud as that of the noble +assassins who had entrapped him. + +A remarkable feast, truly, as you shall: judge by his own account of +it. The meats! were served on dishes of solid gold; the goblets were +of the same precious metal. They drank champagne from our own kingdom +of France; the rich red wines of Italy, while the joyous fruits of the +Rhineland vineyards were not lacking. The food itself had an Eastern +flavour, and many of the dishes were highly spiced and Eastern. For +music there were fiddles in a gallery above, and even the distant +voices of women singing a light chanson at the back of the stage. + +Léon raised his eyes to the musicians' gallery from time to time, and +fell to wondering if Valerie were among the singers. Surely she had +never written the letter which brought him to this house--she, a +Frenchwoman! He could not believe it; and yet the note had been in a +woman's handwriting. Possibly the writer was one of those who now sang +disreputable songs behind the curtains of the gallery. Léon pitied +rather than condemned the poor wretch who had been the prince's +instrument. When he remembered that Valerie loved this man he could +have taken a knife from the table and killed him where he sat. + +His Highness may have guessed what was in the young man's mind, but if +he did so, a courtly art concealed it. Never was there a gayer +companion. He told stories of all the cities to which peace or war had +carried him--of our own Paris and gloomy Petersburg, of gay Vienna and +that monstrously dull town of London, of which the English boast. +Nearly all concerned the women of these places and the successes he had +had among them. + +His companions meanwhile listened with a deference which so high a +personage commanded. Their jokes were often _sotto voce_, and when the +prince laughed they laughed in sycophantine imitation. With all this +Léon plainly perceived that the feast was but a preparation for some +greater scene to come. His eyes went often now to the curtain above +the gallery, as though he would read a secret there. I do not think he +was astonished when for one brief instant the same curtain trembled and +was drawn a little way back, to disclose the face of Valerie. She was +in the house, then, after all! He began to believe that she had +written the letter, and for that he would have strangled her willingly. +Then he heard the prince speaking to him, and, the curtain being +dropped back, he turned to listen to a disquisition upon French +politics. + +"Your Revolution," said his Highness, "was the greatest event in +history. I have just been telling my friend, Count Rafalovitch here, +that my father was in Paris in the year 1794, and that his dearest +friend, the Chevalier Constantini, was executed by the miscreants on +the Place de la Grève. He brought with him to Russia a model of the +guillotine, by which so many of your great men perished. I have it +here in this house, if you are curious to see it. It was made by the +great Dr. Guillotin himself, one of the first to fall by his own +invention, as you know. Shall we have it built up on yonder platform, +M. le Capitaine? It will help us to pass the time until the musicians +have refreshed themselves." + +Now, all this was said pleasantly enough, as though it were the +merriest of jests, and yet to Léon it was not without significance. +The cat-like manner of the speaker; the sudden lust of blood which came +into his eyes as he leaned over the table and addressed my nephew; the +restless movements of the others round about; all betrayed a design so +dastardly that no pretence could conceal it. Instantly it dawned upon +Léon that the man whose body lay in the rushes had been murdered by +that very instrument. Death no Guardsman fears, but the humiliation of +such a death as this might have appalled the stoutest heart; and Léon +believed now that they meant to kill him. He drained the heavy goblet +of its wine to hide his face from those who watched him so curiously, +and when he had set the goblet down there was a smile upon his lips. + +"I should like to see it, by all means," he said to the prince. "It is +odd that I, a Frenchman, am so ignorant, but, upon my word of honour, I +have never met 'Dr. Guillotine' in all my life." + +"Then you shall meet him now," said his Highness, and touching a bell +upon the table, he summoned his servants to the room. + + +V + +Sergeant Bardot and myself, meanwhile, had crossed the river, as you +may well have guessed. We found the tub old and crazy, and were but +poor watermen. Yet we reached the parapet upon the farther side, and +clambering up, we stood and listened if any had discovered us. The +sentry, however, made no motion, and perceiving that he was drunk, as +we had imagined, we crept towards him and were upon him before he could +utter a sound. A moment later he went, a cloth about his mouth, +headlong into the moat below us, and we stood there watching his +struggles, his musket in Bardot's hands. + +It had been a swift coup, and some have complained of what we did. But +remember that this was a Russian stronghold, and that it imprisoned a +good comrade, and few will condemn us. It was our life or his, and we +did not hesitate for Léon's sake. I would do the same to-morrow for +the meanest trooper in the Emperor's army. + +I say that we killed the man, and yet for the moment the deed did not +help us. There was the great gate, shut and barred against the +stranger, and twenty men might not have opened it. If we beat upon it +and they answered us, what then? The house would be full of Russians, +and we were but two against them. By a stratagem alone could we save +Léon's life, and calling upon our wits, we began to make a tour of the +house to spy out its weaknesses if we could. + +These were not readily apparent. Even to an old soldier like Bardot +the place seemed impregnable. Everywhere the rugged stone walls +confronted us. There was no door other than that which the sentry had +guarded. The windows were so many slits in those ramparts of stone. +There was not even a water-pipe upon which a man could have got a +foothold. We could but stand there and gaze impotently upon that +prison which had defied the centuries. It was a torture to me to +remember that these impregnable walls answered for the liberty of one +so dear to me as my nephew. + + +VI + +I have told you that there had been a glimmer of light shining from a +loop-hole in the tower when first we drove up to the place. It was +beneath this we came to a halt and stood to reckon with the situation. +Bardot's eyes were quick as an animal's, and it was he who perceived a +second opening in the wall, but not so high as the other, and without a +light beyond to disclose it. When he suggested that he should climb up +on my shoulders and get a footing at this spot, I could but ask him +what he hoped to effect thereby. + +"Had you a rope," said I, "perchance we could look through the window, +but since you have not a rope----" + +He interrupted me with a little cry. "Major," says he, "there was a +rope in the boat." + +I retorted that we had used it to make the ship fast, but he laughed at +that. + +"We shall return by the drawbridge," says he. "Do you stand sentinel +here, and I will get what we want." And with that he was off like a +shot, and for some minutes I saw him no more. + +The interval was spent in listening to a sound of distant music, which +I could not hear very plainly. There were women's voices and the music +of fiddles, and it seemed to me that I had heard some of their songs in +the casinos of my own Paris. Such a surprise was very welcome and put +heart into me. Léon could hardly be in peril while women were singing +to him. I told Bardot as much when he returned, and his curiosity +concerning the voices was not less than my own. + +"Let us have a look at them," says he. And with that he climbed upon +my shoulders, and throwing the rope he had brought from the boat deftly +about the iron bar of the window he pulled himself up like a monkey, +and so gained a foothold on the ledge. + +For a long time now he did not utter a word. I thought that I heard +him laughing softly, and then, of a sudden, he appeared to grow deeply +interested in what was happening in the room. + +"What do you see, Bardot?" I asked him, anxiety getting the better of +me. + +He did not reply, but peered the closer betwixt the bars. + +"Oh!" cried I impatiently, "there will be some woman for a certainty." + +His answer was to take a pistol from his belt and to look to the +priming. I could see him quite clearly, one arm being about the iron +bar and the other upon the trigger, which he had cocked. + +"Good God!" I cried. "You will bring them out on us." + +He did not heed me, but throwing his head back, he said in a loud +whisper: "They are going to butcher your nephew." At the same moment I +heard a dreadful scream from the tower itself. + +"Help me up!" cried I, gone mad at my own impotence. "Why do you not +fire at them?" + +He nodded his head, and thrusting his pistol through the bars, he +snapped at an unseen enemy. The weapon did not fire, and he threw it +down to me angrily. "Your own," he cried, and came a little way down +the rope to reach it. + +The next minute there was a loud report, and upon that a hollow sound, +as though a great bell had been struck a heavy blow by a hammer. + +"Now," cried Bardot quickly, "to the bridge!" + +I did not question him, and we ran round together to fling down the +bridge, the windlass running out with the sound of a great ship's +cable. It seemed inconceivable that the Russians in the place did not +attack us. This, however, did not happen. + +We ran across the bridge and there crouched as two hunters who +themselves were hunted. + +"Listen!" says Bardot, bending his ear to the earth. + +I imitated him, and heard a strange sound. It was the thunder of +cavalry through the wood. + +"The Cossacks!" cried I. It seemed to me then that I should never see +poor Léon again. + + +VII + +Within the tower the prince was now introducing my nephew to "Dr. +Guillotine." + +All the resources of a barbarous masquerade were employed in this sorry +entertainment. + +The stage itself would have served for a miniature Théâtre Français. +Brawny Cossacks, clad like the _sansculottes_ of the Revolution, +swarmed up on the mock scaffold and cried curses upon their prisoner. +The executioner was a huge Tartar with a monstrous black beard and a +knife at his girdle. The knitting women of the Place de la Grève were +not forgotten. A bevy of hags squatted about the platform and pointed +their lean fingers at the miserable prisoner. + +Had Léon a doubt hitherto as to the meaning of this foul business, it +must have surrendered at the moment when he recognised one of his old +troopers among the mock condemned, and perceived that the Russians +meant to kill him. + +Leaping to his feet, he cried an oath upon the outrage and commanded +them to stop. + +It was a vain outburst. Two of the prince's men had him by the arms at +the first movement and pinned him to his chair, while his Highness +derided his courage. + +"Here is a French Guardsman who has a woman's heart," said he, his +fellows shouting with ironic laughter at the sally. "We give him a +little play, such as we have seen in Paris, and behold! he is ready to +faint. A glass of wine, Michael, for the poor gentleman! Do you not +see how ill he is?" + +A goblet of wine was offered to and spurned by my nephew. He perceived +that he was helpless and that the reputation of the Guards lay in his +keeping. It remained to bear himself with what dignity he could, and +turning to the prince, he exclaimed very coolly: "I apologise to your +Highness, for it is not possible that you can be in earnest." And so +he watched the drama to the end. + +They had now dragged the struggling hussar to the plank of the +guillotine and thrown and bound him there. Very deliberately they +pushed him beneath the great knife, and then, all crying "Death to the +French!" the blade fell and silenced for ever the shrieks of the +unhappy wretch they had butchered. + +Léon declares that from this moment Prince Nicholas was little better +than a madman. His cries of "Bravo!" were such as the insane might +have uttered. Clutching my nephew by the arm, he dragged him to the +scaffold, saying: + +"You do not know 'Dr. Guillotine'? Come and be introduced, then. Come +and hear his music. You are a Frenchman and ignorant? Impossible, my +friend, impossible." + +So he raved, while all in the room took up the cry of "Impossible!" and +began to shout and dance in their drunken frenzy like madmen. + +Léon fought for his life then as he had never fought before in all wars +our Emperor has waged. A strong man, he threw even the Cossacks from +him, struck them senseless with any weapon that came to his hands, and +was up and down like a cork upon a billow; but all useless, as you may +well imagine. + +When they got him to the scaffold he knew that his hour had come, and a +great calm possessed him. + +"I congratulate the Prince of the Assassins," said he to his Highness. +"It is only in such a country as this that the butchers are ennobled." +And with that he walked straight towards the executioner and held out +his hands. + +The man seized him as though he were a sheep. The prince himself began +to raise the knife by the rope and to caress its gleaming edge. Surely +Léon had but a moment to live. He thought as much, and a passionate +desire for life set him trembling. That he, so young, he whom so many +loved, he to whom day was so fair a thing and the night but a witchery +of woman's eyes--that he should perish here, butchered by the insane in +an hour of their frenzy! God surely would not permit such a crime as +that! Alas! he had forgotten how to pray these many years, and he but +stood there, defying them as any one of his Majesty's Guards would have +done. + +"Assassins!" he cried; and then, as a challenge: "There is not one of +you that would dare to cross swords with me!" + +They but laughed at him the more, and the prince now pulled the knife +so high that all in the room could see it. He was still laughing; but +some glimmer of reason had come to him, and that spirit of vengeance +which animated him could no longer be denied. + +"You murdered twenty thousand honest people with your guillotine in +Paris," says he to Léon, as though a hussar of the year 1812 could be +responsible for what was done in Paris twenty years before. "Now you +must come here to burn the Holy City. Very well; we are going to teach +you a lesson." + +He turned to the executioner, and giving him the sign, the wretch threw +Léon upon the plank. + +It was then that Bardot, at the window, fired his pistol and struck the +great bell high in the tower above. How much would I have given could +I have been at his side at that moment. All that I heard were the loud +shouts of surprise, the cries of one man to the other that this was an +ambush, and, above all, the prince's screams when the great knife fell +and severed his arm at the elbow as neatly as any surgeon could have +done. + +Such was the truth. At the moment of the alarm Prince Nicholas had +loosed the rope, and, trying to catch it again, he stumbled forward and +the great blade caught him by the elbow, and his hand and arm went +rolling to the floor. + +With a loud cry Léon now wrenched himself from his executioners. All +were making for the gate of the tower, for they believed that the +French were upon them, and no man thought of anything but his own +safety. + + +VIII + +Bardot and myself believed that the Cossacks were galloping to the +place, and we lay in the shadow of the bridge, hardly daring to breathe +lest the Russians in the house should discover us. When the latter +came headlong out of the tower this alarm seemed unnecessary, for it +was plain they were making for the forest. + +"In five minutes," I said, "they will meet their fellows and all return +again to the butchery." + +I little knew that Valerie St. Antoine had found the droshky in the +wood, and commanding the driver in the name of Prince Nicholas, had +driven at full gallop to the barracks to bring help to her countrymen. + +Such was the case, however, and the men who now rode to Ivan's Tower +were of Léon's own troop; honest fellows who swore a bitter vengeance +while they rode. They fell upon the Russians at the heart of the wood, +and what they did there is best told at a bivouac. I went immediately +to the tower and looked there for my nephew. + +When I found him he lay senseless upon the scaffold, and at first I +thought he was dead. The Guard, however, is obstinate in refusing to +die, and when we had forced brandy between his lips and had bathed his +forehead, he opened his eyes and asked where he was. + +This I feared to tell him, but presently he sat up and looked about him. + +"Ah!" he said, "I remember." And then he asked: "Where is Valerie St. +Antoine?" + +"She should be in Moscow by this time," said I. "Why do you ask?" + +"Because," said he, "I am still looking for her, mon oncle." + +I shook my head. It seemed to me that the young woman in question had +proved herself to be but the harbinger of ill. And yet I could see +that my nephew's mind was made up, and that what he had done to-night +he would do again if Valerie St. Antoine did but lift her pretty hand +to beckon him. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE TREASURE IN THE WOODS + +I + +It was on the 18th day of October in the year 1812 that we first heard +of His Majesty's intention to abandon Moscow. + +This came to us as a very great surprise. + +It is true that we had had a terrible time in the city, which was now +become a ruin, the convicts having burned down a great part of it; but +we had learned to make the best of affairs and what with our plunder +and our pleasures the time went merrily enough. I myself was perhaps +the hardest-worked man in the regiment. So many people were burned by +the fires in Moscow, so many were injured in the street brawls, that +the hospitals were quite full, and I rarely knew a moment of leisure. + +My nephew, Captain Léon, was situated very differently. There was +hardly a day that he did not tell me of some new adventure with a +woman, and when I would reproach him he reminded me that I had been +young myself and should know the habits of a soldier better. + +This was in Moscow after Valerie St. Antoine had done us so great a +service upon a memorable night. Though Léon watched for her and +offered five hundred francs to any man who would tell him of her +whereabouts, he never saw her again while we were in the city, and when +we did meet her this great army of ours was but a skeleton. + +How little we foresaw the doom awaiting us when we quitted Moscow on +that sunny October day! + +Everything went as merry as a marriage bell then. We knew that we were +returning to our own France and we cared not a scudo for the reason. +The Emperor, we said, had been too much for these wily Russians, and +they had surrendered everything. The truth was far otherwise--it was +the Russians who had been too clever for us, and burning down their +beautiful city, had left us to a woeful fate. Of this I am now about +to speak to you. + + +II + +The story begins with a woman, as it began aforetime when we entered +the city. + +There had been three days of beautiful weather when we of the Guard +rode in fine spirits toward our own country and gave no thought but to +the plunder we were carrying out of Russia. + +I myself had many a good thing in the wagon, and I remember well a +great gold plate set with diamonds, which had been torn from Ivan's +Cross when we tried to pull it down from the cathedral in the Kremlin. + +The men themselves were loaded with pretty trinkets, and carried furs +enough to clothe Paris. The costliest skins--ermine and sable and lion +and bear--were used for every conceivable purpose; and it is no wonder +that the army was followed by thousands of Jews, waiting to buy these +treasures when their owners should be weary of them. + +Truly would I say that such a scene as our exit from Moscow was never +written before in the story of warfare, nor will ever be written again. + +Imagine a great white wooded plain, a sandy road at the heart of it, +and upon this road an interminable procession of carts and wagons to +carry the baggage of the Grand Army. + +Upon either side in the fields go cavalry and infantry, every man's +knapsack packed with loot, the commonest troopers sucking the rarest +liqueurs from costly bottles, the poorest fellows smoking pipes with +bowls of gold and tobacco that only princes should have been able to +afford. All was hope and gaiety. Paris lay twelve hundred leagues +from us, yet to Paris and our homes we were going. Who shall wonder if +the trumpets blew a merry blast and the bands set our feet dancing? +Was not the Emperor in our midst, and should we not return in a blaze +of glory? + +In such content we marched for three days. There was not much +discipline observed, and the men were permitted to go pretty well as +they pleased, it being always understood that the dreaded Cossacks were +on our flank and that any foolhardiness might bring a disaster upon us. +This kept the stragglers more or less in touch with the main body of +the army; but sometimes we officers would ride away into the woods to +see what kind of hospitality we could find at a country house and to +enjoy it according to our opportunities. + +It was on such an occasion that Léon and I first met Zayde, and came +near to losing our lives because of her. I must tell you of this +before going on to speak of the other days which followed, when the +north wind began to blow and all that wide landscape lay under its veil +of the cruel snow. + +We had been riding through a shady wood about a mile from the high road +to Smolensk. Someone had discovered that there was a famous old +monastery in the district noted for its hospitality; and although we +expected little from any Russian monk, we were quite able to help +ourselves should the opportunity be offered. This quest carried us +farther and farther away from our comrades, until at last we appeared +to have lost the road altogether, and to be as far away from any +monastery as ever we were in all our lives. My own thought was for +going back immediately, but the younger head would hear nothing of it, +and my nephew protested loudly that I was becoming a coward. + +"It is the good living in Moscow that has destroyed your nerve, uncle," +said he. "How could we be better off than we are in this place? Soft +grass to gallop on, shady trees above, and the sun shining as though it +were mid-summer in our own France. We shall come to the monastery +presently, and they will give us wine that Adam brewed. There will be +plenty of loot to add to our saddle-bags, and perhaps there will be +sisters to comfort us. Why should we go back? The road is over there +any time we have a fancy to rejoin it." + +I retorted by reminding him that the Cossacks were out, and that we +might encounter them at any time. More than once I thought that I +heard a distant sound of galloping, and I drew rein to call his +attention to it. But he would not listen to me, and still riding +southwards, as it seemed, he pulled up at length and cried in real +astonishment: + +"Why, uncle, what did I tell you? Here is Cleopatra herself and her +treasures with her, as I am alive!" + +I came up to him and saw what had arrested his attention. There was a +deep pit before us and in it a Cossack and a woman. The former sprang +up at our coming, and drawing a pistol from his belt, he snapped it at +Léon's head. Happily the powder did not fire, and seeing that we were +two to one, the fellow hurled the weapon at my nephew's horse and +immediately bolted for the shelter of the woods. + +So we were alone with the lady and her treasure, and this, at a modest +estimate, must have been worth half a million of francs. + + +III + +I have never seen such riches spread in a green wood before, nor am I +likely to do so if I live to a hundred years. + +Consisting of jewels chiefly, there were other objects there and all +precious beyond words. + +Great ropes of Eastern pearls, diamonds and emeralds; Indian images in +solid gold; the most wonderful robes of ermine and sable; jewelled +scabbards that should have come from Damascus--all these lay littered +upon the grass by the side of the impassive woman, who now looked at us +with the eyes of a child and uttered no word either of protest or of +appeal. + +Certainly she was a remarkably beautiful creature. + +Not more than seventeen years of age, she had hair as golden as the +sands of the sea, the white skin of the Circassian and the dark eyes of +the Persian beauty. + +Her dress was an odd compromise between the East and the West. + +She had baggy breeches of blue silk, high riding-boots of Russian +leather, a white and gold coat to her waist, and the kepi of the +Austrian hussar. Over all she wore a superb cloak of ermine which +would have brought a fortune could it have been sold in our own Paris. + +Such was the apparition which confronted us in that lonely wood. + +Needless to say that we were both greatly moved by it; Léon chiefly, I +fear, by the girl's big eyes; I by the wonders of the treasure which +lay about her. To go down into the pit and to introduce ourselves was +the work of an instant. Léon told her briefly that he was a French +officer, and he begged leave to protect her. To this she answered not +a word; but I could see that she was not displeased, and presently with +a child's laugh she dragged him down beside her. + +I know Léon so well, and have seen so many women fall a victim to his +pleasing airs that this act did not surprise me as much as it should +have done. None the less, I was astonished when presently the girl +bade me sit also, and turning to one of the great bags beside her, she +produced food and wine and set it before us. + +The odd thing was that she could not speak a word of any language with +which we tried her. + +Of Russian I had learned a few sentences during our stay in Moscow, and +German I spoke with some fluency; but neither the one nor the other was +the slightest use; nor, need I say, had she any French. Thus we came +to signs and mouthing, in which my nephew appeared to be so proficient +that he was kissing her within twenty minutes of the encounter and +hugging her like a bear before the meal was done. + +Well, we finished the meal, and then, pointing to the wood, indicated +to the girl that we must go. She had tried to tell us her name, which +we made out to be something like Zoida or Zayde, and we asked her as +well as we could to accompany us on our road and let us help her with +the treasure. The astonishing thing was that she appeared almost +indifferent to the existence of the latter, laughing like a child when +we pointed to it, and throwing the diamonds about as though they had +been pebbles. This angered me, for I saw the worth of the stuff; and +presently, speaking in a wrathful tone, I commanded her to pack the +things in the box from which they had been taken and to follow us. The +new turn appeared to alarm her not a little, and she sat crouching +there like a frightened gnome while Léon and I put the things in their +cases and began to pack them upon our horses. How they came to be in +that remote wood we knew no more than the dead; but it would clearly +have been a crime to leave them there, and indeed we had not gone many +paces upon the road before the secret of their presence was discovered. + +There was at an open glade of the forest a kind of amphitheatre crossed +by a road to some southern town. + +A wrecked coach stood at the junction, and all about it were the signs +of a bloody combat. + +I had been riding before the others at this particular moment, and my +horse nearly stumbled over the body of an elderly man who had been shot +in the head and his brains blown out. Near by lay his coachman, +stabbed in many places and quite dead. Of the horses of the coach +there was not a trace, and it was now plain to me that the treasure had +come from it, and that this elderly man had been escaping southward +when the robbers overtook him. Naturally I turned to the girl and +began to question her angrily. She merely shook her head and shut her +eyes, as though afraid to look upon the corpse. It was to say that she +had had no hand in that bloody affair, and so much I could readily +believe. + +"Good heavens!" said I to Léon, "what an infamy, and more than that, +what a mystery!" + +He did not agree with me at all. A ready instinct told him what had +happened. + +"The carriage stuck in the sand yonder," said he. "The servants went +for horses to a neighbouring farm. This girl here may have been with +them as a servant or she may not. The fellow who murdered them was the +one we found with her in the wood. It is as simple as an open book, my +dear uncle." + +"Then," said I, "we will write the end of the story. Of course we must +wait until the others return." + +"What?" cried he; "with the night coming down and the Cossacks in the +woods! That would be madness indeed, my uncle." + +And then he added with a laugh, "The old gentleman is in heaven and is +in no need of diamonds. We shall know very well what to do with them +when we get in Paris. Let us make haste before we are discovered." + +He did not wait for me to reply, but holding the girl close to him on +the saddle he trotted on through the wood, and I followed him +reluctantly. + +We were as rich as Croesus, yet how we were going to get out of the +forest, where we should find the army, or what chance we had of +carrying our treasure to Paris, I knew no more than the dead. + + +IV + +The way now lay through a wide avenue--one of the most beautiful I had +seen in Russia. The grass lay smooth and green, and bore no trace of +the relentless summer. We might have been in the precincts of some +princely chateau, and we were not at all surprised presently when we +came upon a considerable building which had all the air of one of those +picturesque monasteries in which Russia abounds. Had we any doubt of +this, a great gilt dome with a Greek cross high above it would have +settled it; for never have I seen a more beautiful object than this +golden ball glistening amid the woods as though its heart were of fire, +while a celestial radiance shone all about it. To Léon, however, it +merely stood for a place whereat we might get food and drink. + +"These monks are very decent fellows," he said; "they know how to +entertain strangers. The regiment will bivouac not far from here, and +we may just as well stay the night in yonder building as sleep in a +mouldy barn. Cheer up, uncle, and think of the good wine you are about +to drink. It's the luckiest thing that could have happened to us." + +I looked at the girl in his arms and wondered if he spoke truly. + +We were now within a quarter of a mile of the building and could see a +portcullis and a gate from which men on horseback were riding out. +When they approached nearer it was plain that they were the servants of +the dead man whose body lay in the woods behind us; and observing this +we drew aside behind the trees to let them pass. It was evident that +they had told the story of their trouble to the good monks in yonder +building; and some of the latter, clad in brown habits with white cords +about their waists, were going down to their assistance. + +I noticed that the servants were five in number and were all heavily +armed. Obviously they must have been men of little sense to have left +their master alone with a bandit in such a place and so to have +contributed to his death. The same idea occurred to Léon, who did not +fail to point out to me the nature of the peril from which he had saved +the girl, who now lay trembling in his arms. + +"They would have cut her to pieces if we had not come up," said he. +"We are doing a work of mercy, mon oncle, in saving her from them. Let +us get on to the monastery and tell our own story. Of course we know +nothing of any carriage or its owners; we are just officers of the +Grand Army, and if we are not treated properly our comrades will see to +it. I count it very fortunate that things have turned out so. We +shall get an excellent dinner and a good night's rest, and to-morrow we +shall be with the regiment again. Could anything be better?" + +He seemed well pleased enough, and I did not know what answer to make +to him. As for the Eastern woman, common sense said that he would send +her about her business in the morning; but not until he had made sure +that she could go in safety. These things pertain to war, and it is +not possible to disguise them. Léon was just as fifty thousand others +who marched at the Emperor's summons, neither better nor worse; and if +there be any excuse to be made for him, it is that he had a sentiment +towards the sex which was rarely lacking in nobility. + +"Let no man consider himself happy until he is dead," said I, imitating +the philosopher; and with that I pressed on at his side until we came +to the gate of the monastery, and nothing remained but to tell our +story to the good monks within. This was easier than might have +seemed, for they had no word of our own tongue and we none of theirs. +It was a matter of gesture from the beginning, and in this we excelled +them without question. But first let me speak of the building we now +entered. + +The monastery covered some three acres of ground. There were a few +tilled fields about it and a considerable courtyard in the Eastern +fashion. The chapel was a rude imitation of the Church of St. Ivan at +Moscow, and had a similar cross, though of smaller size, upon its +gilded dome. + +The whole enclosure had been heavily walled about as a protection +against any raiding bands of brigands; and there were even ancient +cannon upon its battlement. Although lacking a moat, there was a big +pool or lake before its main gate, and this was spanned by a primitive +bridge with a portcullis beyond it. Here we found the keeper of the +gate, a sturdy bearded monk, filthy in aspect if servile in manner. He +seemed not a little awed by our uniform and equipment, but when he +caught sight of the girl on Léon's saddle, a broad grin animated his +features and he no longer delayed to open. + +So we rode into a small courtyard and there tethered our horses. The +chapel lay to the south of this, and there came to us rude sounds of +Gregorian chanting, which is the fashion in their Church, and very +melodious when executed by the best singers. Those who now recited the +sacred office were not of such a class, and their barbarous voices +suggested that we were in Araby rather than in civilised Europe. This, +however, did not concern us. Our desire was for food and shelter, and +following a monk into a vast refectory we signified our wants to him +and commanded him to satisfy them. In his turn he did not appear +unwilling to oblige us, and motioning us to sit at the table, he went +from the refectory and left us alone. + +Now I should tell you that the girl Zayde had entered this monastery +with some reluctance, and in spite of Léon's endearments she seemed +very ill at ease while we remained there. Léon, on the other hand, had +found his best spirit, and was in the mood for any adventure which +might come to him. Perhaps the church and the habit suggested the +absurdity on which he now set his heart, for, turning to me suddenly, +he said: + +"How now, my uncle, is not this the very place for a wedding? What +would you say if I told you that I was going to marry Zayde? Is she +not beautiful enough? Look at her and tell me honestly what you think." + +I answered that he was making a fool of himself and bade him be silent. +The girl half understood his meaning, I think, for the colour came and +went from her pretty face, and she watched him with eyes that plainly +acquiesced in any such determination. None the less his words offended +me, and I did not wish to hear them repeated. Though these monks were +not of my own religion, I respected them, and would not have profaned +their holy building. So much Léon must have learned from my looks, for +he slapped me gaily upon the shoulder and said that I was not born to +be a jester. + +"What is marriage, my uncle?" he asked. "A few words gabbled by the +priest, and neither the one nor the other caring a pin's point about +them. Why should I not marry Zayde? She is young, and, I will wager, +well born. I am a bachelor and free to do what I please. What is +there to prevent my making her my wife if I choose?" + +I rejoined that he had said the same thing of Valerie St. Antoine, and +at the mention of her name he flushed and became a little serious. + +"Valerie St. Antoine is dead," said he; "why do you remind me of her?" + +"Because in my hearing you swore to her to marry no other woman." + +"Oh, my dear uncle, how easily one imposes upon you!" And at the same +thought he burst out laughing, and catching the girl in his arms, he +kissed her as though she were already much more to him than an +acquaintance of the roadside. + +It was at this point that the monk returned to us, followed by many of +his brethren. They were all rugged men, bearded and of evil +countenance, and I perceived in a moment that they recognised us for +what we were--the enemies and the invaders of their country. Not a +sign of hospitality did we detect upon any one countenance in that +formidable group. They swarmed about us as though willing enough to do +us a mischief if they dared, and so threatening became their manner +that we both drew our swords, and Léon a pistol as well. + +This put a new complexion on the affair. The most part of them now +stood back a little, while their prior, a venerable man with a great +gold cross on his breast, held out his hands as though in supplication +and addressed us rapidly in the Russian tongue. When he discovered +that we could only answer him in monosyllables he made a gesture of +despair, and turning to the keeper of the refectory, he gave him an +order whose nature was soon apparent. The fellow left the room, but +returned anon with three flagons of their native wine and some vast +loaves of black bread, which seems to be the only sort procurable in +this God-forsaken country. These viands were set upon the table and we +were bidden to eat and drink, while the monks stood about and watched +us very curiously. + +I have told you that all these faces were strangely alike, as is ever +the case when men are old and bearded and of the same nationality. One +face, however, struck me as familiar. It was that of a young monk who +tried to hide himself amid his brethren, but when I would have verified +my suspicions, he turned his back upon me and left the room without +remark. The others continued to force their meagre hospitalities upon +us, offering the wine freely, but keeping it, I observed, from the girl +at their side. She, indeed, appeared to be _anathema maranatha_ to +these holy men. Perhaps it was the first time that a woman had ever +sat to bread in their refectory; but however it may have been, it was +grotesque to find them afraid so much as to touch the hem of her +garment, and as curious about her as though she had been a wild animal +in a menagerie. + +Their antics made Léon laugh incontinently, and his laughter was shared +by the girl, though not as freely as might have been expected from such +a lady. To me it seemed that she had become aware suddenly of some +peril in the place and was anxious to be gone from it. I observed her +pluck Léon by the arm and make an appeal to him of a kind I could but +imagine. When he told me in a whisper that she spoke French after all, +needless to say I was very much astonished. + +"Very well," said I, "she will understand your love-making now." + +He agreed that it was so. + +"The priests will marry us after dinner," says he, "and we will take +her to Smolensk. What an adventure, my uncle! Is not war the father +of all adventures, as I have often told you?" + +I made some commonplace remark and tried to stay the hand of the monk, +who was refilling my glass with very fiery spirit. Truth to tell, this +now mounted to my head, as it had mounted to Léon's already, and +presently the scene before me became confused and unreal, while the +walls were reeling before my eyes and the roof threatening to fall on +my head. I detest a drunkard, and this condition occurred to me as +very shameful. On the other hand, I had drunk but little of their wine +and could not account for my condition; but when I called to the monks +for water they proffered me a drink of another kind, and so potent was +this that I lost consciousness almost immediately, and must have slept +for many hours before I came to my senses again. + + +V + +It must have been near midnight when this happened, and the moonlight, +shining in the glade where I lay, soon showed me that I was alone. + +Oddly enough, the monks had carried me to the very place where the +carriage had been robbed, and when I got the stiffness out of my limbs +and the dizziness out of my head I perceived that this was as we had +left it, and the scene unchanged, save that the dead had been carried +away. I knew the place to be but a quarter of a mile from the +monastery, and wondered why they had carried me so far. But chiefly I +began to think of my nephew and the girl, and to speculate upon their +fortunes. + +It was no light thing to be left there in the forest with the Cossacks +all about and my regiment bivouacked God knows where, and a chance of +being eaten by wolves into the bargain. On the other hand, I had a +great fear for Léon, and was almost ready to believe that they had +killed him in the monastery. Certainly such fellows would have done +anything for the treasure, and very possibly Léon's head had been +stronger than mine and he had contested its possession with them; in +which case I did not doubt they had slain him, and the fact that I was +alone seemed to warrant the supposition. + +Now this was troubling me, and I had a great fear both of the place and +of the hour, when I heard a sound of voices in the glade, and presently +made out the figures of horsemen moving amid the trees. + +At first I took them to be Cossacks, and was about to make off as best +I could, when to my great surprise and pleasure I heard Léon himself +calling to me. Never was the sound of a voice more welcome. + +"Léon!" I cried, and running up to him I found myself surrounded by a +squadron of the Red Hussars, in the midst of whom Léon himself was +riding his own horse and leading mine by the bridle. + +"Well met, my uncle!" says he, in his boyish humour. "And so they have +not put the habit on you after all. We have ridden three leagues in +quest of you, and here you are at the very door. Well, that is lucky, +for time presses, and there is good work to do. What do you say to a +little fire to warm our hands on such a night?" + +I told him that it would be an excellent thing, though I had then no +idea of his meaning. His affection for me was very real, and while his +speech made a jest of it, I could see how pleased he was that he had +found me in the wood. + +"It was that cursed liquor of theirs," says he. "I have never drunk +its like. We must have both dropped off like children in a cradle, and +then they carried us out. I woke up God knows where, and but for these +good fellows I might still be in the same place. Now we are going to +teach the holy friars a lesson. Do you realise that they have got the +woman and her jewels, and we must burn them out to recover them? Come +along, my uncle. Here is an adventure that is only just beginning." + +He seemed greatly pleased with himself, and rode jauntily enough, as +though the event were greatly to his liking. My own wit had grown a +little clearer by this time, and I could acquiesce in his determination +to have it out with the monks. After all, they were not of our faith, +and they had treated us very scurvily. The girl was no business of +theirs, and even if the treasure had been looted, they had neither part +nor lot in the affair. It was plainly our duty to teach them a lesson +and to recover the property which the fortunes of war had bestowed upon +us; and with this in our minds we rode up to the gate of the monastery +and beat upon it insistently. + +"No more of their liquor for me," says Léon, as he snapped a pistol in +the lock of the great gate and then pulled their bell furiously. "We +will give them a taste of our vintage and see if it goes to their +heads. If it doesn't, I fancy that a prick from the point of a sword +may well go somewhere else. Rest assured, dear uncle, we will have our +pockets full of diamonds before the day breaks, and the girl upon my +saddle-bow. Let us see what kind of a chant these holy men like best. +Upon my word, they sleep like dogs after a hunting!" + +Truly it was surprising that, after all the hullabaloo we had made, no +one opened to us. The great monastery showed no light of any kind +whatever. Both doors and windows were heavily barred as though against +a ruthless invader, and listen as we might we could hear no sound +within. The subterfuge merely angered Léon. He began to understand +that even a squadron of hussars is powerless against a barrier of iron, +and that for all we could do to the holy men within we might as well +have been in Moscow. This, as I say, had not occurred to him before, +and he now rode round and round the precincts as though there must be +some loophole in the vast wall which defied us, some gate which the +carbines of the company could force. We found none, and the men's +chagrin was undisguised. They had been promised food and loot if they +took the place, and yet they were as far from taking it as any child +would have been. + +"You will never do it," said I to Léon. "The wolves have gone to +ground, and nothing but fire will fetch them out. You should have +brought a gun, my boy; that would have made short work of them." + +He admitted it, and began to blame himself for his stupidity. The +artillery, according to his reckoning, was three leagues from the +place; but presently one of the hussars remembered that some of Marshal +Ney's guns were with the van of the rearguard and could not be farther +than a league from the place. + +"We can have them here by dawn," said the fellow, and there being +nothing else for it we dispatched half a dozen of them at full gallop +to bring a field piece to the place. The gunners, we said, would come +readily enough when the story of the loot was told to them. Never had +I known one of the Grand Army turn from that, whatever the circumstance. + +So the men rode off and left us upon the edge of the lake which +bordered the eastern wall of the monastery. + +Though the day had been warm enough, the night fell intolerably cold, +and we wrapped ourselves in our cloaks, and having tethered the horses, +fell to walking round the monastery as though it would yet reveal its +secrets. Impossible to believe that a treasure of half a million +francs and one of the most beautiful women in Russia were locked up in +that gloomy place, and we, Vélites and hussars of the Grand Army, +impotent to get one or the other. Yet such was a fact and such the +cunning of the monks that neither light was shown to us nor a footstep +to be heard in all the hours of our vigil. + +Dawn had come before the hussars returned with half a battery from +Ney's own rearguard. We heard the sound of the horses in the wood, and +anon the heavy wheels of the guns crunching over the gravel of the +precincts. Then also we heard for the first time a signal from the +monastery, the great bell of which began to toll mournfully, as though +holding a requiem for the dead. The sound inspired us and brought +every man to his feet. + +"The birds are caged after all," said I to Léon. "We will now see how +they can fly." + + +VI + +The bridge across the lake was not stout enough to carry a gun; but we +quickly had three upon the brink of the water, and at the third +discharge we brought down the great door of wood and iron and not a +little of the masonry with it. Such a ragout of rusty iron and plaster +saints did not disturb us at all; and running triumphantly across the +bridge, we entered the monastery, swords drawn, to ferret out the monks. + +Let me tell you in a word that we found no human being within the +place. From room to room we ran, crying to each other in chapel and +refectory and deserted cell, and hearing nothing but our own voices in +reply. Such a mystery was beyond any I had known. The monks were +here, we said, or else the devil himself had rung their bell. Nay, +there were traces of their recent occupation--rude beds just disturbed; +a faint fire in a primitive kitchen; the very candles lighted before +the icons or images in their chapel. Yet not so much as the girdle of +a monk in all the place, and as for the treasure, I do not believe the +fiend himself could have found a sou. + +Well, there we were, some eighty men gathered in the morning light and +looking as foolish as school lads surprised in an orchard. + +When our first rage had somewhat calmed, reason began to assert itself, +and we said that there must be some passage beneath the lake by which +the fathers had gone out. This caused a new quest of a highly +diverting kind, for now it was every ferret to find a hole, and never +did men work more willingly. To and fro they went like hounds in a +thicket. Panels they tried and traps in cellars they lifted. Walls +were pierced with our swords and doors were beat down, until the place +looked as though it had stood the ravages of a siege. Yet the mockery +of it all was that we might as well have hunted diamonds in the Place +de la Revolution at Paris. Not a trace of any secret passage did we +find, not a hole large enough to pass a dog; and when after hours of +labour we came to the conclusion that the mystery was beyond us, a +similar hunt in the woods yielded no more profit. Scattering wide +about the monastery in enlarging circles, we must have ridden twenty +leagues a man before we gathered at sunset to remind each other that +the Cossacks might trap us and that we must rejoin the army at all +costs. The graver peril guiding us, we rode off reluctantly, and soon +the fateful monastery and even the woods about it were lost to our view. + +Night had fallen for the second time now, and we had entered a land of +great spaces. But more than that, we were traversing an enemy's +country, and anon we espied a large body of Cossacks--three thousand as +we judged--who plainly had observed us and immediately sat down to the +pursuit. This was a turn that we might have looked for, but, in our +imprudence, had risked. It was now each for himself and the devil take +the laggards. We should be sabred to a man if these assassins rode us +down, and, with a cry of "En avant!" we set spurs to our jaded horses +and rode wildly across the plain. God alone could tell whether we +should find the army or lose it. + +It was a race for life with night and the mystery of night all about us. + +How to tell you, of that memorable gallop I hardly know. No race at +Chantilly ever found horses so tired or riders at such a tension. On +we thundered, and on and on. Now we would cry that we were saved; +again that all was lost. The dust enveloped us in clouds; the moon +magnified the great plain we must cross to the woods beyond. Let us +gain them and we might find the army after all. I had said as much +when a figure pressed out of the hurly-burly and I knew it for that of +a Cossack. He slashed at me with a great scimitar, and slashed again. +Then I heard a pistol shot, and seeing the fellow reeling in his +saddle, I cut him through the skull to the very marrow. He was but the +first of twenty, and so we went riding and slashing and halloaing for a +league or more until we had bested their leaders and were alone on the +great plain once more. Alas! how brief a respite! We had thousands +still to deal with, and they rode after us like devils. No sailors +lost upon a black and stormy sea went more blindly than we upon that +fateful night. The army had vanished; we believed no longer that we +should find it. + +Meanwhile, there were always the green devils behind us. I should give +no true picture of this affair if I denied that there was another side +to it. Some of our men fell and were hacked to pieces where they lay. +Others were overtaken and cut down by the ruthless swords of the +Cossacks. We could not lift a finger to save them--ten would have +perished for one who fell had we done so. Our one hope lay in the +swiftness of our horses. "En avant!" we cried, and again "En avant!" +We must find the army or perish. Ah, what a vain hope and how Fate +played with us! For my part I believed that all was over when I first +saw the fire in the wood and heard my comrades cry out. The Russians +were then but a hundred paces from us--the light that we saw might be +anything. God knows, we raced for it--and to discover what? A priest +and a woman--Zayde and the shorn monk, who I never doubted was a +Cossack all the time. + +There they were--hobnobbing by a fire of logs and greatly startled when +they heard the sound of hoofs. Immediately they ran off into the +thicket, but not before we had recognised them--my nephew and I. They +were hardly gone when a louder cry arose from every Frenchman in the +wood; for now, as the very light of heaven itself, the glow of a dozen +bivouac fires burst upon our aching eyes, and with one voice we cried: +"Vive l'Empereur!" and swore that the army should avenge us. + + +VII + +War teaches us many lessons, but none more useful than that of its +accidents. You will have said already that we had found the army and +that nothing remained but to ride up to the outposts and raise an alarm. + +Let me answer that nothing was farther from the truth. We had neither +found the army nor were any of our comrades there to avenge us. When I +told this story in the year 1813 in Paris I well remember the laughter +it excited. A squadron of hussars saved by a flight of monks! Thus +the newspapers referred to it, and such was the naked truth. The monks +saved us--the monks from the monastery we had sacked. + +Never have I forgotten that moment when this ridiculous turn first +became apparent to us. The Cossacks, I say, were at our heels, hope +gone from us, all thought of the army abandoned, when we saw the +bivouac fires and rode madly up to them. "Vive l'Empereur!" was our +cry. Then we learned the truth. + +There were a hundred or more monks in the woods: they had kindled the +fires which cheered us. The Cossacks, perceiving the fires, and being +deceived as we were, waited for no verification of a fact which seemed +self-evident. The French army lay encamped in that place--who else +would be there in these days of war and of a mighty host upon the +march? Do you wonder that the mad devils stopped as though they heard +already the roar of our guns, that they wheeled about and were gone as +foxes whom the moon has discovered? They would have been madmen to +have done anything else. The race had been run and we were the +victors. So at least they thought, and so did Fortune smile upon us in +that fateful hour. + +Be sure we did not linger upon an accident so remarkable. The monks +appeared to have no fear of us when we rode by, and the most part of +them lay sleeping. We forbore to intrude upon their dreams; and going +on at our leisure, we came up with the army at dawn and there recited +the details of this amazing adventure. + +It remains but to say a word of the bell and the treasure. + +I have often discussed it with Léon, and we have come to the conclusion +that there must have been monks left in the monastery after the main +body had fled, and that they sounded the alarm upon the approach of the +hussars. Their situation when we sacked that dismal building must have +been parlous indeed, and God alone knew where they hid from us. + +As for the treasure, I have since learned that it belonged to a certain +Prince Karasin, a Tartar from beyond the Urals. He had been murdered +by his servants just as I had supposed, and the woman upon whom he had +lavished the treasure must have been a witness of the wickedness. Her +subsequent fate I am unable to tell you, but my nephew Léon, with his +accustomed gallantry, still swears that she was innocent, and, Valerie +St. Antoine excepted, by far the most beautiful thing he ever +discovered in that God-forsaken country. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +PHANTOM MUSIC + +I + +I never thought to see Valerie St. Antoine again after we had left +Moscow; but here I was quite wrong, as you shall learn presently, and +my next encounter with her was as strange an affair as any I remember +during the war. + +You will remember that we had marched out of Moscow on the 19th day of +October, in the year 1812; but it was the 29th of that month when the +snow began to fall. + +Hitherto our journey had not been unpleasant and had filled us with few +apprehensions. It is true that the Russians were active, and there +were not many villages to pillage, so that some murmurings were heard +at an early date, and men complained bitterly of the lack of bread. +But we were given to understand that all this would be set straight +presently, and that we should find untouched supplies at Smolensk, the +first big town between Moscow and the frontier. Meanwhile, many +carried a little store of provisions in their knapsacks, and the +officers were generally well looked after despite the difficulties. We +found marching easy in the early days, and even when the rain fell, and +the roads became heavy, the wagons were not seriously hampered. All +went light-heartedly, thinking of our beloved France and of the triumph +we were to celebrate there. + +Then came the snow. It began to fall on the evening of the 29th, as I +have said, and, save that there was cold rain during the following +week, we never saw the green ground again until we came to the valley +of the Rhine. Ah, the first of these terrible days--how well I +remember it! + +Léon and I rode side by side, a great press of horsemen before us; +behind us, in a seemingly unbroken line, the carts and wagons of the +transport. Upon either side were the hussars and the lancers, the +_chasseurs à cheval_, the Guards from Portugal, the Italians, with +Prince Eugène. The Emperor himself was then half a day's march ahead +of us, but we expected to come up with him at Slawkowo, and there to +enjoy our well-earned rest. We had frost, as you shall hear, but there +is no pen that can tell you of what we suffered by the way. + +There had been black clouds rolling down from the northward all day, +but the snow itself did not burst upon us until the hour of sunset. It +came heralded by a distant sound as of thunder upon a far horizon; but +this was no thunder that we heard--only a north wind roaring across +that interminable plain. + +Anon it came upon us with the fury of a southern tempest. Flakes of +snow almost as big as a man's hand tumbled out of that leaden sky, were +caught by the howling wind, and scattered in a fine powder which cut +like steel. Soon everything was obliterated: the summer had finished +before our eyes. Where there had been green grass and verdant woods, +and even wild flowers by the roadside, there was now nothing but a +monstrous sea, with here and there the white woods standing up as so +many mighty ships upon a frozen ocean. + +The army, marching hitherto in such good spirits, became but specks in +this white wilderness. Never had Frenchmen known such cold, and great +was the terror with which it inspired them. We saw cloaks flying and +heads bent before the blast; we heard the curses of the transport men, +the shrill complaints of cantinières; but above all the ceaseless +howling of the blast, as though the God of Russia cried a vengeance +upon us, and this was the hour of it. + +All this was bad enough, but more was to follow when the Cossacks came +like so many devils from the darkness. + +They wheeled about us, piping a shrill defiance and waving their lances +ominously. In our turn we were too sore stricken to attack them, and +we rode like cravens, who submitted to fate without lifting a finger. +Not until Marshal Ney himself came up with cannon did we drive the +scarecrows off, and even then it was but a brief respite, for they were +as swift as eagles and as elusive. Many a good fellow had a Russian +lance in him that night, and the snow-field for his bed. It was a new +page in the story of a triumph we had hoped to celebrate in Paris. + +For myself I felt the cold bitterly, and I do not doubt that Léon +suffered no less. We had heavy cloaks and we rode good horses; but the +frost was beyond anything I have known or could imagine, and presently +the trail of the army could be followed by the dead and dying it shed +upon the march. + +Dreadful was it to see those poor fellows, and to know that we could +not help them. There they lay, some already white and still in the +death sleep; others moaning for pain of the cold; others, again, +imploring their fellows to shoot them for God's sake. All, however, +passed on without pity. The wind devoured us; the snow had become a +very avalanche. + +Now this lasted for an hour, almost until the darkness had set in; but +when it ceased we perceived, to our astonishment, a considerable town +upon the horizon, and this put new life into us. Spurring our jaded +horses, Léon and I galloped on, telling each other that we should +certainly find bread and shelter in such a place, and that the rigour +of the night could safely be defied there. We had gone, I suppose, +about a third of a mile in this way when we came without warning upon a +wrecked carriage, and immediately drew rein at the unexpected discovery +we made therein. + + +II + +I have told you that Léon will rarely pass a pretty woman, whatever be +her nationality, and when he drew rein at the sight of the wrecked +carriage it was a woman's face which arrested him. + +"One moment, my uncle," says he; "you really are in a devil of a hurry." + +I drew rein with him and walked my horse up to the carriage. It was +plainly the equipage of a person of rank--a spacious berline, drawn by +four horses, and a brilliant yellow in colour. Of more import was the +fact that the coachman sat dead and frozen upon the box, and that the +horses had drawn the vehicle over the bank of the road, and there left +it poised as a stick upon a conjurer's finger. A minute later and it +turned over gently in the snow, and the horses, maddened by the mishap, +plunged frantically and went galloping across the plain. At the same +moment we heard cries from within the berline, and, dismounting and +leaping upon it, we took three women from the coach, of whom but one +was alive. She was Valerie St. Antoine, and she recognised us +immediately. + +"Help, sir, for God's sake!" says she, as Léon caught her in his arms +and instantly wrapped his own cloak about her. We did not tell her +that the others were beyond help, yet such was the case. + +Of the two, one was an elderly and distinguished-looking woman with +white hair, and the second as pretty a child of fifteen years of age as +I had seen since I left Prussia. Both had perished of want and cold. +They were locked in each other's arms, and quite dead when we took them +from the carriage. + +"Who are these poor people?" I asked Valerie. + +She buried her face in her hands. + +"The Baroness de Nivois and her granddaughter. They have been five +years in Moscow. They were my friends--God help me!" + +"But, mademoiselle," said I, "what sent you upon such an errand as +this?" + +She looked at me, I think, with some amazement at my want of +understanding. + +"What Frenchwoman remains in Moscow now?" she asked coldly. And then +as quickly she turned to Léon and inquired of him where the Emperor +would be. + +"I must see him immediately," says she; "it was for that I followed the +army. Captain Courcelles, will you not help me?" + +He replied that nothing would give him greater pleasure. + +"You are returning to Paris, mademoiselle?" he asked her. + +She said that it was possible. + +"But," cried I, "I thought you would never leave Moscow. You told me +so yourself." + +"Major," she rejoined, "I did not then know that my father was alive, +nor that he served the Emperor." + +I thought upon it a minute, and then a sudden memory coming to me, I +said: + +"There is a Colonel St. Antoine with the Second Battalion of the +Chasseurs of the Line. Is it possible, mademoiselle, that he is a +relative of yours?" + +"He is my father," she said, with admirable dignity; and, turning, she +hid her face in her hands again, as though the dreadful scene about us +could no longer be suffered. Léon waited for no more, but, lifting her +upon his horse, he rode straightway from the place. + +"Do what you can for these poor women," said he to me. "We will wait +for you in the town." And with that he pressed forward and was quickly +lost to my view. + +I had given him my word, and yet it was worth little. The poor women +were beyond all hope, and it remained but to inter them decently. +This, with the aid of some sappers, I did anon, and having seen to it +that we should know the place again if occasion arose, I also pressed +on towards the town. + +It was quite dark by this time, and the snow had begun to fall again. +I thought myself lucky to overtake my nephew, which I did some third of +a mile from the gates of the town. But whether his welcome were as +warm as my pleasure I have my doubts. Let me say in all honesty that I +believe that Léon was in love with this woman, and would have gone +through fire and water for her. + + +III + +There were many terrible nights to be suffered before the remnant of +the Grand Army might see Paris again; but none of them to surpass that +night when we first made acquaintance with the north wind as Russia +knows it. + +What the cold was I cannot tell you, but such a rigour I had never +known before, nor had any who marched with that stricken company. +Already we perceived that if we did not reach the shelter of the town +we should never see the day; and the fury of the wind driving us and +the snow blinding our eyes, we pressed on headlong. + +Had a man doubted the road, the dead, as I have said, would have +pointed it out to him. There was not a furlong free from the corpses +of those who had been our comrades. Every bush sheltered poor wretches +deploring their misery and appealing to God. We saw men staggering as +though drunk with wine; others hysterical as women and gone stark mad +in their suffering. And all the time the lights of the distant town +would appear and disappear, as though mocking our hope and defying us +of their promise. + +I was sorry for my nephew, who had given his cloak to Valerie; and +although she made a pretence of sheltering them both, it was precious +little good he got by it. Perhaps, had she not been with him in the +saddle, he would never have come to Slawkowo at all. As it was, he +bore up bravely and did not cease to encourage her in every way that he +could. "But a kilometre more, and we are there," he would say. Or +again: "We shall find the Emperor in the city, and there will be food +and shelter there." Sometimes he would ask her if she suffered much, +and invariably she answered with a woman's courage. + +"Don't think of me, captain," she would say; "I am used to the cold. +Have I not lived many years in Russia? All this is nothing to me." + +Such courage was infectious, and we were both the better for it. It +seemed possible now that we should reach the town after all, though +there were many bitter interludes before we did so. Sometimes the +lights would disappear altogether, and we would believe that we had +lost our road. Then again they would appear as mysteriously, and we +would think the city but a stone's throw from us. In the end, I +remember, we came to a frozen river, and putting our horses across it, +we found ourselves beneath high and forbidding walls, which told us +that we had lost our way, and that the night might still have the +better of us. + +This was a terrible hour, and we rode vainly to and fro as children who +are lost in an unknown country. Everywhere black walls denied us +shelter, and so at last we recrossed the river and went southward a +full half-hour before we discovered the gate of Slawkowo and cried to +one another that all was well. + +We thought it must be so. + +Here was a considerable town with the houses of the merchants who had +sheltered us when we rode to Moscow. We had known some pleasant days +in Slawkowo on our outward journey, and I do not think it dawned upon +any man that our reception would be different upon our return. Hardly +had we entered the gate when we discovered our mistake. Of the once +fine houses but the shell now remained. The main street was impassable +by reason of guns and wagons gathered there. We turned aside to the +suburb on the south, and found such houses as remained alive with our +comrades, who filled them from garret to cellar, and swore that no +new-comer should enter. + +By here and there whole companies of infantry were bivouacked in the +open for lack of shelter, and the high wall of church or garden alone +protected them from the terrible night. Of food there seemed no +prospect whatever. We beat upon the doors of many houses, and although +we gave those within to understand that we were officers of the Guard, +they answered that men or devils should not come in that night. At +last we found ourselves at the very ramparts again with never a house +in view and nothing but those monstrous walls before us. + +"Good God!" says Léon, drawing rein at last and turning to me wearily, +"is there no house in all this cursed city which will take us in?" + +I could but answer him that we must wheel about and try again, and +although my horse staggered at every step, and ultimately fell dead as +we went, I could but repeat the admonition. We must get into a house +of some sort, or we should never see the dawn. So much would have been +evident to a child. + +Behold us, then, staggering on, the snow beating upon us pitilessly; +the wind howling amid the shells of the ruined houses; the city itself +but a mob of maddened troopers fighting for their very lives on every +threshold. So evident was it that we should get no shelter anywhere in +the vicinity of the gates that we pushed on ultimately as though we +would leave Slawkowo by the western road, and then for the first time +we were able to breathe freely and to reckon with the situation. + +There were no houses at all here--merely the blackened ruins of once +fine streets. Often we rode over heaps of rubbish with the sure +knowledge that a mishap might send us headlong into some vault or +cellar, already, it may be, full of dead. This, however, did not deter +us; we had Valerie to save, and the same thought inspired us both. +There could be no rest for either until Valerie St. Antoine had found a +refuge. How shall I tell you what we ourselves suffered, buffeted this +way and that; drawn now to some phantom house; anon to the borders of +the frozen river, and from that back again to the wilderness? +Certainly I thought that all was ended, and the deadly spell of the +cold seizing upon me, I began to have that desire of sleep from which +there can be no awakening. + +"Nephew," said I, "do you go on and leave me here." + +It was then that my horse fell, and rolling heavily in the snow I +thought that my end had come. Léon, however, had a flask of brandy in +his haversack, and presently I was conscious of a burning sensation in +my throat and of a sudden realisation of the truth that I must wake or +die. Making a mighty effort of the will, I got upon my feet and +struggled on, hardly knowing that Valerie St. Antoine had one of my +arms and Léon the other. The words they spoke to me were as sounds +from afar; I did not rightly understand them, and made no reply. But +presently, a little strength coming back to me, I heard a note of +distant music, and asked them what it was. + +"Listen to that," said I. "Someone is playing the organ." + +They laughed at me, Léon saying, "Come, come, uncle, your ears are +playing tricks with you; there is no organ here." + +"You are wrong," said I; "there is an organ, and someone is playing 'On +va leur percer les flancs.' Listen and you will heal it." + +Well, they both stood and listened, and after a few moments they +admitted I was right. + +"There is someone playing," said Léon, while Valerie uttered a little +cry of pleasure, and running forward with her hands clasped, she +returned to tell us that it must be the organ of a church and that we +should never hear it on such a night if it were not very near to us. +On this we all agreed, and a new hope animating us, we led Léon's horse +and pressed on towards the music. + +Ah, what a quest that was! How those phantom chords deceived us! +Sometimes we would think the organ was so near us that nothing but a +miracle could hide the scene. Then again we would lose the sounds +altogether, and try to comfort each other with the assurance that the +wind alone muffled them. This went on for a full half-hour, until as +though a miracle had happened, we found ourselves in the very porch of +a considerable church, and understood in a moment that our own fellows +were within, and that one of them was playing upon the organ. + +"Open to the Guard!" cried Léon, beating heavily upon the door with the +hilt of his sword. + +The answer from within was the one we had heard so often that night: +"Let the Guard go elsewhere, there is no room for anybody here." + +"Oh," says Léon, "is that not Sergeant Bourgogne who is speaking?" + +It was a lucky shot, for the door was opened instantly, and there stood +our old sergeant before us. + +"Why, captain," cried he, "we have reported you for dead!" And then +espying me, he added, "The very man we are looking for, major. There +is plenty of work for a surgeon to do in this place. Come in, +messieurs, and let me bolt the door after you." + +Needless to say, we did not ask for a second invitation, but passing at +once into the church, we heard the sergeant bolting and locking the +heavy door. There the light almost blinded us, and we sank exhausted +upon the stone pavement and lay motionless for many minutes. + + +IV + +When we had recovered ourselves a little we were able to get some idea +of the strange happenings within the church. + +To begin with, I would tell you that it was a building in the Russian +fashion, with two domes above its naves and a similar one above the +chancel. About the wall there were the icons which the Russians +worship, and the organ which we had heard played stood in the western +gallery just above the main doors. The building was large, and would +have accommodated a thousand people perhaps. There must have been five +hundred of our own fellows within when we entered, and they lay about +the marble pavement in every conceivable attitude. + +Some, I perceived, were already drunk with brandy, of which there was a +considerable supply in the church. I learned from Sergeant Bourgogne +that the cellars of a neighbouring wine shop had been ransacked before +dark fell and many bottles of wine and brandy carried into the church +against the bitter night; of food there was none but horseflesh, and +despite my nephew's protests, the troopers killed and cut up his own +charger directly we entered the building. Soon the whole place was +redolent with the smell of roasted flesh, and what with the pungent +odour of that and of the burning wood and brandy the atmosphere became +almost insupportable. + +I should tell you that two great fires had been lighted in the +building: one upon the pavement of the chancel, the other below the +choir screen, which is a great thing in all their churches. + +Unhappily the fire before the altar had been fed chiefly by the +beautiful painted panels of this screen, while that in the nave owed +its glowing heat to the multitude of chairs which had been broken up +and burned upon it. Here all the cooking was done, and it was an odd +thing to see men toasting great lumps of horseflesh upon the points of +their bayonets and swords, and eating them while they were still hot +and dripping from the fire. Such practices, however, went on +uninterruptedly; and if anything be said against them, I would remind +you of the intolerable night outside and of what these poor fellows had +suffered during their march to Slawkowo. For that matter we ourselves +were not above sharing in this barbarous hospitality, and even Valerie +St. Antoine ate a piece of roasted horseflesh and drank a draught of +wine from the flask which Sergeant Bourgogne proffered her. + +Be it said that the men were very merry and that a spirit of drunken +hilarity prevailed in the place. None seemed to remember that it was a +holy building, nor would it have been worth while to remonstrate with +poor devils who had suffered so much. I saw usually sober officers +dancing in the vestments of the priests and preaching mock sermons from +a splendid pulpit. The organist was an accomplished fellow, and played +the wildest dance with precision. Even the wounded cheered up at his +music and tried to join in the songs which the army knew so well. It +was pitiful to hear them moaning: + + "Ram, ram, ram, tam, + Plan, tire-lire ram plan": + +those who would never see France again and might never quit that +building. + +One such I shall never forget. His leg had been amputated that very +day, and yet in his drunken frenzy he reared himself up from the rude +bed they had made him and rolled over and over until he was dead, like +a mad dervish from the Indies. Scenes like this were repeated during +that long and wonderful night, until, indeed, the organist, coming down +the stairs for brandy, stumbled by the way and pitched headlong into +the nave. Both his legs were broken, and although I did what I could +for him, I knew that he, too, would never leave Slawkowo. + +Valerie St. Antoine supported all this with wonderful fortitude. We +had had little converse with her hitherto, but now she began to talk to +us very rationally, and we had some insight into that dual personality +which many men have found so interesting. + +Very frankly she told us that she had had no thought of returning to +France until she had heard that her father was with the army. This was +the more surprising since it would appear that she had not seen him +since she was quite a child. + +"He left Nice in the days of the Terror," she said. "We went--my +brother and I--with my mother to Leipsic, and then to one of her +kinsmen, who was a Pole. She died in Poland five years ago, and my +brother had to enter Prince Nicholas's household and to take me to +Moscow with him. You will imagine what happened to a child among a +strange people and with none but an absent brother to protect her. +René was sent to St. Petersburg, and I was left alone with the Prince. +Sometimes I forgot altogether that I had been born in France. They +surrounded me with riches, and anything for which I chose to ask was at +my hand. Then came the story of General Bonaparte and of his +victories. That did not interest me; I was still a Russian at heart, +and remained so until your army entered Moscow and all was remembered. +It was the Emperor who set me dreaming again and made me remember my +home by the Mediterranean Sea: I recalled my father in his uniform of +green and gold; I recollected how we were taught as children to cry, +'_Vive la République!_' but never '_Vive le Roi!_' Oh, yes, my heart +went back to France and I became a Frenchwoman again. Now I shall go +to Paris and try to earn my living there. It will be difficult, but I +am not afraid; the world has taught me too many things that I should +fear my own independence." + +Léon told her gallantly enough that she had no need to fear any such +thing. He, I made sure, was ready enough to set her upon the road of +his choice; and yet there was something about the girl which forbade +love-making as soldiers know it, and set her upon a pinnacle of which +even my nephew was a little shy. + +"Come to Paris," said he, "and you shall be as famous as any woman in +the city. There is always a career for beauty there, and you, Valerie, +have other gifts. I promise you that you will not be disappointed. I +will make it my business to see that you are not." + +She looked at him with curiosity. Perhaps there was a measure of pity +in her tone when she said, "Ah, Captain Léon, if we ever see Paris +again how lucky we shall be!" + +This she said from her heart, and it saddened us all not a little when +we perceived how true it was. None the less, Léon tried to laugh at it. + +"There will be supplies at Smolensk," said he, "and after that the way +will be easy. We shall be hungry for a day or two and perhaps eat some +of your old friends the Cossacks--but the Grand Army has a good +appetite. The Emperor will not have been unprepared for such weather +as this, and you will see how he will deal with it. Really, +Mademoiselle Valerie, you were never born to be a pessimist." + +She shook her head, but her interest was evidently roused when he +mentioned the Emperor. + +"Where is His Majesty now?" she asked. "Do you not remember that I +must see him at once? It is for that that I left Moscow with the +Baroness Nivois. The safety of the army may depend upon what I have to +tell him. I appeal to you all to help me." + +"We shall do that readily enough," said I, chiming in for the first +time. "Nothing could be easier. His Majesty is at Slawkowo this very +night. You can see him in the morning before the march begins--that +is, if you have anything to say to him to which he will listen." + +She smiled as though with some contempt at the doubt. + +"I have that," said she, "which will save his army. If he does not see +me, he is not the person I believe him to be." + +And then to us all she said: + +"Messieurs, I have the plans of General Kutusoff, as I read them in +Prince Nicholas's house. Do you not think your Emperor will wish to +see those?" + +We were all greatly interested, and begged her to show us the +documents. Here, however, she was adamantine, and her native secrecy +prevailed. To our questions she answered that she would tell the +Emperor alone, and soon we perceived that it was futile to press her. +Indeed, had we the mind, that was not the opportunity, for just as we +were at the height of the argument a loud knocking was heard upon the +doors of the church, and someone cried out that the Cossacks were +without. + +Now this was a dreadful thing to hear, and one which sent every man in +the church leaping to his feet--those of them who could stand, for +there were many who could not. We did not stop to ask ourselves by +what means the Russians had entered Slawkowo. Well we knew that they +had been upon our flanks all day, and it did not seem impossible that +they had made a sudden descent upon the church, and were already in the +suburbs of the city. If that were so, our case was parlous. We knew +that they would burn us out like rats, and would sabre every man who +crossed the threshold. Can you wonder, then, that a great silence fell +for an instant, and was succeeded by a wild shout of "Aux armes!" + +I have lived through many a dangerous hour for the Emperor's sake, but +never one, I think, so full of the sublime and the grotesque as that +instant of alarm in the church at Slawkowo. + +To see men, who had been brawling and singing but a moment before, +spring to their feet and stagger towards the door, bayonets fixed or +swords flourished; to hear the oaths and curses of drunken brutes, who +believed that death had them by the shoulders; to be carried everywhere +in a mob which slashed and hewed at an imaginary enemy, and even cut +down its comrades in a mad debauch of fear and frenzy--all this, I say, +surpassed experience. + +Yet such was the result of that wild alarm. + +The Cossacks were at the gates; the church was fired. From without and +within the roar and the brawl waxed deafening. Those in the snow beat +fiercely upon the doors, and splintered them with axe and musket; those +within fired their pistols from every window, and called on God and the +devil to help them. When it was apparent that the doors were giving +way, a panic ensued such as the meanest mercenary might have been +ashamed of. Men howled in fear or supplicated an enemy still +invisible; others flew to the bottle, and drank prodigious draughts; +some capered like women round and round the fires in a drunken pæan of +death. But all surely believed that the Cossacks were there; and we of +the Guard, determining at length that assault was better than defence, +threw the doors wide open and charged headlong through the blinding +storm. + +Ah! what a night that was--what a mockery! Perceived but not seeing, +for the aureole of light must have shown our figures clearly to the +enemy, we slashed and hewed at hazard--here in snow to our knees, there +falling upon the slippery ground, now locked arm in arm with the +aggressors, or again standing alone seeking vainly for an enemy. + +Whence the assault had come or by whom we knew no more than the dead. + +Either the light blinded us or we stood in such black darkness that a +man might have slain his own brother unawares. + +In truth, we had been doing this all along, and we must have fought a +full ten minutes before someone cried out that we were killing +Frenchmen, and instantly there arose a terrible uproar and the ghastly +truth was discovered. + +It had not been the Cossacks at all who had come to the place, but a +regiment of chasseurs of the line, of whom no fewer than forty now lay +dead before the porch of the church. Who can describe our chagrin and +dismay when this was made known? Our own comrades! Many a man there +would as soon have slain his own children. + + +V + +Well, we dragged brands from the fire and began to do what we could. +Many of the poor fellows were dead, and the snow fell so heavily that +their bodies were already but whitened mounds. Others crawled here and +there in their pain, fearing the vengeance of the Russians whom they +believed to be in the church. When we cried out to them that we were +Frenchmen, they could hardly believe their ears. How they reproached +us then, and how difficult we found it to answer them! Few words, +indeed, were spoken; but, dragging the wounded and even the dead into +the building, we began our pitiful task. + +Naturally, my own services were much in request. There was another +surgeon from the Vélites of the company, but he was a very young man, +and the situation had unnerved him. The mischief of it was that so +many had been attacked with sword and bayonet that the wounds we had to +deal with were very terrible. One poor fellow I remember +particularly--a fine man of more than middle age in a cloak and +colonel's uniform, an officer of the _chasseurs à pied_, who tried to +make light of his wounds, but evidently was dying. Someone told me +presently that his name was St. Antoine, and it came to me in a flash +that he might be Valerie's father. + +Now, it became very difficult to know what to do. The girl herself was +then helping the wounded upon the far side of the church, but she came +over to me presently, and I had no alternative but to tell her what had +been said. The man was dying, and, if he were her father, then she +must know it. + +I shall not attempt to recite the moving scene I was now to witness--a +scene between a child who had become the woman of the world and a man +who had lost his daughter to find her at the hour of his death! Be +sure we did what we could for him, giving him the best place by the +fire, and cloaks from willing shoulders, and brandy from the flask +which was left to us. It was all of no avail, and he died just as the +dawn broke and the distant bugles were sounding the réveillé. + +Valerie's grief was not such as I had expected to see. + +There are some women, however, whose souls no man can read, and hers +was such a one. What she suffered in that hour I make no pretence to +say, but her anger against those who had killed their fellow-countrymen +was typical of a passionate nature. This Grand Army now stood to her +for a thing of contempt. She railed upon us piteously--applauding our +skill in killing Frenchmen and running away from Russians. When, to +turn her thoughts, Léon told her that she would now find the Emperor in +Slawkowo, she derided the idea that she wished to see him, and taking +some papers from her breast she burned them before we could raise a +finger to stop her. + +"Your army shall perish!" she cried almost triumphantly; and then she +asked, "Well, what does it deserve? To kill your comrades! My God--to +kill my own father!" + +Her courage was no longer capable of supporting this thought, and she +sank down upon the pavement and was overtaken by passionate weeping, +which endured for many minutes. + +The destruction of the documents had been so swift that its moment +hitherto had not occurred to us, but now I took Léon aside and began to +question him. + +"The papers came from Kutusoff," said I. "They are of the greatest +importance, and possibly the Russian plan of campaign is among them. +Certainly the Emperor should know of this; we must make it our business +to go to him immediately. If the woman has burned the documents, at +least she will have read them. We must make her speak at +head-quarters." + +He agreed with me, but declared that she was in no fit state to tell a +story. + +"I know the kind," he said. "Her anger is like a tempest, and will +pass as quickly. Then she will regret what she has done. Let us go to +head-quarters and report. It will be for them to act in the matter." + +I thought this wise at the time, and did not hesitate to set off with +him. It was evident that the Russians had prepared some great plan of +campaign the moment our retreat was known, and the importance of this +to the general staff could not be exaggerated. It was amazing to think +that a mere child amidst us had knowledge which might save the lives of +thousands of men, and that the papers which contained it were but so +many ashes upon the pavement before us. None the less, we might yet +compel her to speak, and with this in our minds we quitted the building +and made our way as best we could to the guest house at which the +Emperor was staying. + +This was no light task, for the snow was often up to our knees, and the +dead were everywhere. + +It had been a terrible night, and the army had paid a bitter price for +the ruin it had inflicted upon Slawkowo on the outward journey. We +could not help but reflect how many thousands might have been saved in +those houses we had burned, how many might have been fed by that food +we had so wantonly destroyed in the days of our abundance. This day +there was not a loaf of bread in all that perished town; men were +eating horse at every bivouac. The night, for those who lived, had +been an orgy amid the cellars, when men raved and died in their +drunkenness, and those who perished from starvation had nothing but +brandy for their lips. + +All this was reflected in that scene at dawn. + +Day broke with a wan, grey light and a powder of snow which burned the +skin like hot needles. We found the great street of the town still +blocked by the wagons of the transport and the guns of the Emperor's +Guard. The bravest men moved like phantoms in the mist, their spirits +sunk, their flesh shrunken by the cold. None of the éclat of departure +was to be observed in all that throng. The road had carried us to a +house of death, and no hope lay beyond it. Who shall wonder at the +dejection which fell upon the once proud Grand Army? + +We came up to the Emperor's tent at nine o'clock, and heard that His +Majesty was just about to march. Murat and Dumesnil were with him, and +I was lucky enough to catch the latter when he came out of the +Emperor's room some ten minutes later. My story interested him +profoundly, and we were soon ushered into His Majesty's presence. I +thought he looked a little careworn, but there was no betrayal of his +secret thoughts, nor did he speak a word in reference to the thousands +of dead who lay buried beneath the snow in that wretched town. Indeed, +his manner became almost a little aggressive when he spoke and asked me +somewhat surlily what I wanted. + +"Your Majesty," said I, "there is a woman in the city who has news from +the Russian head-quarters. I thought you would wish to hear of her." + +"Is she with you?" he asked quickly, the wonderful eyes searching me +from head to foot. + +I had to say that she was not, and at that his choler mounted. + +"Then why do you come here? Why do you waste my time? Go and fetch +her immediately. You must be a fool to come upon such an errand." + +I had been an old favourite of his, and it came to me that he would not +have spoken in this way had the situation been less terrible. His +anger reflected his disappointment and would not suffer argument. I +did not attempt to tell him the true story of Valerie St. Antoine, for +to that he would never have listened in such a temper; but, promising +to fetch her immediately, I was about to leave the room, when he said: + +"Let there be no mistake. If you do not find her I will have you shot." + +I heard him with amazement, for never had such words been spoken to me +before. Yet I knew the Little Corporal well enough not to doubt his +meaning. He had realised the importance of the tidings I carried, and +his anger at our supposed neglect prompted the threat. If this did not +alarm me it was because I trusted Valerie, and so well did my +confidence seem to be justified that Léon laughed when he heard the +story. + +"I know women," said he. "She would do anything for me. We will just +tell her all the circumstances, and she will come immediately. Cheer +up, mon oncle; I shall not have to dig a bullet out of you at dawn +to-morrow." + +Truthfully, I did not believe that he would, but I was a little anxious +none the less, and we returned to the church at our best speed. When +we got there we found the building empty of all save its wounded and +its dead. Of Valerie there was not a trace, nor of the colonel, her +father. For a little while I could not realise the importance of this +nor understand wholly what it meant to me. When the truth came it was +as though a man had clapped a pistol to my head and cried that I must +die. Good God, what would my case be if we could not find her? Even +Léon was moved; I could see that he had begun to tremble. + + +VI + +"Mon oncle," said he, "she cannot be gone far; let us get some of our +men and search for her. Valerie will never leave the army at such a +time. We must find her without delay." + +I perceived that it was the only thing to be done, and, going out of +the church with him, we began our search, which was to end so +disastrously. + +There was no street, house, nor cellar within a quarter of a mile of +the place that we did not ransack to its depths. I have always been +liked by the Guard, and many a good fellow proffered his help in such +an emergency. Soon, I think, there must have been fifty of us crying +the tidings far and wide and asking, "Have you seen the Frenchwoman +named St. Antoine?" The astonishing thing was that we did not meet a +human being who could help us by a word. None had seen Valerie; few +thought that they would recognise her if they did see her. + +"Possibly," said one, "she has gone to the guest house in the main +street of the town." Another suggested that she might have set out +with the advance guard which left just after dawn. But all agreed that +she was not to be found, and when noon came and there were still no +tidings of her, then I began to believe that she would never be found +at all. This was a disaster so unlooked for, so terrible, that it +paralysed every faculty I possessed. To die for a woman's temper, I +said, while even my friends began to admit that I was in grave danger. +When I met an aide-de-camp to General Dumesnil a little later in the +afternoon, he told me that His Majesty was still waiting, but that his +anger had not modified. + +"By heaven," said he, "he will have you shot, major, if you do not find +her." + +I could only answer that I had done my best and was still doing it. It +occurred to me that, after all, Valerie might return to the church +eventually, and, telling every man I knew that I was going there, I +sought out that now deserted building, and made myself its prisoner. +What hours they were--what hours of waiting, of hope, and of fear! +From the distance I could hear the rumble of the guns and the murmur of +a great army moving, but the church itself was as silent as the dead +and filled with the ghosts of yesterday. In the end the night came and +found me still watching. I did not dare to return to head-quarters. +Even Léon did not come back to me. + +Well, a man dies but once, they say, and yet I died many deaths that +night. + +Often I rebuked myself that Léon was one of the few to whom I had not +committed my intention of returning to the church, and a little after +ten o'clock I set out to seek for him. This walk took me back to the +main street of the town, and eventually to the very building wherein I +had seen His Majesty that morning. Such a fact, if it is to be +explained at all, must be set down to the magnetism of fate, which +destroys men as well as animals. The rabbit, they say, is fascinated +by the snake, and so was I by that intolerable uncertainty which I +could not support in the stillness of the church. I must know the +truth, I thought: I must see the Emperor again, if I were ordered out +for execution there and then--well, a more terrible death might await +me on the frozen plain beyond the town. "Have done with it," was my +idea, as I pushed my way up the steps and asked if His Majesty was +still there. + +Well, it was a fearful ordeal. A young officer carried in my message +and bade me wait at the door until he returned. It mattered not where +it was. I do not think I was conscious of the time, the place, or of +anything but the issue. Should I be summoned to that magic presence or +should I not? Would the penalty be death? Few know what a man suffers +who lives through such moments as these; few can understand the sudden +reaction which attends the truth, whatever it be. + +"His Majesty left at one o'clock," said the orderly when he returned. + +The truth staggered me, and I reeled as at a blow. + +"Did His Majesty leave alone?" I asked. + +"No," said the fellow, and here he smiled; "there was a woman with him." + +Pah, my friends, what a coward I had been, and how I cursed the weary +hours I had spent alone in that hole of a church! + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE CAMP BY THE RIVER + +I + +There were two days of cold, clear weather after we left Slawkowo. It +was upon the second of these days that the adventure of which I shall +now speak befell me. + +The sufferings which the army endured had not by any means abated at +this time. We found but scant supplies in the town, and there had not +been that distribution of rations we had expected. It is true that the +first-comers pillaged brandy from the cellars of Slawkowo, but this was +poor sustenance for men whose greatest necessity was bread, and in this +respect we quitted the town as poor as we entered it. Our one +consolation was that the north winds no longer nipped us and the snow +had ceased to fall. Just as heretofore, men devoured the horses that +fell by the way and drank their blood greedily. Nay, we were in no way +surprised when we heard that the Croats were devouring each other, and +the cruel tales of our comrades' sufferings which were told at every +bivouac could readily be believed. Naturally, only the bravest kept +their courage through such an ordeal. The cunning we had with us, and +they went stoutly enough because of their cunning. There will always +be men who are able to get food while others starve, and in such the +Grand Army was not deficient. These happy fellows kept their secrets +for the most part, and would often pretend to take pot-luck with us, +while we knew all the time that they had hidden stores in which we did +not share. The fact led to bitterness sometimes, and such men were +shunned by their fellows as unworthy of the spirit of comradeship which +animated the Guard. + +I met more than one of these cormorants after we left Slawkowo, but +none whose conduct so much mystified me as that of Captain Payard of +the dragoons. In converse he was the best of good fellows--a merry, +curly-haired gentleman, whose eyes were as blue as a woman's and whose +smile was medicine for every ill. Payard pretended to eat horse with +us, and yet we knew that this could not be his staple diet, for he was +as fat as a Normandy lamb and as gay. Many tried to guess his secret, +but none discovered it, and he would have carried it back to Paris with +him but for a bottle of brandy I hoarded at my saddle-bow, and opened +on the night we left Slawkowo. So deeply did he drink of this that he +became quite tipsy, and, crouching by my side over the bivouac fire in +the wood, he told me his story without shame. + +"You all say that I live well," he protested. "True enough; but, bon +camarade, I steal from the Russians." + +"What?" cried I. "You are known to them, then?" + +He laughed at the idea of treachery. + +"Do you not know me better than that, major?" said he, his eyes +flashing in the crimson light. "I tell you that I go to the Russian +camp and steal what I want. Is it not very simple, and should you not +all have thought of it for yourselves?" + +I was very much surprised, and began to question him closely. How had +he got the password? Was it not a highly dangerous undertaking, and +had he not been fortunate to escape with his life? + +All this he treated lightly. There was danger, of course, but what is +danger to men who are dying of starvation? He admitted that he had a +friend among the Russians, but declared very stoutly that such +friendship had been of great service both to him and to the Emperor. +Finally, he said: + +"Come with me, major, and bring your nephew, and we will dine among the +Cossacks to-morrow night. Are you prepared to take your chance? Very +well. We will start a little before sunset, and we can rejoin the +column on the following morning. Come now, and I promise you as good a +dinner as you could get in our own Paris this night." + +The request astonished me very much, and I thought upon it a little +while. Léon had been away inspecting the horses, but when he returned +I mentioned the matter to him, and he did not hesitate a moment. Of +course we must go. Did it not promise us an adventure, and was not +anything better than the starvation we suffered? I think, indeed, he +would have leapt from a mountain-top if there had been food at the +bottom; and even at my age I could ask myself what perils counted for +men who marched daily over the bodies of their comrades to a city of +visions. + + +II + +Now this was all very well, but, in truth, the affair was rash enough +to have satisfied the most reckless. + +Remember that we marched like a beaten army, dejected and without +spirit; thousands dying every day as we went: the road across the snows +black with the bodies of our comrades who had fallen. Only the spirit +which had conquered at Austerlitz and Jena prevented our swift +annihilation by the Russian wolves, who barked at us from every +thicket. If a man lost his way, the sabres of the Cossacks quickly +showed him the road, or the hatchets of the peasantry put an end to his +sufferings. And yet this laughing Payard could propose that we should +brave the fastnesses of these savages just to find a good dinner beyond +them--a soldier's invitation, surely, perhaps a madman's project. + +I shall not dwell upon this aspect of the adventure, for it must be +apparent to all. Whatever misgivings I had at dawn passed away as the +day waxed and waned and the pangs of a savage hunger devoured me at +nightfall. A starving man is no better than a starving dog when he is +famished, and the Vélites were becoming but animals these latter days. +So you will not wonder that Payard found us ready when he called us at +sunset and that we set off as willingly as lads from a school. We were +going to dine for the first time since we had quitted Moscow. Happy +pilgrims upon a gourmet's road--how little we knew what was in store +for us! + +I should tell you here that the regiment had chosen but a bleak place +for its bivouac that night; a night when the wind began to blow again +and the moon shone clear in a starlit heaven. The road crossed a +shallow valley, in the midst of which was a frozen river. The banks of +this were not high enough to give much shelter from the bitter blasts, +but such as it was our men availed themselves of it and lay in the +hollows by the water, without fires, since the woods were some miles +away to the south, and there was not a human habitation to be seen. +When all that could be done for the good fellows had been accomplished, +and those who perished of fatigue were carried out of sight of the +living, Payard called to Léon and myself and we set off briskly over +the frozen waste. The time to dine had arrived, though as yet we knew +nothing of that strange café in the wilderness which should harbour us. + +"It is an hour's ride from here," said Payard as he mounted his horse; +"nothing at all, my friends, and no Cossacks until we come to the +woods. Then we shall be ready for them. En avant, mes amis, I am +going to feed you well." + +With this he set off at a brisk trot and we followed him without +protest. The way lay in the valley of the river I have mentioned, and +we followed it for at least two miles until the bank rose more steeply +and afforded no longer a safe footing for our horses. + +Nevertheless, we pressed on until the woods drew down to the water's +edge, and Payard declared that we had need of horses no longer. From +this time, as he quickly told us, we must go afoot for safety's sake; +and tethering the willing animals to the first of the trees about the +river's border, we entered the forest. + + +III + +Our confidence was wonderful. We knew no more than the dead where this +merry fellow was leading us, and yet we followed him as joyous +adventurers upon the gayest of pilgrimages. When we heard a distant +bugle and surmised that we were not far from the Russian camp, we were +still unable to check his headlong advance, and though it was difficult +to imagine that he knew the country, our questions concerning it were +asked in vain. + +"A la bonne heure," he would say when checking his step. "I have +promised you a good dinner, and I am taking you where you will get it. +Do not trouble me until we arrive at the house. Then I will talk to +you." + +To this he added the intimation that it was dangerous to talk in a +place where the trees had ears. "Do you wish to dine with the +Cossacks?" he asked us. It was a question we could answer very +decidedly in the negative. + +Had we any doubt upon the latter point the sound of galloping horses +would have made his request for prudence seem reasonable enough. It +was evident that he was still following the river bank and that this +was his only guide. The woods about were open and gloriously carpeted +by the glistening snow. The long stems of the pines, all whitened by +the frost, stood for so many sleeping sentinels of that hidden army of +Russians which lay beyond them. Yet he did not hesitate, and it was +only when the sounds of approaching horsemen drew quite near to us that +Payard plunged suddenly into the undergrowth above the river bank and +bade us follow him for our lives. + +"The Cossacks!" cried he, and that was a word we understood too well. + +They came up presently, a sturdy troop all frosted with the snow, but +talking very merrily together as men who had been upon a pleasant +picnic. I had no doubt that they had just visited one of our own +bivouacs, and it was hard to lie there and watch them, knowing that +they had sabred many an honest Frenchman that day. Yet prudence +dictated such a course, and we lay in the brushwood hardly daring to +breathe while they swept by. When they had gone, Payard crawled out of +the bush, and shaking the snow from his massive shoulders, he told us +pleasantly that we were going to dine with them. + +"The camp is a third of a mile from here," he said, "and dinner will be +waiting. Let us make haste, my friends, or it will be cold." + +It was all an enigma to us, you may be sure, but that was not the time +to interrogate him about it, and we were content to follow in his steps +while he pressed on through the wood and presently emerged upon a +considerable clearing, beyond which were the bivouac fires of the +Russians. The sight of this brought us to a halt, and all gathering +together at the foot of a great chestnut tree, we began to argue about +it for the first time. + +"Yonder is the village of Vitzala," says Payard, indicating some lights +far off through the trees. "There has been a Russian camp here under +General Volska for the last two months. Madame Pauline is in the first +house across the clearing. If we reach that safely, the rest is easy. +Her husband has gone to Petersburg, and we are not likely to be +troubled by him. Of course, you know that she is a Frenchwoman." + +We knew nothing of the kind. As a matter of fact, we had heard her +name for the first time, but not with astonishment. It was evident +from the beginning that he had formed a friendship with one of the many +Frenchwomen who marched out of Moscow with our army; but that we should +find her in such a place and camped with Cossacks who were sabring our +fellows was a surprise indeed. + +"What brings her here?" I asked him bluntly enough. + +He told me in a word. + +"Colonel Tcharnhoff of the dragoons is in love with her. He is +supposed to be the richest man in the Russian army; his regiment lies +yonder in the village, but he himself has gone north to meet the +Military Council. I promise you that you are about to meet a very fine +woman--and one who knows how to dine," he added with a laugh. + +His candour disarmed us. We knew these Frenchwomen too well to doubt +his story, and all that remained was to discover the house which +harboured this interesting lady. Payard said that he had been +instructed to follow the bank of the river until he came to the +clearing, and that this would bring him to an isolated cabin upon the +outskirts of the village. There he was to find Madame Pauline. The +direction was plain, but the darkness of the night rendered the pursuit +of it difficult. + +We were now within a few hundred paces of the Russian camp. There was +a wide lake of snow between ourselves and the sheltering thicket, and +it was apparent that any moment might discover our presence to the +Russians. More prudent men would have gone back as they had come; but +we were as famished as the wolves, and crying to the captain to lead +on, we bent our heads and ran boldly for the shelter of the distant +woods. + +Luck favoured us to this point. Standing upon the far side of the +thicket to listen, we soon perceived that the camp was not alarmed. It +is true that we could see the bayonets of the sentries moving between +the trees, perhaps a hundred yards from the place where we stood; but a +far more pleasant sight was a lonely wattled hut on the very brink of +the wood, and this we determined could be no other than Madame +Pauline's abode. + +"As plain as the nose on the end of your face, and a much better +colour," said Payard, rubbing his own vigorously. "She would never +have sent for me if her house had been within the lines. At any rate, +my friends, I will take my chance," and upon that he walked straight up +to the door of this strange habitation and knocked lightly upon it. +The next moment it was opened by a man who answered him in French; and +beckoning us to follow, the merry captain entered the hut without +another word. + + +IV + +I have described this building as a hut, and yet when we entered it we +discovered that it deserved a better appellation. + +The relic of an ancient outpost in the woods, it had been used formerly +by the frontier guards, and, indeed, I have learned since that it +served for officers' quarters in the days of the great Queen Catherine. + +The building that we saw from the thicket was but an ante-chamber to a +larger apartment which had been furnished in the oddest manner for +madame's occupation. + +A great stove glowed here, and the walls were hung with the costliest +skins in lieu of tapestries. For carpet there was but a footing of +straw rushes, and this was in odd contrast to the luxury elsewhere. +Better to our liking was a wooden table, lacking a cloth, but spread +with food such as we had not seen since we left Moscow. + +Bread was here--that bread for which we would have bartered our souls +yesterday. We espied a great round of beef which would have fed a +company of men, and a saucepan of potatoes, steaming upon the stove of +which I have spoken. Not only this, but dainties innumerable littered +madame's board; and our eyes feasted already upon the preserved fruits +which every Russian loves; sweetmeats from Germany, fine liqueurs and +bottles of wine, all promising a veritable orgy to men who had suffered +the rigours of that unnameable retreat. + +Naturally, Léon and I thought of these things first, but presently we +heard a voice from a room beyond, and madame herself now appeared and +greeted us with a welcome which nothing could have surpassed. Were we +not Frenchmen, and was she not our sister in the remote wilderness? Be +not astonished that we kissed her upon both cheeks as though we had +known her all our lives. + +Let me describe this wonderful personage for you as well as memory +permits. Above the middle height, with a superb figure and limbs which +would not have disgraced a grenadier, she wore the green uniform of the +Cossacks of the Guard, and mighty well it became her, as we all agreed. + +Not a beautiful woman as the canons go; her hair was frankly red, +though cut short and hardly reaching to her shoulders; yet there was a +power of character in her face which none could mistake, and she had +the kindest smile that I have ever seen upon a woman's face. To us her +welcome was unqualified. + +"You are at home here, my friends," she said; "are you not all +Frenchmen, and am I not your sister? Ah, how well I know what you have +suffered! Would that I could bring the others here to this mean house +and give them what they deserve! Such as it is, however, my +hospitality is always at the service of yourselves and your comrades. +Shall we now sit down to table? You will not tell me that you are not +ready." + +We told her nothing of the kind, but followed her as dogs that hear the +huntsman's step. The peril of the house, the chance of our being +discovered there, the consequence of such discovery, troubled us not at +all. We could have taken the meat in our hands and gnawed it as hounds +will gnaw a bone, and I would say that there could have been no more +revolting spectacle than that of our appetites at madame's hospitable +board. Nothing came amiss to us--meat and drink; sweetmeats and +liqueurs--we devoured them in a frenzy, and not until we had gorged +ourselves shamelessly did a man of us put a question as to our +situation. + +Oddly enough, madame heard us with some discomfort, I thought, directly +we began to speak about the regiment. Turning to Payard, she said: + +"My friend, do you not understand that I am the wife of a Russian +officer, and can tell you nothing? I have promised you shelter in this +house, and you may count upon me; but do not expect me to betray +anything or anybody. Rather let me fill your glasses and drink the +toast that I shall propose to you: 'France, our own beloved country. +To our safe return!' Will you not pledge that?" + +Naturally we responded with all our hearts to such a pleasant +sentiment; nay, I think we had drunk the toast at least three times +when, without warning, the French servant burst into the room, and, +white as death, he cried, "Madame, here is Colonel Tcharnhoff returned!" + + +V + +Now, I do not think at the first we understood the significance of this +intrusion. + +Remember that we had dined very well, and that our heads were turned by +the good wine madame had offered us. Perhaps we had forgotten that we +were in the heart of the enemy's camp, and that for a word they would +have cut us to pieces. I remembered vaguely that Payard had spoken of +a certain Tcharnhoff as one of madame's lovers; but for the moment it +was difficult to connect the terror of the serving man with the gossip +of the roadside. + +In the same spirit my nephew Léon laughed foolishly when he heard the +servant, and immediately cried, "Let Colonel Tcharnhoff come in!" This +cry Payard himself repeated, banging the table with his fist and +seeming to think it the best of jokes. Madame alone rebuked us by her +attitude. I have never seen a woman so obviously overcome by terror +and yet so much mistress of herself. + +"Keep your seats," she said, half rising as she spoke. "Say nothing +until I have told him." And with that she stood erect at the head of +the table and waited for the colonel to enter. + +Her attitude sobered us. The tragic terror of the woman, her fine +determination, the splendid figure she cut there at the table's head, +were so many rebukes upon our foolish levity. Instantly we realised +that we were in deadly peril by the advent of this unknown man, and +turning as he entered, we scrutinised him closely. + +Ferdinand Tcharnhoff was then in his thirty-fifth year. They say that +if you scratch a Russian you will find a Tartar; but this fellow was an +Eastern from the top of his head to the soles of his feet, and no man +could have mistaken him. Bearded like a savage Englishman, his face +might have been that of an animal, and his cunning eyes those of a pig. +He wore the white uniform of the dragoons with their cloak and helmet, +and his sword was still unbuckled when he came in. Never shall I +forget the look of astonishment which crossed the man's face when he +beheld us at his table. + +"How?" he cried in his own tongue, and then he looked from us to madame +and round about at his servants as though fearing that a trap had been +laid for him. It was at this moment that madame advanced, both her +hands outstretched in welcome, and laughing with the wit of a born +actress. + +"These are my friends and relatives from Paris," she cried. "I am +feeding them, Ferdinand. I told you that I would do so if ever I had +the chance." + +It was a bold stroke and worthy of the woman. The man himself seemed +quite taken aback at her hardihood, and, acting in the same spirit, he +now made us a most profound bow and then handed his cloak and sword to +the servant. + +"Gentlemen," said he, in passable French, "I will not say 'Welcome to +my board!' for that is obviously too late. Let me trust that you have +enjoyed a good dinner, an occupation in which I hope to imitate you +with madame's permission." + +He looked at her, and she immediately gave her orders for food to be +brought. I think she had expected a different turn to the adventure, +and was as perplexed as we ourselves at the colonel's attitude. Here +was a man who should have been raging against us as spies, sitting by +us in the most affable mood and eating and drinking as though he were +in our house and not we in his. For all that I doubted him even in his +most condescending moments, and whispering a word to Léon, I suggested +that we should go. This brought suspicion to a head. The Russian +became sullen in an instant. + +"You will stay," he said, and he banged the table with his fist as +though he had leapt suddenly to the command. "You will stay, +messieurs. Are you not madame's guests? This is no time of night to +be in the woods. There are dangers abroad, messieurs--and wolves. +Upon my word, I am surprised at you--to mention such a thing." + +We resumed our seats, and he fell to smiling again; yet it was with the +snarl of one of those very wolves he had mentioned. A low cunning +laugh, the like of which I have never heard, betrayed a deeper purpose +than that of hospitality. We, in our turn, understood then the whole +peril of the situation. The man was playing with us as a cat with +mice; he had but begun the role he meant to undertake. + +"You are foolish, messieurs," he went on presently; "indeed most +foolish. Consider what would happen to you if you left this house +against my will. The sentries would detain you, and there would be an +inquiry at head-quarters. We are very unkind to traitors when they +visit our camps, and we have our own way of dealing with them. Do you +remember Major Royate, of the Engineers, whom the Cossacks took at +Plavno? They tied him to a tree, I think, and the wolves ate him at +sundown. Then there was your Lieutenant de Duras, whom they burned on +a fire of logs at Letizka; and another, I think, was hacked to pieces +with sabres on the eve of Borodino. All this is very terrible, but in +your words, _à la guerre comme à la guerre_. You say that you fight +with barbarians, and you will not quarrel with their customs. Are they +not poor savages whom you have come here to correct? Messieurs, I do +not know what would happen to you if I gave the alarm from that window +at this minute. It would not be the water, for the river is frozen; +but it might very well be the wolves, as your ears will bear witness if +you will be good enough to listen." + +With this he opened the rude window of the barn, and far away in the +thick of the forest we could hear the dismal howling of the famished +brutes. What was the man's intention, or why he talked in this way, I +could not imagine; but presently, as he drank deeper, his reserve +became less and his true meaning more apparent. Not for a moment had +he been deceived by the tale which madame told him. One of us, he +knew, was her lover, and that man he meant to discover and to kill. + +"Frenchmen," he said presently, passion growing upon him as he spoke, +"I will let two of you leave this house if the third remains. Cast +lots amongst yourselves, if you please; it is a matter of indifference +to me. But one man I will give to my Cossacks, so help me Heaven!" +And with that he laughed savagely, as though this sudden humour pleased +him mightily. + +To this it was impossible to make any answer. We held our tongues, +while Madame Pauline crossed over to the man's side and began to speak +rapidly in Russian. It was plain, however, that she both appealed and +commanded in vain. An Eastern passion for revenge suffered no woman's +entreaty. He knew that none of us would betray the others, and he +believed that he had us all in the net of a devilish vengeance. + +"Two of you shall go," he kept saying--"two. I will give you five +minutes by the clock. If you do not make a choice then, it is for my +Cossacks to deal with you. As you please, messieurs; that is my last +word." + +We had no response to make. The man's anger and the woman's despair +were both very dreadful things to hear and see, and we turned aside +from them to argue the question in quick whispers. Plain was it that +our hope of life hung upon a thread, and, all our fighting instinct +returning, we began to say that we must deal with Tcharnhoff ourselves. +Should we make a dash from the house, or should we seize the man where +he stood? The latter seemed the wiser thing. We risked all by doing +so, and yet might win all. No sooner was the course determined upon +than, snatching his sword from the chair where it lay, Payard made a +dash for the Cossack. Alas! that was the last thing he ever did in his +life, for a pistol-shot rang out at the very instant, and our friend +fell dead across the table. Tcharnhoff had shot him; and the smoke had +not lifted when Pauline herself stabbed her lover to the heart, and he +rolled headlong on the floor, almost at my feet. + +"Go!" she cried, her face white as with the pallor of death. "I will +say that you killed him. Go and leave me." + +We waited for no other word. In the distance we heard the report of a +musket and the alarm spreading through the camp. We had an instant +between us and eternity, and be sure we made the best of it. + + +VI + +It was a glorious night when we reached the open, a full moon shining +upon us and the snow glistening as though dusted with diamonds. + +We could see the bivouac fires of the camp still burning brightly and +the figures of the awakened Cossacks moving about them. You may +imagine how the spectacle quickened our steps, and with what wild hope +of life we crossed the frozen ground to the horses which stood for our +salvation. + +For myself I do not think I have ever run so fast in my life, and never +shall run again, as upon that amazing night. Already my heated fancy +would have it that I could hear the thunder of hoofs upon the snow and +the savage cries of the men whose sabres would cut us down. The +stillness all about us, the silent majesty of the frozen woods, the +utter solitude of the steppes enhanced this impression and all the +gloom of it. What fools we had been to come on such an errand at all! +And how dearly we had paid for it already! It now remained to prove +that we could become men even in the face of death most revolting. + +I say that we ran, but that is hardly the word for it. So difficult +was the ground, so slippery, that sometimes we would be on our feet and +sometimes sliding like lads at a school. The clamour behind us was now +unmistakable, but plainly it converged upon the house we had left, and +we doubted not that Pauline's wit would give us grace. When we at last +came up to the horses, neither of us could speak for sheer exhaustion +of the chase, but we clambered headlong into our saddles, and, letting +poor Payard's charger go whither it would, we galloped across the open +steppes, and entered the first of the woods beyond them. It seemed now +that we were safe, yet what men have ever suffered a greater delusion? +Hardly had we gone three hundred paces when we came face to face with a +party of horsemen, and, reining back in confusion, we discovered them +to be Cossacks returning to the camp. + +The rencontre was swift and a surprise upon both parties. We, being on +the look-out, were naturally the first to draw rein; but the Cossacks, +upon their side hardly less watchful, were quickly at the halt and +eyeing us wonderingly. Such a droll state of affairs would have amused +any man who read an account of it in a book, but it was serious enough +to us. + +For a brief instant it appeared that we were lost beyond hope, and had +nothing to do but to kneel in the snow before these brigands. There +were some eighty of them as I could see, and every man now whipped his +sword from his scabbard. We were but two against them, and not fifty +paces from the place where they were halted, and you will judge of our +astonishment when they did not fire upon us. This very interval of +silence was to be our salvation, for suddenly my nephew wheeled his +horse about, and crying to me to follow him, he spurred wildly from the +wood. Be sure that I imitated him with all my blood afire and a wild +hope of life leaping suddenly to my heart. Their horses had been long +afoot, said I, while ours had rested. We might outride them yet, and +were madmen if we did not put the matter to an issue. + + +VII + +So behold us galloping headlong from that fearsome place, the snow +flying beneath our horses' hoofs, our heads bent and our swords drawn. +For a time I knew not whether we were gaining or losing upon the savage +horde which followed us. Wild cries echoed in my ears; the night was +black about me; I heard the stertorous breathing of the willing horses, +the thunder of their hoofs upon the cruel ground. Then a great silence +fell. Léon hailed me, and I could hear his voice distinctly. + +"They are done with," he said; and upon that, "What do you make of it?" + +"How?" cried I. "They are not following us!" And then I reined back +to listen. + +We must have travelled a league by this time, but the face of the bleak +country was unchanged. Dense woods and gigantic lakes of snow were the +outstanding features, and over all the paralysing silence of a Russian +night. Good God! what a solitude, and yet we had won freedom in it! + +"They did not think us worth powder and shot," says Léon presently. +"Perhaps they were hungry, or"--and here he pointed grimly over his +shoulder--"they may have preferred the camp to that." + +I looked at him curiously. + +"Of what are you speaking?" I asked him, and at that he shrugged his +shoulders. + +"Listen," he cried, "and then answer for yourself, mon oncle." + +I took a pull upon the rein again, and bent my ear towards the wood. A +weird sound, like to nothing but the howling of the doomed, broke the +silence all about and made its meaning clear. We had lost the +Cossacks, but the wolves were on our track; aye, thousands of +them--leaping, barking, snarling from their fastnesses, and bending +their heads to the chase like hounds that follow a scent. Good God, +what a sight that was to see! With what terror the spectacle filled us +as we let the maddened horses go and rode again from an enemy more +terrible than man! + +I had heard of the wolves of Russia, but had seen but few of them +during the terrible days of the retreat. + +Perchance the fact that we had rarely left our comrades might have had +something to do with it, for naturally the fret and stir of an army in +retreat would scare such beasts even at such a season; but here the +story was otherwise. They had scented the horses, and nothing now +would stop them. Gallop as we would, they gained upon us, and +presently were leaping at the throats of the terrified brutes we rode. + +In vain we discharged our pistols, struck at them with our swords, and +cried for aid to any that might be near us. They came again, with jaws +distended and dripping fangs, and we had not gone the third of a league +when one caught Léon's horse by the throat and, hanging there, dragged +the brute shrieking to the ground. + +Surely any man might now have believed that the end had come, and that, +whatever else befell, the regiment would see us no more. + +There was the horse being torn to pieces before our eyes; there was my +nephew striking at the wolves with his sword while I endeavoured +maladroitly to lift him to my saddle. The latter task was soon +rendered impossible by the ferocity of the savage beasts who now +swarmed about us. They had my own horse down before a man could have +counted ten, and, leaping from it as it fell, I ran headlong towards +the woods for any shelter that could be found. + +Our lives now did not seem worth a scudo. There must have been +thousands of wolves about the horses; a black wood was upon our left +hand, a wide, boundless plain before us. Nevertheless, that dim hope +which sustains men in all emergencies remained, and, crying to one +another to take courage, we entered the wood. There, to our wonder and +amazement, we discerned immediately the haven of our salvation. It was +a woodlander's hut, not twenty yards from the open, and hardly had we +espied it before we were locked and barred within and laughing at the +very magnitude of our misfortune. + + +VIII + +It must have been about three o'clock of the morning by this time. + +The hut itself had one window looking over the plain, but was as bare +of furniture as any room in a madhouse. Léon's tinder-box revealed a +floor of baked earth and a stove which lacked fuel, and this, with a +shelf upon which there stood empty jars, was all the ornament this +fortress possessed. To us, however, it was more beautiful than any +palace, and, taking a drain of brandy from our flasks, we climbed up to +the window and looked out over the snows. + +Our poor horses were but bones by this time, and there were hundreds of +the wolves fighting about the carcasses. Less to our liking were the +slinking forms about the hut itself and the savage howling which +assailed our ears. It was clear that the brutes had scented us out, +and would stand sentinel until their courage was screwed up to +something more. We could count them by the hundred as they prowled +round and round the hut, leaping often at the window, and snarling when +the butts of our pistols drove them back. Some, indeed, went so far as +to spring upon the roof, and there yapped and howled most dismally; +while, as for ourselves, we could but keep guard and wonder what the +day would bring. Would it send aid to us, or must we be prisoners +there until we perished of hunger and cold? This was a question +neither dared answer. The minutes became as hours while we waited for +the dawn. The horror of the snow paralysed our faculties and almost +forbade speech between us. + +I cannot tell you truly of all that happened during that appalling +vigil. It is odd to look back to it now and to remember the light +words with which Léon and I would endeavour to cheer each other; how we +laughed and jested when our nerves were at a tension and it seemed that +any minute the cold might overcome us and the door be left open to +death in its most revolting aspect. But an instant of carelessness, +and there would have been a dozen brutes at our throats, and we should +have shared the fate of the wretched horses whose very bones were now +vanished from the plain. + +All this was in our minds, yet our lips made no mention of it. +"Courage," we said; "the day will help us." It seemed a vain hope, for +who should be in this wild place when the sun rose again? You answer +the Cossacks. Aye, true enough, it was the Cossacks who came just as +the day had dawned, and the red light of the morning sun shimmered upon +that frozen sea. + +Léon heard them sooner than I, but the brutes were quicker than he. I +had taken my turn at the window, and had just crashed my pistol into a +gaping mouth which menaced me, when the wolves around suddenly pricked +their ears and turned their heads towards the east. + +"There are horsemen at the gallop," said Léon at the same moment; and, +listening, I heard the muffled thunder of hoofs upon the snow. + +"Would they be our own men?" I asked him. + +He shook his head. + +"We must be five leagues from the high road. Which of our fellows +would come this way?" + +I could not answer that, and had no need to, for hardly were the words +spoken when a troop of Cossacks appeared at a gallop, and instantly the +wolves closed in about them. This was a fine sight, and one I never +shall forget. To watch those dashing horsemen hewing and firing and +slashing at the pack about them, to wonder why they thus rode +desperately, to speculate upon their destination, were all in the +mind's task as the picture unfolded. Were we the pursued, or had they +other quarry? Certainly they would not have to look far for us, for +there in their track upon the snow lay our saddles and bridles, at +which the famished brutes still gnawed. + +Now, it occurred to me that they must certainly discover us, and that +our shrift would be short. The beasts themselves, scared by the +thunder of the sounds, broke presently and fled to the woods whence +they had come. The Cossacks rode up to the very place where our +bridles lay, and yet they did not halt. What drove them thence? I +will tell you in a word--the Red Hussars of our own Guard were at their +heels, hunting them as though they were vermin of the woods, and +cutting them down without pity like wheat that falls before a sickle. + +Ah! what a sight that was to see. What sounds were those to hear--the +shrieks of the poor devils whose skulls were cleaved, the cries of +triumph of the victorious pursuers--they were music in our ears. Yet +saner men would have asked how this majesty of war would help us. But +five minutes had passed when pursued and pursuers were gone as they had +come, and we were alone again. The situation had changed but in +this--that no wolf now yapped about that wattled hut. We climbed from +its window, and went out through the wood without fear. We were alone, +and far from salvation. At least, we thought so for a full hour, until +a second troop of the Red Hussars appeared in the open, and we hailed +them joyfully. + +Then, indeed, was the end of the story written, and then we knew that +we should see our comrades again. + + +IX + +We returned to the bivouac of the Vélites that night, and there told +our story. Many mourned the gallant Payard, but there were others who +asked of Madame Pauline. What had happened to her after we had fled +from the camp? We could not answer the question then, but I answered +it in the following June in Paris, when I met her in the Rue de Rivoli +and recognised her instantly. A fine woman, messieurs, and one who is +a very good judge of a dinner, believe me. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE WITCH IN ERMINE + +I + +I have spoken little of the Emperor during these momentous days; but it +is to be remembered that I was chiefly with the rearguard, and so I +hardly saw His Majesty until we came to Slawkowo. + +Often have I been asked in Paris how he carried himself during the +terrible retreat from Moscow, and how it came to be that he escaped the +fate which overtook nearly half a million of men in that fearful +flight. I have always answered that the Emperor took his fair share +both of the risks and the hardships of the journey, and that, so far +from travelling in his famous berline, he was often afoot, walking with +and encouraging the soldiers who had served him so well. + +It is true that he never suffered the miseries of an open bivouac, and +that, wherever we went, some habitation was discovered at night to +shelter him and the intimate members of his staff. Food, also, he had +in abundance, and often shared it with his staff. What he could not +escape was the peril of the Cossacks, who swarmed upon our flanks like +wasps, and rarely left us an hour in which we could march with +confidence. + +Some there are who say that Napoleon Bonaparte was entirely without +pity for his fellow men. I have seen it recorded that he marched over +the dying and the dead with indifference, and was even heard to say +that no man who had seen so many corpses upon a high road could ever +believe in the immortality of the soul. This must be a malicious +invention of his enemies, and it would not be accepted by any soldiers +of the Guard. The Emperor suffered as we suffered during those +unforgettable days, and more than one man could tell of the pity +bestowed upon him by the general for whom he would so willingly have +died. + + +II + +Let me give you an instance of what befell us when we were some leagues +from Smolensk and were approaching the village of Liadoui. + +The Emperor had ridden out of the town that morning escorted by the +grenadiers and the chasseurs, Prince Eugène with General Davoust and +Ney being left behind in charge of the rearguard. + +I myself set out with the Vélites about an hour after His Majesty had +left, upon a road whereon familiar scenes were soon to be encountered. + +The army had got no food in Smolensk, and its sufferings began again +directly we reached the open country. Just as heretofore, men fell out +and perished before the eyes of their helpless comrades. Some would +stagger for a little while like drunken men, stretching out their arms +to us and craving pity; others went mad in their delirium, and I +remember well with what horror we saw a dragoon gnawing madly at the +neck of a frozen horse, while his lips were red with his own blood. To +all this we had now become inured, and, knowing the impossibility of +helping the poor wretches who succumbed, we could but shut pity from +our hearts and bend our heads to the bitter wind which swept over this +God-forsaken land. + +It was during this march that I came up with the Emperor, who had been +riding with the grenadiers and was now halted in a picturesque group +near by the edge of a thicket. + +Here we found a poor woman whose baby was but two days old, and who +mourned the loss of this infant--frozen stark dead--as though she had +been at her own home in Paris. She was a cantinière of the fusiliers, +and her husband, an old soldier who had fought at Jena, did what he +could for her; but it was all of no avail, and despite His Majesty's +command that I myself should attend her and that she should be given of +the best from the Imperial supplies, she expired in the snow before our +eyes. + +The Emperor was greatly affected by this distressing occurrence, and +when he saw that the poor woman was dead he commanded me to accompany +him, intimating that there was hardly a surgeon left in his entourage. +This compliment pleased me very much, remembering how we had parted, +and I rode by His Majesty's side for some leagues, telling him all that +I had seen and done since we quitted Moscow. What surprised me +particularly was that he made no mention of Mademoiselle Valerie, nor +of her visit to him at Slawkowo and of the episode which had led up to +it. It was his wont, however, thus to treat the officers he liked +best, and if I had been doubtful of his favour on that occasion, I +could take heart when he pinched my ear suddenly as we came to the +village of Liadoui and said with a smile: "You will remain with me +to-night, major; I have something very much in your line." + +This was a quite unexpected compliment, and brought the blood to my +cheeks. I could not readily imagine upon what service His Majesty +would employ me, but I spent the day in anxious speculation, and when +he summoned me at about nine o'clock that night I was all agog, as you +may well imagine. + +Why had I been thus chosen, and what was the employment? + +You shall see now how very strange an affair it turned out to be. + + +III + +The village of Liadoui is built of wood upon an open situation not many +leagues from Krasnoë. The Emperor slept at the post-house, a modest +edifice which two companies of the fusiliers were to guard. I myself +got a bivouac with the priest, who needed more than one blow from the +butt end of a musket before he was glad to see me. The whole situation +of the little force in Liadoui would have been considered dangerous at +any other time, but we had to take the best we could, and the fact that +there were Russians on both flanks had ceased to trouble us while we +could get food and shelter. + +For the first time now for many a day I got a dish of beef and rice +that night, and a bottle of wine to wash it down. This His Majesty +sent me from his own table, and be sure I shared it with my comrades. +We were in consequence quite a happy company, and we sang "Veillons au +salut de l'Empire" as merrily as we might have done in the barracks at +Paris. Then came His Majesty's summons for Major Constant to attend +him at once; and quitting my comrades with reluctance, I put on the +great fur coat which I had carried from Moscow, and went across to the +post-house. + +Much to my surprise I found the Emperor alone. He sat in a spacious +room overlooking the street, and the remains of his dinner were still +upon the table. Clad in the well-known grey overcoat and the little +cocked hat, without which none of us would have recognised him, I +perceived also that he had a heavy cape of fur about his shoulders and +wore fur-topped boots almost to his hips. He seemed mightily pleased +to see me, and, pouring out a glass of wine, he bade me drink it. + +"Do you remember this place?" he asked me as the first question. + +I told him that the Vélites had not passed that way before, having +taken the northern road to Moscow. He, however, hardly waited for my +answer, but, watching me drink the wine, he said: + +"I see that you do not know it. That is to the good; you will not ask +me unnecessary questions. Now drink your wine and come and see your +patient. She is young--you will not object to that. The Vélites, I +understand, are critical; it is for that reason I chose a surgeon from +your ranks." + +He laughed as though pleased at the jest. Buttoning the fur cape +closely about him, he left the room immediately, and I followed him, +the wine freezing upon my moustache as soon as we were out in the +bitter night. + +Never have I known a cold so intense nor a wind that shrivelled the +flesh so quickly. Yet the scene itself was picturesque enough, and +under any other circumstances a man might have stopped to marvel at it. +The moon now shone full and clear from a cloudless sky; the trees about +Liadoui glistened with a thousand diamonds of the frost; the snow +beneath our feet was as hard as iron and burnished with a sheen of +silver light. Imagine upon this wooden houses with all their windows +aglow, dark forms moving here and there, the distant rumble of cannon +upon the road, and even the echo of musket shots, and you will see the +picture as I saw and remember it. + +Whither was the Emperor going, and upon what errand? I could not so +much as imagine his purpose when we quitted the post-house and, +crossing the street, entered upon a narrow footpath which seemed about +to lead to the neighbouring forest. The peril of such a journey, with +the Cossacks all about us and the night hawks everywhere, would have +been patent to a child, and it even amazed an old soldier like myself, +who could but marvel at such imprudence. + +Was it possible that His Majesty could be about to visit the Russian +camp secretly, as so many of our brave fellows had done? + +I dared for the moment to believe it, until the shape of a house +emerged suddenly from the shadows and I saw that we had come to a +considerable habitation upon the very brink of the woods. To my +astonishment this was guarded by sentinels, and no sooner were we out +of the shadows than one of them challenged us angrily. + +"Salut de l'Empire," said His Majesty, advancing with a smile, and, the +man having brought his musket to the salute, we passed the gate and +entered the house. + + +IV + +Naturally we were expected. It was evident that His Majesty would +never have gone upon such a journey if he had not known very well that +he would find a welcome at the end of it. The army hears many stories +and must listen at all times with prudent ears. We had mentioned the +name of more than one _belle fille_ since we had left Paris, and we +knew that we should mention many another before we returned there. So +you will imagine my surprise when it was not a young woman but a very +old one who greeted us upon the threshold of this remote house. + +I saw she was old, but it would have puzzled a man to have guessed her +age. Shrivelled and wan, with a skin of parchment and hair of flax, +her eyes nevertheless glittered like those of a hawk, and her hands +were ablaze with diamonds of wonderful lustre. Her dress was rich, and +such as usually worn by noblewomen in Russia. She wore a silk robe +trimmed with ermine, and the most wonderful cape of the same costly fur +about her hunched shoulders. To His Majesty she was deferential beyond +compare. She welcomed him with a curtsey full of the old-time +stateliness, and to me she extended her hand to be kissed. Then she +bade us enter the salle à manger of the house, and I perceived at once +that supper was prepared there. + +I have told you that it was an extensive dwelling, though built of +wood, and certainly this apartment was fine enough for anything. The +walls were everywhere hung with old French tapestry; the furniture must +have come from our own Paris. There was china of Sèvres upon the +table, and that extravagant porcelain in which the East and the West +commingle and delight. Two liveried servants stood at the table's head +and bowed low as the Emperor entered. He, however, appeared but ill at +ease, and I plainly perceived that he was seeking someone whose +presence he had expected. + +This whetted my curiosity. The old lady herself, setting His Majesty +at the head of her table, now sat down upon his right hand, and +motioned me to a seat beside her. Then she made a signal to the +lackeys, and instantly they began to serve us with all manner of +luxuries unlooked for in such a place, and certainly not discovered +since we had left Moscow. + +The man who has lived upon horseflesh for many days is a good judge of +any kind of cooking, and I could not but think, as I sat at the table, +of that unhappy mendicant who had said to Louis XV., "Sire, how hungry +I am!" and had been answered with the quip, "Lucky devil." + +To me this Was a Gargantuan feast such as had never been surpassed in +all my years. + +We had the fine sturgeon in which the Russians delight, their own +caviare, excellent mutton, and chickens which were matchless, and all +washed down with the wines of Burgundy, and upon that with draughts of +our own magnificent brandy. When we had finished we were even offered +a little preserved fruit and some of the tobacco which the Russians +smoke rolled in slips of paper. His Majesty condescended to try one of +these, but made little of it, and presently it became apparent to me +that he was anxious, and that his anxiety no longer brooked the control +of silence. + +"Madame," he asked without warning, "where is your daughter Kyra?" + +The question had been expected, and madame lifted her wise eyes when +she heard it. + +"Ah!" she exclaimed in French, "so you are anxious to speak to Kyra +again." + +"Why not?" says His Majesty. "She told me many things I wished to +hear; is that not a reason?" + +"And your Majesty found them true?" + +For an instant the Emperor seemed to be dreaming. Then, tapping the +table lightly with his fingers, he said: + +"In the main they were true. She told me that Moscow would be burned." + +Madame Zchekofsky--for such I discovered the lady's name to be--feigned +great pity. + +"Ah, what a dreadful thing--and so many of your poor soldiers who +suffered! Little did I think when I heard the child speak that such +wisdom was in her keeping, but so it is, as your Majesty admits." + +"Most willingly. I expected to hear more of it to-night. Is your +daughter ill, or is she merely absent?" + +Madame Zchekofsky shook her head. + +"She is ill, sire; it is the bitter cold of this terrible winter. +Otherwise she would have been by your Majesty's side to-night." + +"Ah!" cried the Emperor, with a gesture Of disappointment; "then I must +not see her?" + +"I fear not. These visions are not to be encouraged, as I am sure Dr. +Constant will tell you. Those who command them suffer much afterwards. +Is it not so, doctor?" + +I hardly knew how to answer her. It had come to me suddenly that this +old woman was playing with both of us, and there flashed upon me the +disquieting thought that His Majesty's life might even be in danger. +Could the Russians have laid hands upon him at such a moment and +carried him a prisoner to Petersburg, then indeed were the fortunes of +my country imperilled, and a blow struck at the Empire from which it +might never recover. Yet what was I to do? The Emperor was as good a +judge as I of the situation, and it would have been the mere effrontery +of a subordinate which would have reminded him of its dangers. + +"Madame," said I, "these things do not concern men of common sense. +When I go to bed at night the only vision that I look for is that of +the morning sun. If your daughter be a prophetess, I am sorry for you +both, for it has never seemed to me a profitable occupation. +Discourage her if you can--that is my advice." + +She shook her head. + +"And yet you heard His Majesty say that she foretold the burning of +Moscow?" + +"A guess at hazard," said I. "What is more, madame, she may have known +that your Emperor was about to burn it. These things are not done by +one or two people, but by many thousands. It is quite probable that +she should have heard of the intentions." + +His Majesty smiled at this, yet the old hawk regarded me with some +malice. What her object was--whether to push the fortunes of her house +with the Emperor, or merely to advance his interest in her daughter--I +could not then imagine; but I know now that she had intended to follow +us to Paris and there to establish herself if she could. + +My pessimism evidently angered her; she had looked for me to support +His Majesty in this amiable humour. + +"Well," said she, rising abruptly, "it is easy to put the matter to the +proof. Kyra should not leave her room, but His Majesty may go there if +he will. He shall then tell me if it were a guess or no. Do you +desire that, sire?" + +I could see that the Emperor was greatly pleased; he rose at once and +waited for her to show him the way. In that brief interval I stepped +to his side and begged to be permitted to follow him. + +"A whim, if you like, sire. Perhaps I am also a prophet," said I, and +we exchanged a glance I shall never forget. + +The Emperor knew that he was in peril, then. Did he also know the +nature of it? If so, he were wiser than I, who followed him merely +upon an impulse for which I could not account. + + +V + +We mounted a wide flight of stairs and stood for an instant before a +great carved door at the head of them. The house was very silent, and +the lackeys had disappeared. I could hear the distant sounds in the +village and from the high road the rumble of cannon and the blare of +bugles. But these were fitful and easily to be explained. What I did +not like was the uncanny silence in the dwelling itself. We entered a +great ante-room on the first floor, and from that passed to a little +bedroom such as a young girl might have occupied. It was empty, but +madame knocked at the door which led from it, and, receiving no +immediate answer, we all sat down and waited in the darkness. + +"The child sleeps," said the Emperor. + +The old woman muttered something I could not distinguish. + +"Of what nature is her illness?" His Majesty asked next. + +"It has been a fever," says madame; "but she is better of that, and now +suffers only from weakness." + +"In which case we must wait until she awakes. Do you not suggest a +better place than this, madame?" + +Madame rose at this rebuke. + +"I will go in myself," she said; but before she could take a step the +door of the adjoining room was opened and Mademoiselle Kyra herself +appeared. + +Her dress was a long white robe tied with a girdle. Her hair was like +her mother's, but more silken in texture, and fell, as the hair of many +Russian women does, almost to her feet. I thought her amazingly +beautiful--by far the prettiest woman I had yet seen in this damnable +country, and, in truth, I envied His Majesty such good fortune. He, +however, seemed in no way impressed by the child's looks, but only by +her attitude, which was that of one who walked in her sleep and might +not be awakened without danger. Stepping back, with his finger on his +lips, the Emperor let the girl go slowly from the room to the great +antechamber beyond, we following upon tiptoe, as though we spied upon +this unlooked-for apparition. + +For a moment I thought that Mademoiselle Kyra was about to descend the +stairs to the dining room we had left, but she crossed the landing at +the stairs head, and, opening a door upon the far side, entered another +bedroom, and from that a spacious apartment furnished like a chapel. +Here the Emperor followed her, but madame forbade me to go. I had an +instantaneous vision of a picture of the Madonna and a lamp burning +before it. Then I saw the girl stumble and appear about to fall, but +His Majesty caught her in his arms, and madame immediately closed the +door upon them. + +"You can wait," she said, and, closing the door of the bedroom and +drawing a heavy curtain over it, she left me standing sentinel in that +black, dark room. + + +VI + +It was an odd situation, I must confess. + +The army is well acquainted with more than one such expedition in which +His Majesty has figured, and I was not the first officer, by many, who +had watched a house wherein he pursued an adventure of this kind. + +But here the circumstances were very different. + +The girl was not as other women of whom we spoke in merriment. She had +come from her apartment in sleep, and was sleeping, I believe, when she +entered the chapel. The impulse which drove His Majesty appeared to me +to be curiosity rather than love. I have heard that he was somewhat +given to omens and the occult sciences, and while pretending to be an +absolute disbeliever in them, would nevertheless lend a willing ear to +any charlatan who had a tale to tell. Mademoiselle Kyra had forewarned +him of certain happenings upon his march to Moscow, so what could be +more natural than that he should desire to hear what she had to say of +his retreat? + +These thoughts were uppermost in my mind when I found myself alone in +the room. I could hear no sound whatever from the chapel, not even +that of a woman whispering. The house itself had fallen again to a +silence quite remarkable. I tried to look from the window of the +bedroom, but found it so frosted that not a thing could be seen beyond. +The old lady herself had disappeared and gone I knew not whither. +Another, perhaps, would have spied upon the Emperor, and even found a +pretext for following him into the chapel. This kind of curiosity has +never afflicted me, and all that I remembered was the continued peril +of our situation. + +How if the Cossacks made a sudden dash upon Liadoui and overpowered the +sentinels at the gate! + +Nothing could be easier than such an assault. We had but two regiments +of the grenadiers in the village, and they were worn to death with +marching. Indeed, I believed they were already sleeping in any bivouac +they could find. The guns were mostly a day's march ahead of us, and +we had little artillery in our train. Nothing, I said, could be looked +for as surely as a sudden descent of the Cossacks upon any house in +which they might imagine the Emperor to be sleeping. So you will +understand my sense of responsibility and the keen ear I leant to any +sounds from without. + +The silence of the night seemed, indeed, almost unnatural. I began to +be affrighted by it. What was odd was the length of time His Majesty +was closeted in the dark chapel. It is true that I heard the sound of +voices when a little while had passed, and that a busy murmur of talk +went on at intervals for a full hour. Then for a spell again there was +silence, and it was during that interval that I first heard the alarm +from without. + +There were horsemen approaching the village. My trained ear told me +the truth in an instant, and bending it to the glass, I made sure that +I was not mistaken. Horsemen, I said, were riding across the frozen +snow, either towards Liadoui or to Madame Zchekofsky's dwelling. No +sooner was the opinion formed than the cry of a dying man confirmed it. +Someone had sabred or bayoneted the sentry at the gate. There is no +mistaking that awful cry which a man utters when he realises that he +has lived his life and that the steel within him has reached his heart. +I knew it too well, and, springing back at the sound, I ran to the +chapel doors and beat heavily upon them. + +"Your Majesty," I cried, "for God's sake!" + +The door was locked, but someone opened it instantly, and there stood +Mademoiselle Kyra and the Emperor by her side. She was wide awake now +and a look of terror had come upon her pretty face. + +"I beg you to go," she said to him. + +For answer he stepped out into the bedroom and asked me what was the +matter. + +"The Cossacks are here," I cried; "they have killed the sentinel. Your +Majesty must not delay." + +Napoleon Bonaparte was no coward, as all the world knows, and he heard +me almost with nonchalance. + +"Are you quite sure?" he asked. + +I told him that there was no doubt of it. + +"Listen for yourself, sire," said I; "they are entering the house." + +He shrugged his shoulders and turned to Mademoiselle Kyra. + +"Is there a way out by the chapel?" he asked her. + +Her affrighted eyes answered him. + +"You will have to return by the great staircase," said she; and at that +he smiled, for we could hear already the tramp of many feet upon it. + +"That is a pity," says he now. "Major Constant must see what they +want." + +Then, speaking very earnestly to me, he exclaimed: "I count upon your +devotion, major; do what you can." And instantly he re-entered the +chapel, and I drew the curtain across its doors. + +There was now, I suppose, an interval of ten good seconds in which I +had an opportunity to think. Two alternatives faced me--I might either +draw my sword and meet the men as they entered, or feign fraternity and +so try to disarm their suspicions. The latter course occurred to me as +the wiser, and without a moment's hesitation I sprang upon the bed and +drew the heavy counterpane over my shoulders. The thing was hardly +done when the door burst open and some ten men entered the room. They +were Cossacks of the Guard, and every man had his sword drawn. + + +VII + +I know little of the Russian tongue, but the few words that I have were +sufficient to tell me that the first cry uttered by the leader of the +men was for light. This was echoed down the stairs, and presently +there came a sergeant with a lantern and another behind him with a wax +candle in his hand. + +I had not moved during the interval, and I lay still yet a little +while. The fellows began to peer about immediately, and of course they +soon discovered me upon the bed. Then, truly, I thought that I had not +a minute to live. There were the barbarians, savage as it seemed in +the lust of blood. There was I as helpless as a bullock at the +slaughter. They had but to cut and thrust, and the story of +Surgeon-Major Constant would have been written for all time. You may +imagine how my heart beat while I waited to feel the prick of the steel +and wondered how death in such a shape would come. + +To a man so placed delay is but an agony anew. I could have prayed +that they would strike swiftly, and when they did not strike I laughed +aloud like a woman grown hysterical. + +God in heaven, how I laughed! Sitting up in the bed and watching that +ring of steel, no hyena in the wilderness uttered such sounds as I. +The best joke that was ever told could never have moved me as that +perilous situation. Not for my life, not even for the life of His +Majesty, was I acting thus; nay, if a man had offered me ten thousand +golden pieces to have recovered my serenity, the money would have been +lost for ever. + +Well, the effect upon the Cossacks was amazing. I have never had a +doubt that the first of the band had already raised his sabre to thrust +me through when this weird fit overtook me. The wonder of it held his +hand and left him powerless. He stood there looking at me as though he +had come suddenly upon a madman. Possibly I laughed, as men will at +times, with an air which is infectious, compelling others to take up +the catch, and certainly depriving them of their anger. Be that as it +may, there were fellows laughing in that bedroom before I had done, and +anon the whole company roared aloud with me. Such a thing was like a +sudden vision of life to a man whom death had held by both hands. In a +twinkling I had got my courage back, and what was but an ailment had +become a stratagem. If laughter could save the Emperor, then was I the +man. Soon I began to sing the "Ram, ram, ram, ram, plan, tire-lire ram +plan," and shouted it with all my lungs and danced a step before them. +They in their turn clapped me on the back with their sabres and cried +for drink. + +"You will find it in the salle à manger," said I, speaking to one of +them in French, and then, opening my mouth and making the sign of a man +drinking, I caught the fellow by the arm and dragged him down the +stairs. The others followed like sheep that would go into a fold. We +were all drinking about the table in less than no time, and an hour had +not run before the whole troop of them were as drunk as sailors at +Toulon. + +I say they were drunk, but a man must have been in Russia to know how +very drunk they were. + +This was no mere rollicking, no shouting of songs or bawling of +catches, but right-down deep drinking, and upon that a stupor which +bore a very good likeness to death. I watched them tumbling to the +floor one by one, and, spurning their bodies aside with my foot, I +remembered His Majesty and went back to him. He was still standing at +the stairs head where I had left him, and Mademoiselle Kyra was still +by his side. + +"Well," says he; and I told him at a breath. + +"There's an end of this until daybreak," said I. "Your Majesty can go +now." + +He did not speak, leaving it to the girl, who went slowly to the window +and, opening it a little way, looked out across the field of snow. +Then she shut the casement quickly and came back to us. + +"They are watching the house," she said quietly. "It is as I thought. +They know your Majesty is here, and are waiting for you." + +"Then let them find me instead," said I immediately, and, stepping up +to the Emperor, I begged the loan of his cloak and cocked hat. "You +will find mine a little large, but they will serve, sire," said I. "If +I draw off the troop, well and good. If not, your Majesty may yet find +a way." + +He looked at me in his own way, as one whom danger amused rather than +dismayed. + +"I will send a regiment of hussars to bring you back," he exclaimed, +pinching my ear as he was wont to do when pleased. Then he handed me +his cloak and cocked hat and I donned them as though the joke were +entirely to my liking. For all that, I knew very well what I was +doing, and I would not have valued my life at a lira's purchase when I +left him at the stairs head and went down. + +Mademoiselle stood by his side then, and they were deep in talk. I +might have said that I was forgotten already, and that may have been +true enough. Men have died for Napoleon Bonaparte, knowing well that +their very names would be unremembered when the sun rose again. Others +will imitate them, for such is the spirit his gifts of kingship have +inspired. + + * * * * * + +It was the dead of night when I went out, and not a sign of the old +hag. I believed then that she had betrayed us, and had I met her that +would have been the last hour she had lived. But, as I say, she had +clean vanished, and the only lackey visible was dead asleep by the +stove in the hall. Very softly now I pushed open the outer doors and +looked about me. The spectacle was wonderfully beautiful, but as +menacing as it was glorious. A great full moon shone down upon a scene +that should have stood in a magic land. Earth and sky alike were aglow +with the entrancing lights of winter made magnificent. The cold was +intense beyond belief: the frost made a diamond of every pebble the +foot crushed. And upon it all was the stillness of God's death.... the +silence of a land which an Eastern winter had shrouded. + +Thus for the beauty of the scene. The menace was no less remarkable. +There, frosted already, were the corpses of the sentinels the Russians +had murdered. To reach the open I must step over the prone figures of +brother Frenchmen and look into their staring eyes. The shudder was +still upon me when I heard a cry of savage triumph, and knew that the +Cossacks were upon me. The troop which Mademoiselle Kyra had seen from +the window rode out of the shadows even as I crossed the threshold. +They fell upon me as wolves upon a carcass, and no fowl was trussed as +surely while a man could have counted twenty. + + +VIII + +Imagine the exultation of these men, who believed that they had +captured the greatest of Frenchmen, living or dead, and were carrying +him to their general. + +The first transports passed, their sense of prudence returned to them, +and with it a deference which should have won laughter from a log! The +Emperor of the French a prisoner in their hands! Heaven above me, how +they bowed and capered! What antics they cut! Never had a man such +slaves at his feet. I was set upon a horse immediately, and had a +guard at the head and tail of him. The officer saluted until his arm +must have been weary. He had caught the Emperor--what a night! + +Our way lay over the snows to the Cossack camp upon the far side. +Behind me there shone the lights of the house I had quitted, bright +stars beyond a frozen sea. I knew that the next hour would find me in +the Russian general's tent, and that my shrift must be short. What +mattered the regiment of hussars the Emperor was to send? My body +would be frozen on the snows before they could ride out. + +Upon this there fell an apathy difficult to understand. + +We had suffered so much during those terrible days--hunger and thirst, +and blood and wounds--that any man might have opened his arms to death +as to a friend. And here was the end of it for me. What mattered it? +In a vision, I beheld the lights of my own France, the home which +sheltered all dear to me, the land towards which my eyes had been +lifted these many weeks. Never again might I look upon that smiling +country. Night and the unknown were my portion. There would be few to +remember my name to-morrow. + +From such thoughts a reality most absurd awoke me. + +I have set down this narrative of events as I lived and knew them, and +have kept nothing from you, that you may judge of things, not as we +look for them, but as an unromantic destiny determines that they shall +be. + +I say that I awoke with a start, believing myself to be upon a horse +and at the very threshold of the Russian camp. Depict my astonishment +when, opening my eyes, I beheld again madame's salle à manger, the +tables spread with meat and drink, the forms of the intoxicated +Russians on the floor all about me, and above them the red coats of our +own Hussars of the Guard! For an instant I believed that the witch in +ermine had cast a spell upon me, and that this was but a vision of her +enchantment. Then the merry laughter of my own comrades disillusioned +me and I staggered, dizzy and dumbfounded, to my feet. + +"Name of a dog," I cried to them, "and what does this mean?" + +They answered me with a merriment which became a shout. + +"It means that the liquor was very good and that you got very drunk," +says their captain, clapping me on the shoulder ... and at him I stared +all bewildered. + +"Drunk!" I cried. "You say that I was drunk!" + +"Undoubtedly.... His Majesty told us to take care of you...." + +"Then he is not here?" I exclaimed in wonder. + +"He is already six leagues on the road to Wilna," was the answer. A +child might have put me over at that. I clapped my hands to my fevered +brow and began to believe them. Drunk I had been ... but by drink had +I saved the Emperor's life. + +And I had done him an injustice in my dream. He has not forgotten, as +I knew full well. + + +IX + +You will see how it all happened, and will need no further words from +me. + +Taking the Cossacks down to madame's salle à manger to keep them from +the Emperor, I also had been overpowered by their cursed liquor, and +had fallen under the table with the rest of them. There I dreamed of +Russian camps, and France, and death, and all the nonsense of it, and +there I awoke to find our own Red Hussars in possession of the +dwelling. How they laughed at me! Yet what music their laughter +proved to be! + +As to old Madame Zchekofsky, I veritably believe that she played a +double part that night with all a woman's cunning. Desiring the +Emperor's friendship, she encouraged his belief in her daughter's power +of prophecy, at the same time trying to keep in with the Russians by +informing them of our presence in the house at a moment when she +believed we would already have left it. Thus her anxiety and that +disquiet I had observed with such misgiving. + +I saw her in Paris in the memorable year 1815, and her daughter was +with her. Naturally my nephew Léon desired to know so mysterious a +personage, and I fancy she found his gifts of prophecy not less +considerable than her own. This, however, was long after the terrible +weeks when so many thousands of brave Frenchmen left their bones upon +the snows of Russia because the Emperor had willed it. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +LITTLE PETROVKA + +I + +The Emperor was often in personal danger during the retreat from +Moscow, but never more so, I think, than after the Battle of Krasnoë. + +You must depict us at this time as a rabble rather than an army. There +were few regiments save those of the Guard which maintained even a +semblance of order. Men fell out at a whim. We had nothing upon +either side of us but the frozen steppes and the woods in which the +wolves howled. Our own people had burned the villages through which we +straggled towards a distant horizon of our salvation. The road itself +was black with the bodies of the dying and dead. I shall not dwell +upon such pitiful scenes, but recall only those which seem to me of +interest to my fellow countrymen. + +Often have I been asked how the Emperor carried himself during these +days, and that is a question which I have made some attempt already to +answer. + +Chiefly he walked with the grenadiers. There were occasions when he +entered his famous travelling carriage, and passed some hours in it; +but no one was more ready than he to share the hardships of the +journey, and certainly none faced peril with a greater sang-froid. How +it came about that His Majesty escaped disaster, I cannot tell you. +There were many occasions when a little courage upon the part of the +Cossacks would have destroyed the hope of France for ever. So often +were we who guarded him but a palsied band of nondescripts, that I +wonder to this day at that hesitation which allowed the greatest of our +soldiers to slip through Russian hands. + +Let me give you an instance to show what I mean. + +It was the morning of November 25th. We had passed a forlorn village +some miles beyond Krasnoë. The column was headed by a bevy of +generals, few of whom were mounted. Behind them there marched a +miserable company of officers, all dragging themselves along painfully, +and not a few of them having their feet frozen, and wrapped in rugs or +bits of sheepskin. The Emperor himself marched in the midst of the +cavalry of the Guard. He went on foot, and carried a baton. His cloak +was large and lined with fur, and upon his head he wore a dark red +velvet cap with a trimming of black fox. Prince Murat walked on his +right-hand side, and on his left Prince Eugène, while behind him came +the Marshals Berthier, Ney, Mortier, and Lefebvre, with others whose +regiments had been almost annihilated in the recent battles. + +Behind these again were the officers and non-commissioned officers of +the Guard. There were seven or eight hundred of them walking in +perfect silence, and carrying the eagles of their different regiments. +The scene itself was an open plain glistening with frost, and often +broken by those dismal clumps of pines with which we were so familiar. +A village lay ahead of us, a ravine and a river upon our right hand. +We knew that the Cossacks were sheltered by the distant woods, and that +any moment might bring them down upon us. And yet we went as stolidly +as men who are marching from a field of victory. + +Is it to be wondered at that the Russians were perplexed by these +tactics, and that even the boldest of them had no heart for a venture +which would have destroyed the hope of France in a twinkling? + +This is not to tell you that they did not attack us. Hardly had we +come up to the outskirts of the village when we perceived a battery +drawn up by the river and another before the very gates of the hamlet. +We had no guns with us at the moment, and we stood there like sheep +while the Russians pounded us and their shells decimated our tottering +ranks. Lame and helpless and weary, weakened by hunger and the perils +of the march, who would have said that so pitiful a force could have +withstood the assault even of five thousand brave men? Yet, as I say, +they were content to pound us with their artillery, and although we saw +great masses of their cavalry about the village, never once did they +charge us as we expected them to do. + +Presently our own guns came up, and we were able to meet the enemy on +better terms. Marshal Ney now put himself at the head of the +chasseurs, and boldly charged the Cossacks to the left of the village. +His troops suffered severely in this onset, and when he returned to us +the frozen plain was dotted with the writhing forms of our countrymen +who had been shot down. These poor fellows had suffered so much during +recent days that for the most part they died without a struggle. Such +as survived were left to the mercy of the Russians, for we were in no +position to help them, and we had to suffer the mortifying spectacle of +seeing the wounded stripped bare and left upon the snows by the fiends +who came out of the woods. + +I thought surely that His Majesty was lost this day, and when I saw him +standing in the very path of the shells, surrounded by no more than +forty Fusiliers of the Guard, it seemed indeed to me that the end had +come. The Cossacks had but to charge and their booty would have been +sure. That they did not do so must be set down to those motives of +prudence which animated their General Kutusoff to the end. He knew +that the Grand Army was perishing before his eyes, and that the +elements would do what the Russians themselves had left undone. When +he retired that day we must have lost at least three thousand men, who +were left in the hands of his butchers. + +But the Emperor was saved by such cowardice, and he slept that night in +the village which Kutusoff's guns had failed to hold. + + +II + +The morning broke clear and sunny, but hardly were we upon the road +when the north wind began to blow and our sufferings to recommence. +The Russians had drawn off for the time being, and we neither saw them +nor heard their guns. The troops themselves, no longer fearing an +attack, marched in that disorder of which I have spoken. Hardly a +regiment could have been distinguished even by one familiar with our +army. We were but scattered groups of malcontents, and every man +thought only of his own safety. + +I had not seen my nephew Léon during the battle, and was very glad to +re-discover him not far from the bivouac. He was marching with other +officers of the Vélites when I came up, and I perceived at once that he +had made a captive. The latter might, at the first glance, have been +taken for a lad of seventeen, clad in stout riding-breeches, and +wearing a tunic of rich fur. + +The bright eyes of the prisoner and the cheerful manner evidently won +upon my comrades, and I was not very much astonished to discover +presently that the prisoner was of the other sex, and to hear that she +had been caught in the village that very morning, and herself had +volunteered to show us the road to the Bérézina. + +Such things happened almost every day while we were in Russia, and for +a native woman to adopt the garb of a soldier was by no means an +uncommon thing. The only difference in this case was that the girl +herself appeared to be well born, and beyond the station where such +monkey tricks would be looked for. It occurred to me at once that she +might have been sent out to betray us, and I spoke of it to Léon before +he had gone a league. + +"Where did you find her?" I asked him. + +He parried the question, as a young man would when he has found a +companion to his liking. + +"She came out of the last house in the village just as we were marching +past. I wish I could understand their cursed lingo, mon oncle. I +think she comes from a place called Druobona, but am not very sure. In +either case, it does not matter," he added carelessly, "for I do not +suppose she will go back there when we have done with her." + +This was said with a laugh which I did not like to hear, and I rebuked +him sharply for his levity. + +"The girl is well born," said I, "and this is neither the place nor the +time to think of such things. Why do you allow her to go upon such an +errand at all? Are there not other guides?" + +He looked at me slyly. + +"None so pretty, mon oncle; and besides, a man can always make a woman +understand. She will get us very well to the Bérézina, and there we +shall send her back with a present." + +"Of horseflesh," said I; and then: "The whole thing is nonsense, and +you are likely to pay a high price for her company. Remember what I am +saying." + +He promised to do so, but immediately linked his arm in hers and began +to sing one of our old marching songs. We must have gone another +league before he told me that her home was in a village some few miles +to the south of the route the army was taking, but really upon the old +main road to the Bérézina. + +"You and I will give them the slip at dusk," said he, "and take our +luck again. I will wager the girl's honesty against a hundred crowns. +We can stop the night at her father's house and get food. Do not look +so displeased, mon oncle. We will take twenty of our fellows to see +that the Cossacks do not cut our throats, and we shall be half a day's +march on the road to the river before the army has left the next +bivouac." + +I did not like the idea of it, but when a man is making love to a +pretty woman, and she has asked him to her house, there is an end of +the argument. + +Petrovka, for such the men would call the girl, certainly disarmed +suspicion by her frank airs and the merry laughter which lighted up her +eyes. She made a handsome boy enough, and it was good to see her +dancing across the snow which so many trod with difficulty, and to hear +the cheering words of encouragement she bestowed upon all who lagged +behind. + +The men had come to believe that she was quite a mascot, and soon we +must have had a hundred and fifty of the Guard about our party. This +was unexpected and not in accord with friend Léon's plan. I believe it +had been his secret hope that he and I should go alone to her father's +house, but when the sun began to sink upon the horizon, and we left the +main road for one which branched towards the south, the whole company +followed us immediately. Vain to tell them that our errand was +private. The time had passed when officers could have their will in +such matters as this; and so it befell that exactly a hundred and fifty +men set out to share Petrovka's hospitality, and were determined to +enjoy it whatever the difficulties. + + +III + +We went marching and singing, and utterly regardless of any perils that +might await us upon the road. + +For that matter, we saw no Cossacks, and even our old friends the +wolves were silent. + +The country itself had become less monotonous, and we soon found +ourselves in a deep ravine, whose rugged cliffs were capped by the +frozen pines. + +Here there was a wonderful suggestion of remoteness and solitude; but +it occurred to me, nevertheless, that it might be the very spot for an +ambush, and I insisted upon a halt until our vedettes had made their +reports. We even sent a man up to the heights above to be quite sure +that the Cossacks were not camped in the thickets. When these had +reported that no living thing moved in all that drear place, we +followed Petrovka again and began to think of supper. + +She had told us that it was just three leagues from the high road to +her father's house, but we must have marched at least five before we +came, without warning, upon a miserable village, the outstanding +feature of which was the low and straggling farmhouse with a mighty +barn at the southern end of it. Of a seigneur's habitation there was +no sign whatever, and I found it difficult to believe that Petrovka's +father could inhabit such a shabby dwelling as that to which she now +led us. When we asked her if it were indeed her home, she, to our +great astonishment, answered us in French, and replied that it was not. + +"My father lives many, many leagues from here," she said, and laughed +at the words. "This is the house of the moujik Serges. He was one of +my father's servants, and he will feed you, my lords." And this she +said with so pretty a grace that our anger was mollified in a moment. + +"Why did you pretend not to speak French?" I asked her next. + +She shook her head and said that she did not know. + +"You make me laugh so much when you talk Russian," she said. I believe +that to have been true. + +Nevertheless, I was not easy. We had come upon a false errand, and it +remained to be seen what was the end of it. + +"Let every man look to his powder," said I to Léon, as we entered the +precincts of the farm. "The devil and a woman are never far apart; +mind that we have not caught the pair of them." + +He retorted that it did not very much matter either way. Whatever +befell us at the farm could be no worse than the peril of the high road +and of such a bitter night as this. + +Not only was it black and dark by this time, but the north wind blew +intolerably, and our very bones seemed shrunken. + +You will imagine, therefore, that the baying of the hounds about the +farm was as music to us; and you can depict us beating heavily upon the +farmer's door, while Petrovka cried aloud in Russian that we were +friends. + +This settled the matter, and an old and grizzled peasant appeared +immediately, and stood bowing on the threshold. I disliked the look of +him from the first, and shall always remember the hawk-like eyes which +he turned upon our company. Yet what had we to fear from the handful +of serfs who now gathered about him--we, a hundred and fifty men of the +Guard, with our muskets in our hands? + +And was there not Petrovka, with her laughing eyes--Petrovka, who told +the old man that he would be paid for all that we had--Petrovka, who +petted him and pulled his long beard as though she loved every hair of +it. She stood as our hostage, and she knew it--the pretty little girl. + +Well, we soon discovered that the kitchen of the farm would accommodate +no more than the officers of the company, and it behoved the others to +seek the shelter of the barn. This they did with a very good grace, +for it was a substantial edifice, with a monstrous fireplace at one end +and a well-stacked granary at the other. Soon there were flames +roaring up the ancient chimney, a babel of talk, and the going to and +fro of men who saw themselves supping handsomely for the first time for +many a day. We, meanwhile, were ensconced in the farmer's kitchen, +with nearly the half of an ox roasting in his gigantic oven and an +aroma of well-warmed wine which did one good to smell. + +The evening promised to be the most comfortable we had enjoyed since we +left Moscow--so little did we foresee what lay beyond our present +content. + + +IV + +There were a good many bedrooms in the farmer's house, and some of +these were very properly given up to the officers. + +I shared a room with Léon, whose window immediately overlooked the barn +wherein our men were still enjoying the unexpected carousal. + +Mademoiselle Petrovka, in her turn, said that she would sleep with the +girls of the house, and the last I saw of her before retiring was at +the moment when Master Léon blew out the candle for the purpose of +wishing her good-night. Escaping from his embrace, she climbed the +narrow staircase and shut the door at the head of it upon us, while we, +amazed to discover beds, made haste to enjoy so unexpected a luxury. + +Never before in my life, I swear, did I know the meaning of good +blankets as I learned it that bitter night, when the north wind swept +the dismal plain and the pines were swaying in a dirge of death. For +that matter, I do not think that my nephew and myself could wholly +appreciate the reality of our good fortune, and I lay for some time +beneath the heavy _Steppdecke_ wondering if we had not dreamt the whole +of it. Such warmth and comfort were not to be imagined, and we found +it almost impossible to believe that thousands of our comrades were +then shivering and suffering upon the great high road, and many of +them, I doubt not, falling to the terrible sleep from which no day +should wake them. + +We, on the contrary, might have been the children of this hospitable +house. Well fed and warmed by wine, we fell into so profound a sleep +anon that nothing but the terrible tragedy which ensued could have +wakened us. Alas! that it was so very terrible! I hardly know how to +tell you of it. + +Some say that it was nearly four in the morning when the first alarm +arose. I cannot be sure about so trivial a circumstance, nor is it of +any interest. In my sleep it seemed to me that men were shouting about +the house, while a great flame of crimson light burned my eyes and +forbade me to open them. A man has the same sensation when he tries to +look at the sun at noon, and it may be answered that he is a fool to do +anything of the kind. So, in my own case, I did not open my eyes for a +long time, and not until Léon's strong hand dragged me from the bed did +I understand what was happening. + +"Wake up, mon oncle!" says he in a sharper voice than ordinary. "Don't +you see that the place is afire?" + +It was a word to arouse any man, and I staggered up when I heard it, +rubbing my eyes and trying to understand him. + +"How?" cried I. "The farm afire? Why, then, did you not wake me +before?" + +"I have been trying to do so for the last five minutes, but you sleep +like a Gascon, mon oncle. Get your clothes on and follow me. There +will not be a man of them alive if we don't make haste." + +With this he ran down the stairs, and left me groping in the fitful +light for my tunic and the heavy sable coat which I had brought out of +Russia. + +It was clear by this time that the fire had begun in the barn which +harboured so many of our men, and that it had not yet reached the +buildings we occupied. For all that, it promised to be a terrible +conflagration, and my ears were assailed already by the woeful screams +of the wretched company, themselves waking to the peril. What kept the +poor fellows in the barn, I knew no more than the dead. I could see +two great doors opening upon the yard, and they were wide enough to let +a wagon go through. Yet no one unbarred them, and all the time flames +and smoke were pouring from the thatch above, and the shrieks of the +imprisoned growing louder. This perplexed me beyond words, and it was +not until I had shaken the heavy sleep from my eyes that the thought of +treachery occurred to me, and I began to understand much that had +happened. + +The monster of a farmer who had lured us here--he had done it, I said, +and God knows, if I had had my hand about his throat at the moment, I +would have strangled the life out of him. + +Well, I bounded down the stairs at the thought, and found myself +immediately amid my brother officers, who were striving like madmen to +set their compatriots free. Unable to hear a word that was spoken, I +nevertheless understood by their gestures that the main gates of the +barn had been bolted and barred, and that, until they could be +unlocked, the only chance for our fellows was the narrow window at the +southern end. For this I now made, Léon at my side, and others as +ready to risk their lives in the face of such a disaster. + +Let me tell you that the roar of the conflagration was like that of a +sea beating angrily upon a barren shore. Commingled with it were the +sounds of rending woodwork and the screams of men already burning in +the flames; while all was made worse by the intolerable north wind +which swept about the building and howled dismally beneath the frozen +eaves. + +This paralysed the faculties, so that even the bravest found his limbs +benumbed and his brain bewildered. No company of raw recruits could +have worked to less purpose--some crying for hatchets, some vainly for +water, yet all incapable of rendering any useful aid, and all equally +terrified by the spectacle they beheld. Alas! to see those pitiful +faces at the window of the barn above; to watch the flames creeping +about them; to behold them fall one by one into the deadly furnace +behind them; and to know that they were Frenchmen and brethren! Such +was the price of the brief respite we had enjoyed; such was the +hospitality that the woman Petrovka had shown us. + +Someone got a ladder about this time, and others found axes in the +wood-house of the farm. I was among the latter, and I remember with +what fury our little party attacked the great front gates and tried to +force an entrance. Could we but burst the bolt, our comrades were free +in a twinkling; and you may imagine how we went at it--the blows which +we struck, and the curses we uttered. + +Minute by minute now the flames were creeping toward this end of the +barn. We had no need of lanterns; the snow was blood-red, and the very +wood stood out as though the sun were setting and the night not yet +begun. Had we any longer a doubt that treachery had fired the barn, +the disappearance of the Russians themselves would have clenched the +argument. Not a peasant did we see, not a man or woman of those who +had served us last night and welcomed us with such smiling faces. The +whole farm had become a desert, and, be sure, that of them all Petrovka +had been the first to go. + +Such was my opinion for a long time, and it endured until, to my great +astonishment, I perceived her at Léon's side, and saw that he was in +close talk with her. Good God! that a man could have argued with such +a woman when his comrades were perishing--that he did not strike her +down where she stood! Any other but Léon would have done so; yet, when +was the day that a woman's eyes could not win him? + +All this went through my head in a flash as I hewed at the giant doors +and called upon my comrades to redouble their efforts. The shrieks +within the building were now most dreadful to hear. None but a man of +iron could have remained deaf to the piercing cries which marked the +approach of the fire and told us that our task must be impotent. None +the less, we worked with a vigour unimaginable, while the heat became +choking, and showers of glowing sparks rained down upon us. The very +snow was melted far away from the barn by this time; the sky had turned +blood red; the branches of the trees were burning. The great door +alone stood between our comrades and salvation. + +In the end we beat this in, and an aperture was made. Through that we +dragged some thirty men and carried them quickly to the farm. Poor +fellows, they were terribly burned, and their flesh fell from their +bones as we lifted them. What lay beyond in that holocaust I did not +dare to inquire. The barn was now but a roaring furnace; the cries had +ceased; the moaning of the fire and the night wind alone remained. + + +V + +I have told you that we laid our stricken comrades in the farmhouse and +there did what we could for them. So great was their need that the +immediate necessity of relieving it put everything else into the shade, +and it was not until we had dressed their wounds and done our best to +make them comfortable that I so much as remembered the woman Petrovka. +Perhaps I should not have thought of her even then but for the fact +that a sudden clamour discovered her in the room, and, turning about, I +witnessed a violent altercation between her and one of the sick, who +raised himself up from the mattress where they had laid him, and cried +out that she had fired the barn. + +"The she-devil!" he yelled in his frenzy. "I saw her do it, comrades; +I swear she was the woman!" + +Such an accusation naturally arrested the attention of everyone in the +room. Léon himself had gone out again with others to prevent the fire +from spreading to the neighbouring buildings, and there was no one +there but myself who knew anything of Petrovka. The effect of the +accusation upon the sick and the hale was almost magical. They did not +ask for the man's proof, nor seek to question him, but, seizing the +girl by the arm, they would have struck her down there and then had I +not intervened. + +"Come, come," said I; "we must do nothing in haste," for though I had +been willing enough an hour ago to have acted upon an impulse, the heat +of passion had passed and a sense of justice prevailed. + +If this girl had indeed fired the barn, I would not lift a hand to save +her; but we had only the chasseur's word for it, and he was already far +gone in delirium. So it seemed to me that we owed her at least the +formality of a trial, and, rushing in before those who held her, I +commanded them to hear me. + +"Gentlemen," said I, "this woman is a Russian and well born. It is +difficult to believe that she would have done so foul a thing. If she +be guilty she must pay the penalty, but let us hear her first. You +will all admit the justice of that. Let her be tried and put to the +proof, but do not do anything of which you may repent to-morrow." + +They heard me with impatience. The child herself clung to me, frantic +with terror, her eyes imploring me and her body trembling with fear. +Her words were almost incoherent, but nevertheless they denied the +truth of the charge vehemently and implored me for God's sake to save +her. So much I do not believe I could have done but for Léon, who +entered the room at the moment, and, perceiving the situation, leaped +towards her, drawing his sword as he did so. + +"By the God in heaven," cried he, "I will cut down any man who lays a +finger on her." And it needed but a glance at him to see that he meant +every word of it. + +Such determination was not without its effect. There were both +officers and troopers in the room, but I was the senior in command, and +I never lost sight of the fact for a moment. + +"Gentlemen," said I, "name three of you to act with me as judges in +this matter, and I promise you satisfaction. If the woman be guilty +she shall be hanged. Come now--is not this a proper course to take? +Some of you will have daughters of your own. Do not forget them at +such a moment as this." + +They assented to the proposition, though I could see that they were far +from being appeased. There was a hurried consultation among them, and +then the intimation that they had chosen Captains Legard and Fournier, +of the fusiliers, and Major Duhesne, of the _chasseurs à cheval_, to +act with my nephew and myself. The major stood as spokesman for the +others, and first addressed the company. + +"It must be here in this room, gentlemen," he said; "the witness cannot +be moved; we will try the woman here." And that was a claim none could +contest. + +I shall never forget the scene which now ensued, nor the grim drama we +played in that mean farmhouse during the next ten minutes. All about +us were the tumbled mattresses and the stricken forms of the men who +had been scorched by the flames. Common rushlights and miserable +lanterns afforded the only illumination that we had. The trial was +held about the stove, whereby there lay the sick man who had denounced +Petrovka. She herself was set in a circle amid her judges, while the +man was commanded by me to repeat the accusation he had made. He did +so with a restraint which astonished me when I remembered his +sufferings. Raising himself up in bed, he turned his haggard eyes upon +the woman and told us what he knew. + +"I was asleep in the little loft of the barn," he said; "then I heard a +sound of someone moving in the straw about me. Thinking it was one of +our men, I asked him what he did there; but there was no answer, and +for a little while nobody stirred. Presently I heard a crackling sound +and smelt fire, and at that I looked up and saw the thatch was ablaze. +Then there came light in the place, and I saw the woman. She was +creeping down the ladder, but I recognised her all the same. She +stands there, messieurs, and she knows that it is true." + +A deep cry of anger escaped the auditors when the man had done. +Obviously he did not lie, and his evidence staggered even me. Petrovka +herself heard him with a wonder no art could have aped, and her very +attitude was an appeal to reason where I was concerned. + +Upon my comrades its effect was far otherwise. There were shouts of "à +mort!" from every quarter of the room. Some said, "Let her speak!" +others were for not hearing her at all. My loud word of command alone +saved her from the imminence of death. + +"Gentlemen," said I, "this story is all very well, but it is possible +that this man may be mistaken. What confirmation have you of the +story? Let the girl speak for herself; I see she is ready." + +I turned to Petrovka, and was astonished at her new demeanour. She +appeared to have recovered her composure altogether. Her face was pale +but wonderfully beautiful. She had removed her cap, and her almost +golden hair fell upon her shoulders in a disorder pretty to see. +Looking from one to the other of us, she declared her innocence. + +"Frenchmen," she said, "I was never in the loft of the barn at all. My +father is a Russian noble--do we stoop to such crimes as this? I am a +woman, and I have a woman's heart; why do you accuse me of such +wickedness?" + +It was a proud defiance, but it availed her nothing. No one believed +her, and all in the room, save Léon and myself, desired her death. In +vain I put it to them that some other woman from the farm might have +done the deed. They would hear nothing, and presently they began to +cry "Vote--vote!" and instantly the others held up their hands and +proclaimed her guilty. + +Now this was a terrible moment for me, and not the less terrible to my +nephew. Hurriedly we drew apart and began to ask each other what could +be done. It was plain that we had the whole company against us, and at +the best we could but hope to temporise. The one thing to do was to +save the child from a vengeance which certainly would not be tempered +by mercy, and in the hope of this I now addressed myself to the other +judges. + +"The girl is well born, as you can see," said I; "it is idle to suppose +she has done such a thing. Beware that you do not pay heavily for your +haste. We shall overtake the army in the morning, and the matter can +be referred to head-quarters. You would be much wiser to let it go +there. Do you desire the girl's death? I cannot believe it, +gentlemen." + +It was all unavailing. + +"We have judged her," said the major, "and she is plainly guilty. My +determination is to hang her without ceremony, and that," he said, +turning to his companions, "is the vote of the majority." + +Now Léon had listened to this moment without protest, but these words +were too much for him. Catching Petrovka suddenly by the arm, he drew +her close to him, and whipped his sword from his scabbard as one who +would brook no denial. + +"By God," said he, "you shall do nothing of the kind!" + +It was a brave deed, and would to God it could have saved her. +Unhappily such heroism as this is well enough in a story, but of little +avail when the realities of life are at stake. There were twenty men +atop of my nephew before another word could be uttered, and dragging +Petrovka from his arms, they carried her triumphantly from the room. + +She did not utter a single cry. I thought there was a smile upon her +face, but it was the look of a woman who knows how to suffer. + + +VI + +Dawn was just breaking in a sullen sky at this time. The wind had +fallen somewhat, and it was snowing heavily. I remember the scene very +well--and, in truth, who could forget it? There to the right were the +ruins of the barn; behind us the low buildings of the farm; before us +the orchard of the house and the white snow-fields beyond it. + +Without a word said, and acting upon a common impulse, the +assassins--for such I must now call them--led Petrovka towards a beech +tree by the roadside, and clamoured loudly for a rope. Such a lust for +a woman's death is rare among soldiers, and it needed the tragedy of +the night to have provoked it. + +What could we do? There was still the opportunity of parley, and we +did not neglect it. They had not found a rope readily, and while they +were still seeking it I addressed myself to Major Duhesne, and again +implored him to remember what he was doing. + +"The Emperor," said I, "will never forgive you if this woman is proved +to be innocent." + +I might as well have addressed myself to the wall of the house. His +rejoinder was such as I might have expected. The woman had fired the +barn, he said; there was evidence of that fact. This was just the kind +of deed His Majesty punished without mercy. Why should his officers be +less zealous? + +All of which was said with the air of a man absolutely set upon a +purpose, and acting under a strong sense of duty. The others were not +less determined, and, unhappily, they had now found a rope, and carried +it triumphantly to the beech tree I have named. The scene at this +moment was very terrible to look upon: the figure of the girl pathetic +beyond imagination, and the savagery of her enemies indescribable. It +was revolting to hear the shouts of anger when the executioners +attempted to throw the cord across a branch of the tree and failed to +do so. I could not have believed that Frenchmen would have acted so. + +Now, for the second time, was this brutal murder delayed while a ladder +must be sent for. In this I perceived the hand of God, and my heart +beat fast while the moments of respite were numbered. Would we yet +save her? Might we dare to hope? A shout from the woods near by +answered me. As God is my witness, the Cossacks were upon us. They +rode from the thicket like a whirlwind; their scimitars whistled +through the air with a sound of rushing winds. + +What a turn-about that was! No cries of savage exultation now; no talk +of justice and penalty--nothing but a mad race for the shelter of the +farm and all the hurly-burly of a wild pursuit. There before my very +eyes I saw Frenchmen cleaved to the brisket; saw the heads of comrades +roll upon the snow, and heard the screams of those whom the glittering +steel cut down. The thunder of hoofs upon the hard snow rang out like +weird music of an Eastern dawn. The breath of horses and men froze on +the still air. The ground was black already with the figures of the +dead. + +And what of ourselves meanwhile? Incredible, a man would say, that we +could stand there, my nephew and I, and escape the swords of these +terrible Asiatics. Yet such was the case. + +Our very desire to save Petrovka had been the instrument of this +miracle. No sooner had the others run for the farm than we were at her +side, bidding her be of good cheer and seeking still to protect her. +Of such protection, however, she had now no need. The men who came +from the woods were her friends; they knew her. The words which passed +between the captain and herself were those which commanded our safety. +A proud little lady she was in that moment, God knows! The laughter +had come back to her eyes. + +"I never believed that they would kill me," she said to Léon. + +Who would have wished to destroy such a fine illusion? Not I, for a +truth, when every Frenchman in the farm was now dead or a prisoner of +the Tartars, who caroused where yesterday we had made merry. + + +VII + +We did not return to the farm, nor have any further word with the +Russians. Petrovka had recovered all her wits by this time, and she +made it plain to us that such a course might be dangerous. + +"I will do what I can for your friends," she said, "and afterwards I +shall return to my father's house. You, meanwhile, go at once to +Wilna, and say nothing of what you have seen. That must be a point of +honour between us, messieurs. I give you your lives, and you pay me by +your silence. God speed; and do not forget little Petrovka." + +We swore that we would never do so. She led us to the stables +thereafter, and so we found our horses. A word to the Cossack at the +gate made everything easy for us; and be sure that Petrovka took good +care to see that food and wine for the journey were found for us. It +must have been ten of the day when we quitted the farm at last and +waved a long farewell to the mistress of this singular adventure. + +"A wonderful little woman," said Léon, as we turned our heads at +length. "To think that she knew all the time who burned us out!" + +"She did know!" I cried, looking at him with astonishment. + +"Certainly; she has just told me. It was Anna, the farmer's daughter. +Petrovka meant to save her. Can you beat that for loyalty?" + +I could make no reply. Woman's courage is always very wonderful. What +man will pretend to understand it? + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE AFFAIR AT THE POST-HOUSE + +I + +There was very little order kept among us after the Battle of Krasnoë, +and you may depict us as a scattered host going covertly in fear of the +Cossacks. + +Men made little attempt to keep up with their regiments. The Chasseurs +and Fusiliers of the Guard, with whom the Emperor marched, were, +perhaps, the exception; but the rest of us went as we could, thinking +more of food and shelter than of our own safety, and hardened to any +feelings of pity. + +The latter is a bold admission to make, but few of those who marched +from Moscow will contest it. When comrades are perishing about you +every day, when your milestones are the bodies of the frozen dead, the +ultimate terror becomes the lesser thing and all the more brutal +instincts are awakened. We could not help those who fell; we pushed +on, deaf to their appeals. Let any man lag for an hour in this bitter +cold, and he would sleep as they slept--so many thousands upon the +great white highway. + +Sometimes it befell that we did not see our regiment for many days +together. This, I remember, happened to my nephew Léon and myself as +we drew near the Bérézina. + +The army heard many disquieting stories at this time, and most of them +had to do with the passage of the famous river. + +The timorous agreed that the Russians could not lose so favourable an +opportunity of falling upon our disorganised units, and that he would +be a lucky man who made the passage of the stream in safety. + +Others comforted us with the assurance that our engineers would not +fail us in this emergency, and were all ready at the Bérézina to +strengthen and to guard the ancient bridge. The tales were +contradictory, and we knew not which to believe. The river had become +our Rubicon, and we imagined that if we recrossed it the victory was +won. + +This was the condition of affairs on the morning of November 25th, when +Léon and I rode a little way with a detachment of some thirty +_pontonniers_ who were on their way to the Bérézina. + +I remember well that the captain of the little company warned us to +look well after our horses; "for," said he, "the Emperor has given +instructions that all the best are to be taken for the use of the +artillery and the wounded." The Imperial Guard was then some five +miles ahead of us, and we had no intention of overtaking it. To that +end we soon parted company with the _pontonniers_, and stopped for an +hour about midday in what had been a farmhouse upon the high road. +There we cooked a little of the rice we carried in our saddlebags, and +drank of the brandy which I had carried out of Smolensk. + +The repast gave us courage, and we rode on in better spirit afterwards. +Alas, that such a mood turned too swiftly to one of despair, when we +found that we had lost the road and that the bodies of dead and dying +Frenchmen indicated no longer the route to the Bérézina. + + +II + +We made this discovery about three o'clock of the afternoon. + +The day was already done, and a great red sun sank into a billow of +mist. + +We saw nothing about us but vast fields of snow, gone crimson in the +vanishing light, and woods which would tell no story but that of wolves. + +A profound silence reigned in this frozen wilderness. We did not hear +so much as the chime of a distant church bell, nor perceive a single +human being upon all that waste. Yet it did not appear to us by the +compass that we could be very far from the road to Bobr, through which +the Emperor must pass; nor had we any misgivings that we should +ultimately come to the banks of the Bérézina if we held upon our course. + +"There are no Cossacks here," says Léon, "and there is not much +advantage got by company. We have a little food and brandy, and may as +well keep it to ourselves. Come on, mon oncle. Let us try to believe +that the spires of Notre Dame are to be seen from yonder road, and all +the rest will be easy." + +He had grown very thin these later days, my poor Léon, and was but a +spectre of his former self. I thought of the dashing officer who had +cut so brave a figure in Moscow, and heaved a sigh at all that had +befallen us since. The word "woman" came no longer to his lips, as +formerly, and I believe he would have bartered the whole sex for a loaf +of bread and a bottle of good French wine. Who would have had the +heart to remind him how many thousand leagues we were from that Paris +for which he longed so ardently? + +"Imagine what you please," said I, "but throw in a comfortable +farmhouse and a stove to sleep by, and I am your man. It is going to +snow again, nephew, and a man may as well be in the Arctic wastes as +upon this barren plain. We were wrong to leave the others; there is +safety in numbers, and God knows what is about to befall us. Ah, my +dear nephew, what would I not give for such a bed and such a supper as +we had at the farm at Druobona!" + +He sighed at the memory both of little Petrovka and of that night of +adventure. + +We had now approached the woods, and presently we found ourselves in +the depths of a forest which must have been rarely trodden by man. The +snow had drifted into vast heaps here, and encircled the trees in great +mounds which would have engulfed a wagon. The stillness of it all was +that of winter at her zenith. The wind had fallen, and in the distance +we heard the howling of wolves. All this prepared us but little for +the surprise which overtook us presently, when three mounted Cossacks +suddenly appeared in our path and threatened us in guttural tones of +which we did not understand a single word. + +Of course, we had drawn rein directly the Russians appeared, and for my +part I was quite prepared to surrender to them. These roving bands +rarely numbered less than a squadron, and it was idle to believe that +two armed men could oppose a hundred. The alternatives were death on +the spot, or that intolerable suffering in a Russian prison of which we +had heard such evil reports. I whispered as much to Léon, but got +nothing from him but a guffaw in return. + +"Va-t'en!" said he. "There are only three of them, mon oncle. Do you +not see how they hesitate?" + +I perceived it to be true, and drew a pistol from my holster. The +Russians carried lances, but were in no hurry to descend upon us. +Either they looked for assistance in the vicinity or deemed their +advantage in numbers insufficient. What they would have done if we had +remained where we were I do not pretend to tell you; but before I could +say another word Master Léon clapped spurs to his horse, and, riding up +to the leader, he blew out his brains before a man could have counted +two. + +"A moi, mon oncle!" he cried; and be sure I was at his side +immediately. Unhappily, my own pistol was badly aimed, and did no more +damage than to blow the feather from the busby of the ruffian who now +confronted me. In an instant he had thrust at me with his lance, and I +felt the cold steel cut the sinews of my arm. + +Now I wheeled my horse about, and, despite the wound, I drew my sword +and aimed at the fellow. He answered me by a loud cry which brought +three of his fellows from the wood, and so set five of them against our +two. These odds were unexpected, and seemed to say that our onset had +been very foolish. Still, there we were, and we must make the best of +such folly as we had shown. I could do no better with my fellow than +to slash his arm off at a single stroke; but Léon cut the second of the +three clean out of the saddle, and found himself attacked by the others +who had come from the wood. + +I could imagine that, from a spectator's point of view, this fight +would have been as pretty a thing as he could wish to see. + +There were we two riding up and down the glade with three burly +Cossacks at our heels, and devil of a wall against which we might set +our backs. + +To make matters worse, my own horse stumbled heavily over the solid +roots of a magnificent beech tree, and anon I found myself on the +ground, with a couple of Russians atop of me. They would have done for +me but for an ally as unexpected as his appearance was grotesque. This +man had been lying, seemingly dead, at the foot of the tree by which I +fell. He was one of our _chasseurs à pied_, and he seemed swathed from +head to foot in fur. What had wakened him, whether a kick from a horse +or the delirium of sickness, I cannot tell you, but, staggering to his +feet, he ran at the Russians with his bayonet, and had pinned one to +the snow almost before I was aware of his presence. The other waited +for no such attention, but, setting his horse at a gallop, rode madly +from the wood. + +We had now accounted for five of the Russians--no mean achievement for +men in such a condition. The poor fellow who had assisted us we +discovered to be in a woeful state--his feet frost-bitten and two of +the fingers of his left hand missing. He hardly seemed to know what he +had done for us, but, sinking at the foot of the tree, he raved +incoherently of his home at Châlons, and of his wife and children +awaiting him there. We gave him some of the brandy, and tried to lift +him upon my nephew's horse, but it was of no good, and presently he +appeared to regain his senses and to be aware both of his situation and +of our own. + +"You cannot help me, my friends," said he. "The road is yonder; take +it while you may. I am done for." + +And upon this he threw back his head and seemed to die instantly. + +This was a very sad thing to see, and sent us from the place in a worse +spirit than I had hoped. My own wound had now begun to trouble me, and +I discovered that the lance had penetrated the flesh below the +shoulder, and left a gaping wound which in another climate might have +proved troublesome. As it was, we bound it up stoutly with a piece +torn from my tattered shirt, and, the darkness already gathering, and +the snow beginning to fall, we prepared to leave the wood in the +direction which the poor chasseur had indicated to us. + + +III + +I say that we prepared to leave the wood, but before we did so the idea +came to me to take with us the capes and the busbies of the Cossacks we +had slain, in the hope that they would be of service to us in so +dangerous a place. Bidding my nephew imitate me, I stripped the fellow +I had killed, and invited Léon to do the same to the other. + +"The woods are full of these fellows," said I, "and who knows what this +device may do for us? A la guerre comme à la guerre. Let us try our +luck under the new colours, for it has been bad enough under the old." + +He laughed in reply, for my new appearance amused him. + +"Upon my word, you would make an excellent Tartar, mon oncle," says he; +and whether that were meant to be a compliment or a reproach upon my +shaggy appearance, I did not attempt to discover. The night had come +down, and the moments were precious. It was no time for a trifler's +argument, and I pushed on in silence. + +The forest became more open as we proceeded, and I now perceived that +the avenue must be a high road, so orderly were the groves of beeches +which bordered it. + +From time to time we heard the howling of wolves, and more than one +watch-fire denoted the presence of the Russians. The prudence of the +step we had taken in assuming the garb of the Cossacks was now +justified by the event. We came face to face with a dozen of these +barbarians not a mile from the scene of the strife, and they passed us +without drawing rein, evidently being set upon a purpose of their own. +Léon was much amused by this, and swore that he would swim the Bérézina +in the same clothes. + +"Chasseurs are out of fashion," said he, "and hussars have become very +cheap. I will go to the Tuileries as a Cossack, mon oncle, and Paris +will applaud me." + +I reminded him that Paris was yet a long way off, and that the dreaded +river still lay between us and freedom. Like so many of my fellows who +deluded themselves with that belief, I thought that we had but to cross +the Bérézina to leave our troubles behind us; nor could I foresee in +any way what we must suffer before we reached the bridge at Kovno. + +This, however, is to anticipate. Behold us for the moment pressing on +through the darkness of the forest, often losing the road because of +the blackness of the night, and always alert in the presence of our +enemies. That there were Cossacks all about us we knew full well, and +when we emerged from the woods at last we perceived a whole regiment of +them riding southward at a gallop. + +This seemed to say that our own army lay in that direction. Undeterred +by the presence of the Cossacks, we kept upon our course, and presently +we heard the barking of watchdogs, and espied the lights of a village. +A little farther on yet, and the rising moon showed us familiar scenes. +There were dead and dying here, the bones of horses and the debris of +an army that had passed. I perceived immediately that we had regained +the high road, and, pressing on to the village, we came up to a +considerable post-house, whose cheerful lights shone out warmly upon +the snow, while the windows revealed the uniforms of Frenchmen. + +Now, this was a pleasant happening, and it is droll to recall what +followed upon it. We had thought to grasp our comrades by the hand, +and to change with them the news of yesterday and to-day; but hardly +had we knocked at the door of the post-house when as great a panic +overtook the men within as any I had witnessed since we quitted Moscow. +With a loud cry of "The Cossacks!" our fellow-countrymen bolted +headlong by a door at the rear of the building, and when we entered +there remained but two or three frightened figures huddled about the +stove at the far end of the spacious room. + +"Name of a dog," says Léon, "I shall play at the Comédie Française yet." + +And there he stood, shaking himself like a bear and laughing still at +my appearance and his own. + +This was all very well, but, fearing that the affair might have graver +consequences, I went to the door and began to halloo after our +comrades. It was all in vain; they were already at the far end of the +village, and I doubt not that they thought it but a ruse to entrap them. + +Meanwhile, the few Russians within the room had come up to Léon and +were staring at him curiously. Very sternly he commanded them to +return to their places, and, bolting the doors, he pointed to the +table, upon which a great cauldron of soup was steaming. + +"The spoils to the victors," says he; and, indeed, that was no time for +ceremony. I was just about to tell him as much, when a voice from the +far end of the apartment arrested our attention, and, turning about, we +saw the very last person in all Russia we would have looked for that +night. + +"Mademoiselle Valerie, by all that is holy!" cries Léon; and in a +twinkling he had caught her in his arms and was almost tearing the robe +from her back. + +"What the devil are you doing here, little witch?" he asked her. + +She told him in a word. + +"The Emperor is at Bobr. He is a little tired of me, mon ami, so you +see I waited for you." + +"The same Valerie, upon my soul. You have quarrelled with His Majesty! +There could be no better news. I salute you, fair Imperatrice, and, by +St. Christopher, I will have supper with you." + +She came up to me now, and greeted me very prettily. After all, it was +not so wonderful that we had discovered her, for she had been riding a +few hours ahead of us these many days, and this post-house was just +such a place as her wit would choose for a bivouac. I told her as +much, while chiding her faithlessness. + +"Léon has ceased to eat since you went," said I; and God knows that +that was somewhere near the truth. + +Well, we all sat down, while she commanded the Russians to serve us. +The place was well enough after our night in the woods, and it did a +man good to breathe its warm air and smell the savour of its primitive +cooking. Not only had we the soup, but the fellow in charge produced a +bottle of excellent Warsaw gin, and the first thing we did was to drain +a glass to our reunion. + +"We must not separate again until we cross the Pont de Jena," says +Léon, catching mademoiselle's hand and looking deep into her eyes. + +The words were cheering, and such as a good supper might prompt a man +to speak. Alas! hardly were they uttered than we heard the blare of +bugles, and, leaping to her feet, Valerie cried out that they were the +Cossacks. + + +IV + +Now here we were, hoist by our own petard. We had cast aside the heavy +capes of the Russians as we entered the room, and thrown down their +busbies, but, as upon a common impulse, we caught them up again when we +heard the blare of the bugles, and, running to the window, peered out, +to see the whole street full of hussars, and a couple of their officers +beating upon the door of the post-house. + +"It is the regiment that passed us on the road," said I; "eight hundred +men, at a hazard. What the devil now, my nephew? We are caught like +rats in a trap!" + +He looked very serious, to be sure, while mademoiselle had turned as +white as a sheet. Presently it seemed to dawn upon her that we were +wearing Russian uniforms, and at that she got an idea. + +"Go there!" she cried, indicating the low seats by the stove. "I will +deal with them. You must pretend to sleep. It is your only chance." + +We obeyed her instantly. Léon upon the left hand of the stove, and +myself upon the right, we smothered our heads in the capes and curled +ourselves up as men heavy with fatigue. Hardly had we done this when +Valerie opened the door and the Russians swarmed headlong into the +room. So great was their need of food that some twenty of them were +about the table in an instant, eating as ravening wolves, and far too +busy in that employment to pay any attention to us. + +Looking at them as I lay, I perceived that they were all officers of +cavalry, and mostly men of some distinction; while it was also apparent +that they contemplated no considerable halt in this vicinity, but were +riding toward the Bérézina. For all that, our situation could well +justify them in shooting us like dogs if we had been discovered; and it +was impossible to forget that they had but to lift the capes which +covered us to undo our little plot in a twinkling. Do you wonder that +we lay there as men who waited for a sentence of life or death? + +Meanwhile, be sure that Mademoiselle Valerie was not idle. + +Many times have I admired the wit and resource of that wonderful woman, +but never as I did upon that fateful night. Anyone who had heard her +would have sworn that she was the arch-enemy of Napoleon and of all his +works, and that nothing but the direst necessity had carried her into +the train of his army. With a candour which seemed childish she +recited to them all that she had not done these many days. I could +have laughed aloud at the fables she invented for the benefit of these +simpletons. It was as inspiring as wine to see her smoking their +little paper cigars and drinking the horrid gin to their successes. +And all the time Léon and I lay there wondering if the filthy Russians +round about would utter the word which betrayed us. To this day I +believe that they did not for mademoiselle's sake. It was otherwise +with the cavalrymen themselves. When they had eaten and drunk they +naturally drew near the stove, and soon there were a dozen of them +swarming about it, and one actually sitting upon my knees. A more +anxious moment is not to be described; and when the fellow began to +banter me in Russian upon the profundity of my sleep I thought for a +truth that all was lost. + +The spirit had mounted to their heads by this time, and they were +disposed to any humour that occurred to them. An imp of mischief +prompted an ensign among them to suggest that Léon should be lifted on +to the stove, and there left to roast until he came to his senses; and +this idea was applauded by them all. Lifting my nephew by the legs, +his ragged and mud-stained French breeches were laid bare for all to +see; but, oddly enough, no one remarked the colour, and this I set down +to the fact that clothes were often exchanged between the army in those +days, and that a Russian with a hole in his breeches made no bones at +all about wearing those of a Frenchman. + +The danger was really from the fire itself, and the loud oaths it +brought to Léon's lips. He was up and awake in an instant now, and +with a curse upon them all he struck right and left, and brought them +to their senses. They were just like men who handled a dog, to +discover suddenly that he was a wolf and had bitten them; and with +amazed cries they drew back and turned to mademoiselle. She, however, +answered them with one of her merry laughs. The little Russian that I +knew permitted me to see that she was warning them against some peril +of which they were unaware; and no sooner was this done than they +apprehended the danger for themselves. + +You will understand this more readily when you remember that the +post-house was on the high road, and that while the van of the army was +then at Bobr, the rearguard, under Marshal Ney, had yet to march +through. The outposts of this had entered the village while the +officers were at supper, but the main body now appearing, the others +made an immediate descent upon the post-house, and the shots and +bullets rained upon it like hail. In a twinkling the plates upon the +table went flying, the glass of the windows was shattered, and the +crazy lamps put out. + +The Russians themselves, believing that they had been taken in an +ambush, went headlong through the back door of the building in quest of +their horses; and soon we heard them rallying in the village street, +and crying to their fellows to come out. The alarm had spread like +wildfire, and such an appeal was not made in vain. The whole hamlet +now became a scene of battle, upon which the moon shone brightly and +the lamps in the house cast a derisive aureole. Odd that men should be +killing each other upon that terrible night of winter, with food and +shelter all about and nothing but the wilderness of death beyond! Yet +so it befell, and such was the affair in which we now played our parts. + +Naturally, we got out into the street as quickly as possible. We were +both armed with pistols and had our swords drawn, but it was apparent +that we could do nothing until the others had made good their entrance +and got at the cavalry. The latter, finding themselves attacked on +both sides, rode up and down the wide street like madmen, cutting and +slashing at invisible figures, and plainly drunk with the hospitality +they had pillaged. So much our own men perceived, and, advancing from +house to house, and taking cover wherever it was to be had, they fired +at the enemy with deadly effect, and blotted the snow with the figures +of the terrified horsemen who had been caught in this trap of fate. + +Soon the place became a veritable shambles. The infantrymen, under +Marshal Ney himself, grew bolder every instant, and, led both by the +marshal and Prince Eugène, they came out into the open, and took the +cavalry at the bayonet's point. There was no longer the necessity for +Léon and myself to be spectators of the affray, and, rushing out into +the melee, we shot and sabred where we could. Wiser men would have +remained in the post-house, and remembered the uniform they wore. I +shall not soon forget the instant when some _chasseurs à pied_ rushed +upon me, and I had to cry "Vive l'Empereur!" with all my lungs to keep +their bayonets from my throat. This, however, was but an episode, and, +throwing the Cossack's cape and busby aside, I fought bareheaded until +the last of the Russians had staggered to the post-house and fallen +headlong at the feet of Valerie, who stood waiting and watching at the +door. + +I say the last of the Russians, and this is to give you a fair account +of it. A few, it is true, got away through the court of the house to +the open fields beyond; there may have been one or two who made good +their escape on their way to Bobr; but of some five hundred who entered +the village there were more than two hundred and fifty dead in the wide +street, and almost as many prisoners when the end came. + +We ourselves, amazed both at the swiftness of the victory and at our +own good fortune, returned immediately to the post-house, and there +found Valerie bending over the figure of the fallen Russian. The man +had received a terrible blow from a sabre, which laid open his head +almost to the ear, and he was stone dead when we found him. To us he +was as one of the many whose bodies lay black and stiff in the +moonlight, but to Valerie St. Antoine he had told another story. + +"I know him well," she exclaimed. "He is General Kutusoff's +aide-de-camp. Search his wallet, and you will know why he is on the +road to Bobr. Do you not understand how much it may mean to His +Majesty?" + +We heard her with amazement, but did not lose a moment in doing her +bidding. There were many papers and letters in the dead man's sack, +but we knew enough to detect those of importance, and especially to +pick out the documents which concerned the Emperor. Here Mademoiselle +Valerie's knowledge of Russian was something beyond price. One by one +she read the documents and told us their contents. When she came to +that concerning the Bérézina, the miracle of this man's death in such a +place was beyond compare the event of that memorable night. + +In a word, the paper told us that the bridge across the river was held +by the Russians, and that if His Majesty and the army were not to +perish another must be found. + + +V + +I have told you that Marshal Ney himself had come in at the head of the +rearguard, and to him we carried the paper immediately. + +Be sure the importance of it was not lost upon him, and he heard us +with an amazement akin to our own. + +Naturally, such a man would lose no time in such an emergency, and, +entering the post-house but to write a dispatch, he handed it to Léon, +and commanded him to press on at all hazards and overtake the Emperor +at Bobr. + +"The fate of the army depends upon your diligence," said he. "Lose no +time, sir, and I will see that you are well rewarded." + +To this he added the order that an escort of a squadron of Prince +Eugène's own cavalry should accompany us, and with this we set out +immediately upon the high road to the river. + +It was now about midnight, intensely cold, but very clear and bright, +and the detestable north wind but a gentle breeze. The road itself no +longer traversed the terrible plains, but wound in and out of a low +range of hills, which protected us a little from the rigours of the +night. Unhappily, our escort was already fatigued with marching, and +we had not ridden a league when it became apparent that they would +hinder rather than help us. So much Léon indicated to their captain, +and, bidding him return to the prince, he stated our resolution of +travelling henceforth alone. "Two may go," says he, "where a hundred +cannot. If this news does not reach the Emperor before daybreak the +army is lost. It is our only chance, captain, as you must see for +yourself. Leave it to me and the major here, and we will do all that +can be done." + +The captain agreed, admitting that the horses of his squadron could go +no farther, and that the men were entirely unable to support the +fatigues of such a venture. We left them accordingly, and pushed on +henceforth alone. It was a relief to discover a road where a man could +pass without stepping over the dead bodies of his comrades, and for a +full hour we rode with none of those dreadful emblems of tragedy to +which we had become so accustomed. In the end we entered a little +defile which stood upon the brink of the forest. The high road became +narrower, and was often wholly obliterated by the snow. I perceived +that we were lost, and, drawing rein, I compelled my nephew to realise +the extent of our misfortune. + +"There are no dead here," said I. "If the army had passed by this +road, you know what we should have witnessed. The stars seem to tell +me that we are too far to the north; there is nothing for it but to +return as we came." + +He cursed and swore at this, for he was as impetuous as every zealous +soldier should be. + +"If day finds the Emperor at Bobr," said he, "all is lost. We should +have taken a guide in the village; that is the folly of it, mon oncle. +We have acted like children, and deserve what we get. Had we listened +to Valerie----" + +"Ah," said I, "always the women! Well, what did she say?" + +"That she would conduct us to Bobr herself. I would have named it to +the marshal, but you know what he thinks of women. There is nothing +for it, as you say, but to return, and God keep us from a court-martial +when we get there." + +We turned about, and began to ride up the defile. A light shone +through the trees almost at the head of it, and we perceived what we +had overlooked on our western journey--a house standing in a clearing +and lighting a welcome patch in that lonely forest. The idea came to +me that these people might set us on the road, and, without waiting to +ask my nephew's opinion, I turned aside and knocked upon the door. It +was opened immediately by as handsome a young Jew as I have ever seen. +Alas! he could not understand a word I addressed to him, but, drawing +back as one in great fear, he called to someone inside; and presently +there appeared a young woman as good-looking, but very much less afraid +of the soldiers. + +To my astonishment, a greeting in my own tongue was responded to +immediately by this intelligent girl. + +"Come in, messieurs," said she. "We do not fear your countrymen; we +know that the French are our friends." + +I hallooed to Léon to come down to the place, and then entered the +cottage. A bright lamp burned upon the table, and food was set out +there. When I remembered that it must have been nearly one o'clock of +the morning, the fact seemed not a little suspicious; but a thought +immediately came to me, and I turned to the girl and questioned her. + +"Why are you awake at this time of night?" said I. + +She flinched at that, and could not answer me; but I told her +immediately. + +"Your husband has been out to rob the soldiers who have perished," said +I. "Come, be frank with me, and you shall not be punished. Has he not +just come home and brought you some pretty things? Do not be afraid to +tell me, and I will see that you do not suffer." + +She admitted it at length. Her excuses were familiar and difficult to +deal with. The men who had been robbed were dead, and their friends +had deserted them. Of what use was money to them? The Cossacks took +everything, she said; why did we begrudge them such trifles? + +To which I responded very sternly that they had rendered themselves +liable to the penalty of death, and would be pardoned upon one +condition only. + +"Doubtless you know the way to Bobr, young man," said I. + +He did not deny it. + +"Then you will conduct us there immediately. Come, where is your +horse? You will have need of him." + +He swore that he had no horse, and really I believe this was true. The +girl's fears had now become distressing to behold, and it was evident +that she had her doubts of our honesty. + +"Isidore is a very bad guide," she exclaimed, looking at us with +searching eyes. "You would do much better to take me. I know the road +to Bobr. I have walked there many times." + +"Then," said I, "if you have walked there, we are not far from our +destination. I will make you a proposition, my dear. It is that you +both come. Nothing will happen to your house for an hour or two, and +you can go back to-morrow." + +The suggestion appeased her, but the man still seemed afraid. + +"How shall I protect her from your countrymen?" said he. "Every road +is full of soldiers nowadays. You know what that means, Excellency." + +He spoke in Russian, but I gathered his meaning none the less. +Precious moments were being lost in this argument, and I would hear no +more of it. + +"By God!" said I, drawing a pistol from my belt. "If you do not start +immediately I will blow your brains out." + +The threat was quite sufficient. Methodically the woman caught up a +heavy woollen cloak and addressed a few words to her husband in a +whisper. A moment later she was haggling with me about terms, for such +is the habit of these people. + +"You will pay us for our trouble," she protested. "It is a long way to +Bobr, messieurs, and we are very poor." + +"I will give you a hundred francs if you bring me to the Emperor at +daybreak," said I. And, refusing further parley, I went out to the +bridle track immediately, and left them to decide. Not a little to my +surprise, they followed me without protest, and we all set out again, +the woman on Léon's saddle, the young Jew at my horse's head. + +I think it was a little warmer by this time; but this may have been due +to the wooded nature of the country through which we now rode. A +stranger would not have found his way in a lustre of years; so narrow +was the path, so dense the trees, that we might have entered an +enchanted land full of hobgoblins and far beyond the confines of the +civilised world. It was difficult to remember that the Grand Army +could not have been ten leagues from us, and were marching and dying +this night, as upon so many weary nights since we had left Moscow. For +all that, we made good headway, and were apparently about to regain the +open country, when the Jew said something to his young wife, and she +translated it for our benefit. + +"We are coming to a very dangerous place," said she. "Your +Excellencies must be prepared. There are robbers here who are a menace +to all strangers. We ourselves pay them tribute--a large sum, much +more than we can afford. But that concerns ourselves, and they will +rob you if they can. Please, therefore, be very careful, and do not +speak as you go." + +I looked at Léon, and it was evident that the same thought was in both +our minds. These brigands would very likely be the kinsmen of this +engaging couple, and possibly we had been led to their lair for no +other purpose than that of robbery. So I took my pistol from my +holster again, and, showing it to the young Jew, I warned him. + +"Robbers or no robbers," said I, "you will be a dead man the moment you +let go of my bridle rein." + +He shook his head, and professed not to understand me. It was clear, +however, that he had made a pretty shrewd guess at my meaning, and he +pressed on so quickly that I began to doubt my previous view of his +honesty. + +Was it possible that he was really afraid of this ghostly place? Well, +I could understand as much. The fables of Hades never painted a +gloomier abyss or a nether pit so awe-inspiring. + +Sheer cliffs of sandy rock rose up to a great height on every hand. +There was but a hand's breadth of sky to be seen above us; while below, +far down in a crevice, there glistened the ice of a frozen rivulet. +The path itself would have served for a nimble goat, but was +treacherous enough for a horse. We all dismounted, and for a full hour +went as mountaineers upon a precipice. Then we came to a sudden halt +at the young man's bidding, and listening, we heard a piercing scream +echoing and re-echoing in that frightful abyss. + +"Good God!" cried Léon; "they are butchering a Frenchman. A man has +died by the knife. I know that sound; I have heard it too often." + +The young Jew began to tremble like an aspen at this, and his wife +vainly tried to comfort him. Turning to us, she whispered a reminder +of her prophecy concerning the dangers of the journey. + +"It is the brigand Orlof," she said. "You see what has befallen us. +We must return immediately." + +"Oh, come," said I; "such is not the habit of our countrymen. Who is +this precious Orlof, and how many friends has he?" + +She responded that it was impossible to say. There might be two or +three, there might be twenty. To which I answered that we would take +our chance, and pushing the young Jew on before me, I covered him with +my pistol. + +It was then that I discovered that madame had a great Russian pistol of +her own, and was already looking to its priming. So the brigands were +not her fathers and mothers after all. + +We turned the corner of the pass, and a flickering red light fell +suddenly on the path before us. It came from a hole in the wall of the +rock, giving access to a cave of melancholy aspect. The question +whether we should pause or go on was answered by me in an instant. + +"Attention!" I whispered to them, and, raising my hand, I now took +command of the expedition, and crept stealthily to the aperture. Ten +strides and I was up to it, and had the mystery before my eyes. + +There were three of the filthiest and most revolting moujiks I have +ever looked upon squatting upon the floor of a considerable cave, and +they were busy dividing the property of a man who lay dead by their +fireside. The latter was an officer of the fusiliers, as I could see +by his epaulettes. They had hacked his head off with a scythe, which +lay by the tumbled corpse, and were now counting his money. + +You will understand with what feelings of rage and fury my nephew and I +beheld this spectacle, and the steps we took to avenge our comrade. +Hardly had I clapped eyes upon the dead fusilier than I shot +point-blank at the biggest of the Russians, and saw him fall forward +into the very fire he had kindled. The two with him sprang to their +feet, uttering the shrillest cries of alarm, but Léon settled the first +of them with his pistol, and, to my amazement, the young Jew shot the +third. + +"I am well quit of him," said he; "there will be no more tribute next +year." + +And, upon this, what must he do but dash into the cavern and seize the +money and the jewels which the robber still held in his quivering +fingers. + +At this I confess that I laughed aloud, and had not the heart to +deprive him of his plunder. Sufficient that the dead was avenged and +that these assassins would butcher Frenchmen no more. + + +VI + +This delay had been unfortunate, and thereafter we pressed on as fast +as the difficulties of the path would permit. The night was speeding, +and the fate of the French army depended upon our swiftness. The day +must be an enemy if the Emperor were not discovered. + +This was all very well, but we knew no more than the dead how far from +Bobr we then stood; nor did the young Jew who guided us. Indeed, it +dawned upon me after a time that he himself was lost, and knew the way +no better than we. This was a terrible reflection, and led me to the +bitterest reproaches upon them both. I swore that they should be shot +if they had played us false; to which the woman answered bravely +enough, while the man whined an excuse which led me to doubt him more +than ever. The road must be across the wide ravine which we were then +entering, he declared. There was a bridle path through the thicket, +and that would lead us out to the high road to Bobr. So much he said, +and so little did the facts justify him. + +We had now come to a wide pit, deep in snow and everywhere surrounded +by the forest. Even the path by which we entered it was difficult to +trace once we had been caught in the trap. And so we went, round and +round, the horses often up to their girths and Isidore to his neck in +the half-melted slush. Half an hour of it found the brutes exhausted +and we at the end of our tether. The night had been lost, and, +perhaps, the army with it. Never have I known a greater chagrin than +overtook me at such an hour. To have been entrusted with so great a +thing and to have failed! Good God! what a reckoning when next we came +before His Majesty! + +All this was black in the mind when the day began to dawn and a wan +glimmer of chilly light to break above the white foreground of the +frozen trees. + +The young Jew, who had been weeping bitterly, recovered his composure +when the day broke, and, seeming to recollect himself, he declared that +a shrine in the wood was the landmark, and that if we could but detect +it the road also would be regained. Perhaps he would have proved a +false prophet after all, but for the distant blare of a bugle, and upon +it the echo of rifle-shots far away down the valley. This immediately +indicated to us that we looked towards the south, and another ten +minutes had not passed when madame clapped her hands and declared that +she espied the shrine in a clearing of the trees. + +Rarely can a mistake have been redeemed with such tragic irony as upon +this fatal morning. We had lost the way and had found it--alas, too +late! + +It was a safe passage thereafter, and one of which I remember little. +The forest became less dense from league to league, and ultimately +showed us the great white plains we knew so well. Even from afar the +black bodies of our dead were to be discerned. We knew that this was +the road to Bobr, and, as our guides declared, that we stood barely a +league from the hamlet itself. + +Of the Jews we had now no further need, and paying them the money we +had promised, we set spurs to our jaded horses and rode on at a gallop. +The last I saw of Isidore and the woman showed them quarrelling over +the money at the wood's edge; and this was just what one would have +expected them to be doing. We had almost forgotten their existence +when, some half an hour later, we set eyes upon the whitened spires and +low walls of the picturesque town of Bobr. The Emperor was there, and +to him we must give an account of our stewardship. + +God knows it was with no fair prospect that we entered the place at the +moment when the army was waking to hear the fatal news. + + +VII + +I say it was with no fair prospect, and yet there is an after-word. +Hardly were we in the main street of the place when we heard the +clatter of horses' hoofs ahead of us, and presently we perceived a +young hussar coming down the street at a canter. + +"Good God!" cried Léon. "It's Valerie!" + +I stared with all my eyes. + +"Valerie, by all that's wonderful! Then she has followed us after all, +and herself has carried the news to the Emperor. Thank God for that." + +He admitted the truth of it with a sigh. + +"We shall look the biggest fools in Russia to-day," said he. + +But that I doubted. + +"She is a woman," said I, "and--well, you are the best judge of what +she has done. I will wager a hundred louis that she has not said a +word of our failure." + +He seemed to think it possible. Valerie herself had now drawn rein +before the door of a considerable house, and there she waited for us to +come up. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WE CROSS THE BÉRÉZINA + +I + +The news that the Russians had cut the bridge across the Bérézina came +as a thunderclap to the army. + +We had believed that we had only to cross that fatal river to find +ourselves immediately in a land overflowing with milk and honey. We +never thought of the long leagues lying between ourselves and the city +of Paris, or remembered that this dreadful Russian winter had but just +begun. Food and shelter lay beyond the river, we thought--so little +did we know. + +Then the news came that the Cossacks of the south had cut the bridge. +The men said that we were caught like rats in a trap. Our generals +were hourly in consultation. None could declare with truth that he had +now any real hope of escaping death or the horrors of a Russian prison. + +It was at this crisis of our fate that the good fortune befell me of +being of some personal service to the army and to His Majesty. + +We had advanced a stage upon the road to the Bérézina, and in the +middle of the night of November 20th we arrived at the town of +Borisoff. The Emperor's quarters were in a country mansion near the +town. I myself, with Léon and Valerie St. Antoine, took refuge in a +mean house occupied by the priest of the place, and, having eaten a +little black bread and boiled a handful of rice (all the poor fellow +could offer us), we lay about his stove to sleep. + +For the others this proved easy enough. No sooner had they laid their +heads upon the sheepskins which the holy father provided for us, than +their deep breathing responded to the measure of their fatigue. For +myself, however, there was no such refuge. I could not sleep a wink +despite my weariness. Beyond that, strange visions tormented me even +when awake. For this, the doom which threatened the remnant of that +once great army may have been responsible. I believed that I should +never see my country again--and God only knows what that meant to one +who had suffered so much. + +Such was my condition when I heard someone tapping faintly upon the +door of the priest's house, and then a sound of weeping. A common +instinct of self-preservation should have made me callous, for those +were the days when a man would have denied meat to his own +brother--yet, whether it were the hour of the night or the despair of +our situation, I know not--but, rising immediately, I took the +rushlight in my hand and opened to the unknown. + + +II + +The new-comer was dressed from head to foot in the fur of the silver +fox, and had a grey woollen shawl about her head. I have rarely seen a +more beautiful face upon a child or eyes so sorrowful. + +Apparently of fourteen years of age or thereabouts, I perceived at once +that she was of noble birth, while the sweetness of her voice was +beyond words. Weeping upon the threshold, she ceased to weep directly +she had entered the room, and, drawing herself up with a dignity worthy +of her race, she told me that her name was Joan d'Izambert, and begged +me to come immediately to the help of her brother, who was dying. + +This was an astonishing request, and I could not forbear a question. + +"Mademoiselle," I asked, "who is your brother, and what brought you to +this house?" + +She replied immediately that her brother was Gabriel d'Izambert, one of +the _pontonniers_, and that he had been sent to the river by General +Roguet. From this excursion I understood that the young man had +returned in a state of delirium, and was now lying in an arbour of a +garden close by. + +"Sergeant Picard sent me to you," she explained. "He knows my brother +well, and said that you would come. Oh, monsieur, we have suffered so +much, and now there is this. Will you not help me?" + +I told her that I would go. For another, perchance, I would not have +stirred a foot that night; but there was so much in the child's +manner--a gift to command and a nobility of mien which were +remarkable--that I put on my great fur coat without more ado, and went +down to the garden with her. It lay, perhaps, a hundred paces from the +house which we occupied, and was attached to a considerable mansion, of +which General Roguet and his staff had then taken possession. + +The arbour itself proved to be a spacious summer-house, matted and +thatched, and provided with a stove, in which a good fire had been +kindled. I was presented immediately to a distinguished old gentleman, +well advanced in years, but still wearing a uniform of the engineers. +He told me in a word that he had followed his son as far as Smolensk +upon our outward journey, and there had waited for the army's return. + +"His mother was with us then," he said--and so he indicated that his +wife had perished during these dreadful days. + +The son himself--a fine young man of noble presence--lay upon the floor +by the stove, wrapped in a bearskin coat, but plainly the victim of +delirium. I found him in a burning fever, his pulse running high, and +his cheeks gone scarlet. He raved incessantly of the river and the +bridge, and of the Russians who had hunted us. + +It was no new thing to hear a man talk thus at a moment when the army +perished by tens of thousands; but the spectacle of this bare place, +and the glowing stove, and the stricken old man, and the child that was +left to him, touched me beyond words, and I promised him immediately +all the help that lay in my power. + +"Yet, God knows," I exclaimed, "that is little enough, for we are all +likely to be in a Russian prison to-morrow. You know, sir," I said, +turning to him, "that the bridge is down and the army trapped." + +"The bridge is down," he cried, "but another may be built. Save my +son, major, and you may yet save France." + +I had no idea of his meaning. If I thought of it at all, it was to +remind myself that this family had suffered much, and that the father's +talk might be little more rational than the son's at such a moment. +Bidding the child run back to the house I had quitted, and thence bring +my nephew and my case of instruments, I assured the old gentleman that +I would do my best and that he might count upon me. The young man, +meanwhile, did not cease to rave in a voice which was most distressing +to hear, and, catching me by the hand as I bent over him, he implored +me, for God's sake, to let the Emperor know immediately. When I, +however, asked him for a message he could give me none. "The bridge!" +he would cry, and repeat the words a hundred times. His very frenzy +was a terrible thing to see. + +My nephew and Mademoiselle Valerie returned to the arbour with the +child anon, being anxious as to my whereabouts. Léon was frankly +disgusted with the whole business, and would have had me return to the +house immediately. + +"There are a thousand worse than this man for every league you march," +said he. "Really, mon oncle, this is no time for sentiment." + +In her turn, Valerie told him to be silent, and seemed really concerned +at the misfortunes of the unhappy family. + +"I know them well," she said to me. "The mother is a relative of the +Duke de Melun, and old General d'Izambert often came to my father's +house. Imagine the madness which brought such old people to Russia +because their boy was going!" + +I rejoined that it was the kind of madness which had become common in +France during recent years. And this was the truth, for many a family +had gone out merely because sons or brothers were there. It was clear +that an unusual bond of affection united these brave people, and that +the memory of the dead mother provoked a sentiment very real. Father +and daughter alike watched me with pitiful eyes while I bled the young +_pontonnier_, and they hastened to obey me when I commanded them to +melt snow in a cup and to give him a cooling drink. + +"I will speak to General Roguet at dawn," said I. "You shall find a +place for him in the house. God alone knows whether any of us will be +here to help you then; it depends upon his fellows. If there is no +ford discovered in the next twenty-four hours, the river is shut to us, +and the army is lost. You, monsieur, know that as well as I." + +He assented, looking at me with grave eyes. + +"Major," he said very solemnly, "there is a ford. My son discovered it +this day." + +The news astounded me. + +"Good God!" said I. "You are speaking the truth?" + +"Look at me, major. Would I lie to you?" + +"Then the Emperor knows. You have told him, monsieur?" + +He shook his head. + +"Swear by Almighty God that you will not desert us, and I will name the +place to you," he said. + +I knew not what to say to him--the dilemma was beyond all words. If I +pledged myself to these people, then truly must I be a prisoner in +Russia. If I did not pledge myself, the army was lost. + +"But," I cried, "there is my regiment--my duty, Monsieur d'Izambert." + +It was then that Valerie spoke. + +"Go," she said to Léon, pointing to the door; "let the Emperor know. I +will stay with these people." + + +III + +Here was an astonishing turn, and one little looked for. + +The idea of this dashing girl, clad in her hussar uniform, yet womanly +beyond compare, the idea of her becoming the guardian of the sick man +at first astounded and then delighted Monsieur d'Izambert. Helpless +and infirm himself, the companion of a mere child caught in the toils +of suffering, he responded warmly to such a pledge and thanked her most +graciously. + +The boy himself had now sunk into a kind of coma, and there were +moments when I thought he was dead. Meanwhile, Léon did not return, +and we waited in the silence of the night for the alarm which must +presently attend the momentous tidings. When it came, it was as though +the whole army woke upon the dawn of a feast-day. Bugles blared; a +babel of voices arose in the street; the wagons of the engineers went +through at a gallop; lights appeared in every house. Anon you heard +men calling the news from door to door. A ford had been discovered; +the army would cross the Bérézina this day. + +So they said, and such was my own belief. The young _pontonnier_ had +given the clearest directions to old Monsieur d'Izambert before the +fever overtook him, and these, marked upon his map, had gone to +head-quarters. Nothing remained to be done that our engineers could +not do. They would bridge the shallow stream, and the remnant of the +six hundred thousand would pass over. I reflected that I should not be +among them. The promise that Valerie had given bound me no less than +her. Impossible to leave her here in this God-forsaken hamlet, with a +sick man for her charge and a veteran of threescore years for her +bodyguard. She had pledged herself to stay, and I must stand by her. +It seemed to me, then, that our liberty, if not our lives, depended +upon the youth, who lay alternately burning with fever and shivering +with cold upon the boards at our feet. His death would have set us +free. I say it with truth that neither she nor I desired freedom at +such a price. + +You will have understood that it was day by this time. + +The bruit of alarm was still to be heard in the street before the house +where the remnants of the army pressed on headlong towards the river. +I did not suppose that we should be left to ourselves, we who possessed +the precious secret of the ford, and in this I was not mistaken. Many +from head-quarters came down to General Roguet's house when daylight +appeared, and it must have been a little after eight o'clock when the +Emperor himself strode into the arbour and demanded to see Gabriel +d'Izambert. + +I had not been unprepared for this, and be sure I made haste to explain +the situation to His Majesty. + +"Sire," I said, "the young man is overtaken by a fever, caught in the +river yesterday. It will probably be but a passing attack, but +meanwhile his father knows all that your Majesty should know, and you +will find him very much at your service. He has at the moment gone to +the house yonder in quest of necessaries; but there is one here with +whom you are acquainted and whom you will not be displeased to meet +again under such circumstances." + +With this I presented Mademoiselle Valerie to him, and he greeted her +very warmly. The young _pontonnier_ was still asleep, and it seemed +idle to wake him. Nevertheless, the Emperor insisted, with his usual +impetuosity, and nothing would content him but an immediate audience of +this unhappy Gabriel. Judge of my astonishment when, upon being +awakened, the lad seemed in possession of his normal faculties and +ready to answer as though he were fresh from a healthy sleep. + +"The ford is below Studianka," he said, with a warmth of feeling which +betrayed an ardent loyalty. "It is four miles above the old bridge, +your Majesty, and, should the river remain as it is, the engineers +could cross it before nightfall. I beg you now to let me accompany +you, for I am quite well again." + +And then he said, lifting pathetic eyes which betrayed his youthful +earnestness, "Your Majesty will not refuse me this last favour?" + +Such was his request, which won an immediate assent from the Emperor. +The lives of a hundred thousand men may have depended upon this youth's +loyalty, and who would count the loss of his life if thereby the army +could pass over? Not I, certainly--nor His Majesty, who never stood at +a sentiment where his own interests were concerned. Half an hour had +not elapsed when Gabriel d'Izambert had been lifted into one of the +baggage wagons, and we had all set out for the Bérézina. + +Put briefly, it was a race where life or death was the stake. If we +could neither ford nor bridge the river by nightfall, assuredly was the +Grand Army lost. There was not a man amongst us who did not know as +much as we drew near to the fatal scene and set eyes for the first time +upon those waters which had baffled us. Had the river risen during the +night, or should we find it as Gabriel d'Izambert had found it +yesterday? The lad himself put the question a hundred times as we +tramped by the side of the wagon, and descended at length toward that +gloomy Styx which was so soon to be the scene of our overwhelming +desolation. + + +IV + +Naturally, I considered myself released at this time from my +understanding with the old gentleman. He, however, was of no such +opinion, and, with an anxiety very natural under the circumstances, he +reminded me frequently of the undertaking. + +"You will not leave us, major," he said. "We are so very helpless, and +you see what is about to happen to my son. We cannot leave him, and, +if the bridge be built, naturally the army will be the first to cross. +Remember what you have promised me, and let it be an honourable +understanding between us." + +It was difficult to answer such an appeal, and, for that matter, a +greater anxiety concerning the state of the river led me to dismiss it +lightly. What mattered it whether we crossed early or late if the army +could be saved and the honour of France upheld? These thoughts were in +my mind when, at length, the Bérézina came into view and all that +gloomy panorama was unrolled before our wistful eyes. Let me tell you +of this that you may understand more fully the calamity which +subsequently overtook us. + +As we first saw it, the Bérézina did not appear to be a formidable +river. It ran beneath a sky heavy with cloud and through a marsh, of +which the thaws of recent days had made nothing but a treacherous bog. + +When it first came into view there were some thousands of the Fusiliers +and Chasseurs of the Guard encamped upon its eastern bank. A drizzle +of snow fell, and it was clear that the waters of the river had begun +to flow with some rapidity. Little waves lapped the marshy shore; +great blocks of ice went careering here and there as though they were +monstrous fish at play. The wind moaned dismally and the damp searched +our very bones. + +Of shelter there was none, save that of a few miserable huts upon the +hillside and of a low farmhouse, which the general's staff now +occupied. Luckily for us, we took possession of one of the former, and +there I left Valerie with Monsieur d'Izambert and his daughter, while I +myself rode on to the river to get what tidings I could. These, to be +sure, were not of ill-omen, and the fact that they were not so is to be +set down to the bravery of the gallant fellows who were then working +for our salvation. + +Never in all the story of a retreat can there be a more glorious page +written than that which told of our own _pontonniers_ on this famous +day of November. + +Let me tell you in brief words that, despite the bitter cold, the snow +which beat upon their faces and the icy water of the river, they +plunged boldly into the stream, and stood there, often working up to +their necks, that the bridge which should save the army might be built. +The feat has been made light of by subsequent writers; yet here I bear +witness that a nobler thing was never done, nor any task achieved so +heroically in all the years of His Majesty's victories. + +Imagine it, my friends, and think upon our situation. + +We knew that the Russians were to the north and the south of us. The +ancient bridge below Borisoff had been cut. If we could not ford this +icy stream, then death or the horrors of a Russian prison awaited us. +Our one hope was this determined band of ten, who offered their own +lives upon the altar of our safety and plunged into the river that they +might win it for us. + +Hour by hour we watched them with feverish eyes. Even the Emperor came +down to the place, and with his own hand served wine to those heroes +who were winning life for him. One by one the pontoons were moored, +and the gap between the coveted shores made narrower. + +To me it seemed as though it were a race between Fate and the fortunes +of France. I saw the river rising every hour; the moaning wind became +a dreadful thing to hear as the day waxed and waned. And ever through +the terrible hours the snow fell pitilessly and the ice gathered and +crashed in the torrent which lashed the pontoons. + +Would our fellows win by nightfall, or was all indeed lost? I answered +the question for myself when, at sunset, the triumphant cries of the +fusiliers announced that a communication with the opposite shore was +established, and I saw the Guard ride over, their trumpets blaring and +their eagles proudly proclaiming their victory. + +A few minutes later I myself rode over the bridge, and immediately rode +back again. It was something to feel that the devilish stream was +conquered and the fruits of brave men's toil reaped to the full. Alas, +how little I knew of what was to come after or of the slaughter which +must attend the unspeakable morrow! + +I have told you that I crossed the bridge and immediately recrossed it. +This was upon an order of General Roguet himself, who told me that +every surgeon would be needed upon the other side to help the sick +across, and that I must rejoin our own company of Vélites as quickly as +might be. It had never been in my head to desert old Monsieur +d'Izambert and his daughter, and I sought them out directly I had +recrossed to the eastern bank. My nephew was with them at this time, +but Gabriel d'Izambert had not yet returned from the river, nor did any +know his whereabouts. Naturally, we hoped that he had gone across with +the Fusiliers of the Guard, but the old gentleman refused to believe +that he had done so, and was already determined to spend the night in +the shepherd's hut. Here he was well enough, and, for that matter, I +thought we had all done wisely to camp where we were rather than to +find an open bivouac on the farther shore. + +That this was the general opinion the scene upon our side of the river +quickly made manifest. Far to the north and south of the twin bridges +which the _pontonniers_ had now erected were the bivouac fires and the +camps of the gathered remnants. Baggage wagons began to roll up, and +their attendants to gather in hundreds, eyeing the dismal waters and +promising to cross at dawn. No one seemed to think that there was any +hurry or that it mattered where he slept to-night. In truth, I think +the army believed that a great moral victory had already been won, and +that the end of its sufferings was at hand. Let them but cross the +river, and the fair fields of France would beckon them. Again I say +that they had forgotten the bitter leagues which lay between them and +liberty. + +My own duty at this time was to see to the sick of our own regiment, +and to provide for their crossing. Here I found willing helpers. We +collected the wagons with their unhappy burdens, and drew them up as +near to the river as we dared. Why they were not sent across that +night, I cannot tell you. When I recall the precious hours that we +wasted, the solitude of the bridges, and the miracle of the +opportunity, it seems to me that no words can describe truly the +magnitude of that blunder. Yet there it was, and so at length we slept +during the long hours of storm and darkness. When we awoke the +Russians were upon the hills about us, and their shells were already +thundering upon our bivouac. God, what an awakening for men who had +hoped so much! + + +V + +The sound of cannon broke in upon our sleep a little after the hour of +dawn. + +We had made a comfortable bivouac in the hut, and were all dozing in +the straw which covered its floor, when the earth about us began to +tremble, and everyone started up to realise the dread alarm. + +It chanced that I was lying cheek by jowl with Valerie St. Antoine, and +that we were the first of them all to run into the open and ascertain +the truth. It needed but a single glance at the hills and the river to +tell us that story in all its menace. + +It was just light at this time--a colder morning than that of +yesterday, with a clearer heaven. As the clouds of night rolled away, +the black figures of the Cossacks upon the hills were clearly to be +discerned, while the smoke of their cannon drifted slowly upon the +still air and hovered above the swirling river. It was plain that a +considerable force had come up in the night, and, having discovered our +intention, began immediately to fire upon the bridges. We could see +their cannon-balls plumping into the water, striking the floes of +driving ice, or even rending the frail pontoons which our engineers had +moored with such difficulty. And while they did this a cry of horror +ran from end to end of our own encampment--the cries of those who +believed that delay had undone them, and that they were betrayed. + +From every camp fire now, from the shelter of puny huts and caves dug +out of the earth, from wagons and tents, there appeared a stream of men +and women, too, camp followers who mingled with the soldiery and cursed +or entreated as the mood dictated. + +Standing upon a knoll not a hundred paces from the bridge, Mademoiselle +Valerie and I were soon enveloped by these pitiful creatures, who ran +to and fro like driven sheep, and had lost what little wit they had +possessed. It was a dreadful thing to see women of all ages, with the +tears streaming down their faces, their hair unkempt and their dress +but a tatter of rags, throwing themselves at the feet of officers as +helpless as they, and begging instantly to be escorted across the +bridge. Yet such was the scene into which I was now plunged, and such +the disorderly mob with which the remnant of the army had to deal. As +for ourselves, it did not seem very much to matter what we did. + +Mademoiselle Valerie, as imperturbable as ever, addressed words of +comfort to the unhappy people and begged them to be patient. + +"The soldiers will protect you," she said; and, God knows, how much I +wished that the boast could be made good. + +We, however, were as helpless as they, and, when we found ourselves +alone, the truth was not to be concealed. + +"They will destroy the bridge, Monsieur Constant," she said; "and what +then? Is there anyone here who can tell us what to do?" + +I rejoined that wiser heads would have told us last night, and reminded +her that we had the old man and the child to think of. + +"The bridge must be crossed at any cost," said I. "Convince the old +gentleman of that, and we will set out immediately. It is idle to stop +here on the supposition that his son will return. Do you not see +yourself how unreasonable it is?" + +She agreed with me, and returned immediately to the hut. +Unfortunately, we had to deal with the obstinacy of a father to whom +the only son was all that mattered in this world. Monsieur d'Izambert +refused to move a step until the young _pontonnier_ had returned. Nor +would he hear of our escorting his daughter across the river. + +"We will cross together," he said, "or we will not cross at all. My +daughter would wish it, major. How would it help her to return to +France when those dear to her remain the prisoners of this unhappy +country? You do not know what you are asking me--to leave my only son; +it is impossible." + +I saw that nothing would convince him, and taking Valerie aside, I told +her as much. + +"It will be a case of sauve qui peut," said I. "We are under no +obligation to these people, and why should we perish because of them? +Come with me now, and, if it is possible to do so, I will recross the +river later in the day. I pledge my word upon that. But, +mademoiselle," said I, "it is madness for you to listen to them." + +She shook her head, smiling in the old, alluring way. + +"It has all been madness," she exclaimed; and that was as true a thing +as ever she said. + +"We shall stand a better chance to-night, Monsieur Constant, than now, +when there are so many on the bridge," she continued. "Let us wait +upon our opportunity. Surely you would not attempt the passage at this +moment?" And she pointed to the bridges, thronged already by a +terrified mob, and pounded by the cannon of the Russians. + +My answer to this was a shrug of the shoulders, for no other seemed +possible. + +Any man who was at the Bérézina will understand the terror and pity of +the scene I now witnessed and the helplessness of any Frenchman who +stood upon the eastern bank of the cursed river. + +As a hail of death, the shells and the bullets of the Russians poured +down upon the terror-stricken fugitives. Dreadful cries arose. So +great was the press upon the pontoons that hundreds of our people were +thrust headlong into the swirling waters, hundreds of the weak crushed +beneath the feet of the stronger. All huddled together--wagons driven +over living men, cavalry hewing their way with swords, the cries of +cantinières, women and children screaming for pity--all, I say, pressed +on in that mad quest of shelter which was to be offered to so few. + +Soon the river was black with the bodies of the drowned. I saw +wretched creatures clinging to the ice-floes or the pontoons of the +bridge; some fighting as devils for a foothold upon the narrow way; +others too weak to struggle as the strong thrust them aside and the +black water enveloped them. Wisely indeed had Valerie insisted upon +delay. Yet it was a melancholy thing to reflect that even an hour +before the day had dawned we might all have passed over in safety and +set out upon our way to the Paris of our dreams. + +I shall not weary you with any undue recital of the horrors of that +unnameable day. From dawn to dusk the slaughter continued. It was a +tragic moment indeed when the Russians at length destroyed the greater +bridge, and with it a regiment of cavalry of the Guard then passing +over. This was quite early in the day, and thereafter the scenes upon +the pontoons became beyond all words awful to witness. Even the +bravest were as helpless as children in that terrible _lutte pour la +vie_. I remember, about one o'clock in the afternoon, riding down to +the water's edge with my old friend Gros-Jean of the Vélites, and +watching the frantic endeavour that most courageous of men made to +cross the bridge, despite my entreaties. Alas! he had but plunged into +the medley when a Cuirassier of the Guard thrust him down, and he, in +turn, clinging to his aggressor's cloak, they rolled headlong on to a +great floe of ice, and were presently engulfed with the thousands the +insatiable waters already had claimed. Who in the face of such scenes +would have advised a woman and an old man to dare the transit? Not I, +in truth, whatever the cost. + +The miseries of our own situation will now be perceived by all. We had +refrained from crossing upon a quixotic impulse, and it seemed that our +sacrifice had cost us our liberty if not our lives. Hour by hour the +Cossacks were drawing nearer, their fire becoming more terrible and +their hosts more plainly to be seen. Night must find them down upon +us, or we ourselves but units amidst the maddened people who fought +like wild beasts for a foothold on the bridge. Even old Monsieur +d'Izambert began to perceive the folly of it as the day waxed and +waned, and vainly he waited for the son who did not return. + +"We should have crossed," he said; "Gabriel must have gone with the +Emperor." + +So much I believed to be the truth until about the hour of five +o'clock, when to our great astonishment the young _pontonnier_ himself +appeared at the hut, and carried that dire intelligence which was all +that was needed to consummate our despair. + +"I am to blow up the bridge," he said. "It is by the Emperor's orders. +We must save the army; the others must perish." + +We did not answer him. To such had our mistaken folly led us. It was +death or the Russian prison indeed; there could be no alternative. + + +VI + +You will see the nature of the difficulty which now confronted us. + +It was almost certain death to venture upon the bridge; the alternative +meant that we faced the Cossacks and accepted grace at their hands. + +To myself, an old soldier who had served His Majesty so many years, it +mattered little now what befell me. So much had I suffered, so bitter +had been the days, that any shelter--even that of a prison, in which I +could eat and sleep--would have been a welcome harbourage from this +march of death. + +But for Valerie St. Antoine, she who had carried herself so bravely +during the terrible weeks, she who had served France with such valour +and loyalty--that she should become the prisoner and the victim of +these devils, was indeed the last calamity. What to say to her in the +face of the Emperor's order I knew not. The bridge must be destroyed +to save His Majesty. Would she deny the necessity of that? + +These thoughts were in my mind when I took her aside and questioned her +as to the course we should pursue. To my astonishment I found that she +herself had already debated the question, and that her mind was made up. + +"We must swim the river, Monsieur Constant," she said; "you and I. Let +Joan go with us. Monsieur d'Izambert will not leave his son. I do not +blame him, but now we must think of ourselves." + +It was a bold response, and yet I will not say that I had not thought +of it. + +From time to time during the hours of the day's agony I had seen +intrepid cavalry men go down to the swirling Bérézina, and boldly put +their horses to the water. Few who did so had lived. Some were struck +by Russian bullets, and died in the saddle. The horses of others, +overcome by the cold, sank without warning, and dragged their masters +with them. A few gained the marsh upon the opposite shore, and either +breasted it or ended their sufferings there. All this we had witnessed +together, and yet, as Valerie said, it was the only way--the river or +the prison! Do you wonder that our choice was soon made? + +We returned to the hut, and, taking Monsieur d'Izambert aside, I put +the alternatives to him. + +"Your son," said I, "is a very noble fellow. Be sure, monsieur, that +his name will not be forgotten when the story of this day is told. The +command which has been given him is a very great compliment. No doubt +he will be clever enough to save himself when he has done his duty; but +we must now save ourselves. It would be a madman's task to attempt to +cross the bridge at such a time. There is only one way, and it is that +which Mademoiselle Valerie and I propose to take." + +And then I told him of our intention to swim the river. + +"Your daughter," said I, "may go upon my saddle-bow. If you yourself +have a mind for the venture, I will find you a horse quickly enough. +The decision must rest with you. We have no time to lose, for the +river is rising every hour. If you decide to remain here, being a +civilian and a non-combatant, I doubt if the Russians will trouble you. +That, monsieur, is for you to say. I will save your daughter if I can; +the rest is in the hands of God." + +He was much distressed, but he did not fail to perceive the realities +of the situation. His love for his son touched me deeply, and when he +declared that he would remain with Gabriel, I could not gainsay him. + +"Save Joan," he said, putting both his hands into mine. "If the time +should ever come that we meet again in Paris, I will never forget this +day, Major Constant. I am an old man, and it can matter little to me +now--but the child has all her life before her." + +I thought it a wise resolution, and told him as much. + +"We will wait for you on the other side," said I, though in my heart I +doubted it I should ever see him there. Then, bidding him be of good +courage, and taking a cordial farewell of his son, I set out +immediately. + +Valerie awaited me on the brink of the river. Her black charger +appeared to be as fresh as though he had left his stable at Moscow but +yesterday; her uniform of hussars was as trim and well kept as any good +soldier might have desired. As for little Joan, the tale we had told +her was one which a child would not question. We were to carry her +across the river, and her father and brother would follow presently in +the baggage wagons. She believed us with a child's faith, and, being +drawn up upon the saddle before me, she asked when we would cross the +bridge. Then I told her the truth. + +"You see for yourself," said I, "what a dreadful place the bridge now +is. We are going to swim the river, ma petite, and in that way we +shall cheat the Russians. Now, cling to me with both your arms, and do +not mind what happens. Why should you be afraid?" + +She told me very proudly that she was not, and, calling to Valerie, I +put my horse at the water. + +The place might have been some twenty yards from the first pontoon, and +for awhile the good beast which carried me found ground for his feet. +In those moments I could see how wise we had been to prefer the hazard +of the water to that of the bridge. Such a scene as was then taking +place upon that frail structure has surely never been witnessed in all +the story of His Majesty's wars. + +Pell-mell upon it went wagons and cannon and the terrified +camp-followers. Horsemen cut their way as though sabreing an enemy; +women screamed with terror; the strong were dragged down with the weak; +men trampled one another under foot without a thought of mercy. The +number of the dead and dying no man might estimate, and over these the +living crawled as they could, the Russian shells falling ceaselessly +amidst them, and the deadly bullets finding many a billet. + +All this I beheld as in some swift vision of horror, from which the +eyes turned almost with gratitude to the fetid waters about me. The +swirling torrent, the crashing of the ice-floes, the bobbing corpses +everywhere but fostered that pursuit of safety which now grew upon me +as a fever. I must win the opposite shore, I said, or all were lost. +Let me but set foot upon those black slopes which were the goal of my +desire and all were won by this supreme endeavour. It was easy to be +said, but how remote the hope of it! + +I should tell you that the darkness had now come down, and with it a +return of the bitter cold. + +I had caught the child up with my left arm, and, giving the good horse +his head, I felt the water strike me suddenly with a deadly chill, and +heard Joan's shrill cry of horror as at length the current caught us +and we were swept away into the vortex of the river. + +Now, indeed, we stood face to face with Death and felt his icy hand +upon us. + +The screams of the dying upon the bridge, the thunder of the cannon, +the moaning of the bullets--all were lesser sounds than that of the +crashing ice and the roaring torrent as it threatened to engulf us. +What had become of Valerie St. Antoine I knew not. It seemed to me +that I had been carried in an instant from human enemies to wage a +combat with Nature omnipotent, before which I must perish. The chill +of the water, the freezing wind, the sleet which beat upon my face were +the weapons with which this pitiless enemy would have conquered me. +Nothing but the instincts of the gallant brute stood between me and the +watery grave so many had found. On he pressed and on, fighting as a +human thing for the life no less precious to him than to us. I saw +dead men's eyes looking up at me from the black torrent; human arms, +outstretched but lifeless, touched my flesh and set the child shrieking +with terror. The shells fell about us and the foam was as a blinding +fountain in our eyes. Yet ever the coveted shore seemed more distant, +the sounds of human strife yet farther away, the world gone clean from +our knowledge. It is here, then, said I to myself, that Janil de +Constant must die. God knows that I would have welcomed death if it +could have come quickly. + +Such were the episodes of that fateful crossing, through which the +mercy of the Almighty alone brought us safely. + +I had given up all hope, when a sudden staggering of the horse, a cry +from Joan, and another shout of triumph from the bank itself bade me +look up and understand the wonder of the moment. We had touched the +shore--that shore of all our dreams, and found a footing there. +Valerie herself, the water running from her boots, but her eyes +triumphant and her arms outstretched, welcomed us with a woman's +laughter and claimed the victory. + +We had crossed the Bérézina! The horrors of the bridge were done with +for ever; we were amid our comrades, and yonder beyond the forgotten +leagues stood Paris and our homes. + + +VII + +We crossed the bog with safety and reached the first of the low hills +on the hither shore. Hardly had we done so when a loud explosion shook +the very earth and caused us to wheel about suddenly. Then we saw the +bridge fall asunder, and knew that the thousands upon the far bank were +doomed to death or the prison. Such a cry as arose from our comrades +yonder has never been heard, nor will be again, I believe, in all the +story of the world. It was the voice of the ultimate woe of those who, +hoping much, now ceased to hope, and fearing, now feared the more. +Many have accused the Emperor of wanton cruelty because of what he did +on that November night. Yet we, who served France, believed that he +had done well, and we would have laid down our lives for him as readily +had the honour of our country demanded it. + +Naturally, we said nothing to Joan of the meaning of this tragic event. +Assuring her that Gabriel and her father would join us at dawn, we rode +on to the first of the bivouacs, where, happily, we found a squadron of +the fusiliers, under Colonel Bourgoriau, well known to me, and by him +were instantly made welcome. The Emperor, he told us, was camped at a +farmhouse not a quarter of a mile from where we stood. His Majesty was +cold and suffering, and they had sent wood for his fires, badly as they +needed it themselves. + +Here I left Valerie and the child, and, returning to the remnant of the +bridge, I waited to see if any might yet be saved. Alas! the stranded +pontoons showed me but a heap of dying and dead, and some of them were +in flames. It may have been the mere fancy of a man whose courage had +been sorely tried that day, but amongst those whom the swirling river +carried away, and upon whose faces the leaping fires cast a golden +aureole, I thought that I saw Gabriel the brave and the father who had +loved him. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE LAST REVIEW + +I + +The loss of the Grand Army at the River Bérézina will never be fully +told. + +All the world knows now that more than twelve thousand corpses were +taken from the river when the ice melted in the spring; but this is to +give no account of the many who were butchered by the Cossacks, and of +the thousands of unhappy men, and women too, who went into the Russian +prisons when the last of the bridges was blown up. + +We were a mere remnant that got away in safety. + +I have heard the number variously estimated, but in my own opinion no +more than thirty thousand of those who marched to Moscow so proudly +struggled on towards Kovno when the battle of the Bérézina had been +fought. + +At this time, too, we were so many hordes of miserable men rather than +an army. Many lost the road and wandered for weeks in the frozen +wilderness. Hardly a regiment preserved anything of its original +formation; those that did so were inspired by loyalty to His Majesty +the Emperor. When he left us at Smorgoni on the morning of December +5th and entrusted the command to Murat all order was finally done with. +The Cossacks pursued us as sheep are hunted by wolves. We struggled +into Vilna to find the town plundered. The mighty host which had set +out to conquer Russia now rotted beneath the snows of the steppes we +had crossed. + +It was every man for himself afterwards, as you can well imagine. We +made up little companies of friends and went together in the fashion of +the East. Naturally, Valerie St. Antoine was of my own party; and with +the child Joan and my own nephew Léon we had Sergeant Bardot, who had +been with us in the adventure at Moscow. I have told you of the +sergeant's adroitness, and we found him invaluable these later days. +Where others starved he would plunder. From a brawl at Vilna, when the +stores were rifled, Gustav Bardot emerged with as many bottles of +brandy as would have made a regiment drunk, and a supply of flour under +which our horses staggered. With this we set out almost gaily upon our +journey to the Prussian frontier. France seemed near to us now, though +so many hundreds of leagues away. + +To be sure we lost the road frequently enough, and were yet to meet +with some surprising adventures. It is of one of the most curious of +these that I am now about to write. + + +II + +It was the second day after our leaving Kovno. + +We had slept in a stable in that unhappy town and there had fallen in +with Sergeant Bardot and his plunder. + +I remember that it was a dreadful night, the roar of the wind almost +drowning the sound of the distant artillery, which we believed to be +fired at our rearguard by the Russians. It has been said since that +day that Marshal Ney himself fired the guns to drive the stragglers +into the town. I cannot tell you how it was, but I know that we all +suffered very much, especially the child Joan, who mourned ceaselessly +for her father and her brother. + +Next morning we set out for the bridge across the Niemen. It was +almost as great a press as that at the Bérézina. Happily, the Cossacks +had not yet come up, and we got across at length to find an open +country where there were few signs of an army marching. + +Very shortly afterwards we lost all track of the vanguard, and were +mere stragglers with a few others upon a great white plain which the +wind swept pitilessly. That night we bivouacked in the barn of an +ancient farmhouse which marauders had burned. It was there that we +determined to go our own way henceforth and not to rejoin the regiment +until we came to Elbing. + +"Why should we?" old Bardot asked in his matter-of-fact way. "There +will be no fighting, my friends; and if there be, the marshal will take +care of those fellows. No one expects the Cossacks to cross the +Niemen, and if they are wise they will now go back to their own +country. We have food enough for some days and our horses are good. +Let us make a caravan as the Easterns do, and leave the rest to +Providence." + +This was very sensible advice, and it fell upon willing ears. We were +a genial company, and if my nephew spent most of his hours in close +converse with Valerie St. Antoine, at least I had the benefit of the +sergeant's company. As for little Joan, she rarely spoke to anyone; +or, if she did, it was to raise again that fatal question of her +father's whereabouts. For all these reasons I deemed it wise to do as +Bardot directed, and to seek a route of our own. We should find the +remnant of the army at Elbing; it would be time enough to think of +re-formation when we arrived there. + +So behold us crossing those fearsome steppes, Valerie and Léon for our +van, the sergeant and myself, with the child between us, talking of a +thousand things which were to be done if ever we saw the city of Paris +again. We had come by this time to believe that we should do so, and +despite the sufferings which we endured our courage remained unshaken. +Alas! that it was so soon to be put to the proof. We were hopelessly +lost upon the evening of the third day, and knew no more than the dead +whether we were marching to Elbing or to the sea. + +Remember that the heaven above us had been perpetually obscured by +cloud and that the night showed us no stars. The plain in itself was a +vast sea of snow, broken rarely by clumps or pines and hardly showing +us a house which had not been burned by the army on its outward march. +From time to time, it is true, we espied little companies of stragglers +in the far distance, or groups of horsemen poised upon a knoll; but of +the high road we saw nothing, and gradually it began to dawn upon us +that even Bardot's store was not inexhaustible, and that we must surely +perish in this wild place unless we recovered the high road speedily. + +We slept that night in a dismal wood, listening to the howling of the +wolves and but ill-protected by the snow-pit we had digged. The others +were merry enough save little Joan, whose strength could not support +these hardships and for whose safety we were all tenderly solicitous. +Fortunately, we had more than one great-coat of fur with us, and we +made the child a bed in the snow as well as we could, and then fell to +talking of our position. + +Old Bardot's plan clearly had broken down, and it remained to find +another. Should we waste the precious hours trudging northward on the +chance that the high road lay there, or should we hold our course and +risk the discovery of a town or village in our path? Bardot was for +the latter plan; Valerie for the former. + +"I have friends in Elbing," she said. "Prince Nicholas visited the +city frequently, and if we ever reach the town I am sure they will +welcome me. We cannot do wrong to go to the north, for the sea will +soon tell us where we are. Here it is a wilderness where none but +madmen would remain." + +She looked at the sergeant as she spoke; and, in truth, there never had +been much love lost between those two. His defence of himself was lame +but valiant. + +"We should have been pillaged upon the high road," he said truculently. +"It was wiser to do as we have done." + +Her answer was that we had now nothing to pillage. The argument +threatened to grow heated when, to our great surprise, we heard the +barking of a watch-dog, and, all springing to our feet, we discovered +that the sound came from the far side of the wood and that a human +habitation must be there. + + +III + +Ten minutes later we were knocking at its door. It proved to be a +little farmhouse kept by Poles--a widow and two sons--and they were +greatly alarmed when we waked them. Our civilities presently obtained +admittance, and we found ourselves in a long, low room with a wood fire +burning brightly, and about it some evidence of an unexpected +prosperity. Fine skins decorated the walls of this mean habitation. +There were guns in the corner by the chimney, and among them some +French weapons obviously taken from our own soldiers. A handsome +drinking cup in silver stood upon a shelf which harboured good china; +while a little shrine with candles denoted that the people were of the +Catholic faith. + +I thought them all strikingly handsome; the lads were dark, with +intelligent eyes; the old woman looked a picture of almost saintly +sweetness and benignity. With Valerie she was at home directly, and it +was good to see the conquest which the French beauty made so quickly. + +The result of this was immediate. We had not been in the farm ten +minutes when the table was spread with viands and a bottle of French +brandy set before us. Of the sons, one waited upon us and the other +went out, as the old woman said, to cut wood. I thought it a little +odd that he remained away so long, but the circumstance escaped my +notice presently when rugs were spread upon the floor and our beds made +ready. + +So weary were we all that we lay down upon the floor without any +ceremony, and the last I remember before going to sleep were the +whispers of Valerie and my nephew, who, I doubt not, were telling each +other an ancient story. When I awoke a light sound in the room +disturbed me. I sat up and looked about me, bewildered by the +flickering rays of the ebbing fire and uncertain for the moment where I +was. + +We all experience this in strange places, but a soldier usually is not +at a loss. Upon this occasion, whether it were the unusual aspect of +the room, the circumstances of our bivouac, or the treacherous +firelight, I cannot tell you, but moments passed before I remembered +our coming to the house at all. + +To this there succeeded a sense of alarm and of a peril I could not +define. I thought that I was in a prison, and the Cossacks were my +jailers. The fitful light upon the floor showed red and ghastly, and +suggested the blood of dead comrades. I started up, pressing my hands +to my eyes and prepared for any ignominy, when, as in a flash, the +whole scene was recalled, and I remembered both the room and the Poles. +At the same instant the fire, leaping into flame, showed me the figure +of Valerie, and I could have sworn that she was about to quit the +apartment. This was not so. She made a sign to me, and I perceived +immediately that it was one which warned me to be silent. + +Naturally, all this astonished me very much, for I had expected to find +her fast asleep. And yet here she was, sword in hand, standing by the +door as though an enemy had knocked upon it. Stepping over the +sleeping figures of Bardot and my nephew, I asked her in a whisper what +had happened. + +"The Pole has not returned," she said. "I heard a sound of footsteps +on the snow--many of them. We must lock the door; there is danger." + +With this she swung over the great bar of iron, and it fell softly into +its place. If I had any doubt of the wisdom of what she did, a quick +glance about the apartment would have set it at rest. Neither the old +woman herself nor the younger son were where they had been last night. +Moreover, a sound of footsteps was now audible beyond all question. It +was evident that the house was surrounded and that these cunning people +had betrayed us. + +A kick from my foot woke old Bardot, and Léon started up directly the +sergeant moved. The briefest words told them what had happened; and, +still yawning, they stretched out their hands and felt in the straw for +their swords. Our muskets had been piled up in the corner with those +of the young men, but it was soon apparent that they had been pillaged +while we slept, for a purpose we could readily imagine. We had only +the pistols, of which no occasion robbed us, and our first care was to +prime them before going to the window. It was well that we did so. +Hardly had Bardot thrown open the casement when bullets hailed into the +room, and the china came crashing down like slates from a penthouse +when the wind is high. This was a pretty business, to be sure--the +last kind of welcome we had expected when we fell asleep by the fire. + +"To the door!" cried I, as the shots rang out. We all were down on our +marrow bones in a twinkling, protected by the great wooden doors and +the bolt we had drawn. It was plain to me that no bullet would pierce +the wood of the door, and that those who were after us must come in by +the windows. The greater mystery remained--who were the bandits who +attacked us in this headlong way, and what was their number? That they +were not Cossacks I felt sure, for soldiers would have known how to +take us in our sleep, and the rest had been easy. Were they the +wretched moujiks, so many of whom armed themselves against the wounded +of the Grand Army when it fled from Russia? Or were they the real +bandits of the steppes? We answered the question when a bearded +brigand, waving a gardener's hoe, appeared at the window and slashed at +us with the gleaming steel. This man I shot dead directly he showed +his face. It was evident that he was but a peasant after all, and that +we had his fellows to deal with. + +I say that I shot him dead; but the respite was brief enough. No +sooner had the man fallen than his place was taken by others, all armed +with the most barbarous weapons, but no less zealous for our blood. +Under any other circumstance the scene must have been droll enough. +Here were we four with our backs to the great door, the latticed +windows, by which the assassins tried to enter, upon either side of us. +Frightened by the death of their comrade, they now resorted to a +primitive attempt to harpoon us, as though we had been so many fish in +a sea. It was ridiculous to watch the hairy arms thrust in at the +window, while scythes or pikes or bayonets on sticks were turned +menacingly toward us and their owners bayed like dogs after quarry. + +Happily, our position enabled us to treat this puny assault with +derision. We were beyond the reach of their harpoons, and we neglected +no opportunity to retaliate. More than one of the assassins lost his +hand or his arm by a swift cut from the swords we knew so well how to +use. This was satisfactory enough, but it carried us nowhere, and +behind it all there lay the real apprehension that these monsters would +force the window presently and butcher us as though we had been sheep. +Hundreds of our comrades had so perished since we left Krasnoë. Wild +creatures, more like gorillas than men, had come out of the woods with +their scythes roped to sticks and had slashed and maimed the wounded +without grace or pity. And here we were dealing with the same kind of +villains, but, happily, neither wounded nor frightened by them. If any +secret anxiety had accompanied the first moments of this amazing +encounter, it was for little Joan d'Izambert, who still lay upon the +far side of the room and had been forbidden by me to join us. I saw +that the heavy table protected her from bullets, and bidding her lie +still, I turned my attention to the window. It was time truly. +Someone had now pushed a musket through the casement, and, aiming at +hazard, the roar of the discharge shook everything in the apartment. +This was the turn we had not anticipated. It needed all our wits now +to slash at the barrels as they were poised by unseen hands, and +nothing but the greatest agility saved our lives at such a crisis. + +This was all very well, but you will soon see that it could not +continue. Four of us there were to slash at the guns, but many outside +to direct them; and presently my poor friend Bardot uttered a low cry +and fell in the straw at my side. + +"I am done for," said he, and instantly he fainted. + +The success redoubled the fury of those without. Heads were seen at +the window again; there was a new and more savage onslaught with the +pikes; the door itself began to tremble under the thud of axes. I +believed then that we were done for, and I am sure that the others were +of my opinion. Let the door fall, and we should be cut to pieces. No +hope of plunder animated these savages, but that insensate hatred of +the invader by which our poor fellows had suffered so much already. +They lusted for our blood, and that alone would satisfy them. + +Surely this was a very terrible moment. The blows of the axes seemed +to number the moments we had to live. Convinced now that they would +not get us by the windows, but that the door must be forced, the +wretches had drawn off and concentrated all their fury upon these +ancient beams. Happily for us, the man who built the house was himself +a child of the wilderness, and his life, no less than ours, may have +depended many a time upon the stoutness of his portals. The door +withstood the attack, though the very walls shook with the fury of it. +We could do nothing but crouch there and wait, hope almost dead, the +promise of the day but a mockery. When to this we heard a cry of +"Fire!"--for that was a word every French soldier had learned in +Moscow--then we understood and believed that it was the end. They were +going to burn us out. The cries of the old woman whose house they +would have fired moved them not at all. "Fire!" they yelled; and we +could hear them running hither and thither--a savage horde mad in its +lust for blood. + +We had uttered few words until this time; and, as for that, a man could +hardly have heard himself speak in the room. Now, however, we knew an +instant of respite, and it was then that Valerie proposed that we +should open the doors. + +"Anything is better than this," she said. "Courage may find the +horses--who knows?" + +The suggestion was wise, and I fell in with it readily. + +"Let Léon go first and do you follow him," said I. "The child shall +come with me." + +And at that I stooped over my poor Bardot and perceived that he was +indeed dead. The prospect of dying out there in the open was less +horrible than that of being cooped up in this miserable house, which +presently must become a furnace; and who could say what these wretches +might do or not do when confronted by soldiers of the Guard? The +resolution hardly was taken when we lifted the bolt and threw the great +doors wide open. "En avant!" cries Léon, rushing out with his sword +flashing. Then he laughed drolly. Not a moujik was to be seen; not a +voice to be heard. A sound of approaching sleigh bells alone broke in +upon the silence of the night. + + +IV + +Well, we all stood there to listen--our swords in our hands, our ears +bent. A miracle had happened, and our enemies were fled. None of us, +if it were not the child, understood the reality of the peril we had +escaped, or surrendered to that revulsion of feeling natural to the +circumstance. Little Joan, however, shed childish tears and was upon +her knees giving thanks in an instant. The rest of us looked at her +somewhat ashamed; our faith remained shaken. Beyond that, old Bardot +was dead. I think we remembered the fact even when our own delivery +tempted us to rejoice. + +But was it delivery? + +I have told you that the sound of twinkling sleigh-bells arrested our +attention. Minute by minute they grew louder; we heard the thud of +hoofs upon the snow, and presently we discerned a troop of horsemen +approaching at a trot, and amidst them a sleigh of unusual size drawn +by no fewer than four horses abreast. This unexpected company made +straight for the house, and drew rein only at its door. Who they were, +or what country, whether friend or enemies, the wan light forbade us to +say. Their master evidently rode in the sleigh, and no sooner had it +pulled up than he sprang out upon the snow and in a twinkling was +doffing his hat to Valerie St. Antoine. Such a merry old gentleman I +had not met in Russia. Verily he did not cease to smile from the +moment his troop first surrounded us until that other moment, less +pleasing, when we were trussed like fowls and thrust headlong into +other sleighs which followed in his wake. + +Surely this was the most surprising adventure we had yet experienced in +Russia. + +Here was a merry old gentleman who knew nothing of us, but whose mere +presence had scattered the moujiks like chaff; here was he riding up to +the wretched house; clapping eyes upon Valerie and the child; hustling +them headlong into his own sleigh; nodding to his troopers to fall upon +us and carrying us away as though we were so many sheep for the block. +Never have I known such a surprise. I could have laughed aloud at the +irony of it when my nephew and I found ourselves upon our backs in a +wretched coracle and heard the crack of the whips which hurried us on +to a Russian prison. Assuredly there could be no other destination. +We admitted as much to each other without any preface at all. + +"They will be the Polish lancers from Orcha," said Léon. "I suppose +the old man is one of their princes. Devilish unlucky, upon my word, +mon oncle; we had done better with the peasants." + +I told him that it was possible. The same thought was in both our +minds. What of Valerie and the child? That the old man had been +bewitched by Valerie's beauty there was no doubt whatever. Every +gesture, every look marked him as a libertine from the moment when he +first clapped eyes upon her until he had dragged her into his sledge +and the horses had gone off at a gallop. Léon knew this as well as I, +and his anger was a dreadful thing to see. + +"I will shoot him like a dog, so help me God!" he said. And he +strained with the strength of an ox to burst the ropes which bound him. + +He might as well have tried to break a tree asunder. We were bound +hand and foot, as though we had been the meanest of criminals. Our +escort was a troop of some eighty men armed with lances and muskets, +and plainly showing that they had their orders. There remained but the +idle speculation upon that which must come after. Would this old man +butcher us, fearing our tongues, or would he hand us over to the +Cossacks at the first station we came to? We could not tell; the +humiliation of our defeat was beyond all words insupportable, and our +wrists bled with our efforts to free them. Valerie was in this man's +power, and she had but us to look to. I could not have suffered more +had my own sister's honour been at stake. + +"The opportunity is not here," said I to Léon; "but it may come. Words +will not help us. Take my advice and feign submission; it is better +than being butchered. We shall not help Valerie that way. Let us +remember what we have to do, and not act like children." + +His answer was a frenzied outburst of rage which appalled me. So loud +was it that the escort derided him, and the driver slashed back at him +with his whip. When it had passed I perceived the old Léon, whose wit +was quick even under such an emergency. He lay back upon the boards of +the sleigh and feigned sleep. + +Day was breaking then, and a dim sun seeking to shine. The country +itself was the same God-forsaken wilderness that we had trod these many +days. No man at the heart of the ocean could have discerned an horizon +more hopeless. Everywhere the snow and the whitened pines and the +ultimate desolation. Man seemed to have fled the wretched farms we +passed. Once upon the horizon we saw a troop of horsemen, but they +disappeared from our view immediately. It was not until nightfall +approached that we came without warning upon an unspeakable village, +and this grim procession halted. + +Here we saw the merry old gentleman's sleigh again, but it was now +empty and obviously being driven to a stable. We ourselves, lifted by +brawny arms, were hurled headlong into the cellar of a filthy inn, and +there unbound and left for many hours in darkness. When the door next +was opened the sergeant of the troop appeared carrying a lantern and a +mess of mutton and potatoes. To our astonishment he greeted us in the +German tongue, and seemed to have come upon a mission of +reconciliation. Speaking in his master's name he apologised for what +had happened to us. + +"His Excellency regrets that you have been treated with so little +ceremony," he said; "but, meine Herren, he has suffered much at the +hands of your countrymen, and is in no mood for civilities. You were +lucky to find him in a good humour. Give me your parole that you will +make no attempt to escape, and he will carry you to Elbing and leave it +with the general in command there to say what shall be done with you. +Otherwise, I fear that you will not go to Elbing at all." And he +looked at us as one who shall say, "In that case he will deal with you +here and now." + +"As his Excellency pleases," said I. "If he prefers the Russians at +Elbing to settle this affair, we are in his hands. But let him know +that I am a surgeon upon His Majesty's staff, and that my nephew here +is of the Guard. I think your master will be wise to remember that +when the time comes." + +The fellow said that our message should be delivered, and leaving the +light with us, he withdrew and bolted the trap of the cellar behind +him. His intimation that we were to go to Elbing seemed odd, and I +could make little of it, nor Léon for that matter. + +"With any luck we should find the marshal and the rear-guard there," +said I. "On the other hand, if there has been an action and the +Russians have taken Elbing, God help us. The old man must have heard +something of the kind, or he would never be going there. What do you +make of it, nephew? Was I wise to give him the parole, or should we +have held our tongues?" + +Léon was altogether at a loss. + +"I am thinking of Valerie," said he. "Good God, what a thing to +happen! All this would have been very different if we had remained +with the army, mon oncle. Undoubtedly there has been a battle and +Marshal Ney has been beaten. We shall find the Cossacks in Elbing, and +God help us, as you say!" + +Then he added very solemnly, "There is only one thing to hope, that I +may yet meet this merry old gentleman. Let him look to himself if I +do, for by the God above me I will kill him like a sheep." + +The woman dictated his frenzy, and who could wonder? For myself, I had +an extraordinary confidence in the wit of Valerie St. Antoine and was +ready to match it against that of any old dotard in Russia. At the +same time it was impossible to forget her situation--here in this +cursed wilderness, alone amid a troop of savages and with no prospect +at the far end of it but that of an unnameable submission. Naturally I +said nothing of this to my nephew, nor encouraged his wild notion that +we might escape from the cellar. They had caught us in the trap, and +nothing but a miracle could get us out. Beyond that we had given our +paroles, and well done or ill, the attempt to break them at such an +hour would have been madness. So we slept upon it, and were awakened +at dawn to be told that the sledges were ready. + +We found a fine sunny morning and a dingy street full of gaping +moujiks. Of the merry old gentleman, however, we heard nothing; nor +had we any word from Valerie or the child. Our own escort was as it +had been yesterday, a troop of Lithuanians well clad and armed, and +apparently immune to the severities of the weather. Satisfied with our +parole, they indicated our places in the sledge and made no attempt to +bind us, and presently we all set out with a rattle of accoutrements +and a tinkle of bells which would have been pleasant music had the +circumstances permitted. + +Soon it was plain that we were not very distant from the sea, and we +travelled all that day towards the south-east as I judged. When night +fell the spires of Elbing came to view upon the horizon, and a little +after dusk we drew near to the city. + +"And now," said I to Léon, "we shall know." + +I did not add that it seemed a thousand chances to one against any hope +of our ever seeing the French frontier again. + + +V + +It was nearly ten o'clock at night when we entered the city. There +were few people in its streets, and save some German hussars and a +troop of dragoons, whose uniform was unknown to me, I saw no troops. +The hope that the remnant of the Grand Army had marched in was, +therefore, shattered. + +It may have been that we had come after our comrades had left. This +was a very unpleasant supposition, which I feared to speak of, though +Léon was quick to remember it. + +"The fellows appear to have been speaking the truth," said he gloomily, +as he looked at the silent house and wondered, I doubt not, which of +them sheltered Valerie. "The marshal has been beaten, and we shall see +no more Frenchmen in Elbing, mon oncle. What then? What are they +going to do with us?" + +I confessed my inability to answer. The Poles were our allies, and it +was inconceivable that we should suffer a mischief at their hands. +Nevertheless, these were strange times, and God knows how little any +man could be relied upon where French soldiers were concerned. If we +had not misjudged the merry old gentleman our presence in Elbing could +not but be inconvenient to him. I perceived this immediately, though I +forbore to speak of it. + +"We must carry it with a high hand," said I; "nothing will be done here +by submission. Remember that we are of His Majesty's Guard, and let us +take insults from no man quietly." + +Léon smiled in his old way. + +"To do you justice, mon oncle," said he, "that is not your habit." + +The words were hardly spoken when the sledge stopped, and looking up, I +saw the gates of the prison frowning upon us. So this was our merry +friend's hospitality! Even my nephew perceived the drift of it now. + +"The old rascal will trump up some charge against us and keep us out of +the way," said he. "By God, mon oncle, this is too much! Parole or no +parole, I mean to make a run for it." + +I dissuaded him, pointing out the folly of it in the presence of the +escort. + +"Do not give them the satisfaction of shooting you," said I. "We have +money with us, and will make ourselves heard. This is neither the +place nor the time." + +And so saying, I stepped out of the sledge and followed the captain of +the hussars into the courtyard of the prison. Truly was it a +remarkable predicament for two of the Guard to be in. + +This scene will always remain in my memory. Even to-day I can recall +every detail of it, the square courtyard, the guard-room upon the +left-hand side, the inner gate with its portcullis and the gloomy +buildings of the prison beyond. The astonishing thing was that we +seemed to be expected, and all preparations were made to receive us. +No sooner were we brought in and the gates shut than they conducted us +to the guard-room and there brought us before a young captain of the +garrison, who immediately made known the alleged reason of our arrest. + +"You are accused of rendering help to the Emperor's enemies and of +robbing French soldiers in this vicinity," said he. "The information +is laid by Herrn Immo von Gustorf, the prefect of this city. The court +will try you as soon as it can be constituted. Meanwhile I am to hold +you here, as prisoners." + +It was an amazing declaration, and even the young man seemed surprised +when he looked at us. A soldier does not require to be told that +another is of the same profession, and the young captain must already +have perceived our condition. When upon this came my heated protest, +and Léon's fiery threats, I could see that suspicion gave place to an +apprehension which was very real. + +"Herr Captain," said I, "your charge is preposterous. We wear His +Majesty's uniform, and such crimes as you name are beneath us. Let me +warn you very seriously of the consequences of that which you are about +to do. His Majesty is careful of the reputation of his Guard, and he +will know how to deal with such an outrage as this." + +The threat moved him not at all. He declared that he but did his duty. + +"If you are innocent, gentlemen," said he, "you can prove it to the +court. My duty is to keep you here until you are tried. I may say, +however, that if I can be of service to you in other ways, you have +only to command me. This is not a house of hospitalities, but such as +I can procure shall be offered to you." + +To this I answered civilly that we were very much obliged to him, and +bidding Léon hold his tongue, I said that we should remember any +service of the kind when the French rode in--upon which I looked at him +closely to see what he would make of it. When he did not contradict +me, then I knew that the story of Marshal Ney's defeat was a lie, and +for the first time since we had met the merry old gentleman I began to +hope. + +The young captain, meanwhile, had caught up a lantern and set out to +cross the yard. We followed him to a tower on the eastern side, where +in a considerable apartment upon the first floor he told us that we +must be prepared to spend the night. + +"I will send you what supper I can," said he. "Food is not readily to +be had in Elbing; there has been no bread for three days. None the +less, I will do what I can, messieurs." And setting the lantern upon +the table, he commanded the sergeant to have beds made ready for us. + +When he was gone and the door bolted, we began to examine the apartment +with the eager eyes of men who did not submit to adversity readily. +Would our wits get us out of this cursed hole, or must we suffer the +tragic farce to the end? Alas, it was soon evident that any hope of +escape was out of the question. Not only were the windows grilled +heavily with iron, but they looked upon a moat, whose further wall must +have been thirty feet high, while beyond it stood a rampart patrolled +by sentries. The door itself should have withstood artillery. We +could dare nothing here, and we sat down in the dim light to remember +that Valerie St. Antoine and Joan d'Izambert were still the "guests" of +the villain who had entrapped us. + +"There is only one chance," says Léon; "we are lost if the army does +not come in." + +I knew it to be true; but even if it were so, what then? Would our +comrades learn of our pitiable condition? I could hardly believe it, +and my heart sank low. Odd that we had marched so many thousands of +leagues and had lived through the terrible days to come to such a +judgment as this. + + +VI + +They brought us a supper of mutton and rice and a bottle of gin about +the hour of ten o'clock, and then they spread our beds upon the bare +stone floor. These were of heavy blankets with a rude mattress beneath +them. But they were beds for all that, and under any other +circumstances they would have been a luxury. This night, however, we +regarded them with indifference. Our brains were fired and our ears +awake. Who would have slept under circumstances so tragic? + +Perchance the impotence of our condition added to its bitterness. If +we could have struck a blow in the cause; have buckled on our swords +and gone out to deal with the merry old gentleman and his satellites, +it would have been different: but to sit in that gloomy room, to hear +the city's bells numbering the hours, to count the footsteps of the +sentries and to pray for dawn--that was a torture beyond compare. + +Not a mouthful of food had Léon eaten that day, nor could I persuade +him to touch the mess they offered us. He spoke of Valerie always, +delighting to remind me of the day when he had first seen her in Prince +Nicholas's palace; or of that night when she had saved us at the tower, +and of her courage during the dreadful days--indeed, of a thousand +things which a lover had seen but older eyes had missed. To all of +which I could but answer indifferently. + +"She is clever," I would say. "She will know how to deal with your +merry old gentleman." When he asked if we knew how to deal with him, +there was nothing more to be said. The grim walls of the prison +answered him; the chime of the distant bells was an irony. + +So the night sped on. For an hour, I think about twelve o'clock, I +flung myself upon the wretched bed and slept fitfully. My head was in +a whirl, and vain dreams tormented me. At one time I thought that we +had leapt down into the moat and that the icy water choked us. At +another I was riding proudly into Elbing at the head of the Vélites. +Upon this there came the voice of many crying "Vive l'Empereur!" and +"Vive la France!" I heard a great rolling of drums and the welcome +blare of trumpets. This roused me thoroughly, and sitting up I saw +that Léon was standing at the window and that the dream indeed had come +true. + +"Good God!" cried I. "What is it? What do you hear, Léon?" + +He answered me, still standing there. + +"The French are in the city, mon oncle. Listen to that!" + +His voice echoed a triumph which thrilled me. Instantly I was at his +side listening to the familiar sounds. Never did the roll of a drum +fall so pleasantly upon a man's ear. + +"We are saved," said I, though heaven knows the hope of it was still +but a dream. + + +VII + +Well, we stood there for a full hour, speculating upon what we should +do to get the news to our comrades. Certainly we might have bribed the +jailers if any had come to the tower. Not a sound, however, disturbed +the serenity of the prison. Our attempt to attract the attention of +the sentries by smashing the lantern against the glass of the windows +ended but in ignominious derision. The fellows never noticed us, and +another hour must have passed before the door of the cell was opened +and the young captain entered. I perceived immediately that he had +come to tell us the news. His manner was obsequious to the point of +ridicule. + +"Messieurs," he said, "I am to take you immediately to the prefect's +house." + +Upon which he uttered a word of command and a dozen men with lanterns +appeared upon the narrow staircase. + +It was a new turn and we knew not what to make of it. Evidently the +merry old gentleman desired still to have us in his power, and the +prospect of finding ourselves alone with him was far from reassuring. +So much the young captain perceived and hastened to remove our +apprehensions. + +"Messieurs," he said, "you have nothing to fear. The prefect has +discovered his mistake and is anxious to apologise. You will be wise +to take advantage of so favourable an opportunity. As for myself, I +have done my duty. You will remember that when you make a report of +this affair to his Excellency the marshal." + +We promised that we would do so. It was evident, upon reflection, that +no mischief could come to us now that the French were in the city, and +curiosity alone would have sent us to the prefect's house. + +The latter proved to be hardly a stone's throw from the prison walls. +We were driven there in the same sledge which had carried us to Elbing, +and, being arrived at the _conciergerie_, were immediately admitted and +conducted into a spacious hall, blazing with lights and superb in the +richness of its decoration. Here, to our astonishment, Valerie herself +received us. + +I will not dwell upon the manner of her meeting with Léon, nor upon the +amazement with which I beheld her in this situation. No magic of +wonderland could have wrought such a change in men's condition as we +then experienced when they carried us from the gloom of the prison to +this princely mansion. + +"Where is his Excellency the prefect?" I asked her when we had embraced +for the twentieth time. + +She told me in a word. + +"Many miles from Elbing," says she. "I am mistress here. I have told +him he must not be found in the city while the French are here." + +"Good God," cried I, "what a turn about!" + +Miraculous indeed it was that so young a girl had won so astonishing a +victory. The coming of the French saved her and us. There was not a +more frightened man in Prussia than the prefect, who fled directly +French bugles blared at the gates. So much Valerie told us while she +led us in and showed us the banquet she had prepared for us. + + +VIII + +We lived gallantly at the prefect's expense during the days we spent in +Elbing. They were happy days, and yet what regrets attended them! Of +all the six hundred thousand who had set out so bravely from Moscow but +a few short months ago, there were but twenty-two thousand of us, +soldiers of the line and of the Guard--worn, weary, and ragged men--who +survived to reach that haven. + +Never shall I forget that last review when the marshal himself rode up +and down our battered ranks and told us that our troubles were at an +end. Henceforth we were to be carried in sledges to the French +frontier and our homes. The day of battle was over; the night of our +sorry victory had been won. + + + + +PRINTED BY + +CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, + +LONDON, E.C. + +100.716 + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great White Army, by Max Pemberton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT WHITE ARMY *** + +***** This file should be named 35540-8.txt or 35540-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/5/4/35540/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Great White Army + +Author: Max Pemberton + +Release Date: March 10, 2011 [EBook #35540] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT WHITE ARMY *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t1"> +THE GREAT WHITE ARMY +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +By +</P> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +Max Pemberton +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD +<BR> +London, New York, Toronto & Melbourne +<BR> +1916 +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent" STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> +<I>Works by the same Author</I> +<BR><BR> +MILLIONAIRE'S ISLAND<BR> +THE IRON PIRATE<BR> +WHITE MOTLEY<BR> +THE VIRGIN FORTRESS<BR> +WAR AND THE WOMAN<BR> +CAPTAIN BLACK. A sequel to "The Iron Pirate"<BR> +THE GIRL WITH THE RED HAIR<BR> +THE SHOW GIRL<BR> +THE HOUSE UNDER THE SEA<BR> +THE SEA-WOLVES<BR> +THE IMPREGNABLE CITY<BR> +THE GIANT'S GATE<BR> +A PURITAN'S WIFE<BR> +THE GARDEN OF SWORDS<BR> +KRONSTADT. A Novel<BR> +THE LITTLE HUGUENOT<BR> +RED MORN<BR> +THE HUNDRED DAYS<BR> +THE DIAMOND SHIP<BR> +WHEELS OF ANARCHY<BR> +SIR RICHARD ESCOMBE<BR> +<BR> +CASSELL AND CO., LTD., +<BR> +LONDON, NEW YORK, TORONTO AND MELBOURNE. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +AUTHOR'S NOTE +</P> + +<P> +<I>The greatest military tragedy in history is the retreat of Napoleon's +Grand Army from Moscow. Napoleon set out to invade Russia in the +spring of the year 1812. In the month of June 600,000 men crossed the +River Niemen. Of this vast army, but 20,000 "famished, frost-bitten +spectres" staggered across the Bridge of Kovno in the month of +December.</I> +</P> + +<P> +<I>Many pens have described, with more or less fidelity, the details of +this unsurpassable tragedy. The story which we are now about to +represent to our readers is that of Surgeon-Major Constant, a veteran +who accompanied Napoleon to Moscow, and was one of the survivors who +returned ultimately to Paris. Constant had fled from Paris at the +beginning of the French Revolution in the year 1792. He lived for a +while at Leipsic, where he gave lessons in French and studied medicine. +His nephew, Captain Léon de Courcelles, was one of the famous Vélites +of the Guard. It is with the exploits of this young and daring soldier +that the veteran's narrative is often concerned.</I> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +CONTENTS +</P> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">1. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">THE WOMAN ON THE STAIRS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">2. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">THE GUILLOTINE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">3. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">THE TREASURE IN THE WOODS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">4. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">PHANTOM MUSIC</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">5. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">THE CAMP BY THE RIVER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">6. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">THE WITCH IN ERMINE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">7. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">LITTLE PETROVKA</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">8. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">THE AFFAIR AT THE POST-HOUSE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">9. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">WE CROSS THE BÉRÉZINA</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">10. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">THE LAST REVIEW</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +THE GREAT WHITE ARMY +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE WOMAN ON THE STAIRS +</H4> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H4> + +<P> +I, Janil de Constant, remember very well the moment when we first +beheld the glorious city of Moscow, which we had marched twelve +thousand leagues to take. +</P> + +<P> +It would have been the fourteenth day of September. The sun shone +fiercely upon our splendid cavalcade, and even in the forests, which we +now quitted very willingly, there were oases of light like golden lakes +in a wonderland. +</P> + +<P> +It was half-past three o'clock when I myself reached the Mont du Salut, +a hill from whose summit the traveller first looks down upon the city. +</P> + +<P> +And what a spectacle to see! What domes and minarets and mighty +towers! What a mingling of East and West, of Oriental beauty and the +stately splendour of a European capital! You will not wonder that our +men drew rein to gaze with awe upon so transcendent a spectacle. This +was Mecca truly. Here they would end their labours and here lay their +reward. +</P> + +<P> +We thought, with reason surely, that there would be no more talk of +war. The Russians had learned their lesson at Borodino, and all that +remained for the Russian Tsar to do was to make peace with our Emperor. +Meanwhile there would be many days of holiday such as we had not known +since we left France. The riches of this city passed the fables, they +told us. You will imagine with what feelings the advance posts of the +Guard set out to descend the hill and take up their quarters in the +governor's palace. +</P> + +<P> +I had hoped to enter Moscow with my nephew Léon, who is one of the +Vélites of the Guard. I wished to be near that young man at so +critical a moment. Even old soldiers lose their heads when they enter +an enemy's city, and what could one expect of the young ones? Léon, +however, had ridden on with Major Pavart, of the <I>chasseurs à cheval</I>, +and so it was with old Sergeant Bourgogne, of the Vélites, that I +entered Moscow and began to think of quarters. +</P> + +<P> +We heard some shots as we went down into the town, and when we came to +that broad street which leads to the Place du Gouvernement, a soldier +of the line told us that the governor had released the convicts and +that they were holding the palace against our outposts. We thought +very little of the matter at the time, and were more concerned to +admire the magnificence of the street and the beauty of many of its +houses. These, it appeared, belonged to the nobility, but we began to +perceive that none of the princely owners had remained in Moscow, and +that only a few servants occupied these mansions. Many of the latter +watched us as we rode by, and at the corner of the great square one of +them, a dandy fellow with mincing gait, had the temerity to catch my +horse by the bridle and to hold him while he told me that his name was +Heriot, and that he had left Paris with the Count of Provence in the +year 1790. +</P> + +<P> +"You are a surgeon, are you not?" he went on before I had time to +exclaim upon his effrontery. Amazed, I told him that I was. +</P> + +<P> +"Then," said he, "be good enough to come into yonder house and see to +one of your own men who is lying there." +</P> + +<P> +I suppose it was a proper thing for the fellow to ask me, yet the +<I>naïveté</I> of it brought a smile to my lips. +</P> + +<P> +"Bon garçon," said I, "you must have many surgeons of your own in +Moscow. Why ask me, who am on my way to the Emperor?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because," he said, still holding the bridle, "you will not regret your +visit, monsieur. This is a rich house: they will know how to pay you +for your services." +</P> + +<P> +There was something mysterious about this remark which excited my +curiosity, and turning my horse aside I permitted him to lead it into +the stable courtyard. It was to be observed that he slammed the great +gate quickly behind us, and bolted it with great bars of iron which +would almost have defied artillery. Then he tethered my horse to a +pillar and bade me follow him. It was just at the moment when the band +of the Fusiliers began to play a lively air and many thousands of our +infantry pressed on into the square. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H4> + +<P> +We entered the house itself by a wicket upon the left-hand side, which +should have led to the kitchens. +</P> + +<P> +It was here, perhaps, that I thought it not a little extraordinary, and +it may be somewhat less than prudent, that I, who should have been +already at the gates of the palace, had turned aside at the mere nod of +this dandy to enter a house of whose people I knew nothing. +Nevertheless, it was the case, and I reflected that if one of my own +countrymen were indeed in distress, then was the delay not ill-timed. +</P> + +<P> +We were at the foot of a cold stone staircase by this time, and I +observed that the lackey began to mount it with some caution. There +was no sound in the house, and when presently we emerged in the gallery +of a vast hall the place had all the air of a church which has been +long closed. +</P> + +<P> +Here for the first time I discovered the purpose for which I had been +brought to the place. A man lay dead upon the flags of the gallery, +and it was clear that he had died by a bullet from the pistol which was +flung down at his side. +</P> + +<P> +Thousands of men had I seen die since we crossed the River Niemen, yet +the sight of this mere youth lying dead upon the flags afflicted me +strangely. Perchance it was the great cold hall, or the dim light +which filtered through its heavy windows, or the silence of that +immense house and all the suggestions of mystery which attended it. Be +it as it may, I had less than my usual resource when I knelt by the +young man's side and made that brief examination which quickly +convinced me that he was dead. The dandy, meanwhile, stood near by +taking prodigious pinches of snuff from a box edged with diamonds. His +unconcern was remarkable. I could make nothing of such a picture. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is this youth?" I asked him. +</P> + +<P> +He shrugged his shoulders and took another pinch of the snuff. +</P> + +<P> +"One of your own countrymen, as I say—an artist from Fréjus who is in +the service of my lord, the prince." +</P> + +<P> +"How did he die, then?" +</P> + +<P> +The dandy averted his eyes. Then he said: +</P> + +<P> +"I returned from the great square ten minutes ago and found him here. +You can see as well as I that he shot himself." +</P> + +<P> +"That is not true," I rejoined, looking at him sternly. "Men do not +shoot themselves in the middle of the back!" +</P> + +<P> +He was still unconcerned. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, then," he retorted; "someone must have shot him." And +almost upon the words he turned as white as a sheet. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen," he cried in a loud whisper; "did you not hear them?" +</P> + +<P> +I listened and certainly heard the sound of voices. +</P> + +<P> +It came through an open door at the far end of the gallery and rose in +a sharp crescendo, which seemed to say that men were quarrelling. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is in the house?" I asked the fellow. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know," he said gravely enough. "There should be no one here +but ourselves. Perhaps you will be good enough to see. You are a +soldier; it is your business." +</P> + +<P> +I laughed at his impudence, and having looked to the priming of my +pistol, I caught him suddenly by the arm and pushed him on ahead of me. +Justly or not, it had flashed upon me that this might be a trap. Yet +why it should be so or what it had to do with a surgeon-major of the +Guards I knew no more than the dead. +</P> + +<P> +"We will go together," said I; and so I pushed him down the corridor. +</P> + +<P> +My presence seemed to give him courage. He entered the room with me, +and before a man could have counted three he fell headlong with a great +gash in his throat that all the surgeons in the French army could not +have stitched up. +</P> + +<P> +This was a memorable scene, but I was to witness many a one like it in +those days of rapine and of pillage to come. +</P> + +<P> +We had entered a lofty room, the furniture of which would not have been +out of place in the Emperor's palace at Paris. Most of it, indeed, was +French, and some of the cabinets were such as you may see to this day +both in the Tuileries and at Fontainebleau. So much I observed at a +glance, but infinitely of more import at the moment was the tenants of +the room. Three greater ruffians I have never seen in any city of +Europe; neither men so dirty and ill-kempt nor so ferocious in their +mien. All wore ragged sheepskins and had their legs bare at the knee. +They were armed with knives and bludgeons, and two of them carried +torches in their hands. Instantly I saw that these were three of the +convicts whom the governor had released. They had come to sack the +house, and they would have killed any who opposed them as a butcher +kills a sheep. But for the dead man at my feet, I could have laughed +aloud at their predicament when they suddenly realised that a soldier +and not a civilian must now be dealt with. It was just as though their +valour went ebbing away in a torrent. +</P> + +<P> +I struck the first man down with the butt end of my pistol, and, +fearing the effect of a shot, drew my sword and made for the others who +held the torches. They fled headlong, slamming the heavy door at the +far end of the room behind them—and there was I alone with the dead, +and the house had fallen again to the silence of a tomb. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H4> + +<P> +I stooped over the man I had struck down, and found him breathing +stertorously but still alive. The lackey, however, was quite dead, and +his blood had made a great pool upon the rich Eastern carpet of the +salon. +</P> + +<P> +My first impulse was to go to the windows and open the heavy shutters; +and when this was done I found myself looking out upon a pretty garden +in the Italian fashion. It was surrounded by high walls on three +sides, and seemed as void of humanity as the house. The salon itself +stood at a considerable height from the ground, and although there was +a wide balcony before the windows, I perceived no possible means of +escape thereby. +</P> + +<P> +This will tell you that I now had a considerable apprehension both of +the deserted house and of the adventure which had befallen me. Not +only did I blame my own folly for listening to the servant in the first +instance—that was bad enough—but upon it there came a desire to +return to my comrades, which was almost an obsession. There I stood +upon the balcony listening to the rolling of the drums and the blare of +the bugles, and yet I might have been a thousand leagues from friends +and comrades. Moreover, it was evident that I had not seen the last of +the assassins, and that they would return. +</P> + +<P> +Such was the situation at a moment when I realised that escape by the +balcony was impossible. Returning to the room, its beauty and riches +stood fully revealed by the warm sunlight, and they recalled to me the +tales of Moscow's wealth which we had heard directly we entered Russia. +The Grand Army, I said, would be well occupied for many days to come in +an employment it had always found congenial. Vases of the rarest +porcelain, statues from Italy, pictures and furniture from my own +France, gems in gold and stones most precious were the common ornaments +of this magnificent apartment. Here and there an empty cabinet seemed +to say that some attempt had been made already to remove these +treasures, and that the entry of our troops had disturbed the robbers. +What remained, however, would have been riches to a prince, and it +would have been possible for me to have put a fortune into my wallet +that very hour. +</P> + +<P> +Already it seemed to me that I should have a difficulty in finding my +way out of the house. The idea had been in my mind when I stood upon +the balcony and contemplated the solitude and the security of the +garden below. There I had listened to the rolling music of the bands, +the blare of bugles, and the tramping of many thousands of exulting +soldiers; but all sounds were lost when I returned to the great hall +and stood alone with the dead. +</P> + +<P> +Who was this youth to whom I had been called? +</P> + +<P> +I bent over him and discovered such a face as one might find in the +picture of an Italian master. The lad would have been about one and +twenty, and no woman's hair could have been finer than his. Such a +skin I had rarely seen; the face might have been chiselled from the +purest marble; the eyes were open and blue as the sea by which I +imagined this young fellow had lived. There was firmness in the chin, +and a contour of neck and shoulders which even a physician could admire. +</P> + +<P> +His clothes, I observed, were well chosen and made of him a man of some +taste. He wore breeches of black velvet and a shirt of the finest +cambric, open at the neck. His shoes had jewelled buckles, and his +stockings were of silk. Who, then, was the lad, and why had the lackey +killed him? That was a question I meant to answer when I had some of +my comrades with me. It remained to escape from this house of mystery +as quickly as might be. +</P> + +<P> +I passed down the staircase and came to an ante-room with a vast door +at the end of it. It was heavily bolted, and the keys of it were gone. +So much I had expected, and yet it seemed that where the assassins had +gone there might I follow. Ridiculous to be a prisoner of a house from +within, and of such a house, when there must be half a dozen doors that +gave upon the streets about it. And yet I could find none of them that +was not locked and barred as the chief door I have named, while every +window upon the ground floor might have been that of a prison. +</P> + +<P> +Vainly I went from place to place—here by corridors that were as dark +as night, there into rooms where the lightest sounds gave an echo as of +thunder, back again to the great hall I had left—and always with the +fear of the assassins upon me and the irony of my condition +unconcealed. Good God! That I had shut myself in such a trap! A +thousand times I cursed the builder of such a house and all his works. +The night, I said, would find me alone in a tomb of marble. +</P> + +<P> +I shall not weary you by a recital of all that befell in the hours of +daylight that remained. I had a horrid fear of the dark, and when at +length it overtook me I returned to the salon, and, having covered the +dead men with the rugs lying about, went thence to the balcony and so +watched the night come down. +</P> + +<P> +Consider my situation—so near and yet so far from all that was taking +place in this fallen city. +</P> + +<P> +Above me the great bowl of the sky glowed with the lights of many a +bivouac in square or market. It was as though the whole city trembled +beneath the footsteps of the thousands who now trampled down her +ancient glory and cast her banners to the earth. The blare of bands +was to be heard everywhere; the murmur of voices rose and fell like the +angry surf that beats upon a shore. Cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" rent +the air from time to time, and to them were added the fierce shouting +of the rabble or the frenzied screams of those who fled before the +glittering bayonets of this mighty host. And to crown all, as though +mockingly, there rang out the music of those unsurpassable bells—the +bells of Moscow, of which all the world has heard. +</P> + +<P> +These were the sights and sounds which came to me as I stood upon that +balcony and laughed grimly at my situation. But a stone's throw away, +said I, there would be merry fellows enough to call me by my name and +lead me to my comrades. +</P> + +<P> +Janil de Constant, I flattered myself, was as well known as any man in +all the Guard, old or young. Never did his Majesty pass me but I had a +warm word from him or that little pinch upon the ear which denoted his +favour. +</P> + +<P> +My art was considerable, as all the world knows. +</P> + +<P> +I had been a professor in the University of Paris until this fever of +war fell upon me, and I set out to discover its realities for myself. +What skill could do for suffering men, I had done these many months, +and yet here was I as far from it all as though a ship had carried me +to the Indies and the desolation of the ocean lay all about me. +</P> + +<P> +These, I say, were my thoughts, and the night—that wonderful night of +summer—did nothing to better them. Perchance I should have spent it +there upon the balcony but for that which I had expected—the return of +the assassins to the spoils from which they had been scared. It could +not have befallen otherwise. The time, I suppose, would have been +about ten of the clock. They entered the garden below me, and I heard +their footsteps upon the grass. But now there were many of them, and +even from the balcony it was apparent to me that all were armed. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IV +</H4> + +<P> +I returned to the room, and, crossing it swiftly, had my hand already +upon the key of the door when a new sound arrested me. +</P> + +<P> +The sound proceeded from the gallery of the great staircase. I heard a +key turned and a door creak upon its hinges. A moment later the faint +light of a candle illumined the staircase, and the figure of a woman +appeared. +</P> + +<P> +It was all very sudden. But the half of a minute, I suppose, elapsed +between the first sound of the key and the appearance of the beautiful +creature who now stood in the gallery; yet to me it seemed an age of +waiting. There I stood motionless, watching that vision which the +candle revealed—the vision of the sleeper awakened, and a woman's +cloak thrown about her shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"Good God!" I cried, "the dead have come to life!" Beyond all doubt +this must be the sister of the murdered man. +</P> + +<P> +"Mademoiselle," I said, taking a step forward. And at that she cried +out in terror and let the candle drop. Instantly I strode to her side +and caught both her hands, for it was evident she was swooning. +</P> + +<P> +"Mademoiselle," I repeated, "I am a Frenchman, and came to this house +to help your brother. Help me in your turn. There are men in the +garden, and they are coming in—we must be quick, mademoiselle." +</P> + +<P> +She shivered a little in my arms and then pressed forward towards me. +</P> + +<P> +"I am Valerie," she murmured in a low voice, as though I would +recognise the name. "My brother is dead; François the steward killed +him. Oh, take me away—take me from this place." +</P> + +<P> +I told her that I would do so, that my only desire was to escape from +the house if I could. +</P> + +<P> +"But, mademoiselle," said I, "every door is locked. I cannot find the +way, and the brigands are returning. We have no time to lose." +</P> + +<P> +The tidings appeared to rouse her. She passed her hand across her +forehead and, staggering forward a little way, stood very still as +though in thought. +</P> + +<P> +I shall never forget that picture of her as the moonbeams came down +from the dome above, and she stood there in a robe of white and silver. +A more beautiful thing I have never seen upon God's earth. The story +of her brother's death appeared no longer a mystery. +</P> + +<P> +"My God!" she cried, "they are in the house!" +</P> + +<P> +We bent over the balustrade together and listened to the sounds. There +was a crashing as of woodwork, and then the hum of voices. Instantly +upon that there came the heavy trampling of feet. Those who entered +the house were not afraid—they were even laughing as they came. +</P> + +<P> +"What shall we do?" she cried. "What shall we do?" +</P> + +<P> +I caught her hand and dragged her back from the railing. +</P> + +<P> +"There must be some room which will hide us," said I. "You know the +way. Think, child; is there no such place?" +</P> + +<P> +She did not answer me, but turned and led the way up the narrow flight +of stairs by which she had appeared. Here was her bedroom. +</P> + +<P> +We passed through it without delay and entered an oratory which lay at +the head of a second flight of stairs immediately beyond. Here she +shut a heavy door of oak and bolted it. The only light in the room +flickered from a golden lamp before the altar, and as far as I could +see there was no way out other than the door by which we had come in. +</P> + +<P> +Now, this chapel was built in one of the eastern turrets of the house. +I came to learn later that the owner of the place was Prince Boris, a +man of some culture and of European notoriety, and that, while he was +himself an orthodox Greek, he had permitted this use of a secret chapel +to the young Frenchwoman who now knelt before its altar. +</P> + +<P> +Wonderfully decorated in gold and silver, with rare pictures upon its +walls and superb gems in the crucifixes above the tabernacle, the whole +bore witness to a man of Catholic sympathies and abundant wealth. At +any other time, no doubt, I would have made much of this hidden chapel +and of its treasures; but the hour was not propitious, and, glad of its +momentous security, I turned to the girl and would have questioned her. +She, however, was already at her prayers, nor did she seem to hear me +when I addressed her. A second question merely caused her to turn her +head and cry, "Hush! they will hear us!" And so she went on praying—I +doubt not for her dead brother's soul—while I paced up and down in as +great a state of anger and of self-reproach as I had ever been in all +my life. +</P> + +<P> +What a situation for a surgeon-major of the Guards—to be locked up +here in this puny chapel with a houseful of assassins below, and my own +regiment not a stone's throw from the gate! And yet that was the truth +of it, and anon I heard some of the robbers come leaping up the stairs, +and presently they began to beat upon the door of the chapel, and I +knew that they carried axes in their hands. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +V +</H4> + +<P> +The sounds were deep and ominous, and might well have quelled a +stronger spirit. The girl herself turned her head at the first blow, +and then, staggering to her feet, she caught me by the arm and +whispered her fears in my ear. +</P> + +<P> +"They will beat it down," she said, indicating the door. +</P> + +<P> +I answered that I thought it quite possible. +</P> + +<P> +"Why do your soldiers let them?" she asked me; and upon that she said, +"Why did you come here alone?" +</P> + +<P> +I told her that the steward, for such I supposed the lackey to be, had +brought me to the place; and so much she understood readily enough. +</P> + +<P> +"He was insolent to me," she exclaimed. "My brother struck him. He +carried a pistol, but we did not know it. God help me, what I have +suffered this day! And now this——" And again she indicated the +peril beyond the door. +</P> + +<P> +Yet with it all her courage was not lacking. She no longer wept now +that danger threatened us, and presently she pointed to the gilded dome +above, and said that it could be reached from the little gallery behind +the altar. +</P> + +<P> +"Then," said I, "let us see what we can do." And, taking her hand, we +went up to the gallery together; and there sure enough in the angle was +a Gothic window large enough for a man to pass through. When I opened +it I saw a narrow gallery at the very summit of the cupola, and to this +I helped her immediately. The height was considerable and the parapet +but trifling. She stood there by my side without flinching, and when +we had closed the window it seemed as though the peril were now far +distant. +</P> + +<P> +"I could hold this place against a regiment," said I, drawing my sword +and indicating the narrow window. +</P> + +<P> +She understood as much, and, nodding her head, she gazed out over +Moscow, as though some help were to be expected from the turbid streets +which the night now revealed to us. +</P> + +<P> +Surely this was a wonderful hour! The gallery of the cupola stood some +eighty feet above the pavement of the courtyard below. We looked out +over the stables of the prince's house to the great gate by which I had +entered and the Place du Gouvernement where the lackey had accosted me. +It must have been nearly midnight, and yet Moscow was as wide awake as +ever she had been in her history. I saw thousands of my own countrymen +marching with light steps to the bivouacs prepared for them. Great +fires had been kindled in every open space. There were lanterns +swinging and bugles blaring. Bayonets shimmered in the crimson light, +bells rang joyously, the triumphant war songs of the victors were +unceasing. And all this amid a clamour, a restless going to and fro, a +fevered movement of awakened people that capitulation alone could +provoke. The Grand Army had reached its goal, and here was the end of +its labours. So I doubt not the thousands thought as they pressed on +towards the Kremlin and soldiers began to enter every house and demand +the fruits of their labours. +</P> + +<P> +I have told you that the beautiful young Frenchwoman had hardly spoken +to me hitherto, but here at this dizzy height she began for the first +time, I think, to realise that I was a friend and not a foe, and her +tongue was loosened. I have never seen greater dignity in a woman nor +one whose self-possession was so remarkable under such tragic +circumstances. She indicated the busy street below and asked me to +which of those regiments I belonged. +</P> + +<P> +I told her at once that I was a surgeon-major of the Vélites, and +should be now in the governor's palace with the Emperor. +</P> + +<P> +"Then," she said, "your friends will come to look for you, will they +not?" +</P> + +<P> +I told her that it was not impossible. +</P> + +<P> +"But, mademoiselle," said I, "they will not imagine that I have become +a bird." +</P> + +<P> +She liked the humour of it and smiled very sweetly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," she said, closing her eyes and shuddering, "what a day it has +been! Prince Boris left yesterday to rejoin the army. My brother and +I were to have followed him to Nishni this afternoon. Then the steward +said that he could not be left alone, for the convicts were out and +were robbing the houses. The governor released them at noon to-day. +They have been pillaging all Moscow, and your friends will find little +when they come." +</P> + +<P> +I was greatly interested in this, for some such story had reached us +even before we entered the city. +</P> + +<P> +The desperate resolve to deliver Moscow to the evil element in its +population had been taken by its rulers some days previously to the +arrival of the army, but neither the Emperor nor his staff had been +greatly moved by it. The cavalry would soon make short work of these +fellows in the open, while we trusted to the predatory instincts of the +rank and file to deal with such scum in the houses. +</P> + +<P> +I was about to tell her as much when a movement of the window behind us +caused me to turn round, and to discover a shaggy head protruding +therefrom. Without a thought, I fired my pistol point blank at it, and +I shall always say that this was as unlucky a stroke as ever I made. +The flash and the report on that high tower drew the attention of the +passers-by in the street without, and presently some infantry who were +passing began to fire on the tower, and the bullets rained thick around +us. There was nothing for it but to plump down beneath the balustrade +and so wait until their humour was done. And so we sat, the girl +wide-eyed and silent, myself with drawn sword to thrust at any face +which should be shown at the window above us. +</P> + +<P> +"Janil," said I to myself, "this will be a pretty tale for the regiment +to-morrow." Had you pressed me, I would have confessed a doubt that +that to-morrow would ever be. +</P> + +<P> +An hour passed, I suppose, and still found us in the same position. +There were no longer any bullets from the street, and anon, when I +stood up and looked again over the great gate of the palace, whom +should I see but my own nephew Léon riding up and down upon his famous +white horse and evidently searching for his old uncle who had played so +scurvy a trick upon him. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VI +</H4> + +<P> +Now this was a splendid sight; and, waving my sword and crying with all +my lungs, I strove in vain to attract his attention. As for the girl +at my side, she watched me in some astonishment. Presently, seeing +what I was after, she asked me if it were not the young soldier on the +white horse in whom I was interested. +</P> + +<P> +"Mademoiselle," said I, "it is Léon, my nephew. If I can make myself +known to him, I will warrant that he will be inside this house before +you can count ten. A fine soldier, mademoiselle; I am very proud of +him." +</P> + +<P> +She nodded her head and looked at the boy with a new interest. There +was such a great bivouac fire at the corner of the square that you +could see him almost as if he were upon the stage of a theatre, and +surely a handsomer man did not ride with the Grand Army. Well I knew +what this pretty woman would think of him, and I watched her with an +old man's interest. +</P> + +<P> +"He does not see you," she remarked presently. +</P> + +<P> +It was all too true. +</P> + +<P> +"But he will not abandon me," I retorted; and, turning at the same +moment, I struck with the butt of my pistol at a second face which +showed itself at the window. The fellow withdrew with a curse that +plainly meant mischief. I could hear other voices in the room, and by +and by a stranger sound, and the smell of fire upon it. +</P> + +<P> +"Good God!" I said, "they are burning the chapel!" +</P> + +<P> +At that she uttered a low cry, the first of fear that I had heard +escape her lips. +</P> + +<P> +I opened the window and looked down into the chapel. There were but +two men there, and one was firing the curtains of the altar. So little +did he fear interruption that I leaped down on him while his torch was +still upraised, and, running him through with my sword, I pulled the +burning curtain upon him and stamped the fire out upon his body. The +other assassin watched me with eyes grown wide with fear. He had a +torch in his hand, but he stood there as though spellbound, and when I +made at him he fell headlong upon the staircase, and man and fire went +rolling over and over together. +</P> + +<P> +This did not alarm me, for the stairs were all stone, and there was +nothing that could be kindled. Following the fellow through the +bedroom, I came again upon the great staircase, and there looked down +upon as strange a spectacle as I shall ever see in all my years. It +was as though all the rabble of Moscow had come together in that +magnificent hall—giant Tartars, low-caste assassins from the Indies, +black-browed Slavs, patriarchs with long beards and youths with +none—all were filling their sacks with the spoils of the prince's +house and carrying them, when full, to the garden beyond. Animals in a +den never fought more fiercely than some of these rogues when their +lusts had clashed. Nor might a man have found a fiercer company in all +the foul havens of the East. +</P> + +<P> +For myself, I watched them aghast, knowing that it were death to be +discovered where I stood. So eager, however, were they that none saw +me, and the pillage and the riot were still at their height when one +amongst them cried "Fire!" and in an instant every man sprang to +attention, and the roar of a great conflagration burst upon their +astonished ears. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VII +</H4> + +<P> +The palace had been fired; there could be no doubt about it. +</P> + +<P> +Volumes of smoke poured into the hall and went floating to the ceiling +in dense and looming clouds. The marble reflected a ruddy light as of +flames vomited from a fiery pit. There was a crackling of wood, a +rending of glass, and upon that the oaths and curses of the assassins +below. Now truly were they hoist of their own petard. The palace had +been fired while their plunder was yet unpacked, and they roared and +barked around it like wolves robbed of their prey. +</P> + +<P> +I say that we were all taken unawares, and that is true enough. For +myself, I stood there listening to the roar of the flames, and watching +the mad, frenzied struggles of the scum below, and with no more idea of +how to get out of the place than the veriest child might have had. +None but a madman would have attempted to fight his way through the +raving mob of brigands who grovelled about the doors in seeming +impotence, as though their shaking hands could not unlock the bars +which imprisoned them. Yet passed they must be if I and the child with +me were not to perish in the flames. +</P> + +<P> +So much could not be hidden from either of us. We beheld them +wrangling still upon their plunder while the flames were all about +them, and those who did run from the hall returned immediately to warn +their friends in a tongue which had no meaning for me. From this time +they became as demons possessed. It was a terrible thing to see them +running round and round like dogs driven by a whip, to hear the clash +of their knives, and the shrieks of those who fell. Nor could I wonder +that my little companion's courage deserted her at last and that a loud +cry of fear escaped her. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, come," she cried, "come from this dreadful place." And, so +saying, she caught me almost savagely by the arm and led me from the +gallery. Whither she would take me, I knew not at all. Her eyes were +alight with the fear which animated her. She stretched out her arms as +though to feel her way in the gathering smoke which threatened us. I +could see already that she had little hope of the venture. +</P> + +<P> +We crossed a corridor and entered a lofty room which I took to be the +library of the palace. Farther on there was an antechamber, whose door +was locked and barred as the others had been in the room below. Upon +this she beat furiously as though someone beyond could hear us and +would open. Solid as a gate of iron, twenty men could not have forced +it. I saw already that our errand was vain, and I was about to lead +her away when what should happen but that the door was opened from +within, and a Russian soldier stood before me. "Nicholas!" cried +mademoiselle; and instantly the child was in the arms of a Russian, who +kissed her as a lover might have done. +</P> + +<P> +Now, this man was an officer who wore the white uniform and the black +cuirass of Prince Boris's famous regiment. I took him for the prince's +son, and there I was not wrong, as I learned at a subsequent date. +</P> + +<P> +And it needed no clever eye to tell me how things stood between the +girl and himself, and there was a smile on my lips while I watched them +and then looked over his shoulder into the room beyond, full of his +fellows and ablaze with the glitter of uniforms. +</P> + +<P> +The presence of these men needed little explanation. I perceived that +there had been a secret conclave in the palace, and I understood in an +instant what my own presence must mean. It was no coward's alarm. +There were half a dozen of them atop of me before I could lift a hand +to save myself. In vain the girl pleaded with them. They discovered +immediately that the palace was on fire, and, mad with rage and fury, +they fell upon me like wild beasts. The French had done this thing, +they cried; then let the Frenchmen pay the price. I knew now that they +meant to kill me. Their very gestures would have told me as much. "A +spy!" they shouted—to Janil de Constant! +</P> + +<P> +Well, there it was, and that is the simple truth of the story. +</P> + +<P> +I remember that they pushed me headlong from the room, then down a +steep flight of stairs, and so to a garden at the foot of it. There +one of them cried for a sergeant to come to him. After that my memory +is chiefly of the glitter of bayonets and of a man who called to his +fellow to bind my hands with cord. It came to me as in a dream that +they were about to shoot me, and that this was the hour of my death. I +recollect that I was thrust up against a rough stone wall, and that the +sergeant asked me a question in Russian of which I could make nothing. +</P> + +<P> +From the room there now came the loud shouts of the officers, who had +discovered that the palace was on fire, and were leading some of the +troopers to attack the flames. Their voices and that of the sergeant +mingled oddly in my ears; but presently I began to perceive that the +man wished to bandage my eyes, and as this promised an instant of +grace, I assented willingly. To say that I was afraid is to give but a +child's idea of the circumstances. It had all come upon me so +swiftly—the discovery of the fire and of the assassins, the passing of +hope and the coming of despair, that this new turn found my wits +paralysed and all resources gone from me. In my head there were +buzzing sounds as of a man stricken suddenly by sickness. I thought of +nothing except of the wall against which I stood, of the man who +bandaged my eyes and of the bayonets which had glittered in the ruddy +glow of flames. That I should be dead when ten seconds were counted I +could not believe, and then as swiftly the truth must be heard. "You +are about to die," said the secret voice in my ear. "You will never +see the day. This is night; you will sleep." +</P> + +<P> +An intolerable interval of silence followed upon this. I heard the +shuffling of feet and the sound of voices as though from the far +distance. Men were speaking in whispers, and these whispers grew in +volume until they were like a hoarse murmur of winds about me. I was +tempted to cry, "Fire, for God's sake!" and yet I could not utter the +words. Indeed, a faintness had come upon me, and I swayed to and fro +until the volley rang out with a crash of thunder and lights danced +fantastically before my eyes. Then I think that I must have fallen +prone upon the grass. If this were death, it had come without pain, +and men had laughed because it came. God! Was there ever such +laughter heard by a man so situated? Peal upon peal of it—and a +woman's laughter! +</P> + +<P> +Someone loosed the bands which held my hands, and another forced a +little brandy between my clenched lips. I raised myself up, shivering +as though with an ague. +</P> + +<P> +All about me it was as light and bright as though the sun had risen. +The great palace flamed with a thunder of sounds and a crash of beams +most dreadful to hear. But otherwise the scene was as I had known it +before they bandaged me, save that Valerie stood at the stairs' head +swaying in an outburst of mad laughter which fear and pity had +provoked, while my nephew Léon watched her as she laughed. A moment +later and a man appeared and caught her in his arms. It was the +Russian, Prince Nicholas, who passed down the steps and was gone from +the garden before any man could draw upon him. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VIII +</H4> + +<P> +Léon told me that he thought I must be in the house all the while, but +that he had hesitated to break in until the assassins had fired it. +When he found me, I stood alone by the wall, blinded and helpless, but +not a Russian to be seen. Who could wonder when the whole garden was +full of French bayonets. +</P> + +<P> +I left the house with him and we went together to the governor's +palace. None knew what had become of my horse, nor did I care +overmuch. The Place du Gouvernement itself was alive with our soldiers +called to put out the fire if they could. By these we went quickly, +Léon asking me a hundred questions which I could not answer yet. +</P> + +<P> +"There was a woman there," said I. +</P> + +<P> +He interrupted me with a laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"You think that I did not see her!" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +It being Léon, I thought no such thing. +</P> + +<P> +"We will hunt her out to-morrow," said he, and then we turned about and +together watched the burning palace. +</P> + +<P> +"A welcome to Moscow!" he cried sardonically. +</P> + +<P> +Ah, if we had known how this welcome was to be repeated in the days to +come! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE GUILLOTINE +</H4> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H4> + +<P> +My nephew, Léon, had sworn to seek out the beautiful young Frenchwoman, +Valerie, whom we had last seen in the gardens of the burning house; but +many days elapsed before that came to be, as you shall presently learn. +</P> + +<P> +In the first place, there was far too much to do in Moscow for the army +to think about women at all. +</P> + +<P> +We had arrived at the end of our journey, and the twelve hundred +leagues of marching had tired the strongest of us. Now we would rest +at the heart of Russia, while the Emperor dictated peace to the Tsar +and his army made good its losses. We never so much as dreamed that we +had pursued a phantom, and that it would lead the Grand Army to its +destruction. +</P> + +<P> +So you must behold us for many days in Moscow enjoying the fruits of +our labours and yet finding plenty of work to do. I have told you +already that the Guards were quartered in the Palace of the Kremlin, +whither the Emperor had repaired; and there I took up my residence with +my nephew Léon, and was occupied for some days in attending to the sick +who had accompanied us on our long journey from Smolensk. Though many +rumours came to me of the strange things that were happening in the +city beyond the palace, I paid little heed to them. His Majesty the +Emperor had set out to conquer Russia, and here he was at the heart of +their empire. What remained, then, but to sign a splendid peace and to +return in triumph to Paris? +</P> + +<P> +This is how things should have been, yet how different they were! +</P> + +<P> +We had been prepared to find the Russian nobles fled from Moscow, but +the absolute desertion of the city by its people astonished us beyond +compare. +</P> + +<P> +Often would I go forth into these magnificent streets, to find the +great houses all shut up, their gardens a solitude, the cafés closed, +and none but our own soldiers abroad. +</P> + +<P> +Deserted houses everywhere! The hotels shut up and boarded against the +stranger. All the shops denuded of their goods and shuttered and +barred as though they were prisons. +</P> + +<P> +Such Russians as we met had the most revolting aspect and were clad in +the coarsest sheepskins. We knew that the best of them were convicts +who had been released by the governor on our advent, and now they +skulked like wolves to do us a mischief in every alley or by-street +which sheltered them. +</P> + +<P> +For the rest, Moscow might have been a mausoleum. We danced to the +music of our own voices; the cheers that were raised were the cheers +from French throats which heralded only a hollow victory. +</P> + +<P> +The plunder that we seized came to our hands undisputed. No man +contended with us save the brigands, and they were like jackals, whose +howls were chiefly heard by night. +</P> + +<P> +I have often wondered at the sang-froid with which all this was +received at head-quarters. None of the staff appeared aware of the +perils of our situation, nor did the fact that we were already running +short of provisions alarm our leaders. Many things we had in +abundance, and they should have provoked our irony. It was ridiculous +to see whole companies of the Guard making merry over casks of French +liqueur or wallowing like schoolgirls in boxes of sweetmeats. Yet such +was the case, and nothing but the actual riches of the city blinded the +rank and file to the truth. +</P> + +<P> +Oh, what days of plunder they were, and how our good fellows revelled +in them! +</P> + +<P> +A man had but to sally forth with an axe in his hand to reach the +riches of a Croesus. I have seen the veriest Gascons so laden with +furs and jewels and the wealth of nobles that they themselves, could +they have conveyed their burdens to Paris, might never have had an +anxiety about their bread to the end of their days. It was the +commonest thing to discover carts and wagons in Moscow piled high with +the treasures of centuries and led uncontested to the camps of an enemy +which had found the gates open and the ramparts undefended. Even the +Imperial edict against pillage and rapine was useless to prevent this +spoliation. The men had suffered much to reach the Holy City, and His +Majesty the Emperor was wise enough to reward them according to their +hopes. +</P> + +<P> +Here I must tell you that the common troopers were by no means the only +offenders in this respect. There was not an officer in or out of the +Guards who did not claim his share of the plunder, while he shut his +eyes to the doings of those under him. If I myself forbore to take a +hand in this profitable amusement, it was because my burdens were heavy +and owed not a little to the state of Moscow even in the early days of +our occupation. +</P> + +<P> +Then, as afterwards, fire was our almost daily enemy. One day it would +be in the bazaars; the next in the poorest quarters of the city; again +in the houses of the rich, which our troopers had pillaged. We were +told the convicts fired the buildings by the governor's orders. We +could not believe it, and yet we hunted the rascals down as though they +were vermin. +</P> + +<P> +I have often wondered what His Majesty the Emperor would have done had +he known the true state of affairs in Moscow. He did not know them, +however, and he was still anxious to propitiate those whom he believed +to be its people. Every day we heard the story of the peace which was +to be signed, and of the profit which was to come to our arms thereby; +and every day we who served were abroad in street or alley wrestling +with the flames and smoke of the burning houses, or hanging and +shooting the incendiaries who had become the enemy. +</P> + +<P> +Little wonder that my nephew Léon had no time for love-making. Often +would I ask him if he had heard of or seen the beautiful Valerie again. +The rascal pretended that he had forgotten her very existence, and yet +I knew in my heart that he had remembered her. It was no surprise to +me when, at the end of the third week, I heard from his servant, +Gascogne, that he had received a letter from Valerie herself, and that +it had contained an invitation to dinner in a house beyond the suburbs +of the city. When I charged Léon with it he shook his head and smiled +in his boyish way. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, mon oncle," he protested, "what time have I for anything like +that?" +</P> + +<P> +I rejoined that a man has always time for a pretty woman, and at that +he laughed loudly. +</P> + +<P> +"She asked me to dinner," says he, "but, of course, I shall not go. +Why, my dear uncle, it would be very dangerous to do so. Do you not +know that her friend is Prince Nicholas, who has sworn a vendetta +against every Frenchman in Moscow? I should be a fool to do anything +of the kind." +</P> + +<P> +I agreed that he would be, and really I was not a little astonished at +his common sense. +</P> + +<P> +Captains of the Guard are rarely prudent where a pretty face is +concerned, and Valerie St. Antoine was one of the most beautiful women +I had ever seen in all my life. It was amazing to me that Léon should +have learned so much wisdom in so short a space of time, and I plumed +myself upon his sagacity. Oh, how easily do we old fogeys deceive +ourselves! Not three days had elapsed before I learned that he had +written to the lady, and on the fourth I heard with some regret that he +had gone to dine with her. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H4> + +<P> +Now, I do not know why it was, but this affair had caused me much +uneasiness from the beginning, and when I heard, upon the evening of +September 28, that my nephew had left the palace and gone to dine with +Valerie, a disquietude quite beyond ordinary attended the discovery. +</P> + +<P> +Possibly Léon's own words had something to do with it. He had said +that such an invitation might be a trap, and although the opinion was +expressed as a joke, there remained a doubt in my own mind which no +mere assurance could remove. +</P> + +<P> +Remember the circumstances. We had discovered already that Valerie St. +Antoine was the friend, and more than the friend, of a man who had +sworn to exterminate the French in Moscow. The reality of the tie +which bound them had been made apparent to me when I was with her in +Prince Boris's house, and I could conceive no honest circumstance which +would justify the invitation to my nephew Léon. When I questioned his +servant, Gascogne, that good fellow seemed no less uneasy than I myself. +</P> + +<P> +"There have been five officers from this regiment lost in Moscow this +very week," said he. "I warned Captain Léon, but he would not listen +to me. A woman. Faugh! It is the usual story, major. They all have +a rendezvous, and none of them returns. Why did not the captain +consult you? I told him that it was a trick, and he answered me by +putting on his best uniform and calling a droshky. Major, we shall be +lucky if we see him again." +</P> + +<P> +I took no such view as this, and yet a certain foreboding of ill was +not lightly to be put aside. +</P> + +<P> +Léon had done as so many others in his regiment, and some of those had +never returned to the palace. It might even be that the girl Valerie +had not written the letter at all; and this latter thought was so +disquieting that I sent Gascogne out to seek the driver of the droshky +and to bring the fellow to the palace. When he came, a few sharp words +soon had the truth from him. +</P> + +<P> +"My good fellow," said I, "you will drive me immediately to the house +to which you have just taken my nephew, Captain de Courcelles. If you +play any trick upon me I will have you hanged at the gate of the +Kremlin. Now, choose for yourself." +</P> + +<P> +This was no idle threat, nor was it without its effect. The man fell +into a frenzy of fear, while great drops of sweat stood upon his +forehead, and he protested his innocence before God and the saints. +</P> + +<P> +"Then let him put it to the proof," said I to the interpreter, "and +bring his droshky here immediately." +</P> + +<P> +Ten minutes later we were passing out of the western gate, and Sergeant +Bardot, of the Fusiliers, was at my side. They called him "the +antelope" in the regiment, and there was no nimbler fellow in all the +Guards. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Léon has gone to meet a woman," said I. "It may be a trap, +and, if so, we must get him out of it. I can count upon your +discretion, sergeant?" +</P> + +<P> +He answered that he was altogether at my service, and I could see that +the prospect of an adventure pleased him greatly. +</P> + +<P> +"They are devils, these Russians," said he, "and it is just as well +that we should go. I trust we shall be in good time, major. The +regiment could not afford to lose Captain Léon. There is no better +officer in the Guards." +</P> + +<P> +I agreed with that. There was no better officer in the Guards. If he +were in any danger we must save him. So many had fallen in Moscow at a +woman's nod that I ceased to ask myself what part curiosity played in +this adventure. +</P> + +<P> +Sufficient that Léon had gone to dine with Nicholas, the Russian, who +had sworn a vendetta against every French officer in the city. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H4> + +<P> +It was nine o'clock when we left the barracks, and half an hour later +when the droshky rolled out upon the great north road to Petersburg. +</P> + +<P> +So hot was it that hundreds of our fellows were sleeping in the open +parks which abound on the border of the city, and their bivouac fires +glowed beneath the pines and showed many a scene of tipsy revelry. +With them were some of those women who cling to the skirts of an army +as flies to a pasty, and these hussies capered about the fires in song +and dance, while the sorriest music set them whooping like wild men at +a fair. We paid little attention to them, but thought rather of the +wide road ahead of us and of our unknown destination. +</P> + +<P> +Now, this was a hazardous journey, as any man who was with me in Moscow +will bear witness. +</P> + +<P> +It is true that the city and surrounding country were wholly in our +power; but we knew very well that bands of wild Cossacks ravaged the +neighbourhood and were ready enough to butcher any Frenchman they could +find. The road itself lay chiefly through pine woods, which afforded +good harbourage to these brigands, and more than once I thought that I +saw a horseman watching us as we went. When I mentioned as much to the +sergeant he pooh-poohed it, as such a man would, declaring that our own +patrols were in the district and would deal with such scum. +</P> + +<P> +"We are not worth powder and shot," he said with a laugh, "and, in any +case, we shall have the satisfaction of shooting the driver if anything +happens to us." +</P> + +<P> +This seemed to afford him some consolation. I noticed that he took out +his pistol and primed it, as though very ready to begin if the +miserable coachman afforded him any pretext. We, however, drove on +without event, and when we had covered perhaps a couple of leagues the +driver turned suddenly down a grassy path through the wood and +presently declared that we had reached our destination. +</P> + +<P> +It was not very dark here, and for the moment I thought that the fellow +had played a trick upon us. +</P> + +<P> +We appeared to have reached a veritable forest, great chestnut trees +taking the place of the pines and a wide pool shining under the moon's +rays where the roadway ended. Presently, however, I discerned the +glimmer of a lamp amidst a copse upon the right-hand side, and the +droshky driver indicated with his whip that it was the house which +Captain Léon had visited. +</P> + +<P> +An uglier place could not be imagined. The dark groves of stupendous +trees, the silent pool, the remote situation of the habitation, +affected me strangely. I was convinced by this time that my nephew had +fallen into a trap, and that we should be lucky men if we found him +alive. Even the imperturbable Bardot could not put a good face upon +it. He showed his pistol to the coachman and commanded him to stay +where he was. Then he followed me down the grove towards the house. +</P> + +<P> +I have told you that it was hidden in the trees; but this will give you +but a poor idea of its situation. We saw upon nearer approach that the +pool or lake was fed by a winding river, upon an island of which the +house was built, so that it was entirely surrounded by water, which a +mediæval drawbridge spanned. +</P> + +<P> +The building itself had all the air of the keep of an ancient castle, +being no more than a great round tower built upon the island, with a +miserable outhouse at its foot and a barn-like structure to the south, +which served, I doubt not, for a stable. Save for a glimmer of light +which showed through a considerable loophole above the drawbridge, +there was no evidence of occupation either above or below. The place +seemed as silent as the grave; our own footsteps upon the sward were a +heavy sound upon the silence of that summer's night. +</P> + +<P> +To be sure, we approached very cautiously. We must have been at least +fifty paces from the water's edge when Bardot went down flat upon his +stomach and began to crawl towards the river. +</P> + +<P> +"If I whistle," he said, "come to me." +</P> + +<P> +I answered that I would; and after an interminable interval of waiting +I heard his signal. When I came up to his side he pointed to the +figure of a man who stood sentry beyond the bridge. +</P> + +<P> +"Look," he said. "The fellow is drunk. They are all drunk in this +cursed country. If we sounded the réveillé he would not hear us. We +must go over and tell him so. You can swim, of course?" +</P> + +<P> +I shook my head, for the truth was I could not swim a stroke. When I +discovered that he was in a like predicament, the tragic irony of our +position began to be realised for the first time. There we were, fifty +paces from the door, behind which poor Léon might already be in +jeopardy. I knew now that the girl Valerie had not written the letter, +and this was just the trap I had supposed it to be. Yet there we +stood, as helpless as any child from a woodlander's hut. Even Bardot +could make nothing of it. +</P> + +<P> +"If I had known!" he would say, just as though it had been in my power +to tell him. Such folly angered me. I got up regardless of the risk +of discovery, and began to make my way back to the carriage. The man +should gallop back to Moscow, said I, and we would return within the +hour with a troop of cavalry, and this time we would bring our own +bridge. +</P> + +<P> +This was in my mind, though the despair of it needs no apology. +</P> + +<P> +"A thousand to one," I argued, "that Léon will not be alive when we +return; and yet we might avenge him!" +</P> + +<P> +A fierce desire to beat down the walls of the accursed house, to break +in upon the assassins and to butcher them where they stood, possessed +me as a fever. There was not a man in the regiment who, would not have +galloped through the night at Léon's call. Pity then if we might not +avenge him. +</P> + +<P> +This I had said, when another whistle from the river bank arrested my +attention and sent me back to Bardot. +</P> + +<P> +He still lay behind the bush which concealed us, and his hand was +raised in warning. When I rejoined him he pulled me down, and speaking +in a deep whisper, he bade me listen. A boat was being rowed across +the river. We saw it plainly in the moonlight—a great, crazy tub with +a frail girl for its pilot. It touched the bank some fifty yards from +the place where we lay hidden, and instantly the girl leapt from it and +disappeared in the brushwood. +</P> + +<P> +"Valerie St. Antoine, by all that is holy!" said I. +</P> + +<P> +The mystery was deepening truly, but we were nearer to it now, and +without a word spoken we strode toward the deserted boat and +immediately began to pull across the river. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IV +</H4> + +<P> +Meanwhile what of Léon, and what had happened to him since he left +Moscow? I shall try to tell you in a few words, that you may +understand both his situation and ours, and the meaning of what was to +come after. +</P> + +<P> +The letter he had received was such as a soldier of the Guard is well +acquainted with, and he discovered in it nothing out of the ordinary. +</P> + +<P> +A pretty woman had fallen in love with him and desired to see him +again. There must have been two hundred who had done that since he +quitted Paris, yet few who drew from him so swift a response. +</P> + +<P> +Was not Mademoiselle Valerie a fellow-countrywoman, and had not these +two looked into each other's eyes as lovers are wont to do? +</P> + +<P> +I remembered the impression she had made upon him in the prince's +palace, and how he had sworn to hunt her out at Moscow; and I for one +could not wonder that his heart leapt when she wrote to him and named a +rendezvous to his liking. +</P> + +<P> +He was to dine with her, the letter said, and her carriage would carry +him to the barracks afterwards. He little knew the kind of journey +that it was meant to be, nor what would lie under the tarpaulin which +the assassins had made ready for him. +</P> + +<P> +So off goes our gay cavalier, dressed in his best and as cock-a-hoop as +a page-boy who has been kissed by a duchess. +</P> + +<P> +The warnings he received fell on deaf ears. He knew that the regiment +had lost good officers who went out upon just such a foolish errand as +this; but they had gone to Russian houses, while Valerie was a +Frenchwoman who bore an honoured name. There could be nothing to fear +in such society. He would dine with her and tell her what she most +desired to hear. This was a Guardsman's proper employment, and he +would not be doing his duty if he shirked it. To give him his due, +Léon was rarely remiss in these matters. +</P> + +<P> +So you will understand why he did not suspect anything—even when they +drove through the wood and came to the drawbridge. She would desire +secrecy, of course, and this place appeared to be a very citadel of +love. Léon merely remarked that aspect of it when he crossed the +bridge and the great gate which Ivan the Terrible had built was shut +upon him. +</P> + +<P> +She would be alone, and he would find her complacent. The words were +hardly said when he found himself face to face with Nicholas, the +princely assassin, whose name had struck terror to the heart of many a +French prisoner. Now a man trained to the surprises of war has some +command of himself whatever the circumstances. +</P> + +<P> +Léon was such a man, and you may be sure he did not betray himself. +</P> + +<P> +Though the peril of the situation was now fully revealed, and he +understood the trap into which he had fallen, what should he do but bow +in a grand manner to his Highness, and declare his pleasure at that +<I>rencontre</I>? The prince in his turn affected to be as agreeably +surprised. He apologised for the absence of Mademoiselle Valerie, whom +he declared to be confined to her room with an indisposition; and upon +that he led the way immediately to the great apartment in which the +supper was to be served. +</P> + +<P> +This was nothing else than the round tower which Ivan had built, and a +strange place it was, surely, for the entertainment of a man's friends. +Léon observed that the walls of the apartment were hung entirely in +black velvet, while at the northern arch there was a platform similarly +draped in black, but with its plain boards strewn with rushes, as they +strew a scaffold in my own country. So ominous was this that even my +nephew's sang-froid was hard put to it to forbear a remark; but the +prince smiled affably all the time, and appeared to be quite unaware +that there was anything extraordinary about this habitation. Léon +admitted that he spoke French like a fellow-countryman, and his first +act was to introduce my nephew to some dozen officers of the Russian +Guard who had come to the house to make merry with him. +</P> + +<P> +These were fine fellows, clad, as he, in the splendid white and gold +uniform of the Tsar's cuirassiers. They welcomed a brother officer +with professed cordiality, and the prince commanding that supper should +be served, they turned with one accord to the table and began to fall +upon the viands as though ravenous with hunger. Will you be surprised +to hear that Léon did not imitate them in this? I shall tell you why +in a word: he had seen a dead body in the straw upon the platform, and, +looking at it a second time, he perceived that it was a trunk without a +head. +</P> + +<P> +You may imagine what this discovery meant—even to a man of Léon's +disposition. At first he would have it that the whole thing was one of +Nicholas's jokes—the draping of the room, the straw upon the mock +scaffold, and the ghastly figure which the rushes tried to hide. Then +he remembered the prince's evil reputation and the stories of his +savagery, which had been told at many a bivouac. Here was one of those +fanatics who believed that Moscow was the holy city, and that we, the +French, were so many barbarians who had profaned the sacred shrine of +Russia. No trick was too treacherous to be employed against us, no +trap was not justified which had Frenchmen for its object. Again and +again, as we had marched across Russia, the throats of our fellows had +been cut in many a lonely farmhouse, and many a courtesan had lured +honest men to their destruction. +</P> + +<P> +So Léon sat there with his eyes fixed upon the body and the secret +words of warning drumming in his ears. What hope had he of escape from +such a place? He remembered the moat and the drawbridge, the lonely +wood and the dark groves about it, and despair fell upon him. It +remained but to die as the Guards know how; and, believing that his +death was imminent, he refused no longer the goblets of wine which were +offered to him, and affected a merriment as loud as that of the noble +assassins who had entrapped him. +</P> + +<P> +A remarkable feast, truly, as you shall: judge by his own account of +it. The meats! were served on dishes of solid gold; the goblets were +of the same precious metal. They drank champagne from our own kingdom +of France; the rich red wines of Italy, while the joyous fruits of the +Rhineland vineyards were not lacking. The food itself had an Eastern +flavour, and many of the dishes were highly spiced and Eastern. For +music there were fiddles in a gallery above, and even the distant +voices of women singing a light chanson at the back of the stage. +</P> + +<P> +Léon raised his eyes to the musicians' gallery from time to time, and +fell to wondering if Valerie were among the singers. Surely she had +never written the letter which brought him to this house—she, a +Frenchwoman! He could not believe it; and yet the note had been in a +woman's handwriting. Possibly the writer was one of those who now sang +disreputable songs behind the curtains of the gallery. Léon pitied +rather than condemned the poor wretch who had been the prince's +instrument. When he remembered that Valerie loved this man he could +have taken a knife from the table and killed him where he sat. +</P> + +<P> +His Highness may have guessed what was in the young man's mind, but if +he did so, a courtly art concealed it. Never was there a gayer +companion. He told stories of all the cities to which peace or war had +carried him—of our own Paris and gloomy Petersburg, of gay Vienna and +that monstrously dull town of London, of which the English boast. +Nearly all concerned the women of these places and the successes he had +had among them. +</P> + +<P> +His companions meanwhile listened with a deference which so high a +personage commanded. Their jokes were often <I>sotto voce</I>, and when the +prince laughed they laughed in sycophantine imitation. With all this +Léon plainly perceived that the feast was but a preparation for some +greater scene to come. His eyes went often now to the curtain above +the gallery, as though he would read a secret there. I do not think he +was astonished when for one brief instant the same curtain trembled and +was drawn a little way back, to disclose the face of Valerie. She was +in the house, then, after all! He began to believe that she had +written the letter, and for that he would have strangled her willingly. +Then he heard the prince speaking to him, and, the curtain being +dropped back, he turned to listen to a disquisition upon French +politics. +</P> + +<P> +"Your Revolution," said his Highness, "was the greatest event in +history. I have just been telling my friend, Count Rafalovitch here, +that my father was in Paris in the year 1794, and that his dearest +friend, the Chevalier Constantini, was executed by the miscreants on +the Place de la Grève. He brought with him to Russia a model of the +guillotine, by which so many of your great men perished. I have it +here in this house, if you are curious to see it. It was made by the +great Dr. Guillotin himself, one of the first to fall by his own +invention, as you know. Shall we have it built up on yonder platform, +M. le Capitaine? It will help us to pass the time until the musicians +have refreshed themselves." +</P> + +<P> +Now, all this was said pleasantly enough, as though it were the +merriest of jests, and yet to Léon it was not without significance. +The cat-like manner of the speaker; the sudden lust of blood which came +into his eyes as he leaned over the table and addressed my nephew; the +restless movements of the others round about; all betrayed a design so +dastardly that no pretence could conceal it. Instantly it dawned upon +Léon that the man whose body lay in the rushes had been murdered by +that very instrument. Death no Guardsman fears, but the humiliation of +such a death as this might have appalled the stoutest heart; and Léon +believed now that they meant to kill him. He drained the heavy goblet +of its wine to hide his face from those who watched him so curiously, +and when he had set the goblet down there was a smile upon his lips. +</P> + +<P> +"I should like to see it, by all means," he said to the prince. "It is +odd that I, a Frenchman, am so ignorant, but, upon my word of honour, I +have never met 'Dr. Guillotine' in all my life." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you shall meet him now," said his Highness, and touching a bell +upon the table, he summoned his servants to the room. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +V +</H4> + +<P> +Sergeant Bardot and myself, meanwhile, had crossed the river, as you +may well have guessed. We found the tub old and crazy, and were but +poor watermen. Yet we reached the parapet upon the farther side, and +clambering up, we stood and listened if any had discovered us. The +sentry, however, made no motion, and perceiving that he was drunk, as +we had imagined, we crept towards him and were upon him before he could +utter a sound. A moment later he went, a cloth about his mouth, +headlong into the moat below us, and we stood there watching his +struggles, his musket in Bardot's hands. +</P> + +<P> +It had been a swift coup, and some have complained of what we did. But +remember that this was a Russian stronghold, and that it imprisoned a +good comrade, and few will condemn us. It was our life or his, and we +did not hesitate for Léon's sake. I would do the same to-morrow for +the meanest trooper in the Emperor's army. +</P> + +<P> +I say that we killed the man, and yet for the moment the deed did not +help us. There was the great gate, shut and barred against the +stranger, and twenty men might not have opened it. If we beat upon it +and they answered us, what then? The house would be full of Russians, +and we were but two against them. By a stratagem alone could we save +Léon's life, and calling upon our wits, we began to make a tour of the +house to spy out its weaknesses if we could. +</P> + +<P> +These were not readily apparent. Even to an old soldier like Bardot +the place seemed impregnable. Everywhere the rugged stone walls +confronted us. There was no door other than that which the sentry had +guarded. The windows were so many slits in those ramparts of stone. +There was not even a water-pipe upon which a man could have got a +foothold. We could but stand there and gaze impotently upon that +prison which had defied the centuries. It was a torture to me to +remember that these impregnable walls answered for the liberty of one +so dear to me as my nephew. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VI +</H4> + +<P> +I have told you that there had been a glimmer of light shining from a +loop-hole in the tower when first we drove up to the place. It was +beneath this we came to a halt and stood to reckon with the situation. +Bardot's eyes were quick as an animal's, and it was he who perceived a +second opening in the wall, but not so high as the other, and without a +light beyond to disclose it. When he suggested that he should climb up +on my shoulders and get a footing at this spot, I could but ask him +what he hoped to effect thereby. +</P> + +<P> +"Had you a rope," said I, "perchance we could look through the window, +but since you have not a rope——" +</P> + +<P> +He interrupted me with a little cry. "Major," says he, "there was a +rope in the boat." +</P> + +<P> +I retorted that we had used it to make the ship fast, but he laughed at +that. +</P> + +<P> +"We shall return by the drawbridge," says he. "Do you stand sentinel +here, and I will get what we want." And with that he was off like a +shot, and for some minutes I saw him no more. +</P> + +<P> +The interval was spent in listening to a sound of distant music, which +I could not hear very plainly. There were women's voices and the music +of fiddles, and it seemed to me that I had heard some of their songs in +the casinos of my own Paris. Such a surprise was very welcome and put +heart into me. Léon could hardly be in peril while women were singing +to him. I told Bardot as much when he returned, and his curiosity +concerning the voices was not less than my own. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us have a look at them," says he. And with that he climbed upon +my shoulders, and throwing the rope he had brought from the boat deftly +about the iron bar of the window he pulled himself up like a monkey, +and so gained a foothold on the ledge. +</P> + +<P> +For a long time now he did not utter a word. I thought that I heard +him laughing softly, and then, of a sudden, he appeared to grow deeply +interested in what was happening in the room. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you see, Bardot?" I asked him, anxiety getting the better of +me. +</P> + +<P> +He did not reply, but peered the closer betwixt the bars. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" cried I impatiently, "there will be some woman for a certainty." +</P> + +<P> +His answer was to take a pistol from his belt and to look to the +priming. I could see him quite clearly, one arm being about the iron +bar and the other upon the trigger, which he had cocked. +</P> + +<P> +"Good God!" I cried. "You will bring them out on us." +</P> + +<P> +He did not heed me, but throwing his head back, he said in a loud +whisper: "They are going to butcher your nephew." At the same moment I +heard a dreadful scream from the tower itself. +</P> + +<P> +"Help me up!" cried I, gone mad at my own impotence. "Why do you not +fire at them?" +</P> + +<P> +He nodded his head, and thrusting his pistol through the bars, he +snapped at an unseen enemy. The weapon did not fire, and he threw it +down to me angrily. "Your own," he cried, and came a little way down +the rope to reach it. +</P> + +<P> +The next minute there was a loud report, and upon that a hollow sound, +as though a great bell had been struck a heavy blow by a hammer. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," cried Bardot quickly, "to the bridge!" +</P> + +<P> +I did not question him, and we ran round together to fling down the +bridge, the windlass running out with the sound of a great ship's +cable. It seemed inconceivable that the Russians in the place did not +attack us. This, however, did not happen. +</P> + +<P> +We ran across the bridge and there crouched as two hunters who +themselves were hunted. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen!" says Bardot, bending his ear to the earth. +</P> + +<P> +I imitated him, and heard a strange sound. It was the thunder of +cavalry through the wood. +</P> + +<P> +"The Cossacks!" cried I. It seemed to me then that I should never see +poor Léon again. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VII +</H4> + +<P> +Within the tower the prince was now introducing my nephew to "Dr. +Guillotine." +</P> + +<P> +All the resources of a barbarous masquerade were employed in this sorry +entertainment. +</P> + +<P> +The stage itself would have served for a miniature Théâtre Français. +Brawny Cossacks, clad like the <I>sansculottes</I> of the Revolution, +swarmed up on the mock scaffold and cried curses upon their prisoner. +The executioner was a huge Tartar with a monstrous black beard and a +knife at his girdle. The knitting women of the Place de la Grève were +not forgotten. A bevy of hags squatted about the platform and pointed +their lean fingers at the miserable prisoner. +</P> + +<P> +Had Léon a doubt hitherto as to the meaning of this foul business, it +must have surrendered at the moment when he recognised one of his old +troopers among the mock condemned, and perceived that the Russians +meant to kill him. +</P> + +<P> +Leaping to his feet, he cried an oath upon the outrage and commanded +them to stop. +</P> + +<P> +It was a vain outburst. Two of the prince's men had him by the arms at +the first movement and pinned him to his chair, while his Highness +derided his courage. +</P> + +<P> +"Here is a French Guardsman who has a woman's heart," said he, his +fellows shouting with ironic laughter at the sally. "We give him a +little play, such as we have seen in Paris, and behold! he is ready to +faint. A glass of wine, Michael, for the poor gentleman! Do you not +see how ill he is?" +</P> + +<P> +A goblet of wine was offered to and spurned by my nephew. He perceived +that he was helpless and that the reputation of the Guards lay in his +keeping. It remained to bear himself with what dignity he could, and +turning to the prince, he exclaimed very coolly: "I apologise to your +Highness, for it is not possible that you can be in earnest." And so +he watched the drama to the end. +</P> + +<P> +They had now dragged the struggling hussar to the plank of the +guillotine and thrown and bound him there. Very deliberately they +pushed him beneath the great knife, and then, all crying "Death to the +French!" the blade fell and silenced for ever the shrieks of the +unhappy wretch they had butchered. +</P> + +<P> +Léon declares that from this moment Prince Nicholas was little better +than a madman. His cries of "Bravo!" were such as the insane might +have uttered. Clutching my nephew by the arm, he dragged him to the +scaffold, saying: +</P> + +<P> +"You do not know 'Dr. Guillotine'? Come and be introduced, then. Come +and hear his music. You are a Frenchman and ignorant? Impossible, my +friend, impossible." +</P> + +<P> +So he raved, while all in the room took up the cry of "Impossible!" and +began to shout and dance in their drunken frenzy like madmen. +</P> + +<P> +Léon fought for his life then as he had never fought before in all wars +our Emperor has waged. A strong man, he threw even the Cossacks from +him, struck them senseless with any weapon that came to his hands, and +was up and down like a cork upon a billow; but all useless, as you may +well imagine. +</P> + +<P> +When they got him to the scaffold he knew that his hour had come, and a +great calm possessed him. +</P> + +<P> +"I congratulate the Prince of the Assassins," said he to his Highness. +"It is only in such a country as this that the butchers are ennobled." +And with that he walked straight towards the executioner and held out +his hands. +</P> + +<P> +The man seized him as though he were a sheep. The prince himself began +to raise the knife by the rope and to caress its gleaming edge. Surely +Léon had but a moment to live. He thought as much, and a passionate +desire for life set him trembling. That he, so young, he whom so many +loved, he to whom day was so fair a thing and the night but a witchery +of woman's eyes—that he should perish here, butchered by the insane in +an hour of their frenzy! God surely would not permit such a crime as +that! Alas! he had forgotten how to pray these many years, and he but +stood there, defying them as any one of his Majesty's Guards would have +done. +</P> + +<P> +"Assassins!" he cried; and then, as a challenge: "There is not one of +you that would dare to cross swords with me!" +</P> + +<P> +They but laughed at him the more, and the prince now pulled the knife +so high that all in the room could see it. He was still laughing; but +some glimmer of reason had come to him, and that spirit of vengeance +which animated him could no longer be denied. +</P> + +<P> +"You murdered twenty thousand honest people with your guillotine in +Paris," says he to Léon, as though a hussar of the year 1812 could be +responsible for what was done in Paris twenty years before. "Now you +must come here to burn the Holy City. Very well; we are going to teach +you a lesson." +</P> + +<P> +He turned to the executioner, and giving him the sign, the wretch threw +Léon upon the plank. +</P> + +<P> +It was then that Bardot, at the window, fired his pistol and struck the +great bell high in the tower above. How much would I have given could +I have been at his side at that moment. All that I heard were the loud +shouts of surprise, the cries of one man to the other that this was an +ambush, and, above all, the prince's screams when the great knife fell +and severed his arm at the elbow as neatly as any surgeon could have +done. +</P> + +<P> +Such was the truth. At the moment of the alarm Prince Nicholas had +loosed the rope, and, trying to catch it again, he stumbled forward and +the great blade caught him by the elbow, and his hand and arm went +rolling to the floor. +</P> + +<P> +With a loud cry Léon now wrenched himself from his executioners. All +were making for the gate of the tower, for they believed that the +French were upon them, and no man thought of anything but his own +safety. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VIII +</H4> + +<P> +Bardot and myself believed that the Cossacks were galloping to the +place, and we lay in the shadow of the bridge, hardly daring to breathe +lest the Russians in the house should discover us. When the latter +came headlong out of the tower this alarm seemed unnecessary, for it +was plain they were making for the forest. +</P> + +<P> +"In five minutes," I said, "they will meet their fellows and all return +again to the butchery." +</P> + +<P> +I little knew that Valerie St. Antoine had found the droshky in the +wood, and commanding the driver in the name of Prince Nicholas, had +driven at full gallop to the barracks to bring help to her countrymen. +</P> + +<P> +Such was the case, however, and the men who now rode to Ivan's Tower +were of Léon's own troop; honest fellows who swore a bitter vengeance +while they rode. They fell upon the Russians at the heart of the wood, +and what they did there is best told at a bivouac. I went immediately +to the tower and looked there for my nephew. +</P> + +<P> +When I found him he lay senseless upon the scaffold, and at first I +thought he was dead. The Guard, however, is obstinate in refusing to +die, and when we had forced brandy between his lips and had bathed his +forehead, he opened his eyes and asked where he was. +</P> + +<P> +This I feared to tell him, but presently he sat up and looked about him. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" he said, "I remember." And then he asked: "Where is Valerie St. +Antoine?" +</P> + +<P> +"She should be in Moscow by this time," said I. "Why do you ask?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because," said he, "I am still looking for her, mon oncle." +</P> + +<P> +I shook my head. It seemed to me that the young woman in question had +proved herself to be but the harbinger of ill. And yet I could see +that my nephew's mind was made up, and that what he had done to-night +he would do again if Valerie St. Antoine did but lift her pretty hand +to beckon him. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE TREASURE IN THE WOODS +</H4> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H4> + +<P> +It was on the 18th day of October in the year 1812 that we first heard +of His Majesty's intention to abandon Moscow. +</P> + +<P> +This came to us as a very great surprise. +</P> + +<P> +It is true that we had had a terrible time in the city, which was now +become a ruin, the convicts having burned down a great part of it; but +we had learned to make the best of affairs and what with our plunder +and our pleasures the time went merrily enough. I myself was perhaps +the hardest-worked man in the regiment. So many people were burned by +the fires in Moscow, so many were injured in the street brawls, that +the hospitals were quite full, and I rarely knew a moment of leisure. +</P> + +<P> +My nephew, Captain Léon, was situated very differently. There was +hardly a day that he did not tell me of some new adventure with a +woman, and when I would reproach him he reminded me that I had been +young myself and should know the habits of a soldier better. +</P> + +<P> +This was in Moscow after Valerie St. Antoine had done us so great a +service upon a memorable night. Though Léon watched for her and +offered five hundred francs to any man who would tell him of her +whereabouts, he never saw her again while we were in the city, and when +we did meet her this great army of ours was but a skeleton. +</P> + +<P> +How little we foresaw the doom awaiting us when we quitted Moscow on +that sunny October day! +</P> + +<P> +Everything went as merry as a marriage bell then. We knew that we were +returning to our own France and we cared not a scudo for the reason. +The Emperor, we said, had been too much for these wily Russians, and +they had surrendered everything. The truth was far otherwise—it was +the Russians who had been too clever for us, and burning down their +beautiful city, had left us to a woeful fate. Of this I am now about +to speak to you. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H4> + +<P> +The story begins with a woman, as it began aforetime when we entered +the city. +</P> + +<P> +There had been three days of beautiful weather when we of the Guard +rode in fine spirits toward our own country and gave no thought but to +the plunder we were carrying out of Russia. +</P> + +<P> +I myself had many a good thing in the wagon, and I remember well a +great gold plate set with diamonds, which had been torn from Ivan's +Cross when we tried to pull it down from the cathedral in the Kremlin. +</P> + +<P> +The men themselves were loaded with pretty trinkets, and carried furs +enough to clothe Paris. The costliest skins—ermine and sable and lion +and bear—were used for every conceivable purpose; and it is no wonder +that the army was followed by thousands of Jews, waiting to buy these +treasures when their owners should be weary of them. +</P> + +<P> +Truly would I say that such a scene as our exit from Moscow was never +written before in the story of warfare, nor will ever be written again. +</P> + +<P> +Imagine a great white wooded plain, a sandy road at the heart of it, +and upon this road an interminable procession of carts and wagons to +carry the baggage of the Grand Army. +</P> + +<P> +Upon either side in the fields go cavalry and infantry, every man's +knapsack packed with loot, the commonest troopers sucking the rarest +liqueurs from costly bottles, the poorest fellows smoking pipes with +bowls of gold and tobacco that only princes should have been able to +afford. All was hope and gaiety. Paris lay twelve hundred leagues +from us, yet to Paris and our homes we were going. Who shall wonder if +the trumpets blew a merry blast and the bands set our feet dancing? +Was not the Emperor in our midst, and should we not return in a blaze +of glory? +</P> + +<P> +In such content we marched for three days. There was not much +discipline observed, and the men were permitted to go pretty well as +they pleased, it being always understood that the dreaded Cossacks were +on our flank and that any foolhardiness might bring a disaster upon us. +This kept the stragglers more or less in touch with the main body of +the army; but sometimes we officers would ride away into the woods to +see what kind of hospitality we could find at a country house and to +enjoy it according to our opportunities. +</P> + +<P> +It was on such an occasion that Léon and I first met Zayde, and came +near to losing our lives because of her. I must tell you of this +before going on to speak of the other days which followed, when the +north wind began to blow and all that wide landscape lay under its veil +of the cruel snow. +</P> + +<P> +We had been riding through a shady wood about a mile from the high road +to Smolensk. Someone had discovered that there was a famous old +monastery in the district noted for its hospitality; and although we +expected little from any Russian monk, we were quite able to help +ourselves should the opportunity be offered. This quest carried us +farther and farther away from our comrades, until at last we appeared +to have lost the road altogether, and to be as far away from any +monastery as ever we were in all our lives. My own thought was for +going back immediately, but the younger head would hear nothing of it, +and my nephew protested loudly that I was becoming a coward. +</P> + +<P> +"It is the good living in Moscow that has destroyed your nerve, uncle," +said he. "How could we be better off than we are in this place? Soft +grass to gallop on, shady trees above, and the sun shining as though it +were mid-summer in our own France. We shall come to the monastery +presently, and they will give us wine that Adam brewed. There will be +plenty of loot to add to our saddle-bags, and perhaps there will be +sisters to comfort us. Why should we go back? The road is over there +any time we have a fancy to rejoin it." +</P> + +<P> +I retorted by reminding him that the Cossacks were out, and that we +might encounter them at any time. More than once I thought that I +heard a distant sound of galloping, and I drew rein to call his +attention to it. But he would not listen to me, and still riding +southwards, as it seemed, he pulled up at length and cried in real +astonishment: +</P> + +<P> +"Why, uncle, what did I tell you? Here is Cleopatra herself and her +treasures with her, as I am alive!" +</P> + +<P> +I came up to him and saw what had arrested his attention. There was a +deep pit before us and in it a Cossack and a woman. The former sprang +up at our coming, and drawing a pistol from his belt, he snapped it at +Léon's head. Happily the powder did not fire, and seeing that we were +two to one, the fellow hurled the weapon at my nephew's horse and +immediately bolted for the shelter of the woods. +</P> + +<P> +So we were alone with the lady and her treasure, and this, at a modest +estimate, must have been worth half a million of francs. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H4> + +<P> +I have never seen such riches spread in a green wood before, nor am I +likely to do so if I live to a hundred years. +</P> + +<P> +Consisting of jewels chiefly, there were other objects there and all +precious beyond words. +</P> + +<P> +Great ropes of Eastern pearls, diamonds and emeralds; Indian images in +solid gold; the most wonderful robes of ermine and sable; jewelled +scabbards that should have come from Damascus—all these lay littered +upon the grass by the side of the impassive woman, who now looked at us +with the eyes of a child and uttered no word either of protest or of +appeal. +</P> + +<P> +Certainly she was a remarkably beautiful creature. +</P> + +<P> +Not more than seventeen years of age, she had hair as golden as the +sands of the sea, the white skin of the Circassian and the dark eyes of +the Persian beauty. +</P> + +<P> +Her dress was an odd compromise between the East and the West. +</P> + +<P> +She had baggy breeches of blue silk, high riding-boots of Russian +leather, a white and gold coat to her waist, and the kepi of the +Austrian hussar. Over all she wore a superb cloak of ermine which +would have brought a fortune could it have been sold in our own Paris. +</P> + +<P> +Such was the apparition which confronted us in that lonely wood. +</P> + +<P> +Needless to say that we were both greatly moved by it; Léon chiefly, I +fear, by the girl's big eyes; I by the wonders of the treasure which +lay about her. To go down into the pit and to introduce ourselves was +the work of an instant. Léon told her briefly that he was a French +officer, and he begged leave to protect her. To this she answered not +a word; but I could see that she was not displeased, and presently with +a child's laugh she dragged him down beside her. +</P> + +<P> +I know Léon so well, and have seen so many women fall a victim to his +pleasing airs that this act did not surprise me as much as it should +have done. None the less, I was astonished when presently the girl +bade me sit also, and turning to one of the great bags beside her, she +produced food and wine and set it before us. +</P> + +<P> +The odd thing was that she could not speak a word of any language with +which we tried her. +</P> + +<P> +Of Russian I had learned a few sentences during our stay in Moscow, and +German I spoke with some fluency; but neither the one nor the other was +the slightest use; nor, need I say, had she any French. Thus we came +to signs and mouthing, in which my nephew appeared to be so proficient +that he was kissing her within twenty minutes of the encounter and +hugging her like a bear before the meal was done. +</P> + +<P> +Well, we finished the meal, and then, pointing to the wood, indicated +to the girl that we must go. She had tried to tell us her name, which +we made out to be something like Zoida or Zayde, and we asked her as +well as we could to accompany us on our road and let us help her with +the treasure. The astonishing thing was that she appeared almost +indifferent to the existence of the latter, laughing like a child when +we pointed to it, and throwing the diamonds about as though they had +been pebbles. This angered me, for I saw the worth of the stuff; and +presently, speaking in a wrathful tone, I commanded her to pack the +things in the box from which they had been taken and to follow us. The +new turn appeared to alarm her not a little, and she sat crouching +there like a frightened gnome while Léon and I put the things in their +cases and began to pack them upon our horses. How they came to be in +that remote wood we knew no more than the dead; but it would clearly +have been a crime to leave them there, and indeed we had not gone many +paces upon the road before the secret of their presence was discovered. +</P> + +<P> +There was at an open glade of the forest a kind of amphitheatre crossed +by a road to some southern town. +</P> + +<P> +A wrecked coach stood at the junction, and all about it were the signs +of a bloody combat. +</P> + +<P> +I had been riding before the others at this particular moment, and my +horse nearly stumbled over the body of an elderly man who had been shot +in the head and his brains blown out. Near by lay his coachman, +stabbed in many places and quite dead. Of the horses of the coach +there was not a trace, and it was now plain to me that the treasure had +come from it, and that this elderly man had been escaping southward +when the robbers overtook him. Naturally I turned to the girl and +began to question her angrily. She merely shook her head and shut her +eyes, as though afraid to look upon the corpse. It was to say that she +had had no hand in that bloody affair, and so much I could readily +believe. +</P> + +<P> +"Good heavens!" said I to Léon, "what an infamy, and more than that, +what a mystery!" +</P> + +<P> +He did not agree with me at all. A ready instinct told him what had +happened. +</P> + +<P> +"The carriage stuck in the sand yonder," said he. "The servants went +for horses to a neighbouring farm. This girl here may have been with +them as a servant or she may not. The fellow who murdered them was the +one we found with her in the wood. It is as simple as an open book, my +dear uncle." +</P> + +<P> +"Then," said I, "we will write the end of the story. Of course we must +wait until the others return." +</P> + +<P> +"What?" cried he; "with the night coming down and the Cossacks in the +woods! That would be madness indeed, my uncle." +</P> + +<P> +And then he added with a laugh, "The old gentleman is in heaven and is +in no need of diamonds. We shall know very well what to do with them +when we get in Paris. Let us make haste before we are discovered." +</P> + +<P> +He did not wait for me to reply, but holding the girl close to him on +the saddle he trotted on through the wood, and I followed him +reluctantly. +</P> + +<P> +We were as rich as Croesus, yet how we were going to get out of the +forest, where we should find the army, or what chance we had of +carrying our treasure to Paris, I knew no more than the dead. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IV +</H4> + +<P> +The way now lay through a wide avenue—one of the most beautiful I had +seen in Russia. The grass lay smooth and green, and bore no trace of +the relentless summer. We might have been in the precincts of some +princely chateau, and we were not at all surprised presently when we +came upon a considerable building which had all the air of one of those +picturesque monasteries in which Russia abounds. Had we any doubt of +this, a great gilt dome with a Greek cross high above it would have +settled it; for never have I seen a more beautiful object than this +golden ball glistening amid the woods as though its heart were of fire, +while a celestial radiance shone all about it. To Léon, however, it +merely stood for a place whereat we might get food and drink. +</P> + +<P> +"These monks are very decent fellows," he said; "they know how to +entertain strangers. The regiment will bivouac not far from here, and +we may just as well stay the night in yonder building as sleep in a +mouldy barn. Cheer up, uncle, and think of the good wine you are about +to drink. It's the luckiest thing that could have happened to us." +</P> + +<P> +I looked at the girl in his arms and wondered if he spoke truly. +</P> + +<P> +We were now within a quarter of a mile of the building and could see a +portcullis and a gate from which men on horseback were riding out. +When they approached nearer it was plain that they were the servants of +the dead man whose body lay in the woods behind us; and observing this +we drew aside behind the trees to let them pass. It was evident that +they had told the story of their trouble to the good monks in yonder +building; and some of the latter, clad in brown habits with white cords +about their waists, were going down to their assistance. +</P> + +<P> +I noticed that the servants were five in number and were all heavily +armed. Obviously they must have been men of little sense to have left +their master alone with a bandit in such a place and so to have +contributed to his death. The same idea occurred to Léon, who did not +fail to point out to me the nature of the peril from which he had saved +the girl, who now lay trembling in his arms. +</P> + +<P> +"They would have cut her to pieces if we had not come up," said he. +"We are doing a work of mercy, mon oncle, in saving her from them. Let +us get on to the monastery and tell our own story. Of course we know +nothing of any carriage or its owners; we are just officers of the +Grand Army, and if we are not treated properly our comrades will see to +it. I count it very fortunate that things have turned out so. We +shall get an excellent dinner and a good night's rest, and to-morrow we +shall be with the regiment again. Could anything be better?" +</P> + +<P> +He seemed well pleased enough, and I did not know what answer to make +to him. As for the Eastern woman, common sense said that he would send +her about her business in the morning; but not until he had made sure +that she could go in safety. These things pertain to war, and it is +not possible to disguise them. Léon was just as fifty thousand others +who marched at the Emperor's summons, neither better nor worse; and if +there be any excuse to be made for him, it is that he had a sentiment +towards the sex which was rarely lacking in nobility. +</P> + +<P> +"Let no man consider himself happy until he is dead," said I, imitating +the philosopher; and with that I pressed on at his side until we came +to the gate of the monastery, and nothing remained but to tell our +story to the good monks within. This was easier than might have +seemed, for they had no word of our own tongue and we none of theirs. +It was a matter of gesture from the beginning, and in this we excelled +them without question. But first let me speak of the building we now +entered. +</P> + +<P> +The monastery covered some three acres of ground. There were a few +tilled fields about it and a considerable courtyard in the Eastern +fashion. The chapel was a rude imitation of the Church of St. Ivan at +Moscow, and had a similar cross, though of smaller size, upon its +gilded dome. +</P> + +<P> +The whole enclosure had been heavily walled about as a protection +against any raiding bands of brigands; and there were even ancient +cannon upon its battlement. Although lacking a moat, there was a big +pool or lake before its main gate, and this was spanned by a primitive +bridge with a portcullis beyond it. Here we found the keeper of the +gate, a sturdy bearded monk, filthy in aspect if servile in manner. He +seemed not a little awed by our uniform and equipment, but when he +caught sight of the girl on Léon's saddle, a broad grin animated his +features and he no longer delayed to open. +</P> + +<P> +So we rode into a small courtyard and there tethered our horses. The +chapel lay to the south of this, and there came to us rude sounds of +Gregorian chanting, which is the fashion in their Church, and very +melodious when executed by the best singers. Those who now recited the +sacred office were not of such a class, and their barbarous voices +suggested that we were in Araby rather than in civilised Europe. This, +however, did not concern us. Our desire was for food and shelter, and +following a monk into a vast refectory we signified our wants to him +and commanded him to satisfy them. In his turn he did not appear +unwilling to oblige us, and motioning us to sit at the table, he went +from the refectory and left us alone. +</P> + +<P> +Now I should tell you that the girl Zayde had entered this monastery +with some reluctance, and in spite of Léon's endearments she seemed +very ill at ease while we remained there. Léon, on the other hand, had +found his best spirit, and was in the mood for any adventure which +might come to him. Perhaps the church and the habit suggested the +absurdity on which he now set his heart, for, turning to me suddenly, +he said: +</P> + +<P> +"How now, my uncle, is not this the very place for a wedding? What +would you say if I told you that I was going to marry Zayde? Is she +not beautiful enough? Look at her and tell me honestly what you think." +</P> + +<P> +I answered that he was making a fool of himself and bade him be silent. +The girl half understood his meaning, I think, for the colour came and +went from her pretty face, and she watched him with eyes that plainly +acquiesced in any such determination. None the less his words offended +me, and I did not wish to hear them repeated. Though these monks were +not of my own religion, I respected them, and would not have profaned +their holy building. So much Léon must have learned from my looks, for +he slapped me gaily upon the shoulder and said that I was not born to +be a jester. +</P> + +<P> +"What is marriage, my uncle?" he asked. "A few words gabbled by the +priest, and neither the one nor the other caring a pin's point about +them. Why should I not marry Zayde? She is young, and, I will wager, +well born. I am a bachelor and free to do what I please. What is +there to prevent my making her my wife if I choose?" +</P> + +<P> +I rejoined that he had said the same thing of Valerie St. Antoine, and +at the mention of her name he flushed and became a little serious. +</P> + +<P> +"Valerie St. Antoine is dead," said he; "why do you remind me of her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because in my hearing you swore to her to marry no other woman." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, my dear uncle, how easily one imposes upon you!" And at the same +thought he burst out laughing, and catching the girl in his arms, he +kissed her as though she were already much more to him than an +acquaintance of the roadside. +</P> + +<P> +It was at this point that the monk returned to us, followed by many of +his brethren. They were all rugged men, bearded and of evil +countenance, and I perceived in a moment that they recognised us for +what we were—the enemies and the invaders of their country. Not a +sign of hospitality did we detect upon any one countenance in that +formidable group. They swarmed about us as though willing enough to do +us a mischief if they dared, and so threatening became their manner +that we both drew our swords, and Léon a pistol as well. +</P> + +<P> +This put a new complexion on the affair. The most part of them now +stood back a little, while their prior, a venerable man with a great +gold cross on his breast, held out his hands as though in supplication +and addressed us rapidly in the Russian tongue. When he discovered +that we could only answer him in monosyllables he made a gesture of +despair, and turning to the keeper of the refectory, he gave him an +order whose nature was soon apparent. The fellow left the room, but +returned anon with three flagons of their native wine and some vast +loaves of black bread, which seems to be the only sort procurable in +this God-forsaken country. These viands were set upon the table and we +were bidden to eat and drink, while the monks stood about and watched +us very curiously. +</P> + +<P> +I have told you that all these faces were strangely alike, as is ever +the case when men are old and bearded and of the same nationality. One +face, however, struck me as familiar. It was that of a young monk who +tried to hide himself amid his brethren, but when I would have verified +my suspicions, he turned his back upon me and left the room without +remark. The others continued to force their meagre hospitalities upon +us, offering the wine freely, but keeping it, I observed, from the girl +at their side. She, indeed, appeared to be <I>anathema maranatha</I> to +these holy men. Perhaps it was the first time that a woman had ever +sat to bread in their refectory; but however it may have been, it was +grotesque to find them afraid so much as to touch the hem of her +garment, and as curious about her as though she had been a wild animal +in a menagerie. +</P> + +<P> +Their antics made Léon laugh incontinently, and his laughter was shared +by the girl, though not as freely as might have been expected from such +a lady. To me it seemed that she had become aware suddenly of some +peril in the place and was anxious to be gone from it. I observed her +pluck Léon by the arm and make an appeal to him of a kind I could but +imagine. When he told me in a whisper that she spoke French after all, +needless to say I was very much astonished. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well," said I, "she will understand your love-making now." +</P> + +<P> +He agreed that it was so. +</P> + +<P> +"The priests will marry us after dinner," says he, "and we will take +her to Smolensk. What an adventure, my uncle! Is not war the father +of all adventures, as I have often told you?" +</P> + +<P> +I made some commonplace remark and tried to stay the hand of the monk, +who was refilling my glass with very fiery spirit. Truth to tell, this +now mounted to my head, as it had mounted to Léon's already, and +presently the scene before me became confused and unreal, while the +walls were reeling before my eyes and the roof threatening to fall on +my head. I detest a drunkard, and this condition occurred to me as +very shameful. On the other hand, I had drunk but little of their wine +and could not account for my condition; but when I called to the monks +for water they proffered me a drink of another kind, and so potent was +this that I lost consciousness almost immediately, and must have slept +for many hours before I came to my senses again. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +V +</H4> + +<P> +It must have been near midnight when this happened, and the moonlight, +shining in the glade where I lay, soon showed me that I was alone. +</P> + +<P> +Oddly enough, the monks had carried me to the very place where the +carriage had been robbed, and when I got the stiffness out of my limbs +and the dizziness out of my head I perceived that this was as we had +left it, and the scene unchanged, save that the dead had been carried +away. I knew the place to be but a quarter of a mile from the +monastery, and wondered why they had carried me so far. But chiefly I +began to think of my nephew and the girl, and to speculate upon their +fortunes. +</P> + +<P> +It was no light thing to be left there in the forest with the Cossacks +all about and my regiment bivouacked God knows where, and a chance of +being eaten by wolves into the bargain. On the other hand, I had a +great fear for Léon, and was almost ready to believe that they had +killed him in the monastery. Certainly such fellows would have done +anything for the treasure, and very possibly Léon's head had been +stronger than mine and he had contested its possession with them; in +which case I did not doubt they had slain him, and the fact that I was +alone seemed to warrant the supposition. +</P> + +<P> +Now this was troubling me, and I had a great fear both of the place and +of the hour, when I heard a sound of voices in the glade, and presently +made out the figures of horsemen moving amid the trees. +</P> + +<P> +At first I took them to be Cossacks, and was about to make off as best +I could, when to my great surprise and pleasure I heard Léon himself +calling to me. Never was the sound of a voice more welcome. +</P> + +<P> +"Léon!" I cried, and running up to him I found myself surrounded by a +squadron of the Red Hussars, in the midst of whom Léon himself was +riding his own horse and leading mine by the bridle. +</P> + +<P> +"Well met, my uncle!" says he, in his boyish humour. "And so they have +not put the habit on you after all. We have ridden three leagues in +quest of you, and here you are at the very door. Well, that is lucky, +for time presses, and there is good work to do. What do you say to a +little fire to warm our hands on such a night?" +</P> + +<P> +I told him that it would be an excellent thing, though I had then no +idea of his meaning. His affection for me was very real, and while his +speech made a jest of it, I could see how pleased he was that he had +found me in the wood. +</P> + +<P> +"It was that cursed liquor of theirs," says he. "I have never drunk +its like. We must have both dropped off like children in a cradle, and +then they carried us out. I woke up God knows where, and but for these +good fellows I might still be in the same place. Now we are going to +teach the holy friars a lesson. Do you realise that they have got the +woman and her jewels, and we must burn them out to recover them? Come +along, my uncle. Here is an adventure that is only just beginning." +</P> + +<P> +He seemed greatly pleased with himself, and rode jauntily enough, as +though the event were greatly to his liking. My own wit had grown a +little clearer by this time, and I could acquiesce in his determination +to have it out with the monks. After all, they were not of our faith, +and they had treated us very scurvily. The girl was no business of +theirs, and even if the treasure had been looted, they had neither part +nor lot in the affair. It was plainly our duty to teach them a lesson +and to recover the property which the fortunes of war had bestowed upon +us; and with this in our minds we rode up to the gate of the monastery +and beat upon it insistently. +</P> + +<P> +"No more of their liquor for me," says Léon, as he snapped a pistol in +the lock of the great gate and then pulled their bell furiously. "We +will give them a taste of our vintage and see if it goes to their +heads. If it doesn't, I fancy that a prick from the point of a sword +may well go somewhere else. Rest assured, dear uncle, we will have our +pockets full of diamonds before the day breaks, and the girl upon my +saddle-bow. Let us see what kind of a chant these holy men like best. +Upon my word, they sleep like dogs after a hunting!" +</P> + +<P> +Truly it was surprising that, after all the hullabaloo we had made, no +one opened to us. The great monastery showed no light of any kind +whatever. Both doors and windows were heavily barred as though against +a ruthless invader, and listen as we might we could hear no sound +within. The subterfuge merely angered Léon. He began to understand +that even a squadron of hussars is powerless against a barrier of iron, +and that for all we could do to the holy men within we might as well +have been in Moscow. This, as I say, had not occurred to him before, +and he now rode round and round the precincts as though there must be +some loophole in the vast wall which defied us, some gate which the +carbines of the company could force. We found none, and the men's +chagrin was undisguised. They had been promised food and loot if they +took the place, and yet they were as far from taking it as any child +would have been. +</P> + +<P> +"You will never do it," said I to Léon. "The wolves have gone to +ground, and nothing but fire will fetch them out. You should have +brought a gun, my boy; that would have made short work of them." +</P> + +<P> +He admitted it, and began to blame himself for his stupidity. The +artillery, according to his reckoning, was three leagues from the +place; but presently one of the hussars remembered that some of Marshal +Ney's guns were with the van of the rearguard and could not be farther +than a league from the place. +</P> + +<P> +"We can have them here by dawn," said the fellow, and there being +nothing else for it we dispatched half a dozen of them at full gallop +to bring a field piece to the place. The gunners, we said, would come +readily enough when the story of the loot was told to them. Never had +I known one of the Grand Army turn from that, whatever the circumstance. +</P> + +<P> +So the men rode off and left us upon the edge of the lake which +bordered the eastern wall of the monastery. +</P> + +<P> +Though the day had been warm enough, the night fell intolerably cold, +and we wrapped ourselves in our cloaks, and having tethered the horses, +fell to walking round the monastery as though it would yet reveal its +secrets. Impossible to believe that a treasure of half a million +francs and one of the most beautiful women in Russia were locked up in +that gloomy place, and we, Vélites and hussars of the Grand Army, +impotent to get one or the other. Yet such was a fact and such the +cunning of the monks that neither light was shown to us nor a footstep +to be heard in all the hours of our vigil. +</P> + +<P> +Dawn had come before the hussars returned with half a battery from +Ney's own rearguard. We heard the sound of the horses in the wood, and +anon the heavy wheels of the guns crunching over the gravel of the +precincts. Then also we heard for the first time a signal from the +monastery, the great bell of which began to toll mournfully, as though +holding a requiem for the dead. The sound inspired us and brought +every man to his feet. +</P> + +<P> +"The birds are caged after all," said I to Léon. "We will now see how +they can fly." +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VI +</H4> + +<P> +The bridge across the lake was not stout enough to carry a gun; but we +quickly had three upon the brink of the water, and at the third +discharge we brought down the great door of wood and iron and not a +little of the masonry with it. Such a ragout of rusty iron and plaster +saints did not disturb us at all; and running triumphantly across the +bridge, we entered the monastery, swords drawn, to ferret out the monks. +</P> + +<P> +Let me tell you in a word that we found no human being within the +place. From room to room we ran, crying to each other in chapel and +refectory and deserted cell, and hearing nothing but our own voices in +reply. Such a mystery was beyond any I had known. The monks were +here, we said, or else the devil himself had rung their bell. Nay, +there were traces of their recent occupation—rude beds just disturbed; +a faint fire in a primitive kitchen; the very candles lighted before +the icons or images in their chapel. Yet not so much as the girdle of +a monk in all the place, and as for the treasure, I do not believe the +fiend himself could have found a sou. +</P> + +<P> +Well, there we were, some eighty men gathered in the morning light and +looking as foolish as school lads surprised in an orchard. +</P> + +<P> +When our first rage had somewhat calmed, reason began to assert itself, +and we said that there must be some passage beneath the lake by which +the fathers had gone out. This caused a new quest of a highly +diverting kind, for now it was every ferret to find a hole, and never +did men work more willingly. To and fro they went like hounds in a +thicket. Panels they tried and traps in cellars they lifted. Walls +were pierced with our swords and doors were beat down, until the place +looked as though it had stood the ravages of a siege. Yet the mockery +of it all was that we might as well have hunted diamonds in the Place +de la Revolution at Paris. Not a trace of any secret passage did we +find, not a hole large enough to pass a dog; and when after hours of +labour we came to the conclusion that the mystery was beyond us, a +similar hunt in the woods yielded no more profit. Scattering wide +about the monastery in enlarging circles, we must have ridden twenty +leagues a man before we gathered at sunset to remind each other that +the Cossacks might trap us and that we must rejoin the army at all +costs. The graver peril guiding us, we rode off reluctantly, and soon +the fateful monastery and even the woods about it were lost to our view. +</P> + +<P> +Night had fallen for the second time now, and we had entered a land of +great spaces. But more than that, we were traversing an enemy's +country, and anon we espied a large body of Cossacks—three thousand as +we judged—who plainly had observed us and immediately sat down to the +pursuit. This was a turn that we might have looked for, but, in our +imprudence, had risked. It was now each for himself and the devil take +the laggards. We should be sabred to a man if these assassins rode us +down, and, with a cry of "En avant!" we set spurs to our jaded horses +and rode wildly across the plain. God alone could tell whether we +should find the army or lose it. +</P> + +<P> +It was a race for life with night and the mystery of night all about us. +</P> + +<P> +How to tell you, of that memorable gallop I hardly know. No race at +Chantilly ever found horses so tired or riders at such a tension. On +we thundered, and on and on. Now we would cry that we were saved; +again that all was lost. The dust enveloped us in clouds; the moon +magnified the great plain we must cross to the woods beyond. Let us +gain them and we might find the army after all. I had said as much +when a figure pressed out of the hurly-burly and I knew it for that of +a Cossack. He slashed at me with a great scimitar, and slashed again. +Then I heard a pistol shot, and seeing the fellow reeling in his +saddle, I cut him through the skull to the very marrow. He was but the +first of twenty, and so we went riding and slashing and halloaing for a +league or more until we had bested their leaders and were alone on the +great plain once more. Alas! how brief a respite! We had thousands +still to deal with, and they rode after us like devils. No sailors +lost upon a black and stormy sea went more blindly than we upon that +fateful night. The army had vanished; we believed no longer that we +should find it. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, there were always the green devils behind us. I should give +no true picture of this affair if I denied that there was another side +to it. Some of our men fell and were hacked to pieces where they lay. +Others were overtaken and cut down by the ruthless swords of the +Cossacks. We could not lift a finger to save them—ten would have +perished for one who fell had we done so. Our one hope lay in the +swiftness of our horses. "En avant!" we cried, and again "En avant!" +We must find the army or perish. Ah, what a vain hope and how Fate +played with us! For my part I believed that all was over when I first +saw the fire in the wood and heard my comrades cry out. The Russians +were then but a hundred paces from us—the light that we saw might be +anything. God knows, we raced for it—and to discover what? A priest +and a woman—Zayde and the shorn monk, who I never doubted was a +Cossack all the time. +</P> + +<P> +There they were—hobnobbing by a fire of logs and greatly startled when +they heard the sound of hoofs. Immediately they ran off into the +thicket, but not before we had recognised them—my nephew and I. They +were hardly gone when a louder cry arose from every Frenchman in the +wood; for now, as the very light of heaven itself, the glow of a dozen +bivouac fires burst upon our aching eyes, and with one voice we cried: +"Vive l'Empereur!" and swore that the army should avenge us. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VII +</H4> + +<P> +War teaches us many lessons, but none more useful than that of its +accidents. You will have said already that we had found the army and +that nothing remained but to ride up to the outposts and raise an alarm. +</P> + +<P> +Let me answer that nothing was farther from the truth. We had neither +found the army nor were any of our comrades there to avenge us. When I +told this story in the year 1813 in Paris I well remember the laughter +it excited. A squadron of hussars saved by a flight of monks! Thus +the newspapers referred to it, and such was the naked truth. The monks +saved us—the monks from the monastery we had sacked. +</P> + +<P> +Never have I forgotten that moment when this ridiculous turn first +became apparent to us. The Cossacks, I say, were at our heels, hope +gone from us, all thought of the army abandoned, when we saw the +bivouac fires and rode madly up to them. "Vive l'Empereur!" was our +cry. Then we learned the truth. +</P> + +<P> +There were a hundred or more monks in the woods: they had kindled the +fires which cheered us. The Cossacks, perceiving the fires, and being +deceived as we were, waited for no verification of a fact which seemed +self-evident. The French army lay encamped in that place—who else +would be there in these days of war and of a mighty host upon the +march? Do you wonder that the mad devils stopped as though they heard +already the roar of our guns, that they wheeled about and were gone as +foxes whom the moon has discovered? They would have been madmen to +have done anything else. The race had been run and we were the +victors. So at least they thought, and so did Fortune smile upon us in +that fateful hour. +</P> + +<P> +Be sure we did not linger upon an accident so remarkable. The monks +appeared to have no fear of us when we rode by, and the most part of +them lay sleeping. We forbore to intrude upon their dreams; and going +on at our leisure, we came up with the army at dawn and there recited +the details of this amazing adventure. +</P> + +<P> +It remains but to say a word of the bell and the treasure. +</P> + +<P> +I have often discussed it with Léon, and we have come to the conclusion +that there must have been monks left in the monastery after the main +body had fled, and that they sounded the alarm upon the approach of the +hussars. Their situation when we sacked that dismal building must have +been parlous indeed, and God alone knew where they hid from us. +</P> + +<P> +As for the treasure, I have since learned that it belonged to a certain +Prince Karasin, a Tartar from beyond the Urals. He had been murdered +by his servants just as I had supposed, and the woman upon whom he had +lavished the treasure must have been a witness of the wickedness. Her +subsequent fate I am unable to tell you, but my nephew Léon, with his +accustomed gallantry, still swears that she was innocent, and, Valerie +St. Antoine excepted, by far the most beautiful thing he ever +discovered in that God-forsaken country. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +PHANTOM MUSIC +</H4> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H4> + +<P> +I never thought to see Valerie St. Antoine again after we had left +Moscow; but here I was quite wrong, as you shall learn presently, and +my next encounter with her was as strange an affair as any I remember +during the war. +</P> + +<P> +You will remember that we had marched out of Moscow on the 19th day of +October, in the year 1812; but it was the 29th of that month when the +snow began to fall. +</P> + +<P> +Hitherto our journey had not been unpleasant and had filled us with few +apprehensions. It is true that the Russians were active, and there +were not many villages to pillage, so that some murmurings were heard +at an early date, and men complained bitterly of the lack of bread. +But we were given to understand that all this would be set straight +presently, and that we should find untouched supplies at Smolensk, the +first big town between Moscow and the frontier. Meanwhile, many +carried a little store of provisions in their knapsacks, and the +officers were generally well looked after despite the difficulties. We +found marching easy in the early days, and even when the rain fell, and +the roads became heavy, the wagons were not seriously hampered. All +went light-heartedly, thinking of our beloved France and of the triumph +we were to celebrate there. +</P> + +<P> +Then came the snow. It began to fall on the evening of the 29th, as I +have said, and, save that there was cold rain during the following +week, we never saw the green ground again until we came to the valley +of the Rhine. Ah, the first of these terrible days—how well I +remember it! +</P> + +<P> +Léon and I rode side by side, a great press of horsemen before us; +behind us, in a seemingly unbroken line, the carts and wagons of the +transport. Upon either side were the hussars and the lancers, the +<I>chasseurs à cheval</I>, the Guards from Portugal, the Italians, with +Prince Eugène. The Emperor himself was then half a day's march ahead +of us, but we expected to come up with him at Slawkowo, and there to +enjoy our well-earned rest. We had frost, as you shall hear, but there +is no pen that can tell you of what we suffered by the way. +</P> + +<P> +There had been black clouds rolling down from the northward all day, +but the snow itself did not burst upon us until the hour of sunset. It +came heralded by a distant sound as of thunder upon a far horizon; but +this was no thunder that we heard—only a north wind roaring across +that interminable plain. +</P> + +<P> +Anon it came upon us with the fury of a southern tempest. Flakes of +snow almost as big as a man's hand tumbled out of that leaden sky, were +caught by the howling wind, and scattered in a fine powder which cut +like steel. Soon everything was obliterated: the summer had finished +before our eyes. Where there had been green grass and verdant woods, +and even wild flowers by the roadside, there was now nothing but a +monstrous sea, with here and there the white woods standing up as so +many mighty ships upon a frozen ocean. +</P> + +<P> +The army, marching hitherto in such good spirits, became but specks in +this white wilderness. Never had Frenchmen known such cold, and great +was the terror with which it inspired them. We saw cloaks flying and +heads bent before the blast; we heard the curses of the transport men, +the shrill complaints of cantinières; but above all the ceaseless +howling of the blast, as though the God of Russia cried a vengeance +upon us, and this was the hour of it. +</P> + +<P> +All this was bad enough, but more was to follow when the Cossacks came +like so many devils from the darkness. +</P> + +<P> +They wheeled about us, piping a shrill defiance and waving their lances +ominously. In our turn we were too sore stricken to attack them, and +we rode like cravens, who submitted to fate without lifting a finger. +Not until Marshal Ney himself came up with cannon did we drive the +scarecrows off, and even then it was but a brief respite, for they were +as swift as eagles and as elusive. Many a good fellow had a Russian +lance in him that night, and the snow-field for his bed. It was a new +page in the story of a triumph we had hoped to celebrate in Paris. +</P> + +<P> +For myself I felt the cold bitterly, and I do not doubt that Léon +suffered no less. We had heavy cloaks and we rode good horses; but the +frost was beyond anything I have known or could imagine, and presently +the trail of the army could be followed by the dead and dying it shed +upon the march. +</P> + +<P> +Dreadful was it to see those poor fellows, and to know that we could +not help them. There they lay, some already white and still in the +death sleep; others moaning for pain of the cold; others, again, +imploring their fellows to shoot them for God's sake. All, however, +passed on without pity. The wind devoured us; the snow had become a +very avalanche. +</P> + +<P> +Now this lasted for an hour, almost until the darkness had set in; but +when it ceased we perceived, to our astonishment, a considerable town +upon the horizon, and this put new life into us. Spurring our jaded +horses, Léon and I galloped on, telling each other that we should +certainly find bread and shelter in such a place, and that the rigour +of the night could safely be defied there. We had gone, I suppose, +about a third of a mile in this way when we came without warning upon a +wrecked carriage, and immediately drew rein at the unexpected discovery +we made therein. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H4> + +<P> +I have told you that Léon will rarely pass a pretty woman, whatever be +her nationality, and when he drew rein at the sight of the wrecked +carriage it was a woman's face which arrested him. +</P> + +<P> +"One moment, my uncle," says he; "you really are in a devil of a hurry." +</P> + +<P> +I drew rein with him and walked my horse up to the carriage. It was +plainly the equipage of a person of rank—a spacious berline, drawn by +four horses, and a brilliant yellow in colour. Of more import was the +fact that the coachman sat dead and frozen upon the box, and that the +horses had drawn the vehicle over the bank of the road, and there left +it poised as a stick upon a conjurer's finger. A minute later and it +turned over gently in the snow, and the horses, maddened by the mishap, +plunged frantically and went galloping across the plain. At the same +moment we heard cries from within the berline, and, dismounting and +leaping upon it, we took three women from the coach, of whom but one +was alive. She was Valerie St. Antoine, and she recognised us +immediately. +</P> + +<P> +"Help, sir, for God's sake!" says she, as Léon caught her in his arms +and instantly wrapped his own cloak about her. We did not tell her +that the others were beyond help, yet such was the case. +</P> + +<P> +Of the two, one was an elderly and distinguished-looking woman with +white hair, and the second as pretty a child of fifteen years of age as +I had seen since I left Prussia. Both had perished of want and cold. +They were locked in each other's arms, and quite dead when we took them +from the carriage. +</P> + +<P> +"Who are these poor people?" I asked Valerie. +</P> + +<P> +She buried her face in her hands. +</P> + +<P> +"The Baroness de Nivois and her granddaughter. They have been five +years in Moscow. They were my friends—God help me!" +</P> + +<P> +"But, mademoiselle," said I, "what sent you upon such an errand as +this?" +</P> + +<P> +She looked at me, I think, with some amazement at my want of +understanding. +</P> + +<P> +"What Frenchwoman remains in Moscow now?" she asked coldly. And then +as quickly she turned to Léon and inquired of him where the Emperor +would be. +</P> + +<P> +"I must see him immediately," says she; "it was for that I followed the +army. Captain Courcelles, will you not help me?" +</P> + +<P> +He replied that nothing would give him greater pleasure. +</P> + +<P> +"You are returning to Paris, mademoiselle?" he asked her. +</P> + +<P> +She said that it was possible. +</P> + +<P> +"But," cried I, "I thought you would never leave Moscow. You told me +so yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"Major," she rejoined, "I did not then know that my father was alive, +nor that he served the Emperor." +</P> + +<P> +I thought upon it a minute, and then a sudden memory coming to me, I +said: +</P> + +<P> +"There is a Colonel St. Antoine with the Second Battalion of the +Chasseurs of the Line. Is it possible, mademoiselle, that he is a +relative of yours?" +</P> + +<P> +"He is my father," she said, with admirable dignity; and, turning, she +hid her face in her hands again, as though the dreadful scene about us +could no longer be suffered. Léon waited for no more, but, lifting her +upon his horse, he rode straightway from the place. +</P> + +<P> +"Do what you can for these poor women," said he to me. "We will wait +for you in the town." And with that he pressed forward and was quickly +lost to my view. +</P> + +<P> +I had given him my word, and yet it was worth little. The poor women +were beyond all hope, and it remained but to inter them decently. +This, with the aid of some sappers, I did anon, and having seen to it +that we should know the place again if occasion arose, I also pressed +on towards the town. +</P> + +<P> +It was quite dark by this time, and the snow had begun to fall again. +I thought myself lucky to overtake my nephew, which I did some third of +a mile from the gates of the town. But whether his welcome were as +warm as my pleasure I have my doubts. Let me say in all honesty that I +believe that Léon was in love with this woman, and would have gone +through fire and water for her. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H4> + +<P> +There were many terrible nights to be suffered before the remnant of +the Grand Army might see Paris again; but none of them to surpass that +night when we first made acquaintance with the north wind as Russia +knows it. +</P> + +<P> +What the cold was I cannot tell you, but such a rigour I had never +known before, nor had any who marched with that stricken company. +Already we perceived that if we did not reach the shelter of the town +we should never see the day; and the fury of the wind driving us and +the snow blinding our eyes, we pressed on headlong. +</P> + +<P> +Had a man doubted the road, the dead, as I have said, would have +pointed it out to him. There was not a furlong free from the corpses +of those who had been our comrades. Every bush sheltered poor wretches +deploring their misery and appealing to God. We saw men staggering as +though drunk with wine; others hysterical as women and gone stark mad +in their suffering. And all the time the lights of the distant town +would appear and disappear, as though mocking our hope and defying us +of their promise. +</P> + +<P> +I was sorry for my nephew, who had given his cloak to Valerie; and +although she made a pretence of sheltering them both, it was precious +little good he got by it. Perhaps, had she not been with him in the +saddle, he would never have come to Slawkowo at all. As it was, he +bore up bravely and did not cease to encourage her in every way that he +could. "But a kilometre more, and we are there," he would say. Or +again: "We shall find the Emperor in the city, and there will be food +and shelter there." Sometimes he would ask her if she suffered much, +and invariably she answered with a woman's courage. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't think of me, captain," she would say; "I am used to the cold. +Have I not lived many years in Russia? All this is nothing to me." +</P> + +<P> +Such courage was infectious, and we were both the better for it. It +seemed possible now that we should reach the town after all, though +there were many bitter interludes before we did so. Sometimes the +lights would disappear altogether, and we would believe that we had +lost our road. Then again they would appear as mysteriously, and we +would think the city but a stone's throw from us. In the end, I +remember, we came to a frozen river, and putting our horses across it, +we found ourselves beneath high and forbidding walls, which told us +that we had lost our way, and that the night might still have the +better of us. +</P> + +<P> +This was a terrible hour, and we rode vainly to and fro as children who +are lost in an unknown country. Everywhere black walls denied us +shelter, and so at last we recrossed the river and went southward a +full half-hour before we discovered the gate of Slawkowo and cried to +one another that all was well. +</P> + +<P> +We thought it must be so. +</P> + +<P> +Here was a considerable town with the houses of the merchants who had +sheltered us when we rode to Moscow. We had known some pleasant days +in Slawkowo on our outward journey, and I do not think it dawned upon +any man that our reception would be different upon our return. Hardly +had we entered the gate when we discovered our mistake. Of the once +fine houses but the shell now remained. The main street was impassable +by reason of guns and wagons gathered there. We turned aside to the +suburb on the south, and found such houses as remained alive with our +comrades, who filled them from garret to cellar, and swore that no +new-comer should enter. +</P> + +<P> +By here and there whole companies of infantry were bivouacked in the +open for lack of shelter, and the high wall of church or garden alone +protected them from the terrible night. Of food there seemed no +prospect whatever. We beat upon the doors of many houses, and although +we gave those within to understand that we were officers of the Guard, +they answered that men or devils should not come in that night. At +last we found ourselves at the very ramparts again with never a house +in view and nothing but those monstrous walls before us. +</P> + +<P> +"Good God!" says Léon, drawing rein at last and turning to me wearily, +"is there no house in all this cursed city which will take us in?" +</P> + +<P> +I could but answer him that we must wheel about and try again, and +although my horse staggered at every step, and ultimately fell dead as +we went, I could but repeat the admonition. We must get into a house +of some sort, or we should never see the dawn. So much would have been +evident to a child. +</P> + +<P> +Behold us, then, staggering on, the snow beating upon us pitilessly; +the wind howling amid the shells of the ruined houses; the city itself +but a mob of maddened troopers fighting for their very lives on every +threshold. So evident was it that we should get no shelter anywhere in +the vicinity of the gates that we pushed on ultimately as though we +would leave Slawkowo by the western road, and then for the first time +we were able to breathe freely and to reckon with the situation. +</P> + +<P> +There were no houses at all here—merely the blackened ruins of once +fine streets. Often we rode over heaps of rubbish with the sure +knowledge that a mishap might send us headlong into some vault or +cellar, already, it may be, full of dead. This, however, did not deter +us; we had Valerie to save, and the same thought inspired us both. +There could be no rest for either until Valerie St. Antoine had found a +refuge. How shall I tell you what we ourselves suffered, buffeted this +way and that; drawn now to some phantom house; anon to the borders of +the frozen river, and from that back again to the wilderness? +Certainly I thought that all was ended, and the deadly spell of the +cold seizing upon me, I began to have that desire of sleep from which +there can be no awakening. +</P> + +<P> +"Nephew," said I, "do you go on and leave me here." +</P> + +<P> +It was then that my horse fell, and rolling heavily in the snow I +thought that my end had come. Léon, however, had a flask of brandy in +his haversack, and presently I was conscious of a burning sensation in +my throat and of a sudden realisation of the truth that I must wake or +die. Making a mighty effort of the will, I got upon my feet and +struggled on, hardly knowing that Valerie St. Antoine had one of my +arms and Léon the other. The words they spoke to me were as sounds +from afar; I did not rightly understand them, and made no reply. But +presently, a little strength coming back to me, I heard a note of +distant music, and asked them what it was. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen to that," said I. "Someone is playing the organ." +</P> + +<P> +They laughed at me, Léon saying, "Come, come, uncle, your ears are +playing tricks with you; there is no organ here." +</P> + +<P> +"You are wrong," said I; "there is an organ, and someone is playing 'On +va leur percer les flancs.' Listen and you will heal it." +</P> + +<P> +Well, they both stood and listened, and after a few moments they +admitted I was right. +</P> + +<P> +"There is someone playing," said Léon, while Valerie uttered a little +cry of pleasure, and running forward with her hands clasped, she +returned to tell us that it must be the organ of a church and that we +should never hear it on such a night if it were not very near to us. +On this we all agreed, and a new hope animating us, we led Léon's horse +and pressed on towards the music. +</P> + +<P> +Ah, what a quest that was! How those phantom chords deceived us! +Sometimes we would think the organ was so near us that nothing but a +miracle could hide the scene. Then again we would lose the sounds +altogether, and try to comfort each other with the assurance that the +wind alone muffled them. This went on for a full half-hour, until as +though a miracle had happened, we found ourselves in the very porch of +a considerable church, and understood in a moment that our own fellows +were within, and that one of them was playing upon the organ. +</P> + +<P> +"Open to the Guard!" cried Léon, beating heavily upon the door with the +hilt of his sword. +</P> + +<P> +The answer from within was the one we had heard so often that night: +"Let the Guard go elsewhere, there is no room for anybody here." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," says Léon, "is that not Sergeant Bourgogne who is speaking?" +</P> + +<P> +It was a lucky shot, for the door was opened instantly, and there stood +our old sergeant before us. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, captain," cried he, "we have reported you for dead!" And then +espying me, he added, "The very man we are looking for, major. There +is plenty of work for a surgeon to do in this place. Come in, +messieurs, and let me bolt the door after you." +</P> + +<P> +Needless to say, we did not ask for a second invitation, but passing at +once into the church, we heard the sergeant bolting and locking the +heavy door. There the light almost blinded us, and we sank exhausted +upon the stone pavement and lay motionless for many minutes. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IV +</H4> + +<P> +When we had recovered ourselves a little we were able to get some idea +of the strange happenings within the church. +</P> + +<P> +To begin with, I would tell you that it was a building in the Russian +fashion, with two domes above its naves and a similar one above the +chancel. About the wall there were the icons which the Russians +worship, and the organ which we had heard played stood in the western +gallery just above the main doors. The building was large, and would +have accommodated a thousand people perhaps. There must have been five +hundred of our own fellows within when we entered, and they lay about +the marble pavement in every conceivable attitude. +</P> + +<P> +Some, I perceived, were already drunk with brandy, of which there was a +considerable supply in the church. I learned from Sergeant Bourgogne +that the cellars of a neighbouring wine shop had been ransacked before +dark fell and many bottles of wine and brandy carried into the church +against the bitter night; of food there was none but horseflesh, and +despite my nephew's protests, the troopers killed and cut up his own +charger directly we entered the building. Soon the whole place was +redolent with the smell of roasted flesh, and what with the pungent +odour of that and of the burning wood and brandy the atmosphere became +almost insupportable. +</P> + +<P> +I should tell you that two great fires had been lighted in the +building: one upon the pavement of the chancel, the other below the +choir screen, which is a great thing in all their churches. +</P> + +<P> +Unhappily the fire before the altar had been fed chiefly by the +beautiful painted panels of this screen, while that in the nave owed +its glowing heat to the multitude of chairs which had been broken up +and burned upon it. Here all the cooking was done, and it was an odd +thing to see men toasting great lumps of horseflesh upon the points of +their bayonets and swords, and eating them while they were still hot +and dripping from the fire. Such practices, however, went on +uninterruptedly; and if anything be said against them, I would remind +you of the intolerable night outside and of what these poor fellows had +suffered during their march to Slawkowo. For that matter we ourselves +were not above sharing in this barbarous hospitality, and even Valerie +St. Antoine ate a piece of roasted horseflesh and drank a draught of +wine from the flask which Sergeant Bourgogne proffered her. +</P> + +<P> +Be it said that the men were very merry and that a spirit of drunken +hilarity prevailed in the place. None seemed to remember that it was a +holy building, nor would it have been worth while to remonstrate with +poor devils who had suffered so much. I saw usually sober officers +dancing in the vestments of the priests and preaching mock sermons from +a splendid pulpit. The organist was an accomplished fellow, and played +the wildest dance with precision. Even the wounded cheered up at his +music and tried to join in the songs which the army knew so well. It +was pitiful to hear them moaning: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Ram, ram, ram, tam,<BR> +Plan, tire-lire ram plan":<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +those who would never see France again and might never quit that +building. +</P> + +<P> +One such I shall never forget. His leg had been amputated that very +day, and yet in his drunken frenzy he reared himself up from the rude +bed they had made him and rolled over and over until he was dead, like +a mad dervish from the Indies. Scenes like this were repeated during +that long and wonderful night, until, indeed, the organist, coming down +the stairs for brandy, stumbled by the way and pitched headlong into +the nave. Both his legs were broken, and although I did what I could +for him, I knew that he, too, would never leave Slawkowo. +</P> + +<P> +Valerie St. Antoine supported all this with wonderful fortitude. We +had had little converse with her hitherto, but now she began to talk to +us very rationally, and we had some insight into that dual personality +which many men have found so interesting. +</P> + +<P> +Very frankly she told us that she had had no thought of returning to +France until she had heard that her father was with the army. This was +the more surprising since it would appear that she had not seen him +since she was quite a child. +</P> + +<P> +"He left Nice in the days of the Terror," she said. "We went—my +brother and I—with my mother to Leipsic, and then to one of her +kinsmen, who was a Pole. She died in Poland five years ago, and my +brother had to enter Prince Nicholas's household and to take me to +Moscow with him. You will imagine what happened to a child among a +strange people and with none but an absent brother to protect her. +René was sent to St. Petersburg, and I was left alone with the Prince. +Sometimes I forgot altogether that I had been born in France. They +surrounded me with riches, and anything for which I chose to ask was at +my hand. Then came the story of General Bonaparte and of his +victories. That did not interest me; I was still a Russian at heart, +and remained so until your army entered Moscow and all was remembered. +It was the Emperor who set me dreaming again and made me remember my +home by the Mediterranean Sea: I recalled my father in his uniform of +green and gold; I recollected how we were taught as children to cry, +'<I>Vive la République!</I>' but never '<I>Vive le Roi!</I>' Oh, yes, my heart +went back to France and I became a Frenchwoman again. Now I shall go +to Paris and try to earn my living there. It will be difficult, but I +am not afraid; the world has taught me too many things that I should +fear my own independence." +</P> + +<P> +Léon told her gallantly enough that she had no need to fear any such +thing. He, I made sure, was ready enough to set her upon the road of +his choice; and yet there was something about the girl which forbade +love-making as soldiers know it, and set her upon a pinnacle of which +even my nephew was a little shy. +</P> + +<P> +"Come to Paris," said he, "and you shall be as famous as any woman in +the city. There is always a career for beauty there, and you, Valerie, +have other gifts. I promise you that you will not be disappointed. I +will make it my business to see that you are not." +</P> + +<P> +She looked at him with curiosity. Perhaps there was a measure of pity +in her tone when she said, "Ah, Captain Léon, if we ever see Paris +again how lucky we shall be!" +</P> + +<P> +This she said from her heart, and it saddened us all not a little when +we perceived how true it was. None the less, Léon tried to laugh at it. +</P> + +<P> +"There will be supplies at Smolensk," said he, "and after that the way +will be easy. We shall be hungry for a day or two and perhaps eat some +of your old friends the Cossacks—but the Grand Army has a good +appetite. The Emperor will not have been unprepared for such weather +as this, and you will see how he will deal with it. Really, +Mademoiselle Valerie, you were never born to be a pessimist." +</P> + +<P> +She shook her head, but her interest was evidently roused when he +mentioned the Emperor. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is His Majesty now?" she asked. "Do you not remember that I +must see him at once? It is for that that I left Moscow with the +Baroness Nivois. The safety of the army may depend upon what I have to +tell him. I appeal to you all to help me." +</P> + +<P> +"We shall do that readily enough," said I, chiming in for the first +time. "Nothing could be easier. His Majesty is at Slawkowo this very +night. You can see him in the morning before the march begins—that +is, if you have anything to say to him to which he will listen." +</P> + +<P> +She smiled as though with some contempt at the doubt. +</P> + +<P> +"I have that," said she, "which will save his army. If he does not see +me, he is not the person I believe him to be." +</P> + +<P> +And then to us all she said: +</P> + +<P> +"Messieurs, I have the plans of General Kutusoff, as I read them in +Prince Nicholas's house. Do you not think your Emperor will wish to +see those?" +</P> + +<P> +We were all greatly interested, and begged her to show us the +documents. Here, however, she was adamantine, and her native secrecy +prevailed. To our questions she answered that she would tell the +Emperor alone, and soon we perceived that it was futile to press her. +Indeed, had we the mind, that was not the opportunity, for just as we +were at the height of the argument a loud knocking was heard upon the +doors of the church, and someone cried out that the Cossacks were +without. +</P> + +<P> +Now this was a dreadful thing to hear, and one which sent every man in +the church leaping to his feet—those of them who could stand, for +there were many who could not. We did not stop to ask ourselves by +what means the Russians had entered Slawkowo. Well we knew that they +had been upon our flanks all day, and it did not seem impossible that +they had made a sudden descent upon the church, and were already in the +suburbs of the city. If that were so, our case was parlous. We knew +that they would burn us out like rats, and would sabre every man who +crossed the threshold. Can you wonder, then, that a great silence fell +for an instant, and was succeeded by a wild shout of "Aux armes!" +</P> + +<P> +I have lived through many a dangerous hour for the Emperor's sake, but +never one, I think, so full of the sublime and the grotesque as that +instant of alarm in the church at Slawkowo. +</P> + +<P> +To see men, who had been brawling and singing but a moment before, +spring to their feet and stagger towards the door, bayonets fixed or +swords flourished; to hear the oaths and curses of drunken brutes, who +believed that death had them by the shoulders; to be carried everywhere +in a mob which slashed and hewed at an imaginary enemy, and even cut +down its comrades in a mad debauch of fear and frenzy—all this, I say, +surpassed experience. +</P> + +<P> +Yet such was the result of that wild alarm. +</P> + +<P> +The Cossacks were at the gates; the church was fired. From without and +within the roar and the brawl waxed deafening. Those in the snow beat +fiercely upon the doors, and splintered them with axe and musket; those +within fired their pistols from every window, and called on God and the +devil to help them. When it was apparent that the doors were giving +way, a panic ensued such as the meanest mercenary might have been +ashamed of. Men howled in fear or supplicated an enemy still +invisible; others flew to the bottle, and drank prodigious draughts; +some capered like women round and round the fires in a drunken pæan of +death. But all surely believed that the Cossacks were there; and we of +the Guard, determining at length that assault was better than defence, +threw the doors wide open and charged headlong through the blinding +storm. +</P> + +<P> +Ah! what a night that was—what a mockery! Perceived but not seeing, +for the aureole of light must have shown our figures clearly to the +enemy, we slashed and hewed at hazard—here in snow to our knees, there +falling upon the slippery ground, now locked arm in arm with the +aggressors, or again standing alone seeking vainly for an enemy. +</P> + +<P> +Whence the assault had come or by whom we knew no more than the dead. +</P> + +<P> +Either the light blinded us or we stood in such black darkness that a +man might have slain his own brother unawares. +</P> + +<P> +In truth, we had been doing this all along, and we must have fought a +full ten minutes before someone cried out that we were killing +Frenchmen, and instantly there arose a terrible uproar and the ghastly +truth was discovered. +</P> + +<P> +It had not been the Cossacks at all who had come to the place, but a +regiment of chasseurs of the line, of whom no fewer than forty now lay +dead before the porch of the church. Who can describe our chagrin and +dismay when this was made known? Our own comrades! Many a man there +would as soon have slain his own children. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +V +</H4> + +<P> +Well, we dragged brands from the fire and began to do what we could. +Many of the poor fellows were dead, and the snow fell so heavily that +their bodies were already but whitened mounds. Others crawled here and +there in their pain, fearing the vengeance of the Russians whom they +believed to be in the church. When we cried out to them that we were +Frenchmen, they could hardly believe their ears. How they reproached +us then, and how difficult we found it to answer them! Few words, +indeed, were spoken; but, dragging the wounded and even the dead into +the building, we began our pitiful task. +</P> + +<P> +Naturally, my own services were much in request. There was another +surgeon from the Vélites of the company, but he was a very young man, +and the situation had unnerved him. The mischief of it was that so +many had been attacked with sword and bayonet that the wounds we had to +deal with were very terrible. One poor fellow I remember +particularly—a fine man of more than middle age in a cloak and +colonel's uniform, an officer of the <I>chasseurs à pied</I>, who tried to +make light of his wounds, but evidently was dying. Someone told me +presently that his name was St. Antoine, and it came to me in a flash +that he might be Valerie's father. +</P> + +<P> +Now, it became very difficult to know what to do. The girl herself was +then helping the wounded upon the far side of the church, but she came +over to me presently, and I had no alternative but to tell her what had +been said. The man was dying, and, if he were her father, then she +must know it. +</P> + +<P> +I shall not attempt to recite the moving scene I was now to witness—a +scene between a child who had become the woman of the world and a man +who had lost his daughter to find her at the hour of his death! Be +sure we did what we could for him, giving him the best place by the +fire, and cloaks from willing shoulders, and brandy from the flask +which was left to us. It was all of no avail, and he died just as the +dawn broke and the distant bugles were sounding the réveillé. +</P> + +<P> +Valerie's grief was not such as I had expected to see. +</P> + +<P> +There are some women, however, whose souls no man can read, and hers +was such a one. What she suffered in that hour I make no pretence to +say, but her anger against those who had killed their fellow-countrymen +was typical of a passionate nature. This Grand Army now stood to her +for a thing of contempt. She railed upon us piteously—applauding our +skill in killing Frenchmen and running away from Russians. When, to +turn her thoughts, Léon told her that she would now find the Emperor in +Slawkowo, she derided the idea that she wished to see him, and taking +some papers from her breast she burned them before we could raise a +finger to stop her. +</P> + +<P> +"Your army shall perish!" she cried almost triumphantly; and then she +asked, "Well, what does it deserve? To kill your comrades! My God—to +kill my own father!" +</P> + +<P> +Her courage was no longer capable of supporting this thought, and she +sank down upon the pavement and was overtaken by passionate weeping, +which endured for many minutes. +</P> + +<P> +The destruction of the documents had been so swift that its moment +hitherto had not occurred to us, but now I took Léon aside and began to +question him. +</P> + +<P> +"The papers came from Kutusoff," said I. "They are of the greatest +importance, and possibly the Russian plan of campaign is among them. +Certainly the Emperor should know of this; we must make it our business +to go to him immediately. If the woman has burned the documents, at +least she will have read them. We must make her speak at +head-quarters." +</P> + +<P> +He agreed with me, but declared that she was in no fit state to tell a +story. +</P> + +<P> +"I know the kind," he said. "Her anger is like a tempest, and will +pass as quickly. Then she will regret what she has done. Let us go to +head-quarters and report. It will be for them to act in the matter." +</P> + +<P> +I thought this wise at the time, and did not hesitate to set off with +him. It was evident that the Russians had prepared some great plan of +campaign the moment our retreat was known, and the importance of this +to the general staff could not be exaggerated. It was amazing to think +that a mere child amidst us had knowledge which might save the lives of +thousands of men, and that the papers which contained it were but so +many ashes upon the pavement before us. None the less, we might yet +compel her to speak, and with this in our minds we quitted the building +and made our way as best we could to the guest house at which the +Emperor was staying. +</P> + +<P> +This was no light task, for the snow was often up to our knees, and the +dead were everywhere. +</P> + +<P> +It had been a terrible night, and the army had paid a bitter price for +the ruin it had inflicted upon Slawkowo on the outward journey. We +could not help but reflect how many thousands might have been saved in +those houses we had burned, how many might have been fed by that food +we had so wantonly destroyed in the days of our abundance. This day +there was not a loaf of bread in all that perished town; men were +eating horse at every bivouac. The night, for those who lived, had +been an orgy amid the cellars, when men raved and died in their +drunkenness, and those who perished from starvation had nothing but +brandy for their lips. +</P> + +<P> +All this was reflected in that scene at dawn. +</P> + +<P> +Day broke with a wan, grey light and a powder of snow which burned the +skin like hot needles. We found the great street of the town still +blocked by the wagons of the transport and the guns of the Emperor's +Guard. The bravest men moved like phantoms in the mist, their spirits +sunk, their flesh shrunken by the cold. None of the éclat of departure +was to be observed in all that throng. The road had carried us to a +house of death, and no hope lay beyond it. Who shall wonder at the +dejection which fell upon the once proud Grand Army? +</P> + +<P> +We came up to the Emperor's tent at nine o'clock, and heard that His +Majesty was just about to march. Murat and Dumesnil were with him, and +I was lucky enough to catch the latter when he came out of the +Emperor's room some ten minutes later. My story interested him +profoundly, and we were soon ushered into His Majesty's presence. I +thought he looked a little careworn, but there was no betrayal of his +secret thoughts, nor did he speak a word in reference to the thousands +of dead who lay buried beneath the snow in that wretched town. Indeed, +his manner became almost a little aggressive when he spoke and asked me +somewhat surlily what I wanted. +</P> + +<P> +"Your Majesty," said I, "there is a woman in the city who has news from +the Russian head-quarters. I thought you would wish to hear of her." +</P> + +<P> +"Is she with you?" he asked quickly, the wonderful eyes searching me +from head to foot. +</P> + +<P> +I had to say that she was not, and at that his choler mounted. +</P> + +<P> +"Then why do you come here? Why do you waste my time? Go and fetch +her immediately. You must be a fool to come upon such an errand." +</P> + +<P> +I had been an old favourite of his, and it came to me that he would not +have spoken in this way had the situation been less terrible. His +anger reflected his disappointment and would not suffer argument. I +did not attempt to tell him the true story of Valerie St. Antoine, for +to that he would never have listened in such a temper; but, promising +to fetch her immediately, I was about to leave the room, when he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Let there be no mistake. If you do not find her I will have you shot." +</P> + +<P> +I heard him with amazement, for never had such words been spoken to me +before. Yet I knew the Little Corporal well enough not to doubt his +meaning. He had realised the importance of the tidings I carried, and +his anger at our supposed neglect prompted the threat. If this did not +alarm me it was because I trusted Valerie, and so well did my +confidence seem to be justified that Léon laughed when he heard the +story. +</P> + +<P> +"I know women," said he. "She would do anything for me. We will just +tell her all the circumstances, and she will come immediately. Cheer +up, mon oncle; I shall not have to dig a bullet out of you at dawn +to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +Truthfully, I did not believe that he would, but I was a little anxious +none the less, and we returned to the church at our best speed. When +we got there we found the building empty of all save its wounded and +its dead. Of Valerie there was not a trace, nor of the colonel, her +father. For a little while I could not realise the importance of this +nor understand wholly what it meant to me. When the truth came it was +as though a man had clapped a pistol to my head and cried that I must +die. Good God, what would my case be if we could not find her? Even +Léon was moved; I could see that he had begun to tremble. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VI +</H4> + +<P> +"Mon oncle," said he, "she cannot be gone far; let us get some of our +men and search for her. Valerie will never leave the army at such a +time. We must find her without delay." +</P> + +<P> +I perceived that it was the only thing to be done, and, going out of +the church with him, we began our search, which was to end so +disastrously. +</P> + +<P> +There was no street, house, nor cellar within a quarter of a mile of +the place that we did not ransack to its depths. I have always been +liked by the Guard, and many a good fellow proffered his help in such +an emergency. Soon, I think, there must have been fifty of us crying +the tidings far and wide and asking, "Have you seen the Frenchwoman +named St. Antoine?" The astonishing thing was that we did not meet a +human being who could help us by a word. None had seen Valerie; few +thought that they would recognise her if they did see her. +</P> + +<P> +"Possibly," said one, "she has gone to the guest house in the main +street of the town." Another suggested that she might have set out +with the advance guard which left just after dawn. But all agreed that +she was not to be found, and when noon came and there were still no +tidings of her, then I began to believe that she would never be found +at all. This was a disaster so unlooked for, so terrible, that it +paralysed every faculty I possessed. To die for a woman's temper, I +said, while even my friends began to admit that I was in grave danger. +When I met an aide-de-camp to General Dumesnil a little later in the +afternoon, he told me that His Majesty was still waiting, but that his +anger had not modified. +</P> + +<P> +"By heaven," said he, "he will have you shot, major, if you do not find +her." +</P> + +<P> +I could only answer that I had done my best and was still doing it. It +occurred to me that, after all, Valerie might return to the church +eventually, and, telling every man I knew that I was going there, I +sought out that now deserted building, and made myself its prisoner. +What hours they were—what hours of waiting, of hope, and of fear! +From the distance I could hear the rumble of the guns and the murmur of +a great army moving, but the church itself was as silent as the dead +and filled with the ghosts of yesterday. In the end the night came and +found me still watching. I did not dare to return to head-quarters. +Even Léon did not come back to me. +</P> + +<P> +Well, a man dies but once, they say, and yet I died many deaths that +night. +</P> + +<P> +Often I rebuked myself that Léon was one of the few to whom I had not +committed my intention of returning to the church, and a little after +ten o'clock I set out to seek for him. This walk took me back to the +main street of the town, and eventually to the very building wherein I +had seen His Majesty that morning. Such a fact, if it is to be +explained at all, must be set down to the magnetism of fate, which +destroys men as well as animals. The rabbit, they say, is fascinated +by the snake, and so was I by that intolerable uncertainty which I +could not support in the stillness of the church. I must know the +truth, I thought: I must see the Emperor again, if I were ordered out +for execution there and then—well, a more terrible death might await +me on the frozen plain beyond the town. "Have done with it," was my +idea, as I pushed my way up the steps and asked if His Majesty was +still there. +</P> + +<P> +Well, it was a fearful ordeal. A young officer carried in my message +and bade me wait at the door until he returned. It mattered not where +it was. I do not think I was conscious of the time, the place, or of +anything but the issue. Should I be summoned to that magic presence or +should I not? Would the penalty be death? Few know what a man suffers +who lives through such moments as these; few can understand the sudden +reaction which attends the truth, whatever it be. +</P> + +<P> +"His Majesty left at one o'clock," said the orderly when he returned. +</P> + +<P> +The truth staggered me, and I reeled as at a blow. +</P> + +<P> +"Did His Majesty leave alone?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"No," said the fellow, and here he smiled; "there was a woman with him." +</P> + +<P> +Pah, my friends, what a coward I had been, and how I cursed the weary +hours I had spent alone in that hole of a church! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE CAMP BY THE RIVER +</H4> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H4> + +<P> +There were two days of cold, clear weather after we left Slawkowo. It +was upon the second of these days that the adventure of which I shall +now speak befell me. +</P> + +<P> +The sufferings which the army endured had not by any means abated at +this time. We found but scant supplies in the town, and there had not +been that distribution of rations we had expected. It is true that the +first-comers pillaged brandy from the cellars of Slawkowo, but this was +poor sustenance for men whose greatest necessity was bread, and in this +respect we quitted the town as poor as we entered it. Our one +consolation was that the north winds no longer nipped us and the snow +had ceased to fall. Just as heretofore, men devoured the horses that +fell by the way and drank their blood greedily. Nay, we were in no way +surprised when we heard that the Croats were devouring each other, and +the cruel tales of our comrades' sufferings which were told at every +bivouac could readily be believed. Naturally, only the bravest kept +their courage through such an ordeal. The cunning we had with us, and +they went stoutly enough because of their cunning. There will always +be men who are able to get food while others starve, and in such the +Grand Army was not deficient. These happy fellows kept their secrets +for the most part, and would often pretend to take pot-luck with us, +while we knew all the time that they had hidden stores in which we did +not share. The fact led to bitterness sometimes, and such men were +shunned by their fellows as unworthy of the spirit of comradeship which +animated the Guard. +</P> + +<P> +I met more than one of these cormorants after we left Slawkowo, but +none whose conduct so much mystified me as that of Captain Payard of +the dragoons. In converse he was the best of good fellows—a merry, +curly-haired gentleman, whose eyes were as blue as a woman's and whose +smile was medicine for every ill. Payard pretended to eat horse with +us, and yet we knew that this could not be his staple diet, for he was +as fat as a Normandy lamb and as gay. Many tried to guess his secret, +but none discovered it, and he would have carried it back to Paris with +him but for a bottle of brandy I hoarded at my saddle-bow, and opened +on the night we left Slawkowo. So deeply did he drink of this that he +became quite tipsy, and, crouching by my side over the bivouac fire in +the wood, he told me his story without shame. +</P> + +<P> +"You all say that I live well," he protested. "True enough; but, bon +camarade, I steal from the Russians." +</P> + +<P> +"What?" cried I. "You are known to them, then?" +</P> + +<P> +He laughed at the idea of treachery. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you not know me better than that, major?" said he, his eyes +flashing in the crimson light. "I tell you that I go to the Russian +camp and steal what I want. Is it not very simple, and should you not +all have thought of it for yourselves?" +</P> + +<P> +I was very much surprised, and began to question him closely. How had +he got the password? Was it not a highly dangerous undertaking, and +had he not been fortunate to escape with his life? +</P> + +<P> +All this he treated lightly. There was danger, of course, but what is +danger to men who are dying of starvation? He admitted that he had a +friend among the Russians, but declared very stoutly that such +friendship had been of great service both to him and to the Emperor. +Finally, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Come with me, major, and bring your nephew, and we will dine among the +Cossacks to-morrow night. Are you prepared to take your chance? Very +well. We will start a little before sunset, and we can rejoin the +column on the following morning. Come now, and I promise you as good a +dinner as you could get in our own Paris this night." +</P> + +<P> +The request astonished me very much, and I thought upon it a little +while. Léon had been away inspecting the horses, but when he returned +I mentioned the matter to him, and he did not hesitate a moment. Of +course we must go. Did it not promise us an adventure, and was not +anything better than the starvation we suffered? I think, indeed, he +would have leapt from a mountain-top if there had been food at the +bottom; and even at my age I could ask myself what perils counted for +men who marched daily over the bodies of their comrades to a city of +visions. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H4> + +<P> +Now this was all very well, but, in truth, the affair was rash enough +to have satisfied the most reckless. +</P> + +<P> +Remember that we marched like a beaten army, dejected and without +spirit; thousands dying every day as we went: the road across the snows +black with the bodies of our comrades who had fallen. Only the spirit +which had conquered at Austerlitz and Jena prevented our swift +annihilation by the Russian wolves, who barked at us from every +thicket. If a man lost his way, the sabres of the Cossacks quickly +showed him the road, or the hatchets of the peasantry put an end to his +sufferings. And yet this laughing Payard could propose that we should +brave the fastnesses of these savages just to find a good dinner beyond +them—a soldier's invitation, surely, perhaps a madman's project. +</P> + +<P> +I shall not dwell upon this aspect of the adventure, for it must be +apparent to all. Whatever misgivings I had at dawn passed away as the +day waxed and waned and the pangs of a savage hunger devoured me at +nightfall. A starving man is no better than a starving dog when he is +famished, and the Vélites were becoming but animals these latter days. +So you will not wonder that Payard found us ready when he called us at +sunset and that we set off as willingly as lads from a school. We were +going to dine for the first time since we had quitted Moscow. Happy +pilgrims upon a gourmet's road—how little we knew what was in store +for us! +</P> + +<P> +I should tell you here that the regiment had chosen but a bleak place +for its bivouac that night; a night when the wind began to blow again +and the moon shone clear in a starlit heaven. The road crossed a +shallow valley, in the midst of which was a frozen river. The banks of +this were not high enough to give much shelter from the bitter blasts, +but such as it was our men availed themselves of it and lay in the +hollows by the water, without fires, since the woods were some miles +away to the south, and there was not a human habitation to be seen. +When all that could be done for the good fellows had been accomplished, +and those who perished of fatigue were carried out of sight of the +living, Payard called to Léon and myself and we set off briskly over +the frozen waste. The time to dine had arrived, though as yet we knew +nothing of that strange café in the wilderness which should harbour us. +</P> + +<P> +"It is an hour's ride from here," said Payard as he mounted his horse; +"nothing at all, my friends, and no Cossacks until we come to the +woods. Then we shall be ready for them. En avant, mes amis, I am +going to feed you well." +</P> + +<P> +With this he set off at a brisk trot and we followed him without +protest. The way lay in the valley of the river I have mentioned, and +we followed it for at least two miles until the bank rose more steeply +and afforded no longer a safe footing for our horses. +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless, we pressed on until the woods drew down to the water's +edge, and Payard declared that we had need of horses no longer. From +this time, as he quickly told us, we must go afoot for safety's sake; +and tethering the willing animals to the first of the trees about the +river's border, we entered the forest. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H4> + +<P> +Our confidence was wonderful. We knew no more than the dead where this +merry fellow was leading us, and yet we followed him as joyous +adventurers upon the gayest of pilgrimages. When we heard a distant +bugle and surmised that we were not far from the Russian camp, we were +still unable to check his headlong advance, and though it was difficult +to imagine that he knew the country, our questions concerning it were +asked in vain. +</P> + +<P> +"A la bonne heure," he would say when checking his step. "I have +promised you a good dinner, and I am taking you where you will get it. +Do not trouble me until we arrive at the house. Then I will talk to +you." +</P> + +<P> +To this he added the intimation that it was dangerous to talk in a +place where the trees had ears. "Do you wish to dine with the +Cossacks?" he asked us. It was a question we could answer very +decidedly in the negative. +</P> + +<P> +Had we any doubt upon the latter point the sound of galloping horses +would have made his request for prudence seem reasonable enough. It +was evident that he was still following the river bank and that this +was his only guide. The woods about were open and gloriously carpeted +by the glistening snow. The long stems of the pines, all whitened by +the frost, stood for so many sleeping sentinels of that hidden army of +Russians which lay beyond them. Yet he did not hesitate, and it was +only when the sounds of approaching horsemen drew quite near to us that +Payard plunged suddenly into the undergrowth above the river bank and +bade us follow him for our lives. +</P> + +<P> +"The Cossacks!" cried he, and that was a word we understood too well. +</P> + +<P> +They came up presently, a sturdy troop all frosted with the snow, but +talking very merrily together as men who had been upon a pleasant +picnic. I had no doubt that they had just visited one of our own +bivouacs, and it was hard to lie there and watch them, knowing that +they had sabred many an honest Frenchman that day. Yet prudence +dictated such a course, and we lay in the brushwood hardly daring to +breathe while they swept by. When they had gone, Payard crawled out of +the bush, and shaking the snow from his massive shoulders, he told us +pleasantly that we were going to dine with them. +</P> + +<P> +"The camp is a third of a mile from here," he said, "and dinner will be +waiting. Let us make haste, my friends, or it will be cold." +</P> + +<P> +It was all an enigma to us, you may be sure, but that was not the time +to interrogate him about it, and we were content to follow in his steps +while he pressed on through the wood and presently emerged upon a +considerable clearing, beyond which were the bivouac fires of the +Russians. The sight of this brought us to a halt, and all gathering +together at the foot of a great chestnut tree, we began to argue about +it for the first time. +</P> + +<P> +"Yonder is the village of Vitzala," says Payard, indicating some lights +far off through the trees. "There has been a Russian camp here under +General Volska for the last two months. Madame Pauline is in the first +house across the clearing. If we reach that safely, the rest is easy. +Her husband has gone to Petersburg, and we are not likely to be +troubled by him. Of course, you know that she is a Frenchwoman." +</P> + +<P> +We knew nothing of the kind. As a matter of fact, we had heard her +name for the first time, but not with astonishment. It was evident +from the beginning that he had formed a friendship with one of the many +Frenchwomen who marched out of Moscow with our army; but that we should +find her in such a place and camped with Cossacks who were sabring our +fellows was a surprise indeed. +</P> + +<P> +"What brings her here?" I asked him bluntly enough. +</P> + +<P> +He told me in a word. +</P> + +<P> +"Colonel Tcharnhoff of the dragoons is in love with her. He is +supposed to be the richest man in the Russian army; his regiment lies +yonder in the village, but he himself has gone north to meet the +Military Council. I promise you that you are about to meet a very fine +woman—and one who knows how to dine," he added with a laugh. +</P> + +<P> +His candour disarmed us. We knew these Frenchwomen too well to doubt +his story, and all that remained was to discover the house which +harboured this interesting lady. Payard said that he had been +instructed to follow the bank of the river until he came to the +clearing, and that this would bring him to an isolated cabin upon the +outskirts of the village. There he was to find Madame Pauline. The +direction was plain, but the darkness of the night rendered the pursuit +of it difficult. +</P> + +<P> +We were now within a few hundred paces of the Russian camp. There was +a wide lake of snow between ourselves and the sheltering thicket, and +it was apparent that any moment might discover our presence to the +Russians. More prudent men would have gone back as they had come; but +we were as famished as the wolves, and crying to the captain to lead +on, we bent our heads and ran boldly for the shelter of the distant +woods. +</P> + +<P> +Luck favoured us to this point. Standing upon the far side of the +thicket to listen, we soon perceived that the camp was not alarmed. It +is true that we could see the bayonets of the sentries moving between +the trees, perhaps a hundred yards from the place where we stood; but a +far more pleasant sight was a lonely wattled hut on the very brink of +the wood, and this we determined could be no other than Madame +Pauline's abode. +</P> + +<P> +"As plain as the nose on the end of your face, and a much better +colour," said Payard, rubbing his own vigorously. "She would never +have sent for me if her house had been within the lines. At any rate, +my friends, I will take my chance," and upon that he walked straight up +to the door of this strange habitation and knocked lightly upon it. +The next moment it was opened by a man who answered him in French; and +beckoning us to follow, the merry captain entered the hut without +another word. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IV +</H4> + +<P> +I have described this building as a hut, and yet when we entered it we +discovered that it deserved a better appellation. +</P> + +<P> +The relic of an ancient outpost in the woods, it had been used formerly +by the frontier guards, and, indeed, I have learned since that it +served for officers' quarters in the days of the great Queen Catherine. +</P> + +<P> +The building that we saw from the thicket was but an ante-chamber to a +larger apartment which had been furnished in the oddest manner for +madame's occupation. +</P> + +<P> +A great stove glowed here, and the walls were hung with the costliest +skins in lieu of tapestries. For carpet there was but a footing of +straw rushes, and this was in odd contrast to the luxury elsewhere. +Better to our liking was a wooden table, lacking a cloth, but spread +with food such as we had not seen since we left Moscow. +</P> + +<P> +Bread was here—that bread for which we would have bartered our souls +yesterday. We espied a great round of beef which would have fed a +company of men, and a saucepan of potatoes, steaming upon the stove of +which I have spoken. Not only this, but dainties innumerable littered +madame's board; and our eyes feasted already upon the preserved fruits +which every Russian loves; sweetmeats from Germany, fine liqueurs and +bottles of wine, all promising a veritable orgy to men who had suffered +the rigours of that unnameable retreat. +</P> + +<P> +Naturally, Léon and I thought of these things first, but presently we +heard a voice from a room beyond, and madame herself now appeared and +greeted us with a welcome which nothing could have surpassed. Were we +not Frenchmen, and was she not our sister in the remote wilderness? Be +not astonished that we kissed her upon both cheeks as though we had +known her all our lives. +</P> + +<P> +Let me describe this wonderful personage for you as well as memory +permits. Above the middle height, with a superb figure and limbs which +would not have disgraced a grenadier, she wore the green uniform of the +Cossacks of the Guard, and mighty well it became her, as we all agreed. +</P> + +<P> +Not a beautiful woman as the canons go; her hair was frankly red, +though cut short and hardly reaching to her shoulders; yet there was a +power of character in her face which none could mistake, and she had +the kindest smile that I have ever seen upon a woman's face. To us her +welcome was unqualified. +</P> + +<P> +"You are at home here, my friends," she said; "are you not all +Frenchmen, and am I not your sister? Ah, how well I know what you have +suffered! Would that I could bring the others here to this mean house +and give them what they deserve! Such as it is, however, my +hospitality is always at the service of yourselves and your comrades. +Shall we now sit down to table? You will not tell me that you are not +ready." +</P> + +<P> +We told her nothing of the kind, but followed her as dogs that hear the +huntsman's step. The peril of the house, the chance of our being +discovered there, the consequence of such discovery, troubled us not at +all. We could have taken the meat in our hands and gnawed it as hounds +will gnaw a bone, and I would say that there could have been no more +revolting spectacle than that of our appetites at madame's hospitable +board. Nothing came amiss to us—meat and drink; sweetmeats and +liqueurs—we devoured them in a frenzy, and not until we had gorged +ourselves shamelessly did a man of us put a question as to our +situation. +</P> + +<P> +Oddly enough, madame heard us with some discomfort, I thought, directly +we began to speak about the regiment. Turning to Payard, she said: +</P> + +<P> +"My friend, do you not understand that I am the wife of a Russian +officer, and can tell you nothing? I have promised you shelter in this +house, and you may count upon me; but do not expect me to betray +anything or anybody. Rather let me fill your glasses and drink the +toast that I shall propose to you: 'France, our own beloved country. +To our safe return!' Will you not pledge that?" +</P> + +<P> +Naturally we responded with all our hearts to such a pleasant +sentiment; nay, I think we had drunk the toast at least three times +when, without warning, the French servant burst into the room, and, +white as death, he cried, "Madame, here is Colonel Tcharnhoff returned!" +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +V +</H4> + +<P> +Now, I do not think at the first we understood the significance of this +intrusion. +</P> + +<P> +Remember that we had dined very well, and that our heads were turned by +the good wine madame had offered us. Perhaps we had forgotten that we +were in the heart of the enemy's camp, and that for a word they would +have cut us to pieces. I remembered vaguely that Payard had spoken of +a certain Tcharnhoff as one of madame's lovers; but for the moment it +was difficult to connect the terror of the serving man with the gossip +of the roadside. +</P> + +<P> +In the same spirit my nephew Léon laughed foolishly when he heard the +servant, and immediately cried, "Let Colonel Tcharnhoff come in!" This +cry Payard himself repeated, banging the table with his fist and +seeming to think it the best of jokes. Madame alone rebuked us by her +attitude. I have never seen a woman so obviously overcome by terror +and yet so much mistress of herself. +</P> + +<P> +"Keep your seats," she said, half rising as she spoke. "Say nothing +until I have told him." And with that she stood erect at the head of +the table and waited for the colonel to enter. +</P> + +<P> +Her attitude sobered us. The tragic terror of the woman, her fine +determination, the splendid figure she cut there at the table's head, +were so many rebukes upon our foolish levity. Instantly we realised +that we were in deadly peril by the advent of this unknown man, and +turning as he entered, we scrutinised him closely. +</P> + +<P> +Ferdinand Tcharnhoff was then in his thirty-fifth year. They say that +if you scratch a Russian you will find a Tartar; but this fellow was an +Eastern from the top of his head to the soles of his feet, and no man +could have mistaken him. Bearded like a savage Englishman, his face +might have been that of an animal, and his cunning eyes those of a pig. +He wore the white uniform of the dragoons with their cloak and helmet, +and his sword was still unbuckled when he came in. Never shall I +forget the look of astonishment which crossed the man's face when he +beheld us at his table. +</P> + +<P> +"How?" he cried in his own tongue, and then he looked from us to madame +and round about at his servants as though fearing that a trap had been +laid for him. It was at this moment that madame advanced, both her +hands outstretched in welcome, and laughing with the wit of a born +actress. +</P> + +<P> +"These are my friends and relatives from Paris," she cried. "I am +feeding them, Ferdinand. I told you that I would do so if ever I had +the chance." +</P> + +<P> +It was a bold stroke and worthy of the woman. The man himself seemed +quite taken aback at her hardihood, and, acting in the same spirit, he +now made us a most profound bow and then handed his cloak and sword to +the servant. +</P> + +<P> +"Gentlemen," said he, in passable French, "I will not say 'Welcome to +my board!' for that is obviously too late. Let me trust that you have +enjoyed a good dinner, an occupation in which I hope to imitate you +with madame's permission." +</P> + +<P> +He looked at her, and she immediately gave her orders for food to be +brought. I think she had expected a different turn to the adventure, +and was as perplexed as we ourselves at the colonel's attitude. Here +was a man who should have been raging against us as spies, sitting by +us in the most affable mood and eating and drinking as though he were +in our house and not we in his. For all that I doubted him even in his +most condescending moments, and whispering a word to Léon, I suggested +that we should go. This brought suspicion to a head. The Russian +became sullen in an instant. +</P> + +<P> +"You will stay," he said, and he banged the table with his fist as +though he had leapt suddenly to the command. "You will stay, +messieurs. Are you not madame's guests? This is no time of night to +be in the woods. There are dangers abroad, messieurs—and wolves. +Upon my word, I am surprised at you—to mention such a thing." +</P> + +<P> +We resumed our seats, and he fell to smiling again; yet it was with the +snarl of one of those very wolves he had mentioned. A low cunning +laugh, the like of which I have never heard, betrayed a deeper purpose +than that of hospitality. We, in our turn, understood then the whole +peril of the situation. The man was playing with us as a cat with +mice; he had but begun the role he meant to undertake. +</P> + +<P> +"You are foolish, messieurs," he went on presently; "indeed most +foolish. Consider what would happen to you if you left this house +against my will. The sentries would detain you, and there would be an +inquiry at head-quarters. We are very unkind to traitors when they +visit our camps, and we have our own way of dealing with them. Do you +remember Major Royate, of the Engineers, whom the Cossacks took at +Plavno? They tied him to a tree, I think, and the wolves ate him at +sundown. Then there was your Lieutenant de Duras, whom they burned on +a fire of logs at Letizka; and another, I think, was hacked to pieces +with sabres on the eve of Borodino. All this is very terrible, but in +your words, <I>à la guerre comme à la guerre</I>. You say that you fight +with barbarians, and you will not quarrel with their customs. Are they +not poor savages whom you have come here to correct? Messieurs, I do +not know what would happen to you if I gave the alarm from that window +at this minute. It would not be the water, for the river is frozen; +but it might very well be the wolves, as your ears will bear witness if +you will be good enough to listen." +</P> + +<P> +With this he opened the rude window of the barn, and far away in the +thick of the forest we could hear the dismal howling of the famished +brutes. What was the man's intention, or why he talked in this way, I +could not imagine; but presently, as he drank deeper, his reserve +became less and his true meaning more apparent. Not for a moment had +he been deceived by the tale which madame told him. One of us, he +knew, was her lover, and that man he meant to discover and to kill. +</P> + +<P> +"Frenchmen," he said presently, passion growing upon him as he spoke, +"I will let two of you leave this house if the third remains. Cast +lots amongst yourselves, if you please; it is a matter of indifference +to me. But one man I will give to my Cossacks, so help me Heaven!" +And with that he laughed savagely, as though this sudden humour pleased +him mightily. +</P> + +<P> +To this it was impossible to make any answer. We held our tongues, +while Madame Pauline crossed over to the man's side and began to speak +rapidly in Russian. It was plain, however, that she both appealed and +commanded in vain. An Eastern passion for revenge suffered no woman's +entreaty. He knew that none of us would betray the others, and he +believed that he had us all in the net of a devilish vengeance. +</P> + +<P> +"Two of you shall go," he kept saying—"two. I will give you five +minutes by the clock. If you do not make a choice then, it is for my +Cossacks to deal with you. As you please, messieurs; that is my last +word." +</P> + +<P> +We had no response to make. The man's anger and the woman's despair +were both very dreadful things to hear and see, and we turned aside +from them to argue the question in quick whispers. Plain was it that +our hope of life hung upon a thread, and, all our fighting instinct +returning, we began to say that we must deal with Tcharnhoff ourselves. +Should we make a dash from the house, or should we seize the man where +he stood? The latter seemed the wiser thing. We risked all by doing +so, and yet might win all. No sooner was the course determined upon +than, snatching his sword from the chair where it lay, Payard made a +dash for the Cossack. Alas! that was the last thing he ever did in his +life, for a pistol-shot rang out at the very instant, and our friend +fell dead across the table. Tcharnhoff had shot him; and the smoke had +not lifted when Pauline herself stabbed her lover to the heart, and he +rolled headlong on the floor, almost at my feet. +</P> + +<P> +"Go!" she cried, her face white as with the pallor of death. "I will +say that you killed him. Go and leave me." +</P> + +<P> +We waited for no other word. In the distance we heard the report of a +musket and the alarm spreading through the camp. We had an instant +between us and eternity, and be sure we made the best of it. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VI +</H4> + +<P> +It was a glorious night when we reached the open, a full moon shining +upon us and the snow glistening as though dusted with diamonds. +</P> + +<P> +We could see the bivouac fires of the camp still burning brightly and +the figures of the awakened Cossacks moving about them. You may +imagine how the spectacle quickened our steps, and with what wild hope +of life we crossed the frozen ground to the horses which stood for our +salvation. +</P> + +<P> +For myself I do not think I have ever run so fast in my life, and never +shall run again, as upon that amazing night. Already my heated fancy +would have it that I could hear the thunder of hoofs upon the snow and +the savage cries of the men whose sabres would cut us down. The +stillness all about us, the silent majesty of the frozen woods, the +utter solitude of the steppes enhanced this impression and all the +gloom of it. What fools we had been to come on such an errand at all! +And how dearly we had paid for it already! It now remained to prove +that we could become men even in the face of death most revolting. +</P> + +<P> +I say that we ran, but that is hardly the word for it. So difficult +was the ground, so slippery, that sometimes we would be on our feet and +sometimes sliding like lads at a school. The clamour behind us was now +unmistakable, but plainly it converged upon the house we had left, and +we doubted not that Pauline's wit would give us grace. When we at last +came up to the horses, neither of us could speak for sheer exhaustion +of the chase, but we clambered headlong into our saddles, and, letting +poor Payard's charger go whither it would, we galloped across the open +steppes, and entered the first of the woods beyond them. It seemed now +that we were safe, yet what men have ever suffered a greater delusion? +Hardly had we gone three hundred paces when we came face to face with a +party of horsemen, and, reining back in confusion, we discovered them +to be Cossacks returning to the camp. +</P> + +<P> +The rencontre was swift and a surprise upon both parties. We, being on +the look-out, were naturally the first to draw rein; but the Cossacks, +upon their side hardly less watchful, were quickly at the halt and +eyeing us wonderingly. Such a droll state of affairs would have amused +any man who read an account of it in a book, but it was serious enough +to us. +</P> + +<P> +For a brief instant it appeared that we were lost beyond hope, and had +nothing to do but to kneel in the snow before these brigands. There +were some eighty of them as I could see, and every man now whipped his +sword from his scabbard. We were but two against them, and not fifty +paces from the place where they were halted, and you will judge of our +astonishment when they did not fire upon us. This very interval of +silence was to be our salvation, for suddenly my nephew wheeled his +horse about, and crying to me to follow him, he spurred wildly from the +wood. Be sure that I imitated him with all my blood afire and a wild +hope of life leaping suddenly to my heart. Their horses had been long +afoot, said I, while ours had rested. We might outride them yet, and +were madmen if we did not put the matter to an issue. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VII +</H4> + +<P> +So behold us galloping headlong from that fearsome place, the snow +flying beneath our horses' hoofs, our heads bent and our swords drawn. +For a time I knew not whether we were gaining or losing upon the savage +horde which followed us. Wild cries echoed in my ears; the night was +black about me; I heard the stertorous breathing of the willing horses, +the thunder of their hoofs upon the cruel ground. Then a great silence +fell. Léon hailed me, and I could hear his voice distinctly. +</P> + +<P> +"They are done with," he said; and upon that, "What do you make of it?" +</P> + +<P> +"How?" cried I. "They are not following us!" And then I reined back +to listen. +</P> + +<P> +We must have travelled a league by this time, but the face of the bleak +country was unchanged. Dense woods and gigantic lakes of snow were the +outstanding features, and over all the paralysing silence of a Russian +night. Good God! what a solitude, and yet we had won freedom in it! +</P> + +<P> +"They did not think us worth powder and shot," says Léon presently. +"Perhaps they were hungry, or"—and here he pointed grimly over his +shoulder—"they may have preferred the camp to that." +</P> + +<P> +I looked at him curiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Of what are you speaking?" I asked him, and at that he shrugged his +shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen," he cried, "and then answer for yourself, mon oncle." +</P> + +<P> +I took a pull upon the rein again, and bent my ear towards the wood. A +weird sound, like to nothing but the howling of the doomed, broke the +silence all about and made its meaning clear. We had lost the +Cossacks, but the wolves were on our track; aye, thousands of +them—leaping, barking, snarling from their fastnesses, and bending +their heads to the chase like hounds that follow a scent. Good God, +what a sight that was to see! With what terror the spectacle filled us +as we let the maddened horses go and rode again from an enemy more +terrible than man! +</P> + +<P> +I had heard of the wolves of Russia, but had seen but few of them +during the terrible days of the retreat. +</P> + +<P> +Perchance the fact that we had rarely left our comrades might have had +something to do with it, for naturally the fret and stir of an army in +retreat would scare such beasts even at such a season; but here the +story was otherwise. They had scented the horses, and nothing now +would stop them. Gallop as we would, they gained upon us, and +presently were leaping at the throats of the terrified brutes we rode. +</P> + +<P> +In vain we discharged our pistols, struck at them with our swords, and +cried for aid to any that might be near us. They came again, with jaws +distended and dripping fangs, and we had not gone the third of a league +when one caught Léon's horse by the throat and, hanging there, dragged +the brute shrieking to the ground. +</P> + +<P> +Surely any man might now have believed that the end had come, and that, +whatever else befell, the regiment would see us no more. +</P> + +<P> +There was the horse being torn to pieces before our eyes; there was my +nephew striking at the wolves with his sword while I endeavoured +maladroitly to lift him to my saddle. The latter task was soon +rendered impossible by the ferocity of the savage beasts who now +swarmed about us. They had my own horse down before a man could have +counted ten, and, leaping from it as it fell, I ran headlong towards +the woods for any shelter that could be found. +</P> + +<P> +Our lives now did not seem worth a scudo. There must have been +thousands of wolves about the horses; a black wood was upon our left +hand, a wide, boundless plain before us. Nevertheless, that dim hope +which sustains men in all emergencies remained, and, crying to one +another to take courage, we entered the wood. There, to our wonder and +amazement, we discerned immediately the haven of our salvation. It was +a woodlander's hut, not twenty yards from the open, and hardly had we +espied it before we were locked and barred within and laughing at the +very magnitude of our misfortune. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VIII +</H4> + +<P> +It must have been about three o'clock of the morning by this time. +</P> + +<P> +The hut itself had one window looking over the plain, but was as bare +of furniture as any room in a madhouse. Léon's tinder-box revealed a +floor of baked earth and a stove which lacked fuel, and this, with a +shelf upon which there stood empty jars, was all the ornament this +fortress possessed. To us, however, it was more beautiful than any +palace, and, taking a drain of brandy from our flasks, we climbed up to +the window and looked out over the snows. +</P> + +<P> +Our poor horses were but bones by this time, and there were hundreds of +the wolves fighting about the carcasses. Less to our liking were the +slinking forms about the hut itself and the savage howling which +assailed our ears. It was clear that the brutes had scented us out, +and would stand sentinel until their courage was screwed up to +something more. We could count them by the hundred as they prowled +round and round the hut, leaping often at the window, and snarling when +the butts of our pistols drove them back. Some, indeed, went so far as +to spring upon the roof, and there yapped and howled most dismally; +while, as for ourselves, we could but keep guard and wonder what the +day would bring. Would it send aid to us, or must we be prisoners +there until we perished of hunger and cold? This was a question +neither dared answer. The minutes became as hours while we waited for +the dawn. The horror of the snow paralysed our faculties and almost +forbade speech between us. +</P> + +<P> +I cannot tell you truly of all that happened during that appalling +vigil. It is odd to look back to it now and to remember the light +words with which Léon and I would endeavour to cheer each other; how we +laughed and jested when our nerves were at a tension and it seemed that +any minute the cold might overcome us and the door be left open to +death in its most revolting aspect. But an instant of carelessness, +and there would have been a dozen brutes at our throats, and we should +have shared the fate of the wretched horses whose very bones were now +vanished from the plain. +</P> + +<P> +All this was in our minds, yet our lips made no mention of it. +"Courage," we said; "the day will help us." It seemed a vain hope, for +who should be in this wild place when the sun rose again? You answer +the Cossacks. Aye, true enough, it was the Cossacks who came just as +the day had dawned, and the red light of the morning sun shimmered upon +that frozen sea. +</P> + +<P> +Léon heard them sooner than I, but the brutes were quicker than he. I +had taken my turn at the window, and had just crashed my pistol into a +gaping mouth which menaced me, when the wolves around suddenly pricked +their ears and turned their heads towards the east. +</P> + +<P> +"There are horsemen at the gallop," said Léon at the same moment; and, +listening, I heard the muffled thunder of hoofs upon the snow. +</P> + +<P> +"Would they be our own men?" I asked him. +</P> + +<P> +He shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"We must be five leagues from the high road. Which of our fellows +would come this way?" +</P> + +<P> +I could not answer that, and had no need to, for hardly were the words +spoken when a troop of Cossacks appeared at a gallop, and instantly the +wolves closed in about them. This was a fine sight, and one I never +shall forget. To watch those dashing horsemen hewing and firing and +slashing at the pack about them, to wonder why they thus rode +desperately, to speculate upon their destination, were all in the +mind's task as the picture unfolded. Were we the pursued, or had they +other quarry? Certainly they would not have to look far for us, for +there in their track upon the snow lay our saddles and bridles, at +which the famished brutes still gnawed. +</P> + +<P> +Now, it occurred to me that they must certainly discover us, and that +our shrift would be short. The beasts themselves, scared by the +thunder of the sounds, broke presently and fled to the woods whence +they had come. The Cossacks rode up to the very place where our +bridles lay, and yet they did not halt. What drove them thence? I +will tell you in a word—the Red Hussars of our own Guard were at their +heels, hunting them as though they were vermin of the woods, and +cutting them down without pity like wheat that falls before a sickle. +</P> + +<P> +Ah! what a sight that was to see. What sounds were those to hear—the +shrieks of the poor devils whose skulls were cleaved, the cries of +triumph of the victorious pursuers—they were music in our ears. Yet +saner men would have asked how this majesty of war would help us. But +five minutes had passed when pursued and pursuers were gone as they had +come, and we were alone again. The situation had changed but in +this—that no wolf now yapped about that wattled hut. We climbed from +its window, and went out through the wood without fear. We were alone, +and far from salvation. At least, we thought so for a full hour, until +a second troop of the Red Hussars appeared in the open, and we hailed +them joyfully. +</P> + +<P> +Then, indeed, was the end of the story written, and then we knew that +we should see our comrades again. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IX +</H4> + +<P> +We returned to the bivouac of the Vélites that night, and there told +our story. Many mourned the gallant Payard, but there were others who +asked of Madame Pauline. What had happened to her after we had fled +from the camp? We could not answer the question then, but I answered +it in the following June in Paris, when I met her in the Rue de Rivoli +and recognised her instantly. A fine woman, messieurs, and one who is +a very good judge of a dinner, believe me. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE WITCH IN ERMINE +</H4> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H4> + +<P> +I have spoken little of the Emperor during these momentous days; but it +is to be remembered that I was chiefly with the rearguard, and so I +hardly saw His Majesty until we came to Slawkowo. +</P> + +<P> +Often have I been asked in Paris how he carried himself during the +terrible retreat from Moscow, and how it came to be that he escaped the +fate which overtook nearly half a million of men in that fearful +flight. I have always answered that the Emperor took his fair share +both of the risks and the hardships of the journey, and that, so far +from travelling in his famous berline, he was often afoot, walking with +and encouraging the soldiers who had served him so well. +</P> + +<P> +It is true that he never suffered the miseries of an open bivouac, and +that, wherever we went, some habitation was discovered at night to +shelter him and the intimate members of his staff. Food, also, he had +in abundance, and often shared it with his staff. What he could not +escape was the peril of the Cossacks, who swarmed upon our flanks like +wasps, and rarely left us an hour in which we could march with +confidence. +</P> + +<P> +Some there are who say that Napoleon Bonaparte was entirely without +pity for his fellow men. I have seen it recorded that he marched over +the dying and the dead with indifference, and was even heard to say +that no man who had seen so many corpses upon a high road could ever +believe in the immortality of the soul. This must be a malicious +invention of his enemies, and it would not be accepted by any soldiers +of the Guard. The Emperor suffered as we suffered during those +unforgettable days, and more than one man could tell of the pity +bestowed upon him by the general for whom he would so willingly have +died. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H4> + +<P> +Let me give you an instance of what befell us when we were some leagues +from Smolensk and were approaching the village of Liadoui. +</P> + +<P> +The Emperor had ridden out of the town that morning escorted by the +grenadiers and the chasseurs, Prince Eugène with General Davoust and +Ney being left behind in charge of the rearguard. +</P> + +<P> +I myself set out with the Vélites about an hour after His Majesty had +left, upon a road whereon familiar scenes were soon to be encountered. +</P> + +<P> +The army had got no food in Smolensk, and its sufferings began again +directly we reached the open country. Just as heretofore, men fell out +and perished before the eyes of their helpless comrades. Some would +stagger for a little while like drunken men, stretching out their arms +to us and craving pity; others went mad in their delirium, and I +remember well with what horror we saw a dragoon gnawing madly at the +neck of a frozen horse, while his lips were red with his own blood. To +all this we had now become inured, and, knowing the impossibility of +helping the poor wretches who succumbed, we could but shut pity from +our hearts and bend our heads to the bitter wind which swept over this +God-forsaken land. +</P> + +<P> +It was during this march that I came up with the Emperor, who had been +riding with the grenadiers and was now halted in a picturesque group +near by the edge of a thicket. +</P> + +<P> +Here we found a poor woman whose baby was but two days old, and who +mourned the loss of this infant—frozen stark dead—as though she had +been at her own home in Paris. She was a cantinière of the fusiliers, +and her husband, an old soldier who had fought at Jena, did what he +could for her; but it was all of no avail, and despite His Majesty's +command that I myself should attend her and that she should be given of +the best from the Imperial supplies, she expired in the snow before our +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +The Emperor was greatly affected by this distressing occurrence, and +when he saw that the poor woman was dead he commanded me to accompany +him, intimating that there was hardly a surgeon left in his entourage. +This compliment pleased me very much, remembering how we had parted, +and I rode by His Majesty's side for some leagues, telling him all that +I had seen and done since we quitted Moscow. What surprised me +particularly was that he made no mention of Mademoiselle Valerie, nor +of her visit to him at Slawkowo and of the episode which had led up to +it. It was his wont, however, thus to treat the officers he liked +best, and if I had been doubtful of his favour on that occasion, I +could take heart when he pinched my ear suddenly as we came to the +village of Liadoui and said with a smile: "You will remain with me +to-night, major; I have something very much in your line." +</P> + +<P> +This was a quite unexpected compliment, and brought the blood to my +cheeks. I could not readily imagine upon what service His Majesty +would employ me, but I spent the day in anxious speculation, and when +he summoned me at about nine o'clock that night I was all agog, as you +may well imagine. +</P> + +<P> +Why had I been thus chosen, and what was the employment? +</P> + +<P> +You shall see now how very strange an affair it turned out to be. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H4> + +<P> +The village of Liadoui is built of wood upon an open situation not many +leagues from Krasnoë. The Emperor slept at the post-house, a modest +edifice which two companies of the fusiliers were to guard. I myself +got a bivouac with the priest, who needed more than one blow from the +butt end of a musket before he was glad to see me. The whole situation +of the little force in Liadoui would have been considered dangerous at +any other time, but we had to take the best we could, and the fact that +there were Russians on both flanks had ceased to trouble us while we +could get food and shelter. +</P> + +<P> +For the first time now for many a day I got a dish of beef and rice +that night, and a bottle of wine to wash it down. This His Majesty +sent me from his own table, and be sure I shared it with my comrades. +We were in consequence quite a happy company, and we sang "Veillons au +salut de l'Empire" as merrily as we might have done in the barracks at +Paris. Then came His Majesty's summons for Major Constant to attend +him at once; and quitting my comrades with reluctance, I put on the +great fur coat which I had carried from Moscow, and went across to the +post-house. +</P> + +<P> +Much to my surprise I found the Emperor alone. He sat in a spacious +room overlooking the street, and the remains of his dinner were still +upon the table. Clad in the well-known grey overcoat and the little +cocked hat, without which none of us would have recognised him, I +perceived also that he had a heavy cape of fur about his shoulders and +wore fur-topped boots almost to his hips. He seemed mightily pleased +to see me, and, pouring out a glass of wine, he bade me drink it. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you remember this place?" he asked me as the first question. +</P> + +<P> +I told him that the Vélites had not passed that way before, having +taken the northern road to Moscow. He, however, hardly waited for my +answer, but, watching me drink the wine, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"I see that you do not know it. That is to the good; you will not ask +me unnecessary questions. Now drink your wine and come and see your +patient. She is young—you will not object to that. The Vélites, I +understand, are critical; it is for that reason I chose a surgeon from +your ranks." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed as though pleased at the jest. Buttoning the fur cape +closely about him, he left the room immediately, and I followed him, +the wine freezing upon my moustache as soon as we were out in the +bitter night. +</P> + +<P> +Never have I known a cold so intense nor a wind that shrivelled the +flesh so quickly. Yet the scene itself was picturesque enough, and +under any other circumstances a man might have stopped to marvel at it. +The moon now shone full and clear from a cloudless sky; the trees about +Liadoui glistened with a thousand diamonds of the frost; the snow +beneath our feet was as hard as iron and burnished with a sheen of +silver light. Imagine upon this wooden houses with all their windows +aglow, dark forms moving here and there, the distant rumble of cannon +upon the road, and even the echo of musket shots, and you will see the +picture as I saw and remember it. +</P> + +<P> +Whither was the Emperor going, and upon what errand? I could not so +much as imagine his purpose when we quitted the post-house and, +crossing the street, entered upon a narrow footpath which seemed about +to lead to the neighbouring forest. The peril of such a journey, with +the Cossacks all about us and the night hawks everywhere, would have +been patent to a child, and it even amazed an old soldier like myself, +who could but marvel at such imprudence. +</P> + +<P> +Was it possible that His Majesty could be about to visit the Russian +camp secretly, as so many of our brave fellows had done? +</P> + +<P> +I dared for the moment to believe it, until the shape of a house +emerged suddenly from the shadows and I saw that we had come to a +considerable habitation upon the very brink of the woods. To my +astonishment this was guarded by sentinels, and no sooner were we out +of the shadows than one of them challenged us angrily. +</P> + +<P> +"Salut de l'Empire," said His Majesty, advancing with a smile, and, the +man having brought his musket to the salute, we passed the gate and +entered the house. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IV +</H4> + +<P> +Naturally we were expected. It was evident that His Majesty would +never have gone upon such a journey if he had not known very well that +he would find a welcome at the end of it. The army hears many stories +and must listen at all times with prudent ears. We had mentioned the +name of more than one <I>belle fille</I> since we had left Paris, and we +knew that we should mention many another before we returned there. So +you will imagine my surprise when it was not a young woman but a very +old one who greeted us upon the threshold of this remote house. +</P> + +<P> +I saw she was old, but it would have puzzled a man to have guessed her +age. Shrivelled and wan, with a skin of parchment and hair of flax, +her eyes nevertheless glittered like those of a hawk, and her hands +were ablaze with diamonds of wonderful lustre. Her dress was rich, and +such as usually worn by noblewomen in Russia. She wore a silk robe +trimmed with ermine, and the most wonderful cape of the same costly fur +about her hunched shoulders. To His Majesty she was deferential beyond +compare. She welcomed him with a curtsey full of the old-time +stateliness, and to me she extended her hand to be kissed. Then she +bade us enter the salle à manger of the house, and I perceived at once +that supper was prepared there. +</P> + +<P> +I have told you that it was an extensive dwelling, though built of +wood, and certainly this apartment was fine enough for anything. The +walls were everywhere hung with old French tapestry; the furniture must +have come from our own Paris. There was china of Sèvres upon the +table, and that extravagant porcelain in which the East and the West +commingle and delight. Two liveried servants stood at the table's head +and bowed low as the Emperor entered. He, however, appeared but ill at +ease, and I plainly perceived that he was seeking someone whose +presence he had expected. +</P> + +<P> +This whetted my curiosity. The old lady herself, setting His Majesty +at the head of her table, now sat down upon his right hand, and +motioned me to a seat beside her. Then she made a signal to the +lackeys, and instantly they began to serve us with all manner of +luxuries unlooked for in such a place, and certainly not discovered +since we had left Moscow. +</P> + +<P> +The man who has lived upon horseflesh for many days is a good judge of +any kind of cooking, and I could not but think, as I sat at the table, +of that unhappy mendicant who had said to Louis XV., "Sire, how hungry +I am!" and had been answered with the quip, "Lucky devil." +</P> + +<P> +To me this Was a Gargantuan feast such as had never been surpassed in +all my years. +</P> + +<P> +We had the fine sturgeon in which the Russians delight, their own +caviare, excellent mutton, and chickens which were matchless, and all +washed down with the wines of Burgundy, and upon that with draughts of +our own magnificent brandy. When we had finished we were even offered +a little preserved fruit and some of the tobacco which the Russians +smoke rolled in slips of paper. His Majesty condescended to try one of +these, but made little of it, and presently it became apparent to me +that he was anxious, and that his anxiety no longer brooked the control +of silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Madame," he asked without warning, "where is your daughter Kyra?" +</P> + +<P> +The question had been expected, and madame lifted her wise eyes when +she heard it. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" she exclaimed in French, "so you are anxious to speak to Kyra +again." +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" says His Majesty. "She told me many things I wished to +hear; is that not a reason?" +</P> + +<P> +"And your Majesty found them true?" +</P> + +<P> +For an instant the Emperor seemed to be dreaming. Then, tapping the +table lightly with his fingers, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"In the main they were true. She told me that Moscow would be burned." +</P> + +<P> +Madame Zchekofsky—for such I discovered the lady's name to be—feigned +great pity. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, what a dreadful thing—and so many of your poor soldiers who +suffered! Little did I think when I heard the child speak that such +wisdom was in her keeping, but so it is, as your Majesty admits." +</P> + +<P> +"Most willingly. I expected to hear more of it to-night. Is your +daughter ill, or is she merely absent?" +</P> + +<P> +Madame Zchekofsky shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"She is ill, sire; it is the bitter cold of this terrible winter. +Otherwise she would have been by your Majesty's side to-night." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" cried the Emperor, with a gesture Of disappointment; "then I must +not see her?" +</P> + +<P> +"I fear not. These visions are not to be encouraged, as I am sure Dr. +Constant will tell you. Those who command them suffer much afterwards. +Is it not so, doctor?" +</P> + +<P> +I hardly knew how to answer her. It had come to me suddenly that this +old woman was playing with both of us, and there flashed upon me the +disquieting thought that His Majesty's life might even be in danger. +Could the Russians have laid hands upon him at such a moment and +carried him a prisoner to Petersburg, then indeed were the fortunes of +my country imperilled, and a blow struck at the Empire from which it +might never recover. Yet what was I to do? The Emperor was as good a +judge as I of the situation, and it would have been the mere effrontery +of a subordinate which would have reminded him of its dangers. +</P> + +<P> +"Madame," said I, "these things do not concern men of common sense. +When I go to bed at night the only vision that I look for is that of +the morning sun. If your daughter be a prophetess, I am sorry for you +both, for it has never seemed to me a profitable occupation. +Discourage her if you can—that is my advice." +</P> + +<P> +She shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"And yet you heard His Majesty say that she foretold the burning of +Moscow?" +</P> + +<P> +"A guess at hazard," said I. "What is more, madame, she may have known +that your Emperor was about to burn it. These things are not done by +one or two people, but by many thousands. It is quite probable that +she should have heard of the intentions." +</P> + +<P> +His Majesty smiled at this, yet the old hawk regarded me with some +malice. What her object was—whether to push the fortunes of her house +with the Emperor, or merely to advance his interest in her daughter—I +could not then imagine; but I know now that she had intended to follow +us to Paris and there to establish herself if she could. +</P> + +<P> +My pessimism evidently angered her; she had looked for me to support +His Majesty in this amiable humour. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said she, rising abruptly, "it is easy to put the matter to the +proof. Kyra should not leave her room, but His Majesty may go there if +he will. He shall then tell me if it were a guess or no. Do you +desire that, sire?" +</P> + +<P> +I could see that the Emperor was greatly pleased; he rose at once and +waited for her to show him the way. In that brief interval I stepped +to his side and begged to be permitted to follow him. +</P> + +<P> +"A whim, if you like, sire. Perhaps I am also a prophet," said I, and +we exchanged a glance I shall never forget. +</P> + +<P> +The Emperor knew that he was in peril, then. Did he also know the +nature of it? If so, he were wiser than I, who followed him merely +upon an impulse for which I could not account. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +V +</H4> + +<P> +We mounted a wide flight of stairs and stood for an instant before a +great carved door at the head of them. The house was very silent, and +the lackeys had disappeared. I could hear the distant sounds in the +village and from the high road the rumble of cannon and the blare of +bugles. But these were fitful and easily to be explained. What I did +not like was the uncanny silence in the dwelling itself. We entered a +great ante-room on the first floor, and from that passed to a little +bedroom such as a young girl might have occupied. It was empty, but +madame knocked at the door which led from it, and, receiving no +immediate answer, we all sat down and waited in the darkness. +</P> + +<P> +"The child sleeps," said the Emperor. +</P> + +<P> +The old woman muttered something I could not distinguish. +</P> + +<P> +"Of what nature is her illness?" His Majesty asked next. +</P> + +<P> +"It has been a fever," says madame; "but she is better of that, and now +suffers only from weakness." +</P> + +<P> +"In which case we must wait until she awakes. Do you not suggest a +better place than this, madame?" +</P> + +<P> +Madame rose at this rebuke. +</P> + +<P> +"I will go in myself," she said; but before she could take a step the +door of the adjoining room was opened and Mademoiselle Kyra herself +appeared. +</P> + +<P> +Her dress was a long white robe tied with a girdle. Her hair was like +her mother's, but more silken in texture, and fell, as the hair of many +Russian women does, almost to her feet. I thought her amazingly +beautiful—by far the prettiest woman I had yet seen in this damnable +country, and, in truth, I envied His Majesty such good fortune. He, +however, seemed in no way impressed by the child's looks, but only by +her attitude, which was that of one who walked in her sleep and might +not be awakened without danger. Stepping back, with his finger on his +lips, the Emperor let the girl go slowly from the room to the great +antechamber beyond, we following upon tiptoe, as though we spied upon +this unlooked-for apparition. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment I thought that Mademoiselle Kyra was about to descend the +stairs to the dining room we had left, but she crossed the landing at +the stairs head, and, opening a door upon the far side, entered another +bedroom, and from that a spacious apartment furnished like a chapel. +Here the Emperor followed her, but madame forbade me to go. I had an +instantaneous vision of a picture of the Madonna and a lamp burning +before it. Then I saw the girl stumble and appear about to fall, but +His Majesty caught her in his arms, and madame immediately closed the +door upon them. +</P> + +<P> +"You can wait," she said, and, closing the door of the bedroom and +drawing a heavy curtain over it, she left me standing sentinel in that +black, dark room. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VI +</H4> + +<P> +It was an odd situation, I must confess. +</P> + +<P> +The army is well acquainted with more than one such expedition in which +His Majesty has figured, and I was not the first officer, by many, who +had watched a house wherein he pursued an adventure of this kind. +</P> + +<P> +But here the circumstances were very different. +</P> + +<P> +The girl was not as other women of whom we spoke in merriment. She had +come from her apartment in sleep, and was sleeping, I believe, when she +entered the chapel. The impulse which drove His Majesty appeared to me +to be curiosity rather than love. I have heard that he was somewhat +given to omens and the occult sciences, and while pretending to be an +absolute disbeliever in them, would nevertheless lend a willing ear to +any charlatan who had a tale to tell. Mademoiselle Kyra had forewarned +him of certain happenings upon his march to Moscow, so what could be +more natural than that he should desire to hear what she had to say of +his retreat? +</P> + +<P> +These thoughts were uppermost in my mind when I found myself alone in +the room. I could hear no sound whatever from the chapel, not even +that of a woman whispering. The house itself had fallen again to a +silence quite remarkable. I tried to look from the window of the +bedroom, but found it so frosted that not a thing could be seen beyond. +The old lady herself had disappeared and gone I knew not whither. +Another, perhaps, would have spied upon the Emperor, and even found a +pretext for following him into the chapel. This kind of curiosity has +never afflicted me, and all that I remembered was the continued peril +of our situation. +</P> + +<P> +How if the Cossacks made a sudden dash upon Liadoui and overpowered the +sentinels at the gate! +</P> + +<P> +Nothing could be easier than such an assault. We had but two regiments +of the grenadiers in the village, and they were worn to death with +marching. Indeed, I believed they were already sleeping in any bivouac +they could find. The guns were mostly a day's march ahead of us, and +we had little artillery in our train. Nothing, I said, could be looked +for as surely as a sudden descent of the Cossacks upon any house in +which they might imagine the Emperor to be sleeping. So you will +understand my sense of responsibility and the keen ear I leant to any +sounds from without. +</P> + +<P> +The silence of the night seemed, indeed, almost unnatural. I began to +be affrighted by it. What was odd was the length of time His Majesty +was closeted in the dark chapel. It is true that I heard the sound of +voices when a little while had passed, and that a busy murmur of talk +went on at intervals for a full hour. Then for a spell again there was +silence, and it was during that interval that I first heard the alarm +from without. +</P> + +<P> +There were horsemen approaching the village. My trained ear told me +the truth in an instant, and bending it to the glass, I made sure that +I was not mistaken. Horsemen, I said, were riding across the frozen +snow, either towards Liadoui or to Madame Zchekofsky's dwelling. No +sooner was the opinion formed than the cry of a dying man confirmed it. +Someone had sabred or bayoneted the sentry at the gate. There is no +mistaking that awful cry which a man utters when he realises that he +has lived his life and that the steel within him has reached his heart. +I knew it too well, and, springing back at the sound, I ran to the +chapel doors and beat heavily upon them. +</P> + +<P> +"Your Majesty," I cried, "for God's sake!" +</P> + +<P> +The door was locked, but someone opened it instantly, and there stood +Mademoiselle Kyra and the Emperor by her side. She was wide awake now +and a look of terror had come upon her pretty face. +</P> + +<P> +"I beg you to go," she said to him. +</P> + +<P> +For answer he stepped out into the bedroom and asked me what was the +matter. +</P> + +<P> +"The Cossacks are here," I cried; "they have killed the sentinel. Your +Majesty must not delay." +</P> + +<P> +Napoleon Bonaparte was no coward, as all the world knows, and he heard +me almost with nonchalance. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you quite sure?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +I told him that there was no doubt of it. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen for yourself, sire," said I; "they are entering the house." +</P> + +<P> +He shrugged his shoulders and turned to Mademoiselle Kyra. +</P> + +<P> +"Is there a way out by the chapel?" he asked her. +</P> + +<P> +Her affrighted eyes answered him. +</P> + +<P> +"You will have to return by the great staircase," said she; and at that +he smiled, for we could hear already the tramp of many feet upon it. +</P> + +<P> +"That is a pity," says he now. "Major Constant must see what they +want." +</P> + +<P> +Then, speaking very earnestly to me, he exclaimed: "I count upon your +devotion, major; do what you can." And instantly he re-entered the +chapel, and I drew the curtain across its doors. +</P> + +<P> +There was now, I suppose, an interval of ten good seconds in which I +had an opportunity to think. Two alternatives faced me—I might either +draw my sword and meet the men as they entered, or feign fraternity and +so try to disarm their suspicions. The latter course occurred to me as +the wiser, and without a moment's hesitation I sprang upon the bed and +drew the heavy counterpane over my shoulders. The thing was hardly +done when the door burst open and some ten men entered the room. They +were Cossacks of the Guard, and every man had his sword drawn. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VII +</H4> + +<P> +I know little of the Russian tongue, but the few words that I have were +sufficient to tell me that the first cry uttered by the leader of the +men was for light. This was echoed down the stairs, and presently +there came a sergeant with a lantern and another behind him with a wax +candle in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +I had not moved during the interval, and I lay still yet a little +while. The fellows began to peer about immediately, and of course they +soon discovered me upon the bed. Then, truly, I thought that I had not +a minute to live. There were the barbarians, savage as it seemed in +the lust of blood. There was I as helpless as a bullock at the +slaughter. They had but to cut and thrust, and the story of +Surgeon-Major Constant would have been written for all time. You may +imagine how my heart beat while I waited to feel the prick of the steel +and wondered how death in such a shape would come. +</P> + +<P> +To a man so placed delay is but an agony anew. I could have prayed +that they would strike swiftly, and when they did not strike I laughed +aloud like a woman grown hysterical. +</P> + +<P> +God in heaven, how I laughed! Sitting up in the bed and watching that +ring of steel, no hyena in the wilderness uttered such sounds as I. +The best joke that was ever told could never have moved me as that +perilous situation. Not for my life, not even for the life of His +Majesty, was I acting thus; nay, if a man had offered me ten thousand +golden pieces to have recovered my serenity, the money would have been +lost for ever. +</P> + +<P> +Well, the effect upon the Cossacks was amazing. I have never had a +doubt that the first of the band had already raised his sabre to thrust +me through when this weird fit overtook me. The wonder of it held his +hand and left him powerless. He stood there looking at me as though he +had come suddenly upon a madman. Possibly I laughed, as men will at +times, with an air which is infectious, compelling others to take up +the catch, and certainly depriving them of their anger. Be that as it +may, there were fellows laughing in that bedroom before I had done, and +anon the whole company roared aloud with me. Such a thing was like a +sudden vision of life to a man whom death had held by both hands. In a +twinkling I had got my courage back, and what was but an ailment had +become a stratagem. If laughter could save the Emperor, then was I the +man. Soon I began to sing the "Ram, ram, ram, ram, plan, tire-lire ram +plan," and shouted it with all my lungs and danced a step before them. +They in their turn clapped me on the back with their sabres and cried +for drink. +</P> + +<P> +"You will find it in the salle à manger," said I, speaking to one of +them in French, and then, opening my mouth and making the sign of a man +drinking, I caught the fellow by the arm and dragged him down the +stairs. The others followed like sheep that would go into a fold. We +were all drinking about the table in less than no time, and an hour had +not run before the whole troop of them were as drunk as sailors at +Toulon. +</P> + +<P> +I say they were drunk, but a man must have been in Russia to know how +very drunk they were. +</P> + +<P> +This was no mere rollicking, no shouting of songs or bawling of +catches, but right-down deep drinking, and upon that a stupor which +bore a very good likeness to death. I watched them tumbling to the +floor one by one, and, spurning their bodies aside with my foot, I +remembered His Majesty and went back to him. He was still standing at +the stairs head where I had left him, and Mademoiselle Kyra was still +by his side. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," says he; and I told him at a breath. +</P> + +<P> +"There's an end of this until daybreak," said I. "Your Majesty can go +now." +</P> + +<P> +He did not speak, leaving it to the girl, who went slowly to the window +and, opening it a little way, looked out across the field of snow. +Then she shut the casement quickly and came back to us. +</P> + +<P> +"They are watching the house," she said quietly. "It is as I thought. +They know your Majesty is here, and are waiting for you." +</P> + +<P> +"Then let them find me instead," said I immediately, and, stepping up +to the Emperor, I begged the loan of his cloak and cocked hat. "You +will find mine a little large, but they will serve, sire," said I. "If +I draw off the troop, well and good. If not, your Majesty may yet find +a way." +</P> + +<P> +He looked at me in his own way, as one whom danger amused rather than +dismayed. +</P> + +<P> +"I will send a regiment of hussars to bring you back," he exclaimed, +pinching my ear as he was wont to do when pleased. Then he handed me +his cloak and cocked hat and I donned them as though the joke were +entirely to my liking. For all that, I knew very well what I was +doing, and I would not have valued my life at a lira's purchase when I +left him at the stairs head and went down. +</P> + +<P> +Mademoiselle stood by his side then, and they were deep in talk. I +might have said that I was forgotten already, and that may have been +true enough. Men have died for Napoleon Bonaparte, knowing well that +their very names would be unremembered when the sun rose again. Others +will imitate them, for such is the spirit his gifts of kingship have +inspired. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +It was the dead of night when I went out, and not a sign of the old +hag. I believed then that she had betrayed us, and had I met her that +would have been the last hour she had lived. But, as I say, she had +clean vanished, and the only lackey visible was dead asleep by the +stove in the hall. Very softly now I pushed open the outer doors and +looked about me. The spectacle was wonderfully beautiful, but as +menacing as it was glorious. A great full moon shone down upon a scene +that should have stood in a magic land. Earth and sky alike were aglow +with the entrancing lights of winter made magnificent. The cold was +intense beyond belief: the frost made a diamond of every pebble the +foot crushed. And upon it all was the stillness of God's death.... the +silence of a land which an Eastern winter had shrouded. +</P> + +<P> +Thus for the beauty of the scene. The menace was no less remarkable. +There, frosted already, were the corpses of the sentinels the Russians +had murdered. To reach the open I must step over the prone figures of +brother Frenchmen and look into their staring eyes. The shudder was +still upon me when I heard a cry of savage triumph, and knew that the +Cossacks were upon me. The troop which Mademoiselle Kyra had seen from +the window rode out of the shadows even as I crossed the threshold. +They fell upon me as wolves upon a carcass, and no fowl was trussed as +surely while a man could have counted twenty. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VIII +</H4> + +<P> +Imagine the exultation of these men, who believed that they had +captured the greatest of Frenchmen, living or dead, and were carrying +him to their general. +</P> + +<P> +The first transports passed, their sense of prudence returned to them, +and with it a deference which should have won laughter from a log! The +Emperor of the French a prisoner in their hands! Heaven above me, how +they bowed and capered! What antics they cut! Never had a man such +slaves at his feet. I was set upon a horse immediately, and had a +guard at the head and tail of him. The officer saluted until his arm +must have been weary. He had caught the Emperor—what a night! +</P> + +<P> +Our way lay over the snows to the Cossack camp upon the far side. +Behind me there shone the lights of the house I had quitted, bright +stars beyond a frozen sea. I knew that the next hour would find me in +the Russian general's tent, and that my shrift must be short. What +mattered the regiment of hussars the Emperor was to send? My body +would be frozen on the snows before they could ride out. +</P> + +<P> +Upon this there fell an apathy difficult to understand. +</P> + +<P> +We had suffered so much during those terrible days—hunger and thirst, +and blood and wounds—that any man might have opened his arms to death +as to a friend. And here was the end of it for me. What mattered it? +In a vision, I beheld the lights of my own France, the home which +sheltered all dear to me, the land towards which my eyes had been +lifted these many weeks. Never again might I look upon that smiling +country. Night and the unknown were my portion. There would be few to +remember my name to-morrow. +</P> + +<P> +From such thoughts a reality most absurd awoke me. +</P> + +<P> +I have set down this narrative of events as I lived and knew them, and +have kept nothing from you, that you may judge of things, not as we +look for them, but as an unromantic destiny determines that they shall +be. +</P> + +<P> +I say that I awoke with a start, believing myself to be upon a horse +and at the very threshold of the Russian camp. Depict my astonishment +when, opening my eyes, I beheld again madame's salle à manger, the +tables spread with meat and drink, the forms of the intoxicated +Russians on the floor all about me, and above them the red coats of our +own Hussars of the Guard! For an instant I believed that the witch in +ermine had cast a spell upon me, and that this was but a vision of her +enchantment. Then the merry laughter of my own comrades disillusioned +me and I staggered, dizzy and dumbfounded, to my feet. +</P> + +<P> +"Name of a dog," I cried to them, "and what does this mean?" +</P> + +<P> +They answered me with a merriment which became a shout. +</P> + +<P> +"It means that the liquor was very good and that you got very drunk," +says their captain, clapping me on the shoulder ... and at him I stared +all bewildered. +</P> + +<P> +"Drunk!" I cried. "You say that I was drunk!" +</P> + +<P> +"Undoubtedly.... His Majesty told us to take care of you...." +</P> + +<P> +"Then he is not here?" I exclaimed in wonder. +</P> + +<P> +"He is already six leagues on the road to Wilna," was the answer. A +child might have put me over at that. I clapped my hands to my fevered +brow and began to believe them. Drunk I had been ... but by drink had +I saved the Emperor's life. +</P> + +<P> +And I had done him an injustice in my dream. He has not forgotten, as +I knew full well. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IX +</H4> + +<P> +You will see how it all happened, and will need no further words from +me. +</P> + +<P> +Taking the Cossacks down to madame's salle à manger to keep them from +the Emperor, I also had been overpowered by their cursed liquor, and +had fallen under the table with the rest of them. There I dreamed of +Russian camps, and France, and death, and all the nonsense of it, and +there I awoke to find our own Red Hussars in possession of the +dwelling. How they laughed at me! Yet what music their laughter +proved to be! +</P> + +<P> +As to old Madame Zchekofsky, I veritably believe that she played a +double part that night with all a woman's cunning. Desiring the +Emperor's friendship, she encouraged his belief in her daughter's power +of prophecy, at the same time trying to keep in with the Russians by +informing them of our presence in the house at a moment when she +believed we would already have left it. Thus her anxiety and that +disquiet I had observed with such misgiving. +</P> + +<P> +I saw her in Paris in the memorable year 1815, and her daughter was +with her. Naturally my nephew Léon desired to know so mysterious a +personage, and I fancy she found his gifts of prophecy not less +considerable than her own. This, however, was long after the terrible +weeks when so many thousands of brave Frenchmen left their bones upon +the snows of Russia because the Emperor had willed it. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +LITTLE PETROVKA +</H4> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H4> + +<P> +The Emperor was often in personal danger during the retreat from +Moscow, but never more so, I think, than after the Battle of Krasnoë. +</P> + +<P> +You must depict us at this time as a rabble rather than an army. There +were few regiments save those of the Guard which maintained even a +semblance of order. Men fell out at a whim. We had nothing upon +either side of us but the frozen steppes and the woods in which the +wolves howled. Our own people had burned the villages through which we +straggled towards a distant horizon of our salvation. The road itself +was black with the bodies of the dying and dead. I shall not dwell +upon such pitiful scenes, but recall only those which seem to me of +interest to my fellow countrymen. +</P> + +<P> +Often have I been asked how the Emperor carried himself during these +days, and that is a question which I have made some attempt already to +answer. +</P> + +<P> +Chiefly he walked with the grenadiers. There were occasions when he +entered his famous travelling carriage, and passed some hours in it; +but no one was more ready than he to share the hardships of the +journey, and certainly none faced peril with a greater sang-froid. How +it came about that His Majesty escaped disaster, I cannot tell you. +There were many occasions when a little courage upon the part of the +Cossacks would have destroyed the hope of France for ever. So often +were we who guarded him but a palsied band of nondescripts, that I +wonder to this day at that hesitation which allowed the greatest of our +soldiers to slip through Russian hands. +</P> + +<P> +Let me give you an instance to show what I mean. +</P> + +<P> +It was the morning of November 25th. We had passed a forlorn village +some miles beyond Krasnoë. The column was headed by a bevy of +generals, few of whom were mounted. Behind them there marched a +miserable company of officers, all dragging themselves along painfully, +and not a few of them having their feet frozen, and wrapped in rugs or +bits of sheepskin. The Emperor himself marched in the midst of the +cavalry of the Guard. He went on foot, and carried a baton. His cloak +was large and lined with fur, and upon his head he wore a dark red +velvet cap with a trimming of black fox. Prince Murat walked on his +right-hand side, and on his left Prince Eugène, while behind him came +the Marshals Berthier, Ney, Mortier, and Lefebvre, with others whose +regiments had been almost annihilated in the recent battles. +</P> + +<P> +Behind these again were the officers and non-commissioned officers of +the Guard. There were seven or eight hundred of them walking in +perfect silence, and carrying the eagles of their different regiments. +The scene itself was an open plain glistening with frost, and often +broken by those dismal clumps of pines with which we were so familiar. +A village lay ahead of us, a ravine and a river upon our right hand. +We knew that the Cossacks were sheltered by the distant woods, and that +any moment might bring them down upon us. And yet we went as stolidly +as men who are marching from a field of victory. +</P> + +<P> +Is it to be wondered at that the Russians were perplexed by these +tactics, and that even the boldest of them had no heart for a venture +which would have destroyed the hope of France in a twinkling? +</P> + +<P> +This is not to tell you that they did not attack us. Hardly had we +come up to the outskirts of the village when we perceived a battery +drawn up by the river and another before the very gates of the hamlet. +We had no guns with us at the moment, and we stood there like sheep +while the Russians pounded us and their shells decimated our tottering +ranks. Lame and helpless and weary, weakened by hunger and the perils +of the march, who would have said that so pitiful a force could have +withstood the assault even of five thousand brave men? Yet, as I say, +they were content to pound us with their artillery, and although we saw +great masses of their cavalry about the village, never once did they +charge us as we expected them to do. +</P> + +<P> +Presently our own guns came up, and we were able to meet the enemy on +better terms. Marshal Ney now put himself at the head of the +chasseurs, and boldly charged the Cossacks to the left of the village. +His troops suffered severely in this onset, and when he returned to us +the frozen plain was dotted with the writhing forms of our countrymen +who had been shot down. These poor fellows had suffered so much during +recent days that for the most part they died without a struggle. Such +as survived were left to the mercy of the Russians, for we were in no +position to help them, and we had to suffer the mortifying spectacle of +seeing the wounded stripped bare and left upon the snows by the fiends +who came out of the woods. +</P> + +<P> +I thought surely that His Majesty was lost this day, and when I saw him +standing in the very path of the shells, surrounded by no more than +forty Fusiliers of the Guard, it seemed indeed to me that the end had +come. The Cossacks had but to charge and their booty would have been +sure. That they did not do so must be set down to those motives of +prudence which animated their General Kutusoff to the end. He knew +that the Grand Army was perishing before his eyes, and that the +elements would do what the Russians themselves had left undone. When +he retired that day we must have lost at least three thousand men, who +were left in the hands of his butchers. +</P> + +<P> +But the Emperor was saved by such cowardice, and he slept that night in +the village which Kutusoff's guns had failed to hold. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H4> + +<P> +The morning broke clear and sunny, but hardly were we upon the road +when the north wind began to blow and our sufferings to recommence. +The Russians had drawn off for the time being, and we neither saw them +nor heard their guns. The troops themselves, no longer fearing an +attack, marched in that disorder of which I have spoken. Hardly a +regiment could have been distinguished even by one familiar with our +army. We were but scattered groups of malcontents, and every man +thought only of his own safety. +</P> + +<P> +I had not seen my nephew Léon during the battle, and was very glad to +re-discover him not far from the bivouac. He was marching with other +officers of the Vélites when I came up, and I perceived at once that he +had made a captive. The latter might, at the first glance, have been +taken for a lad of seventeen, clad in stout riding-breeches, and +wearing a tunic of rich fur. +</P> + +<P> +The bright eyes of the prisoner and the cheerful manner evidently won +upon my comrades, and I was not very much astonished to discover +presently that the prisoner was of the other sex, and to hear that she +had been caught in the village that very morning, and herself had +volunteered to show us the road to the Bérézina. +</P> + +<P> +Such things happened almost every day while we were in Russia, and for +a native woman to adopt the garb of a soldier was by no means an +uncommon thing. The only difference in this case was that the girl +herself appeared to be well born, and beyond the station where such +monkey tricks would be looked for. It occurred to me at once that she +might have been sent out to betray us, and I spoke of it to Léon before +he had gone a league. +</P> + +<P> +"Where did you find her?" I asked him. +</P> + +<P> +He parried the question, as a young man would when he has found a +companion to his liking. +</P> + +<P> +"She came out of the last house in the village just as we were marching +past. I wish I could understand their cursed lingo, mon oncle. I +think she comes from a place called Druobona, but am not very sure. In +either case, it does not matter," he added carelessly, "for I do not +suppose she will go back there when we have done with her." +</P> + +<P> +This was said with a laugh which I did not like to hear, and I rebuked +him sharply for his levity. +</P> + +<P> +"The girl is well born," said I, "and this is neither the place nor the +time to think of such things. Why do you allow her to go upon such an +errand at all? Are there not other guides?" +</P> + +<P> +He looked at me slyly. +</P> + +<P> +"None so pretty, mon oncle; and besides, a man can always make a woman +understand. She will get us very well to the Bérézina, and there we +shall send her back with a present." +</P> + +<P> +"Of horseflesh," said I; and then: "The whole thing is nonsense, and +you are likely to pay a high price for her company. Remember what I am +saying." +</P> + +<P> +He promised to do so, but immediately linked his arm in hers and began +to sing one of our old marching songs. We must have gone another +league before he told me that her home was in a village some few miles +to the south of the route the army was taking, but really upon the old +main road to the Bérézina. +</P> + +<P> +"You and I will give them the slip at dusk," said he, "and take our +luck again. I will wager the girl's honesty against a hundred crowns. +We can stop the night at her father's house and get food. Do not look +so displeased, mon oncle. We will take twenty of our fellows to see +that the Cossacks do not cut our throats, and we shall be half a day's +march on the road to the river before the army has left the next +bivouac." +</P> + +<P> +I did not like the idea of it, but when a man is making love to a +pretty woman, and she has asked him to her house, there is an end of +the argument. +</P> + +<P> +Petrovka, for such the men would call the girl, certainly disarmed +suspicion by her frank airs and the merry laughter which lighted up her +eyes. She made a handsome boy enough, and it was good to see her +dancing across the snow which so many trod with difficulty, and to hear +the cheering words of encouragement she bestowed upon all who lagged +behind. +</P> + +<P> +The men had come to believe that she was quite a mascot, and soon we +must have had a hundred and fifty of the Guard about our party. This +was unexpected and not in accord with friend Léon's plan. I believe it +had been his secret hope that he and I should go alone to her father's +house, but when the sun began to sink upon the horizon, and we left the +main road for one which branched towards the south, the whole company +followed us immediately. Vain to tell them that our errand was +private. The time had passed when officers could have their will in +such matters as this; and so it befell that exactly a hundred and fifty +men set out to share Petrovka's hospitality, and were determined to +enjoy it whatever the difficulties. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H4> + +<P> +We went marching and singing, and utterly regardless of any perils that +might await us upon the road. +</P> + +<P> +For that matter, we saw no Cossacks, and even our old friends the +wolves were silent. +</P> + +<P> +The country itself had become less monotonous, and we soon found +ourselves in a deep ravine, whose rugged cliffs were capped by the +frozen pines. +</P> + +<P> +Here there was a wonderful suggestion of remoteness and solitude; but +it occurred to me, nevertheless, that it might be the very spot for an +ambush, and I insisted upon a halt until our vedettes had made their +reports. We even sent a man up to the heights above to be quite sure +that the Cossacks were not camped in the thickets. When these had +reported that no living thing moved in all that drear place, we +followed Petrovka again and began to think of supper. +</P> + +<P> +She had told us that it was just three leagues from the high road to +her father's house, but we must have marched at least five before we +came, without warning, upon a miserable village, the outstanding +feature of which was the low and straggling farmhouse with a mighty +barn at the southern end of it. Of a seigneur's habitation there was +no sign whatever, and I found it difficult to believe that Petrovka's +father could inhabit such a shabby dwelling as that to which she now +led us. When we asked her if it were indeed her home, she, to our +great astonishment, answered us in French, and replied that it was not. +</P> + +<P> +"My father lives many, many leagues from here," she said, and laughed +at the words. "This is the house of the moujik Serges. He was one of +my father's servants, and he will feed you, my lords." And this she +said with so pretty a grace that our anger was mollified in a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"Why did you pretend not to speak French?" I asked her next. +</P> + +<P> +She shook her head and said that she did not know. +</P> + +<P> +"You make me laugh so much when you talk Russian," she said. I believe +that to have been true. +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless, I was not easy. We had come upon a false errand, and it +remained to be seen what was the end of it. +</P> + +<P> +"Let every man look to his powder," said I to Léon, as we entered the +precincts of the farm. "The devil and a woman are never far apart; +mind that we have not caught the pair of them." +</P> + +<P> +He retorted that it did not very much matter either way. Whatever +befell us at the farm could be no worse than the peril of the high road +and of such a bitter night as this. +</P> + +<P> +Not only was it black and dark by this time, but the north wind blew +intolerably, and our very bones seemed shrunken. +</P> + +<P> +You will imagine, therefore, that the baying of the hounds about the +farm was as music to us; and you can depict us beating heavily upon the +farmer's door, while Petrovka cried aloud in Russian that we were +friends. +</P> + +<P> +This settled the matter, and an old and grizzled peasant appeared +immediately, and stood bowing on the threshold. I disliked the look of +him from the first, and shall always remember the hawk-like eyes which +he turned upon our company. Yet what had we to fear from the handful +of serfs who now gathered about him—we, a hundred and fifty men of the +Guard, with our muskets in our hands? +</P> + +<P> +And was there not Petrovka, with her laughing eyes—Petrovka, who told +the old man that he would be paid for all that we had—Petrovka, who +petted him and pulled his long beard as though she loved every hair of +it. She stood as our hostage, and she knew it—the pretty little girl. +</P> + +<P> +Well, we soon discovered that the kitchen of the farm would accommodate +no more than the officers of the company, and it behoved the others to +seek the shelter of the barn. This they did with a very good grace, +for it was a substantial edifice, with a monstrous fireplace at one end +and a well-stacked granary at the other. Soon there were flames +roaring up the ancient chimney, a babel of talk, and the going to and +fro of men who saw themselves supping handsomely for the first time for +many a day. We, meanwhile, were ensconced in the farmer's kitchen, +with nearly the half of an ox roasting in his gigantic oven and an +aroma of well-warmed wine which did one good to smell. +</P> + +<P> +The evening promised to be the most comfortable we had enjoyed since we +left Moscow—so little did we foresee what lay beyond our present +content. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IV +</H4> + +<P> +There were a good many bedrooms in the farmer's house, and some of +these were very properly given up to the officers. +</P> + +<P> +I shared a room with Léon, whose window immediately overlooked the barn +wherein our men were still enjoying the unexpected carousal. +</P> + +<P> +Mademoiselle Petrovka, in her turn, said that she would sleep with the +girls of the house, and the last I saw of her before retiring was at +the moment when Master Léon blew out the candle for the purpose of +wishing her good-night. Escaping from his embrace, she climbed the +narrow staircase and shut the door at the head of it upon us, while we, +amazed to discover beds, made haste to enjoy so unexpected a luxury. +</P> + +<P> +Never before in my life, I swear, did I know the meaning of good +blankets as I learned it that bitter night, when the north wind swept +the dismal plain and the pines were swaying in a dirge of death. For +that matter, I do not think that my nephew and myself could wholly +appreciate the reality of our good fortune, and I lay for some time +beneath the heavy <I>Steppdecke</I> wondering if we had not dreamt the whole +of it. Such warmth and comfort were not to be imagined, and we found +it almost impossible to believe that thousands of our comrades were +then shivering and suffering upon the great high road, and many of +them, I doubt not, falling to the terrible sleep from which no day +should wake them. +</P> + +<P> +We, on the contrary, might have been the children of this hospitable +house. Well fed and warmed by wine, we fell into so profound a sleep +anon that nothing but the terrible tragedy which ensued could have +wakened us. Alas! that it was so very terrible! I hardly know how to +tell you of it. +</P> + +<P> +Some say that it was nearly four in the morning when the first alarm +arose. I cannot be sure about so trivial a circumstance, nor is it of +any interest. In my sleep it seemed to me that men were shouting about +the house, while a great flame of crimson light burned my eyes and +forbade me to open them. A man has the same sensation when he tries to +look at the sun at noon, and it may be answered that he is a fool to do +anything of the kind. So, in my own case, I did not open my eyes for a +long time, and not until Léon's strong hand dragged me from the bed did +I understand what was happening. +</P> + +<P> +"Wake up, mon oncle!" says he in a sharper voice than ordinary. "Don't +you see that the place is afire?" +</P> + +<P> +It was a word to arouse any man, and I staggered up when I heard it, +rubbing my eyes and trying to understand him. +</P> + +<P> +"How?" cried I. "The farm afire? Why, then, did you not wake me +before?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have been trying to do so for the last five minutes, but you sleep +like a Gascon, mon oncle. Get your clothes on and follow me. There +will not be a man of them alive if we don't make haste." +</P> + +<P> +With this he ran down the stairs, and left me groping in the fitful +light for my tunic and the heavy sable coat which I had brought out of +Russia. +</P> + +<P> +It was clear by this time that the fire had begun in the barn which +harboured so many of our men, and that it had not yet reached the +buildings we occupied. For all that, it promised to be a terrible +conflagration, and my ears were assailed already by the woeful screams +of the wretched company, themselves waking to the peril. What kept the +poor fellows in the barn, I knew no more than the dead. I could see +two great doors opening upon the yard, and they were wide enough to let +a wagon go through. Yet no one unbarred them, and all the time flames +and smoke were pouring from the thatch above, and the shrieks of the +imprisoned growing louder. This perplexed me beyond words, and it was +not until I had shaken the heavy sleep from my eyes that the thought of +treachery occurred to me, and I began to understand much that had +happened. +</P> + +<P> +The monster of a farmer who had lured us here—he had done it, I said, +and God knows, if I had had my hand about his throat at the moment, I +would have strangled the life out of him. +</P> + +<P> +Well, I bounded down the stairs at the thought, and found myself +immediately amid my brother officers, who were striving like madmen to +set their compatriots free. Unable to hear a word that was spoken, I +nevertheless understood by their gestures that the main gates of the +barn had been bolted and barred, and that, until they could be +unlocked, the only chance for our fellows was the narrow window at the +southern end. For this I now made, Léon at my side, and others as +ready to risk their lives in the face of such a disaster. +</P> + +<P> +Let me tell you that the roar of the conflagration was like that of a +sea beating angrily upon a barren shore. Commingled with it were the +sounds of rending woodwork and the screams of men already burning in +the flames; while all was made worse by the intolerable north wind +which swept about the building and howled dismally beneath the frozen +eaves. +</P> + +<P> +This paralysed the faculties, so that even the bravest found his limbs +benumbed and his brain bewildered. No company of raw recruits could +have worked to less purpose—some crying for hatchets, some vainly for +water, yet all incapable of rendering any useful aid, and all equally +terrified by the spectacle they beheld. Alas! to see those pitiful +faces at the window of the barn above; to watch the flames creeping +about them; to behold them fall one by one into the deadly furnace +behind them; and to know that they were Frenchmen and brethren! Such +was the price of the brief respite we had enjoyed; such was the +hospitality that the woman Petrovka had shown us. +</P> + +<P> +Someone got a ladder about this time, and others found axes in the +wood-house of the farm. I was among the latter, and I remember with +what fury our little party attacked the great front gates and tried to +force an entrance. Could we but burst the bolt, our comrades were free +in a twinkling; and you may imagine how we went at it—the blows which +we struck, and the curses we uttered. +</P> + +<P> +Minute by minute now the flames were creeping toward this end of the +barn. We had no need of lanterns; the snow was blood-red, and the very +wood stood out as though the sun were setting and the night not yet +begun. Had we any longer a doubt that treachery had fired the barn, +the disappearance of the Russians themselves would have clenched the +argument. Not a peasant did we see, not a man or woman of those who +had served us last night and welcomed us with such smiling faces. The +whole farm had become a desert, and, be sure, that of them all Petrovka +had been the first to go. +</P> + +<P> +Such was my opinion for a long time, and it endured until, to my great +astonishment, I perceived her at Léon's side, and saw that he was in +close talk with her. Good God! that a man could have argued with such +a woman when his comrades were perishing—that he did not strike her +down where she stood! Any other but Léon would have done so; yet, when +was the day that a woman's eyes could not win him? +</P> + +<P> +All this went through my head in a flash as I hewed at the giant doors +and called upon my comrades to redouble their efforts. The shrieks +within the building were now most dreadful to hear. None but a man of +iron could have remained deaf to the piercing cries which marked the +approach of the fire and told us that our task must be impotent. None +the less, we worked with a vigour unimaginable, while the heat became +choking, and showers of glowing sparks rained down upon us. The very +snow was melted far away from the barn by this time; the sky had turned +blood red; the branches of the trees were burning. The great door +alone stood between our comrades and salvation. +</P> + +<P> +In the end we beat this in, and an aperture was made. Through that we +dragged some thirty men and carried them quickly to the farm. Poor +fellows, they were terribly burned, and their flesh fell from their +bones as we lifted them. What lay beyond in that holocaust I did not +dare to inquire. The barn was now but a roaring furnace; the cries had +ceased; the moaning of the fire and the night wind alone remained. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +V +</H4> + +<P> +I have told you that we laid our stricken comrades in the farmhouse and +there did what we could for them. So great was their need that the +immediate necessity of relieving it put everything else into the shade, +and it was not until we had dressed their wounds and done our best to +make them comfortable that I so much as remembered the woman Petrovka. +Perhaps I should not have thought of her even then but for the fact +that a sudden clamour discovered her in the room, and, turning about, I +witnessed a violent altercation between her and one of the sick, who +raised himself up from the mattress where they had laid him, and cried +out that she had fired the barn. +</P> + +<P> +"The she-devil!" he yelled in his frenzy. "I saw her do it, comrades; +I swear she was the woman!" +</P> + +<P> +Such an accusation naturally arrested the attention of everyone in the +room. Léon himself had gone out again with others to prevent the fire +from spreading to the neighbouring buildings, and there was no one +there but myself who knew anything of Petrovka. The effect of the +accusation upon the sick and the hale was almost magical. They did not +ask for the man's proof, nor seek to question him, but, seizing the +girl by the arm, they would have struck her down there and then had I +not intervened. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, come," said I; "we must do nothing in haste," for though I had +been willing enough an hour ago to have acted upon an impulse, the heat +of passion had passed and a sense of justice prevailed. +</P> + +<P> +If this girl had indeed fired the barn, I would not lift a hand to save +her; but we had only the chasseur's word for it, and he was already far +gone in delirium. So it seemed to me that we owed her at least the +formality of a trial, and, rushing in before those who held her, I +commanded them to hear me. +</P> + +<P> +"Gentlemen," said I, "this woman is a Russian and well born. It is +difficult to believe that she would have done so foul a thing. If she +be guilty she must pay the penalty, but let us hear her first. You +will all admit the justice of that. Let her be tried and put to the +proof, but do not do anything of which you may repent to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +They heard me with impatience. The child herself clung to me, frantic +with terror, her eyes imploring me and her body trembling with fear. +Her words were almost incoherent, but nevertheless they denied the +truth of the charge vehemently and implored me for God's sake to save +her. So much I do not believe I could have done but for Léon, who +entered the room at the moment, and, perceiving the situation, leaped +towards her, drawing his sword as he did so. +</P> + +<P> +"By the God in heaven," cried he, "I will cut down any man who lays a +finger on her." And it needed but a glance at him to see that he meant +every word of it. +</P> + +<P> +Such determination was not without its effect. There were both +officers and troopers in the room, but I was the senior in command, and +I never lost sight of the fact for a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"Gentlemen," said I, "name three of you to act with me as judges in +this matter, and I promise you satisfaction. If the woman be guilty +she shall be hanged. Come now—is not this a proper course to take? +Some of you will have daughters of your own. Do not forget them at +such a moment as this." +</P> + +<P> +They assented to the proposition, though I could see that they were far +from being appeased. There was a hurried consultation among them, and +then the intimation that they had chosen Captains Legard and Fournier, +of the fusiliers, and Major Duhesne, of the <I>chasseurs à cheval</I>, to +act with my nephew and myself. The major stood as spokesman for the +others, and first addressed the company. +</P> + +<P> +"It must be here in this room, gentlemen," he said; "the witness cannot +be moved; we will try the woman here." And that was a claim none could +contest. +</P> + +<P> +I shall never forget the scene which now ensued, nor the grim drama we +played in that mean farmhouse during the next ten minutes. All about +us were the tumbled mattresses and the stricken forms of the men who +had been scorched by the flames. Common rushlights and miserable +lanterns afforded the only illumination that we had. The trial was +held about the stove, whereby there lay the sick man who had denounced +Petrovka. She herself was set in a circle amid her judges, while the +man was commanded by me to repeat the accusation he had made. He did +so with a restraint which astonished me when I remembered his +sufferings. Raising himself up in bed, he turned his haggard eyes upon +the woman and told us what he knew. +</P> + +<P> +"I was asleep in the little loft of the barn," he said; "then I heard a +sound of someone moving in the straw about me. Thinking it was one of +our men, I asked him what he did there; but there was no answer, and +for a little while nobody stirred. Presently I heard a crackling sound +and smelt fire, and at that I looked up and saw the thatch was ablaze. +Then there came light in the place, and I saw the woman. She was +creeping down the ladder, but I recognised her all the same. She +stands there, messieurs, and she knows that it is true." +</P> + +<P> +A deep cry of anger escaped the auditors when the man had done. +Obviously he did not lie, and his evidence staggered even me. Petrovka +herself heard him with a wonder no art could have aped, and her very +attitude was an appeal to reason where I was concerned. +</P> + +<P> +Upon my comrades its effect was far otherwise. There were shouts of "à +mort!" from every quarter of the room. Some said, "Let her speak!" +others were for not hearing her at all. My loud word of command alone +saved her from the imminence of death. +</P> + +<P> +"Gentlemen," said I, "this story is all very well, but it is possible +that this man may be mistaken. What confirmation have you of the +story? Let the girl speak for herself; I see she is ready." +</P> + +<P> +I turned to Petrovka, and was astonished at her new demeanour. She +appeared to have recovered her composure altogether. Her face was pale +but wonderfully beautiful. She had removed her cap, and her almost +golden hair fell upon her shoulders in a disorder pretty to see. +Looking from one to the other of us, she declared her innocence. +</P> + +<P> +"Frenchmen," she said, "I was never in the loft of the barn at all. My +father is a Russian noble—do we stoop to such crimes as this? I am a +woman, and I have a woman's heart; why do you accuse me of such +wickedness?" +</P> + +<P> +It was a proud defiance, but it availed her nothing. No one believed +her, and all in the room, save Léon and myself, desired her death. In +vain I put it to them that some other woman from the farm might have +done the deed. They would hear nothing, and presently they began to +cry "Vote—vote!" and instantly the others held up their hands and +proclaimed her guilty. +</P> + +<P> +Now this was a terrible moment for me, and not the less terrible to my +nephew. Hurriedly we drew apart and began to ask each other what could +be done. It was plain that we had the whole company against us, and at +the best we could but hope to temporise. The one thing to do was to +save the child from a vengeance which certainly would not be tempered +by mercy, and in the hope of this I now addressed myself to the other +judges. +</P> + +<P> +"The girl is well born, as you can see," said I; "it is idle to suppose +she has done such a thing. Beware that you do not pay heavily for your +haste. We shall overtake the army in the morning, and the matter can +be referred to head-quarters. You would be much wiser to let it go +there. Do you desire the girl's death? I cannot believe it, +gentlemen." +</P> + +<P> +It was all unavailing. +</P> + +<P> +"We have judged her," said the major, "and she is plainly guilty. My +determination is to hang her without ceremony, and that," he said, +turning to his companions, "is the vote of the majority." +</P> + +<P> +Now Léon had listened to this moment without protest, but these words +were too much for him. Catching Petrovka suddenly by the arm, he drew +her close to him, and whipped his sword from his scabbard as one who +would brook no denial. +</P> + +<P> +"By God," said he, "you shall do nothing of the kind!" +</P> + +<P> +It was a brave deed, and would to God it could have saved her. +Unhappily such heroism as this is well enough in a story, but of little +avail when the realities of life are at stake. There were twenty men +atop of my nephew before another word could be uttered, and dragging +Petrovka from his arms, they carried her triumphantly from the room. +</P> + +<P> +She did not utter a single cry. I thought there was a smile upon her +face, but it was the look of a woman who knows how to suffer. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VI +</H4> + +<P> +Dawn was just breaking in a sullen sky at this time. The wind had +fallen somewhat, and it was snowing heavily. I remember the scene very +well—and, in truth, who could forget it? There to the right were the +ruins of the barn; behind us the low buildings of the farm; before us +the orchard of the house and the white snow-fields beyond it. +</P> + +<P> +Without a word said, and acting upon a common impulse, the +assassins—for such I must now call them—led Petrovka towards a beech +tree by the roadside, and clamoured loudly for a rope. Such a lust for +a woman's death is rare among soldiers, and it needed the tragedy of +the night to have provoked it. +</P> + +<P> +What could we do? There was still the opportunity of parley, and we +did not neglect it. They had not found a rope readily, and while they +were still seeking it I addressed myself to Major Duhesne, and again +implored him to remember what he was doing. +</P> + +<P> +"The Emperor," said I, "will never forgive you if this woman is proved +to be innocent." +</P> + +<P> +I might as well have addressed myself to the wall of the house. His +rejoinder was such as I might have expected. The woman had fired the +barn, he said; there was evidence of that fact. This was just the kind +of deed His Majesty punished without mercy. Why should his officers be +less zealous? +</P> + +<P> +All of which was said with the air of a man absolutely set upon a +purpose, and acting under a strong sense of duty. The others were not +less determined, and, unhappily, they had now found a rope, and carried +it triumphantly to the beech tree I have named. The scene at this +moment was very terrible to look upon: the figure of the girl pathetic +beyond imagination, and the savagery of her enemies indescribable. It +was revolting to hear the shouts of anger when the executioners +attempted to throw the cord across a branch of the tree and failed to +do so. I could not have believed that Frenchmen would have acted so. +</P> + +<P> +Now, for the second time, was this brutal murder delayed while a ladder +must be sent for. In this I perceived the hand of God, and my heart +beat fast while the moments of respite were numbered. Would we yet +save her? Might we dare to hope? A shout from the woods near by +answered me. As God is my witness, the Cossacks were upon us. They +rode from the thicket like a whirlwind; their scimitars whistled +through the air with a sound of rushing winds. +</P> + +<P> +What a turn-about that was! No cries of savage exultation now; no talk +of justice and penalty—nothing but a mad race for the shelter of the +farm and all the hurly-burly of a wild pursuit. There before my very +eyes I saw Frenchmen cleaved to the brisket; saw the heads of comrades +roll upon the snow, and heard the screams of those whom the glittering +steel cut down. The thunder of hoofs upon the hard snow rang out like +weird music of an Eastern dawn. The breath of horses and men froze on +the still air. The ground was black already with the figures of the +dead. +</P> + +<P> +And what of ourselves meanwhile? Incredible, a man would say, that we +could stand there, my nephew and I, and escape the swords of these +terrible Asiatics. Yet such was the case. +</P> + +<P> +Our very desire to save Petrovka had been the instrument of this +miracle. No sooner had the others run for the farm than we were at her +side, bidding her be of good cheer and seeking still to protect her. +Of such protection, however, she had now no need. The men who came +from the woods were her friends; they knew her. The words which passed +between the captain and herself were those which commanded our safety. +A proud little lady she was in that moment, God knows! The laughter +had come back to her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I never believed that they would kill me," she said to Léon. +</P> + +<P> +Who would have wished to destroy such a fine illusion? Not I, for a +truth, when every Frenchman in the farm was now dead or a prisoner of +the Tartars, who caroused where yesterday we had made merry. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VII +</H4> + +<P> +We did not return to the farm, nor have any further word with the +Russians. Petrovka had recovered all her wits by this time, and she +made it plain to us that such a course might be dangerous. +</P> + +<P> +"I will do what I can for your friends," she said, "and afterwards I +shall return to my father's house. You, meanwhile, go at once to +Wilna, and say nothing of what you have seen. That must be a point of +honour between us, messieurs. I give you your lives, and you pay me by +your silence. God speed; and do not forget little Petrovka." +</P> + +<P> +We swore that we would never do so. She led us to the stables +thereafter, and so we found our horses. A word to the Cossack at the +gate made everything easy for us; and be sure that Petrovka took good +care to see that food and wine for the journey were found for us. It +must have been ten of the day when we quitted the farm at last and +waved a long farewell to the mistress of this singular adventure. +</P> + +<P> +"A wonderful little woman," said Léon, as we turned our heads at +length. "To think that she knew all the time who burned us out!" +</P> + +<P> +"She did know!" I cried, looking at him with astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly; she has just told me. It was Anna, the farmer's daughter. +Petrovka meant to save her. Can you beat that for loyalty?" +</P> + +<P> +I could make no reply. Woman's courage is always very wonderful. What +man will pretend to understand it? +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE AFFAIR AT THE POST-HOUSE +</H4> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H4> + +<P> +There was very little order kept among us after the Battle of Krasnoë, +and you may depict us as a scattered host going covertly in fear of the +Cossacks. +</P> + +<P> +Men made little attempt to keep up with their regiments. The Chasseurs +and Fusiliers of the Guard, with whom the Emperor marched, were, +perhaps, the exception; but the rest of us went as we could, thinking +more of food and shelter than of our own safety, and hardened to any +feelings of pity. +</P> + +<P> +The latter is a bold admission to make, but few of those who marched +from Moscow will contest it. When comrades are perishing about you +every day, when your milestones are the bodies of the frozen dead, the +ultimate terror becomes the lesser thing and all the more brutal +instincts are awakened. We could not help those who fell; we pushed +on, deaf to their appeals. Let any man lag for an hour in this bitter +cold, and he would sleep as they slept—so many thousands upon the +great white highway. +</P> + +<P> +Sometimes it befell that we did not see our regiment for many days +together. This, I remember, happened to my nephew Léon and myself as +we drew near the Bérézina. +</P> + +<P> +The army heard many disquieting stories at this time, and most of them +had to do with the passage of the famous river. +</P> + +<P> +The timorous agreed that the Russians could not lose so favourable an +opportunity of falling upon our disorganised units, and that he would +be a lucky man who made the passage of the stream in safety. +</P> + +<P> +Others comforted us with the assurance that our engineers would not +fail us in this emergency, and were all ready at the Bérézina to +strengthen and to guard the ancient bridge. The tales were +contradictory, and we knew not which to believe. The river had become +our Rubicon, and we imagined that if we recrossed it the victory was +won. +</P> + +<P> +This was the condition of affairs on the morning of November 25th, when +Léon and I rode a little way with a detachment of some thirty +<I>pontonniers</I> who were on their way to the Bérézina. +</P> + +<P> +I remember well that the captain of the little company warned us to +look well after our horses; "for," said he, "the Emperor has given +instructions that all the best are to be taken for the use of the +artillery and the wounded." The Imperial Guard was then some five +miles ahead of us, and we had no intention of overtaking it. To that +end we soon parted company with the <I>pontonniers</I>, and stopped for an +hour about midday in what had been a farmhouse upon the high road. +There we cooked a little of the rice we carried in our saddlebags, and +drank of the brandy which I had carried out of Smolensk. +</P> + +<P> +The repast gave us courage, and we rode on in better spirit afterwards. +Alas, that such a mood turned too swiftly to one of despair, when we +found that we had lost the road and that the bodies of dead and dying +Frenchmen indicated no longer the route to the Bérézina. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H4> + +<P> +We made this discovery about three o'clock of the afternoon. +</P> + +<P> +The day was already done, and a great red sun sank into a billow of +mist. +</P> + +<P> +We saw nothing about us but vast fields of snow, gone crimson in the +vanishing light, and woods which would tell no story but that of wolves. +</P> + +<P> +A profound silence reigned in this frozen wilderness. We did not hear +so much as the chime of a distant church bell, nor perceive a single +human being upon all that waste. Yet it did not appear to us by the +compass that we could be very far from the road to Bobr, through which +the Emperor must pass; nor had we any misgivings that we should +ultimately come to the banks of the Bérézina if we held upon our course. +</P> + +<P> +"There are no Cossacks here," says Léon, "and there is not much +advantage got by company. We have a little food and brandy, and may as +well keep it to ourselves. Come on, mon oncle. Let us try to believe +that the spires of Notre Dame are to be seen from yonder road, and all +the rest will be easy." +</P> + +<P> +He had grown very thin these later days, my poor Léon, and was but a +spectre of his former self. I thought of the dashing officer who had +cut so brave a figure in Moscow, and heaved a sigh at all that had +befallen us since. The word "woman" came no longer to his lips, as +formerly, and I believe he would have bartered the whole sex for a loaf +of bread and a bottle of good French wine. Who would have had the +heart to remind him how many thousand leagues we were from that Paris +for which he longed so ardently? +</P> + +<P> +"Imagine what you please," said I, "but throw in a comfortable +farmhouse and a stove to sleep by, and I am your man. It is going to +snow again, nephew, and a man may as well be in the Arctic wastes as +upon this barren plain. We were wrong to leave the others; there is +safety in numbers, and God knows what is about to befall us. Ah, my +dear nephew, what would I not give for such a bed and such a supper as +we had at the farm at Druobona!" +</P> + +<P> +He sighed at the memory both of little Petrovka and of that night of +adventure. +</P> + +<P> +We had now approached the woods, and presently we found ourselves in +the depths of a forest which must have been rarely trodden by man. The +snow had drifted into vast heaps here, and encircled the trees in great +mounds which would have engulfed a wagon. The stillness of it all was +that of winter at her zenith. The wind had fallen, and in the distance +we heard the howling of wolves. All this prepared us but little for +the surprise which overtook us presently, when three mounted Cossacks +suddenly appeared in our path and threatened us in guttural tones of +which we did not understand a single word. +</P> + +<P> +Of course, we had drawn rein directly the Russians appeared, and for my +part I was quite prepared to surrender to them. These roving bands +rarely numbered less than a squadron, and it was idle to believe that +two armed men could oppose a hundred. The alternatives were death on +the spot, or that intolerable suffering in a Russian prison of which we +had heard such evil reports. I whispered as much to Léon, but got +nothing from him but a guffaw in return. +</P> + +<P> +"Va-t'en!" said he. "There are only three of them, mon oncle. Do you +not see how they hesitate?" +</P> + +<P> +I perceived it to be true, and drew a pistol from my holster. The +Russians carried lances, but were in no hurry to descend upon us. +Either they looked for assistance in the vicinity or deemed their +advantage in numbers insufficient. What they would have done if we had +remained where we were I do not pretend to tell you; but before I could +say another word Master Léon clapped spurs to his horse, and, riding up +to the leader, he blew out his brains before a man could have counted +two. +</P> + +<P> +"A moi, mon oncle!" he cried; and be sure I was at his side +immediately. Unhappily, my own pistol was badly aimed, and did no more +damage than to blow the feather from the busby of the ruffian who now +confronted me. In an instant he had thrust at me with his lance, and I +felt the cold steel cut the sinews of my arm. +</P> + +<P> +Now I wheeled my horse about, and, despite the wound, I drew my sword +and aimed at the fellow. He answered me by a loud cry which brought +three of his fellows from the wood, and so set five of them against our +two. These odds were unexpected, and seemed to say that our onset had +been very foolish. Still, there we were, and we must make the best of +such folly as we had shown. I could do no better with my fellow than +to slash his arm off at a single stroke; but Léon cut the second of the +three clean out of the saddle, and found himself attacked by the others +who had come from the wood. +</P> + +<P> +I could imagine that, from a spectator's point of view, this fight +would have been as pretty a thing as he could wish to see. +</P> + +<P> +There were we two riding up and down the glade with three burly +Cossacks at our heels, and devil of a wall against which we might set +our backs. +</P> + +<P> +To make matters worse, my own horse stumbled heavily over the solid +roots of a magnificent beech tree, and anon I found myself on the +ground, with a couple of Russians atop of me. They would have done for +me but for an ally as unexpected as his appearance was grotesque. This +man had been lying, seemingly dead, at the foot of the tree by which I +fell. He was one of our <I>chasseurs à pied</I>, and he seemed swathed from +head to foot in fur. What had wakened him, whether a kick from a horse +or the delirium of sickness, I cannot tell you, but, staggering to his +feet, he ran at the Russians with his bayonet, and had pinned one to +the snow almost before I was aware of his presence. The other waited +for no such attention, but, setting his horse at a gallop, rode madly +from the wood. +</P> + +<P> +We had now accounted for five of the Russians—no mean achievement for +men in such a condition. The poor fellow who had assisted us we +discovered to be in a woeful state—his feet frost-bitten and two of +the fingers of his left hand missing. He hardly seemed to know what he +had done for us, but, sinking at the foot of the tree, he raved +incoherently of his home at Châlons, and of his wife and children +awaiting him there. We gave him some of the brandy, and tried to lift +him upon my nephew's horse, but it was of no good, and presently he +appeared to regain his senses and to be aware both of his situation and +of our own. +</P> + +<P> +"You cannot help me, my friends," said he. "The road is yonder; take +it while you may. I am done for." +</P> + +<P> +And upon this he threw back his head and seemed to die instantly. +</P> + +<P> +This was a very sad thing to see, and sent us from the place in a worse +spirit than I had hoped. My own wound had now begun to trouble me, and +I discovered that the lance had penetrated the flesh below the +shoulder, and left a gaping wound which in another climate might have +proved troublesome. As it was, we bound it up stoutly with a piece +torn from my tattered shirt, and, the darkness already gathering, and +the snow beginning to fall, we prepared to leave the wood in the +direction which the poor chasseur had indicated to us. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H4> + +<P> +I say that we prepared to leave the wood, but before we did so the idea +came to me to take with us the capes and the busbies of the Cossacks we +had slain, in the hope that they would be of service to us in so +dangerous a place. Bidding my nephew imitate me, I stripped the fellow +I had killed, and invited Léon to do the same to the other. +</P> + +<P> +"The woods are full of these fellows," said I, "and who knows what this +device may do for us? A la guerre comme à la guerre. Let us try our +luck under the new colours, for it has been bad enough under the old." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed in reply, for my new appearance amused him. +</P> + +<P> +"Upon my word, you would make an excellent Tartar, mon oncle," says he; +and whether that were meant to be a compliment or a reproach upon my +shaggy appearance, I did not attempt to discover. The night had come +down, and the moments were precious. It was no time for a trifler's +argument, and I pushed on in silence. +</P> + +<P> +The forest became more open as we proceeded, and I now perceived that +the avenue must be a high road, so orderly were the groves of beeches +which bordered it. +</P> + +<P> +From time to time we heard the howling of wolves, and more than one +watch-fire denoted the presence of the Russians. The prudence of the +step we had taken in assuming the garb of the Cossacks was now +justified by the event. We came face to face with a dozen of these +barbarians not a mile from the scene of the strife, and they passed us +without drawing rein, evidently being set upon a purpose of their own. +Léon was much amused by this, and swore that he would swim the Bérézina +in the same clothes. +</P> + +<P> +"Chasseurs are out of fashion," said he, "and hussars have become very +cheap. I will go to the Tuileries as a Cossack, mon oncle, and Paris +will applaud me." +</P> + +<P> +I reminded him that Paris was yet a long way off, and that the dreaded +river still lay between us and freedom. Like so many of my fellows who +deluded themselves with that belief, I thought that we had but to cross +the Bérézina to leave our troubles behind us; nor could I foresee in +any way what we must suffer before we reached the bridge at Kovno. +</P> + +<P> +This, however, is to anticipate. Behold us for the moment pressing on +through the darkness of the forest, often losing the road because of +the blackness of the night, and always alert in the presence of our +enemies. That there were Cossacks all about us we knew full well, and +when we emerged from the woods at last we perceived a whole regiment of +them riding southward at a gallop. +</P> + +<P> +This seemed to say that our own army lay in that direction. Undeterred +by the presence of the Cossacks, we kept upon our course, and presently +we heard the barking of watchdogs, and espied the lights of a village. +A little farther on yet, and the rising moon showed us familiar scenes. +There were dead and dying here, the bones of horses and the debris of +an army that had passed. I perceived immediately that we had regained +the high road, and, pressing on to the village, we came up to a +considerable post-house, whose cheerful lights shone out warmly upon +the snow, while the windows revealed the uniforms of Frenchmen. +</P> + +<P> +Now, this was a pleasant happening, and it is droll to recall what +followed upon it. We had thought to grasp our comrades by the hand, +and to change with them the news of yesterday and to-day; but hardly +had we knocked at the door of the post-house when as great a panic +overtook the men within as any I had witnessed since we quitted Moscow. +With a loud cry of "The Cossacks!" our fellow-countrymen bolted +headlong by a door at the rear of the building, and when we entered +there remained but two or three frightened figures huddled about the +stove at the far end of the spacious room. +</P> + +<P> +"Name of a dog," says Léon, "I shall play at the Comédie Française yet." +</P> + +<P> +And there he stood, shaking himself like a bear and laughing still at +my appearance and his own. +</P> + +<P> +This was all very well, but, fearing that the affair might have graver +consequences, I went to the door and began to halloo after our +comrades. It was all in vain; they were already at the far end of the +village, and I doubt not that they thought it but a ruse to entrap them. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, the few Russians within the room had come up to Léon and +were staring at him curiously. Very sternly he commanded them to +return to their places, and, bolting the doors, he pointed to the +table, upon which a great cauldron of soup was steaming. +</P> + +<P> +"The spoils to the victors," says he; and, indeed, that was no time for +ceremony. I was just about to tell him as much, when a voice from the +far end of the apartment arrested our attention, and, turning about, we +saw the very last person in all Russia we would have looked for that +night. +</P> + +<P> +"Mademoiselle Valerie, by all that is holy!" cries Léon; and in a +twinkling he had caught her in his arms and was almost tearing the robe +from her back. +</P> + +<P> +"What the devil are you doing here, little witch?" he asked her. +</P> + +<P> +She told him in a word. +</P> + +<P> +"The Emperor is at Bobr. He is a little tired of me, mon ami, so you +see I waited for you." +</P> + +<P> +"The same Valerie, upon my soul. You have quarrelled with His Majesty! +There could be no better news. I salute you, fair Imperatrice, and, by +St. Christopher, I will have supper with you." +</P> + +<P> +She came up to me now, and greeted me very prettily. After all, it was +not so wonderful that we had discovered her, for she had been riding a +few hours ahead of us these many days, and this post-house was just +such a place as her wit would choose for a bivouac. I told her as +much, while chiding her faithlessness. +</P> + +<P> +"Léon has ceased to eat since you went," said I; and God knows that +that was somewhere near the truth. +</P> + +<P> +Well, we all sat down, while she commanded the Russians to serve us. +The place was well enough after our night in the woods, and it did a +man good to breathe its warm air and smell the savour of its primitive +cooking. Not only had we the soup, but the fellow in charge produced a +bottle of excellent Warsaw gin, and the first thing we did was to drain +a glass to our reunion. +</P> + +<P> +"We must not separate again until we cross the Pont de Jena," says +Léon, catching mademoiselle's hand and looking deep into her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +The words were cheering, and such as a good supper might prompt a man +to speak. Alas! hardly were they uttered than we heard the blare of +bugles, and, leaping to her feet, Valerie cried out that they were the +Cossacks. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IV +</H4> + +<P> +Now here we were, hoist by our own petard. We had cast aside the heavy +capes of the Russians as we entered the room, and thrown down their +busbies, but, as upon a common impulse, we caught them up again when we +heard the blare of the bugles, and, running to the window, peered out, +to see the whole street full of hussars, and a couple of their officers +beating upon the door of the post-house. +</P> + +<P> +"It is the regiment that passed us on the road," said I; "eight hundred +men, at a hazard. What the devil now, my nephew? We are caught like +rats in a trap!" +</P> + +<P> +He looked very serious, to be sure, while mademoiselle had turned as +white as a sheet. Presently it seemed to dawn upon her that we were +wearing Russian uniforms, and at that she got an idea. +</P> + +<P> +"Go there!" she cried, indicating the low seats by the stove. "I will +deal with them. You must pretend to sleep. It is your only chance." +</P> + +<P> +We obeyed her instantly. Léon upon the left hand of the stove, and +myself upon the right, we smothered our heads in the capes and curled +ourselves up as men heavy with fatigue. Hardly had we done this when +Valerie opened the door and the Russians swarmed headlong into the +room. So great was their need of food that some twenty of them were +about the table in an instant, eating as ravening wolves, and far too +busy in that employment to pay any attention to us. +</P> + +<P> +Looking at them as I lay, I perceived that they were all officers of +cavalry, and mostly men of some distinction; while it was also apparent +that they contemplated no considerable halt in this vicinity, but were +riding toward the Bérézina. For all that, our situation could well +justify them in shooting us like dogs if we had been discovered; and it +was impossible to forget that they had but to lift the capes which +covered us to undo our little plot in a twinkling. Do you wonder that +we lay there as men who waited for a sentence of life or death? +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, be sure that Mademoiselle Valerie was not idle. +</P> + +<P> +Many times have I admired the wit and resource of that wonderful woman, +but never as I did upon that fateful night. Anyone who had heard her +would have sworn that she was the arch-enemy of Napoleon and of all his +works, and that nothing but the direst necessity had carried her into +the train of his army. With a candour which seemed childish she +recited to them all that she had not done these many days. I could +have laughed aloud at the fables she invented for the benefit of these +simpletons. It was as inspiring as wine to see her smoking their +little paper cigars and drinking the horrid gin to their successes. +And all the time Léon and I lay there wondering if the filthy Russians +round about would utter the word which betrayed us. To this day I +believe that they did not for mademoiselle's sake. It was otherwise +with the cavalrymen themselves. When they had eaten and drunk they +naturally drew near the stove, and soon there were a dozen of them +swarming about it, and one actually sitting upon my knees. A more +anxious moment is not to be described; and when the fellow began to +banter me in Russian upon the profundity of my sleep I thought for a +truth that all was lost. +</P> + +<P> +The spirit had mounted to their heads by this time, and they were +disposed to any humour that occurred to them. An imp of mischief +prompted an ensign among them to suggest that Léon should be lifted on +to the stove, and there left to roast until he came to his senses; and +this idea was applauded by them all. Lifting my nephew by the legs, +his ragged and mud-stained French breeches were laid bare for all to +see; but, oddly enough, no one remarked the colour, and this I set down +to the fact that clothes were often exchanged between the army in those +days, and that a Russian with a hole in his breeches made no bones at +all about wearing those of a Frenchman. +</P> + +<P> +The danger was really from the fire itself, and the loud oaths it +brought to Léon's lips. He was up and awake in an instant now, and +with a curse upon them all he struck right and left, and brought them +to their senses. They were just like men who handled a dog, to +discover suddenly that he was a wolf and had bitten them; and with +amazed cries they drew back and turned to mademoiselle. She, however, +answered them with one of her merry laughs. The little Russian that I +knew permitted me to see that she was warning them against some peril +of which they were unaware; and no sooner was this done than they +apprehended the danger for themselves. +</P> + +<P> +You will understand this more readily when you remember that the +post-house was on the high road, and that while the van of the army was +then at Bobr, the rearguard, under Marshal Ney, had yet to march +through. The outposts of this had entered the village while the +officers were at supper, but the main body now appearing, the others +made an immediate descent upon the post-house, and the shots and +bullets rained upon it like hail. In a twinkling the plates upon the +table went flying, the glass of the windows was shattered, and the +crazy lamps put out. +</P> + +<P> +The Russians themselves, believing that they had been taken in an +ambush, went headlong through the back door of the building in quest of +their horses; and soon we heard them rallying in the village street, +and crying to their fellows to come out. The alarm had spread like +wildfire, and such an appeal was not made in vain. The whole hamlet +now became a scene of battle, upon which the moon shone brightly and +the lamps in the house cast a derisive aureole. Odd that men should be +killing each other upon that terrible night of winter, with food and +shelter all about and nothing but the wilderness of death beyond! Yet +so it befell, and such was the affair in which we now played our parts. +</P> + +<P> +Naturally, we got out into the street as quickly as possible. We were +both armed with pistols and had our swords drawn, but it was apparent +that we could do nothing until the others had made good their entrance +and got at the cavalry. The latter, finding themselves attacked on +both sides, rode up and down the wide street like madmen, cutting and +slashing at invisible figures, and plainly drunk with the hospitality +they had pillaged. So much our own men perceived, and, advancing from +house to house, and taking cover wherever it was to be had, they fired +at the enemy with deadly effect, and blotted the snow with the figures +of the terrified horsemen who had been caught in this trap of fate. +</P> + +<P> +Soon the place became a veritable shambles. The infantrymen, under +Marshal Ney himself, grew bolder every instant, and, led both by the +marshal and Prince Eugène, they came out into the open, and took the +cavalry at the bayonet's point. There was no longer the necessity for +Léon and myself to be spectators of the affray, and, rushing out into +the melee, we shot and sabred where we could. Wiser men would have +remained in the post-house, and remembered the uniform they wore. I +shall not soon forget the instant when some <I>chasseurs à pied</I> rushed +upon me, and I had to cry "Vive l'Empereur!" with all my lungs to keep +their bayonets from my throat. This, however, was but an episode, and, +throwing the Cossack's cape and busby aside, I fought bareheaded until +the last of the Russians had staggered to the post-house and fallen +headlong at the feet of Valerie, who stood waiting and watching at the +door. +</P> + +<P> +I say the last of the Russians, and this is to give you a fair account +of it. A few, it is true, got away through the court of the house to +the open fields beyond; there may have been one or two who made good +their escape on their way to Bobr; but of some five hundred who entered +the village there were more than two hundred and fifty dead in the wide +street, and almost as many prisoners when the end came. +</P> + +<P> +We ourselves, amazed both at the swiftness of the victory and at our +own good fortune, returned immediately to the post-house, and there +found Valerie bending over the figure of the fallen Russian. The man +had received a terrible blow from a sabre, which laid open his head +almost to the ear, and he was stone dead when we found him. To us he +was as one of the many whose bodies lay black and stiff in the +moonlight, but to Valerie St. Antoine he had told another story. +</P> + +<P> +"I know him well," she exclaimed. "He is General Kutusoff's +aide-de-camp. Search his wallet, and you will know why he is on the +road to Bobr. Do you not understand how much it may mean to His +Majesty?" +</P> + +<P> +We heard her with amazement, but did not lose a moment in doing her +bidding. There were many papers and letters in the dead man's sack, +but we knew enough to detect those of importance, and especially to +pick out the documents which concerned the Emperor. Here Mademoiselle +Valerie's knowledge of Russian was something beyond price. One by one +she read the documents and told us their contents. When she came to +that concerning the Bérézina, the miracle of this man's death in such a +place was beyond compare the event of that memorable night. +</P> + +<P> +In a word, the paper told us that the bridge across the river was held +by the Russians, and that if His Majesty and the army were not to +perish another must be found. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +V +</H4> + +<P> +I have told you that Marshal Ney himself had come in at the head of the +rearguard, and to him we carried the paper immediately. +</P> + +<P> +Be sure the importance of it was not lost upon him, and he heard us +with an amazement akin to our own. +</P> + +<P> +Naturally, such a man would lose no time in such an emergency, and, +entering the post-house but to write a dispatch, he handed it to Léon, +and commanded him to press on at all hazards and overtake the Emperor +at Bobr. +</P> + +<P> +"The fate of the army depends upon your diligence," said he. "Lose no +time, sir, and I will see that you are well rewarded." +</P> + +<P> +To this he added the order that an escort of a squadron of Prince +Eugène's own cavalry should accompany us, and with this we set out +immediately upon the high road to the river. +</P> + +<P> +It was now about midnight, intensely cold, but very clear and bright, +and the detestable north wind but a gentle breeze. The road itself no +longer traversed the terrible plains, but wound in and out of a low +range of hills, which protected us a little from the rigours of the +night. Unhappily, our escort was already fatigued with marching, and +we had not ridden a league when it became apparent that they would +hinder rather than help us. So much Léon indicated to their captain, +and, bidding him return to the prince, he stated our resolution of +travelling henceforth alone. "Two may go," says he, "where a hundred +cannot. If this news does not reach the Emperor before daybreak the +army is lost. It is our only chance, captain, as you must see for +yourself. Leave it to me and the major here, and we will do all that +can be done." +</P> + +<P> +The captain agreed, admitting that the horses of his squadron could go +no farther, and that the men were entirely unable to support the +fatigues of such a venture. We left them accordingly, and pushed on +henceforth alone. It was a relief to discover a road where a man could +pass without stepping over the dead bodies of his comrades, and for a +full hour we rode with none of those dreadful emblems of tragedy to +which we had become so accustomed. In the end we entered a little +defile which stood upon the brink of the forest. The high road became +narrower, and was often wholly obliterated by the snow. I perceived +that we were lost, and, drawing rein, I compelled my nephew to realise +the extent of our misfortune. +</P> + +<P> +"There are no dead here," said I. "If the army had passed by this +road, you know what we should have witnessed. The stars seem to tell +me that we are too far to the north; there is nothing for it but to +return as we came." +</P> + +<P> +He cursed and swore at this, for he was as impetuous as every zealous +soldier should be. +</P> + +<P> +"If day finds the Emperor at Bobr," said he, "all is lost. We should +have taken a guide in the village; that is the folly of it, mon oncle. +We have acted like children, and deserve what we get. Had we listened +to Valerie——" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah," said I, "always the women! Well, what did she say?" +</P> + +<P> +"That she would conduct us to Bobr herself. I would have named it to +the marshal, but you know what he thinks of women. There is nothing +for it, as you say, but to return, and God keep us from a court-martial +when we get there." +</P> + +<P> +We turned about, and began to ride up the defile. A light shone +through the trees almost at the head of it, and we perceived what we +had overlooked on our western journey—a house standing in a clearing +and lighting a welcome patch in that lonely forest. The idea came to +me that these people might set us on the road, and, without waiting to +ask my nephew's opinion, I turned aside and knocked upon the door. It +was opened immediately by as handsome a young Jew as I have ever seen. +Alas! he could not understand a word I addressed to him, but, drawing +back as one in great fear, he called to someone inside; and presently +there appeared a young woman as good-looking, but very much less afraid +of the soldiers. +</P> + +<P> +To my astonishment, a greeting in my own tongue was responded to +immediately by this intelligent girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Come in, messieurs," said she. "We do not fear your countrymen; we +know that the French are our friends." +</P> + +<P> +I hallooed to Léon to come down to the place, and then entered the +cottage. A bright lamp burned upon the table, and food was set out +there. When I remembered that it must have been nearly one o'clock of +the morning, the fact seemed not a little suspicious; but a thought +immediately came to me, and I turned to the girl and questioned her. +</P> + +<P> +"Why are you awake at this time of night?" said I. +</P> + +<P> +She flinched at that, and could not answer me; but I told her +immediately. +</P> + +<P> +"Your husband has been out to rob the soldiers who have perished," said +I. "Come, be frank with me, and you shall not be punished. Has he not +just come home and brought you some pretty things? Do not be afraid to +tell me, and I will see that you do not suffer." +</P> + +<P> +She admitted it at length. Her excuses were familiar and difficult to +deal with. The men who had been robbed were dead, and their friends +had deserted them. Of what use was money to them? The Cossacks took +everything, she said; why did we begrudge them such trifles? +</P> + +<P> +To which I responded very sternly that they had rendered themselves +liable to the penalty of death, and would be pardoned upon one +condition only. +</P> + +<P> +"Doubtless you know the way to Bobr, young man," said I. +</P> + +<P> +He did not deny it. +</P> + +<P> +"Then you will conduct us there immediately. Come, where is your +horse? You will have need of him." +</P> + +<P> +He swore that he had no horse, and really I believe this was true. The +girl's fears had now become distressing to behold, and it was evident +that she had her doubts of our honesty. +</P> + +<P> +"Isidore is a very bad guide," she exclaimed, looking at us with +searching eyes. "You would do much better to take me. I know the road +to Bobr. I have walked there many times." +</P> + +<P> +"Then," said I, "if you have walked there, we are not far from our +destination. I will make you a proposition, my dear. It is that you +both come. Nothing will happen to your house for an hour or two, and +you can go back to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +The suggestion appeased her, but the man still seemed afraid. +</P> + +<P> +"How shall I protect her from your countrymen?" said he. "Every road +is full of soldiers nowadays. You know what that means, Excellency." +</P> + +<P> +He spoke in Russian, but I gathered his meaning none the less. +Precious moments were being lost in this argument, and I would hear no +more of it. +</P> + +<P> +"By God!" said I, drawing a pistol from my belt. "If you do not start +immediately I will blow your brains out." +</P> + +<P> +The threat was quite sufficient. Methodically the woman caught up a +heavy woollen cloak and addressed a few words to her husband in a +whisper. A moment later she was haggling with me about terms, for such +is the habit of these people. +</P> + +<P> +"You will pay us for our trouble," she protested. "It is a long way to +Bobr, messieurs, and we are very poor." +</P> + +<P> +"I will give you a hundred francs if you bring me to the Emperor at +daybreak," said I. And, refusing further parley, I went out to the +bridle track immediately, and left them to decide. Not a little to my +surprise, they followed me without protest, and we all set out again, +the woman on Léon's saddle, the young Jew at my horse's head. +</P> + +<P> +I think it was a little warmer by this time; but this may have been due +to the wooded nature of the country through which we now rode. A +stranger would not have found his way in a lustre of years; so narrow +was the path, so dense the trees, that we might have entered an +enchanted land full of hobgoblins and far beyond the confines of the +civilised world. It was difficult to remember that the Grand Army +could not have been ten leagues from us, and were marching and dying +this night, as upon so many weary nights since we had left Moscow. For +all that, we made good headway, and were apparently about to regain the +open country, when the Jew said something to his young wife, and she +translated it for our benefit. +</P> + +<P> +"We are coming to a very dangerous place," said she. "Your +Excellencies must be prepared. There are robbers here who are a menace +to all strangers. We ourselves pay them tribute—a large sum, much +more than we can afford. But that concerns ourselves, and they will +rob you if they can. Please, therefore, be very careful, and do not +speak as you go." +</P> + +<P> +I looked at Léon, and it was evident that the same thought was in both +our minds. These brigands would very likely be the kinsmen of this +engaging couple, and possibly we had been led to their lair for no +other purpose than that of robbery. So I took my pistol from my +holster again, and, showing it to the young Jew, I warned him. +</P> + +<P> +"Robbers or no robbers," said I, "you will be a dead man the moment you +let go of my bridle rein." +</P> + +<P> +He shook his head, and professed not to understand me. It was clear, +however, that he had made a pretty shrewd guess at my meaning, and he +pressed on so quickly that I began to doubt my previous view of his +honesty. +</P> + +<P> +Was it possible that he was really afraid of this ghostly place? Well, +I could understand as much. The fables of Hades never painted a +gloomier abyss or a nether pit so awe-inspiring. +</P> + +<P> +Sheer cliffs of sandy rock rose up to a great height on every hand. +There was but a hand's breadth of sky to be seen above us; while below, +far down in a crevice, there glistened the ice of a frozen rivulet. +The path itself would have served for a nimble goat, but was +treacherous enough for a horse. We all dismounted, and for a full hour +went as mountaineers upon a precipice. Then we came to a sudden halt +at the young man's bidding, and listening, we heard a piercing scream +echoing and re-echoing in that frightful abyss. +</P> + +<P> +"Good God!" cried Léon; "they are butchering a Frenchman. A man has +died by the knife. I know that sound; I have heard it too often." +</P> + +<P> +The young Jew began to tremble like an aspen at this, and his wife +vainly tried to comfort him. Turning to us, she whispered a reminder +of her prophecy concerning the dangers of the journey. +</P> + +<P> +"It is the brigand Orlof," she said. "You see what has befallen us. +We must return immediately." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, come," said I; "such is not the habit of our countrymen. Who is +this precious Orlof, and how many friends has he?" +</P> + +<P> +She responded that it was impossible to say. There might be two or +three, there might be twenty. To which I answered that we would take +our chance, and pushing the young Jew on before me, I covered him with +my pistol. +</P> + +<P> +It was then that I discovered that madame had a great Russian pistol of +her own, and was already looking to its priming. So the brigands were +not her fathers and mothers after all. +</P> + +<P> +We turned the corner of the pass, and a flickering red light fell +suddenly on the path before us. It came from a hole in the wall of the +rock, giving access to a cave of melancholy aspect. The question +whether we should pause or go on was answered by me in an instant. +</P> + +<P> +"Attention!" I whispered to them, and, raising my hand, I now took +command of the expedition, and crept stealthily to the aperture. Ten +strides and I was up to it, and had the mystery before my eyes. +</P> + +<P> +There were three of the filthiest and most revolting moujiks I have +ever looked upon squatting upon the floor of a considerable cave, and +they were busy dividing the property of a man who lay dead by their +fireside. The latter was an officer of the fusiliers, as I could see +by his epaulettes. They had hacked his head off with a scythe, which +lay by the tumbled corpse, and were now counting his money. +</P> + +<P> +You will understand with what feelings of rage and fury my nephew and I +beheld this spectacle, and the steps we took to avenge our comrade. +Hardly had I clapped eyes upon the dead fusilier than I shot +point-blank at the biggest of the Russians, and saw him fall forward +into the very fire he had kindled. The two with him sprang to their +feet, uttering the shrillest cries of alarm, but Léon settled the first +of them with his pistol, and, to my amazement, the young Jew shot the +third. +</P> + +<P> +"I am well quit of him," said he; "there will be no more tribute next +year." +</P> + +<P> +And, upon this, what must he do but dash into the cavern and seize the +money and the jewels which the robber still held in his quivering +fingers. +</P> + +<P> +At this I confess that I laughed aloud, and had not the heart to +deprive him of his plunder. Sufficient that the dead was avenged and +that these assassins would butcher Frenchmen no more. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VI +</H4> + +<P> +This delay had been unfortunate, and thereafter we pressed on as fast +as the difficulties of the path would permit. The night was speeding, +and the fate of the French army depended upon our swiftness. The day +must be an enemy if the Emperor were not discovered. +</P> + +<P> +This was all very well, but we knew no more than the dead how far from +Bobr we then stood; nor did the young Jew who guided us. Indeed, it +dawned upon me after a time that he himself was lost, and knew the way +no better than we. This was a terrible reflection, and led me to the +bitterest reproaches upon them both. I swore that they should be shot +if they had played us false; to which the woman answered bravely +enough, while the man whined an excuse which led me to doubt him more +than ever. The road must be across the wide ravine which we were then +entering, he declared. There was a bridle path through the thicket, +and that would lead us out to the high road to Bobr. So much he said, +and so little did the facts justify him. +</P> + +<P> +We had now come to a wide pit, deep in snow and everywhere surrounded +by the forest. Even the path by which we entered it was difficult to +trace once we had been caught in the trap. And so we went, round and +round, the horses often up to their girths and Isidore to his neck in +the half-melted slush. Half an hour of it found the brutes exhausted +and we at the end of our tether. The night had been lost, and, +perhaps, the army with it. Never have I known a greater chagrin than +overtook me at such an hour. To have been entrusted with so great a +thing and to have failed! Good God! what a reckoning when next we came +before His Majesty! +</P> + +<P> +All this was black in the mind when the day began to dawn and a wan +glimmer of chilly light to break above the white foreground of the +frozen trees. +</P> + +<P> +The young Jew, who had been weeping bitterly, recovered his composure +when the day broke, and, seeming to recollect himself, he declared that +a shrine in the wood was the landmark, and that if we could but detect +it the road also would be regained. Perhaps he would have proved a +false prophet after all, but for the distant blare of a bugle, and upon +it the echo of rifle-shots far away down the valley. This immediately +indicated to us that we looked towards the south, and another ten +minutes had not passed when madame clapped her hands and declared that +she espied the shrine in a clearing of the trees. +</P> + +<P> +Rarely can a mistake have been redeemed with such tragic irony as upon +this fatal morning. We had lost the way and had found it—alas, too +late! +</P> + +<P> +It was a safe passage thereafter, and one of which I remember little. +The forest became less dense from league to league, and ultimately +showed us the great white plains we knew so well. Even from afar the +black bodies of our dead were to be discerned. We knew that this was +the road to Bobr, and, as our guides declared, that we stood barely a +league from the hamlet itself. +</P> + +<P> +Of the Jews we had now no further need, and paying them the money we +had promised, we set spurs to our jaded horses and rode on at a gallop. +The last I saw of Isidore and the woman showed them quarrelling over +the money at the wood's edge; and this was just what one would have +expected them to be doing. We had almost forgotten their existence +when, some half an hour later, we set eyes upon the whitened spires and +low walls of the picturesque town of Bobr. The Emperor was there, and +to him we must give an account of our stewardship. +</P> + +<P> +God knows it was with no fair prospect that we entered the place at the +moment when the army was waking to hear the fatal news. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VII +</H4> + +<P> +I say it was with no fair prospect, and yet there is an after-word. +Hardly were we in the main street of the place when we heard the +clatter of horses' hoofs ahead of us, and presently we perceived a +young hussar coming down the street at a canter. +</P> + +<P> +"Good God!" cried Léon. "It's Valerie!" +</P> + +<P> +I stared with all my eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Valerie, by all that's wonderful! Then she has followed us after all, +and herself has carried the news to the Emperor. Thank God for that." +</P> + +<P> +He admitted the truth of it with a sigh. +</P> + +<P> +"We shall look the biggest fools in Russia to-day," said he. +</P> + +<P> +But that I doubted. +</P> + +<P> +"She is a woman," said I, "and—well, you are the best judge of what +she has done. I will wager a hundred louis that she has not said a +word of our failure." +</P> + +<P> +He seemed to think it possible. Valerie herself had now drawn rein +before the door of a considerable house, and there she waited for us to +come up. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +WE CROSS THE BÉRÉZINA +</H4> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H4> + +<P> +The news that the Russians had cut the bridge across the Bérézina came +as a thunderclap to the army. +</P> + +<P> +We had believed that we had only to cross that fatal river to find +ourselves immediately in a land overflowing with milk and honey. We +never thought of the long leagues lying between ourselves and the city +of Paris, or remembered that this dreadful Russian winter had but just +begun. Food and shelter lay beyond the river, we thought—so little +did we know. +</P> + +<P> +Then the news came that the Cossacks of the south had cut the bridge. +The men said that we were caught like rats in a trap. Our generals +were hourly in consultation. None could declare with truth that he had +now any real hope of escaping death or the horrors of a Russian prison. +</P> + +<P> +It was at this crisis of our fate that the good fortune befell me of +being of some personal service to the army and to His Majesty. +</P> + +<P> +We had advanced a stage upon the road to the Bérézina, and in the +middle of the night of November 20th we arrived at the town of +Borisoff. The Emperor's quarters were in a country mansion near the +town. I myself, with Léon and Valerie St. Antoine, took refuge in a +mean house occupied by the priest of the place, and, having eaten a +little black bread and boiled a handful of rice (all the poor fellow +could offer us), we lay about his stove to sleep. +</P> + +<P> +For the others this proved easy enough. No sooner had they laid their +heads upon the sheepskins which the holy father provided for us, than +their deep breathing responded to the measure of their fatigue. For +myself, however, there was no such refuge. I could not sleep a wink +despite my weariness. Beyond that, strange visions tormented me even +when awake. For this, the doom which threatened the remnant of that +once great army may have been responsible. I believed that I should +never see my country again—and God only knows what that meant to one +who had suffered so much. +</P> + +<P> +Such was my condition when I heard someone tapping faintly upon the +door of the priest's house, and then a sound of weeping. A common +instinct of self-preservation should have made me callous, for those +were the days when a man would have denied meat to his own +brother—yet, whether it were the hour of the night or the despair of +our situation, I know not—but, rising immediately, I took the +rushlight in my hand and opened to the unknown. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H4> + +<P> +The new-comer was dressed from head to foot in the fur of the silver +fox, and had a grey woollen shawl about her head. I have rarely seen a +more beautiful face upon a child or eyes so sorrowful. +</P> + +<P> +Apparently of fourteen years of age or thereabouts, I perceived at once +that she was of noble birth, while the sweetness of her voice was +beyond words. Weeping upon the threshold, she ceased to weep directly +she had entered the room, and, drawing herself up with a dignity worthy +of her race, she told me that her name was Joan d'Izambert, and begged +me to come immediately to the help of her brother, who was dying. +</P> + +<P> +This was an astonishing request, and I could not forbear a question. +</P> + +<P> +"Mademoiselle," I asked, "who is your brother, and what brought you to +this house?" +</P> + +<P> +She replied immediately that her brother was Gabriel d'Izambert, one of +the <I>pontonniers</I>, and that he had been sent to the river by General +Roguet. From this excursion I understood that the young man had +returned in a state of delirium, and was now lying in an arbour of a +garden close by. +</P> + +<P> +"Sergeant Picard sent me to you," she explained. "He knows my brother +well, and said that you would come. Oh, monsieur, we have suffered so +much, and now there is this. Will you not help me?" +</P> + +<P> +I told her that I would go. For another, perchance, I would not have +stirred a foot that night; but there was so much in the child's +manner—a gift to command and a nobility of mien which were +remarkable—that I put on my great fur coat without more ado, and went +down to the garden with her. It lay, perhaps, a hundred paces from the +house which we occupied, and was attached to a considerable mansion, of +which General Roguet and his staff had then taken possession. +</P> + +<P> +The arbour itself proved to be a spacious summer-house, matted and +thatched, and provided with a stove, in which a good fire had been +kindled. I was presented immediately to a distinguished old gentleman, +well advanced in years, but still wearing a uniform of the engineers. +He told me in a word that he had followed his son as far as Smolensk +upon our outward journey, and there had waited for the army's return. +</P> + +<P> +"His mother was with us then," he said—and so he indicated that his +wife had perished during these dreadful days. +</P> + +<P> +The son himself—a fine young man of noble presence—lay upon the floor +by the stove, wrapped in a bearskin coat, but plainly the victim of +delirium. I found him in a burning fever, his pulse running high, and +his cheeks gone scarlet. He raved incessantly of the river and the +bridge, and of the Russians who had hunted us. +</P> + +<P> +It was no new thing to hear a man talk thus at a moment when the army +perished by tens of thousands; but the spectacle of this bare place, +and the glowing stove, and the stricken old man, and the child that was +left to him, touched me beyond words, and I promised him immediately +all the help that lay in my power. +</P> + +<P> +"Yet, God knows," I exclaimed, "that is little enough, for we are all +likely to be in a Russian prison to-morrow. You know, sir," I said, +turning to him, "that the bridge is down and the army trapped." +</P> + +<P> +"The bridge is down," he cried, "but another may be built. Save my +son, major, and you may yet save France." +</P> + +<P> +I had no idea of his meaning. If I thought of it at all, it was to +remind myself that this family had suffered much, and that the father's +talk might be little more rational than the son's at such a moment. +Bidding the child run back to the house I had quitted, and thence bring +my nephew and my case of instruments, I assured the old gentleman that +I would do my best and that he might count upon me. The young man, +meanwhile, did not cease to rave in a voice which was most distressing +to hear, and, catching me by the hand as I bent over him, he implored +me, for God's sake, to let the Emperor know immediately. When I, +however, asked him for a message he could give me none. "The bridge!" +he would cry, and repeat the words a hundred times. His very frenzy +was a terrible thing to see. +</P> + +<P> +My nephew and Mademoiselle Valerie returned to the arbour with the +child anon, being anxious as to my whereabouts. Léon was frankly +disgusted with the whole business, and would have had me return to the +house immediately. +</P> + +<P> +"There are a thousand worse than this man for every league you march," +said he. "Really, mon oncle, this is no time for sentiment." +</P> + +<P> +In her turn, Valerie told him to be silent, and seemed really concerned +at the misfortunes of the unhappy family. +</P> + +<P> +"I know them well," she said to me. "The mother is a relative of the +Duke de Melun, and old General d'Izambert often came to my father's +house. Imagine the madness which brought such old people to Russia +because their boy was going!" +</P> + +<P> +I rejoined that it was the kind of madness which had become common in +France during recent years. And this was the truth, for many a family +had gone out merely because sons or brothers were there. It was clear +that an unusual bond of affection united these brave people, and that +the memory of the dead mother provoked a sentiment very real. Father +and daughter alike watched me with pitiful eyes while I bled the young +<I>pontonnier</I>, and they hastened to obey me when I commanded them to +melt snow in a cup and to give him a cooling drink. +</P> + +<P> +"I will speak to General Roguet at dawn," said I. "You shall find a +place for him in the house. God alone knows whether any of us will be +here to help you then; it depends upon his fellows. If there is no +ford discovered in the next twenty-four hours, the river is shut to us, +and the army is lost. You, monsieur, know that as well as I." +</P> + +<P> +He assented, looking at me with grave eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Major," he said very solemnly, "there is a ford. My son discovered it +this day." +</P> + +<P> +The news astounded me. +</P> + +<P> +"Good God!" said I. "You are speaking the truth?" +</P> + +<P> +"Look at me, major. Would I lie to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Then the Emperor knows. You have told him, monsieur?" +</P> + +<P> +He shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Swear by Almighty God that you will not desert us, and I will name the +place to you," he said. +</P> + +<P> +I knew not what to say to him—the dilemma was beyond all words. If I +pledged myself to these people, then truly must I be a prisoner in +Russia. If I did not pledge myself, the army was lost. +</P> + +<P> +"But," I cried, "there is my regiment—my duty, Monsieur d'Izambert." +</P> + +<P> +It was then that Valerie spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Go," she said to Léon, pointing to the door; "let the Emperor know. I +will stay with these people." +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H4> + +<P> +Here was an astonishing turn, and one little looked for. +</P> + +<P> +The idea of this dashing girl, clad in her hussar uniform, yet womanly +beyond compare, the idea of her becoming the guardian of the sick man +at first astounded and then delighted Monsieur d'Izambert. Helpless +and infirm himself, the companion of a mere child caught in the toils +of suffering, he responded warmly to such a pledge and thanked her most +graciously. +</P> + +<P> +The boy himself had now sunk into a kind of coma, and there were +moments when I thought he was dead. Meanwhile, Léon did not return, +and we waited in the silence of the night for the alarm which must +presently attend the momentous tidings. When it came, it was as though +the whole army woke upon the dawn of a feast-day. Bugles blared; a +babel of voices arose in the street; the wagons of the engineers went +through at a gallop; lights appeared in every house. Anon you heard +men calling the news from door to door. A ford had been discovered; +the army would cross the Bérézina this day. +</P> + +<P> +So they said, and such was my own belief. The young <I>pontonnier</I> had +given the clearest directions to old Monsieur d'Izambert before the +fever overtook him, and these, marked upon his map, had gone to +head-quarters. Nothing remained to be done that our engineers could +not do. They would bridge the shallow stream, and the remnant of the +six hundred thousand would pass over. I reflected that I should not be +among them. The promise that Valerie had given bound me no less than +her. Impossible to leave her here in this God-forsaken hamlet, with a +sick man for her charge and a veteran of threescore years for her +bodyguard. She had pledged herself to stay, and I must stand by her. +It seemed to me, then, that our liberty, if not our lives, depended +upon the youth, who lay alternately burning with fever and shivering +with cold upon the boards at our feet. His death would have set us +free. I say it with truth that neither she nor I desired freedom at +such a price. +</P> + +<P> +You will have understood that it was day by this time. +</P> + +<P> +The bruit of alarm was still to be heard in the street before the house +where the remnants of the army pressed on headlong towards the river. +I did not suppose that we should be left to ourselves, we who possessed +the precious secret of the ford, and in this I was not mistaken. Many +from head-quarters came down to General Roguet's house when daylight +appeared, and it must have been a little after eight o'clock when the +Emperor himself strode into the arbour and demanded to see Gabriel +d'Izambert. +</P> + +<P> +I had not been unprepared for this, and be sure I made haste to explain +the situation to His Majesty. +</P> + +<P> +"Sire," I said, "the young man is overtaken by a fever, caught in the +river yesterday. It will probably be but a passing attack, but +meanwhile his father knows all that your Majesty should know, and you +will find him very much at your service. He has at the moment gone to +the house yonder in quest of necessaries; but there is one here with +whom you are acquainted and whom you will not be displeased to meet +again under such circumstances." +</P> + +<P> +With this I presented Mademoiselle Valerie to him, and he greeted her +very warmly. The young <I>pontonnier</I> was still asleep, and it seemed +idle to wake him. Nevertheless, the Emperor insisted, with his usual +impetuosity, and nothing would content him but an immediate audience of +this unhappy Gabriel. Judge of my astonishment when, upon being +awakened, the lad seemed in possession of his normal faculties and +ready to answer as though he were fresh from a healthy sleep. +</P> + +<P> +"The ford is below Studianka," he said, with a warmth of feeling which +betrayed an ardent loyalty. "It is four miles above the old bridge, +your Majesty, and, should the river remain as it is, the engineers +could cross it before nightfall. I beg you now to let me accompany +you, for I am quite well again." +</P> + +<P> +And then he said, lifting pathetic eyes which betrayed his youthful +earnestness, "Your Majesty will not refuse me this last favour?" +</P> + +<P> +Such was his request, which won an immediate assent from the Emperor. +The lives of a hundred thousand men may have depended upon this youth's +loyalty, and who would count the loss of his life if thereby the army +could pass over? Not I, certainly—nor His Majesty, who never stood at +a sentiment where his own interests were concerned. Half an hour had +not elapsed when Gabriel d'Izambert had been lifted into one of the +baggage wagons, and we had all set out for the Bérézina. +</P> + +<P> +Put briefly, it was a race where life or death was the stake. If we +could neither ford nor bridge the river by nightfall, assuredly was the +Grand Army lost. There was not a man amongst us who did not know as +much as we drew near to the fatal scene and set eyes for the first time +upon those waters which had baffled us. Had the river risen during the +night, or should we find it as Gabriel d'Izambert had found it +yesterday? The lad himself put the question a hundred times as we +tramped by the side of the wagon, and descended at length toward that +gloomy Styx which was so soon to be the scene of our overwhelming +desolation. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IV +</H4> + +<P> +Naturally, I considered myself released at this time from my +understanding with the old gentleman. He, however, was of no such +opinion, and, with an anxiety very natural under the circumstances, he +reminded me frequently of the undertaking. +</P> + +<P> +"You will not leave us, major," he said. "We are so very helpless, and +you see what is about to happen to my son. We cannot leave him, and, +if the bridge be built, naturally the army will be the first to cross. +Remember what you have promised me, and let it be an honourable +understanding between us." +</P> + +<P> +It was difficult to answer such an appeal, and, for that matter, a +greater anxiety concerning the state of the river led me to dismiss it +lightly. What mattered it whether we crossed early or late if the army +could be saved and the honour of France upheld? These thoughts were in +my mind when, at length, the Bérézina came into view and all that +gloomy panorama was unrolled before our wistful eyes. Let me tell you +of this that you may understand more fully the calamity which +subsequently overtook us. +</P> + +<P> +As we first saw it, the Bérézina did not appear to be a formidable +river. It ran beneath a sky heavy with cloud and through a marsh, of +which the thaws of recent days had made nothing but a treacherous bog. +</P> + +<P> +When it first came into view there were some thousands of the Fusiliers +and Chasseurs of the Guard encamped upon its eastern bank. A drizzle +of snow fell, and it was clear that the waters of the river had begun +to flow with some rapidity. Little waves lapped the marshy shore; +great blocks of ice went careering here and there as though they were +monstrous fish at play. The wind moaned dismally and the damp searched +our very bones. +</P> + +<P> +Of shelter there was none, save that of a few miserable huts upon the +hillside and of a low farmhouse, which the general's staff now +occupied. Luckily for us, we took possession of one of the former, and +there I left Valerie with Monsieur d'Izambert and his daughter, while I +myself rode on to the river to get what tidings I could. These, to be +sure, were not of ill-omen, and the fact that they were not so is to be +set down to the bravery of the gallant fellows who were then working +for our salvation. +</P> + +<P> +Never in all the story of a retreat can there be a more glorious page +written than that which told of our own <I>pontonniers</I> on this famous +day of November. +</P> + +<P> +Let me tell you in brief words that, despite the bitter cold, the snow +which beat upon their faces and the icy water of the river, they +plunged boldly into the stream, and stood there, often working up to +their necks, that the bridge which should save the army might be built. +The feat has been made light of by subsequent writers; yet here I bear +witness that a nobler thing was never done, nor any task achieved so +heroically in all the years of His Majesty's victories. +</P> + +<P> +Imagine it, my friends, and think upon our situation. +</P> + +<P> +We knew that the Russians were to the north and the south of us. The +ancient bridge below Borisoff had been cut. If we could not ford this +icy stream, then death or the horrors of a Russian prison awaited us. +Our one hope was this determined band of ten, who offered their own +lives upon the altar of our safety and plunged into the river that they +might win it for us. +</P> + +<P> +Hour by hour we watched them with feverish eyes. Even the Emperor came +down to the place, and with his own hand served wine to those heroes +who were winning life for him. One by one the pontoons were moored, +and the gap between the coveted shores made narrower. +</P> + +<P> +To me it seemed as though it were a race between Fate and the fortunes +of France. I saw the river rising every hour; the moaning wind became +a dreadful thing to hear as the day waxed and waned. And ever through +the terrible hours the snow fell pitilessly and the ice gathered and +crashed in the torrent which lashed the pontoons. +</P> + +<P> +Would our fellows win by nightfall, or was all indeed lost? I answered +the question for myself when, at sunset, the triumphant cries of the +fusiliers announced that a communication with the opposite shore was +established, and I saw the Guard ride over, their trumpets blaring and +their eagles proudly proclaiming their victory. +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes later I myself rode over the bridge, and immediately rode +back again. It was something to feel that the devilish stream was +conquered and the fruits of brave men's toil reaped to the full. Alas, +how little I knew of what was to come after or of the slaughter which +must attend the unspeakable morrow! +</P> + +<P> +I have told you that I crossed the bridge and immediately recrossed it. +This was upon an order of General Roguet himself, who told me that +every surgeon would be needed upon the other side to help the sick +across, and that I must rejoin our own company of Vélites as quickly as +might be. It had never been in my head to desert old Monsieur +d'Izambert and his daughter, and I sought them out directly I had +recrossed to the eastern bank. My nephew was with them at this time, +but Gabriel d'Izambert had not yet returned from the river, nor did any +know his whereabouts. Naturally, we hoped that he had gone across with +the Fusiliers of the Guard, but the old gentleman refused to believe +that he had done so, and was already determined to spend the night in +the shepherd's hut. Here he was well enough, and, for that matter, I +thought we had all done wisely to camp where we were rather than to +find an open bivouac on the farther shore. +</P> + +<P> +That this was the general opinion the scene upon our side of the river +quickly made manifest. Far to the north and south of the twin bridges +which the <I>pontonniers</I> had now erected were the bivouac fires and the +camps of the gathered remnants. Baggage wagons began to roll up, and +their attendants to gather in hundreds, eyeing the dismal waters and +promising to cross at dawn. No one seemed to think that there was any +hurry or that it mattered where he slept to-night. In truth, I think +the army believed that a great moral victory had already been won, and +that the end of its sufferings was at hand. Let them but cross the +river, and the fair fields of France would beckon them. Again I say +that they had forgotten the bitter leagues which lay between them and +liberty. +</P> + +<P> +My own duty at this time was to see to the sick of our own regiment, +and to provide for their crossing. Here I found willing helpers. We +collected the wagons with their unhappy burdens, and drew them up as +near to the river as we dared. Why they were not sent across that +night, I cannot tell you. When I recall the precious hours that we +wasted, the solitude of the bridges, and the miracle of the +opportunity, it seems to me that no words can describe truly the +magnitude of that blunder. Yet there it was, and so at length we slept +during the long hours of storm and darkness. When we awoke the +Russians were upon the hills about us, and their shells were already +thundering upon our bivouac. God, what an awakening for men who had +hoped so much! +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +V +</H4> + +<P> +The sound of cannon broke in upon our sleep a little after the hour of +dawn. +</P> + +<P> +We had made a comfortable bivouac in the hut, and were all dozing in +the straw which covered its floor, when the earth about us began to +tremble, and everyone started up to realise the dread alarm. +</P> + +<P> +It chanced that I was lying cheek by jowl with Valerie St. Antoine, and +that we were the first of them all to run into the open and ascertain +the truth. It needed but a single glance at the hills and the river to +tell us that story in all its menace. +</P> + +<P> +It was just light at this time—a colder morning than that of +yesterday, with a clearer heaven. As the clouds of night rolled away, +the black figures of the Cossacks upon the hills were clearly to be +discerned, while the smoke of their cannon drifted slowly upon the +still air and hovered above the swirling river. It was plain that a +considerable force had come up in the night, and, having discovered our +intention, began immediately to fire upon the bridges. We could see +their cannon-balls plumping into the water, striking the floes of +driving ice, or even rending the frail pontoons which our engineers had +moored with such difficulty. And while they did this a cry of horror +ran from end to end of our own encampment—the cries of those who +believed that delay had undone them, and that they were betrayed. +</P> + +<P> +From every camp fire now, from the shelter of puny huts and caves dug +out of the earth, from wagons and tents, there appeared a stream of men +and women, too, camp followers who mingled with the soldiery and cursed +or entreated as the mood dictated. +</P> + +<P> +Standing upon a knoll not a hundred paces from the bridge, Mademoiselle +Valerie and I were soon enveloped by these pitiful creatures, who ran +to and fro like driven sheep, and had lost what little wit they had +possessed. It was a dreadful thing to see women of all ages, with the +tears streaming down their faces, their hair unkempt and their dress +but a tatter of rags, throwing themselves at the feet of officers as +helpless as they, and begging instantly to be escorted across the +bridge. Yet such was the scene into which I was now plunged, and such +the disorderly mob with which the remnant of the army had to deal. As +for ourselves, it did not seem very much to matter what we did. +</P> + +<P> +Mademoiselle Valerie, as imperturbable as ever, addressed words of +comfort to the unhappy people and begged them to be patient. +</P> + +<P> +"The soldiers will protect you," she said; and, God knows, how much I +wished that the boast could be made good. +</P> + +<P> +We, however, were as helpless as they, and, when we found ourselves +alone, the truth was not to be concealed. +</P> + +<P> +"They will destroy the bridge, Monsieur Constant," she said; "and what +then? Is there anyone here who can tell us what to do?" +</P> + +<P> +I rejoined that wiser heads would have told us last night, and reminded +her that we had the old man and the child to think of. +</P> + +<P> +"The bridge must be crossed at any cost," said I. "Convince the old +gentleman of that, and we will set out immediately. It is idle to stop +here on the supposition that his son will return. Do you not see +yourself how unreasonable it is?" +</P> + +<P> +She agreed with me, and returned immediately to the hut. +Unfortunately, we had to deal with the obstinacy of a father to whom +the only son was all that mattered in this world. Monsieur d'Izambert +refused to move a step until the young <I>pontonnier</I> had returned. Nor +would he hear of our escorting his daughter across the river. +</P> + +<P> +"We will cross together," he said, "or we will not cross at all. My +daughter would wish it, major. How would it help her to return to +France when those dear to her remain the prisoners of this unhappy +country? You do not know what you are asking me—to leave my only son; +it is impossible." +</P> + +<P> +I saw that nothing would convince him, and taking Valerie aside, I told +her as much. +</P> + +<P> +"It will be a case of sauve qui peut," said I. "We are under no +obligation to these people, and why should we perish because of them? +Come with me now, and, if it is possible to do so, I will recross the +river later in the day. I pledge my word upon that. But, +mademoiselle," said I, "it is madness for you to listen to them." +</P> + +<P> +She shook her head, smiling in the old, alluring way. +</P> + +<P> +"It has all been madness," she exclaimed; and that was as true a thing +as ever she said. +</P> + +<P> +"We shall stand a better chance to-night, Monsieur Constant, than now, +when there are so many on the bridge," she continued. "Let us wait +upon our opportunity. Surely you would not attempt the passage at this +moment?" And she pointed to the bridges, thronged already by a +terrified mob, and pounded by the cannon of the Russians. +</P> + +<P> +My answer to this was a shrug of the shoulders, for no other seemed +possible. +</P> + +<P> +Any man who was at the Bérézina will understand the terror and pity of +the scene I now witnessed and the helplessness of any Frenchman who +stood upon the eastern bank of the cursed river. +</P> + +<P> +As a hail of death, the shells and the bullets of the Russians poured +down upon the terror-stricken fugitives. Dreadful cries arose. So +great was the press upon the pontoons that hundreds of our people were +thrust headlong into the swirling waters, hundreds of the weak crushed +beneath the feet of the stronger. All huddled together—wagons driven +over living men, cavalry hewing their way with swords, the cries of +cantinières, women and children screaming for pity—all, I say, pressed +on in that mad quest of shelter which was to be offered to so few. +</P> + +<P> +Soon the river was black with the bodies of the drowned. I saw +wretched creatures clinging to the ice-floes or the pontoons of the +bridge; some fighting as devils for a foothold upon the narrow way; +others too weak to struggle as the strong thrust them aside and the +black water enveloped them. Wisely indeed had Valerie insisted upon +delay. Yet it was a melancholy thing to reflect that even an hour +before the day had dawned we might all have passed over in safety and +set out upon our way to the Paris of our dreams. +</P> + +<P> +I shall not weary you with any undue recital of the horrors of that +unnameable day. From dawn to dusk the slaughter continued. It was a +tragic moment indeed when the Russians at length destroyed the greater +bridge, and with it a regiment of cavalry of the Guard then passing +over. This was quite early in the day, and thereafter the scenes upon +the pontoons became beyond all words awful to witness. Even the +bravest were as helpless as children in that terrible <I>lutte pour la +vie</I>. I remember, about one o'clock in the afternoon, riding down to +the water's edge with my old friend Gros-Jean of the Vélites, and +watching the frantic endeavour that most courageous of men made to +cross the bridge, despite my entreaties. Alas! he had but plunged into +the medley when a Cuirassier of the Guard thrust him down, and he, in +turn, clinging to his aggressor's cloak, they rolled headlong on to a +great floe of ice, and were presently engulfed with the thousands the +insatiable waters already had claimed. Who in the face of such scenes +would have advised a woman and an old man to dare the transit? Not I, +in truth, whatever the cost. +</P> + +<P> +The miseries of our own situation will now be perceived by all. We had +refrained from crossing upon a quixotic impulse, and it seemed that our +sacrifice had cost us our liberty if not our lives. Hour by hour the +Cossacks were drawing nearer, their fire becoming more terrible and +their hosts more plainly to be seen. Night must find them down upon +us, or we ourselves but units amidst the maddened people who fought +like wild beasts for a foothold on the bridge. Even old Monsieur +d'Izambert began to perceive the folly of it as the day waxed and +waned, and vainly he waited for the son who did not return. +</P> + +<P> +"We should have crossed," he said; "Gabriel must have gone with the +Emperor." +</P> + +<P> +So much I believed to be the truth until about the hour of five +o'clock, when to our great astonishment the young <I>pontonnier</I> himself +appeared at the hut, and carried that dire intelligence which was all +that was needed to consummate our despair. +</P> + +<P> +"I am to blow up the bridge," he said. "It is by the Emperor's orders. +We must save the army; the others must perish." +</P> + +<P> +We did not answer him. To such had our mistaken folly led us. It was +death or the Russian prison indeed; there could be no alternative. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VI +</H4> + +<P> +You will see the nature of the difficulty which now confronted us. +</P> + +<P> +It was almost certain death to venture upon the bridge; the alternative +meant that we faced the Cossacks and accepted grace at their hands. +</P> + +<P> +To myself, an old soldier who had served His Majesty so many years, it +mattered little now what befell me. So much had I suffered, so bitter +had been the days, that any shelter—even that of a prison, in which I +could eat and sleep—would have been a welcome harbourage from this +march of death. +</P> + +<P> +But for Valerie St. Antoine, she who had carried herself so bravely +during the terrible weeks, she who had served France with such valour +and loyalty—that she should become the prisoner and the victim of +these devils, was indeed the last calamity. What to say to her in the +face of the Emperor's order I knew not. The bridge must be destroyed +to save His Majesty. Would she deny the necessity of that? +</P> + +<P> +These thoughts were in my mind when I took her aside and questioned her +as to the course we should pursue. To my astonishment I found that she +herself had already debated the question, and that her mind was made up. +</P> + +<P> +"We must swim the river, Monsieur Constant," she said; "you and I. Let +Joan go with us. Monsieur d'Izambert will not leave his son. I do not +blame him, but now we must think of ourselves." +</P> + +<P> +It was a bold response, and yet I will not say that I had not thought +of it. +</P> + +<P> +From time to time during the hours of the day's agony I had seen +intrepid cavalry men go down to the swirling Bérézina, and boldly put +their horses to the water. Few who did so had lived. Some were struck +by Russian bullets, and died in the saddle. The horses of others, +overcome by the cold, sank without warning, and dragged their masters +with them. A few gained the marsh upon the opposite shore, and either +breasted it or ended their sufferings there. All this we had witnessed +together, and yet, as Valerie said, it was the only way—the river or +the prison! Do you wonder that our choice was soon made? +</P> + +<P> +We returned to the hut, and, taking Monsieur d'Izambert aside, I put +the alternatives to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Your son," said I, "is a very noble fellow. Be sure, monsieur, that +his name will not be forgotten when the story of this day is told. The +command which has been given him is a very great compliment. No doubt +he will be clever enough to save himself when he has done his duty; but +we must now save ourselves. It would be a madman's task to attempt to +cross the bridge at such a time. There is only one way, and it is that +which Mademoiselle Valerie and I propose to take." +</P> + +<P> +And then I told him of our intention to swim the river. +</P> + +<P> +"Your daughter," said I, "may go upon my saddle-bow. If you yourself +have a mind for the venture, I will find you a horse quickly enough. +The decision must rest with you. We have no time to lose, for the +river is rising every hour. If you decide to remain here, being a +civilian and a non-combatant, I doubt if the Russians will trouble you. +That, monsieur, is for you to say. I will save your daughter if I can; +the rest is in the hands of God." +</P> + +<P> +He was much distressed, but he did not fail to perceive the realities +of the situation. His love for his son touched me deeply, and when he +declared that he would remain with Gabriel, I could not gainsay him. +</P> + +<P> +"Save Joan," he said, putting both his hands into mine. "If the time +should ever come that we meet again in Paris, I will never forget this +day, Major Constant. I am an old man, and it can matter little to me +now—but the child has all her life before her." +</P> + +<P> +I thought it a wise resolution, and told him as much. +</P> + +<P> +"We will wait for you on the other side," said I, though in my heart I +doubted it I should ever see him there. Then, bidding him be of good +courage, and taking a cordial farewell of his son, I set out +immediately. +</P> + +<P> +Valerie awaited me on the brink of the river. Her black charger +appeared to be as fresh as though he had left his stable at Moscow but +yesterday; her uniform of hussars was as trim and well kept as any good +soldier might have desired. As for little Joan, the tale we had told +her was one which a child would not question. We were to carry her +across the river, and her father and brother would follow presently in +the baggage wagons. She believed us with a child's faith, and, being +drawn up upon the saddle before me, she asked when we would cross the +bridge. Then I told her the truth. +</P> + +<P> +"You see for yourself," said I, "what a dreadful place the bridge now +is. We are going to swim the river, ma petite, and in that way we +shall cheat the Russians. Now, cling to me with both your arms, and do +not mind what happens. Why should you be afraid?" +</P> + +<P> +She told me very proudly that she was not, and, calling to Valerie, I +put my horse at the water. +</P> + +<P> +The place might have been some twenty yards from the first pontoon, and +for awhile the good beast which carried me found ground for his feet. +In those moments I could see how wise we had been to prefer the hazard +of the water to that of the bridge. Such a scene as was then taking +place upon that frail structure has surely never been witnessed in all +the story of His Majesty's wars. +</P> + +<P> +Pell-mell upon it went wagons and cannon and the terrified +camp-followers. Horsemen cut their way as though sabreing an enemy; +women screamed with terror; the strong were dragged down with the weak; +men trampled one another under foot without a thought of mercy. The +number of the dead and dying no man might estimate, and over these the +living crawled as they could, the Russian shells falling ceaselessly +amidst them, and the deadly bullets finding many a billet. +</P> + +<P> +All this I beheld as in some swift vision of horror, from which the +eyes turned almost with gratitude to the fetid waters about me. The +swirling torrent, the crashing of the ice-floes, the bobbing corpses +everywhere but fostered that pursuit of safety which now grew upon me +as a fever. I must win the opposite shore, I said, or all were lost. +Let me but set foot upon those black slopes which were the goal of my +desire and all were won by this supreme endeavour. It was easy to be +said, but how remote the hope of it! +</P> + +<P> +I should tell you that the darkness had now come down, and with it a +return of the bitter cold. +</P> + +<P> +I had caught the child up with my left arm, and, giving the good horse +his head, I felt the water strike me suddenly with a deadly chill, and +heard Joan's shrill cry of horror as at length the current caught us +and we were swept away into the vortex of the river. +</P> + +<P> +Now, indeed, we stood face to face with Death and felt his icy hand +upon us. +</P> + +<P> +The screams of the dying upon the bridge, the thunder of the cannon, +the moaning of the bullets—all were lesser sounds than that of the +crashing ice and the roaring torrent as it threatened to engulf us. +What had become of Valerie St. Antoine I knew not. It seemed to me +that I had been carried in an instant from human enemies to wage a +combat with Nature omnipotent, before which I must perish. The chill +of the water, the freezing wind, the sleet which beat upon my face were +the weapons with which this pitiless enemy would have conquered me. +Nothing but the instincts of the gallant brute stood between me and the +watery grave so many had found. On he pressed and on, fighting as a +human thing for the life no less precious to him than to us. I saw +dead men's eyes looking up at me from the black torrent; human arms, +outstretched but lifeless, touched my flesh and set the child shrieking +with terror. The shells fell about us and the foam was as a blinding +fountain in our eyes. Yet ever the coveted shore seemed more distant, +the sounds of human strife yet farther away, the world gone clean from +our knowledge. It is here, then, said I to myself, that Janil de +Constant must die. God knows that I would have welcomed death if it +could have come quickly. +</P> + +<P> +Such were the episodes of that fateful crossing, through which the +mercy of the Almighty alone brought us safely. +</P> + +<P> +I had given up all hope, when a sudden staggering of the horse, a cry +from Joan, and another shout of triumph from the bank itself bade me +look up and understand the wonder of the moment. We had touched the +shore—that shore of all our dreams, and found a footing there. +Valerie herself, the water running from her boots, but her eyes +triumphant and her arms outstretched, welcomed us with a woman's +laughter and claimed the victory. +</P> + +<P> +We had crossed the Bérézina! The horrors of the bridge were done with +for ever; we were amid our comrades, and yonder beyond the forgotten +leagues stood Paris and our homes. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VII +</H4> + +<P> +We crossed the bog with safety and reached the first of the low hills +on the hither shore. Hardly had we done so when a loud explosion shook +the very earth and caused us to wheel about suddenly. Then we saw the +bridge fall asunder, and knew that the thousands upon the far bank were +doomed to death or the prison. Such a cry as arose from our comrades +yonder has never been heard, nor will be again, I believe, in all the +story of the world. It was the voice of the ultimate woe of those who, +hoping much, now ceased to hope, and fearing, now feared the more. +Many have accused the Emperor of wanton cruelty because of what he did +on that November night. Yet we, who served France, believed that he +had done well, and we would have laid down our lives for him as readily +had the honour of our country demanded it. +</P> + +<P> +Naturally, we said nothing to Joan of the meaning of this tragic event. +Assuring her that Gabriel and her father would join us at dawn, we rode +on to the first of the bivouacs, where, happily, we found a squadron of +the fusiliers, under Colonel Bourgoriau, well known to me, and by him +were instantly made welcome. The Emperor, he told us, was camped at a +farmhouse not a quarter of a mile from where we stood. His Majesty was +cold and suffering, and they had sent wood for his fires, badly as they +needed it themselves. +</P> + +<P> +Here I left Valerie and the child, and, returning to the remnant of the +bridge, I waited to see if any might yet be saved. Alas! the stranded +pontoons showed me but a heap of dying and dead, and some of them were +in flames. It may have been the mere fancy of a man whose courage had +been sorely tried that day, but amongst those whom the swirling river +carried away, and upon whose faces the leaping fires cast a golden +aureole, I thought that I saw Gabriel the brave and the father who had +loved him. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE LAST REVIEW +</H4> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H4> + +<P> +The loss of the Grand Army at the River Bérézina will never be fully +told. +</P> + +<P> +All the world knows now that more than twelve thousand corpses were +taken from the river when the ice melted in the spring; but this is to +give no account of the many who were butchered by the Cossacks, and of +the thousands of unhappy men, and women too, who went into the Russian +prisons when the last of the bridges was blown up. +</P> + +<P> +We were a mere remnant that got away in safety. +</P> + +<P> +I have heard the number variously estimated, but in my own opinion no +more than thirty thousand of those who marched to Moscow so proudly +struggled on towards Kovno when the battle of the Bérézina had been +fought. +</P> + +<P> +At this time, too, we were so many hordes of miserable men rather than +an army. Many lost the road and wandered for weeks in the frozen +wilderness. Hardly a regiment preserved anything of its original +formation; those that did so were inspired by loyalty to His Majesty +the Emperor. When he left us at Smorgoni on the morning of December +5th and entrusted the command to Murat all order was finally done with. +The Cossacks pursued us as sheep are hunted by wolves. We struggled +into Vilna to find the town plundered. The mighty host which had set +out to conquer Russia now rotted beneath the snows of the steppes we +had crossed. +</P> + +<P> +It was every man for himself afterwards, as you can well imagine. We +made up little companies of friends and went together in the fashion of +the East. Naturally, Valerie St. Antoine was of my own party; and with +the child Joan and my own nephew Léon we had Sergeant Bardot, who had +been with us in the adventure at Moscow. I have told you of the +sergeant's adroitness, and we found him invaluable these later days. +Where others starved he would plunder. From a brawl at Vilna, when the +stores were rifled, Gustav Bardot emerged with as many bottles of +brandy as would have made a regiment drunk, and a supply of flour under +which our horses staggered. With this we set out almost gaily upon our +journey to the Prussian frontier. France seemed near to us now, though +so many hundreds of leagues away. +</P> + +<P> +To be sure we lost the road frequently enough, and were yet to meet +with some surprising adventures. It is of one of the most curious of +these that I am now about to write. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H4> + +<P> +It was the second day after our leaving Kovno. +</P> + +<P> +We had slept in a stable in that unhappy town and there had fallen in +with Sergeant Bardot and his plunder. +</P> + +<P> +I remember that it was a dreadful night, the roar of the wind almost +drowning the sound of the distant artillery, which we believed to be +fired at our rearguard by the Russians. It has been said since that +day that Marshal Ney himself fired the guns to drive the stragglers +into the town. I cannot tell you how it was, but I know that we all +suffered very much, especially the child Joan, who mourned ceaselessly +for her father and her brother. +</P> + +<P> +Next morning we set out for the bridge across the Niemen. It was +almost as great a press as that at the Bérézina. Happily, the Cossacks +had not yet come up, and we got across at length to find an open +country where there were few signs of an army marching. +</P> + +<P> +Very shortly afterwards we lost all track of the vanguard, and were +mere stragglers with a few others upon a great white plain which the +wind swept pitilessly. That night we bivouacked in the barn of an +ancient farmhouse which marauders had burned. It was there that we +determined to go our own way henceforth and not to rejoin the regiment +until we came to Elbing. +</P> + +<P> +"Why should we?" old Bardot asked in his matter-of-fact way. "There +will be no fighting, my friends; and if there be, the marshal will take +care of those fellows. No one expects the Cossacks to cross the +Niemen, and if they are wise they will now go back to their own +country. We have food enough for some days and our horses are good. +Let us make a caravan as the Easterns do, and leave the rest to +Providence." +</P> + +<P> +This was very sensible advice, and it fell upon willing ears. We were +a genial company, and if my nephew spent most of his hours in close +converse with Valerie St. Antoine, at least I had the benefit of the +sergeant's company. As for little Joan, she rarely spoke to anyone; +or, if she did, it was to raise again that fatal question of her +father's whereabouts. For all these reasons I deemed it wise to do as +Bardot directed, and to seek a route of our own. We should find the +remnant of the army at Elbing; it would be time enough to think of +re-formation when we arrived there. +</P> + +<P> +So behold us crossing those fearsome steppes, Valerie and Léon for our +van, the sergeant and myself, with the child between us, talking of a +thousand things which were to be done if ever we saw the city of Paris +again. We had come by this time to believe that we should do so, and +despite the sufferings which we endured our courage remained unshaken. +Alas! that it was so soon to be put to the proof. We were hopelessly +lost upon the evening of the third day, and knew no more than the dead +whether we were marching to Elbing or to the sea. +</P> + +<P> +Remember that the heaven above us had been perpetually obscured by +cloud and that the night showed us no stars. The plain in itself was a +vast sea of snow, broken rarely by clumps or pines and hardly showing +us a house which had not been burned by the army on its outward march. +From time to time, it is true, we espied little companies of stragglers +in the far distance, or groups of horsemen poised upon a knoll; but of +the high road we saw nothing, and gradually it began to dawn upon us +that even Bardot's store was not inexhaustible, and that we must surely +perish in this wild place unless we recovered the high road speedily. +</P> + +<P> +We slept that night in a dismal wood, listening to the howling of the +wolves and but ill-protected by the snow-pit we had digged. The others +were merry enough save little Joan, whose strength could not support +these hardships and for whose safety we were all tenderly solicitous. +Fortunately, we had more than one great-coat of fur with us, and we +made the child a bed in the snow as well as we could, and then fell to +talking of our position. +</P> + +<P> +Old Bardot's plan clearly had broken down, and it remained to find +another. Should we waste the precious hours trudging northward on the +chance that the high road lay there, or should we hold our course and +risk the discovery of a town or village in our path? Bardot was for +the latter plan; Valerie for the former. +</P> + +<P> +"I have friends in Elbing," she said. "Prince Nicholas visited the +city frequently, and if we ever reach the town I am sure they will +welcome me. We cannot do wrong to go to the north, for the sea will +soon tell us where we are. Here it is a wilderness where none but +madmen would remain." +</P> + +<P> +She looked at the sergeant as she spoke; and, in truth, there never had +been much love lost between those two. His defence of himself was lame +but valiant. +</P> + +<P> +"We should have been pillaged upon the high road," he said truculently. +"It was wiser to do as we have done." +</P> + +<P> +Her answer was that we had now nothing to pillage. The argument +threatened to grow heated when, to our great surprise, we heard the +barking of a watch-dog, and, all springing to our feet, we discovered +that the sound came from the far side of the wood and that a human +habitation must be there. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H4> + +<P> +Ten minutes later we were knocking at its door. It proved to be a +little farmhouse kept by Poles—a widow and two sons—and they were +greatly alarmed when we waked them. Our civilities presently obtained +admittance, and we found ourselves in a long, low room with a wood fire +burning brightly, and about it some evidence of an unexpected +prosperity. Fine skins decorated the walls of this mean habitation. +There were guns in the corner by the chimney, and among them some +French weapons obviously taken from our own soldiers. A handsome +drinking cup in silver stood upon a shelf which harboured good china; +while a little shrine with candles denoted that the people were of the +Catholic faith. +</P> + +<P> +I thought them all strikingly handsome; the lads were dark, with +intelligent eyes; the old woman looked a picture of almost saintly +sweetness and benignity. With Valerie she was at home directly, and it +was good to see the conquest which the French beauty made so quickly. +</P> + +<P> +The result of this was immediate. We had not been in the farm ten +minutes when the table was spread with viands and a bottle of French +brandy set before us. Of the sons, one waited upon us and the other +went out, as the old woman said, to cut wood. I thought it a little +odd that he remained away so long, but the circumstance escaped my +notice presently when rugs were spread upon the floor and our beds made +ready. +</P> + +<P> +So weary were we all that we lay down upon the floor without any +ceremony, and the last I remember before going to sleep were the +whispers of Valerie and my nephew, who, I doubt not, were telling each +other an ancient story. When I awoke a light sound in the room +disturbed me. I sat up and looked about me, bewildered by the +flickering rays of the ebbing fire and uncertain for the moment where I +was. +</P> + +<P> +We all experience this in strange places, but a soldier usually is not +at a loss. Upon this occasion, whether it were the unusual aspect of +the room, the circumstances of our bivouac, or the treacherous +firelight, I cannot tell you, but moments passed before I remembered +our coming to the house at all. +</P> + +<P> +To this there succeeded a sense of alarm and of a peril I could not +define. I thought that I was in a prison, and the Cossacks were my +jailers. The fitful light upon the floor showed red and ghastly, and +suggested the blood of dead comrades. I started up, pressing my hands +to my eyes and prepared for any ignominy, when, as in a flash, the +whole scene was recalled, and I remembered both the room and the Poles. +At the same instant the fire, leaping into flame, showed me the figure +of Valerie, and I could have sworn that she was about to quit the +apartment. This was not so. She made a sign to me, and I perceived +immediately that it was one which warned me to be silent. +</P> + +<P> +Naturally, all this astonished me very much, for I had expected to find +her fast asleep. And yet here she was, sword in hand, standing by the +door as though an enemy had knocked upon it. Stepping over the +sleeping figures of Bardot and my nephew, I asked her in a whisper what +had happened. +</P> + +<P> +"The Pole has not returned," she said. "I heard a sound of footsteps +on the snow—many of them. We must lock the door; there is danger." +</P> + +<P> +With this she swung over the great bar of iron, and it fell softly into +its place. If I had any doubt of the wisdom of what she did, a quick +glance about the apartment would have set it at rest. Neither the old +woman herself nor the younger son were where they had been last night. +Moreover, a sound of footsteps was now audible beyond all question. It +was evident that the house was surrounded and that these cunning people +had betrayed us. +</P> + +<P> +A kick from my foot woke old Bardot, and Léon started up directly the +sergeant moved. The briefest words told them what had happened; and, +still yawning, they stretched out their hands and felt in the straw for +their swords. Our muskets had been piled up in the corner with those +of the young men, but it was soon apparent that they had been pillaged +while we slept, for a purpose we could readily imagine. We had only +the pistols, of which no occasion robbed us, and our first care was to +prime them before going to the window. It was well that we did so. +Hardly had Bardot thrown open the casement when bullets hailed into the +room, and the china came crashing down like slates from a penthouse +when the wind is high. This was a pretty business, to be sure—the +last kind of welcome we had expected when we fell asleep by the fire. +</P> + +<P> +"To the door!" cried I, as the shots rang out. We all were down on our +marrow bones in a twinkling, protected by the great wooden doors and +the bolt we had drawn. It was plain to me that no bullet would pierce +the wood of the door, and that those who were after us must come in by +the windows. The greater mystery remained—who were the bandits who +attacked us in this headlong way, and what was their number? That they +were not Cossacks I felt sure, for soldiers would have known how to +take us in our sleep, and the rest had been easy. Were they the +wretched moujiks, so many of whom armed themselves against the wounded +of the Grand Army when it fled from Russia? Or were they the real +bandits of the steppes? We answered the question when a bearded +brigand, waving a gardener's hoe, appeared at the window and slashed at +us with the gleaming steel. This man I shot dead directly he showed +his face. It was evident that he was but a peasant after all, and that +we had his fellows to deal with. +</P> + +<P> +I say that I shot him dead; but the respite was brief enough. No +sooner had the man fallen than his place was taken by others, all armed +with the most barbarous weapons, but no less zealous for our blood. +Under any other circumstance the scene must have been droll enough. +Here were we four with our backs to the great door, the latticed +windows, by which the assassins tried to enter, upon either side of us. +Frightened by the death of their comrade, they now resorted to a +primitive attempt to harpoon us, as though we had been so many fish in +a sea. It was ridiculous to watch the hairy arms thrust in at the +window, while scythes or pikes or bayonets on sticks were turned +menacingly toward us and their owners bayed like dogs after quarry. +</P> + +<P> +Happily, our position enabled us to treat this puny assault with +derision. We were beyond the reach of their harpoons, and we neglected +no opportunity to retaliate. More than one of the assassins lost his +hand or his arm by a swift cut from the swords we knew so well how to +use. This was satisfactory enough, but it carried us nowhere, and +behind it all there lay the real apprehension that these monsters would +force the window presently and butcher us as though we had been sheep. +Hundreds of our comrades had so perished since we left Krasnoë. Wild +creatures, more like gorillas than men, had come out of the woods with +their scythes roped to sticks and had slashed and maimed the wounded +without grace or pity. And here we were dealing with the same kind of +villains, but, happily, neither wounded nor frightened by them. If any +secret anxiety had accompanied the first moments of this amazing +encounter, it was for little Joan d'Izambert, who still lay upon the +far side of the room and had been forbidden by me to join us. I saw +that the heavy table protected her from bullets, and bidding her lie +still, I turned my attention to the window. It was time truly. +Someone had now pushed a musket through the casement, and, aiming at +hazard, the roar of the discharge shook everything in the apartment. +This was the turn we had not anticipated. It needed all our wits now +to slash at the barrels as they were poised by unseen hands, and +nothing but the greatest agility saved our lives at such a crisis. +</P> + +<P> +This was all very well, but you will soon see that it could not +continue. Four of us there were to slash at the guns, but many outside +to direct them; and presently my poor friend Bardot uttered a low cry +and fell in the straw at my side. +</P> + +<P> +"I am done for," said he, and instantly he fainted. +</P> + +<P> +The success redoubled the fury of those without. Heads were seen at +the window again; there was a new and more savage onslaught with the +pikes; the door itself began to tremble under the thud of axes. I +believed then that we were done for, and I am sure that the others were +of my opinion. Let the door fall, and we should be cut to pieces. No +hope of plunder animated these savages, but that insensate hatred of +the invader by which our poor fellows had suffered so much already. +They lusted for our blood, and that alone would satisfy them. +</P> + +<P> +Surely this was a very terrible moment. The blows of the axes seemed +to number the moments we had to live. Convinced now that they would +not get us by the windows, but that the door must be forced, the +wretches had drawn off and concentrated all their fury upon these +ancient beams. Happily for us, the man who built the house was himself +a child of the wilderness, and his life, no less than ours, may have +depended many a time upon the stoutness of his portals. The door +withstood the attack, though the very walls shook with the fury of it. +We could do nothing but crouch there and wait, hope almost dead, the +promise of the day but a mockery. When to this we heard a cry of +"Fire!"—for that was a word every French soldier had learned in +Moscow—then we understood and believed that it was the end. They were +going to burn us out. The cries of the old woman whose house they +would have fired moved them not at all. "Fire!" they yelled; and we +could hear them running hither and thither—a savage horde mad in its +lust for blood. +</P> + +<P> +We had uttered few words until this time; and, as for that, a man could +hardly have heard himself speak in the room. Now, however, we knew an +instant of respite, and it was then that Valerie proposed that we +should open the doors. +</P> + +<P> +"Anything is better than this," she said. "Courage may find the +horses—who knows?" +</P> + +<P> +The suggestion was wise, and I fell in with it readily. +</P> + +<P> +"Let Léon go first and do you follow him," said I. "The child shall +come with me." +</P> + +<P> +And at that I stooped over my poor Bardot and perceived that he was +indeed dead. The prospect of dying out there in the open was less +horrible than that of being cooped up in this miserable house, which +presently must become a furnace; and who could say what these wretches +might do or not do when confronted by soldiers of the Guard? The +resolution hardly was taken when we lifted the bolt and threw the great +doors wide open. "En avant!" cries Léon, rushing out with his sword +flashing. Then he laughed drolly. Not a moujik was to be seen; not a +voice to be heard. A sound of approaching sleigh bells alone broke in +upon the silence of the night. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IV +</H4> + +<P> +Well, we all stood there to listen—our swords in our hands, our ears +bent. A miracle had happened, and our enemies were fled. None of us, +if it were not the child, understood the reality of the peril we had +escaped, or surrendered to that revulsion of feeling natural to the +circumstance. Little Joan, however, shed childish tears and was upon +her knees giving thanks in an instant. The rest of us looked at her +somewhat ashamed; our faith remained shaken. Beyond that, old Bardot +was dead. I think we remembered the fact even when our own delivery +tempted us to rejoice. +</P> + +<P> +But was it delivery? +</P> + +<P> +I have told you that the sound of twinkling sleigh-bells arrested our +attention. Minute by minute they grew louder; we heard the thud of +hoofs upon the snow, and presently we discerned a troop of horsemen +approaching at a trot, and amidst them a sleigh of unusual size drawn +by no fewer than four horses abreast. This unexpected company made +straight for the house, and drew rein only at its door. Who they were, +or what country, whether friend or enemies, the wan light forbade us to +say. Their master evidently rode in the sleigh, and no sooner had it +pulled up than he sprang out upon the snow and in a twinkling was +doffing his hat to Valerie St. Antoine. Such a merry old gentleman I +had not met in Russia. Verily he did not cease to smile from the +moment his troop first surrounded us until that other moment, less +pleasing, when we were trussed like fowls and thrust headlong into +other sleighs which followed in his wake. +</P> + +<P> +Surely this was the most surprising adventure we had yet experienced in +Russia. +</P> + +<P> +Here was a merry old gentleman who knew nothing of us, but whose mere +presence had scattered the moujiks like chaff; here was he riding up to +the wretched house; clapping eyes upon Valerie and the child; hustling +them headlong into his own sleigh; nodding to his troopers to fall upon +us and carrying us away as though we were so many sheep for the block. +Never have I known such a surprise. I could have laughed aloud at the +irony of it when my nephew and I found ourselves upon our backs in a +wretched coracle and heard the crack of the whips which hurried us on +to a Russian prison. Assuredly there could be no other destination. +We admitted as much to each other without any preface at all. +</P> + +<P> +"They will be the Polish lancers from Orcha," said Léon. "I suppose +the old man is one of their princes. Devilish unlucky, upon my word, +mon oncle; we had done better with the peasants." +</P> + +<P> +I told him that it was possible. The same thought was in both our +minds. What of Valerie and the child? That the old man had been +bewitched by Valerie's beauty there was no doubt whatever. Every +gesture, every look marked him as a libertine from the moment when he +first clapped eyes upon her until he had dragged her into his sledge +and the horses had gone off at a gallop. Léon knew this as well as I, +and his anger was a dreadful thing to see. +</P> + +<P> +"I will shoot him like a dog, so help me God!" he said. And he +strained with the strength of an ox to burst the ropes which bound him. +</P> + +<P> +He might as well have tried to break a tree asunder. We were bound +hand and foot, as though we had been the meanest of criminals. Our +escort was a troop of some eighty men armed with lances and muskets, +and plainly showing that they had their orders. There remained but the +idle speculation upon that which must come after. Would this old man +butcher us, fearing our tongues, or would he hand us over to the +Cossacks at the first station we came to? We could not tell; the +humiliation of our defeat was beyond all words insupportable, and our +wrists bled with our efforts to free them. Valerie was in this man's +power, and she had but us to look to. I could not have suffered more +had my own sister's honour been at stake. +</P> + +<P> +"The opportunity is not here," said I to Léon; "but it may come. Words +will not help us. Take my advice and feign submission; it is better +than being butchered. We shall not help Valerie that way. Let us +remember what we have to do, and not act like children." +</P> + +<P> +His answer was a frenzied outburst of rage which appalled me. So loud +was it that the escort derided him, and the driver slashed back at him +with his whip. When it had passed I perceived the old Léon, whose wit +was quick even under such an emergency. He lay back upon the boards of +the sleigh and feigned sleep. +</P> + +<P> +Day was breaking then, and a dim sun seeking to shine. The country +itself was the same God-forsaken wilderness that we had trod these many +days. No man at the heart of the ocean could have discerned an horizon +more hopeless. Everywhere the snow and the whitened pines and the +ultimate desolation. Man seemed to have fled the wretched farms we +passed. Once upon the horizon we saw a troop of horsemen, but they +disappeared from our view immediately. It was not until nightfall +approached that we came without warning upon an unspeakable village, +and this grim procession halted. +</P> + +<P> +Here we saw the merry old gentleman's sleigh again, but it was now +empty and obviously being driven to a stable. We ourselves, lifted by +brawny arms, were hurled headlong into the cellar of a filthy inn, and +there unbound and left for many hours in darkness. When the door next +was opened the sergeant of the troop appeared carrying a lantern and a +mess of mutton and potatoes. To our astonishment he greeted us in the +German tongue, and seemed to have come upon a mission of +reconciliation. Speaking in his master's name he apologised for what +had happened to us. +</P> + +<P> +"His Excellency regrets that you have been treated with so little +ceremony," he said; "but, meine Herren, he has suffered much at the +hands of your countrymen, and is in no mood for civilities. You were +lucky to find him in a good humour. Give me your parole that you will +make no attempt to escape, and he will carry you to Elbing and leave it +with the general in command there to say what shall be done with you. +Otherwise, I fear that you will not go to Elbing at all." And he +looked at us as one who shall say, "In that case he will deal with you +here and now." +</P> + +<P> +"As his Excellency pleases," said I. "If he prefers the Russians at +Elbing to settle this affair, we are in his hands. But let him know +that I am a surgeon upon His Majesty's staff, and that my nephew here +is of the Guard. I think your master will be wise to remember that +when the time comes." +</P> + +<P> +The fellow said that our message should be delivered, and leaving the +light with us, he withdrew and bolted the trap of the cellar behind +him. His intimation that we were to go to Elbing seemed odd, and I +could make little of it, nor Léon for that matter. +</P> + +<P> +"With any luck we should find the marshal and the rear-guard there," +said I. "On the other hand, if there has been an action and the +Russians have taken Elbing, God help us. The old man must have heard +something of the kind, or he would never be going there. What do you +make of it, nephew? Was I wise to give him the parole, or should we +have held our tongues?" +</P> + +<P> +Léon was altogether at a loss. +</P> + +<P> +"I am thinking of Valerie," said he. "Good God, what a thing to +happen! All this would have been very different if we had remained +with the army, mon oncle. Undoubtedly there has been a battle and +Marshal Ney has been beaten. We shall find the Cossacks in Elbing, and +God help us, as you say!" +</P> + +<P> +Then he added very solemnly, "There is only one thing to hope, that I +may yet meet this merry old gentleman. Let him look to himself if I +do, for by the God above me I will kill him like a sheep." +</P> + +<P> +The woman dictated his frenzy, and who could wonder? For myself, I had +an extraordinary confidence in the wit of Valerie St. Antoine and was +ready to match it against that of any old dotard in Russia. At the +same time it was impossible to forget her situation—here in this +cursed wilderness, alone amid a troop of savages and with no prospect +at the far end of it but that of an unnameable submission. Naturally I +said nothing of this to my nephew, nor encouraged his wild notion that +we might escape from the cellar. They had caught us in the trap, and +nothing but a miracle could get us out. Beyond that we had given our +paroles, and well done or ill, the attempt to break them at such an +hour would have been madness. So we slept upon it, and were awakened +at dawn to be told that the sledges were ready. +</P> + +<P> +We found a fine sunny morning and a dingy street full of gaping +moujiks. Of the merry old gentleman, however, we heard nothing; nor +had we any word from Valerie or the child. Our own escort was as it +had been yesterday, a troop of Lithuanians well clad and armed, and +apparently immune to the severities of the weather. Satisfied with our +parole, they indicated our places in the sledge and made no attempt to +bind us, and presently we all set out with a rattle of accoutrements +and a tinkle of bells which would have been pleasant music had the +circumstances permitted. +</P> + +<P> +Soon it was plain that we were not very distant from the sea, and we +travelled all that day towards the south-east as I judged. When night +fell the spires of Elbing came to view upon the horizon, and a little +after dusk we drew near to the city. +</P> + +<P> +"And now," said I to Léon, "we shall know." +</P> + +<P> +I did not add that it seemed a thousand chances to one against any hope +of our ever seeing the French frontier again. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +V +</H4> + +<P> +It was nearly ten o'clock at night when we entered the city. There +were few people in its streets, and save some German hussars and a +troop of dragoons, whose uniform was unknown to me, I saw no troops. +The hope that the remnant of the Grand Army had marched in was, +therefore, shattered. +</P> + +<P> +It may have been that we had come after our comrades had left. This +was a very unpleasant supposition, which I feared to speak of, though +Léon was quick to remember it. +</P> + +<P> +"The fellows appear to have been speaking the truth," said he gloomily, +as he looked at the silent house and wondered, I doubt not, which of +them sheltered Valerie. "The marshal has been beaten, and we shall see +no more Frenchmen in Elbing, mon oncle. What then? What are they +going to do with us?" +</P> + +<P> +I confessed my inability to answer. The Poles were our allies, and it +was inconceivable that we should suffer a mischief at their hands. +Nevertheless, these were strange times, and God knows how little any +man could be relied upon where French soldiers were concerned. If we +had not misjudged the merry old gentleman our presence in Elbing could +not but be inconvenient to him. I perceived this immediately, though I +forbore to speak of it. +</P> + +<P> +"We must carry it with a high hand," said I; "nothing will be done here +by submission. Remember that we are of His Majesty's Guard, and let us +take insults from no man quietly." +</P> + +<P> +Léon smiled in his old way. +</P> + +<P> +"To do you justice, mon oncle," said he, "that is not your habit." +</P> + +<P> +The words were hardly spoken when the sledge stopped, and looking up, I +saw the gates of the prison frowning upon us. So this was our merry +friend's hospitality! Even my nephew perceived the drift of it now. +</P> + +<P> +"The old rascal will trump up some charge against us and keep us out of +the way," said he. "By God, mon oncle, this is too much! Parole or no +parole, I mean to make a run for it." +</P> + +<P> +I dissuaded him, pointing out the folly of it in the presence of the +escort. +</P> + +<P> +"Do not give them the satisfaction of shooting you," said I. "We have +money with us, and will make ourselves heard. This is neither the +place nor the time." +</P> + +<P> +And so saying, I stepped out of the sledge and followed the captain of +the hussars into the courtyard of the prison. Truly was it a +remarkable predicament for two of the Guard to be in. +</P> + +<P> +This scene will always remain in my memory. Even to-day I can recall +every detail of it, the square courtyard, the guard-room upon the +left-hand side, the inner gate with its portcullis and the gloomy +buildings of the prison beyond. The astonishing thing was that we +seemed to be expected, and all preparations were made to receive us. +No sooner were we brought in and the gates shut than they conducted us +to the guard-room and there brought us before a young captain of the +garrison, who immediately made known the alleged reason of our arrest. +</P> + +<P> +"You are accused of rendering help to the Emperor's enemies and of +robbing French soldiers in this vicinity," said he. "The information +is laid by Herrn Immo von Gustorf, the prefect of this city. The court +will try you as soon as it can be constituted. Meanwhile I am to hold +you here, as prisoners." +</P> + +<P> +It was an amazing declaration, and even the young man seemed surprised +when he looked at us. A soldier does not require to be told that +another is of the same profession, and the young captain must already +have perceived our condition. When upon this came my heated protest, +and Léon's fiery threats, I could see that suspicion gave place to an +apprehension which was very real. +</P> + +<P> +"Herr Captain," said I, "your charge is preposterous. We wear His +Majesty's uniform, and such crimes as you name are beneath us. Let me +warn you very seriously of the consequences of that which you are about +to do. His Majesty is careful of the reputation of his Guard, and he +will know how to deal with such an outrage as this." +</P> + +<P> +The threat moved him not at all. He declared that he but did his duty. +</P> + +<P> +"If you are innocent, gentlemen," said he, "you can prove it to the +court. My duty is to keep you here until you are tried. I may say, +however, that if I can be of service to you in other ways, you have +only to command me. This is not a house of hospitalities, but such as +I can procure shall be offered to you." +</P> + +<P> +To this I answered civilly that we were very much obliged to him, and +bidding Léon hold his tongue, I said that we should remember any +service of the kind when the French rode in—upon which I looked at him +closely to see what he would make of it. When he did not contradict +me, then I knew that the story of Marshal Ney's defeat was a lie, and +for the first time since we had met the merry old gentleman I began to +hope. +</P> + +<P> +The young captain, meanwhile, had caught up a lantern and set out to +cross the yard. We followed him to a tower on the eastern side, where +in a considerable apartment upon the first floor he told us that we +must be prepared to spend the night. +</P> + +<P> +"I will send you what supper I can," said he. "Food is not readily to +be had in Elbing; there has been no bread for three days. None the +less, I will do what I can, messieurs." And setting the lantern upon +the table, he commanded the sergeant to have beds made ready for us. +</P> + +<P> +When he was gone and the door bolted, we began to examine the apartment +with the eager eyes of men who did not submit to adversity readily. +Would our wits get us out of this cursed hole, or must we suffer the +tragic farce to the end? Alas, it was soon evident that any hope of +escape was out of the question. Not only were the windows grilled +heavily with iron, but they looked upon a moat, whose further wall must +have been thirty feet high, while beyond it stood a rampart patrolled +by sentries. The door itself should have withstood artillery. We +could dare nothing here, and we sat down in the dim light to remember +that Valerie St. Antoine and Joan d'Izambert were still the "guests" of +the villain who had entrapped us. +</P> + +<P> +"There is only one chance," says Léon; "we are lost if the army does +not come in." +</P> + +<P> +I knew it to be true; but even if it were so, what then? Would our +comrades learn of our pitiable condition? I could hardly believe it, +and my heart sank low. Odd that we had marched so many thousands of +leagues and had lived through the terrible days to come to such a +judgment as this. +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +VI +</P> + +<P> +They brought us a supper of mutton and rice and a bottle of gin about +the hour of ten o'clock, and then they spread our beds upon the bare +stone floor. These were of heavy blankets with a rude mattress beneath +them. But they were beds for all that, and under any other +circumstances they would have been a luxury. This night, however, we +regarded them with indifference. Our brains were fired and our ears +awake. Who would have slept under circumstances so tragic? +</P> + +<P> +Perchance the impotence of our condition added to its bitterness. If +we could have struck a blow in the cause; have buckled on our swords +and gone out to deal with the merry old gentleman and his satellites, +it would have been different: but to sit in that gloomy room, to hear +the city's bells numbering the hours, to count the footsteps of the +sentries and to pray for dawn—that was a torture beyond compare. +</P> + +<P> +Not a mouthful of food had Léon eaten that day, nor could I persuade +him to touch the mess they offered us. He spoke of Valerie always, +delighting to remind me of the day when he had first seen her in Prince +Nicholas's palace; or of that night when she had saved us at the tower, +and of her courage during the dreadful days—indeed, of a thousand +things which a lover had seen but older eyes had missed. To all of +which I could but answer indifferently. +</P> + +<P> +"She is clever," I would say. "She will know how to deal with your +merry old gentleman." When he asked if we knew how to deal with him, +there was nothing more to be said. The grim walls of the prison +answered him; the chime of the distant bells was an irony. +</P> + +<P> +So the night sped on. For an hour, I think about twelve o'clock, I +flung myself upon the wretched bed and slept fitfully. My head was in +a whirl, and vain dreams tormented me. At one time I thought that we +had leapt down into the moat and that the icy water choked us. At +another I was riding proudly into Elbing at the head of the Vélites. +Upon this there came the voice of many crying "Vive l'Empereur!" and +"Vive la France!" I heard a great rolling of drums and the welcome +blare of trumpets. This roused me thoroughly, and sitting up I saw +that Léon was standing at the window and that the dream indeed had come +true. +</P> + +<P> +"Good God!" cried I. "What is it? What do you hear, Léon?" +</P> + +<P> +He answered me, still standing there. +</P> + +<P> +"The French are in the city, mon oncle. Listen to that!" +</P> + +<P> +His voice echoed a triumph which thrilled me. Instantly I was at his +side listening to the familiar sounds. Never did the roll of a drum +fall so pleasantly upon a man's ear. +</P> + +<P> +"We are saved," said I, though heaven knows the hope of it was still +but a dream. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VII +</H4> + +<P> +Well, we stood there for a full hour, speculating upon what we should +do to get the news to our comrades. Certainly we might have bribed the +jailers if any had come to the tower. Not a sound, however, disturbed +the serenity of the prison. Our attempt to attract the attention of +the sentries by smashing the lantern against the glass of the windows +ended but in ignominious derision. The fellows never noticed us, and +another hour must have passed before the door of the cell was opened +and the young captain entered. I perceived immediately that he had +come to tell us the news. His manner was obsequious to the point of +ridicule. +</P> + +<P> +"Messieurs," he said, "I am to take you immediately to the prefect's +house." +</P> + +<P> +Upon which he uttered a word of command and a dozen men with lanterns +appeared upon the narrow staircase. +</P> + +<P> +It was a new turn and we knew not what to make of it. Evidently the +merry old gentleman desired still to have us in his power, and the +prospect of finding ourselves alone with him was far from reassuring. +So much the young captain perceived and hastened to remove our +apprehensions. +</P> + +<P> +"Messieurs," he said, "you have nothing to fear. The prefect has +discovered his mistake and is anxious to apologise. You will be wise +to take advantage of so favourable an opportunity. As for myself, I +have done my duty. You will remember that when you make a report of +this affair to his Excellency the marshal." +</P> + +<P> +We promised that we would do so. It was evident, upon reflection, that +no mischief could come to us now that the French were in the city, and +curiosity alone would have sent us to the prefect's house. +</P> + +<P> +The latter proved to be hardly a stone's throw from the prison walls. +We were driven there in the same sledge which had carried us to Elbing, +and, being arrived at the <I>conciergerie</I>, were immediately admitted and +conducted into a spacious hall, blazing with lights and superb in the +richness of its decoration. Here, to our astonishment, Valerie herself +received us. +</P> + +<P> +I will not dwell upon the manner of her meeting with Léon, nor upon the +amazement with which I beheld her in this situation. No magic of +wonderland could have wrought such a change in men's condition as we +then experienced when they carried us from the gloom of the prison to +this princely mansion. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is his Excellency the prefect?" I asked her when we had embraced +for the twentieth time. +</P> + +<P> +She told me in a word. +</P> + +<P> +"Many miles from Elbing," says she. "I am mistress here. I have told +him he must not be found in the city while the French are here." +</P> + +<P> +"Good God," cried I, "what a turn about!" +</P> + +<P> +Miraculous indeed it was that so young a girl had won so astonishing a +victory. The coming of the French saved her and us. There was not a +more frightened man in Prussia than the prefect, who fled directly +French bugles blared at the gates. So much Valerie told us while she +led us in and showed us the banquet she had prepared for us. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VIII +</H4> + +<P> +We lived gallantly at the prefect's expense during the days we spent in +Elbing. They were happy days, and yet what regrets attended them! Of +all the six hundred thousand who had set out so bravely from Moscow but +a few short months ago, there were but twenty-two thousand of us, +soldiers of the line and of the Guard—worn, weary, and ragged men—who +survived to reach that haven. +</P> + +<P> +Never shall I forget that last review when the marshal himself rode up +and down our battered ranks and told us that our troubles were at an +end. Henceforth we were to be carried in sledges to the French +frontier and our homes. The day of battle was over; the night of our +sorry victory had been won. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +PRINTED BY +<BR> +CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, +<BR> +LONDON, E.C. +<BR> +100.716 +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great White Army, by Max Pemberton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT WHITE ARMY *** + +***** This file should be named 35540-h.htm or 35540-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/5/4/35540/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Great White Army + +Author: Max Pemberton + +Release Date: March 10, 2011 [EBook #35540] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT WHITE ARMY *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + +THE GREAT WHITE ARMY + + + +By + +Max Pemberton + + + + +CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD + +London, New York, Toronto & Melbourne + +1916 + + + + +_Works by the same Author_ + + MILLIONAIRE'S ISLAND + THE IRON PIRATE + WHITE MOTLEY + THE VIRGIN FORTRESS + WAR AND THE WOMAN + CAPTAIN BLACK. A sequel to "The Iron Pirate" + THE GIRL WITH THE RED HAIR + THE SHOW GIRL + THE HOUSE UNDER THE SEA + THE SEA-WOLVES + THE IMPREGNABLE CITY + THE GIANT'S GATE + A PURITAN'S WIFE + THE GARDEN OF SWORDS + KRONSTADT. A Novel + THE LITTLE HUGUENOT + RED MORN + THE HUNDRED DAYS + THE DIAMOND SHIP + WHEELS OF ANARCHY + SIR RICHARD ESCOMBE + +CASSELL AND CO., LTD., + +LONDON, NEW YORK, TORONTO AND MELBOURNE. + + + + +AUTHOR'S NOTE + +_The greatest military tragedy in history is the retreat of Napoleon's +Grand Army from Moscow. Napoleon set out to invade Russia in the +spring of the year 1812. In the month of June 600,000 men crossed the +River Niemen. Of this vast army, but 20,000 "famished, frost-bitten +spectres" staggered across the Bridge of Kovno in the month of +December._ + +_Many pens have described, with more or less fidelity, the details of +this unsurpassable tragedy. The story which we are now about to +represent to our readers is that of Surgeon-Major Constant, a veteran +who accompanied Napoleon to Moscow, and was one of the survivors who +returned ultimately to Paris. Constant had fled from Paris at the +beginning of the French Revolution in the year 1792. He lived for a +while at Leipsic, where he gave lessons in French and studied medicine. +His nephew, Captain Leon de Courcelles, was one of the famous Velites +of the Guard. It is with the exploits of this young and daring soldier +that the veteran's narrative is often concerned._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + 1. THE WOMAN ON THE STAIRS + 2. THE GUILLOTINE + 3. THE TREASURE IN THE WOODS + 4. PHANTOM MUSIC + 5. THE CAMP BY THE RIVER + 6. THE WITCH IN ERMINE + 7. LITTLE PETROVKA + 8. THE AFFAIR AT THE POST-HOUSE + 9. WE CROSS THE BEREZINA + 10. THE LAST REVIEW + + + +THE GREAT WHITE ARMY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE WOMAN ON THE STAIRS + +I + +I, Janil de Constant, remember very well the moment when we first +beheld the glorious city of Moscow, which we had marched twelve +thousand leagues to take. + +It would have been the fourteenth day of September. The sun shone +fiercely upon our splendid cavalcade, and even in the forests, which we +now quitted very willingly, there were oases of light like golden lakes +in a wonderland. + +It was half-past three o'clock when I myself reached the Mont du Salut, +a hill from whose summit the traveller first looks down upon the city. + +And what a spectacle to see! What domes and minarets and mighty +towers! What a mingling of East and West, of Oriental beauty and the +stately splendour of a European capital! You will not wonder that our +men drew rein to gaze with awe upon so transcendent a spectacle. This +was Mecca truly. Here they would end their labours and here lay their +reward. + +We thought, with reason surely, that there would be no more talk of +war. The Russians had learned their lesson at Borodino, and all that +remained for the Russian Tsar to do was to make peace with our Emperor. +Meanwhile there would be many days of holiday such as we had not known +since we left France. The riches of this city passed the fables, they +told us. You will imagine with what feelings the advance posts of the +Guard set out to descend the hill and take up their quarters in the +governor's palace. + +I had hoped to enter Moscow with my nephew Leon, who is one of the +Velites of the Guard. I wished to be near that young man at so +critical a moment. Even old soldiers lose their heads when they enter +an enemy's city, and what could one expect of the young ones? Leon, +however, had ridden on with Major Pavart, of the _chasseurs a cheval_, +and so it was with old Sergeant Bourgogne, of the Velites, that I +entered Moscow and began to think of quarters. + +We heard some shots as we went down into the town, and when we came to +that broad street which leads to the Place du Gouvernement, a soldier +of the line told us that the governor had released the convicts and +that they were holding the palace against our outposts. We thought +very little of the matter at the time, and were more concerned to +admire the magnificence of the street and the beauty of many of its +houses. These, it appeared, belonged to the nobility, but we began to +perceive that none of the princely owners had remained in Moscow, and +that only a few servants occupied these mansions. Many of the latter +watched us as we rode by, and at the corner of the great square one of +them, a dandy fellow with mincing gait, had the temerity to catch my +horse by the bridle and to hold him while he told me that his name was +Heriot, and that he had left Paris with the Count of Provence in the +year 1790. + +"You are a surgeon, are you not?" he went on before I had time to +exclaim upon his effrontery. Amazed, I told him that I was. + +"Then," said he, "be good enough to come into yonder house and see to +one of your own men who is lying there." + +I suppose it was a proper thing for the fellow to ask me, yet the +_naivete_ of it brought a smile to my lips. + +"Bon garcon," said I, "you must have many surgeons of your own in +Moscow. Why ask me, who am on my way to the Emperor?" + +"Because," he said, still holding the bridle, "you will not regret your +visit, monsieur. This is a rich house: they will know how to pay you +for your services." + +There was something mysterious about this remark which excited my +curiosity, and turning my horse aside I permitted him to lead it into +the stable courtyard. It was to be observed that he slammed the great +gate quickly behind us, and bolted it with great bars of iron which +would almost have defied artillery. Then he tethered my horse to a +pillar and bade me follow him. It was just at the moment when the band +of the Fusiliers began to play a lively air and many thousands of our +infantry pressed on into the square. + + +II + +We entered the house itself by a wicket upon the left-hand side, which +should have led to the kitchens. + +It was here, perhaps, that I thought it not a little extraordinary, and +it may be somewhat less than prudent, that I, who should have been +already at the gates of the palace, had turned aside at the mere nod of +this dandy to enter a house of whose people I knew nothing. +Nevertheless, it was the case, and I reflected that if one of my own +countrymen were indeed in distress, then was the delay not ill-timed. + +We were at the foot of a cold stone staircase by this time, and I +observed that the lackey began to mount it with some caution. There +was no sound in the house, and when presently we emerged in the gallery +of a vast hall the place had all the air of a church which has been +long closed. + +Here for the first time I discovered the purpose for which I had been +brought to the place. A man lay dead upon the flags of the gallery, +and it was clear that he had died by a bullet from the pistol which was +flung down at his side. + +Thousands of men had I seen die since we crossed the River Niemen, yet +the sight of this mere youth lying dead upon the flags afflicted me +strangely. Perchance it was the great cold hall, or the dim light +which filtered through its heavy windows, or the silence of that +immense house and all the suggestions of mystery which attended it. Be +it as it may, I had less than my usual resource when I knelt by the +young man's side and made that brief examination which quickly +convinced me that he was dead. The dandy, meanwhile, stood near by +taking prodigious pinches of snuff from a box edged with diamonds. His +unconcern was remarkable. I could make nothing of such a picture. + +"Who is this youth?" I asked him. + +He shrugged his shoulders and took another pinch of the snuff. + +"One of your own countrymen, as I say--an artist from Frejus who is in +the service of my lord, the prince." + +"How did he die, then?" + +The dandy averted his eyes. Then he said: + +"I returned from the great square ten minutes ago and found him here. +You can see as well as I that he shot himself." + +"That is not true," I rejoined, looking at him sternly. "Men do not +shoot themselves in the middle of the back!" + +He was still unconcerned. + +"Very well, then," he retorted; "someone must have shot him." And +almost upon the words he turned as white as a sheet. + +"Listen," he cried in a loud whisper; "did you not hear them?" + +I listened and certainly heard the sound of voices. + +It came through an open door at the far end of the gallery and rose in +a sharp crescendo, which seemed to say that men were quarrelling. + +"Who is in the house?" I asked the fellow. + +"I do not know," he said gravely enough. "There should be no one here +but ourselves. Perhaps you will be good enough to see. You are a +soldier; it is your business." + +I laughed at his impudence, and having looked to the priming of my +pistol, I caught him suddenly by the arm and pushed him on ahead of me. +Justly or not, it had flashed upon me that this might be a trap. Yet +why it should be so or what it had to do with a surgeon-major of the +Guards I knew no more than the dead. + +"We will go together," said I; and so I pushed him down the corridor. + +My presence seemed to give him courage. He entered the room with me, +and before a man could have counted three he fell headlong with a great +gash in his throat that all the surgeons in the French army could not +have stitched up. + +This was a memorable scene, but I was to witness many a one like it in +those days of rapine and of pillage to come. + +We had entered a lofty room, the furniture of which would not have been +out of place in the Emperor's palace at Paris. Most of it, indeed, was +French, and some of the cabinets were such as you may see to this day +both in the Tuileries and at Fontainebleau. So much I observed at a +glance, but infinitely of more import at the moment was the tenants of +the room. Three greater ruffians I have never seen in any city of +Europe; neither men so dirty and ill-kempt nor so ferocious in their +mien. All wore ragged sheepskins and had their legs bare at the knee. +They were armed with knives and bludgeons, and two of them carried +torches in their hands. Instantly I saw that these were three of the +convicts whom the governor had released. They had come to sack the +house, and they would have killed any who opposed them as a butcher +kills a sheep. But for the dead man at my feet, I could have laughed +aloud at their predicament when they suddenly realised that a soldier +and not a civilian must now be dealt with. It was just as though their +valour went ebbing away in a torrent. + +I struck the first man down with the butt end of my pistol, and, +fearing the effect of a shot, drew my sword and made for the others who +held the torches. They fled headlong, slamming the heavy door at the +far end of the room behind them--and there was I alone with the dead, +and the house had fallen again to the silence of a tomb. + + +III + +I stooped over the man I had struck down, and found him breathing +stertorously but still alive. The lackey, however, was quite dead, and +his blood had made a great pool upon the rich Eastern carpet of the +salon. + +My first impulse was to go to the windows and open the heavy shutters; +and when this was done I found myself looking out upon a pretty garden +in the Italian fashion. It was surrounded by high walls on three +sides, and seemed as void of humanity as the house. The salon itself +stood at a considerable height from the ground, and although there was +a wide balcony before the windows, I perceived no possible means of +escape thereby. + +This will tell you that I now had a considerable apprehension both of +the deserted house and of the adventure which had befallen me. Not +only did I blame my own folly for listening to the servant in the first +instance--that was bad enough--but upon it there came a desire to +return to my comrades, which was almost an obsession. There I stood +upon the balcony listening to the rolling of the drums and the blare of +the bugles, and yet I might have been a thousand leagues from friends +and comrades. Moreover, it was evident that I had not seen the last of +the assassins, and that they would return. + +Such was the situation at a moment when I realised that escape by the +balcony was impossible. Returning to the room, its beauty and riches +stood fully revealed by the warm sunlight, and they recalled to me the +tales of Moscow's wealth which we had heard directly we entered Russia. +The Grand Army, I said, would be well occupied for many days to come in +an employment it had always found congenial. Vases of the rarest +porcelain, statues from Italy, pictures and furniture from my own +France, gems in gold and stones most precious were the common ornaments +of this magnificent apartment. Here and there an empty cabinet seemed +to say that some attempt had been made already to remove these +treasures, and that the entry of our troops had disturbed the robbers. +What remained, however, would have been riches to a prince, and it +would have been possible for me to have put a fortune into my wallet +that very hour. + +Already it seemed to me that I should have a difficulty in finding my +way out of the house. The idea had been in my mind when I stood upon +the balcony and contemplated the solitude and the security of the +garden below. There I had listened to the rolling music of the bands, +the blare of bugles, and the tramping of many thousands of exulting +soldiers; but all sounds were lost when I returned to the great hall +and stood alone with the dead. + +Who was this youth to whom I had been called? + +I bent over him and discovered such a face as one might find in the +picture of an Italian master. The lad would have been about one and +twenty, and no woman's hair could have been finer than his. Such a +skin I had rarely seen; the face might have been chiselled from the +purest marble; the eyes were open and blue as the sea by which I +imagined this young fellow had lived. There was firmness in the chin, +and a contour of neck and shoulders which even a physician could admire. + +His clothes, I observed, were well chosen and made of him a man of some +taste. He wore breeches of black velvet and a shirt of the finest +cambric, open at the neck. His shoes had jewelled buckles, and his +stockings were of silk. Who, then, was the lad, and why had the lackey +killed him? That was a question I meant to answer when I had some of +my comrades with me. It remained to escape from this house of mystery +as quickly as might be. + +I passed down the staircase and came to an ante-room with a vast door +at the end of it. It was heavily bolted, and the keys of it were gone. +So much I had expected, and yet it seemed that where the assassins had +gone there might I follow. Ridiculous to be a prisoner of a house from +within, and of such a house, when there must be half a dozen doors that +gave upon the streets about it. And yet I could find none of them that +was not locked and barred as the chief door I have named, while every +window upon the ground floor might have been that of a prison. + +Vainly I went from place to place--here by corridors that were as dark +as night, there into rooms where the lightest sounds gave an echo as of +thunder, back again to the great hall I had left--and always with the +fear of the assassins upon me and the irony of my condition +unconcealed. Good God! That I had shut myself in such a trap! A +thousand times I cursed the builder of such a house and all his works. +The night, I said, would find me alone in a tomb of marble. + +I shall not weary you by a recital of all that befell in the hours of +daylight that remained. I had a horrid fear of the dark, and when at +length it overtook me I returned to the salon, and, having covered the +dead men with the rugs lying about, went thence to the balcony and so +watched the night come down. + +Consider my situation--so near and yet so far from all that was taking +place in this fallen city. + +Above me the great bowl of the sky glowed with the lights of many a +bivouac in square or market. It was as though the whole city trembled +beneath the footsteps of the thousands who now trampled down her +ancient glory and cast her banners to the earth. The blare of bands +was to be heard everywhere; the murmur of voices rose and fell like the +angry surf that beats upon a shore. Cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" rent +the air from time to time, and to them were added the fierce shouting +of the rabble or the frenzied screams of those who fled before the +glittering bayonets of this mighty host. And to crown all, as though +mockingly, there rang out the music of those unsurpassable bells--the +bells of Moscow, of which all the world has heard. + +These were the sights and sounds which came to me as I stood upon that +balcony and laughed grimly at my situation. But a stone's throw away, +said I, there would be merry fellows enough to call me by my name and +lead me to my comrades. + +Janil de Constant, I flattered myself, was as well known as any man in +all the Guard, old or young. Never did his Majesty pass me but I had a +warm word from him or that little pinch upon the ear which denoted his +favour. + +My art was considerable, as all the world knows. + +I had been a professor in the University of Paris until this fever of +war fell upon me, and I set out to discover its realities for myself. +What skill could do for suffering men, I had done these many months, +and yet here was I as far from it all as though a ship had carried me +to the Indies and the desolation of the ocean lay all about me. + +These, I say, were my thoughts, and the night--that wonderful night of +summer--did nothing to better them. Perchance I should have spent it +there upon the balcony but for that which I had expected--the return of +the assassins to the spoils from which they had been scared. It could +not have befallen otherwise. The time, I suppose, would have been +about ten of the clock. They entered the garden below me, and I heard +their footsteps upon the grass. But now there were many of them, and +even from the balcony it was apparent to me that all were armed. + + +IV + +I returned to the room, and, crossing it swiftly, had my hand already +upon the key of the door when a new sound arrested me. + +The sound proceeded from the gallery of the great staircase. I heard a +key turned and a door creak upon its hinges. A moment later the faint +light of a candle illumined the staircase, and the figure of a woman +appeared. + +It was all very sudden. But the half of a minute, I suppose, elapsed +between the first sound of the key and the appearance of the beautiful +creature who now stood in the gallery; yet to me it seemed an age of +waiting. There I stood motionless, watching that vision which the +candle revealed--the vision of the sleeper awakened, and a woman's +cloak thrown about her shoulders. + +"Good God!" I cried, "the dead have come to life!" Beyond all doubt +this must be the sister of the murdered man. + +"Mademoiselle," I said, taking a step forward. And at that she cried +out in terror and let the candle drop. Instantly I strode to her side +and caught both her hands, for it was evident she was swooning. + +"Mademoiselle," I repeated, "I am a Frenchman, and came to this house +to help your brother. Help me in your turn. There are men in the +garden, and they are coming in--we must be quick, mademoiselle." + +She shivered a little in my arms and then pressed forward towards me. + +"I am Valerie," she murmured in a low voice, as though I would +recognise the name. "My brother is dead; Francois the steward killed +him. Oh, take me away--take me from this place." + +I told her that I would do so, that my only desire was to escape from +the house if I could. + +"But, mademoiselle," said I, "every door is locked. I cannot find the +way, and the brigands are returning. We have no time to lose." + +The tidings appeared to rouse her. She passed her hand across her +forehead and, staggering forward a little way, stood very still as +though in thought. + +I shall never forget that picture of her as the moonbeams came down +from the dome above, and she stood there in a robe of white and silver. +A more beautiful thing I have never seen upon God's earth. The story +of her brother's death appeared no longer a mystery. + +"My God!" she cried, "they are in the house!" + +We bent over the balustrade together and listened to the sounds. There +was a crashing as of woodwork, and then the hum of voices. Instantly +upon that there came the heavy trampling of feet. Those who entered +the house were not afraid--they were even laughing as they came. + +"What shall we do?" she cried. "What shall we do?" + +I caught her hand and dragged her back from the railing. + +"There must be some room which will hide us," said I. "You know the +way. Think, child; is there no such place?" + +She did not answer me, but turned and led the way up the narrow flight +of stairs by which she had appeared. Here was her bedroom. + +We passed through it without delay and entered an oratory which lay at +the head of a second flight of stairs immediately beyond. Here she +shut a heavy door of oak and bolted it. The only light in the room +flickered from a golden lamp before the altar, and as far as I could +see there was no way out other than the door by which we had come in. + +Now, this chapel was built in one of the eastern turrets of the house. +I came to learn later that the owner of the place was Prince Boris, a +man of some culture and of European notoriety, and that, while he was +himself an orthodox Greek, he had permitted this use of a secret chapel +to the young Frenchwoman who now knelt before its altar. + +Wonderfully decorated in gold and silver, with rare pictures upon its +walls and superb gems in the crucifixes above the tabernacle, the whole +bore witness to a man of Catholic sympathies and abundant wealth. At +any other time, no doubt, I would have made much of this hidden chapel +and of its treasures; but the hour was not propitious, and, glad of its +momentous security, I turned to the girl and would have questioned her. +She, however, was already at her prayers, nor did she seem to hear me +when I addressed her. A second question merely caused her to turn her +head and cry, "Hush! they will hear us!" And so she went on praying--I +doubt not for her dead brother's soul--while I paced up and down in as +great a state of anger and of self-reproach as I had ever been in all +my life. + +What a situation for a surgeon-major of the Guards--to be locked up +here in this puny chapel with a houseful of assassins below, and my own +regiment not a stone's throw from the gate! And yet that was the truth +of it, and anon I heard some of the robbers come leaping up the stairs, +and presently they began to beat upon the door of the chapel, and I +knew that they carried axes in their hands. + + +V + +The sounds were deep and ominous, and might well have quelled a +stronger spirit. The girl herself turned her head at the first blow, +and then, staggering to her feet, she caught me by the arm and +whispered her fears in my ear. + +"They will beat it down," she said, indicating the door. + +I answered that I thought it quite possible. + +"Why do your soldiers let them?" she asked me; and upon that she said, +"Why did you come here alone?" + +I told her that the steward, for such I supposed the lackey to be, had +brought me to the place; and so much she understood readily enough. + +"He was insolent to me," she exclaimed. "My brother struck him. He +carried a pistol, but we did not know it. God help me, what I have +suffered this day! And now this----" And again she indicated the +peril beyond the door. + +Yet with it all her courage was not lacking. She no longer wept now +that danger threatened us, and presently she pointed to the gilded dome +above, and said that it could be reached from the little gallery behind +the altar. + +"Then," said I, "let us see what we can do." And, taking her hand, we +went up to the gallery together; and there sure enough in the angle was +a Gothic window large enough for a man to pass through. When I opened +it I saw a narrow gallery at the very summit of the cupola, and to this +I helped her immediately. The height was considerable and the parapet +but trifling. She stood there by my side without flinching, and when +we had closed the window it seemed as though the peril were now far +distant. + +"I could hold this place against a regiment," said I, drawing my sword +and indicating the narrow window. + +She understood as much, and, nodding her head, she gazed out over +Moscow, as though some help were to be expected from the turbid streets +which the night now revealed to us. + +Surely this was a wonderful hour! The gallery of the cupola stood some +eighty feet above the pavement of the courtyard below. We looked out +over the stables of the prince's house to the great gate by which I had +entered and the Place du Gouvernement where the lackey had accosted me. +It must have been nearly midnight, and yet Moscow was as wide awake as +ever she had been in her history. I saw thousands of my own countrymen +marching with light steps to the bivouacs prepared for them. Great +fires had been kindled in every open space. There were lanterns +swinging and bugles blaring. Bayonets shimmered in the crimson light, +bells rang joyously, the triumphant war songs of the victors were +unceasing. And all this amid a clamour, a restless going to and fro, a +fevered movement of awakened people that capitulation alone could +provoke. The Grand Army had reached its goal, and here was the end of +its labours. So I doubt not the thousands thought as they pressed on +towards the Kremlin and soldiers began to enter every house and demand +the fruits of their labours. + +I have told you that the beautiful young Frenchwoman had hardly spoken +to me hitherto, but here at this dizzy height she began for the first +time, I think, to realise that I was a friend and not a foe, and her +tongue was loosened. I have never seen greater dignity in a woman nor +one whose self-possession was so remarkable under such tragic +circumstances. She indicated the busy street below and asked me to +which of those regiments I belonged. + +I told her at once that I was a surgeon-major of the Velites, and +should be now in the governor's palace with the Emperor. + +"Then," she said, "your friends will come to look for you, will they +not?" + +I told her that it was not impossible. + +"But, mademoiselle," said I, "they will not imagine that I have become +a bird." + +She liked the humour of it and smiled very sweetly. + +"Oh," she said, closing her eyes and shuddering, "what a day it has +been! Prince Boris left yesterday to rejoin the army. My brother and +I were to have followed him to Nishni this afternoon. Then the steward +said that he could not be left alone, for the convicts were out and +were robbing the houses. The governor released them at noon to-day. +They have been pillaging all Moscow, and your friends will find little +when they come." + +I was greatly interested in this, for some such story had reached us +even before we entered the city. + +The desperate resolve to deliver Moscow to the evil element in its +population had been taken by its rulers some days previously to the +arrival of the army, but neither the Emperor nor his staff had been +greatly moved by it. The cavalry would soon make short work of these +fellows in the open, while we trusted to the predatory instincts of the +rank and file to deal with such scum in the houses. + +I was about to tell her as much when a movement of the window behind us +caused me to turn round, and to discover a shaggy head protruding +therefrom. Without a thought, I fired my pistol point blank at it, and +I shall always say that this was as unlucky a stroke as ever I made. +The flash and the report on that high tower drew the attention of the +passers-by in the street without, and presently some infantry who were +passing began to fire on the tower, and the bullets rained thick around +us. There was nothing for it but to plump down beneath the balustrade +and so wait until their humour was done. And so we sat, the girl +wide-eyed and silent, myself with drawn sword to thrust at any face +which should be shown at the window above us. + +"Janil," said I to myself, "this will be a pretty tale for the regiment +to-morrow." Had you pressed me, I would have confessed a doubt that +that to-morrow would ever be. + +An hour passed, I suppose, and still found us in the same position. +There were no longer any bullets from the street, and anon, when I +stood up and looked again over the great gate of the palace, whom +should I see but my own nephew Leon riding up and down upon his famous +white horse and evidently searching for his old uncle who had played so +scurvy a trick upon him. + + +VI + +Now this was a splendid sight; and, waving my sword and crying with all +my lungs, I strove in vain to attract his attention. As for the girl +at my side, she watched me in some astonishment. Presently, seeing +what I was after, she asked me if it were not the young soldier on the +white horse in whom I was interested. + +"Mademoiselle," said I, "it is Leon, my nephew. If I can make myself +known to him, I will warrant that he will be inside this house before +you can count ten. A fine soldier, mademoiselle; I am very proud of +him." + +She nodded her head and looked at the boy with a new interest. There +was such a great bivouac fire at the corner of the square that you +could see him almost as if he were upon the stage of a theatre, and +surely a handsomer man did not ride with the Grand Army. Well I knew +what this pretty woman would think of him, and I watched her with an +old man's interest. + +"He does not see you," she remarked presently. + +It was all too true. + +"But he will not abandon me," I retorted; and, turning at the same +moment, I struck with the butt of my pistol at a second face which +showed itself at the window. The fellow withdrew with a curse that +plainly meant mischief. I could hear other voices in the room, and by +and by a stranger sound, and the smell of fire upon it. + +"Good God!" I said, "they are burning the chapel!" + +At that she uttered a low cry, the first of fear that I had heard +escape her lips. + +I opened the window and looked down into the chapel. There were but +two men there, and one was firing the curtains of the altar. So little +did he fear interruption that I leaped down on him while his torch was +still upraised, and, running him through with my sword, I pulled the +burning curtain upon him and stamped the fire out upon his body. The +other assassin watched me with eyes grown wide with fear. He had a +torch in his hand, but he stood there as though spellbound, and when I +made at him he fell headlong upon the staircase, and man and fire went +rolling over and over together. + +This did not alarm me, for the stairs were all stone, and there was +nothing that could be kindled. Following the fellow through the +bedroom, I came again upon the great staircase, and there looked down +upon as strange a spectacle as I shall ever see in all my years. It +was as though all the rabble of Moscow had come together in that +magnificent hall--giant Tartars, low-caste assassins from the Indies, +black-browed Slavs, patriarchs with long beards and youths with +none--all were filling their sacks with the spoils of the prince's +house and carrying them, when full, to the garden beyond. Animals in a +den never fought more fiercely than some of these rogues when their +lusts had clashed. Nor might a man have found a fiercer company in all +the foul havens of the East. + +For myself, I watched them aghast, knowing that it were death to be +discovered where I stood. So eager, however, were they that none saw +me, and the pillage and the riot were still at their height when one +amongst them cried "Fire!" and in an instant every man sprang to +attention, and the roar of a great conflagration burst upon their +astonished ears. + + +VII + +The palace had been fired; there could be no doubt about it. + +Volumes of smoke poured into the hall and went floating to the ceiling +in dense and looming clouds. The marble reflected a ruddy light as of +flames vomited from a fiery pit. There was a crackling of wood, a +rending of glass, and upon that the oaths and curses of the assassins +below. Now truly were they hoist of their own petard. The palace had +been fired while their plunder was yet unpacked, and they roared and +barked around it like wolves robbed of their prey. + +I say that we were all taken unawares, and that is true enough. For +myself, I stood there listening to the roar of the flames, and watching +the mad, frenzied struggles of the scum below, and with no more idea of +how to get out of the place than the veriest child might have had. +None but a madman would have attempted to fight his way through the +raving mob of brigands who grovelled about the doors in seeming +impotence, as though their shaking hands could not unlock the bars +which imprisoned them. Yet passed they must be if I and the child with +me were not to perish in the flames. + +So much could not be hidden from either of us. We beheld them +wrangling still upon their plunder while the flames were all about +them, and those who did run from the hall returned immediately to warn +their friends in a tongue which had no meaning for me. From this time +they became as demons possessed. It was a terrible thing to see them +running round and round like dogs driven by a whip, to hear the clash +of their knives, and the shrieks of those who fell. Nor could I wonder +that my little companion's courage deserted her at last and that a loud +cry of fear escaped her. + +"Oh, come," she cried, "come from this dreadful place." And, so +saying, she caught me almost savagely by the arm and led me from the +gallery. Whither she would take me, I knew not at all. Her eyes were +alight with the fear which animated her. She stretched out her arms as +though to feel her way in the gathering smoke which threatened us. I +could see already that she had little hope of the venture. + +We crossed a corridor and entered a lofty room which I took to be the +library of the palace. Farther on there was an antechamber, whose door +was locked and barred as the others had been in the room below. Upon +this she beat furiously as though someone beyond could hear us and +would open. Solid as a gate of iron, twenty men could not have forced +it. I saw already that our errand was vain, and I was about to lead +her away when what should happen but that the door was opened from +within, and a Russian soldier stood before me. "Nicholas!" cried +mademoiselle; and instantly the child was in the arms of a Russian, who +kissed her as a lover might have done. + +Now, this man was an officer who wore the white uniform and the black +cuirass of Prince Boris's famous regiment. I took him for the prince's +son, and there I was not wrong, as I learned at a subsequent date. + +And it needed no clever eye to tell me how things stood between the +girl and himself, and there was a smile on my lips while I watched them +and then looked over his shoulder into the room beyond, full of his +fellows and ablaze with the glitter of uniforms. + +The presence of these men needed little explanation. I perceived that +there had been a secret conclave in the palace, and I understood in an +instant what my own presence must mean. It was no coward's alarm. +There were half a dozen of them atop of me before I could lift a hand +to save myself. In vain the girl pleaded with them. They discovered +immediately that the palace was on fire, and, mad with rage and fury, +they fell upon me like wild beasts. The French had done this thing, +they cried; then let the Frenchmen pay the price. I knew now that they +meant to kill me. Their very gestures would have told me as much. "A +spy!" they shouted--to Janil de Constant! + +Well, there it was, and that is the simple truth of the story. + +I remember that they pushed me headlong from the room, then down a +steep flight of stairs, and so to a garden at the foot of it. There +one of them cried for a sergeant to come to him. After that my memory +is chiefly of the glitter of bayonets and of a man who called to his +fellow to bind my hands with cord. It came to me as in a dream that +they were about to shoot me, and that this was the hour of my death. I +recollect that I was thrust up against a rough stone wall, and that the +sergeant asked me a question in Russian of which I could make nothing. + +From the room there now came the loud shouts of the officers, who had +discovered that the palace was on fire, and were leading some of the +troopers to attack the flames. Their voices and that of the sergeant +mingled oddly in my ears; but presently I began to perceive that the +man wished to bandage my eyes, and as this promised an instant of +grace, I assented willingly. To say that I was afraid is to give but a +child's idea of the circumstances. It had all come upon me so +swiftly--the discovery of the fire and of the assassins, the passing of +hope and the coming of despair, that this new turn found my wits +paralysed and all resources gone from me. In my head there were +buzzing sounds as of a man stricken suddenly by sickness. I thought of +nothing except of the wall against which I stood, of the man who +bandaged my eyes and of the bayonets which had glittered in the ruddy +glow of flames. That I should be dead when ten seconds were counted I +could not believe, and then as swiftly the truth must be heard. "You +are about to die," said the secret voice in my ear. "You will never +see the day. This is night; you will sleep." + +An intolerable interval of silence followed upon this. I heard the +shuffling of feet and the sound of voices as though from the far +distance. Men were speaking in whispers, and these whispers grew in +volume until they were like a hoarse murmur of winds about me. I was +tempted to cry, "Fire, for God's sake!" and yet I could not utter the +words. Indeed, a faintness had come upon me, and I swayed to and fro +until the volley rang out with a crash of thunder and lights danced +fantastically before my eyes. Then I think that I must have fallen +prone upon the grass. If this were death, it had come without pain, +and men had laughed because it came. God! Was there ever such +laughter heard by a man so situated? Peal upon peal of it--and a +woman's laughter! + +Someone loosed the bands which held my hands, and another forced a +little brandy between my clenched lips. I raised myself up, shivering +as though with an ague. + +All about me it was as light and bright as though the sun had risen. +The great palace flamed with a thunder of sounds and a crash of beams +most dreadful to hear. But otherwise the scene was as I had known it +before they bandaged me, save that Valerie stood at the stairs' head +swaying in an outburst of mad laughter which fear and pity had +provoked, while my nephew Leon watched her as she laughed. A moment +later and a man appeared and caught her in his arms. It was the +Russian, Prince Nicholas, who passed down the steps and was gone from +the garden before any man could draw upon him. + + +VIII + +Leon told me that he thought I must be in the house all the while, but +that he had hesitated to break in until the assassins had fired it. +When he found me, I stood alone by the wall, blinded and helpless, but +not a Russian to be seen. Who could wonder when the whole garden was +full of French bayonets. + +I left the house with him and we went together to the governor's +palace. None knew what had become of my horse, nor did I care +overmuch. The Place du Gouvernement itself was alive with our soldiers +called to put out the fire if they could. By these we went quickly, +Leon asking me a hundred questions which I could not answer yet. + +"There was a woman there," said I. + +He interrupted me with a laugh. + +"You think that I did not see her!" he asked. + +It being Leon, I thought no such thing. + +"We will hunt her out to-morrow," said he, and then we turned about and +together watched the burning palace. + +"A welcome to Moscow!" he cried sardonically. + +Ah, if we had known how this welcome was to be repeated in the days to +come! + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE GUILLOTINE + + +I + +My nephew, Leon, had sworn to seek out the beautiful young Frenchwoman, +Valerie, whom we had last seen in the gardens of the burning house; but +many days elapsed before that came to be, as you shall presently learn. + +In the first place, there was far too much to do in Moscow for the army +to think about women at all. + +We had arrived at the end of our journey, and the twelve hundred +leagues of marching had tired the strongest of us. Now we would rest +at the heart of Russia, while the Emperor dictated peace to the Tsar +and his army made good its losses. We never so much as dreamed that we +had pursued a phantom, and that it would lead the Grand Army to its +destruction. + +So you must behold us for many days in Moscow enjoying the fruits of +our labours and yet finding plenty of work to do. I have told you +already that the Guards were quartered in the Palace of the Kremlin, +whither the Emperor had repaired; and there I took up my residence with +my nephew Leon, and was occupied for some days in attending to the sick +who had accompanied us on our long journey from Smolensk. Though many +rumours came to me of the strange things that were happening in the +city beyond the palace, I paid little heed to them. His Majesty the +Emperor had set out to conquer Russia, and here he was at the heart of +their empire. What remained, then, but to sign a splendid peace and to +return in triumph to Paris? + +This is how things should have been, yet how different they were! + +We had been prepared to find the Russian nobles fled from Moscow, but +the absolute desertion of the city by its people astonished us beyond +compare. + +Often would I go forth into these magnificent streets, to find the +great houses all shut up, their gardens a solitude, the cafes closed, +and none but our own soldiers abroad. + +Deserted houses everywhere! The hotels shut up and boarded against the +stranger. All the shops denuded of their goods and shuttered and +barred as though they were prisons. + +Such Russians as we met had the most revolting aspect and were clad in +the coarsest sheepskins. We knew that the best of them were convicts +who had been released by the governor on our advent, and now they +skulked like wolves to do us a mischief in every alley or by-street +which sheltered them. + +For the rest, Moscow might have been a mausoleum. We danced to the +music of our own voices; the cheers that were raised were the cheers +from French throats which heralded only a hollow victory. + +The plunder that we seized came to our hands undisputed. No man +contended with us save the brigands, and they were like jackals, whose +howls were chiefly heard by night. + +I have often wondered at the sang-froid with which all this was +received at head-quarters. None of the staff appeared aware of the +perils of our situation, nor did the fact that we were already running +short of provisions alarm our leaders. Many things we had in +abundance, and they should have provoked our irony. It was ridiculous +to see whole companies of the Guard making merry over casks of French +liqueur or wallowing like schoolgirls in boxes of sweetmeats. Yet such +was the case, and nothing but the actual riches of the city blinded the +rank and file to the truth. + +Oh, what days of plunder they were, and how our good fellows revelled +in them! + +A man had but to sally forth with an axe in his hand to reach the +riches of a Croesus. I have seen the veriest Gascons so laden with +furs and jewels and the wealth of nobles that they themselves, could +they have conveyed their burdens to Paris, might never have had an +anxiety about their bread to the end of their days. It was the +commonest thing to discover carts and wagons in Moscow piled high with +the treasures of centuries and led uncontested to the camps of an enemy +which had found the gates open and the ramparts undefended. Even the +Imperial edict against pillage and rapine was useless to prevent this +spoliation. The men had suffered much to reach the Holy City, and His +Majesty the Emperor was wise enough to reward them according to their +hopes. + +Here I must tell you that the common troopers were by no means the only +offenders in this respect. There was not an officer in or out of the +Guards who did not claim his share of the plunder, while he shut his +eyes to the doings of those under him. If I myself forbore to take a +hand in this profitable amusement, it was because my burdens were heavy +and owed not a little to the state of Moscow even in the early days of +our occupation. + +Then, as afterwards, fire was our almost daily enemy. One day it would +be in the bazaars; the next in the poorest quarters of the city; again +in the houses of the rich, which our troopers had pillaged. We were +told the convicts fired the buildings by the governor's orders. We +could not believe it, and yet we hunted the rascals down as though they +were vermin. + +I have often wondered what His Majesty the Emperor would have done had +he known the true state of affairs in Moscow. He did not know them, +however, and he was still anxious to propitiate those whom he believed +to be its people. Every day we heard the story of the peace which was +to be signed, and of the profit which was to come to our arms thereby; +and every day we who served were abroad in street or alley wrestling +with the flames and smoke of the burning houses, or hanging and +shooting the incendiaries who had become the enemy. + +Little wonder that my nephew Leon had no time for love-making. Often +would I ask him if he had heard of or seen the beautiful Valerie again. +The rascal pretended that he had forgotten her very existence, and yet +I knew in my heart that he had remembered her. It was no surprise to +me when, at the end of the third week, I heard from his servant, +Gascogne, that he had received a letter from Valerie herself, and that +it had contained an invitation to dinner in a house beyond the suburbs +of the city. When I charged Leon with it he shook his head and smiled +in his boyish way. + +"Oh, mon oncle," he protested, "what time have I for anything like +that?" + +I rejoined that a man has always time for a pretty woman, and at that +he laughed loudly. + +"She asked me to dinner," says he, "but, of course, I shall not go. +Why, my dear uncle, it would be very dangerous to do so. Do you not +know that her friend is Prince Nicholas, who has sworn a vendetta +against every Frenchman in Moscow? I should be a fool to do anything +of the kind." + +I agreed that he would be, and really I was not a little astonished at +his common sense. + +Captains of the Guard are rarely prudent where a pretty face is +concerned, and Valerie St. Antoine was one of the most beautiful women +I had ever seen in all my life. It was amazing to me that Leon should +have learned so much wisdom in so short a space of time, and I plumed +myself upon his sagacity. Oh, how easily do we old fogeys deceive +ourselves! Not three days had elapsed before I learned that he had +written to the lady, and on the fourth I heard with some regret that he +had gone to dine with her. + + +II + +Now, I do not know why it was, but this affair had caused me much +uneasiness from the beginning, and when I heard, upon the evening of +September 28, that my nephew had left the palace and gone to dine with +Valerie, a disquietude quite beyond ordinary attended the discovery. + +Possibly Leon's own words had something to do with it. He had said +that such an invitation might be a trap, and although the opinion was +expressed as a joke, there remained a doubt in my own mind which no +mere assurance could remove. + +Remember the circumstances. We had discovered already that Valerie St. +Antoine was the friend, and more than the friend, of a man who had +sworn to exterminate the French in Moscow. The reality of the tie +which bound them had been made apparent to me when I was with her in +Prince Boris's house, and I could conceive no honest circumstance which +would justify the invitation to my nephew Leon. When I questioned his +servant, Gascogne, that good fellow seemed no less uneasy than I myself. + +"There have been five officers from this regiment lost in Moscow this +very week," said he. "I warned Captain Leon, but he would not listen +to me. A woman. Faugh! It is the usual story, major. They all have +a rendezvous, and none of them returns. Why did not the captain +consult you? I told him that it was a trick, and he answered me by +putting on his best uniform and calling a droshky. Major, we shall be +lucky if we see him again." + +I took no such view as this, and yet a certain foreboding of ill was +not lightly to be put aside. + +Leon had done as so many others in his regiment, and some of those had +never returned to the palace. It might even be that the girl Valerie +had not written the letter at all; and this latter thought was so +disquieting that I sent Gascogne out to seek the driver of the droshky +and to bring the fellow to the palace. When he came, a few sharp words +soon had the truth from him. + +"My good fellow," said I, "you will drive me immediately to the house +to which you have just taken my nephew, Captain de Courcelles. If you +play any trick upon me I will have you hanged at the gate of the +Kremlin. Now, choose for yourself." + +This was no idle threat, nor was it without its effect. The man fell +into a frenzy of fear, while great drops of sweat stood upon his +forehead, and he protested his innocence before God and the saints. + +"Then let him put it to the proof," said I to the interpreter, "and +bring his droshky here immediately." + +Ten minutes later we were passing out of the western gate, and Sergeant +Bardot, of the Fusiliers, was at my side. They called him "the +antelope" in the regiment, and there was no nimbler fellow in all the +Guards. + +"Captain Leon has gone to meet a woman," said I. "It may be a trap, +and, if so, we must get him out of it. I can count upon your +discretion, sergeant?" + +He answered that he was altogether at my service, and I could see that +the prospect of an adventure pleased him greatly. + +"They are devils, these Russians," said he, "and it is just as well +that we should go. I trust we shall be in good time, major. The +regiment could not afford to lose Captain Leon. There is no better +officer in the Guards." + +I agreed with that. There was no better officer in the Guards. If he +were in any danger we must save him. So many had fallen in Moscow at a +woman's nod that I ceased to ask myself what part curiosity played in +this adventure. + +Sufficient that Leon had gone to dine with Nicholas, the Russian, who +had sworn a vendetta against every French officer in the city. + + +III + +It was nine o'clock when we left the barracks, and half an hour later +when the droshky rolled out upon the great north road to Petersburg. + +So hot was it that hundreds of our fellows were sleeping in the open +parks which abound on the border of the city, and their bivouac fires +glowed beneath the pines and showed many a scene of tipsy revelry. +With them were some of those women who cling to the skirts of an army +as flies to a pasty, and these hussies capered about the fires in song +and dance, while the sorriest music set them whooping like wild men at +a fair. We paid little attention to them, but thought rather of the +wide road ahead of us and of our unknown destination. + +Now, this was a hazardous journey, as any man who was with me in Moscow +will bear witness. + +It is true that the city and surrounding country were wholly in our +power; but we knew very well that bands of wild Cossacks ravaged the +neighbourhood and were ready enough to butcher any Frenchman they could +find. The road itself lay chiefly through pine woods, which afforded +good harbourage to these brigands, and more than once I thought that I +saw a horseman watching us as we went. When I mentioned as much to the +sergeant he pooh-poohed it, as such a man would, declaring that our own +patrols were in the district and would deal with such scum. + +"We are not worth powder and shot," he said with a laugh, "and, in any +case, we shall have the satisfaction of shooting the driver if anything +happens to us." + +This seemed to afford him some consolation. I noticed that he took out +his pistol and primed it, as though very ready to begin if the +miserable coachman afforded him any pretext. We, however, drove on +without event, and when we had covered perhaps a couple of leagues the +driver turned suddenly down a grassy path through the wood and +presently declared that we had reached our destination. + +It was not very dark here, and for the moment I thought that the fellow +had played a trick upon us. + +We appeared to have reached a veritable forest, great chestnut trees +taking the place of the pines and a wide pool shining under the moon's +rays where the roadway ended. Presently, however, I discerned the +glimmer of a lamp amidst a copse upon the right-hand side, and the +droshky driver indicated with his whip that it was the house which +Captain Leon had visited. + +An uglier place could not be imagined. The dark groves of stupendous +trees, the silent pool, the remote situation of the habitation, +affected me strangely. I was convinced by this time that my nephew had +fallen into a trap, and that we should be lucky men if we found him +alive. Even the imperturbable Bardot could not put a good face upon +it. He showed his pistol to the coachman and commanded him to stay +where he was. Then he followed me down the grove towards the house. + +I have told you that it was hidden in the trees; but this will give you +but a poor idea of its situation. We saw upon nearer approach that the +pool or lake was fed by a winding river, upon an island of which the +house was built, so that it was entirely surrounded by water, which a +mediaeval drawbridge spanned. + +The building itself had all the air of the keep of an ancient castle, +being no more than a great round tower built upon the island, with a +miserable outhouse at its foot and a barn-like structure to the south, +which served, I doubt not, for a stable. Save for a glimmer of light +which showed through a considerable loophole above the drawbridge, +there was no evidence of occupation either above or below. The place +seemed as silent as the grave; our own footsteps upon the sward were a +heavy sound upon the silence of that summer's night. + +To be sure, we approached very cautiously. We must have been at least +fifty paces from the water's edge when Bardot went down flat upon his +stomach and began to crawl towards the river. + +"If I whistle," he said, "come to me." + +I answered that I would; and after an interminable interval of waiting +I heard his signal. When I came up to his side he pointed to the +figure of a man who stood sentry beyond the bridge. + +"Look," he said. "The fellow is drunk. They are all drunk in this +cursed country. If we sounded the reveille he would not hear us. We +must go over and tell him so. You can swim, of course?" + +I shook my head, for the truth was I could not swim a stroke. When I +discovered that he was in a like predicament, the tragic irony of our +position began to be realised for the first time. There we were, fifty +paces from the door, behind which poor Leon might already be in +jeopardy. I knew now that the girl Valerie had not written the letter, +and this was just the trap I had supposed it to be. Yet there we +stood, as helpless as any child from a woodlander's hut. Even Bardot +could make nothing of it. + +"If I had known!" he would say, just as though it had been in my power +to tell him. Such folly angered me. I got up regardless of the risk +of discovery, and began to make my way back to the carriage. The man +should gallop back to Moscow, said I, and we would return within the +hour with a troop of cavalry, and this time we would bring our own +bridge. + +This was in my mind, though the despair of it needs no apology. + +"A thousand to one," I argued, "that Leon will not be alive when we +return; and yet we might avenge him!" + +A fierce desire to beat down the walls of the accursed house, to break +in upon the assassins and to butcher them where they stood, possessed +me as a fever. There was not a man in the regiment who, would not have +galloped through the night at Leon's call. Pity then if we might not +avenge him. + +This I had said, when another whistle from the river bank arrested my +attention and sent me back to Bardot. + +He still lay behind the bush which concealed us, and his hand was +raised in warning. When I rejoined him he pulled me down, and speaking +in a deep whisper, he bade me listen. A boat was being rowed across +the river. We saw it plainly in the moonlight--a great, crazy tub with +a frail girl for its pilot. It touched the bank some fifty yards from +the place where we lay hidden, and instantly the girl leapt from it and +disappeared in the brushwood. + +"Valerie St. Antoine, by all that is holy!" said I. + +The mystery was deepening truly, but we were nearer to it now, and +without a word spoken we strode toward the deserted boat and +immediately began to pull across the river. + + +IV + +Meanwhile what of Leon, and what had happened to him since he left +Moscow? I shall try to tell you in a few words, that you may +understand both his situation and ours, and the meaning of what was to +come after. + +The letter he had received was such as a soldier of the Guard is well +acquainted with, and he discovered in it nothing out of the ordinary. + +A pretty woman had fallen in love with him and desired to see him +again. There must have been two hundred who had done that since he +quitted Paris, yet few who drew from him so swift a response. + +Was not Mademoiselle Valerie a fellow-countrywoman, and had not these +two looked into each other's eyes as lovers are wont to do? + +I remembered the impression she had made upon him in the prince's +palace, and how he had sworn to hunt her out at Moscow; and I for one +could not wonder that his heart leapt when she wrote to him and named a +rendezvous to his liking. + +He was to dine with her, the letter said, and her carriage would carry +him to the barracks afterwards. He little knew the kind of journey +that it was meant to be, nor what would lie under the tarpaulin which +the assassins had made ready for him. + +So off goes our gay cavalier, dressed in his best and as cock-a-hoop as +a page-boy who has been kissed by a duchess. + +The warnings he received fell on deaf ears. He knew that the regiment +had lost good officers who went out upon just such a foolish errand as +this; but they had gone to Russian houses, while Valerie was a +Frenchwoman who bore an honoured name. There could be nothing to fear +in such society. He would dine with her and tell her what she most +desired to hear. This was a Guardsman's proper employment, and he +would not be doing his duty if he shirked it. To give him his due, +Leon was rarely remiss in these matters. + +So you will understand why he did not suspect anything--even when they +drove through the wood and came to the drawbridge. She would desire +secrecy, of course, and this place appeared to be a very citadel of +love. Leon merely remarked that aspect of it when he crossed the +bridge and the great gate which Ivan the Terrible had built was shut +upon him. + +She would be alone, and he would find her complacent. The words were +hardly said when he found himself face to face with Nicholas, the +princely assassin, whose name had struck terror to the heart of many a +French prisoner. Now a man trained to the surprises of war has some +command of himself whatever the circumstances. + +Leon was such a man, and you may be sure he did not betray himself. + +Though the peril of the situation was now fully revealed, and he +understood the trap into which he had fallen, what should he do but bow +in a grand manner to his Highness, and declare his pleasure at that +_rencontre_? The prince in his turn affected to be as agreeably +surprised. He apologised for the absence of Mademoiselle Valerie, whom +he declared to be confined to her room with an indisposition; and upon +that he led the way immediately to the great apartment in which the +supper was to be served. + +This was nothing else than the round tower which Ivan had built, and a +strange place it was, surely, for the entertainment of a man's friends. +Leon observed that the walls of the apartment were hung entirely in +black velvet, while at the northern arch there was a platform similarly +draped in black, but with its plain boards strewn with rushes, as they +strew a scaffold in my own country. So ominous was this that even my +nephew's sang-froid was hard put to it to forbear a remark; but the +prince smiled affably all the time, and appeared to be quite unaware +that there was anything extraordinary about this habitation. Leon +admitted that he spoke French like a fellow-countryman, and his first +act was to introduce my nephew to some dozen officers of the Russian +Guard who had come to the house to make merry with him. + +These were fine fellows, clad, as he, in the splendid white and gold +uniform of the Tsar's cuirassiers. They welcomed a brother officer +with professed cordiality, and the prince commanding that supper should +be served, they turned with one accord to the table and began to fall +upon the viands as though ravenous with hunger. Will you be surprised +to hear that Leon did not imitate them in this? I shall tell you why +in a word: he had seen a dead body in the straw upon the platform, and, +looking at it a second time, he perceived that it was a trunk without a +head. + +You may imagine what this discovery meant--even to a man of Leon's +disposition. At first he would have it that the whole thing was one of +Nicholas's jokes--the draping of the room, the straw upon the mock +scaffold, and the ghastly figure which the rushes tried to hide. Then +he remembered the prince's evil reputation and the stories of his +savagery, which had been told at many a bivouac. Here was one of those +fanatics who believed that Moscow was the holy city, and that we, the +French, were so many barbarians who had profaned the sacred shrine of +Russia. No trick was too treacherous to be employed against us, no +trap was not justified which had Frenchmen for its object. Again and +again, as we had marched across Russia, the throats of our fellows had +been cut in many a lonely farmhouse, and many a courtesan had lured +honest men to their destruction. + +So Leon sat there with his eyes fixed upon the body and the secret +words of warning drumming in his ears. What hope had he of escape from +such a place? He remembered the moat and the drawbridge, the lonely +wood and the dark groves about it, and despair fell upon him. It +remained but to die as the Guards know how; and, believing that his +death was imminent, he refused no longer the goblets of wine which were +offered to him, and affected a merriment as loud as that of the noble +assassins who had entrapped him. + +A remarkable feast, truly, as you shall: judge by his own account of +it. The meats! were served on dishes of solid gold; the goblets were +of the same precious metal. They drank champagne from our own kingdom +of France; the rich red wines of Italy, while the joyous fruits of the +Rhineland vineyards were not lacking. The food itself had an Eastern +flavour, and many of the dishes were highly spiced and Eastern. For +music there were fiddles in a gallery above, and even the distant +voices of women singing a light chanson at the back of the stage. + +Leon raised his eyes to the musicians' gallery from time to time, and +fell to wondering if Valerie were among the singers. Surely she had +never written the letter which brought him to this house--she, a +Frenchwoman! He could not believe it; and yet the note had been in a +woman's handwriting. Possibly the writer was one of those who now sang +disreputable songs behind the curtains of the gallery. Leon pitied +rather than condemned the poor wretch who had been the prince's +instrument. When he remembered that Valerie loved this man he could +have taken a knife from the table and killed him where he sat. + +His Highness may have guessed what was in the young man's mind, but if +he did so, a courtly art concealed it. Never was there a gayer +companion. He told stories of all the cities to which peace or war had +carried him--of our own Paris and gloomy Petersburg, of gay Vienna and +that monstrously dull town of London, of which the English boast. +Nearly all concerned the women of these places and the successes he had +had among them. + +His companions meanwhile listened with a deference which so high a +personage commanded. Their jokes were often _sotto voce_, and when the +prince laughed they laughed in sycophantine imitation. With all this +Leon plainly perceived that the feast was but a preparation for some +greater scene to come. His eyes went often now to the curtain above +the gallery, as though he would read a secret there. I do not think he +was astonished when for one brief instant the same curtain trembled and +was drawn a little way back, to disclose the face of Valerie. She was +in the house, then, after all! He began to believe that she had +written the letter, and for that he would have strangled her willingly. +Then he heard the prince speaking to him, and, the curtain being +dropped back, he turned to listen to a disquisition upon French +politics. + +"Your Revolution," said his Highness, "was the greatest event in +history. I have just been telling my friend, Count Rafalovitch here, +that my father was in Paris in the year 1794, and that his dearest +friend, the Chevalier Constantini, was executed by the miscreants on +the Place de la Greve. He brought with him to Russia a model of the +guillotine, by which so many of your great men perished. I have it +here in this house, if you are curious to see it. It was made by the +great Dr. Guillotin himself, one of the first to fall by his own +invention, as you know. Shall we have it built up on yonder platform, +M. le Capitaine? It will help us to pass the time until the musicians +have refreshed themselves." + +Now, all this was said pleasantly enough, as though it were the +merriest of jests, and yet to Leon it was not without significance. +The cat-like manner of the speaker; the sudden lust of blood which came +into his eyes as he leaned over the table and addressed my nephew; the +restless movements of the others round about; all betrayed a design so +dastardly that no pretence could conceal it. Instantly it dawned upon +Leon that the man whose body lay in the rushes had been murdered by +that very instrument. Death no Guardsman fears, but the humiliation of +such a death as this might have appalled the stoutest heart; and Leon +believed now that they meant to kill him. He drained the heavy goblet +of its wine to hide his face from those who watched him so curiously, +and when he had set the goblet down there was a smile upon his lips. + +"I should like to see it, by all means," he said to the prince. "It is +odd that I, a Frenchman, am so ignorant, but, upon my word of honour, I +have never met 'Dr. Guillotine' in all my life." + +"Then you shall meet him now," said his Highness, and touching a bell +upon the table, he summoned his servants to the room. + + +V + +Sergeant Bardot and myself, meanwhile, had crossed the river, as you +may well have guessed. We found the tub old and crazy, and were but +poor watermen. Yet we reached the parapet upon the farther side, and +clambering up, we stood and listened if any had discovered us. The +sentry, however, made no motion, and perceiving that he was drunk, as +we had imagined, we crept towards him and were upon him before he could +utter a sound. A moment later he went, a cloth about his mouth, +headlong into the moat below us, and we stood there watching his +struggles, his musket in Bardot's hands. + +It had been a swift coup, and some have complained of what we did. But +remember that this was a Russian stronghold, and that it imprisoned a +good comrade, and few will condemn us. It was our life or his, and we +did not hesitate for Leon's sake. I would do the same to-morrow for +the meanest trooper in the Emperor's army. + +I say that we killed the man, and yet for the moment the deed did not +help us. There was the great gate, shut and barred against the +stranger, and twenty men might not have opened it. If we beat upon it +and they answered us, what then? The house would be full of Russians, +and we were but two against them. By a stratagem alone could we save +Leon's life, and calling upon our wits, we began to make a tour of the +house to spy out its weaknesses if we could. + +These were not readily apparent. Even to an old soldier like Bardot +the place seemed impregnable. Everywhere the rugged stone walls +confronted us. There was no door other than that which the sentry had +guarded. The windows were so many slits in those ramparts of stone. +There was not even a water-pipe upon which a man could have got a +foothold. We could but stand there and gaze impotently upon that +prison which had defied the centuries. It was a torture to me to +remember that these impregnable walls answered for the liberty of one +so dear to me as my nephew. + + +VI + +I have told you that there had been a glimmer of light shining from a +loop-hole in the tower when first we drove up to the place. It was +beneath this we came to a halt and stood to reckon with the situation. +Bardot's eyes were quick as an animal's, and it was he who perceived a +second opening in the wall, but not so high as the other, and without a +light beyond to disclose it. When he suggested that he should climb up +on my shoulders and get a footing at this spot, I could but ask him +what he hoped to effect thereby. + +"Had you a rope," said I, "perchance we could look through the window, +but since you have not a rope----" + +He interrupted me with a little cry. "Major," says he, "there was a +rope in the boat." + +I retorted that we had used it to make the ship fast, but he laughed at +that. + +"We shall return by the drawbridge," says he. "Do you stand sentinel +here, and I will get what we want." And with that he was off like a +shot, and for some minutes I saw him no more. + +The interval was spent in listening to a sound of distant music, which +I could not hear very plainly. There were women's voices and the music +of fiddles, and it seemed to me that I had heard some of their songs in +the casinos of my own Paris. Such a surprise was very welcome and put +heart into me. Leon could hardly be in peril while women were singing +to him. I told Bardot as much when he returned, and his curiosity +concerning the voices was not less than my own. + +"Let us have a look at them," says he. And with that he climbed upon +my shoulders, and throwing the rope he had brought from the boat deftly +about the iron bar of the window he pulled himself up like a monkey, +and so gained a foothold on the ledge. + +For a long time now he did not utter a word. I thought that I heard +him laughing softly, and then, of a sudden, he appeared to grow deeply +interested in what was happening in the room. + +"What do you see, Bardot?" I asked him, anxiety getting the better of +me. + +He did not reply, but peered the closer betwixt the bars. + +"Oh!" cried I impatiently, "there will be some woman for a certainty." + +His answer was to take a pistol from his belt and to look to the +priming. I could see him quite clearly, one arm being about the iron +bar and the other upon the trigger, which he had cocked. + +"Good God!" I cried. "You will bring them out on us." + +He did not heed me, but throwing his head back, he said in a loud +whisper: "They are going to butcher your nephew." At the same moment I +heard a dreadful scream from the tower itself. + +"Help me up!" cried I, gone mad at my own impotence. "Why do you not +fire at them?" + +He nodded his head, and thrusting his pistol through the bars, he +snapped at an unseen enemy. The weapon did not fire, and he threw it +down to me angrily. "Your own," he cried, and came a little way down +the rope to reach it. + +The next minute there was a loud report, and upon that a hollow sound, +as though a great bell had been struck a heavy blow by a hammer. + +"Now," cried Bardot quickly, "to the bridge!" + +I did not question him, and we ran round together to fling down the +bridge, the windlass running out with the sound of a great ship's +cable. It seemed inconceivable that the Russians in the place did not +attack us. This, however, did not happen. + +We ran across the bridge and there crouched as two hunters who +themselves were hunted. + +"Listen!" says Bardot, bending his ear to the earth. + +I imitated him, and heard a strange sound. It was the thunder of +cavalry through the wood. + +"The Cossacks!" cried I. It seemed to me then that I should never see +poor Leon again. + + +VII + +Within the tower the prince was now introducing my nephew to "Dr. +Guillotine." + +All the resources of a barbarous masquerade were employed in this sorry +entertainment. + +The stage itself would have served for a miniature Theatre Francais. +Brawny Cossacks, clad like the _sansculottes_ of the Revolution, +swarmed up on the mock scaffold and cried curses upon their prisoner. +The executioner was a huge Tartar with a monstrous black beard and a +knife at his girdle. The knitting women of the Place de la Greve were +not forgotten. A bevy of hags squatted about the platform and pointed +their lean fingers at the miserable prisoner. + +Had Leon a doubt hitherto as to the meaning of this foul business, it +must have surrendered at the moment when he recognised one of his old +troopers among the mock condemned, and perceived that the Russians +meant to kill him. + +Leaping to his feet, he cried an oath upon the outrage and commanded +them to stop. + +It was a vain outburst. Two of the prince's men had him by the arms at +the first movement and pinned him to his chair, while his Highness +derided his courage. + +"Here is a French Guardsman who has a woman's heart," said he, his +fellows shouting with ironic laughter at the sally. "We give him a +little play, such as we have seen in Paris, and behold! he is ready to +faint. A glass of wine, Michael, for the poor gentleman! Do you not +see how ill he is?" + +A goblet of wine was offered to and spurned by my nephew. He perceived +that he was helpless and that the reputation of the Guards lay in his +keeping. It remained to bear himself with what dignity he could, and +turning to the prince, he exclaimed very coolly: "I apologise to your +Highness, for it is not possible that you can be in earnest." And so +he watched the drama to the end. + +They had now dragged the struggling hussar to the plank of the +guillotine and thrown and bound him there. Very deliberately they +pushed him beneath the great knife, and then, all crying "Death to the +French!" the blade fell and silenced for ever the shrieks of the +unhappy wretch they had butchered. + +Leon declares that from this moment Prince Nicholas was little better +than a madman. His cries of "Bravo!" were such as the insane might +have uttered. Clutching my nephew by the arm, he dragged him to the +scaffold, saying: + +"You do not know 'Dr. Guillotine'? Come and be introduced, then. Come +and hear his music. You are a Frenchman and ignorant? Impossible, my +friend, impossible." + +So he raved, while all in the room took up the cry of "Impossible!" and +began to shout and dance in their drunken frenzy like madmen. + +Leon fought for his life then as he had never fought before in all wars +our Emperor has waged. A strong man, he threw even the Cossacks from +him, struck them senseless with any weapon that came to his hands, and +was up and down like a cork upon a billow; but all useless, as you may +well imagine. + +When they got him to the scaffold he knew that his hour had come, and a +great calm possessed him. + +"I congratulate the Prince of the Assassins," said he to his Highness. +"It is only in such a country as this that the butchers are ennobled." +And with that he walked straight towards the executioner and held out +his hands. + +The man seized him as though he were a sheep. The prince himself began +to raise the knife by the rope and to caress its gleaming edge. Surely +Leon had but a moment to live. He thought as much, and a passionate +desire for life set him trembling. That he, so young, he whom so many +loved, he to whom day was so fair a thing and the night but a witchery +of woman's eyes--that he should perish here, butchered by the insane in +an hour of their frenzy! God surely would not permit such a crime as +that! Alas! he had forgotten how to pray these many years, and he but +stood there, defying them as any one of his Majesty's Guards would have +done. + +"Assassins!" he cried; and then, as a challenge: "There is not one of +you that would dare to cross swords with me!" + +They but laughed at him the more, and the prince now pulled the knife +so high that all in the room could see it. He was still laughing; but +some glimmer of reason had come to him, and that spirit of vengeance +which animated him could no longer be denied. + +"You murdered twenty thousand honest people with your guillotine in +Paris," says he to Leon, as though a hussar of the year 1812 could be +responsible for what was done in Paris twenty years before. "Now you +must come here to burn the Holy City. Very well; we are going to teach +you a lesson." + +He turned to the executioner, and giving him the sign, the wretch threw +Leon upon the plank. + +It was then that Bardot, at the window, fired his pistol and struck the +great bell high in the tower above. How much would I have given could +I have been at his side at that moment. All that I heard were the loud +shouts of surprise, the cries of one man to the other that this was an +ambush, and, above all, the prince's screams when the great knife fell +and severed his arm at the elbow as neatly as any surgeon could have +done. + +Such was the truth. At the moment of the alarm Prince Nicholas had +loosed the rope, and, trying to catch it again, he stumbled forward and +the great blade caught him by the elbow, and his hand and arm went +rolling to the floor. + +With a loud cry Leon now wrenched himself from his executioners. All +were making for the gate of the tower, for they believed that the +French were upon them, and no man thought of anything but his own +safety. + + +VIII + +Bardot and myself believed that the Cossacks were galloping to the +place, and we lay in the shadow of the bridge, hardly daring to breathe +lest the Russians in the house should discover us. When the latter +came headlong out of the tower this alarm seemed unnecessary, for it +was plain they were making for the forest. + +"In five minutes," I said, "they will meet their fellows and all return +again to the butchery." + +I little knew that Valerie St. Antoine had found the droshky in the +wood, and commanding the driver in the name of Prince Nicholas, had +driven at full gallop to the barracks to bring help to her countrymen. + +Such was the case, however, and the men who now rode to Ivan's Tower +were of Leon's own troop; honest fellows who swore a bitter vengeance +while they rode. They fell upon the Russians at the heart of the wood, +and what they did there is best told at a bivouac. I went immediately +to the tower and looked there for my nephew. + +When I found him he lay senseless upon the scaffold, and at first I +thought he was dead. The Guard, however, is obstinate in refusing to +die, and when we had forced brandy between his lips and had bathed his +forehead, he opened his eyes and asked where he was. + +This I feared to tell him, but presently he sat up and looked about him. + +"Ah!" he said, "I remember." And then he asked: "Where is Valerie St. +Antoine?" + +"She should be in Moscow by this time," said I. "Why do you ask?" + +"Because," said he, "I am still looking for her, mon oncle." + +I shook my head. It seemed to me that the young woman in question had +proved herself to be but the harbinger of ill. And yet I could see +that my nephew's mind was made up, and that what he had done to-night +he would do again if Valerie St. Antoine did but lift her pretty hand +to beckon him. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE TREASURE IN THE WOODS + +I + +It was on the 18th day of October in the year 1812 that we first heard +of His Majesty's intention to abandon Moscow. + +This came to us as a very great surprise. + +It is true that we had had a terrible time in the city, which was now +become a ruin, the convicts having burned down a great part of it; but +we had learned to make the best of affairs and what with our plunder +and our pleasures the time went merrily enough. I myself was perhaps +the hardest-worked man in the regiment. So many people were burned by +the fires in Moscow, so many were injured in the street brawls, that +the hospitals were quite full, and I rarely knew a moment of leisure. + +My nephew, Captain Leon, was situated very differently. There was +hardly a day that he did not tell me of some new adventure with a +woman, and when I would reproach him he reminded me that I had been +young myself and should know the habits of a soldier better. + +This was in Moscow after Valerie St. Antoine had done us so great a +service upon a memorable night. Though Leon watched for her and +offered five hundred francs to any man who would tell him of her +whereabouts, he never saw her again while we were in the city, and when +we did meet her this great army of ours was but a skeleton. + +How little we foresaw the doom awaiting us when we quitted Moscow on +that sunny October day! + +Everything went as merry as a marriage bell then. We knew that we were +returning to our own France and we cared not a scudo for the reason. +The Emperor, we said, had been too much for these wily Russians, and +they had surrendered everything. The truth was far otherwise--it was +the Russians who had been too clever for us, and burning down their +beautiful city, had left us to a woeful fate. Of this I am now about +to speak to you. + + +II + +The story begins with a woman, as it began aforetime when we entered +the city. + +There had been three days of beautiful weather when we of the Guard +rode in fine spirits toward our own country and gave no thought but to +the plunder we were carrying out of Russia. + +I myself had many a good thing in the wagon, and I remember well a +great gold plate set with diamonds, which had been torn from Ivan's +Cross when we tried to pull it down from the cathedral in the Kremlin. + +The men themselves were loaded with pretty trinkets, and carried furs +enough to clothe Paris. The costliest skins--ermine and sable and lion +and bear--were used for every conceivable purpose; and it is no wonder +that the army was followed by thousands of Jews, waiting to buy these +treasures when their owners should be weary of them. + +Truly would I say that such a scene as our exit from Moscow was never +written before in the story of warfare, nor will ever be written again. + +Imagine a great white wooded plain, a sandy road at the heart of it, +and upon this road an interminable procession of carts and wagons to +carry the baggage of the Grand Army. + +Upon either side in the fields go cavalry and infantry, every man's +knapsack packed with loot, the commonest troopers sucking the rarest +liqueurs from costly bottles, the poorest fellows smoking pipes with +bowls of gold and tobacco that only princes should have been able to +afford. All was hope and gaiety. Paris lay twelve hundred leagues +from us, yet to Paris and our homes we were going. Who shall wonder if +the trumpets blew a merry blast and the bands set our feet dancing? +Was not the Emperor in our midst, and should we not return in a blaze +of glory? + +In such content we marched for three days. There was not much +discipline observed, and the men were permitted to go pretty well as +they pleased, it being always understood that the dreaded Cossacks were +on our flank and that any foolhardiness might bring a disaster upon us. +This kept the stragglers more or less in touch with the main body of +the army; but sometimes we officers would ride away into the woods to +see what kind of hospitality we could find at a country house and to +enjoy it according to our opportunities. + +It was on such an occasion that Leon and I first met Zayde, and came +near to losing our lives because of her. I must tell you of this +before going on to speak of the other days which followed, when the +north wind began to blow and all that wide landscape lay under its veil +of the cruel snow. + +We had been riding through a shady wood about a mile from the high road +to Smolensk. Someone had discovered that there was a famous old +monastery in the district noted for its hospitality; and although we +expected little from any Russian monk, we were quite able to help +ourselves should the opportunity be offered. This quest carried us +farther and farther away from our comrades, until at last we appeared +to have lost the road altogether, and to be as far away from any +monastery as ever we were in all our lives. My own thought was for +going back immediately, but the younger head would hear nothing of it, +and my nephew protested loudly that I was becoming a coward. + +"It is the good living in Moscow that has destroyed your nerve, uncle," +said he. "How could we be better off than we are in this place? Soft +grass to gallop on, shady trees above, and the sun shining as though it +were mid-summer in our own France. We shall come to the monastery +presently, and they will give us wine that Adam brewed. There will be +plenty of loot to add to our saddle-bags, and perhaps there will be +sisters to comfort us. Why should we go back? The road is over there +any time we have a fancy to rejoin it." + +I retorted by reminding him that the Cossacks were out, and that we +might encounter them at any time. More than once I thought that I +heard a distant sound of galloping, and I drew rein to call his +attention to it. But he would not listen to me, and still riding +southwards, as it seemed, he pulled up at length and cried in real +astonishment: + +"Why, uncle, what did I tell you? Here is Cleopatra herself and her +treasures with her, as I am alive!" + +I came up to him and saw what had arrested his attention. There was a +deep pit before us and in it a Cossack and a woman. The former sprang +up at our coming, and drawing a pistol from his belt, he snapped it at +Leon's head. Happily the powder did not fire, and seeing that we were +two to one, the fellow hurled the weapon at my nephew's horse and +immediately bolted for the shelter of the woods. + +So we were alone with the lady and her treasure, and this, at a modest +estimate, must have been worth half a million of francs. + + +III + +I have never seen such riches spread in a green wood before, nor am I +likely to do so if I live to a hundred years. + +Consisting of jewels chiefly, there were other objects there and all +precious beyond words. + +Great ropes of Eastern pearls, diamonds and emeralds; Indian images in +solid gold; the most wonderful robes of ermine and sable; jewelled +scabbards that should have come from Damascus--all these lay littered +upon the grass by the side of the impassive woman, who now looked at us +with the eyes of a child and uttered no word either of protest or of +appeal. + +Certainly she was a remarkably beautiful creature. + +Not more than seventeen years of age, she had hair as golden as the +sands of the sea, the white skin of the Circassian and the dark eyes of +the Persian beauty. + +Her dress was an odd compromise between the East and the West. + +She had baggy breeches of blue silk, high riding-boots of Russian +leather, a white and gold coat to her waist, and the kepi of the +Austrian hussar. Over all she wore a superb cloak of ermine which +would have brought a fortune could it have been sold in our own Paris. + +Such was the apparition which confronted us in that lonely wood. + +Needless to say that we were both greatly moved by it; Leon chiefly, I +fear, by the girl's big eyes; I by the wonders of the treasure which +lay about her. To go down into the pit and to introduce ourselves was +the work of an instant. Leon told her briefly that he was a French +officer, and he begged leave to protect her. To this she answered not +a word; but I could see that she was not displeased, and presently with +a child's laugh she dragged him down beside her. + +I know Leon so well, and have seen so many women fall a victim to his +pleasing airs that this act did not surprise me as much as it should +have done. None the less, I was astonished when presently the girl +bade me sit also, and turning to one of the great bags beside her, she +produced food and wine and set it before us. + +The odd thing was that she could not speak a word of any language with +which we tried her. + +Of Russian I had learned a few sentences during our stay in Moscow, and +German I spoke with some fluency; but neither the one nor the other was +the slightest use; nor, need I say, had she any French. Thus we came +to signs and mouthing, in which my nephew appeared to be so proficient +that he was kissing her within twenty minutes of the encounter and +hugging her like a bear before the meal was done. + +Well, we finished the meal, and then, pointing to the wood, indicated +to the girl that we must go. She had tried to tell us her name, which +we made out to be something like Zoida or Zayde, and we asked her as +well as we could to accompany us on our road and let us help her with +the treasure. The astonishing thing was that she appeared almost +indifferent to the existence of the latter, laughing like a child when +we pointed to it, and throwing the diamonds about as though they had +been pebbles. This angered me, for I saw the worth of the stuff; and +presently, speaking in a wrathful tone, I commanded her to pack the +things in the box from which they had been taken and to follow us. The +new turn appeared to alarm her not a little, and she sat crouching +there like a frightened gnome while Leon and I put the things in their +cases and began to pack them upon our horses. How they came to be in +that remote wood we knew no more than the dead; but it would clearly +have been a crime to leave them there, and indeed we had not gone many +paces upon the road before the secret of their presence was discovered. + +There was at an open glade of the forest a kind of amphitheatre crossed +by a road to some southern town. + +A wrecked coach stood at the junction, and all about it were the signs +of a bloody combat. + +I had been riding before the others at this particular moment, and my +horse nearly stumbled over the body of an elderly man who had been shot +in the head and his brains blown out. Near by lay his coachman, +stabbed in many places and quite dead. Of the horses of the coach +there was not a trace, and it was now plain to me that the treasure had +come from it, and that this elderly man had been escaping southward +when the robbers overtook him. Naturally I turned to the girl and +began to question her angrily. She merely shook her head and shut her +eyes, as though afraid to look upon the corpse. It was to say that she +had had no hand in that bloody affair, and so much I could readily +believe. + +"Good heavens!" said I to Leon, "what an infamy, and more than that, +what a mystery!" + +He did not agree with me at all. A ready instinct told him what had +happened. + +"The carriage stuck in the sand yonder," said he. "The servants went +for horses to a neighbouring farm. This girl here may have been with +them as a servant or she may not. The fellow who murdered them was the +one we found with her in the wood. It is as simple as an open book, my +dear uncle." + +"Then," said I, "we will write the end of the story. Of course we must +wait until the others return." + +"What?" cried he; "with the night coming down and the Cossacks in the +woods! That would be madness indeed, my uncle." + +And then he added with a laugh, "The old gentleman is in heaven and is +in no need of diamonds. We shall know very well what to do with them +when we get in Paris. Let us make haste before we are discovered." + +He did not wait for me to reply, but holding the girl close to him on +the saddle he trotted on through the wood, and I followed him +reluctantly. + +We were as rich as Croesus, yet how we were going to get out of the +forest, where we should find the army, or what chance we had of +carrying our treasure to Paris, I knew no more than the dead. + + +IV + +The way now lay through a wide avenue--one of the most beautiful I had +seen in Russia. The grass lay smooth and green, and bore no trace of +the relentless summer. We might have been in the precincts of some +princely chateau, and we were not at all surprised presently when we +came upon a considerable building which had all the air of one of those +picturesque monasteries in which Russia abounds. Had we any doubt of +this, a great gilt dome with a Greek cross high above it would have +settled it; for never have I seen a more beautiful object than this +golden ball glistening amid the woods as though its heart were of fire, +while a celestial radiance shone all about it. To Leon, however, it +merely stood for a place whereat we might get food and drink. + +"These monks are very decent fellows," he said; "they know how to +entertain strangers. The regiment will bivouac not far from here, and +we may just as well stay the night in yonder building as sleep in a +mouldy barn. Cheer up, uncle, and think of the good wine you are about +to drink. It's the luckiest thing that could have happened to us." + +I looked at the girl in his arms and wondered if he spoke truly. + +We were now within a quarter of a mile of the building and could see a +portcullis and a gate from which men on horseback were riding out. +When they approached nearer it was plain that they were the servants of +the dead man whose body lay in the woods behind us; and observing this +we drew aside behind the trees to let them pass. It was evident that +they had told the story of their trouble to the good monks in yonder +building; and some of the latter, clad in brown habits with white cords +about their waists, were going down to their assistance. + +I noticed that the servants were five in number and were all heavily +armed. Obviously they must have been men of little sense to have left +their master alone with a bandit in such a place and so to have +contributed to his death. The same idea occurred to Leon, who did not +fail to point out to me the nature of the peril from which he had saved +the girl, who now lay trembling in his arms. + +"They would have cut her to pieces if we had not come up," said he. +"We are doing a work of mercy, mon oncle, in saving her from them. Let +us get on to the monastery and tell our own story. Of course we know +nothing of any carriage or its owners; we are just officers of the +Grand Army, and if we are not treated properly our comrades will see to +it. I count it very fortunate that things have turned out so. We +shall get an excellent dinner and a good night's rest, and to-morrow we +shall be with the regiment again. Could anything be better?" + +He seemed well pleased enough, and I did not know what answer to make +to him. As for the Eastern woman, common sense said that he would send +her about her business in the morning; but not until he had made sure +that she could go in safety. These things pertain to war, and it is +not possible to disguise them. Leon was just as fifty thousand others +who marched at the Emperor's summons, neither better nor worse; and if +there be any excuse to be made for him, it is that he had a sentiment +towards the sex which was rarely lacking in nobility. + +"Let no man consider himself happy until he is dead," said I, imitating +the philosopher; and with that I pressed on at his side until we came +to the gate of the monastery, and nothing remained but to tell our +story to the good monks within. This was easier than might have +seemed, for they had no word of our own tongue and we none of theirs. +It was a matter of gesture from the beginning, and in this we excelled +them without question. But first let me speak of the building we now +entered. + +The monastery covered some three acres of ground. There were a few +tilled fields about it and a considerable courtyard in the Eastern +fashion. The chapel was a rude imitation of the Church of St. Ivan at +Moscow, and had a similar cross, though of smaller size, upon its +gilded dome. + +The whole enclosure had been heavily walled about as a protection +against any raiding bands of brigands; and there were even ancient +cannon upon its battlement. Although lacking a moat, there was a big +pool or lake before its main gate, and this was spanned by a primitive +bridge with a portcullis beyond it. Here we found the keeper of the +gate, a sturdy bearded monk, filthy in aspect if servile in manner. He +seemed not a little awed by our uniform and equipment, but when he +caught sight of the girl on Leon's saddle, a broad grin animated his +features and he no longer delayed to open. + +So we rode into a small courtyard and there tethered our horses. The +chapel lay to the south of this, and there came to us rude sounds of +Gregorian chanting, which is the fashion in their Church, and very +melodious when executed by the best singers. Those who now recited the +sacred office were not of such a class, and their barbarous voices +suggested that we were in Araby rather than in civilised Europe. This, +however, did not concern us. Our desire was for food and shelter, and +following a monk into a vast refectory we signified our wants to him +and commanded him to satisfy them. In his turn he did not appear +unwilling to oblige us, and motioning us to sit at the table, he went +from the refectory and left us alone. + +Now I should tell you that the girl Zayde had entered this monastery +with some reluctance, and in spite of Leon's endearments she seemed +very ill at ease while we remained there. Leon, on the other hand, had +found his best spirit, and was in the mood for any adventure which +might come to him. Perhaps the church and the habit suggested the +absurdity on which he now set his heart, for, turning to me suddenly, +he said: + +"How now, my uncle, is not this the very place for a wedding? What +would you say if I told you that I was going to marry Zayde? Is she +not beautiful enough? Look at her and tell me honestly what you think." + +I answered that he was making a fool of himself and bade him be silent. +The girl half understood his meaning, I think, for the colour came and +went from her pretty face, and she watched him with eyes that plainly +acquiesced in any such determination. None the less his words offended +me, and I did not wish to hear them repeated. Though these monks were +not of my own religion, I respected them, and would not have profaned +their holy building. So much Leon must have learned from my looks, for +he slapped me gaily upon the shoulder and said that I was not born to +be a jester. + +"What is marriage, my uncle?" he asked. "A few words gabbled by the +priest, and neither the one nor the other caring a pin's point about +them. Why should I not marry Zayde? She is young, and, I will wager, +well born. I am a bachelor and free to do what I please. What is +there to prevent my making her my wife if I choose?" + +I rejoined that he had said the same thing of Valerie St. Antoine, and +at the mention of her name he flushed and became a little serious. + +"Valerie St. Antoine is dead," said he; "why do you remind me of her?" + +"Because in my hearing you swore to her to marry no other woman." + +"Oh, my dear uncle, how easily one imposes upon you!" And at the same +thought he burst out laughing, and catching the girl in his arms, he +kissed her as though she were already much more to him than an +acquaintance of the roadside. + +It was at this point that the monk returned to us, followed by many of +his brethren. They were all rugged men, bearded and of evil +countenance, and I perceived in a moment that they recognised us for +what we were--the enemies and the invaders of their country. Not a +sign of hospitality did we detect upon any one countenance in that +formidable group. They swarmed about us as though willing enough to do +us a mischief if they dared, and so threatening became their manner +that we both drew our swords, and Leon a pistol as well. + +This put a new complexion on the affair. The most part of them now +stood back a little, while their prior, a venerable man with a great +gold cross on his breast, held out his hands as though in supplication +and addressed us rapidly in the Russian tongue. When he discovered +that we could only answer him in monosyllables he made a gesture of +despair, and turning to the keeper of the refectory, he gave him an +order whose nature was soon apparent. The fellow left the room, but +returned anon with three flagons of their native wine and some vast +loaves of black bread, which seems to be the only sort procurable in +this God-forsaken country. These viands were set upon the table and we +were bidden to eat and drink, while the monks stood about and watched +us very curiously. + +I have told you that all these faces were strangely alike, as is ever +the case when men are old and bearded and of the same nationality. One +face, however, struck me as familiar. It was that of a young monk who +tried to hide himself amid his brethren, but when I would have verified +my suspicions, he turned his back upon me and left the room without +remark. The others continued to force their meagre hospitalities upon +us, offering the wine freely, but keeping it, I observed, from the girl +at their side. She, indeed, appeared to be _anathema maranatha_ to +these holy men. Perhaps it was the first time that a woman had ever +sat to bread in their refectory; but however it may have been, it was +grotesque to find them afraid so much as to touch the hem of her +garment, and as curious about her as though she had been a wild animal +in a menagerie. + +Their antics made Leon laugh incontinently, and his laughter was shared +by the girl, though not as freely as might have been expected from such +a lady. To me it seemed that she had become aware suddenly of some +peril in the place and was anxious to be gone from it. I observed her +pluck Leon by the arm and make an appeal to him of a kind I could but +imagine. When he told me in a whisper that she spoke French after all, +needless to say I was very much astonished. + +"Very well," said I, "she will understand your love-making now." + +He agreed that it was so. + +"The priests will marry us after dinner," says he, "and we will take +her to Smolensk. What an adventure, my uncle! Is not war the father +of all adventures, as I have often told you?" + +I made some commonplace remark and tried to stay the hand of the monk, +who was refilling my glass with very fiery spirit. Truth to tell, this +now mounted to my head, as it had mounted to Leon's already, and +presently the scene before me became confused and unreal, while the +walls were reeling before my eyes and the roof threatening to fall on +my head. I detest a drunkard, and this condition occurred to me as +very shameful. On the other hand, I had drunk but little of their wine +and could not account for my condition; but when I called to the monks +for water they proffered me a drink of another kind, and so potent was +this that I lost consciousness almost immediately, and must have slept +for many hours before I came to my senses again. + + +V + +It must have been near midnight when this happened, and the moonlight, +shining in the glade where I lay, soon showed me that I was alone. + +Oddly enough, the monks had carried me to the very place where the +carriage had been robbed, and when I got the stiffness out of my limbs +and the dizziness out of my head I perceived that this was as we had +left it, and the scene unchanged, save that the dead had been carried +away. I knew the place to be but a quarter of a mile from the +monastery, and wondered why they had carried me so far. But chiefly I +began to think of my nephew and the girl, and to speculate upon their +fortunes. + +It was no light thing to be left there in the forest with the Cossacks +all about and my regiment bivouacked God knows where, and a chance of +being eaten by wolves into the bargain. On the other hand, I had a +great fear for Leon, and was almost ready to believe that they had +killed him in the monastery. Certainly such fellows would have done +anything for the treasure, and very possibly Leon's head had been +stronger than mine and he had contested its possession with them; in +which case I did not doubt they had slain him, and the fact that I was +alone seemed to warrant the supposition. + +Now this was troubling me, and I had a great fear both of the place and +of the hour, when I heard a sound of voices in the glade, and presently +made out the figures of horsemen moving amid the trees. + +At first I took them to be Cossacks, and was about to make off as best +I could, when to my great surprise and pleasure I heard Leon himself +calling to me. Never was the sound of a voice more welcome. + +"Leon!" I cried, and running up to him I found myself surrounded by a +squadron of the Red Hussars, in the midst of whom Leon himself was +riding his own horse and leading mine by the bridle. + +"Well met, my uncle!" says he, in his boyish humour. "And so they have +not put the habit on you after all. We have ridden three leagues in +quest of you, and here you are at the very door. Well, that is lucky, +for time presses, and there is good work to do. What do you say to a +little fire to warm our hands on such a night?" + +I told him that it would be an excellent thing, though I had then no +idea of his meaning. His affection for me was very real, and while his +speech made a jest of it, I could see how pleased he was that he had +found me in the wood. + +"It was that cursed liquor of theirs," says he. "I have never drunk +its like. We must have both dropped off like children in a cradle, and +then they carried us out. I woke up God knows where, and but for these +good fellows I might still be in the same place. Now we are going to +teach the holy friars a lesson. Do you realise that they have got the +woman and her jewels, and we must burn them out to recover them? Come +along, my uncle. Here is an adventure that is only just beginning." + +He seemed greatly pleased with himself, and rode jauntily enough, as +though the event were greatly to his liking. My own wit had grown a +little clearer by this time, and I could acquiesce in his determination +to have it out with the monks. After all, they were not of our faith, +and they had treated us very scurvily. The girl was no business of +theirs, and even if the treasure had been looted, they had neither part +nor lot in the affair. It was plainly our duty to teach them a lesson +and to recover the property which the fortunes of war had bestowed upon +us; and with this in our minds we rode up to the gate of the monastery +and beat upon it insistently. + +"No more of their liquor for me," says Leon, as he snapped a pistol in +the lock of the great gate and then pulled their bell furiously. "We +will give them a taste of our vintage and see if it goes to their +heads. If it doesn't, I fancy that a prick from the point of a sword +may well go somewhere else. Rest assured, dear uncle, we will have our +pockets full of diamonds before the day breaks, and the girl upon my +saddle-bow. Let us see what kind of a chant these holy men like best. +Upon my word, they sleep like dogs after a hunting!" + +Truly it was surprising that, after all the hullabaloo we had made, no +one opened to us. The great monastery showed no light of any kind +whatever. Both doors and windows were heavily barred as though against +a ruthless invader, and listen as we might we could hear no sound +within. The subterfuge merely angered Leon. He began to understand +that even a squadron of hussars is powerless against a barrier of iron, +and that for all we could do to the holy men within we might as well +have been in Moscow. This, as I say, had not occurred to him before, +and he now rode round and round the precincts as though there must be +some loophole in the vast wall which defied us, some gate which the +carbines of the company could force. We found none, and the men's +chagrin was undisguised. They had been promised food and loot if they +took the place, and yet they were as far from taking it as any child +would have been. + +"You will never do it," said I to Leon. "The wolves have gone to +ground, and nothing but fire will fetch them out. You should have +brought a gun, my boy; that would have made short work of them." + +He admitted it, and began to blame himself for his stupidity. The +artillery, according to his reckoning, was three leagues from the +place; but presently one of the hussars remembered that some of Marshal +Ney's guns were with the van of the rearguard and could not be farther +than a league from the place. + +"We can have them here by dawn," said the fellow, and there being +nothing else for it we dispatched half a dozen of them at full gallop +to bring a field piece to the place. The gunners, we said, would come +readily enough when the story of the loot was told to them. Never had +I known one of the Grand Army turn from that, whatever the circumstance. + +So the men rode off and left us upon the edge of the lake which +bordered the eastern wall of the monastery. + +Though the day had been warm enough, the night fell intolerably cold, +and we wrapped ourselves in our cloaks, and having tethered the horses, +fell to walking round the monastery as though it would yet reveal its +secrets. Impossible to believe that a treasure of half a million +francs and one of the most beautiful women in Russia were locked up in +that gloomy place, and we, Velites and hussars of the Grand Army, +impotent to get one or the other. Yet such was a fact and such the +cunning of the monks that neither light was shown to us nor a footstep +to be heard in all the hours of our vigil. + +Dawn had come before the hussars returned with half a battery from +Ney's own rearguard. We heard the sound of the horses in the wood, and +anon the heavy wheels of the guns crunching over the gravel of the +precincts. Then also we heard for the first time a signal from the +monastery, the great bell of which began to toll mournfully, as though +holding a requiem for the dead. The sound inspired us and brought +every man to his feet. + +"The birds are caged after all," said I to Leon. "We will now see how +they can fly." + + +VI + +The bridge across the lake was not stout enough to carry a gun; but we +quickly had three upon the brink of the water, and at the third +discharge we brought down the great door of wood and iron and not a +little of the masonry with it. Such a ragout of rusty iron and plaster +saints did not disturb us at all; and running triumphantly across the +bridge, we entered the monastery, swords drawn, to ferret out the monks. + +Let me tell you in a word that we found no human being within the +place. From room to room we ran, crying to each other in chapel and +refectory and deserted cell, and hearing nothing but our own voices in +reply. Such a mystery was beyond any I had known. The monks were +here, we said, or else the devil himself had rung their bell. Nay, +there were traces of their recent occupation--rude beds just disturbed; +a faint fire in a primitive kitchen; the very candles lighted before +the icons or images in their chapel. Yet not so much as the girdle of +a monk in all the place, and as for the treasure, I do not believe the +fiend himself could have found a sou. + +Well, there we were, some eighty men gathered in the morning light and +looking as foolish as school lads surprised in an orchard. + +When our first rage had somewhat calmed, reason began to assert itself, +and we said that there must be some passage beneath the lake by which +the fathers had gone out. This caused a new quest of a highly +diverting kind, for now it was every ferret to find a hole, and never +did men work more willingly. To and fro they went like hounds in a +thicket. Panels they tried and traps in cellars they lifted. Walls +were pierced with our swords and doors were beat down, until the place +looked as though it had stood the ravages of a siege. Yet the mockery +of it all was that we might as well have hunted diamonds in the Place +de la Revolution at Paris. Not a trace of any secret passage did we +find, not a hole large enough to pass a dog; and when after hours of +labour we came to the conclusion that the mystery was beyond us, a +similar hunt in the woods yielded no more profit. Scattering wide +about the monastery in enlarging circles, we must have ridden twenty +leagues a man before we gathered at sunset to remind each other that +the Cossacks might trap us and that we must rejoin the army at all +costs. The graver peril guiding us, we rode off reluctantly, and soon +the fateful monastery and even the woods about it were lost to our view. + +Night had fallen for the second time now, and we had entered a land of +great spaces. But more than that, we were traversing an enemy's +country, and anon we espied a large body of Cossacks--three thousand as +we judged--who plainly had observed us and immediately sat down to the +pursuit. This was a turn that we might have looked for, but, in our +imprudence, had risked. It was now each for himself and the devil take +the laggards. We should be sabred to a man if these assassins rode us +down, and, with a cry of "En avant!" we set spurs to our jaded horses +and rode wildly across the plain. God alone could tell whether we +should find the army or lose it. + +It was a race for life with night and the mystery of night all about us. + +How to tell you, of that memorable gallop I hardly know. No race at +Chantilly ever found horses so tired or riders at such a tension. On +we thundered, and on and on. Now we would cry that we were saved; +again that all was lost. The dust enveloped us in clouds; the moon +magnified the great plain we must cross to the woods beyond. Let us +gain them and we might find the army after all. I had said as much +when a figure pressed out of the hurly-burly and I knew it for that of +a Cossack. He slashed at me with a great scimitar, and slashed again. +Then I heard a pistol shot, and seeing the fellow reeling in his +saddle, I cut him through the skull to the very marrow. He was but the +first of twenty, and so we went riding and slashing and halloaing for a +league or more until we had bested their leaders and were alone on the +great plain once more. Alas! how brief a respite! We had thousands +still to deal with, and they rode after us like devils. No sailors +lost upon a black and stormy sea went more blindly than we upon that +fateful night. The army had vanished; we believed no longer that we +should find it. + +Meanwhile, there were always the green devils behind us. I should give +no true picture of this affair if I denied that there was another side +to it. Some of our men fell and were hacked to pieces where they lay. +Others were overtaken and cut down by the ruthless swords of the +Cossacks. We could not lift a finger to save them--ten would have +perished for one who fell had we done so. Our one hope lay in the +swiftness of our horses. "En avant!" we cried, and again "En avant!" +We must find the army or perish. Ah, what a vain hope and how Fate +played with us! For my part I believed that all was over when I first +saw the fire in the wood and heard my comrades cry out. The Russians +were then but a hundred paces from us--the light that we saw might be +anything. God knows, we raced for it--and to discover what? A priest +and a woman--Zayde and the shorn monk, who I never doubted was a +Cossack all the time. + +There they were--hobnobbing by a fire of logs and greatly startled when +they heard the sound of hoofs. Immediately they ran off into the +thicket, but not before we had recognised them--my nephew and I. They +were hardly gone when a louder cry arose from every Frenchman in the +wood; for now, as the very light of heaven itself, the glow of a dozen +bivouac fires burst upon our aching eyes, and with one voice we cried: +"Vive l'Empereur!" and swore that the army should avenge us. + + +VII + +War teaches us many lessons, but none more useful than that of its +accidents. You will have said already that we had found the army and +that nothing remained but to ride up to the outposts and raise an alarm. + +Let me answer that nothing was farther from the truth. We had neither +found the army nor were any of our comrades there to avenge us. When I +told this story in the year 1813 in Paris I well remember the laughter +it excited. A squadron of hussars saved by a flight of monks! Thus +the newspapers referred to it, and such was the naked truth. The monks +saved us--the monks from the monastery we had sacked. + +Never have I forgotten that moment when this ridiculous turn first +became apparent to us. The Cossacks, I say, were at our heels, hope +gone from us, all thought of the army abandoned, when we saw the +bivouac fires and rode madly up to them. "Vive l'Empereur!" was our +cry. Then we learned the truth. + +There were a hundred or more monks in the woods: they had kindled the +fires which cheered us. The Cossacks, perceiving the fires, and being +deceived as we were, waited for no verification of a fact which seemed +self-evident. The French army lay encamped in that place--who else +would be there in these days of war and of a mighty host upon the +march? Do you wonder that the mad devils stopped as though they heard +already the roar of our guns, that they wheeled about and were gone as +foxes whom the moon has discovered? They would have been madmen to +have done anything else. The race had been run and we were the +victors. So at least they thought, and so did Fortune smile upon us in +that fateful hour. + +Be sure we did not linger upon an accident so remarkable. The monks +appeared to have no fear of us when we rode by, and the most part of +them lay sleeping. We forbore to intrude upon their dreams; and going +on at our leisure, we came up with the army at dawn and there recited +the details of this amazing adventure. + +It remains but to say a word of the bell and the treasure. + +I have often discussed it with Leon, and we have come to the conclusion +that there must have been monks left in the monastery after the main +body had fled, and that they sounded the alarm upon the approach of the +hussars. Their situation when we sacked that dismal building must have +been parlous indeed, and God alone knew where they hid from us. + +As for the treasure, I have since learned that it belonged to a certain +Prince Karasin, a Tartar from beyond the Urals. He had been murdered +by his servants just as I had supposed, and the woman upon whom he had +lavished the treasure must have been a witness of the wickedness. Her +subsequent fate I am unable to tell you, but my nephew Leon, with his +accustomed gallantry, still swears that she was innocent, and, Valerie +St. Antoine excepted, by far the most beautiful thing he ever +discovered in that God-forsaken country. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +PHANTOM MUSIC + +I + +I never thought to see Valerie St. Antoine again after we had left +Moscow; but here I was quite wrong, as you shall learn presently, and +my next encounter with her was as strange an affair as any I remember +during the war. + +You will remember that we had marched out of Moscow on the 19th day of +October, in the year 1812; but it was the 29th of that month when the +snow began to fall. + +Hitherto our journey had not been unpleasant and had filled us with few +apprehensions. It is true that the Russians were active, and there +were not many villages to pillage, so that some murmurings were heard +at an early date, and men complained bitterly of the lack of bread. +But we were given to understand that all this would be set straight +presently, and that we should find untouched supplies at Smolensk, the +first big town between Moscow and the frontier. Meanwhile, many +carried a little store of provisions in their knapsacks, and the +officers were generally well looked after despite the difficulties. We +found marching easy in the early days, and even when the rain fell, and +the roads became heavy, the wagons were not seriously hampered. All +went light-heartedly, thinking of our beloved France and of the triumph +we were to celebrate there. + +Then came the snow. It began to fall on the evening of the 29th, as I +have said, and, save that there was cold rain during the following +week, we never saw the green ground again until we came to the valley +of the Rhine. Ah, the first of these terrible days--how well I +remember it! + +Leon and I rode side by side, a great press of horsemen before us; +behind us, in a seemingly unbroken line, the carts and wagons of the +transport. Upon either side were the hussars and the lancers, the +_chasseurs a cheval_, the Guards from Portugal, the Italians, with +Prince Eugene. The Emperor himself was then half a day's march ahead +of us, but we expected to come up with him at Slawkowo, and there to +enjoy our well-earned rest. We had frost, as you shall hear, but there +is no pen that can tell you of what we suffered by the way. + +There had been black clouds rolling down from the northward all day, +but the snow itself did not burst upon us until the hour of sunset. It +came heralded by a distant sound as of thunder upon a far horizon; but +this was no thunder that we heard--only a north wind roaring across +that interminable plain. + +Anon it came upon us with the fury of a southern tempest. Flakes of +snow almost as big as a man's hand tumbled out of that leaden sky, were +caught by the howling wind, and scattered in a fine powder which cut +like steel. Soon everything was obliterated: the summer had finished +before our eyes. Where there had been green grass and verdant woods, +and even wild flowers by the roadside, there was now nothing but a +monstrous sea, with here and there the white woods standing up as so +many mighty ships upon a frozen ocean. + +The army, marching hitherto in such good spirits, became but specks in +this white wilderness. Never had Frenchmen known such cold, and great +was the terror with which it inspired them. We saw cloaks flying and +heads bent before the blast; we heard the curses of the transport men, +the shrill complaints of cantinieres; but above all the ceaseless +howling of the blast, as though the God of Russia cried a vengeance +upon us, and this was the hour of it. + +All this was bad enough, but more was to follow when the Cossacks came +like so many devils from the darkness. + +They wheeled about us, piping a shrill defiance and waving their lances +ominously. In our turn we were too sore stricken to attack them, and +we rode like cravens, who submitted to fate without lifting a finger. +Not until Marshal Ney himself came up with cannon did we drive the +scarecrows off, and even then it was but a brief respite, for they were +as swift as eagles and as elusive. Many a good fellow had a Russian +lance in him that night, and the snow-field for his bed. It was a new +page in the story of a triumph we had hoped to celebrate in Paris. + +For myself I felt the cold bitterly, and I do not doubt that Leon +suffered no less. We had heavy cloaks and we rode good horses; but the +frost was beyond anything I have known or could imagine, and presently +the trail of the army could be followed by the dead and dying it shed +upon the march. + +Dreadful was it to see those poor fellows, and to know that we could +not help them. There they lay, some already white and still in the +death sleep; others moaning for pain of the cold; others, again, +imploring their fellows to shoot them for God's sake. All, however, +passed on without pity. The wind devoured us; the snow had become a +very avalanche. + +Now this lasted for an hour, almost until the darkness had set in; but +when it ceased we perceived, to our astonishment, a considerable town +upon the horizon, and this put new life into us. Spurring our jaded +horses, Leon and I galloped on, telling each other that we should +certainly find bread and shelter in such a place, and that the rigour +of the night could safely be defied there. We had gone, I suppose, +about a third of a mile in this way when we came without warning upon a +wrecked carriage, and immediately drew rein at the unexpected discovery +we made therein. + + +II + +I have told you that Leon will rarely pass a pretty woman, whatever be +her nationality, and when he drew rein at the sight of the wrecked +carriage it was a woman's face which arrested him. + +"One moment, my uncle," says he; "you really are in a devil of a hurry." + +I drew rein with him and walked my horse up to the carriage. It was +plainly the equipage of a person of rank--a spacious berline, drawn by +four horses, and a brilliant yellow in colour. Of more import was the +fact that the coachman sat dead and frozen upon the box, and that the +horses had drawn the vehicle over the bank of the road, and there left +it poised as a stick upon a conjurer's finger. A minute later and it +turned over gently in the snow, and the horses, maddened by the mishap, +plunged frantically and went galloping across the plain. At the same +moment we heard cries from within the berline, and, dismounting and +leaping upon it, we took three women from the coach, of whom but one +was alive. She was Valerie St. Antoine, and she recognised us +immediately. + +"Help, sir, for God's sake!" says she, as Leon caught her in his arms +and instantly wrapped his own cloak about her. We did not tell her +that the others were beyond help, yet such was the case. + +Of the two, one was an elderly and distinguished-looking woman with +white hair, and the second as pretty a child of fifteen years of age as +I had seen since I left Prussia. Both had perished of want and cold. +They were locked in each other's arms, and quite dead when we took them +from the carriage. + +"Who are these poor people?" I asked Valerie. + +She buried her face in her hands. + +"The Baroness de Nivois and her granddaughter. They have been five +years in Moscow. They were my friends--God help me!" + +"But, mademoiselle," said I, "what sent you upon such an errand as +this?" + +She looked at me, I think, with some amazement at my want of +understanding. + +"What Frenchwoman remains in Moscow now?" she asked coldly. And then +as quickly she turned to Leon and inquired of him where the Emperor +would be. + +"I must see him immediately," says she; "it was for that I followed the +army. Captain Courcelles, will you not help me?" + +He replied that nothing would give him greater pleasure. + +"You are returning to Paris, mademoiselle?" he asked her. + +She said that it was possible. + +"But," cried I, "I thought you would never leave Moscow. You told me +so yourself." + +"Major," she rejoined, "I did not then know that my father was alive, +nor that he served the Emperor." + +I thought upon it a minute, and then a sudden memory coming to me, I +said: + +"There is a Colonel St. Antoine with the Second Battalion of the +Chasseurs of the Line. Is it possible, mademoiselle, that he is a +relative of yours?" + +"He is my father," she said, with admirable dignity; and, turning, she +hid her face in her hands again, as though the dreadful scene about us +could no longer be suffered. Leon waited for no more, but, lifting her +upon his horse, he rode straightway from the place. + +"Do what you can for these poor women," said he to me. "We will wait +for you in the town." And with that he pressed forward and was quickly +lost to my view. + +I had given him my word, and yet it was worth little. The poor women +were beyond all hope, and it remained but to inter them decently. +This, with the aid of some sappers, I did anon, and having seen to it +that we should know the place again if occasion arose, I also pressed +on towards the town. + +It was quite dark by this time, and the snow had begun to fall again. +I thought myself lucky to overtake my nephew, which I did some third of +a mile from the gates of the town. But whether his welcome were as +warm as my pleasure I have my doubts. Let me say in all honesty that I +believe that Leon was in love with this woman, and would have gone +through fire and water for her. + + +III + +There were many terrible nights to be suffered before the remnant of +the Grand Army might see Paris again; but none of them to surpass that +night when we first made acquaintance with the north wind as Russia +knows it. + +What the cold was I cannot tell you, but such a rigour I had never +known before, nor had any who marched with that stricken company. +Already we perceived that if we did not reach the shelter of the town +we should never see the day; and the fury of the wind driving us and +the snow blinding our eyes, we pressed on headlong. + +Had a man doubted the road, the dead, as I have said, would have +pointed it out to him. There was not a furlong free from the corpses +of those who had been our comrades. Every bush sheltered poor wretches +deploring their misery and appealing to God. We saw men staggering as +though drunk with wine; others hysterical as women and gone stark mad +in their suffering. And all the time the lights of the distant town +would appear and disappear, as though mocking our hope and defying us +of their promise. + +I was sorry for my nephew, who had given his cloak to Valerie; and +although she made a pretence of sheltering them both, it was precious +little good he got by it. Perhaps, had she not been with him in the +saddle, he would never have come to Slawkowo at all. As it was, he +bore up bravely and did not cease to encourage her in every way that he +could. "But a kilometre more, and we are there," he would say. Or +again: "We shall find the Emperor in the city, and there will be food +and shelter there." Sometimes he would ask her if she suffered much, +and invariably she answered with a woman's courage. + +"Don't think of me, captain," she would say; "I am used to the cold. +Have I not lived many years in Russia? All this is nothing to me." + +Such courage was infectious, and we were both the better for it. It +seemed possible now that we should reach the town after all, though +there were many bitter interludes before we did so. Sometimes the +lights would disappear altogether, and we would believe that we had +lost our road. Then again they would appear as mysteriously, and we +would think the city but a stone's throw from us. In the end, I +remember, we came to a frozen river, and putting our horses across it, +we found ourselves beneath high and forbidding walls, which told us +that we had lost our way, and that the night might still have the +better of us. + +This was a terrible hour, and we rode vainly to and fro as children who +are lost in an unknown country. Everywhere black walls denied us +shelter, and so at last we recrossed the river and went southward a +full half-hour before we discovered the gate of Slawkowo and cried to +one another that all was well. + +We thought it must be so. + +Here was a considerable town with the houses of the merchants who had +sheltered us when we rode to Moscow. We had known some pleasant days +in Slawkowo on our outward journey, and I do not think it dawned upon +any man that our reception would be different upon our return. Hardly +had we entered the gate when we discovered our mistake. Of the once +fine houses but the shell now remained. The main street was impassable +by reason of guns and wagons gathered there. We turned aside to the +suburb on the south, and found such houses as remained alive with our +comrades, who filled them from garret to cellar, and swore that no +new-comer should enter. + +By here and there whole companies of infantry were bivouacked in the +open for lack of shelter, and the high wall of church or garden alone +protected them from the terrible night. Of food there seemed no +prospect whatever. We beat upon the doors of many houses, and although +we gave those within to understand that we were officers of the Guard, +they answered that men or devils should not come in that night. At +last we found ourselves at the very ramparts again with never a house +in view and nothing but those monstrous walls before us. + +"Good God!" says Leon, drawing rein at last and turning to me wearily, +"is there no house in all this cursed city which will take us in?" + +I could but answer him that we must wheel about and try again, and +although my horse staggered at every step, and ultimately fell dead as +we went, I could but repeat the admonition. We must get into a house +of some sort, or we should never see the dawn. So much would have been +evident to a child. + +Behold us, then, staggering on, the snow beating upon us pitilessly; +the wind howling amid the shells of the ruined houses; the city itself +but a mob of maddened troopers fighting for their very lives on every +threshold. So evident was it that we should get no shelter anywhere in +the vicinity of the gates that we pushed on ultimately as though we +would leave Slawkowo by the western road, and then for the first time +we were able to breathe freely and to reckon with the situation. + +There were no houses at all here--merely the blackened ruins of once +fine streets. Often we rode over heaps of rubbish with the sure +knowledge that a mishap might send us headlong into some vault or +cellar, already, it may be, full of dead. This, however, did not deter +us; we had Valerie to save, and the same thought inspired us both. +There could be no rest for either until Valerie St. Antoine had found a +refuge. How shall I tell you what we ourselves suffered, buffeted this +way and that; drawn now to some phantom house; anon to the borders of +the frozen river, and from that back again to the wilderness? +Certainly I thought that all was ended, and the deadly spell of the +cold seizing upon me, I began to have that desire of sleep from which +there can be no awakening. + +"Nephew," said I, "do you go on and leave me here." + +It was then that my horse fell, and rolling heavily in the snow I +thought that my end had come. Leon, however, had a flask of brandy in +his haversack, and presently I was conscious of a burning sensation in +my throat and of a sudden realisation of the truth that I must wake or +die. Making a mighty effort of the will, I got upon my feet and +struggled on, hardly knowing that Valerie St. Antoine had one of my +arms and Leon the other. The words they spoke to me were as sounds +from afar; I did not rightly understand them, and made no reply. But +presently, a little strength coming back to me, I heard a note of +distant music, and asked them what it was. + +"Listen to that," said I. "Someone is playing the organ." + +They laughed at me, Leon saying, "Come, come, uncle, your ears are +playing tricks with you; there is no organ here." + +"You are wrong," said I; "there is an organ, and someone is playing 'On +va leur percer les flancs.' Listen and you will heal it." + +Well, they both stood and listened, and after a few moments they +admitted I was right. + +"There is someone playing," said Leon, while Valerie uttered a little +cry of pleasure, and running forward with her hands clasped, she +returned to tell us that it must be the organ of a church and that we +should never hear it on such a night if it were not very near to us. +On this we all agreed, and a new hope animating us, we led Leon's horse +and pressed on towards the music. + +Ah, what a quest that was! How those phantom chords deceived us! +Sometimes we would think the organ was so near us that nothing but a +miracle could hide the scene. Then again we would lose the sounds +altogether, and try to comfort each other with the assurance that the +wind alone muffled them. This went on for a full half-hour, until as +though a miracle had happened, we found ourselves in the very porch of +a considerable church, and understood in a moment that our own fellows +were within, and that one of them was playing upon the organ. + +"Open to the Guard!" cried Leon, beating heavily upon the door with the +hilt of his sword. + +The answer from within was the one we had heard so often that night: +"Let the Guard go elsewhere, there is no room for anybody here." + +"Oh," says Leon, "is that not Sergeant Bourgogne who is speaking?" + +It was a lucky shot, for the door was opened instantly, and there stood +our old sergeant before us. + +"Why, captain," cried he, "we have reported you for dead!" And then +espying me, he added, "The very man we are looking for, major. There +is plenty of work for a surgeon to do in this place. Come in, +messieurs, and let me bolt the door after you." + +Needless to say, we did not ask for a second invitation, but passing at +once into the church, we heard the sergeant bolting and locking the +heavy door. There the light almost blinded us, and we sank exhausted +upon the stone pavement and lay motionless for many minutes. + + +IV + +When we had recovered ourselves a little we were able to get some idea +of the strange happenings within the church. + +To begin with, I would tell you that it was a building in the Russian +fashion, with two domes above its naves and a similar one above the +chancel. About the wall there were the icons which the Russians +worship, and the organ which we had heard played stood in the western +gallery just above the main doors. The building was large, and would +have accommodated a thousand people perhaps. There must have been five +hundred of our own fellows within when we entered, and they lay about +the marble pavement in every conceivable attitude. + +Some, I perceived, were already drunk with brandy, of which there was a +considerable supply in the church. I learned from Sergeant Bourgogne +that the cellars of a neighbouring wine shop had been ransacked before +dark fell and many bottles of wine and brandy carried into the church +against the bitter night; of food there was none but horseflesh, and +despite my nephew's protests, the troopers killed and cut up his own +charger directly we entered the building. Soon the whole place was +redolent with the smell of roasted flesh, and what with the pungent +odour of that and of the burning wood and brandy the atmosphere became +almost insupportable. + +I should tell you that two great fires had been lighted in the +building: one upon the pavement of the chancel, the other below the +choir screen, which is a great thing in all their churches. + +Unhappily the fire before the altar had been fed chiefly by the +beautiful painted panels of this screen, while that in the nave owed +its glowing heat to the multitude of chairs which had been broken up +and burned upon it. Here all the cooking was done, and it was an odd +thing to see men toasting great lumps of horseflesh upon the points of +their bayonets and swords, and eating them while they were still hot +and dripping from the fire. Such practices, however, went on +uninterruptedly; and if anything be said against them, I would remind +you of the intolerable night outside and of what these poor fellows had +suffered during their march to Slawkowo. For that matter we ourselves +were not above sharing in this barbarous hospitality, and even Valerie +St. Antoine ate a piece of roasted horseflesh and drank a draught of +wine from the flask which Sergeant Bourgogne proffered her. + +Be it said that the men were very merry and that a spirit of drunken +hilarity prevailed in the place. None seemed to remember that it was a +holy building, nor would it have been worth while to remonstrate with +poor devils who had suffered so much. I saw usually sober officers +dancing in the vestments of the priests and preaching mock sermons from +a splendid pulpit. The organist was an accomplished fellow, and played +the wildest dance with precision. Even the wounded cheered up at his +music and tried to join in the songs which the army knew so well. It +was pitiful to hear them moaning: + + "Ram, ram, ram, tam, + Plan, tire-lire ram plan": + +those who would never see France again and might never quit that +building. + +One such I shall never forget. His leg had been amputated that very +day, and yet in his drunken frenzy he reared himself up from the rude +bed they had made him and rolled over and over until he was dead, like +a mad dervish from the Indies. Scenes like this were repeated during +that long and wonderful night, until, indeed, the organist, coming down +the stairs for brandy, stumbled by the way and pitched headlong into +the nave. Both his legs were broken, and although I did what I could +for him, I knew that he, too, would never leave Slawkowo. + +Valerie St. Antoine supported all this with wonderful fortitude. We +had had little converse with her hitherto, but now she began to talk to +us very rationally, and we had some insight into that dual personality +which many men have found so interesting. + +Very frankly she told us that she had had no thought of returning to +France until she had heard that her father was with the army. This was +the more surprising since it would appear that she had not seen him +since she was quite a child. + +"He left Nice in the days of the Terror," she said. "We went--my +brother and I--with my mother to Leipsic, and then to one of her +kinsmen, who was a Pole. She died in Poland five years ago, and my +brother had to enter Prince Nicholas's household and to take me to +Moscow with him. You will imagine what happened to a child among a +strange people and with none but an absent brother to protect her. +Rene was sent to St. Petersburg, and I was left alone with the Prince. +Sometimes I forgot altogether that I had been born in France. They +surrounded me with riches, and anything for which I chose to ask was at +my hand. Then came the story of General Bonaparte and of his +victories. That did not interest me; I was still a Russian at heart, +and remained so until your army entered Moscow and all was remembered. +It was the Emperor who set me dreaming again and made me remember my +home by the Mediterranean Sea: I recalled my father in his uniform of +green and gold; I recollected how we were taught as children to cry, +'_Vive la Republique!_' but never '_Vive le Roi!_' Oh, yes, my heart +went back to France and I became a Frenchwoman again. Now I shall go +to Paris and try to earn my living there. It will be difficult, but I +am not afraid; the world has taught me too many things that I should +fear my own independence." + +Leon told her gallantly enough that she had no need to fear any such +thing. He, I made sure, was ready enough to set her upon the road of +his choice; and yet there was something about the girl which forbade +love-making as soldiers know it, and set her upon a pinnacle of which +even my nephew was a little shy. + +"Come to Paris," said he, "and you shall be as famous as any woman in +the city. There is always a career for beauty there, and you, Valerie, +have other gifts. I promise you that you will not be disappointed. I +will make it my business to see that you are not." + +She looked at him with curiosity. Perhaps there was a measure of pity +in her tone when she said, "Ah, Captain Leon, if we ever see Paris +again how lucky we shall be!" + +This she said from her heart, and it saddened us all not a little when +we perceived how true it was. None the less, Leon tried to laugh at it. + +"There will be supplies at Smolensk," said he, "and after that the way +will be easy. We shall be hungry for a day or two and perhaps eat some +of your old friends the Cossacks--but the Grand Army has a good +appetite. The Emperor will not have been unprepared for such weather +as this, and you will see how he will deal with it. Really, +Mademoiselle Valerie, you were never born to be a pessimist." + +She shook her head, but her interest was evidently roused when he +mentioned the Emperor. + +"Where is His Majesty now?" she asked. "Do you not remember that I +must see him at once? It is for that that I left Moscow with the +Baroness Nivois. The safety of the army may depend upon what I have to +tell him. I appeal to you all to help me." + +"We shall do that readily enough," said I, chiming in for the first +time. "Nothing could be easier. His Majesty is at Slawkowo this very +night. You can see him in the morning before the march begins--that +is, if you have anything to say to him to which he will listen." + +She smiled as though with some contempt at the doubt. + +"I have that," said she, "which will save his army. If he does not see +me, he is not the person I believe him to be." + +And then to us all she said: + +"Messieurs, I have the plans of General Kutusoff, as I read them in +Prince Nicholas's house. Do you not think your Emperor will wish to +see those?" + +We were all greatly interested, and begged her to show us the +documents. Here, however, she was adamantine, and her native secrecy +prevailed. To our questions she answered that she would tell the +Emperor alone, and soon we perceived that it was futile to press her. +Indeed, had we the mind, that was not the opportunity, for just as we +were at the height of the argument a loud knocking was heard upon the +doors of the church, and someone cried out that the Cossacks were +without. + +Now this was a dreadful thing to hear, and one which sent every man in +the church leaping to his feet--those of them who could stand, for +there were many who could not. We did not stop to ask ourselves by +what means the Russians had entered Slawkowo. Well we knew that they +had been upon our flanks all day, and it did not seem impossible that +they had made a sudden descent upon the church, and were already in the +suburbs of the city. If that were so, our case was parlous. We knew +that they would burn us out like rats, and would sabre every man who +crossed the threshold. Can you wonder, then, that a great silence fell +for an instant, and was succeeded by a wild shout of "Aux armes!" + +I have lived through many a dangerous hour for the Emperor's sake, but +never one, I think, so full of the sublime and the grotesque as that +instant of alarm in the church at Slawkowo. + +To see men, who had been brawling and singing but a moment before, +spring to their feet and stagger towards the door, bayonets fixed or +swords flourished; to hear the oaths and curses of drunken brutes, who +believed that death had them by the shoulders; to be carried everywhere +in a mob which slashed and hewed at an imaginary enemy, and even cut +down its comrades in a mad debauch of fear and frenzy--all this, I say, +surpassed experience. + +Yet such was the result of that wild alarm. + +The Cossacks were at the gates; the church was fired. From without and +within the roar and the brawl waxed deafening. Those in the snow beat +fiercely upon the doors, and splintered them with axe and musket; those +within fired their pistols from every window, and called on God and the +devil to help them. When it was apparent that the doors were giving +way, a panic ensued such as the meanest mercenary might have been +ashamed of. Men howled in fear or supplicated an enemy still +invisible; others flew to the bottle, and drank prodigious draughts; +some capered like women round and round the fires in a drunken paean of +death. But all surely believed that the Cossacks were there; and we of +the Guard, determining at length that assault was better than defence, +threw the doors wide open and charged headlong through the blinding +storm. + +Ah! what a night that was--what a mockery! Perceived but not seeing, +for the aureole of light must have shown our figures clearly to the +enemy, we slashed and hewed at hazard--here in snow to our knees, there +falling upon the slippery ground, now locked arm in arm with the +aggressors, or again standing alone seeking vainly for an enemy. + +Whence the assault had come or by whom we knew no more than the dead. + +Either the light blinded us or we stood in such black darkness that a +man might have slain his own brother unawares. + +In truth, we had been doing this all along, and we must have fought a +full ten minutes before someone cried out that we were killing +Frenchmen, and instantly there arose a terrible uproar and the ghastly +truth was discovered. + +It had not been the Cossacks at all who had come to the place, but a +regiment of chasseurs of the line, of whom no fewer than forty now lay +dead before the porch of the church. Who can describe our chagrin and +dismay when this was made known? Our own comrades! Many a man there +would as soon have slain his own children. + + +V + +Well, we dragged brands from the fire and began to do what we could. +Many of the poor fellows were dead, and the snow fell so heavily that +their bodies were already but whitened mounds. Others crawled here and +there in their pain, fearing the vengeance of the Russians whom they +believed to be in the church. When we cried out to them that we were +Frenchmen, they could hardly believe their ears. How they reproached +us then, and how difficult we found it to answer them! Few words, +indeed, were spoken; but, dragging the wounded and even the dead into +the building, we began our pitiful task. + +Naturally, my own services were much in request. There was another +surgeon from the Velites of the company, but he was a very young man, +and the situation had unnerved him. The mischief of it was that so +many had been attacked with sword and bayonet that the wounds we had to +deal with were very terrible. One poor fellow I remember +particularly--a fine man of more than middle age in a cloak and +colonel's uniform, an officer of the _chasseurs a pied_, who tried to +make light of his wounds, but evidently was dying. Someone told me +presently that his name was St. Antoine, and it came to me in a flash +that he might be Valerie's father. + +Now, it became very difficult to know what to do. The girl herself was +then helping the wounded upon the far side of the church, but she came +over to me presently, and I had no alternative but to tell her what had +been said. The man was dying, and, if he were her father, then she +must know it. + +I shall not attempt to recite the moving scene I was now to witness--a +scene between a child who had become the woman of the world and a man +who had lost his daughter to find her at the hour of his death! Be +sure we did what we could for him, giving him the best place by the +fire, and cloaks from willing shoulders, and brandy from the flask +which was left to us. It was all of no avail, and he died just as the +dawn broke and the distant bugles were sounding the reveille. + +Valerie's grief was not such as I had expected to see. + +There are some women, however, whose souls no man can read, and hers +was such a one. What she suffered in that hour I make no pretence to +say, but her anger against those who had killed their fellow-countrymen +was typical of a passionate nature. This Grand Army now stood to her +for a thing of contempt. She railed upon us piteously--applauding our +skill in killing Frenchmen and running away from Russians. When, to +turn her thoughts, Leon told her that she would now find the Emperor in +Slawkowo, she derided the idea that she wished to see him, and taking +some papers from her breast she burned them before we could raise a +finger to stop her. + +"Your army shall perish!" she cried almost triumphantly; and then she +asked, "Well, what does it deserve? To kill your comrades! My God--to +kill my own father!" + +Her courage was no longer capable of supporting this thought, and she +sank down upon the pavement and was overtaken by passionate weeping, +which endured for many minutes. + +The destruction of the documents had been so swift that its moment +hitherto had not occurred to us, but now I took Leon aside and began to +question him. + +"The papers came from Kutusoff," said I. "They are of the greatest +importance, and possibly the Russian plan of campaign is among them. +Certainly the Emperor should know of this; we must make it our business +to go to him immediately. If the woman has burned the documents, at +least she will have read them. We must make her speak at +head-quarters." + +He agreed with me, but declared that she was in no fit state to tell a +story. + +"I know the kind," he said. "Her anger is like a tempest, and will +pass as quickly. Then she will regret what she has done. Let us go to +head-quarters and report. It will be for them to act in the matter." + +I thought this wise at the time, and did not hesitate to set off with +him. It was evident that the Russians had prepared some great plan of +campaign the moment our retreat was known, and the importance of this +to the general staff could not be exaggerated. It was amazing to think +that a mere child amidst us had knowledge which might save the lives of +thousands of men, and that the papers which contained it were but so +many ashes upon the pavement before us. None the less, we might yet +compel her to speak, and with this in our minds we quitted the building +and made our way as best we could to the guest house at which the +Emperor was staying. + +This was no light task, for the snow was often up to our knees, and the +dead were everywhere. + +It had been a terrible night, and the army had paid a bitter price for +the ruin it had inflicted upon Slawkowo on the outward journey. We +could not help but reflect how many thousands might have been saved in +those houses we had burned, how many might have been fed by that food +we had so wantonly destroyed in the days of our abundance. This day +there was not a loaf of bread in all that perished town; men were +eating horse at every bivouac. The night, for those who lived, had +been an orgy amid the cellars, when men raved and died in their +drunkenness, and those who perished from starvation had nothing but +brandy for their lips. + +All this was reflected in that scene at dawn. + +Day broke with a wan, grey light and a powder of snow which burned the +skin like hot needles. We found the great street of the town still +blocked by the wagons of the transport and the guns of the Emperor's +Guard. The bravest men moved like phantoms in the mist, their spirits +sunk, their flesh shrunken by the cold. None of the eclat of departure +was to be observed in all that throng. The road had carried us to a +house of death, and no hope lay beyond it. Who shall wonder at the +dejection which fell upon the once proud Grand Army? + +We came up to the Emperor's tent at nine o'clock, and heard that His +Majesty was just about to march. Murat and Dumesnil were with him, and +I was lucky enough to catch the latter when he came out of the +Emperor's room some ten minutes later. My story interested him +profoundly, and we were soon ushered into His Majesty's presence. I +thought he looked a little careworn, but there was no betrayal of his +secret thoughts, nor did he speak a word in reference to the thousands +of dead who lay buried beneath the snow in that wretched town. Indeed, +his manner became almost a little aggressive when he spoke and asked me +somewhat surlily what I wanted. + +"Your Majesty," said I, "there is a woman in the city who has news from +the Russian head-quarters. I thought you would wish to hear of her." + +"Is she with you?" he asked quickly, the wonderful eyes searching me +from head to foot. + +I had to say that she was not, and at that his choler mounted. + +"Then why do you come here? Why do you waste my time? Go and fetch +her immediately. You must be a fool to come upon such an errand." + +I had been an old favourite of his, and it came to me that he would not +have spoken in this way had the situation been less terrible. His +anger reflected his disappointment and would not suffer argument. I +did not attempt to tell him the true story of Valerie St. Antoine, for +to that he would never have listened in such a temper; but, promising +to fetch her immediately, I was about to leave the room, when he said: + +"Let there be no mistake. If you do not find her I will have you shot." + +I heard him with amazement, for never had such words been spoken to me +before. Yet I knew the Little Corporal well enough not to doubt his +meaning. He had realised the importance of the tidings I carried, and +his anger at our supposed neglect prompted the threat. If this did not +alarm me it was because I trusted Valerie, and so well did my +confidence seem to be justified that Leon laughed when he heard the +story. + +"I know women," said he. "She would do anything for me. We will just +tell her all the circumstances, and she will come immediately. Cheer +up, mon oncle; I shall not have to dig a bullet out of you at dawn +to-morrow." + +Truthfully, I did not believe that he would, but I was a little anxious +none the less, and we returned to the church at our best speed. When +we got there we found the building empty of all save its wounded and +its dead. Of Valerie there was not a trace, nor of the colonel, her +father. For a little while I could not realise the importance of this +nor understand wholly what it meant to me. When the truth came it was +as though a man had clapped a pistol to my head and cried that I must +die. Good God, what would my case be if we could not find her? Even +Leon was moved; I could see that he had begun to tremble. + + +VI + +"Mon oncle," said he, "she cannot be gone far; let us get some of our +men and search for her. Valerie will never leave the army at such a +time. We must find her without delay." + +I perceived that it was the only thing to be done, and, going out of +the church with him, we began our search, which was to end so +disastrously. + +There was no street, house, nor cellar within a quarter of a mile of +the place that we did not ransack to its depths. I have always been +liked by the Guard, and many a good fellow proffered his help in such +an emergency. Soon, I think, there must have been fifty of us crying +the tidings far and wide and asking, "Have you seen the Frenchwoman +named St. Antoine?" The astonishing thing was that we did not meet a +human being who could help us by a word. None had seen Valerie; few +thought that they would recognise her if they did see her. + +"Possibly," said one, "she has gone to the guest house in the main +street of the town." Another suggested that she might have set out +with the advance guard which left just after dawn. But all agreed that +she was not to be found, and when noon came and there were still no +tidings of her, then I began to believe that she would never be found +at all. This was a disaster so unlooked for, so terrible, that it +paralysed every faculty I possessed. To die for a woman's temper, I +said, while even my friends began to admit that I was in grave danger. +When I met an aide-de-camp to General Dumesnil a little later in the +afternoon, he told me that His Majesty was still waiting, but that his +anger had not modified. + +"By heaven," said he, "he will have you shot, major, if you do not find +her." + +I could only answer that I had done my best and was still doing it. It +occurred to me that, after all, Valerie might return to the church +eventually, and, telling every man I knew that I was going there, I +sought out that now deserted building, and made myself its prisoner. +What hours they were--what hours of waiting, of hope, and of fear! +From the distance I could hear the rumble of the guns and the murmur of +a great army moving, but the church itself was as silent as the dead +and filled with the ghosts of yesterday. In the end the night came and +found me still watching. I did not dare to return to head-quarters. +Even Leon did not come back to me. + +Well, a man dies but once, they say, and yet I died many deaths that +night. + +Often I rebuked myself that Leon was one of the few to whom I had not +committed my intention of returning to the church, and a little after +ten o'clock I set out to seek for him. This walk took me back to the +main street of the town, and eventually to the very building wherein I +had seen His Majesty that morning. Such a fact, if it is to be +explained at all, must be set down to the magnetism of fate, which +destroys men as well as animals. The rabbit, they say, is fascinated +by the snake, and so was I by that intolerable uncertainty which I +could not support in the stillness of the church. I must know the +truth, I thought: I must see the Emperor again, if I were ordered out +for execution there and then--well, a more terrible death might await +me on the frozen plain beyond the town. "Have done with it," was my +idea, as I pushed my way up the steps and asked if His Majesty was +still there. + +Well, it was a fearful ordeal. A young officer carried in my message +and bade me wait at the door until he returned. It mattered not where +it was. I do not think I was conscious of the time, the place, or of +anything but the issue. Should I be summoned to that magic presence or +should I not? Would the penalty be death? Few know what a man suffers +who lives through such moments as these; few can understand the sudden +reaction which attends the truth, whatever it be. + +"His Majesty left at one o'clock," said the orderly when he returned. + +The truth staggered me, and I reeled as at a blow. + +"Did His Majesty leave alone?" I asked. + +"No," said the fellow, and here he smiled; "there was a woman with him." + +Pah, my friends, what a coward I had been, and how I cursed the weary +hours I had spent alone in that hole of a church! + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE CAMP BY THE RIVER + +I + +There were two days of cold, clear weather after we left Slawkowo. It +was upon the second of these days that the adventure of which I shall +now speak befell me. + +The sufferings which the army endured had not by any means abated at +this time. We found but scant supplies in the town, and there had not +been that distribution of rations we had expected. It is true that the +first-comers pillaged brandy from the cellars of Slawkowo, but this was +poor sustenance for men whose greatest necessity was bread, and in this +respect we quitted the town as poor as we entered it. Our one +consolation was that the north winds no longer nipped us and the snow +had ceased to fall. Just as heretofore, men devoured the horses that +fell by the way and drank their blood greedily. Nay, we were in no way +surprised when we heard that the Croats were devouring each other, and +the cruel tales of our comrades' sufferings which were told at every +bivouac could readily be believed. Naturally, only the bravest kept +their courage through such an ordeal. The cunning we had with us, and +they went stoutly enough because of their cunning. There will always +be men who are able to get food while others starve, and in such the +Grand Army was not deficient. These happy fellows kept their secrets +for the most part, and would often pretend to take pot-luck with us, +while we knew all the time that they had hidden stores in which we did +not share. The fact led to bitterness sometimes, and such men were +shunned by their fellows as unworthy of the spirit of comradeship which +animated the Guard. + +I met more than one of these cormorants after we left Slawkowo, but +none whose conduct so much mystified me as that of Captain Payard of +the dragoons. In converse he was the best of good fellows--a merry, +curly-haired gentleman, whose eyes were as blue as a woman's and whose +smile was medicine for every ill. Payard pretended to eat horse with +us, and yet we knew that this could not be his staple diet, for he was +as fat as a Normandy lamb and as gay. Many tried to guess his secret, +but none discovered it, and he would have carried it back to Paris with +him but for a bottle of brandy I hoarded at my saddle-bow, and opened +on the night we left Slawkowo. So deeply did he drink of this that he +became quite tipsy, and, crouching by my side over the bivouac fire in +the wood, he told me his story without shame. + +"You all say that I live well," he protested. "True enough; but, bon +camarade, I steal from the Russians." + +"What?" cried I. "You are known to them, then?" + +He laughed at the idea of treachery. + +"Do you not know me better than that, major?" said he, his eyes +flashing in the crimson light. "I tell you that I go to the Russian +camp and steal what I want. Is it not very simple, and should you not +all have thought of it for yourselves?" + +I was very much surprised, and began to question him closely. How had +he got the password? Was it not a highly dangerous undertaking, and +had he not been fortunate to escape with his life? + +All this he treated lightly. There was danger, of course, but what is +danger to men who are dying of starvation? He admitted that he had a +friend among the Russians, but declared very stoutly that such +friendship had been of great service both to him and to the Emperor. +Finally, he said: + +"Come with me, major, and bring your nephew, and we will dine among the +Cossacks to-morrow night. Are you prepared to take your chance? Very +well. We will start a little before sunset, and we can rejoin the +column on the following morning. Come now, and I promise you as good a +dinner as you could get in our own Paris this night." + +The request astonished me very much, and I thought upon it a little +while. Leon had been away inspecting the horses, but when he returned +I mentioned the matter to him, and he did not hesitate a moment. Of +course we must go. Did it not promise us an adventure, and was not +anything better than the starvation we suffered? I think, indeed, he +would have leapt from a mountain-top if there had been food at the +bottom; and even at my age I could ask myself what perils counted for +men who marched daily over the bodies of their comrades to a city of +visions. + + +II + +Now this was all very well, but, in truth, the affair was rash enough +to have satisfied the most reckless. + +Remember that we marched like a beaten army, dejected and without +spirit; thousands dying every day as we went: the road across the snows +black with the bodies of our comrades who had fallen. Only the spirit +which had conquered at Austerlitz and Jena prevented our swift +annihilation by the Russian wolves, who barked at us from every +thicket. If a man lost his way, the sabres of the Cossacks quickly +showed him the road, or the hatchets of the peasantry put an end to his +sufferings. And yet this laughing Payard could propose that we should +brave the fastnesses of these savages just to find a good dinner beyond +them--a soldier's invitation, surely, perhaps a madman's project. + +I shall not dwell upon this aspect of the adventure, for it must be +apparent to all. Whatever misgivings I had at dawn passed away as the +day waxed and waned and the pangs of a savage hunger devoured me at +nightfall. A starving man is no better than a starving dog when he is +famished, and the Velites were becoming but animals these latter days. +So you will not wonder that Payard found us ready when he called us at +sunset and that we set off as willingly as lads from a school. We were +going to dine for the first time since we had quitted Moscow. Happy +pilgrims upon a gourmet's road--how little we knew what was in store +for us! + +I should tell you here that the regiment had chosen but a bleak place +for its bivouac that night; a night when the wind began to blow again +and the moon shone clear in a starlit heaven. The road crossed a +shallow valley, in the midst of which was a frozen river. The banks of +this were not high enough to give much shelter from the bitter blasts, +but such as it was our men availed themselves of it and lay in the +hollows by the water, without fires, since the woods were some miles +away to the south, and there was not a human habitation to be seen. +When all that could be done for the good fellows had been accomplished, +and those who perished of fatigue were carried out of sight of the +living, Payard called to Leon and myself and we set off briskly over +the frozen waste. The time to dine had arrived, though as yet we knew +nothing of that strange cafe in the wilderness which should harbour us. + +"It is an hour's ride from here," said Payard as he mounted his horse; +"nothing at all, my friends, and no Cossacks until we come to the +woods. Then we shall be ready for them. En avant, mes amis, I am +going to feed you well." + +With this he set off at a brisk trot and we followed him without +protest. The way lay in the valley of the river I have mentioned, and +we followed it for at least two miles until the bank rose more steeply +and afforded no longer a safe footing for our horses. + +Nevertheless, we pressed on until the woods drew down to the water's +edge, and Payard declared that we had need of horses no longer. From +this time, as he quickly told us, we must go afoot for safety's sake; +and tethering the willing animals to the first of the trees about the +river's border, we entered the forest. + + +III + +Our confidence was wonderful. We knew no more than the dead where this +merry fellow was leading us, and yet we followed him as joyous +adventurers upon the gayest of pilgrimages. When we heard a distant +bugle and surmised that we were not far from the Russian camp, we were +still unable to check his headlong advance, and though it was difficult +to imagine that he knew the country, our questions concerning it were +asked in vain. + +"A la bonne heure," he would say when checking his step. "I have +promised you a good dinner, and I am taking you where you will get it. +Do not trouble me until we arrive at the house. Then I will talk to +you." + +To this he added the intimation that it was dangerous to talk in a +place where the trees had ears. "Do you wish to dine with the +Cossacks?" he asked us. It was a question we could answer very +decidedly in the negative. + +Had we any doubt upon the latter point the sound of galloping horses +would have made his request for prudence seem reasonable enough. It +was evident that he was still following the river bank and that this +was his only guide. The woods about were open and gloriously carpeted +by the glistening snow. The long stems of the pines, all whitened by +the frost, stood for so many sleeping sentinels of that hidden army of +Russians which lay beyond them. Yet he did not hesitate, and it was +only when the sounds of approaching horsemen drew quite near to us that +Payard plunged suddenly into the undergrowth above the river bank and +bade us follow him for our lives. + +"The Cossacks!" cried he, and that was a word we understood too well. + +They came up presently, a sturdy troop all frosted with the snow, but +talking very merrily together as men who had been upon a pleasant +picnic. I had no doubt that they had just visited one of our own +bivouacs, and it was hard to lie there and watch them, knowing that +they had sabred many an honest Frenchman that day. Yet prudence +dictated such a course, and we lay in the brushwood hardly daring to +breathe while they swept by. When they had gone, Payard crawled out of +the bush, and shaking the snow from his massive shoulders, he told us +pleasantly that we were going to dine with them. + +"The camp is a third of a mile from here," he said, "and dinner will be +waiting. Let us make haste, my friends, or it will be cold." + +It was all an enigma to us, you may be sure, but that was not the time +to interrogate him about it, and we were content to follow in his steps +while he pressed on through the wood and presently emerged upon a +considerable clearing, beyond which were the bivouac fires of the +Russians. The sight of this brought us to a halt, and all gathering +together at the foot of a great chestnut tree, we began to argue about +it for the first time. + +"Yonder is the village of Vitzala," says Payard, indicating some lights +far off through the trees. "There has been a Russian camp here under +General Volska for the last two months. Madame Pauline is in the first +house across the clearing. If we reach that safely, the rest is easy. +Her husband has gone to Petersburg, and we are not likely to be +troubled by him. Of course, you know that she is a Frenchwoman." + +We knew nothing of the kind. As a matter of fact, we had heard her +name for the first time, but not with astonishment. It was evident +from the beginning that he had formed a friendship with one of the many +Frenchwomen who marched out of Moscow with our army; but that we should +find her in such a place and camped with Cossacks who were sabring our +fellows was a surprise indeed. + +"What brings her here?" I asked him bluntly enough. + +He told me in a word. + +"Colonel Tcharnhoff of the dragoons is in love with her. He is +supposed to be the richest man in the Russian army; his regiment lies +yonder in the village, but he himself has gone north to meet the +Military Council. I promise you that you are about to meet a very fine +woman--and one who knows how to dine," he added with a laugh. + +His candour disarmed us. We knew these Frenchwomen too well to doubt +his story, and all that remained was to discover the house which +harboured this interesting lady. Payard said that he had been +instructed to follow the bank of the river until he came to the +clearing, and that this would bring him to an isolated cabin upon the +outskirts of the village. There he was to find Madame Pauline. The +direction was plain, but the darkness of the night rendered the pursuit +of it difficult. + +We were now within a few hundred paces of the Russian camp. There was +a wide lake of snow between ourselves and the sheltering thicket, and +it was apparent that any moment might discover our presence to the +Russians. More prudent men would have gone back as they had come; but +we were as famished as the wolves, and crying to the captain to lead +on, we bent our heads and ran boldly for the shelter of the distant +woods. + +Luck favoured us to this point. Standing upon the far side of the +thicket to listen, we soon perceived that the camp was not alarmed. It +is true that we could see the bayonets of the sentries moving between +the trees, perhaps a hundred yards from the place where we stood; but a +far more pleasant sight was a lonely wattled hut on the very brink of +the wood, and this we determined could be no other than Madame +Pauline's abode. + +"As plain as the nose on the end of your face, and a much better +colour," said Payard, rubbing his own vigorously. "She would never +have sent for me if her house had been within the lines. At any rate, +my friends, I will take my chance," and upon that he walked straight up +to the door of this strange habitation and knocked lightly upon it. +The next moment it was opened by a man who answered him in French; and +beckoning us to follow, the merry captain entered the hut without +another word. + + +IV + +I have described this building as a hut, and yet when we entered it we +discovered that it deserved a better appellation. + +The relic of an ancient outpost in the woods, it had been used formerly +by the frontier guards, and, indeed, I have learned since that it +served for officers' quarters in the days of the great Queen Catherine. + +The building that we saw from the thicket was but an ante-chamber to a +larger apartment which had been furnished in the oddest manner for +madame's occupation. + +A great stove glowed here, and the walls were hung with the costliest +skins in lieu of tapestries. For carpet there was but a footing of +straw rushes, and this was in odd contrast to the luxury elsewhere. +Better to our liking was a wooden table, lacking a cloth, but spread +with food such as we had not seen since we left Moscow. + +Bread was here--that bread for which we would have bartered our souls +yesterday. We espied a great round of beef which would have fed a +company of men, and a saucepan of potatoes, steaming upon the stove of +which I have spoken. Not only this, but dainties innumerable littered +madame's board; and our eyes feasted already upon the preserved fruits +which every Russian loves; sweetmeats from Germany, fine liqueurs and +bottles of wine, all promising a veritable orgy to men who had suffered +the rigours of that unnameable retreat. + +Naturally, Leon and I thought of these things first, but presently we +heard a voice from a room beyond, and madame herself now appeared and +greeted us with a welcome which nothing could have surpassed. Were we +not Frenchmen, and was she not our sister in the remote wilderness? Be +not astonished that we kissed her upon both cheeks as though we had +known her all our lives. + +Let me describe this wonderful personage for you as well as memory +permits. Above the middle height, with a superb figure and limbs which +would not have disgraced a grenadier, she wore the green uniform of the +Cossacks of the Guard, and mighty well it became her, as we all agreed. + +Not a beautiful woman as the canons go; her hair was frankly red, +though cut short and hardly reaching to her shoulders; yet there was a +power of character in her face which none could mistake, and she had +the kindest smile that I have ever seen upon a woman's face. To us her +welcome was unqualified. + +"You are at home here, my friends," she said; "are you not all +Frenchmen, and am I not your sister? Ah, how well I know what you have +suffered! Would that I could bring the others here to this mean house +and give them what they deserve! Such as it is, however, my +hospitality is always at the service of yourselves and your comrades. +Shall we now sit down to table? You will not tell me that you are not +ready." + +We told her nothing of the kind, but followed her as dogs that hear the +huntsman's step. The peril of the house, the chance of our being +discovered there, the consequence of such discovery, troubled us not at +all. We could have taken the meat in our hands and gnawed it as hounds +will gnaw a bone, and I would say that there could have been no more +revolting spectacle than that of our appetites at madame's hospitable +board. Nothing came amiss to us--meat and drink; sweetmeats and +liqueurs--we devoured them in a frenzy, and not until we had gorged +ourselves shamelessly did a man of us put a question as to our +situation. + +Oddly enough, madame heard us with some discomfort, I thought, directly +we began to speak about the regiment. Turning to Payard, she said: + +"My friend, do you not understand that I am the wife of a Russian +officer, and can tell you nothing? I have promised you shelter in this +house, and you may count upon me; but do not expect me to betray +anything or anybody. Rather let me fill your glasses and drink the +toast that I shall propose to you: 'France, our own beloved country. +To our safe return!' Will you not pledge that?" + +Naturally we responded with all our hearts to such a pleasant +sentiment; nay, I think we had drunk the toast at least three times +when, without warning, the French servant burst into the room, and, +white as death, he cried, "Madame, here is Colonel Tcharnhoff returned!" + + +V + +Now, I do not think at the first we understood the significance of this +intrusion. + +Remember that we had dined very well, and that our heads were turned by +the good wine madame had offered us. Perhaps we had forgotten that we +were in the heart of the enemy's camp, and that for a word they would +have cut us to pieces. I remembered vaguely that Payard had spoken of +a certain Tcharnhoff as one of madame's lovers; but for the moment it +was difficult to connect the terror of the serving man with the gossip +of the roadside. + +In the same spirit my nephew Leon laughed foolishly when he heard the +servant, and immediately cried, "Let Colonel Tcharnhoff come in!" This +cry Payard himself repeated, banging the table with his fist and +seeming to think it the best of jokes. Madame alone rebuked us by her +attitude. I have never seen a woman so obviously overcome by terror +and yet so much mistress of herself. + +"Keep your seats," she said, half rising as she spoke. "Say nothing +until I have told him." And with that she stood erect at the head of +the table and waited for the colonel to enter. + +Her attitude sobered us. The tragic terror of the woman, her fine +determination, the splendid figure she cut there at the table's head, +were so many rebukes upon our foolish levity. Instantly we realised +that we were in deadly peril by the advent of this unknown man, and +turning as he entered, we scrutinised him closely. + +Ferdinand Tcharnhoff was then in his thirty-fifth year. They say that +if you scratch a Russian you will find a Tartar; but this fellow was an +Eastern from the top of his head to the soles of his feet, and no man +could have mistaken him. Bearded like a savage Englishman, his face +might have been that of an animal, and his cunning eyes those of a pig. +He wore the white uniform of the dragoons with their cloak and helmet, +and his sword was still unbuckled when he came in. Never shall I +forget the look of astonishment which crossed the man's face when he +beheld us at his table. + +"How?" he cried in his own tongue, and then he looked from us to madame +and round about at his servants as though fearing that a trap had been +laid for him. It was at this moment that madame advanced, both her +hands outstretched in welcome, and laughing with the wit of a born +actress. + +"These are my friends and relatives from Paris," she cried. "I am +feeding them, Ferdinand. I told you that I would do so if ever I had +the chance." + +It was a bold stroke and worthy of the woman. The man himself seemed +quite taken aback at her hardihood, and, acting in the same spirit, he +now made us a most profound bow and then handed his cloak and sword to +the servant. + +"Gentlemen," said he, in passable French, "I will not say 'Welcome to +my board!' for that is obviously too late. Let me trust that you have +enjoyed a good dinner, an occupation in which I hope to imitate you +with madame's permission." + +He looked at her, and she immediately gave her orders for food to be +brought. I think she had expected a different turn to the adventure, +and was as perplexed as we ourselves at the colonel's attitude. Here +was a man who should have been raging against us as spies, sitting by +us in the most affable mood and eating and drinking as though he were +in our house and not we in his. For all that I doubted him even in his +most condescending moments, and whispering a word to Leon, I suggested +that we should go. This brought suspicion to a head. The Russian +became sullen in an instant. + +"You will stay," he said, and he banged the table with his fist as +though he had leapt suddenly to the command. "You will stay, +messieurs. Are you not madame's guests? This is no time of night to +be in the woods. There are dangers abroad, messieurs--and wolves. +Upon my word, I am surprised at you--to mention such a thing." + +We resumed our seats, and he fell to smiling again; yet it was with the +snarl of one of those very wolves he had mentioned. A low cunning +laugh, the like of which I have never heard, betrayed a deeper purpose +than that of hospitality. We, in our turn, understood then the whole +peril of the situation. The man was playing with us as a cat with +mice; he had but begun the role he meant to undertake. + +"You are foolish, messieurs," he went on presently; "indeed most +foolish. Consider what would happen to you if you left this house +against my will. The sentries would detain you, and there would be an +inquiry at head-quarters. We are very unkind to traitors when they +visit our camps, and we have our own way of dealing with them. Do you +remember Major Royate, of the Engineers, whom the Cossacks took at +Plavno? They tied him to a tree, I think, and the wolves ate him at +sundown. Then there was your Lieutenant de Duras, whom they burned on +a fire of logs at Letizka; and another, I think, was hacked to pieces +with sabres on the eve of Borodino. All this is very terrible, but in +your words, _a la guerre comme a la guerre_. You say that you fight +with barbarians, and you will not quarrel with their customs. Are they +not poor savages whom you have come here to correct? Messieurs, I do +not know what would happen to you if I gave the alarm from that window +at this minute. It would not be the water, for the river is frozen; +but it might very well be the wolves, as your ears will bear witness if +you will be good enough to listen." + +With this he opened the rude window of the barn, and far away in the +thick of the forest we could hear the dismal howling of the famished +brutes. What was the man's intention, or why he talked in this way, I +could not imagine; but presently, as he drank deeper, his reserve +became less and his true meaning more apparent. Not for a moment had +he been deceived by the tale which madame told him. One of us, he +knew, was her lover, and that man he meant to discover and to kill. + +"Frenchmen," he said presently, passion growing upon him as he spoke, +"I will let two of you leave this house if the third remains. Cast +lots amongst yourselves, if you please; it is a matter of indifference +to me. But one man I will give to my Cossacks, so help me Heaven!" +And with that he laughed savagely, as though this sudden humour pleased +him mightily. + +To this it was impossible to make any answer. We held our tongues, +while Madame Pauline crossed over to the man's side and began to speak +rapidly in Russian. It was plain, however, that she both appealed and +commanded in vain. An Eastern passion for revenge suffered no woman's +entreaty. He knew that none of us would betray the others, and he +believed that he had us all in the net of a devilish vengeance. + +"Two of you shall go," he kept saying--"two. I will give you five +minutes by the clock. If you do not make a choice then, it is for my +Cossacks to deal with you. As you please, messieurs; that is my last +word." + +We had no response to make. The man's anger and the woman's despair +were both very dreadful things to hear and see, and we turned aside +from them to argue the question in quick whispers. Plain was it that +our hope of life hung upon a thread, and, all our fighting instinct +returning, we began to say that we must deal with Tcharnhoff ourselves. +Should we make a dash from the house, or should we seize the man where +he stood? The latter seemed the wiser thing. We risked all by doing +so, and yet might win all. No sooner was the course determined upon +than, snatching his sword from the chair where it lay, Payard made a +dash for the Cossack. Alas! that was the last thing he ever did in his +life, for a pistol-shot rang out at the very instant, and our friend +fell dead across the table. Tcharnhoff had shot him; and the smoke had +not lifted when Pauline herself stabbed her lover to the heart, and he +rolled headlong on the floor, almost at my feet. + +"Go!" she cried, her face white as with the pallor of death. "I will +say that you killed him. Go and leave me." + +We waited for no other word. In the distance we heard the report of a +musket and the alarm spreading through the camp. We had an instant +between us and eternity, and be sure we made the best of it. + + +VI + +It was a glorious night when we reached the open, a full moon shining +upon us and the snow glistening as though dusted with diamonds. + +We could see the bivouac fires of the camp still burning brightly and +the figures of the awakened Cossacks moving about them. You may +imagine how the spectacle quickened our steps, and with what wild hope +of life we crossed the frozen ground to the horses which stood for our +salvation. + +For myself I do not think I have ever run so fast in my life, and never +shall run again, as upon that amazing night. Already my heated fancy +would have it that I could hear the thunder of hoofs upon the snow and +the savage cries of the men whose sabres would cut us down. The +stillness all about us, the silent majesty of the frozen woods, the +utter solitude of the steppes enhanced this impression and all the +gloom of it. What fools we had been to come on such an errand at all! +And how dearly we had paid for it already! It now remained to prove +that we could become men even in the face of death most revolting. + +I say that we ran, but that is hardly the word for it. So difficult +was the ground, so slippery, that sometimes we would be on our feet and +sometimes sliding like lads at a school. The clamour behind us was now +unmistakable, but plainly it converged upon the house we had left, and +we doubted not that Pauline's wit would give us grace. When we at last +came up to the horses, neither of us could speak for sheer exhaustion +of the chase, but we clambered headlong into our saddles, and, letting +poor Payard's charger go whither it would, we galloped across the open +steppes, and entered the first of the woods beyond them. It seemed now +that we were safe, yet what men have ever suffered a greater delusion? +Hardly had we gone three hundred paces when we came face to face with a +party of horsemen, and, reining back in confusion, we discovered them +to be Cossacks returning to the camp. + +The rencontre was swift and a surprise upon both parties. We, being on +the look-out, were naturally the first to draw rein; but the Cossacks, +upon their side hardly less watchful, were quickly at the halt and +eyeing us wonderingly. Such a droll state of affairs would have amused +any man who read an account of it in a book, but it was serious enough +to us. + +For a brief instant it appeared that we were lost beyond hope, and had +nothing to do but to kneel in the snow before these brigands. There +were some eighty of them as I could see, and every man now whipped his +sword from his scabbard. We were but two against them, and not fifty +paces from the place where they were halted, and you will judge of our +astonishment when they did not fire upon us. This very interval of +silence was to be our salvation, for suddenly my nephew wheeled his +horse about, and crying to me to follow him, he spurred wildly from the +wood. Be sure that I imitated him with all my blood afire and a wild +hope of life leaping suddenly to my heart. Their horses had been long +afoot, said I, while ours had rested. We might outride them yet, and +were madmen if we did not put the matter to an issue. + + +VII + +So behold us galloping headlong from that fearsome place, the snow +flying beneath our horses' hoofs, our heads bent and our swords drawn. +For a time I knew not whether we were gaining or losing upon the savage +horde which followed us. Wild cries echoed in my ears; the night was +black about me; I heard the stertorous breathing of the willing horses, +the thunder of their hoofs upon the cruel ground. Then a great silence +fell. Leon hailed me, and I could hear his voice distinctly. + +"They are done with," he said; and upon that, "What do you make of it?" + +"How?" cried I. "They are not following us!" And then I reined back +to listen. + +We must have travelled a league by this time, but the face of the bleak +country was unchanged. Dense woods and gigantic lakes of snow were the +outstanding features, and over all the paralysing silence of a Russian +night. Good God! what a solitude, and yet we had won freedom in it! + +"They did not think us worth powder and shot," says Leon presently. +"Perhaps they were hungry, or"--and here he pointed grimly over his +shoulder--"they may have preferred the camp to that." + +I looked at him curiously. + +"Of what are you speaking?" I asked him, and at that he shrugged his +shoulders. + +"Listen," he cried, "and then answer for yourself, mon oncle." + +I took a pull upon the rein again, and bent my ear towards the wood. A +weird sound, like to nothing but the howling of the doomed, broke the +silence all about and made its meaning clear. We had lost the +Cossacks, but the wolves were on our track; aye, thousands of +them--leaping, barking, snarling from their fastnesses, and bending +their heads to the chase like hounds that follow a scent. Good God, +what a sight that was to see! With what terror the spectacle filled us +as we let the maddened horses go and rode again from an enemy more +terrible than man! + +I had heard of the wolves of Russia, but had seen but few of them +during the terrible days of the retreat. + +Perchance the fact that we had rarely left our comrades might have had +something to do with it, for naturally the fret and stir of an army in +retreat would scare such beasts even at such a season; but here the +story was otherwise. They had scented the horses, and nothing now +would stop them. Gallop as we would, they gained upon us, and +presently were leaping at the throats of the terrified brutes we rode. + +In vain we discharged our pistols, struck at them with our swords, and +cried for aid to any that might be near us. They came again, with jaws +distended and dripping fangs, and we had not gone the third of a league +when one caught Leon's horse by the throat and, hanging there, dragged +the brute shrieking to the ground. + +Surely any man might now have believed that the end had come, and that, +whatever else befell, the regiment would see us no more. + +There was the horse being torn to pieces before our eyes; there was my +nephew striking at the wolves with his sword while I endeavoured +maladroitly to lift him to my saddle. The latter task was soon +rendered impossible by the ferocity of the savage beasts who now +swarmed about us. They had my own horse down before a man could have +counted ten, and, leaping from it as it fell, I ran headlong towards +the woods for any shelter that could be found. + +Our lives now did not seem worth a scudo. There must have been +thousands of wolves about the horses; a black wood was upon our left +hand, a wide, boundless plain before us. Nevertheless, that dim hope +which sustains men in all emergencies remained, and, crying to one +another to take courage, we entered the wood. There, to our wonder and +amazement, we discerned immediately the haven of our salvation. It was +a woodlander's hut, not twenty yards from the open, and hardly had we +espied it before we were locked and barred within and laughing at the +very magnitude of our misfortune. + + +VIII + +It must have been about three o'clock of the morning by this time. + +The hut itself had one window looking over the plain, but was as bare +of furniture as any room in a madhouse. Leon's tinder-box revealed a +floor of baked earth and a stove which lacked fuel, and this, with a +shelf upon which there stood empty jars, was all the ornament this +fortress possessed. To us, however, it was more beautiful than any +palace, and, taking a drain of brandy from our flasks, we climbed up to +the window and looked out over the snows. + +Our poor horses were but bones by this time, and there were hundreds of +the wolves fighting about the carcasses. Less to our liking were the +slinking forms about the hut itself and the savage howling which +assailed our ears. It was clear that the brutes had scented us out, +and would stand sentinel until their courage was screwed up to +something more. We could count them by the hundred as they prowled +round and round the hut, leaping often at the window, and snarling when +the butts of our pistols drove them back. Some, indeed, went so far as +to spring upon the roof, and there yapped and howled most dismally; +while, as for ourselves, we could but keep guard and wonder what the +day would bring. Would it send aid to us, or must we be prisoners +there until we perished of hunger and cold? This was a question +neither dared answer. The minutes became as hours while we waited for +the dawn. The horror of the snow paralysed our faculties and almost +forbade speech between us. + +I cannot tell you truly of all that happened during that appalling +vigil. It is odd to look back to it now and to remember the light +words with which Leon and I would endeavour to cheer each other; how we +laughed and jested when our nerves were at a tension and it seemed that +any minute the cold might overcome us and the door be left open to +death in its most revolting aspect. But an instant of carelessness, +and there would have been a dozen brutes at our throats, and we should +have shared the fate of the wretched horses whose very bones were now +vanished from the plain. + +All this was in our minds, yet our lips made no mention of it. +"Courage," we said; "the day will help us." It seemed a vain hope, for +who should be in this wild place when the sun rose again? You answer +the Cossacks. Aye, true enough, it was the Cossacks who came just as +the day had dawned, and the red light of the morning sun shimmered upon +that frozen sea. + +Leon heard them sooner than I, but the brutes were quicker than he. I +had taken my turn at the window, and had just crashed my pistol into a +gaping mouth which menaced me, when the wolves around suddenly pricked +their ears and turned their heads towards the east. + +"There are horsemen at the gallop," said Leon at the same moment; and, +listening, I heard the muffled thunder of hoofs upon the snow. + +"Would they be our own men?" I asked him. + +He shook his head. + +"We must be five leagues from the high road. Which of our fellows +would come this way?" + +I could not answer that, and had no need to, for hardly were the words +spoken when a troop of Cossacks appeared at a gallop, and instantly the +wolves closed in about them. This was a fine sight, and one I never +shall forget. To watch those dashing horsemen hewing and firing and +slashing at the pack about them, to wonder why they thus rode +desperately, to speculate upon their destination, were all in the +mind's task as the picture unfolded. Were we the pursued, or had they +other quarry? Certainly they would not have to look far for us, for +there in their track upon the snow lay our saddles and bridles, at +which the famished brutes still gnawed. + +Now, it occurred to me that they must certainly discover us, and that +our shrift would be short. The beasts themselves, scared by the +thunder of the sounds, broke presently and fled to the woods whence +they had come. The Cossacks rode up to the very place where our +bridles lay, and yet they did not halt. What drove them thence? I +will tell you in a word--the Red Hussars of our own Guard were at their +heels, hunting them as though they were vermin of the woods, and +cutting them down without pity like wheat that falls before a sickle. + +Ah! what a sight that was to see. What sounds were those to hear--the +shrieks of the poor devils whose skulls were cleaved, the cries of +triumph of the victorious pursuers--they were music in our ears. Yet +saner men would have asked how this majesty of war would help us. But +five minutes had passed when pursued and pursuers were gone as they had +come, and we were alone again. The situation had changed but in +this--that no wolf now yapped about that wattled hut. We climbed from +its window, and went out through the wood without fear. We were alone, +and far from salvation. At least, we thought so for a full hour, until +a second troop of the Red Hussars appeared in the open, and we hailed +them joyfully. + +Then, indeed, was the end of the story written, and then we knew that +we should see our comrades again. + + +IX + +We returned to the bivouac of the Velites that night, and there told +our story. Many mourned the gallant Payard, but there were others who +asked of Madame Pauline. What had happened to her after we had fled +from the camp? We could not answer the question then, but I answered +it in the following June in Paris, when I met her in the Rue de Rivoli +and recognised her instantly. A fine woman, messieurs, and one who is +a very good judge of a dinner, believe me. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE WITCH IN ERMINE + +I + +I have spoken little of the Emperor during these momentous days; but it +is to be remembered that I was chiefly with the rearguard, and so I +hardly saw His Majesty until we came to Slawkowo. + +Often have I been asked in Paris how he carried himself during the +terrible retreat from Moscow, and how it came to be that he escaped the +fate which overtook nearly half a million of men in that fearful +flight. I have always answered that the Emperor took his fair share +both of the risks and the hardships of the journey, and that, so far +from travelling in his famous berline, he was often afoot, walking with +and encouraging the soldiers who had served him so well. + +It is true that he never suffered the miseries of an open bivouac, and +that, wherever we went, some habitation was discovered at night to +shelter him and the intimate members of his staff. Food, also, he had +in abundance, and often shared it with his staff. What he could not +escape was the peril of the Cossacks, who swarmed upon our flanks like +wasps, and rarely left us an hour in which we could march with +confidence. + +Some there are who say that Napoleon Bonaparte was entirely without +pity for his fellow men. I have seen it recorded that he marched over +the dying and the dead with indifference, and was even heard to say +that no man who had seen so many corpses upon a high road could ever +believe in the immortality of the soul. This must be a malicious +invention of his enemies, and it would not be accepted by any soldiers +of the Guard. The Emperor suffered as we suffered during those +unforgettable days, and more than one man could tell of the pity +bestowed upon him by the general for whom he would so willingly have +died. + + +II + +Let me give you an instance of what befell us when we were some leagues +from Smolensk and were approaching the village of Liadoui. + +The Emperor had ridden out of the town that morning escorted by the +grenadiers and the chasseurs, Prince Eugene with General Davoust and +Ney being left behind in charge of the rearguard. + +I myself set out with the Velites about an hour after His Majesty had +left, upon a road whereon familiar scenes were soon to be encountered. + +The army had got no food in Smolensk, and its sufferings began again +directly we reached the open country. Just as heretofore, men fell out +and perished before the eyes of their helpless comrades. Some would +stagger for a little while like drunken men, stretching out their arms +to us and craving pity; others went mad in their delirium, and I +remember well with what horror we saw a dragoon gnawing madly at the +neck of a frozen horse, while his lips were red with his own blood. To +all this we had now become inured, and, knowing the impossibility of +helping the poor wretches who succumbed, we could but shut pity from +our hearts and bend our heads to the bitter wind which swept over this +God-forsaken land. + +It was during this march that I came up with the Emperor, who had been +riding with the grenadiers and was now halted in a picturesque group +near by the edge of a thicket. + +Here we found a poor woman whose baby was but two days old, and who +mourned the loss of this infant--frozen stark dead--as though she had +been at her own home in Paris. She was a cantiniere of the fusiliers, +and her husband, an old soldier who had fought at Jena, did what he +could for her; but it was all of no avail, and despite His Majesty's +command that I myself should attend her and that she should be given of +the best from the Imperial supplies, she expired in the snow before our +eyes. + +The Emperor was greatly affected by this distressing occurrence, and +when he saw that the poor woman was dead he commanded me to accompany +him, intimating that there was hardly a surgeon left in his entourage. +This compliment pleased me very much, remembering how we had parted, +and I rode by His Majesty's side for some leagues, telling him all that +I had seen and done since we quitted Moscow. What surprised me +particularly was that he made no mention of Mademoiselle Valerie, nor +of her visit to him at Slawkowo and of the episode which had led up to +it. It was his wont, however, thus to treat the officers he liked +best, and if I had been doubtful of his favour on that occasion, I +could take heart when he pinched my ear suddenly as we came to the +village of Liadoui and said with a smile: "You will remain with me +to-night, major; I have something very much in your line." + +This was a quite unexpected compliment, and brought the blood to my +cheeks. I could not readily imagine upon what service His Majesty +would employ me, but I spent the day in anxious speculation, and when +he summoned me at about nine o'clock that night I was all agog, as you +may well imagine. + +Why had I been thus chosen, and what was the employment? + +You shall see now how very strange an affair it turned out to be. + + +III + +The village of Liadoui is built of wood upon an open situation not many +leagues from Krasnoe. The Emperor slept at the post-house, a modest +edifice which two companies of the fusiliers were to guard. I myself +got a bivouac with the priest, who needed more than one blow from the +butt end of a musket before he was glad to see me. The whole situation +of the little force in Liadoui would have been considered dangerous at +any other time, but we had to take the best we could, and the fact that +there were Russians on both flanks had ceased to trouble us while we +could get food and shelter. + +For the first time now for many a day I got a dish of beef and rice +that night, and a bottle of wine to wash it down. This His Majesty +sent me from his own table, and be sure I shared it with my comrades. +We were in consequence quite a happy company, and we sang "Veillons au +salut de l'Empire" as merrily as we might have done in the barracks at +Paris. Then came His Majesty's summons for Major Constant to attend +him at once; and quitting my comrades with reluctance, I put on the +great fur coat which I had carried from Moscow, and went across to the +post-house. + +Much to my surprise I found the Emperor alone. He sat in a spacious +room overlooking the street, and the remains of his dinner were still +upon the table. Clad in the well-known grey overcoat and the little +cocked hat, without which none of us would have recognised him, I +perceived also that he had a heavy cape of fur about his shoulders and +wore fur-topped boots almost to his hips. He seemed mightily pleased +to see me, and, pouring out a glass of wine, he bade me drink it. + +"Do you remember this place?" he asked me as the first question. + +I told him that the Velites had not passed that way before, having +taken the northern road to Moscow. He, however, hardly waited for my +answer, but, watching me drink the wine, he said: + +"I see that you do not know it. That is to the good; you will not ask +me unnecessary questions. Now drink your wine and come and see your +patient. She is young--you will not object to that. The Velites, I +understand, are critical; it is for that reason I chose a surgeon from +your ranks." + +He laughed as though pleased at the jest. Buttoning the fur cape +closely about him, he left the room immediately, and I followed him, +the wine freezing upon my moustache as soon as we were out in the +bitter night. + +Never have I known a cold so intense nor a wind that shrivelled the +flesh so quickly. Yet the scene itself was picturesque enough, and +under any other circumstances a man might have stopped to marvel at it. +The moon now shone full and clear from a cloudless sky; the trees about +Liadoui glistened with a thousand diamonds of the frost; the snow +beneath our feet was as hard as iron and burnished with a sheen of +silver light. Imagine upon this wooden houses with all their windows +aglow, dark forms moving here and there, the distant rumble of cannon +upon the road, and even the echo of musket shots, and you will see the +picture as I saw and remember it. + +Whither was the Emperor going, and upon what errand? I could not so +much as imagine his purpose when we quitted the post-house and, +crossing the street, entered upon a narrow footpath which seemed about +to lead to the neighbouring forest. The peril of such a journey, with +the Cossacks all about us and the night hawks everywhere, would have +been patent to a child, and it even amazed an old soldier like myself, +who could but marvel at such imprudence. + +Was it possible that His Majesty could be about to visit the Russian +camp secretly, as so many of our brave fellows had done? + +I dared for the moment to believe it, until the shape of a house +emerged suddenly from the shadows and I saw that we had come to a +considerable habitation upon the very brink of the woods. To my +astonishment this was guarded by sentinels, and no sooner were we out +of the shadows than one of them challenged us angrily. + +"Salut de l'Empire," said His Majesty, advancing with a smile, and, the +man having brought his musket to the salute, we passed the gate and +entered the house. + + +IV + +Naturally we were expected. It was evident that His Majesty would +never have gone upon such a journey if he had not known very well that +he would find a welcome at the end of it. The army hears many stories +and must listen at all times with prudent ears. We had mentioned the +name of more than one _belle fille_ since we had left Paris, and we +knew that we should mention many another before we returned there. So +you will imagine my surprise when it was not a young woman but a very +old one who greeted us upon the threshold of this remote house. + +I saw she was old, but it would have puzzled a man to have guessed her +age. Shrivelled and wan, with a skin of parchment and hair of flax, +her eyes nevertheless glittered like those of a hawk, and her hands +were ablaze with diamonds of wonderful lustre. Her dress was rich, and +such as usually worn by noblewomen in Russia. She wore a silk robe +trimmed with ermine, and the most wonderful cape of the same costly fur +about her hunched shoulders. To His Majesty she was deferential beyond +compare. She welcomed him with a curtsey full of the old-time +stateliness, and to me she extended her hand to be kissed. Then she +bade us enter the salle a manger of the house, and I perceived at once +that supper was prepared there. + +I have told you that it was an extensive dwelling, though built of +wood, and certainly this apartment was fine enough for anything. The +walls were everywhere hung with old French tapestry; the furniture must +have come from our own Paris. There was china of Sevres upon the +table, and that extravagant porcelain in which the East and the West +commingle and delight. Two liveried servants stood at the table's head +and bowed low as the Emperor entered. He, however, appeared but ill at +ease, and I plainly perceived that he was seeking someone whose +presence he had expected. + +This whetted my curiosity. The old lady herself, setting His Majesty +at the head of her table, now sat down upon his right hand, and +motioned me to a seat beside her. Then she made a signal to the +lackeys, and instantly they began to serve us with all manner of +luxuries unlooked for in such a place, and certainly not discovered +since we had left Moscow. + +The man who has lived upon horseflesh for many days is a good judge of +any kind of cooking, and I could not but think, as I sat at the table, +of that unhappy mendicant who had said to Louis XV., "Sire, how hungry +I am!" and had been answered with the quip, "Lucky devil." + +To me this Was a Gargantuan feast such as had never been surpassed in +all my years. + +We had the fine sturgeon in which the Russians delight, their own +caviare, excellent mutton, and chickens which were matchless, and all +washed down with the wines of Burgundy, and upon that with draughts of +our own magnificent brandy. When we had finished we were even offered +a little preserved fruit and some of the tobacco which the Russians +smoke rolled in slips of paper. His Majesty condescended to try one of +these, but made little of it, and presently it became apparent to me +that he was anxious, and that his anxiety no longer brooked the control +of silence. + +"Madame," he asked without warning, "where is your daughter Kyra?" + +The question had been expected, and madame lifted her wise eyes when +she heard it. + +"Ah!" she exclaimed in French, "so you are anxious to speak to Kyra +again." + +"Why not?" says His Majesty. "She told me many things I wished to +hear; is that not a reason?" + +"And your Majesty found them true?" + +For an instant the Emperor seemed to be dreaming. Then, tapping the +table lightly with his fingers, he said: + +"In the main they were true. She told me that Moscow would be burned." + +Madame Zchekofsky--for such I discovered the lady's name to be--feigned +great pity. + +"Ah, what a dreadful thing--and so many of your poor soldiers who +suffered! Little did I think when I heard the child speak that such +wisdom was in her keeping, but so it is, as your Majesty admits." + +"Most willingly. I expected to hear more of it to-night. Is your +daughter ill, or is she merely absent?" + +Madame Zchekofsky shook her head. + +"She is ill, sire; it is the bitter cold of this terrible winter. +Otherwise she would have been by your Majesty's side to-night." + +"Ah!" cried the Emperor, with a gesture Of disappointment; "then I must +not see her?" + +"I fear not. These visions are not to be encouraged, as I am sure Dr. +Constant will tell you. Those who command them suffer much afterwards. +Is it not so, doctor?" + +I hardly knew how to answer her. It had come to me suddenly that this +old woman was playing with both of us, and there flashed upon me the +disquieting thought that His Majesty's life might even be in danger. +Could the Russians have laid hands upon him at such a moment and +carried him a prisoner to Petersburg, then indeed were the fortunes of +my country imperilled, and a blow struck at the Empire from which it +might never recover. Yet what was I to do? The Emperor was as good a +judge as I of the situation, and it would have been the mere effrontery +of a subordinate which would have reminded him of its dangers. + +"Madame," said I, "these things do not concern men of common sense. +When I go to bed at night the only vision that I look for is that of +the morning sun. If your daughter be a prophetess, I am sorry for you +both, for it has never seemed to me a profitable occupation. +Discourage her if you can--that is my advice." + +She shook her head. + +"And yet you heard His Majesty say that she foretold the burning of +Moscow?" + +"A guess at hazard," said I. "What is more, madame, she may have known +that your Emperor was about to burn it. These things are not done by +one or two people, but by many thousands. It is quite probable that +she should have heard of the intentions." + +His Majesty smiled at this, yet the old hawk regarded me with some +malice. What her object was--whether to push the fortunes of her house +with the Emperor, or merely to advance his interest in her daughter--I +could not then imagine; but I know now that she had intended to follow +us to Paris and there to establish herself if she could. + +My pessimism evidently angered her; she had looked for me to support +His Majesty in this amiable humour. + +"Well," said she, rising abruptly, "it is easy to put the matter to the +proof. Kyra should not leave her room, but His Majesty may go there if +he will. He shall then tell me if it were a guess or no. Do you +desire that, sire?" + +I could see that the Emperor was greatly pleased; he rose at once and +waited for her to show him the way. In that brief interval I stepped +to his side and begged to be permitted to follow him. + +"A whim, if you like, sire. Perhaps I am also a prophet," said I, and +we exchanged a glance I shall never forget. + +The Emperor knew that he was in peril, then. Did he also know the +nature of it? If so, he were wiser than I, who followed him merely +upon an impulse for which I could not account. + + +V + +We mounted a wide flight of stairs and stood for an instant before a +great carved door at the head of them. The house was very silent, and +the lackeys had disappeared. I could hear the distant sounds in the +village and from the high road the rumble of cannon and the blare of +bugles. But these were fitful and easily to be explained. What I did +not like was the uncanny silence in the dwelling itself. We entered a +great ante-room on the first floor, and from that passed to a little +bedroom such as a young girl might have occupied. It was empty, but +madame knocked at the door which led from it, and, receiving no +immediate answer, we all sat down and waited in the darkness. + +"The child sleeps," said the Emperor. + +The old woman muttered something I could not distinguish. + +"Of what nature is her illness?" His Majesty asked next. + +"It has been a fever," says madame; "but she is better of that, and now +suffers only from weakness." + +"In which case we must wait until she awakes. Do you not suggest a +better place than this, madame?" + +Madame rose at this rebuke. + +"I will go in myself," she said; but before she could take a step the +door of the adjoining room was opened and Mademoiselle Kyra herself +appeared. + +Her dress was a long white robe tied with a girdle. Her hair was like +her mother's, but more silken in texture, and fell, as the hair of many +Russian women does, almost to her feet. I thought her amazingly +beautiful--by far the prettiest woman I had yet seen in this damnable +country, and, in truth, I envied His Majesty such good fortune. He, +however, seemed in no way impressed by the child's looks, but only by +her attitude, which was that of one who walked in her sleep and might +not be awakened without danger. Stepping back, with his finger on his +lips, the Emperor let the girl go slowly from the room to the great +antechamber beyond, we following upon tiptoe, as though we spied upon +this unlooked-for apparition. + +For a moment I thought that Mademoiselle Kyra was about to descend the +stairs to the dining room we had left, but she crossed the landing at +the stairs head, and, opening a door upon the far side, entered another +bedroom, and from that a spacious apartment furnished like a chapel. +Here the Emperor followed her, but madame forbade me to go. I had an +instantaneous vision of a picture of the Madonna and a lamp burning +before it. Then I saw the girl stumble and appear about to fall, but +His Majesty caught her in his arms, and madame immediately closed the +door upon them. + +"You can wait," she said, and, closing the door of the bedroom and +drawing a heavy curtain over it, she left me standing sentinel in that +black, dark room. + + +VI + +It was an odd situation, I must confess. + +The army is well acquainted with more than one such expedition in which +His Majesty has figured, and I was not the first officer, by many, who +had watched a house wherein he pursued an adventure of this kind. + +But here the circumstances were very different. + +The girl was not as other women of whom we spoke in merriment. She had +come from her apartment in sleep, and was sleeping, I believe, when she +entered the chapel. The impulse which drove His Majesty appeared to me +to be curiosity rather than love. I have heard that he was somewhat +given to omens and the occult sciences, and while pretending to be an +absolute disbeliever in them, would nevertheless lend a willing ear to +any charlatan who had a tale to tell. Mademoiselle Kyra had forewarned +him of certain happenings upon his march to Moscow, so what could be +more natural than that he should desire to hear what she had to say of +his retreat? + +These thoughts were uppermost in my mind when I found myself alone in +the room. I could hear no sound whatever from the chapel, not even +that of a woman whispering. The house itself had fallen again to a +silence quite remarkable. I tried to look from the window of the +bedroom, but found it so frosted that not a thing could be seen beyond. +The old lady herself had disappeared and gone I knew not whither. +Another, perhaps, would have spied upon the Emperor, and even found a +pretext for following him into the chapel. This kind of curiosity has +never afflicted me, and all that I remembered was the continued peril +of our situation. + +How if the Cossacks made a sudden dash upon Liadoui and overpowered the +sentinels at the gate! + +Nothing could be easier than such an assault. We had but two regiments +of the grenadiers in the village, and they were worn to death with +marching. Indeed, I believed they were already sleeping in any bivouac +they could find. The guns were mostly a day's march ahead of us, and +we had little artillery in our train. Nothing, I said, could be looked +for as surely as a sudden descent of the Cossacks upon any house in +which they might imagine the Emperor to be sleeping. So you will +understand my sense of responsibility and the keen ear I leant to any +sounds from without. + +The silence of the night seemed, indeed, almost unnatural. I began to +be affrighted by it. What was odd was the length of time His Majesty +was closeted in the dark chapel. It is true that I heard the sound of +voices when a little while had passed, and that a busy murmur of talk +went on at intervals for a full hour. Then for a spell again there was +silence, and it was during that interval that I first heard the alarm +from without. + +There were horsemen approaching the village. My trained ear told me +the truth in an instant, and bending it to the glass, I made sure that +I was not mistaken. Horsemen, I said, were riding across the frozen +snow, either towards Liadoui or to Madame Zchekofsky's dwelling. No +sooner was the opinion formed than the cry of a dying man confirmed it. +Someone had sabred or bayoneted the sentry at the gate. There is no +mistaking that awful cry which a man utters when he realises that he +has lived his life and that the steel within him has reached his heart. +I knew it too well, and, springing back at the sound, I ran to the +chapel doors and beat heavily upon them. + +"Your Majesty," I cried, "for God's sake!" + +The door was locked, but someone opened it instantly, and there stood +Mademoiselle Kyra and the Emperor by her side. She was wide awake now +and a look of terror had come upon her pretty face. + +"I beg you to go," she said to him. + +For answer he stepped out into the bedroom and asked me what was the +matter. + +"The Cossacks are here," I cried; "they have killed the sentinel. Your +Majesty must not delay." + +Napoleon Bonaparte was no coward, as all the world knows, and he heard +me almost with nonchalance. + +"Are you quite sure?" he asked. + +I told him that there was no doubt of it. + +"Listen for yourself, sire," said I; "they are entering the house." + +He shrugged his shoulders and turned to Mademoiselle Kyra. + +"Is there a way out by the chapel?" he asked her. + +Her affrighted eyes answered him. + +"You will have to return by the great staircase," said she; and at that +he smiled, for we could hear already the tramp of many feet upon it. + +"That is a pity," says he now. "Major Constant must see what they +want." + +Then, speaking very earnestly to me, he exclaimed: "I count upon your +devotion, major; do what you can." And instantly he re-entered the +chapel, and I drew the curtain across its doors. + +There was now, I suppose, an interval of ten good seconds in which I +had an opportunity to think. Two alternatives faced me--I might either +draw my sword and meet the men as they entered, or feign fraternity and +so try to disarm their suspicions. The latter course occurred to me as +the wiser, and without a moment's hesitation I sprang upon the bed and +drew the heavy counterpane over my shoulders. The thing was hardly +done when the door burst open and some ten men entered the room. They +were Cossacks of the Guard, and every man had his sword drawn. + + +VII + +I know little of the Russian tongue, but the few words that I have were +sufficient to tell me that the first cry uttered by the leader of the +men was for light. This was echoed down the stairs, and presently +there came a sergeant with a lantern and another behind him with a wax +candle in his hand. + +I had not moved during the interval, and I lay still yet a little +while. The fellows began to peer about immediately, and of course they +soon discovered me upon the bed. Then, truly, I thought that I had not +a minute to live. There were the barbarians, savage as it seemed in +the lust of blood. There was I as helpless as a bullock at the +slaughter. They had but to cut and thrust, and the story of +Surgeon-Major Constant would have been written for all time. You may +imagine how my heart beat while I waited to feel the prick of the steel +and wondered how death in such a shape would come. + +To a man so placed delay is but an agony anew. I could have prayed +that they would strike swiftly, and when they did not strike I laughed +aloud like a woman grown hysterical. + +God in heaven, how I laughed! Sitting up in the bed and watching that +ring of steel, no hyena in the wilderness uttered such sounds as I. +The best joke that was ever told could never have moved me as that +perilous situation. Not for my life, not even for the life of His +Majesty, was I acting thus; nay, if a man had offered me ten thousand +golden pieces to have recovered my serenity, the money would have been +lost for ever. + +Well, the effect upon the Cossacks was amazing. I have never had a +doubt that the first of the band had already raised his sabre to thrust +me through when this weird fit overtook me. The wonder of it held his +hand and left him powerless. He stood there looking at me as though he +had come suddenly upon a madman. Possibly I laughed, as men will at +times, with an air which is infectious, compelling others to take up +the catch, and certainly depriving them of their anger. Be that as it +may, there were fellows laughing in that bedroom before I had done, and +anon the whole company roared aloud with me. Such a thing was like a +sudden vision of life to a man whom death had held by both hands. In a +twinkling I had got my courage back, and what was but an ailment had +become a stratagem. If laughter could save the Emperor, then was I the +man. Soon I began to sing the "Ram, ram, ram, ram, plan, tire-lire ram +plan," and shouted it with all my lungs and danced a step before them. +They in their turn clapped me on the back with their sabres and cried +for drink. + +"You will find it in the salle a manger," said I, speaking to one of +them in French, and then, opening my mouth and making the sign of a man +drinking, I caught the fellow by the arm and dragged him down the +stairs. The others followed like sheep that would go into a fold. We +were all drinking about the table in less than no time, and an hour had +not run before the whole troop of them were as drunk as sailors at +Toulon. + +I say they were drunk, but a man must have been in Russia to know how +very drunk they were. + +This was no mere rollicking, no shouting of songs or bawling of +catches, but right-down deep drinking, and upon that a stupor which +bore a very good likeness to death. I watched them tumbling to the +floor one by one, and, spurning their bodies aside with my foot, I +remembered His Majesty and went back to him. He was still standing at +the stairs head where I had left him, and Mademoiselle Kyra was still +by his side. + +"Well," says he; and I told him at a breath. + +"There's an end of this until daybreak," said I. "Your Majesty can go +now." + +He did not speak, leaving it to the girl, who went slowly to the window +and, opening it a little way, looked out across the field of snow. +Then she shut the casement quickly and came back to us. + +"They are watching the house," she said quietly. "It is as I thought. +They know your Majesty is here, and are waiting for you." + +"Then let them find me instead," said I immediately, and, stepping up +to the Emperor, I begged the loan of his cloak and cocked hat. "You +will find mine a little large, but they will serve, sire," said I. "If +I draw off the troop, well and good. If not, your Majesty may yet find +a way." + +He looked at me in his own way, as one whom danger amused rather than +dismayed. + +"I will send a regiment of hussars to bring you back," he exclaimed, +pinching my ear as he was wont to do when pleased. Then he handed me +his cloak and cocked hat and I donned them as though the joke were +entirely to my liking. For all that, I knew very well what I was +doing, and I would not have valued my life at a lira's purchase when I +left him at the stairs head and went down. + +Mademoiselle stood by his side then, and they were deep in talk. I +might have said that I was forgotten already, and that may have been +true enough. Men have died for Napoleon Bonaparte, knowing well that +their very names would be unremembered when the sun rose again. Others +will imitate them, for such is the spirit his gifts of kingship have +inspired. + + * * * * * + +It was the dead of night when I went out, and not a sign of the old +hag. I believed then that she had betrayed us, and had I met her that +would have been the last hour she had lived. But, as I say, she had +clean vanished, and the only lackey visible was dead asleep by the +stove in the hall. Very softly now I pushed open the outer doors and +looked about me. The spectacle was wonderfully beautiful, but as +menacing as it was glorious. A great full moon shone down upon a scene +that should have stood in a magic land. Earth and sky alike were aglow +with the entrancing lights of winter made magnificent. The cold was +intense beyond belief: the frost made a diamond of every pebble the +foot crushed. And upon it all was the stillness of God's death.... the +silence of a land which an Eastern winter had shrouded. + +Thus for the beauty of the scene. The menace was no less remarkable. +There, frosted already, were the corpses of the sentinels the Russians +had murdered. To reach the open I must step over the prone figures of +brother Frenchmen and look into their staring eyes. The shudder was +still upon me when I heard a cry of savage triumph, and knew that the +Cossacks were upon me. The troop which Mademoiselle Kyra had seen from +the window rode out of the shadows even as I crossed the threshold. +They fell upon me as wolves upon a carcass, and no fowl was trussed as +surely while a man could have counted twenty. + + +VIII + +Imagine the exultation of these men, who believed that they had +captured the greatest of Frenchmen, living or dead, and were carrying +him to their general. + +The first transports passed, their sense of prudence returned to them, +and with it a deference which should have won laughter from a log! The +Emperor of the French a prisoner in their hands! Heaven above me, how +they bowed and capered! What antics they cut! Never had a man such +slaves at his feet. I was set upon a horse immediately, and had a +guard at the head and tail of him. The officer saluted until his arm +must have been weary. He had caught the Emperor--what a night! + +Our way lay over the snows to the Cossack camp upon the far side. +Behind me there shone the lights of the house I had quitted, bright +stars beyond a frozen sea. I knew that the next hour would find me in +the Russian general's tent, and that my shrift must be short. What +mattered the regiment of hussars the Emperor was to send? My body +would be frozen on the snows before they could ride out. + +Upon this there fell an apathy difficult to understand. + +We had suffered so much during those terrible days--hunger and thirst, +and blood and wounds--that any man might have opened his arms to death +as to a friend. And here was the end of it for me. What mattered it? +In a vision, I beheld the lights of my own France, the home which +sheltered all dear to me, the land towards which my eyes had been +lifted these many weeks. Never again might I look upon that smiling +country. Night and the unknown were my portion. There would be few to +remember my name to-morrow. + +From such thoughts a reality most absurd awoke me. + +I have set down this narrative of events as I lived and knew them, and +have kept nothing from you, that you may judge of things, not as we +look for them, but as an unromantic destiny determines that they shall +be. + +I say that I awoke with a start, believing myself to be upon a horse +and at the very threshold of the Russian camp. Depict my astonishment +when, opening my eyes, I beheld again madame's salle a manger, the +tables spread with meat and drink, the forms of the intoxicated +Russians on the floor all about me, and above them the red coats of our +own Hussars of the Guard! For an instant I believed that the witch in +ermine had cast a spell upon me, and that this was but a vision of her +enchantment. Then the merry laughter of my own comrades disillusioned +me and I staggered, dizzy and dumbfounded, to my feet. + +"Name of a dog," I cried to them, "and what does this mean?" + +They answered me with a merriment which became a shout. + +"It means that the liquor was very good and that you got very drunk," +says their captain, clapping me on the shoulder ... and at him I stared +all bewildered. + +"Drunk!" I cried. "You say that I was drunk!" + +"Undoubtedly.... His Majesty told us to take care of you...." + +"Then he is not here?" I exclaimed in wonder. + +"He is already six leagues on the road to Wilna," was the answer. A +child might have put me over at that. I clapped my hands to my fevered +brow and began to believe them. Drunk I had been ... but by drink had +I saved the Emperor's life. + +And I had done him an injustice in my dream. He has not forgotten, as +I knew full well. + + +IX + +You will see how it all happened, and will need no further words from +me. + +Taking the Cossacks down to madame's salle a manger to keep them from +the Emperor, I also had been overpowered by their cursed liquor, and +had fallen under the table with the rest of them. There I dreamed of +Russian camps, and France, and death, and all the nonsense of it, and +there I awoke to find our own Red Hussars in possession of the +dwelling. How they laughed at me! Yet what music their laughter +proved to be! + +As to old Madame Zchekofsky, I veritably believe that she played a +double part that night with all a woman's cunning. Desiring the +Emperor's friendship, she encouraged his belief in her daughter's power +of prophecy, at the same time trying to keep in with the Russians by +informing them of our presence in the house at a moment when she +believed we would already have left it. Thus her anxiety and that +disquiet I had observed with such misgiving. + +I saw her in Paris in the memorable year 1815, and her daughter was +with her. Naturally my nephew Leon desired to know so mysterious a +personage, and I fancy she found his gifts of prophecy not less +considerable than her own. This, however, was long after the terrible +weeks when so many thousands of brave Frenchmen left their bones upon +the snows of Russia because the Emperor had willed it. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +LITTLE PETROVKA + +I + +The Emperor was often in personal danger during the retreat from +Moscow, but never more so, I think, than after the Battle of Krasnoe. + +You must depict us at this time as a rabble rather than an army. There +were few regiments save those of the Guard which maintained even a +semblance of order. Men fell out at a whim. We had nothing upon +either side of us but the frozen steppes and the woods in which the +wolves howled. Our own people had burned the villages through which we +straggled towards a distant horizon of our salvation. The road itself +was black with the bodies of the dying and dead. I shall not dwell +upon such pitiful scenes, but recall only those which seem to me of +interest to my fellow countrymen. + +Often have I been asked how the Emperor carried himself during these +days, and that is a question which I have made some attempt already to +answer. + +Chiefly he walked with the grenadiers. There were occasions when he +entered his famous travelling carriage, and passed some hours in it; +but no one was more ready than he to share the hardships of the +journey, and certainly none faced peril with a greater sang-froid. How +it came about that His Majesty escaped disaster, I cannot tell you. +There were many occasions when a little courage upon the part of the +Cossacks would have destroyed the hope of France for ever. So often +were we who guarded him but a palsied band of nondescripts, that I +wonder to this day at that hesitation which allowed the greatest of our +soldiers to slip through Russian hands. + +Let me give you an instance to show what I mean. + +It was the morning of November 25th. We had passed a forlorn village +some miles beyond Krasnoe. The column was headed by a bevy of +generals, few of whom were mounted. Behind them there marched a +miserable company of officers, all dragging themselves along painfully, +and not a few of them having their feet frozen, and wrapped in rugs or +bits of sheepskin. The Emperor himself marched in the midst of the +cavalry of the Guard. He went on foot, and carried a baton. His cloak +was large and lined with fur, and upon his head he wore a dark red +velvet cap with a trimming of black fox. Prince Murat walked on his +right-hand side, and on his left Prince Eugene, while behind him came +the Marshals Berthier, Ney, Mortier, and Lefebvre, with others whose +regiments had been almost annihilated in the recent battles. + +Behind these again were the officers and non-commissioned officers of +the Guard. There were seven or eight hundred of them walking in +perfect silence, and carrying the eagles of their different regiments. +The scene itself was an open plain glistening with frost, and often +broken by those dismal clumps of pines with which we were so familiar. +A village lay ahead of us, a ravine and a river upon our right hand. +We knew that the Cossacks were sheltered by the distant woods, and that +any moment might bring them down upon us. And yet we went as stolidly +as men who are marching from a field of victory. + +Is it to be wondered at that the Russians were perplexed by these +tactics, and that even the boldest of them had no heart for a venture +which would have destroyed the hope of France in a twinkling? + +This is not to tell you that they did not attack us. Hardly had we +come up to the outskirts of the village when we perceived a battery +drawn up by the river and another before the very gates of the hamlet. +We had no guns with us at the moment, and we stood there like sheep +while the Russians pounded us and their shells decimated our tottering +ranks. Lame and helpless and weary, weakened by hunger and the perils +of the march, who would have said that so pitiful a force could have +withstood the assault even of five thousand brave men? Yet, as I say, +they were content to pound us with their artillery, and although we saw +great masses of their cavalry about the village, never once did they +charge us as we expected them to do. + +Presently our own guns came up, and we were able to meet the enemy on +better terms. Marshal Ney now put himself at the head of the +chasseurs, and boldly charged the Cossacks to the left of the village. +His troops suffered severely in this onset, and when he returned to us +the frozen plain was dotted with the writhing forms of our countrymen +who had been shot down. These poor fellows had suffered so much during +recent days that for the most part they died without a struggle. Such +as survived were left to the mercy of the Russians, for we were in no +position to help them, and we had to suffer the mortifying spectacle of +seeing the wounded stripped bare and left upon the snows by the fiends +who came out of the woods. + +I thought surely that His Majesty was lost this day, and when I saw him +standing in the very path of the shells, surrounded by no more than +forty Fusiliers of the Guard, it seemed indeed to me that the end had +come. The Cossacks had but to charge and their booty would have been +sure. That they did not do so must be set down to those motives of +prudence which animated their General Kutusoff to the end. He knew +that the Grand Army was perishing before his eyes, and that the +elements would do what the Russians themselves had left undone. When +he retired that day we must have lost at least three thousand men, who +were left in the hands of his butchers. + +But the Emperor was saved by such cowardice, and he slept that night in +the village which Kutusoff's guns had failed to hold. + + +II + +The morning broke clear and sunny, but hardly were we upon the road +when the north wind began to blow and our sufferings to recommence. +The Russians had drawn off for the time being, and we neither saw them +nor heard their guns. The troops themselves, no longer fearing an +attack, marched in that disorder of which I have spoken. Hardly a +regiment could have been distinguished even by one familiar with our +army. We were but scattered groups of malcontents, and every man +thought only of his own safety. + +I had not seen my nephew Leon during the battle, and was very glad to +re-discover him not far from the bivouac. He was marching with other +officers of the Velites when I came up, and I perceived at once that he +had made a captive. The latter might, at the first glance, have been +taken for a lad of seventeen, clad in stout riding-breeches, and +wearing a tunic of rich fur. + +The bright eyes of the prisoner and the cheerful manner evidently won +upon my comrades, and I was not very much astonished to discover +presently that the prisoner was of the other sex, and to hear that she +had been caught in the village that very morning, and herself had +volunteered to show us the road to the Berezina. + +Such things happened almost every day while we were in Russia, and for +a native woman to adopt the garb of a soldier was by no means an +uncommon thing. The only difference in this case was that the girl +herself appeared to be well born, and beyond the station where such +monkey tricks would be looked for. It occurred to me at once that she +might have been sent out to betray us, and I spoke of it to Leon before +he had gone a league. + +"Where did you find her?" I asked him. + +He parried the question, as a young man would when he has found a +companion to his liking. + +"She came out of the last house in the village just as we were marching +past. I wish I could understand their cursed lingo, mon oncle. I +think she comes from a place called Druobona, but am not very sure. In +either case, it does not matter," he added carelessly, "for I do not +suppose she will go back there when we have done with her." + +This was said with a laugh which I did not like to hear, and I rebuked +him sharply for his levity. + +"The girl is well born," said I, "and this is neither the place nor the +time to think of such things. Why do you allow her to go upon such an +errand at all? Are there not other guides?" + +He looked at me slyly. + +"None so pretty, mon oncle; and besides, a man can always make a woman +understand. She will get us very well to the Berezina, and there we +shall send her back with a present." + +"Of horseflesh," said I; and then: "The whole thing is nonsense, and +you are likely to pay a high price for her company. Remember what I am +saying." + +He promised to do so, but immediately linked his arm in hers and began +to sing one of our old marching songs. We must have gone another +league before he told me that her home was in a village some few miles +to the south of the route the army was taking, but really upon the old +main road to the Berezina. + +"You and I will give them the slip at dusk," said he, "and take our +luck again. I will wager the girl's honesty against a hundred crowns. +We can stop the night at her father's house and get food. Do not look +so displeased, mon oncle. We will take twenty of our fellows to see +that the Cossacks do not cut our throats, and we shall be half a day's +march on the road to the river before the army has left the next +bivouac." + +I did not like the idea of it, but when a man is making love to a +pretty woman, and she has asked him to her house, there is an end of +the argument. + +Petrovka, for such the men would call the girl, certainly disarmed +suspicion by her frank airs and the merry laughter which lighted up her +eyes. She made a handsome boy enough, and it was good to see her +dancing across the snow which so many trod with difficulty, and to hear +the cheering words of encouragement she bestowed upon all who lagged +behind. + +The men had come to believe that she was quite a mascot, and soon we +must have had a hundred and fifty of the Guard about our party. This +was unexpected and not in accord with friend Leon's plan. I believe it +had been his secret hope that he and I should go alone to her father's +house, but when the sun began to sink upon the horizon, and we left the +main road for one which branched towards the south, the whole company +followed us immediately. Vain to tell them that our errand was +private. The time had passed when officers could have their will in +such matters as this; and so it befell that exactly a hundred and fifty +men set out to share Petrovka's hospitality, and were determined to +enjoy it whatever the difficulties. + + +III + +We went marching and singing, and utterly regardless of any perils that +might await us upon the road. + +For that matter, we saw no Cossacks, and even our old friends the +wolves were silent. + +The country itself had become less monotonous, and we soon found +ourselves in a deep ravine, whose rugged cliffs were capped by the +frozen pines. + +Here there was a wonderful suggestion of remoteness and solitude; but +it occurred to me, nevertheless, that it might be the very spot for an +ambush, and I insisted upon a halt until our vedettes had made their +reports. We even sent a man up to the heights above to be quite sure +that the Cossacks were not camped in the thickets. When these had +reported that no living thing moved in all that drear place, we +followed Petrovka again and began to think of supper. + +She had told us that it was just three leagues from the high road to +her father's house, but we must have marched at least five before we +came, without warning, upon a miserable village, the outstanding +feature of which was the low and straggling farmhouse with a mighty +barn at the southern end of it. Of a seigneur's habitation there was +no sign whatever, and I found it difficult to believe that Petrovka's +father could inhabit such a shabby dwelling as that to which she now +led us. When we asked her if it were indeed her home, she, to our +great astonishment, answered us in French, and replied that it was not. + +"My father lives many, many leagues from here," she said, and laughed +at the words. "This is the house of the moujik Serges. He was one of +my father's servants, and he will feed you, my lords." And this she +said with so pretty a grace that our anger was mollified in a moment. + +"Why did you pretend not to speak French?" I asked her next. + +She shook her head and said that she did not know. + +"You make me laugh so much when you talk Russian," she said. I believe +that to have been true. + +Nevertheless, I was not easy. We had come upon a false errand, and it +remained to be seen what was the end of it. + +"Let every man look to his powder," said I to Leon, as we entered the +precincts of the farm. "The devil and a woman are never far apart; +mind that we have not caught the pair of them." + +He retorted that it did not very much matter either way. Whatever +befell us at the farm could be no worse than the peril of the high road +and of such a bitter night as this. + +Not only was it black and dark by this time, but the north wind blew +intolerably, and our very bones seemed shrunken. + +You will imagine, therefore, that the baying of the hounds about the +farm was as music to us; and you can depict us beating heavily upon the +farmer's door, while Petrovka cried aloud in Russian that we were +friends. + +This settled the matter, and an old and grizzled peasant appeared +immediately, and stood bowing on the threshold. I disliked the look of +him from the first, and shall always remember the hawk-like eyes which +he turned upon our company. Yet what had we to fear from the handful +of serfs who now gathered about him--we, a hundred and fifty men of the +Guard, with our muskets in our hands? + +And was there not Petrovka, with her laughing eyes--Petrovka, who told +the old man that he would be paid for all that we had--Petrovka, who +petted him and pulled his long beard as though she loved every hair of +it. She stood as our hostage, and she knew it--the pretty little girl. + +Well, we soon discovered that the kitchen of the farm would accommodate +no more than the officers of the company, and it behoved the others to +seek the shelter of the barn. This they did with a very good grace, +for it was a substantial edifice, with a monstrous fireplace at one end +and a well-stacked granary at the other. Soon there were flames +roaring up the ancient chimney, a babel of talk, and the going to and +fro of men who saw themselves supping handsomely for the first time for +many a day. We, meanwhile, were ensconced in the farmer's kitchen, +with nearly the half of an ox roasting in his gigantic oven and an +aroma of well-warmed wine which did one good to smell. + +The evening promised to be the most comfortable we had enjoyed since we +left Moscow--so little did we foresee what lay beyond our present +content. + + +IV + +There were a good many bedrooms in the farmer's house, and some of +these were very properly given up to the officers. + +I shared a room with Leon, whose window immediately overlooked the barn +wherein our men were still enjoying the unexpected carousal. + +Mademoiselle Petrovka, in her turn, said that she would sleep with the +girls of the house, and the last I saw of her before retiring was at +the moment when Master Leon blew out the candle for the purpose of +wishing her good-night. Escaping from his embrace, she climbed the +narrow staircase and shut the door at the head of it upon us, while we, +amazed to discover beds, made haste to enjoy so unexpected a luxury. + +Never before in my life, I swear, did I know the meaning of good +blankets as I learned it that bitter night, when the north wind swept +the dismal plain and the pines were swaying in a dirge of death. For +that matter, I do not think that my nephew and myself could wholly +appreciate the reality of our good fortune, and I lay for some time +beneath the heavy _Steppdecke_ wondering if we had not dreamt the whole +of it. Such warmth and comfort were not to be imagined, and we found +it almost impossible to believe that thousands of our comrades were +then shivering and suffering upon the great high road, and many of +them, I doubt not, falling to the terrible sleep from which no day +should wake them. + +We, on the contrary, might have been the children of this hospitable +house. Well fed and warmed by wine, we fell into so profound a sleep +anon that nothing but the terrible tragedy which ensued could have +wakened us. Alas! that it was so very terrible! I hardly know how to +tell you of it. + +Some say that it was nearly four in the morning when the first alarm +arose. I cannot be sure about so trivial a circumstance, nor is it of +any interest. In my sleep it seemed to me that men were shouting about +the house, while a great flame of crimson light burned my eyes and +forbade me to open them. A man has the same sensation when he tries to +look at the sun at noon, and it may be answered that he is a fool to do +anything of the kind. So, in my own case, I did not open my eyes for a +long time, and not until Leon's strong hand dragged me from the bed did +I understand what was happening. + +"Wake up, mon oncle!" says he in a sharper voice than ordinary. "Don't +you see that the place is afire?" + +It was a word to arouse any man, and I staggered up when I heard it, +rubbing my eyes and trying to understand him. + +"How?" cried I. "The farm afire? Why, then, did you not wake me +before?" + +"I have been trying to do so for the last five minutes, but you sleep +like a Gascon, mon oncle. Get your clothes on and follow me. There +will not be a man of them alive if we don't make haste." + +With this he ran down the stairs, and left me groping in the fitful +light for my tunic and the heavy sable coat which I had brought out of +Russia. + +It was clear by this time that the fire had begun in the barn which +harboured so many of our men, and that it had not yet reached the +buildings we occupied. For all that, it promised to be a terrible +conflagration, and my ears were assailed already by the woeful screams +of the wretched company, themselves waking to the peril. What kept the +poor fellows in the barn, I knew no more than the dead. I could see +two great doors opening upon the yard, and they were wide enough to let +a wagon go through. Yet no one unbarred them, and all the time flames +and smoke were pouring from the thatch above, and the shrieks of the +imprisoned growing louder. This perplexed me beyond words, and it was +not until I had shaken the heavy sleep from my eyes that the thought of +treachery occurred to me, and I began to understand much that had +happened. + +The monster of a farmer who had lured us here--he had done it, I said, +and God knows, if I had had my hand about his throat at the moment, I +would have strangled the life out of him. + +Well, I bounded down the stairs at the thought, and found myself +immediately amid my brother officers, who were striving like madmen to +set their compatriots free. Unable to hear a word that was spoken, I +nevertheless understood by their gestures that the main gates of the +barn had been bolted and barred, and that, until they could be +unlocked, the only chance for our fellows was the narrow window at the +southern end. For this I now made, Leon at my side, and others as +ready to risk their lives in the face of such a disaster. + +Let me tell you that the roar of the conflagration was like that of a +sea beating angrily upon a barren shore. Commingled with it were the +sounds of rending woodwork and the screams of men already burning in +the flames; while all was made worse by the intolerable north wind +which swept about the building and howled dismally beneath the frozen +eaves. + +This paralysed the faculties, so that even the bravest found his limbs +benumbed and his brain bewildered. No company of raw recruits could +have worked to less purpose--some crying for hatchets, some vainly for +water, yet all incapable of rendering any useful aid, and all equally +terrified by the spectacle they beheld. Alas! to see those pitiful +faces at the window of the barn above; to watch the flames creeping +about them; to behold them fall one by one into the deadly furnace +behind them; and to know that they were Frenchmen and brethren! Such +was the price of the brief respite we had enjoyed; such was the +hospitality that the woman Petrovka had shown us. + +Someone got a ladder about this time, and others found axes in the +wood-house of the farm. I was among the latter, and I remember with +what fury our little party attacked the great front gates and tried to +force an entrance. Could we but burst the bolt, our comrades were free +in a twinkling; and you may imagine how we went at it--the blows which +we struck, and the curses we uttered. + +Minute by minute now the flames were creeping toward this end of the +barn. We had no need of lanterns; the snow was blood-red, and the very +wood stood out as though the sun were setting and the night not yet +begun. Had we any longer a doubt that treachery had fired the barn, +the disappearance of the Russians themselves would have clenched the +argument. Not a peasant did we see, not a man or woman of those who +had served us last night and welcomed us with such smiling faces. The +whole farm had become a desert, and, be sure, that of them all Petrovka +had been the first to go. + +Such was my opinion for a long time, and it endured until, to my great +astonishment, I perceived her at Leon's side, and saw that he was in +close talk with her. Good God! that a man could have argued with such +a woman when his comrades were perishing--that he did not strike her +down where she stood! Any other but Leon would have done so; yet, when +was the day that a woman's eyes could not win him? + +All this went through my head in a flash as I hewed at the giant doors +and called upon my comrades to redouble their efforts. The shrieks +within the building were now most dreadful to hear. None but a man of +iron could have remained deaf to the piercing cries which marked the +approach of the fire and told us that our task must be impotent. None +the less, we worked with a vigour unimaginable, while the heat became +choking, and showers of glowing sparks rained down upon us. The very +snow was melted far away from the barn by this time; the sky had turned +blood red; the branches of the trees were burning. The great door +alone stood between our comrades and salvation. + +In the end we beat this in, and an aperture was made. Through that we +dragged some thirty men and carried them quickly to the farm. Poor +fellows, they were terribly burned, and their flesh fell from their +bones as we lifted them. What lay beyond in that holocaust I did not +dare to inquire. The barn was now but a roaring furnace; the cries had +ceased; the moaning of the fire and the night wind alone remained. + + +V + +I have told you that we laid our stricken comrades in the farmhouse and +there did what we could for them. So great was their need that the +immediate necessity of relieving it put everything else into the shade, +and it was not until we had dressed their wounds and done our best to +make them comfortable that I so much as remembered the woman Petrovka. +Perhaps I should not have thought of her even then but for the fact +that a sudden clamour discovered her in the room, and, turning about, I +witnessed a violent altercation between her and one of the sick, who +raised himself up from the mattress where they had laid him, and cried +out that she had fired the barn. + +"The she-devil!" he yelled in his frenzy. "I saw her do it, comrades; +I swear she was the woman!" + +Such an accusation naturally arrested the attention of everyone in the +room. Leon himself had gone out again with others to prevent the fire +from spreading to the neighbouring buildings, and there was no one +there but myself who knew anything of Petrovka. The effect of the +accusation upon the sick and the hale was almost magical. They did not +ask for the man's proof, nor seek to question him, but, seizing the +girl by the arm, they would have struck her down there and then had I +not intervened. + +"Come, come," said I; "we must do nothing in haste," for though I had +been willing enough an hour ago to have acted upon an impulse, the heat +of passion had passed and a sense of justice prevailed. + +If this girl had indeed fired the barn, I would not lift a hand to save +her; but we had only the chasseur's word for it, and he was already far +gone in delirium. So it seemed to me that we owed her at least the +formality of a trial, and, rushing in before those who held her, I +commanded them to hear me. + +"Gentlemen," said I, "this woman is a Russian and well born. It is +difficult to believe that she would have done so foul a thing. If she +be guilty she must pay the penalty, but let us hear her first. You +will all admit the justice of that. Let her be tried and put to the +proof, but do not do anything of which you may repent to-morrow." + +They heard me with impatience. The child herself clung to me, frantic +with terror, her eyes imploring me and her body trembling with fear. +Her words were almost incoherent, but nevertheless they denied the +truth of the charge vehemently and implored me for God's sake to save +her. So much I do not believe I could have done but for Leon, who +entered the room at the moment, and, perceiving the situation, leaped +towards her, drawing his sword as he did so. + +"By the God in heaven," cried he, "I will cut down any man who lays a +finger on her." And it needed but a glance at him to see that he meant +every word of it. + +Such determination was not without its effect. There were both +officers and troopers in the room, but I was the senior in command, and +I never lost sight of the fact for a moment. + +"Gentlemen," said I, "name three of you to act with me as judges in +this matter, and I promise you satisfaction. If the woman be guilty +she shall be hanged. Come now--is not this a proper course to take? +Some of you will have daughters of your own. Do not forget them at +such a moment as this." + +They assented to the proposition, though I could see that they were far +from being appeased. There was a hurried consultation among them, and +then the intimation that they had chosen Captains Legard and Fournier, +of the fusiliers, and Major Duhesne, of the _chasseurs a cheval_, to +act with my nephew and myself. The major stood as spokesman for the +others, and first addressed the company. + +"It must be here in this room, gentlemen," he said; "the witness cannot +be moved; we will try the woman here." And that was a claim none could +contest. + +I shall never forget the scene which now ensued, nor the grim drama we +played in that mean farmhouse during the next ten minutes. All about +us were the tumbled mattresses and the stricken forms of the men who +had been scorched by the flames. Common rushlights and miserable +lanterns afforded the only illumination that we had. The trial was +held about the stove, whereby there lay the sick man who had denounced +Petrovka. She herself was set in a circle amid her judges, while the +man was commanded by me to repeat the accusation he had made. He did +so with a restraint which astonished me when I remembered his +sufferings. Raising himself up in bed, he turned his haggard eyes upon +the woman and told us what he knew. + +"I was asleep in the little loft of the barn," he said; "then I heard a +sound of someone moving in the straw about me. Thinking it was one of +our men, I asked him what he did there; but there was no answer, and +for a little while nobody stirred. Presently I heard a crackling sound +and smelt fire, and at that I looked up and saw the thatch was ablaze. +Then there came light in the place, and I saw the woman. She was +creeping down the ladder, but I recognised her all the same. She +stands there, messieurs, and she knows that it is true." + +A deep cry of anger escaped the auditors when the man had done. +Obviously he did not lie, and his evidence staggered even me. Petrovka +herself heard him with a wonder no art could have aped, and her very +attitude was an appeal to reason where I was concerned. + +Upon my comrades its effect was far otherwise. There were shouts of "a +mort!" from every quarter of the room. Some said, "Let her speak!" +others were for not hearing her at all. My loud word of command alone +saved her from the imminence of death. + +"Gentlemen," said I, "this story is all very well, but it is possible +that this man may be mistaken. What confirmation have you of the +story? Let the girl speak for herself; I see she is ready." + +I turned to Petrovka, and was astonished at her new demeanour. She +appeared to have recovered her composure altogether. Her face was pale +but wonderfully beautiful. She had removed her cap, and her almost +golden hair fell upon her shoulders in a disorder pretty to see. +Looking from one to the other of us, she declared her innocence. + +"Frenchmen," she said, "I was never in the loft of the barn at all. My +father is a Russian noble--do we stoop to such crimes as this? I am a +woman, and I have a woman's heart; why do you accuse me of such +wickedness?" + +It was a proud defiance, but it availed her nothing. No one believed +her, and all in the room, save Leon and myself, desired her death. In +vain I put it to them that some other woman from the farm might have +done the deed. They would hear nothing, and presently they began to +cry "Vote--vote!" and instantly the others held up their hands and +proclaimed her guilty. + +Now this was a terrible moment for me, and not the less terrible to my +nephew. Hurriedly we drew apart and began to ask each other what could +be done. It was plain that we had the whole company against us, and at +the best we could but hope to temporise. The one thing to do was to +save the child from a vengeance which certainly would not be tempered +by mercy, and in the hope of this I now addressed myself to the other +judges. + +"The girl is well born, as you can see," said I; "it is idle to suppose +she has done such a thing. Beware that you do not pay heavily for your +haste. We shall overtake the army in the morning, and the matter can +be referred to head-quarters. You would be much wiser to let it go +there. Do you desire the girl's death? I cannot believe it, +gentlemen." + +It was all unavailing. + +"We have judged her," said the major, "and she is plainly guilty. My +determination is to hang her without ceremony, and that," he said, +turning to his companions, "is the vote of the majority." + +Now Leon had listened to this moment without protest, but these words +were too much for him. Catching Petrovka suddenly by the arm, he drew +her close to him, and whipped his sword from his scabbard as one who +would brook no denial. + +"By God," said he, "you shall do nothing of the kind!" + +It was a brave deed, and would to God it could have saved her. +Unhappily such heroism as this is well enough in a story, but of little +avail when the realities of life are at stake. There were twenty men +atop of my nephew before another word could be uttered, and dragging +Petrovka from his arms, they carried her triumphantly from the room. + +She did not utter a single cry. I thought there was a smile upon her +face, but it was the look of a woman who knows how to suffer. + + +VI + +Dawn was just breaking in a sullen sky at this time. The wind had +fallen somewhat, and it was snowing heavily. I remember the scene very +well--and, in truth, who could forget it? There to the right were the +ruins of the barn; behind us the low buildings of the farm; before us +the orchard of the house and the white snow-fields beyond it. + +Without a word said, and acting upon a common impulse, the +assassins--for such I must now call them--led Petrovka towards a beech +tree by the roadside, and clamoured loudly for a rope. Such a lust for +a woman's death is rare among soldiers, and it needed the tragedy of +the night to have provoked it. + +What could we do? There was still the opportunity of parley, and we +did not neglect it. They had not found a rope readily, and while they +were still seeking it I addressed myself to Major Duhesne, and again +implored him to remember what he was doing. + +"The Emperor," said I, "will never forgive you if this woman is proved +to be innocent." + +I might as well have addressed myself to the wall of the house. His +rejoinder was such as I might have expected. The woman had fired the +barn, he said; there was evidence of that fact. This was just the kind +of deed His Majesty punished without mercy. Why should his officers be +less zealous? + +All of which was said with the air of a man absolutely set upon a +purpose, and acting under a strong sense of duty. The others were not +less determined, and, unhappily, they had now found a rope, and carried +it triumphantly to the beech tree I have named. The scene at this +moment was very terrible to look upon: the figure of the girl pathetic +beyond imagination, and the savagery of her enemies indescribable. It +was revolting to hear the shouts of anger when the executioners +attempted to throw the cord across a branch of the tree and failed to +do so. I could not have believed that Frenchmen would have acted so. + +Now, for the second time, was this brutal murder delayed while a ladder +must be sent for. In this I perceived the hand of God, and my heart +beat fast while the moments of respite were numbered. Would we yet +save her? Might we dare to hope? A shout from the woods near by +answered me. As God is my witness, the Cossacks were upon us. They +rode from the thicket like a whirlwind; their scimitars whistled +through the air with a sound of rushing winds. + +What a turn-about that was! No cries of savage exultation now; no talk +of justice and penalty--nothing but a mad race for the shelter of the +farm and all the hurly-burly of a wild pursuit. There before my very +eyes I saw Frenchmen cleaved to the brisket; saw the heads of comrades +roll upon the snow, and heard the screams of those whom the glittering +steel cut down. The thunder of hoofs upon the hard snow rang out like +weird music of an Eastern dawn. The breath of horses and men froze on +the still air. The ground was black already with the figures of the +dead. + +And what of ourselves meanwhile? Incredible, a man would say, that we +could stand there, my nephew and I, and escape the swords of these +terrible Asiatics. Yet such was the case. + +Our very desire to save Petrovka had been the instrument of this +miracle. No sooner had the others run for the farm than we were at her +side, bidding her be of good cheer and seeking still to protect her. +Of such protection, however, she had now no need. The men who came +from the woods were her friends; they knew her. The words which passed +between the captain and herself were those which commanded our safety. +A proud little lady she was in that moment, God knows! The laughter +had come back to her eyes. + +"I never believed that they would kill me," she said to Leon. + +Who would have wished to destroy such a fine illusion? Not I, for a +truth, when every Frenchman in the farm was now dead or a prisoner of +the Tartars, who caroused where yesterday we had made merry. + + +VII + +We did not return to the farm, nor have any further word with the +Russians. Petrovka had recovered all her wits by this time, and she +made it plain to us that such a course might be dangerous. + +"I will do what I can for your friends," she said, "and afterwards I +shall return to my father's house. You, meanwhile, go at once to +Wilna, and say nothing of what you have seen. That must be a point of +honour between us, messieurs. I give you your lives, and you pay me by +your silence. God speed; and do not forget little Petrovka." + +We swore that we would never do so. She led us to the stables +thereafter, and so we found our horses. A word to the Cossack at the +gate made everything easy for us; and be sure that Petrovka took good +care to see that food and wine for the journey were found for us. It +must have been ten of the day when we quitted the farm at last and +waved a long farewell to the mistress of this singular adventure. + +"A wonderful little woman," said Leon, as we turned our heads at +length. "To think that she knew all the time who burned us out!" + +"She did know!" I cried, looking at him with astonishment. + +"Certainly; she has just told me. It was Anna, the farmer's daughter. +Petrovka meant to save her. Can you beat that for loyalty?" + +I could make no reply. Woman's courage is always very wonderful. What +man will pretend to understand it? + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE AFFAIR AT THE POST-HOUSE + +I + +There was very little order kept among us after the Battle of Krasnoe, +and you may depict us as a scattered host going covertly in fear of the +Cossacks. + +Men made little attempt to keep up with their regiments. The Chasseurs +and Fusiliers of the Guard, with whom the Emperor marched, were, +perhaps, the exception; but the rest of us went as we could, thinking +more of food and shelter than of our own safety, and hardened to any +feelings of pity. + +The latter is a bold admission to make, but few of those who marched +from Moscow will contest it. When comrades are perishing about you +every day, when your milestones are the bodies of the frozen dead, the +ultimate terror becomes the lesser thing and all the more brutal +instincts are awakened. We could not help those who fell; we pushed +on, deaf to their appeals. Let any man lag for an hour in this bitter +cold, and he would sleep as they slept--so many thousands upon the +great white highway. + +Sometimes it befell that we did not see our regiment for many days +together. This, I remember, happened to my nephew Leon and myself as +we drew near the Berezina. + +The army heard many disquieting stories at this time, and most of them +had to do with the passage of the famous river. + +The timorous agreed that the Russians could not lose so favourable an +opportunity of falling upon our disorganised units, and that he would +be a lucky man who made the passage of the stream in safety. + +Others comforted us with the assurance that our engineers would not +fail us in this emergency, and were all ready at the Berezina to +strengthen and to guard the ancient bridge. The tales were +contradictory, and we knew not which to believe. The river had become +our Rubicon, and we imagined that if we recrossed it the victory was +won. + +This was the condition of affairs on the morning of November 25th, when +Leon and I rode a little way with a detachment of some thirty +_pontonniers_ who were on their way to the Berezina. + +I remember well that the captain of the little company warned us to +look well after our horses; "for," said he, "the Emperor has given +instructions that all the best are to be taken for the use of the +artillery and the wounded." The Imperial Guard was then some five +miles ahead of us, and we had no intention of overtaking it. To that +end we soon parted company with the _pontonniers_, and stopped for an +hour about midday in what had been a farmhouse upon the high road. +There we cooked a little of the rice we carried in our saddlebags, and +drank of the brandy which I had carried out of Smolensk. + +The repast gave us courage, and we rode on in better spirit afterwards. +Alas, that such a mood turned too swiftly to one of despair, when we +found that we had lost the road and that the bodies of dead and dying +Frenchmen indicated no longer the route to the Berezina. + + +II + +We made this discovery about three o'clock of the afternoon. + +The day was already done, and a great red sun sank into a billow of +mist. + +We saw nothing about us but vast fields of snow, gone crimson in the +vanishing light, and woods which would tell no story but that of wolves. + +A profound silence reigned in this frozen wilderness. We did not hear +so much as the chime of a distant church bell, nor perceive a single +human being upon all that waste. Yet it did not appear to us by the +compass that we could be very far from the road to Bobr, through which +the Emperor must pass; nor had we any misgivings that we should +ultimately come to the banks of the Berezina if we held upon our course. + +"There are no Cossacks here," says Leon, "and there is not much +advantage got by company. We have a little food and brandy, and may as +well keep it to ourselves. Come on, mon oncle. Let us try to believe +that the spires of Notre Dame are to be seen from yonder road, and all +the rest will be easy." + +He had grown very thin these later days, my poor Leon, and was but a +spectre of his former self. I thought of the dashing officer who had +cut so brave a figure in Moscow, and heaved a sigh at all that had +befallen us since. The word "woman" came no longer to his lips, as +formerly, and I believe he would have bartered the whole sex for a loaf +of bread and a bottle of good French wine. Who would have had the +heart to remind him how many thousand leagues we were from that Paris +for which he longed so ardently? + +"Imagine what you please," said I, "but throw in a comfortable +farmhouse and a stove to sleep by, and I am your man. It is going to +snow again, nephew, and a man may as well be in the Arctic wastes as +upon this barren plain. We were wrong to leave the others; there is +safety in numbers, and God knows what is about to befall us. Ah, my +dear nephew, what would I not give for such a bed and such a supper as +we had at the farm at Druobona!" + +He sighed at the memory both of little Petrovka and of that night of +adventure. + +We had now approached the woods, and presently we found ourselves in +the depths of a forest which must have been rarely trodden by man. The +snow had drifted into vast heaps here, and encircled the trees in great +mounds which would have engulfed a wagon. The stillness of it all was +that of winter at her zenith. The wind had fallen, and in the distance +we heard the howling of wolves. All this prepared us but little for +the surprise which overtook us presently, when three mounted Cossacks +suddenly appeared in our path and threatened us in guttural tones of +which we did not understand a single word. + +Of course, we had drawn rein directly the Russians appeared, and for my +part I was quite prepared to surrender to them. These roving bands +rarely numbered less than a squadron, and it was idle to believe that +two armed men could oppose a hundred. The alternatives were death on +the spot, or that intolerable suffering in a Russian prison of which we +had heard such evil reports. I whispered as much to Leon, but got +nothing from him but a guffaw in return. + +"Va-t'en!" said he. "There are only three of them, mon oncle. Do you +not see how they hesitate?" + +I perceived it to be true, and drew a pistol from my holster. The +Russians carried lances, but were in no hurry to descend upon us. +Either they looked for assistance in the vicinity or deemed their +advantage in numbers insufficient. What they would have done if we had +remained where we were I do not pretend to tell you; but before I could +say another word Master Leon clapped spurs to his horse, and, riding up +to the leader, he blew out his brains before a man could have counted +two. + +"A moi, mon oncle!" he cried; and be sure I was at his side +immediately. Unhappily, my own pistol was badly aimed, and did no more +damage than to blow the feather from the busby of the ruffian who now +confronted me. In an instant he had thrust at me with his lance, and I +felt the cold steel cut the sinews of my arm. + +Now I wheeled my horse about, and, despite the wound, I drew my sword +and aimed at the fellow. He answered me by a loud cry which brought +three of his fellows from the wood, and so set five of them against our +two. These odds were unexpected, and seemed to say that our onset had +been very foolish. Still, there we were, and we must make the best of +such folly as we had shown. I could do no better with my fellow than +to slash his arm off at a single stroke; but Leon cut the second of the +three clean out of the saddle, and found himself attacked by the others +who had come from the wood. + +I could imagine that, from a spectator's point of view, this fight +would have been as pretty a thing as he could wish to see. + +There were we two riding up and down the glade with three burly +Cossacks at our heels, and devil of a wall against which we might set +our backs. + +To make matters worse, my own horse stumbled heavily over the solid +roots of a magnificent beech tree, and anon I found myself on the +ground, with a couple of Russians atop of me. They would have done for +me but for an ally as unexpected as his appearance was grotesque. This +man had been lying, seemingly dead, at the foot of the tree by which I +fell. He was one of our _chasseurs a pied_, and he seemed swathed from +head to foot in fur. What had wakened him, whether a kick from a horse +or the delirium of sickness, I cannot tell you, but, staggering to his +feet, he ran at the Russians with his bayonet, and had pinned one to +the snow almost before I was aware of his presence. The other waited +for no such attention, but, setting his horse at a gallop, rode madly +from the wood. + +We had now accounted for five of the Russians--no mean achievement for +men in such a condition. The poor fellow who had assisted us we +discovered to be in a woeful state--his feet frost-bitten and two of +the fingers of his left hand missing. He hardly seemed to know what he +had done for us, but, sinking at the foot of the tree, he raved +incoherently of his home at Chalons, and of his wife and children +awaiting him there. We gave him some of the brandy, and tried to lift +him upon my nephew's horse, but it was of no good, and presently he +appeared to regain his senses and to be aware both of his situation and +of our own. + +"You cannot help me, my friends," said he. "The road is yonder; take +it while you may. I am done for." + +And upon this he threw back his head and seemed to die instantly. + +This was a very sad thing to see, and sent us from the place in a worse +spirit than I had hoped. My own wound had now begun to trouble me, and +I discovered that the lance had penetrated the flesh below the +shoulder, and left a gaping wound which in another climate might have +proved troublesome. As it was, we bound it up stoutly with a piece +torn from my tattered shirt, and, the darkness already gathering, and +the snow beginning to fall, we prepared to leave the wood in the +direction which the poor chasseur had indicated to us. + + +III + +I say that we prepared to leave the wood, but before we did so the idea +came to me to take with us the capes and the busbies of the Cossacks we +had slain, in the hope that they would be of service to us in so +dangerous a place. Bidding my nephew imitate me, I stripped the fellow +I had killed, and invited Leon to do the same to the other. + +"The woods are full of these fellows," said I, "and who knows what this +device may do for us? A la guerre comme a la guerre. Let us try our +luck under the new colours, for it has been bad enough under the old." + +He laughed in reply, for my new appearance amused him. + +"Upon my word, you would make an excellent Tartar, mon oncle," says he; +and whether that were meant to be a compliment or a reproach upon my +shaggy appearance, I did not attempt to discover. The night had come +down, and the moments were precious. It was no time for a trifler's +argument, and I pushed on in silence. + +The forest became more open as we proceeded, and I now perceived that +the avenue must be a high road, so orderly were the groves of beeches +which bordered it. + +From time to time we heard the howling of wolves, and more than one +watch-fire denoted the presence of the Russians. The prudence of the +step we had taken in assuming the garb of the Cossacks was now +justified by the event. We came face to face with a dozen of these +barbarians not a mile from the scene of the strife, and they passed us +without drawing rein, evidently being set upon a purpose of their own. +Leon was much amused by this, and swore that he would swim the Berezina +in the same clothes. + +"Chasseurs are out of fashion," said he, "and hussars have become very +cheap. I will go to the Tuileries as a Cossack, mon oncle, and Paris +will applaud me." + +I reminded him that Paris was yet a long way off, and that the dreaded +river still lay between us and freedom. Like so many of my fellows who +deluded themselves with that belief, I thought that we had but to cross +the Berezina to leave our troubles behind us; nor could I foresee in +any way what we must suffer before we reached the bridge at Kovno. + +This, however, is to anticipate. Behold us for the moment pressing on +through the darkness of the forest, often losing the road because of +the blackness of the night, and always alert in the presence of our +enemies. That there were Cossacks all about us we knew full well, and +when we emerged from the woods at last we perceived a whole regiment of +them riding southward at a gallop. + +This seemed to say that our own army lay in that direction. Undeterred +by the presence of the Cossacks, we kept upon our course, and presently +we heard the barking of watchdogs, and espied the lights of a village. +A little farther on yet, and the rising moon showed us familiar scenes. +There were dead and dying here, the bones of horses and the debris of +an army that had passed. I perceived immediately that we had regained +the high road, and, pressing on to the village, we came up to a +considerable post-house, whose cheerful lights shone out warmly upon +the snow, while the windows revealed the uniforms of Frenchmen. + +Now, this was a pleasant happening, and it is droll to recall what +followed upon it. We had thought to grasp our comrades by the hand, +and to change with them the news of yesterday and to-day; but hardly +had we knocked at the door of the post-house when as great a panic +overtook the men within as any I had witnessed since we quitted Moscow. +With a loud cry of "The Cossacks!" our fellow-countrymen bolted +headlong by a door at the rear of the building, and when we entered +there remained but two or three frightened figures huddled about the +stove at the far end of the spacious room. + +"Name of a dog," says Leon, "I shall play at the Comedie Francaise yet." + +And there he stood, shaking himself like a bear and laughing still at +my appearance and his own. + +This was all very well, but, fearing that the affair might have graver +consequences, I went to the door and began to halloo after our +comrades. It was all in vain; they were already at the far end of the +village, and I doubt not that they thought it but a ruse to entrap them. + +Meanwhile, the few Russians within the room had come up to Leon and +were staring at him curiously. Very sternly he commanded them to +return to their places, and, bolting the doors, he pointed to the +table, upon which a great cauldron of soup was steaming. + +"The spoils to the victors," says he; and, indeed, that was no time for +ceremony. I was just about to tell him as much, when a voice from the +far end of the apartment arrested our attention, and, turning about, we +saw the very last person in all Russia we would have looked for that +night. + +"Mademoiselle Valerie, by all that is holy!" cries Leon; and in a +twinkling he had caught her in his arms and was almost tearing the robe +from her back. + +"What the devil are you doing here, little witch?" he asked her. + +She told him in a word. + +"The Emperor is at Bobr. He is a little tired of me, mon ami, so you +see I waited for you." + +"The same Valerie, upon my soul. You have quarrelled with His Majesty! +There could be no better news. I salute you, fair Imperatrice, and, by +St. Christopher, I will have supper with you." + +She came up to me now, and greeted me very prettily. After all, it was +not so wonderful that we had discovered her, for she had been riding a +few hours ahead of us these many days, and this post-house was just +such a place as her wit would choose for a bivouac. I told her as +much, while chiding her faithlessness. + +"Leon has ceased to eat since you went," said I; and God knows that +that was somewhere near the truth. + +Well, we all sat down, while she commanded the Russians to serve us. +The place was well enough after our night in the woods, and it did a +man good to breathe its warm air and smell the savour of its primitive +cooking. Not only had we the soup, but the fellow in charge produced a +bottle of excellent Warsaw gin, and the first thing we did was to drain +a glass to our reunion. + +"We must not separate again until we cross the Pont de Jena," says +Leon, catching mademoiselle's hand and looking deep into her eyes. + +The words were cheering, and such as a good supper might prompt a man +to speak. Alas! hardly were they uttered than we heard the blare of +bugles, and, leaping to her feet, Valerie cried out that they were the +Cossacks. + + +IV + +Now here we were, hoist by our own petard. We had cast aside the heavy +capes of the Russians as we entered the room, and thrown down their +busbies, but, as upon a common impulse, we caught them up again when we +heard the blare of the bugles, and, running to the window, peered out, +to see the whole street full of hussars, and a couple of their officers +beating upon the door of the post-house. + +"It is the regiment that passed us on the road," said I; "eight hundred +men, at a hazard. What the devil now, my nephew? We are caught like +rats in a trap!" + +He looked very serious, to be sure, while mademoiselle had turned as +white as a sheet. Presently it seemed to dawn upon her that we were +wearing Russian uniforms, and at that she got an idea. + +"Go there!" she cried, indicating the low seats by the stove. "I will +deal with them. You must pretend to sleep. It is your only chance." + +We obeyed her instantly. Leon upon the left hand of the stove, and +myself upon the right, we smothered our heads in the capes and curled +ourselves up as men heavy with fatigue. Hardly had we done this when +Valerie opened the door and the Russians swarmed headlong into the +room. So great was their need of food that some twenty of them were +about the table in an instant, eating as ravening wolves, and far too +busy in that employment to pay any attention to us. + +Looking at them as I lay, I perceived that they were all officers of +cavalry, and mostly men of some distinction; while it was also apparent +that they contemplated no considerable halt in this vicinity, but were +riding toward the Berezina. For all that, our situation could well +justify them in shooting us like dogs if we had been discovered; and it +was impossible to forget that they had but to lift the capes which +covered us to undo our little plot in a twinkling. Do you wonder that +we lay there as men who waited for a sentence of life or death? + +Meanwhile, be sure that Mademoiselle Valerie was not idle. + +Many times have I admired the wit and resource of that wonderful woman, +but never as I did upon that fateful night. Anyone who had heard her +would have sworn that she was the arch-enemy of Napoleon and of all his +works, and that nothing but the direst necessity had carried her into +the train of his army. With a candour which seemed childish she +recited to them all that she had not done these many days. I could +have laughed aloud at the fables she invented for the benefit of these +simpletons. It was as inspiring as wine to see her smoking their +little paper cigars and drinking the horrid gin to their successes. +And all the time Leon and I lay there wondering if the filthy Russians +round about would utter the word which betrayed us. To this day I +believe that they did not for mademoiselle's sake. It was otherwise +with the cavalrymen themselves. When they had eaten and drunk they +naturally drew near the stove, and soon there were a dozen of them +swarming about it, and one actually sitting upon my knees. A more +anxious moment is not to be described; and when the fellow began to +banter me in Russian upon the profundity of my sleep I thought for a +truth that all was lost. + +The spirit had mounted to their heads by this time, and they were +disposed to any humour that occurred to them. An imp of mischief +prompted an ensign among them to suggest that Leon should be lifted on +to the stove, and there left to roast until he came to his senses; and +this idea was applauded by them all. Lifting my nephew by the legs, +his ragged and mud-stained French breeches were laid bare for all to +see; but, oddly enough, no one remarked the colour, and this I set down +to the fact that clothes were often exchanged between the army in those +days, and that a Russian with a hole in his breeches made no bones at +all about wearing those of a Frenchman. + +The danger was really from the fire itself, and the loud oaths it +brought to Leon's lips. He was up and awake in an instant now, and +with a curse upon them all he struck right and left, and brought them +to their senses. They were just like men who handled a dog, to +discover suddenly that he was a wolf and had bitten them; and with +amazed cries they drew back and turned to mademoiselle. She, however, +answered them with one of her merry laughs. The little Russian that I +knew permitted me to see that she was warning them against some peril +of which they were unaware; and no sooner was this done than they +apprehended the danger for themselves. + +You will understand this more readily when you remember that the +post-house was on the high road, and that while the van of the army was +then at Bobr, the rearguard, under Marshal Ney, had yet to march +through. The outposts of this had entered the village while the +officers were at supper, but the main body now appearing, the others +made an immediate descent upon the post-house, and the shots and +bullets rained upon it like hail. In a twinkling the plates upon the +table went flying, the glass of the windows was shattered, and the +crazy lamps put out. + +The Russians themselves, believing that they had been taken in an +ambush, went headlong through the back door of the building in quest of +their horses; and soon we heard them rallying in the village street, +and crying to their fellows to come out. The alarm had spread like +wildfire, and such an appeal was not made in vain. The whole hamlet +now became a scene of battle, upon which the moon shone brightly and +the lamps in the house cast a derisive aureole. Odd that men should be +killing each other upon that terrible night of winter, with food and +shelter all about and nothing but the wilderness of death beyond! Yet +so it befell, and such was the affair in which we now played our parts. + +Naturally, we got out into the street as quickly as possible. We were +both armed with pistols and had our swords drawn, but it was apparent +that we could do nothing until the others had made good their entrance +and got at the cavalry. The latter, finding themselves attacked on +both sides, rode up and down the wide street like madmen, cutting and +slashing at invisible figures, and plainly drunk with the hospitality +they had pillaged. So much our own men perceived, and, advancing from +house to house, and taking cover wherever it was to be had, they fired +at the enemy with deadly effect, and blotted the snow with the figures +of the terrified horsemen who had been caught in this trap of fate. + +Soon the place became a veritable shambles. The infantrymen, under +Marshal Ney himself, grew bolder every instant, and, led both by the +marshal and Prince Eugene, they came out into the open, and took the +cavalry at the bayonet's point. There was no longer the necessity for +Leon and myself to be spectators of the affray, and, rushing out into +the melee, we shot and sabred where we could. Wiser men would have +remained in the post-house, and remembered the uniform they wore. I +shall not soon forget the instant when some _chasseurs a pied_ rushed +upon me, and I had to cry "Vive l'Empereur!" with all my lungs to keep +their bayonets from my throat. This, however, was but an episode, and, +throwing the Cossack's cape and busby aside, I fought bareheaded until +the last of the Russians had staggered to the post-house and fallen +headlong at the feet of Valerie, who stood waiting and watching at the +door. + +I say the last of the Russians, and this is to give you a fair account +of it. A few, it is true, got away through the court of the house to +the open fields beyond; there may have been one or two who made good +their escape on their way to Bobr; but of some five hundred who entered +the village there were more than two hundred and fifty dead in the wide +street, and almost as many prisoners when the end came. + +We ourselves, amazed both at the swiftness of the victory and at our +own good fortune, returned immediately to the post-house, and there +found Valerie bending over the figure of the fallen Russian. The man +had received a terrible blow from a sabre, which laid open his head +almost to the ear, and he was stone dead when we found him. To us he +was as one of the many whose bodies lay black and stiff in the +moonlight, but to Valerie St. Antoine he had told another story. + +"I know him well," she exclaimed. "He is General Kutusoff's +aide-de-camp. Search his wallet, and you will know why he is on the +road to Bobr. Do you not understand how much it may mean to His +Majesty?" + +We heard her with amazement, but did not lose a moment in doing her +bidding. There were many papers and letters in the dead man's sack, +but we knew enough to detect those of importance, and especially to +pick out the documents which concerned the Emperor. Here Mademoiselle +Valerie's knowledge of Russian was something beyond price. One by one +she read the documents and told us their contents. When she came to +that concerning the Berezina, the miracle of this man's death in such a +place was beyond compare the event of that memorable night. + +In a word, the paper told us that the bridge across the river was held +by the Russians, and that if His Majesty and the army were not to +perish another must be found. + + +V + +I have told you that Marshal Ney himself had come in at the head of the +rearguard, and to him we carried the paper immediately. + +Be sure the importance of it was not lost upon him, and he heard us +with an amazement akin to our own. + +Naturally, such a man would lose no time in such an emergency, and, +entering the post-house but to write a dispatch, he handed it to Leon, +and commanded him to press on at all hazards and overtake the Emperor +at Bobr. + +"The fate of the army depends upon your diligence," said he. "Lose no +time, sir, and I will see that you are well rewarded." + +To this he added the order that an escort of a squadron of Prince +Eugene's own cavalry should accompany us, and with this we set out +immediately upon the high road to the river. + +It was now about midnight, intensely cold, but very clear and bright, +and the detestable north wind but a gentle breeze. The road itself no +longer traversed the terrible plains, but wound in and out of a low +range of hills, which protected us a little from the rigours of the +night. Unhappily, our escort was already fatigued with marching, and +we had not ridden a league when it became apparent that they would +hinder rather than help us. So much Leon indicated to their captain, +and, bidding him return to the prince, he stated our resolution of +travelling henceforth alone. "Two may go," says he, "where a hundred +cannot. If this news does not reach the Emperor before daybreak the +army is lost. It is our only chance, captain, as you must see for +yourself. Leave it to me and the major here, and we will do all that +can be done." + +The captain agreed, admitting that the horses of his squadron could go +no farther, and that the men were entirely unable to support the +fatigues of such a venture. We left them accordingly, and pushed on +henceforth alone. It was a relief to discover a road where a man could +pass without stepping over the dead bodies of his comrades, and for a +full hour we rode with none of those dreadful emblems of tragedy to +which we had become so accustomed. In the end we entered a little +defile which stood upon the brink of the forest. The high road became +narrower, and was often wholly obliterated by the snow. I perceived +that we were lost, and, drawing rein, I compelled my nephew to realise +the extent of our misfortune. + +"There are no dead here," said I. "If the army had passed by this +road, you know what we should have witnessed. The stars seem to tell +me that we are too far to the north; there is nothing for it but to +return as we came." + +He cursed and swore at this, for he was as impetuous as every zealous +soldier should be. + +"If day finds the Emperor at Bobr," said he, "all is lost. We should +have taken a guide in the village; that is the folly of it, mon oncle. +We have acted like children, and deserve what we get. Had we listened +to Valerie----" + +"Ah," said I, "always the women! Well, what did she say?" + +"That she would conduct us to Bobr herself. I would have named it to +the marshal, but you know what he thinks of women. There is nothing +for it, as you say, but to return, and God keep us from a court-martial +when we get there." + +We turned about, and began to ride up the defile. A light shone +through the trees almost at the head of it, and we perceived what we +had overlooked on our western journey--a house standing in a clearing +and lighting a welcome patch in that lonely forest. The idea came to +me that these people might set us on the road, and, without waiting to +ask my nephew's opinion, I turned aside and knocked upon the door. It +was opened immediately by as handsome a young Jew as I have ever seen. +Alas! he could not understand a word I addressed to him, but, drawing +back as one in great fear, he called to someone inside; and presently +there appeared a young woman as good-looking, but very much less afraid +of the soldiers. + +To my astonishment, a greeting in my own tongue was responded to +immediately by this intelligent girl. + +"Come in, messieurs," said she. "We do not fear your countrymen; we +know that the French are our friends." + +I hallooed to Leon to come down to the place, and then entered the +cottage. A bright lamp burned upon the table, and food was set out +there. When I remembered that it must have been nearly one o'clock of +the morning, the fact seemed not a little suspicious; but a thought +immediately came to me, and I turned to the girl and questioned her. + +"Why are you awake at this time of night?" said I. + +She flinched at that, and could not answer me; but I told her +immediately. + +"Your husband has been out to rob the soldiers who have perished," said +I. "Come, be frank with me, and you shall not be punished. Has he not +just come home and brought you some pretty things? Do not be afraid to +tell me, and I will see that you do not suffer." + +She admitted it at length. Her excuses were familiar and difficult to +deal with. The men who had been robbed were dead, and their friends +had deserted them. Of what use was money to them? The Cossacks took +everything, she said; why did we begrudge them such trifles? + +To which I responded very sternly that they had rendered themselves +liable to the penalty of death, and would be pardoned upon one +condition only. + +"Doubtless you know the way to Bobr, young man," said I. + +He did not deny it. + +"Then you will conduct us there immediately. Come, where is your +horse? You will have need of him." + +He swore that he had no horse, and really I believe this was true. The +girl's fears had now become distressing to behold, and it was evident +that she had her doubts of our honesty. + +"Isidore is a very bad guide," she exclaimed, looking at us with +searching eyes. "You would do much better to take me. I know the road +to Bobr. I have walked there many times." + +"Then," said I, "if you have walked there, we are not far from our +destination. I will make you a proposition, my dear. It is that you +both come. Nothing will happen to your house for an hour or two, and +you can go back to-morrow." + +The suggestion appeased her, but the man still seemed afraid. + +"How shall I protect her from your countrymen?" said he. "Every road +is full of soldiers nowadays. You know what that means, Excellency." + +He spoke in Russian, but I gathered his meaning none the less. +Precious moments were being lost in this argument, and I would hear no +more of it. + +"By God!" said I, drawing a pistol from my belt. "If you do not start +immediately I will blow your brains out." + +The threat was quite sufficient. Methodically the woman caught up a +heavy woollen cloak and addressed a few words to her husband in a +whisper. A moment later she was haggling with me about terms, for such +is the habit of these people. + +"You will pay us for our trouble," she protested. "It is a long way to +Bobr, messieurs, and we are very poor." + +"I will give you a hundred francs if you bring me to the Emperor at +daybreak," said I. And, refusing further parley, I went out to the +bridle track immediately, and left them to decide. Not a little to my +surprise, they followed me without protest, and we all set out again, +the woman on Leon's saddle, the young Jew at my horse's head. + +I think it was a little warmer by this time; but this may have been due +to the wooded nature of the country through which we now rode. A +stranger would not have found his way in a lustre of years; so narrow +was the path, so dense the trees, that we might have entered an +enchanted land full of hobgoblins and far beyond the confines of the +civilised world. It was difficult to remember that the Grand Army +could not have been ten leagues from us, and were marching and dying +this night, as upon so many weary nights since we had left Moscow. For +all that, we made good headway, and were apparently about to regain the +open country, when the Jew said something to his young wife, and she +translated it for our benefit. + +"We are coming to a very dangerous place," said she. "Your +Excellencies must be prepared. There are robbers here who are a menace +to all strangers. We ourselves pay them tribute--a large sum, much +more than we can afford. But that concerns ourselves, and they will +rob you if they can. Please, therefore, be very careful, and do not +speak as you go." + +I looked at Leon, and it was evident that the same thought was in both +our minds. These brigands would very likely be the kinsmen of this +engaging couple, and possibly we had been led to their lair for no +other purpose than that of robbery. So I took my pistol from my +holster again, and, showing it to the young Jew, I warned him. + +"Robbers or no robbers," said I, "you will be a dead man the moment you +let go of my bridle rein." + +He shook his head, and professed not to understand me. It was clear, +however, that he had made a pretty shrewd guess at my meaning, and he +pressed on so quickly that I began to doubt my previous view of his +honesty. + +Was it possible that he was really afraid of this ghostly place? Well, +I could understand as much. The fables of Hades never painted a +gloomier abyss or a nether pit so awe-inspiring. + +Sheer cliffs of sandy rock rose up to a great height on every hand. +There was but a hand's breadth of sky to be seen above us; while below, +far down in a crevice, there glistened the ice of a frozen rivulet. +The path itself would have served for a nimble goat, but was +treacherous enough for a horse. We all dismounted, and for a full hour +went as mountaineers upon a precipice. Then we came to a sudden halt +at the young man's bidding, and listening, we heard a piercing scream +echoing and re-echoing in that frightful abyss. + +"Good God!" cried Leon; "they are butchering a Frenchman. A man has +died by the knife. I know that sound; I have heard it too often." + +The young Jew began to tremble like an aspen at this, and his wife +vainly tried to comfort him. Turning to us, she whispered a reminder +of her prophecy concerning the dangers of the journey. + +"It is the brigand Orlof," she said. "You see what has befallen us. +We must return immediately." + +"Oh, come," said I; "such is not the habit of our countrymen. Who is +this precious Orlof, and how many friends has he?" + +She responded that it was impossible to say. There might be two or +three, there might be twenty. To which I answered that we would take +our chance, and pushing the young Jew on before me, I covered him with +my pistol. + +It was then that I discovered that madame had a great Russian pistol of +her own, and was already looking to its priming. So the brigands were +not her fathers and mothers after all. + +We turned the corner of the pass, and a flickering red light fell +suddenly on the path before us. It came from a hole in the wall of the +rock, giving access to a cave of melancholy aspect. The question +whether we should pause or go on was answered by me in an instant. + +"Attention!" I whispered to them, and, raising my hand, I now took +command of the expedition, and crept stealthily to the aperture. Ten +strides and I was up to it, and had the mystery before my eyes. + +There were three of the filthiest and most revolting moujiks I have +ever looked upon squatting upon the floor of a considerable cave, and +they were busy dividing the property of a man who lay dead by their +fireside. The latter was an officer of the fusiliers, as I could see +by his epaulettes. They had hacked his head off with a scythe, which +lay by the tumbled corpse, and were now counting his money. + +You will understand with what feelings of rage and fury my nephew and I +beheld this spectacle, and the steps we took to avenge our comrade. +Hardly had I clapped eyes upon the dead fusilier than I shot +point-blank at the biggest of the Russians, and saw him fall forward +into the very fire he had kindled. The two with him sprang to their +feet, uttering the shrillest cries of alarm, but Leon settled the first +of them with his pistol, and, to my amazement, the young Jew shot the +third. + +"I am well quit of him," said he; "there will be no more tribute next +year." + +And, upon this, what must he do but dash into the cavern and seize the +money and the jewels which the robber still held in his quivering +fingers. + +At this I confess that I laughed aloud, and had not the heart to +deprive him of his plunder. Sufficient that the dead was avenged and +that these assassins would butcher Frenchmen no more. + + +VI + +This delay had been unfortunate, and thereafter we pressed on as fast +as the difficulties of the path would permit. The night was speeding, +and the fate of the French army depended upon our swiftness. The day +must be an enemy if the Emperor were not discovered. + +This was all very well, but we knew no more than the dead how far from +Bobr we then stood; nor did the young Jew who guided us. Indeed, it +dawned upon me after a time that he himself was lost, and knew the way +no better than we. This was a terrible reflection, and led me to the +bitterest reproaches upon them both. I swore that they should be shot +if they had played us false; to which the woman answered bravely +enough, while the man whined an excuse which led me to doubt him more +than ever. The road must be across the wide ravine which we were then +entering, he declared. There was a bridle path through the thicket, +and that would lead us out to the high road to Bobr. So much he said, +and so little did the facts justify him. + +We had now come to a wide pit, deep in snow and everywhere surrounded +by the forest. Even the path by which we entered it was difficult to +trace once we had been caught in the trap. And so we went, round and +round, the horses often up to their girths and Isidore to his neck in +the half-melted slush. Half an hour of it found the brutes exhausted +and we at the end of our tether. The night had been lost, and, +perhaps, the army with it. Never have I known a greater chagrin than +overtook me at such an hour. To have been entrusted with so great a +thing and to have failed! Good God! what a reckoning when next we came +before His Majesty! + +All this was black in the mind when the day began to dawn and a wan +glimmer of chilly light to break above the white foreground of the +frozen trees. + +The young Jew, who had been weeping bitterly, recovered his composure +when the day broke, and, seeming to recollect himself, he declared that +a shrine in the wood was the landmark, and that if we could but detect +it the road also would be regained. Perhaps he would have proved a +false prophet after all, but for the distant blare of a bugle, and upon +it the echo of rifle-shots far away down the valley. This immediately +indicated to us that we looked towards the south, and another ten +minutes had not passed when madame clapped her hands and declared that +she espied the shrine in a clearing of the trees. + +Rarely can a mistake have been redeemed with such tragic irony as upon +this fatal morning. We had lost the way and had found it--alas, too +late! + +It was a safe passage thereafter, and one of which I remember little. +The forest became less dense from league to league, and ultimately +showed us the great white plains we knew so well. Even from afar the +black bodies of our dead were to be discerned. We knew that this was +the road to Bobr, and, as our guides declared, that we stood barely a +league from the hamlet itself. + +Of the Jews we had now no further need, and paying them the money we +had promised, we set spurs to our jaded horses and rode on at a gallop. +The last I saw of Isidore and the woman showed them quarrelling over +the money at the wood's edge; and this was just what one would have +expected them to be doing. We had almost forgotten their existence +when, some half an hour later, we set eyes upon the whitened spires and +low walls of the picturesque town of Bobr. The Emperor was there, and +to him we must give an account of our stewardship. + +God knows it was with no fair prospect that we entered the place at the +moment when the army was waking to hear the fatal news. + + +VII + +I say it was with no fair prospect, and yet there is an after-word. +Hardly were we in the main street of the place when we heard the +clatter of horses' hoofs ahead of us, and presently we perceived a +young hussar coming down the street at a canter. + +"Good God!" cried Leon. "It's Valerie!" + +I stared with all my eyes. + +"Valerie, by all that's wonderful! Then she has followed us after all, +and herself has carried the news to the Emperor. Thank God for that." + +He admitted the truth of it with a sigh. + +"We shall look the biggest fools in Russia to-day," said he. + +But that I doubted. + +"She is a woman," said I, "and--well, you are the best judge of what +she has done. I will wager a hundred louis that she has not said a +word of our failure." + +He seemed to think it possible. Valerie herself had now drawn rein +before the door of a considerable house, and there she waited for us to +come up. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WE CROSS THE BEREZINA + +I + +The news that the Russians had cut the bridge across the Berezina came +as a thunderclap to the army. + +We had believed that we had only to cross that fatal river to find +ourselves immediately in a land overflowing with milk and honey. We +never thought of the long leagues lying between ourselves and the city +of Paris, or remembered that this dreadful Russian winter had but just +begun. Food and shelter lay beyond the river, we thought--so little +did we know. + +Then the news came that the Cossacks of the south had cut the bridge. +The men said that we were caught like rats in a trap. Our generals +were hourly in consultation. None could declare with truth that he had +now any real hope of escaping death or the horrors of a Russian prison. + +It was at this crisis of our fate that the good fortune befell me of +being of some personal service to the army and to His Majesty. + +We had advanced a stage upon the road to the Berezina, and in the +middle of the night of November 20th we arrived at the town of +Borisoff. The Emperor's quarters were in a country mansion near the +town. I myself, with Leon and Valerie St. Antoine, took refuge in a +mean house occupied by the priest of the place, and, having eaten a +little black bread and boiled a handful of rice (all the poor fellow +could offer us), we lay about his stove to sleep. + +For the others this proved easy enough. No sooner had they laid their +heads upon the sheepskins which the holy father provided for us, than +their deep breathing responded to the measure of their fatigue. For +myself, however, there was no such refuge. I could not sleep a wink +despite my weariness. Beyond that, strange visions tormented me even +when awake. For this, the doom which threatened the remnant of that +once great army may have been responsible. I believed that I should +never see my country again--and God only knows what that meant to one +who had suffered so much. + +Such was my condition when I heard someone tapping faintly upon the +door of the priest's house, and then a sound of weeping. A common +instinct of self-preservation should have made me callous, for those +were the days when a man would have denied meat to his own +brother--yet, whether it were the hour of the night or the despair of +our situation, I know not--but, rising immediately, I took the +rushlight in my hand and opened to the unknown. + + +II + +The new-comer was dressed from head to foot in the fur of the silver +fox, and had a grey woollen shawl about her head. I have rarely seen a +more beautiful face upon a child or eyes so sorrowful. + +Apparently of fourteen years of age or thereabouts, I perceived at once +that she was of noble birth, while the sweetness of her voice was +beyond words. Weeping upon the threshold, she ceased to weep directly +she had entered the room, and, drawing herself up with a dignity worthy +of her race, she told me that her name was Joan d'Izambert, and begged +me to come immediately to the help of her brother, who was dying. + +This was an astonishing request, and I could not forbear a question. + +"Mademoiselle," I asked, "who is your brother, and what brought you to +this house?" + +She replied immediately that her brother was Gabriel d'Izambert, one of +the _pontonniers_, and that he had been sent to the river by General +Roguet. From this excursion I understood that the young man had +returned in a state of delirium, and was now lying in an arbour of a +garden close by. + +"Sergeant Picard sent me to you," she explained. "He knows my brother +well, and said that you would come. Oh, monsieur, we have suffered so +much, and now there is this. Will you not help me?" + +I told her that I would go. For another, perchance, I would not have +stirred a foot that night; but there was so much in the child's +manner--a gift to command and a nobility of mien which were +remarkable--that I put on my great fur coat without more ado, and went +down to the garden with her. It lay, perhaps, a hundred paces from the +house which we occupied, and was attached to a considerable mansion, of +which General Roguet and his staff had then taken possession. + +The arbour itself proved to be a spacious summer-house, matted and +thatched, and provided with a stove, in which a good fire had been +kindled. I was presented immediately to a distinguished old gentleman, +well advanced in years, but still wearing a uniform of the engineers. +He told me in a word that he had followed his son as far as Smolensk +upon our outward journey, and there had waited for the army's return. + +"His mother was with us then," he said--and so he indicated that his +wife had perished during these dreadful days. + +The son himself--a fine young man of noble presence--lay upon the floor +by the stove, wrapped in a bearskin coat, but plainly the victim of +delirium. I found him in a burning fever, his pulse running high, and +his cheeks gone scarlet. He raved incessantly of the river and the +bridge, and of the Russians who had hunted us. + +It was no new thing to hear a man talk thus at a moment when the army +perished by tens of thousands; but the spectacle of this bare place, +and the glowing stove, and the stricken old man, and the child that was +left to him, touched me beyond words, and I promised him immediately +all the help that lay in my power. + +"Yet, God knows," I exclaimed, "that is little enough, for we are all +likely to be in a Russian prison to-morrow. You know, sir," I said, +turning to him, "that the bridge is down and the army trapped." + +"The bridge is down," he cried, "but another may be built. Save my +son, major, and you may yet save France." + +I had no idea of his meaning. If I thought of it at all, it was to +remind myself that this family had suffered much, and that the father's +talk might be little more rational than the son's at such a moment. +Bidding the child run back to the house I had quitted, and thence bring +my nephew and my case of instruments, I assured the old gentleman that +I would do my best and that he might count upon me. The young man, +meanwhile, did not cease to rave in a voice which was most distressing +to hear, and, catching me by the hand as I bent over him, he implored +me, for God's sake, to let the Emperor know immediately. When I, +however, asked him for a message he could give me none. "The bridge!" +he would cry, and repeat the words a hundred times. His very frenzy +was a terrible thing to see. + +My nephew and Mademoiselle Valerie returned to the arbour with the +child anon, being anxious as to my whereabouts. Leon was frankly +disgusted with the whole business, and would have had me return to the +house immediately. + +"There are a thousand worse than this man for every league you march," +said he. "Really, mon oncle, this is no time for sentiment." + +In her turn, Valerie told him to be silent, and seemed really concerned +at the misfortunes of the unhappy family. + +"I know them well," she said to me. "The mother is a relative of the +Duke de Melun, and old General d'Izambert often came to my father's +house. Imagine the madness which brought such old people to Russia +because their boy was going!" + +I rejoined that it was the kind of madness which had become common in +France during recent years. And this was the truth, for many a family +had gone out merely because sons or brothers were there. It was clear +that an unusual bond of affection united these brave people, and that +the memory of the dead mother provoked a sentiment very real. Father +and daughter alike watched me with pitiful eyes while I bled the young +_pontonnier_, and they hastened to obey me when I commanded them to +melt snow in a cup and to give him a cooling drink. + +"I will speak to General Roguet at dawn," said I. "You shall find a +place for him in the house. God alone knows whether any of us will be +here to help you then; it depends upon his fellows. If there is no +ford discovered in the next twenty-four hours, the river is shut to us, +and the army is lost. You, monsieur, know that as well as I." + +He assented, looking at me with grave eyes. + +"Major," he said very solemnly, "there is a ford. My son discovered it +this day." + +The news astounded me. + +"Good God!" said I. "You are speaking the truth?" + +"Look at me, major. Would I lie to you?" + +"Then the Emperor knows. You have told him, monsieur?" + +He shook his head. + +"Swear by Almighty God that you will not desert us, and I will name the +place to you," he said. + +I knew not what to say to him--the dilemma was beyond all words. If I +pledged myself to these people, then truly must I be a prisoner in +Russia. If I did not pledge myself, the army was lost. + +"But," I cried, "there is my regiment--my duty, Monsieur d'Izambert." + +It was then that Valerie spoke. + +"Go," she said to Leon, pointing to the door; "let the Emperor know. I +will stay with these people." + + +III + +Here was an astonishing turn, and one little looked for. + +The idea of this dashing girl, clad in her hussar uniform, yet womanly +beyond compare, the idea of her becoming the guardian of the sick man +at first astounded and then delighted Monsieur d'Izambert. Helpless +and infirm himself, the companion of a mere child caught in the toils +of suffering, he responded warmly to such a pledge and thanked her most +graciously. + +The boy himself had now sunk into a kind of coma, and there were +moments when I thought he was dead. Meanwhile, Leon did not return, +and we waited in the silence of the night for the alarm which must +presently attend the momentous tidings. When it came, it was as though +the whole army woke upon the dawn of a feast-day. Bugles blared; a +babel of voices arose in the street; the wagons of the engineers went +through at a gallop; lights appeared in every house. Anon you heard +men calling the news from door to door. A ford had been discovered; +the army would cross the Berezina this day. + +So they said, and such was my own belief. The young _pontonnier_ had +given the clearest directions to old Monsieur d'Izambert before the +fever overtook him, and these, marked upon his map, had gone to +head-quarters. Nothing remained to be done that our engineers could +not do. They would bridge the shallow stream, and the remnant of the +six hundred thousand would pass over. I reflected that I should not be +among them. The promise that Valerie had given bound me no less than +her. Impossible to leave her here in this God-forsaken hamlet, with a +sick man for her charge and a veteran of threescore years for her +bodyguard. She had pledged herself to stay, and I must stand by her. +It seemed to me, then, that our liberty, if not our lives, depended +upon the youth, who lay alternately burning with fever and shivering +with cold upon the boards at our feet. His death would have set us +free. I say it with truth that neither she nor I desired freedom at +such a price. + +You will have understood that it was day by this time. + +The bruit of alarm was still to be heard in the street before the house +where the remnants of the army pressed on headlong towards the river. +I did not suppose that we should be left to ourselves, we who possessed +the precious secret of the ford, and in this I was not mistaken. Many +from head-quarters came down to General Roguet's house when daylight +appeared, and it must have been a little after eight o'clock when the +Emperor himself strode into the arbour and demanded to see Gabriel +d'Izambert. + +I had not been unprepared for this, and be sure I made haste to explain +the situation to His Majesty. + +"Sire," I said, "the young man is overtaken by a fever, caught in the +river yesterday. It will probably be but a passing attack, but +meanwhile his father knows all that your Majesty should know, and you +will find him very much at your service. He has at the moment gone to +the house yonder in quest of necessaries; but there is one here with +whom you are acquainted and whom you will not be displeased to meet +again under such circumstances." + +With this I presented Mademoiselle Valerie to him, and he greeted her +very warmly. The young _pontonnier_ was still asleep, and it seemed +idle to wake him. Nevertheless, the Emperor insisted, with his usual +impetuosity, and nothing would content him but an immediate audience of +this unhappy Gabriel. Judge of my astonishment when, upon being +awakened, the lad seemed in possession of his normal faculties and +ready to answer as though he were fresh from a healthy sleep. + +"The ford is below Studianka," he said, with a warmth of feeling which +betrayed an ardent loyalty. "It is four miles above the old bridge, +your Majesty, and, should the river remain as it is, the engineers +could cross it before nightfall. I beg you now to let me accompany +you, for I am quite well again." + +And then he said, lifting pathetic eyes which betrayed his youthful +earnestness, "Your Majesty will not refuse me this last favour?" + +Such was his request, which won an immediate assent from the Emperor. +The lives of a hundred thousand men may have depended upon this youth's +loyalty, and who would count the loss of his life if thereby the army +could pass over? Not I, certainly--nor His Majesty, who never stood at +a sentiment where his own interests were concerned. Half an hour had +not elapsed when Gabriel d'Izambert had been lifted into one of the +baggage wagons, and we had all set out for the Berezina. + +Put briefly, it was a race where life or death was the stake. If we +could neither ford nor bridge the river by nightfall, assuredly was the +Grand Army lost. There was not a man amongst us who did not know as +much as we drew near to the fatal scene and set eyes for the first time +upon those waters which had baffled us. Had the river risen during the +night, or should we find it as Gabriel d'Izambert had found it +yesterday? The lad himself put the question a hundred times as we +tramped by the side of the wagon, and descended at length toward that +gloomy Styx which was so soon to be the scene of our overwhelming +desolation. + + +IV + +Naturally, I considered myself released at this time from my +understanding with the old gentleman. He, however, was of no such +opinion, and, with an anxiety very natural under the circumstances, he +reminded me frequently of the undertaking. + +"You will not leave us, major," he said. "We are so very helpless, and +you see what is about to happen to my son. We cannot leave him, and, +if the bridge be built, naturally the army will be the first to cross. +Remember what you have promised me, and let it be an honourable +understanding between us." + +It was difficult to answer such an appeal, and, for that matter, a +greater anxiety concerning the state of the river led me to dismiss it +lightly. What mattered it whether we crossed early or late if the army +could be saved and the honour of France upheld? These thoughts were in +my mind when, at length, the Berezina came into view and all that +gloomy panorama was unrolled before our wistful eyes. Let me tell you +of this that you may understand more fully the calamity which +subsequently overtook us. + +As we first saw it, the Berezina did not appear to be a formidable +river. It ran beneath a sky heavy with cloud and through a marsh, of +which the thaws of recent days had made nothing but a treacherous bog. + +When it first came into view there were some thousands of the Fusiliers +and Chasseurs of the Guard encamped upon its eastern bank. A drizzle +of snow fell, and it was clear that the waters of the river had begun +to flow with some rapidity. Little waves lapped the marshy shore; +great blocks of ice went careering here and there as though they were +monstrous fish at play. The wind moaned dismally and the damp searched +our very bones. + +Of shelter there was none, save that of a few miserable huts upon the +hillside and of a low farmhouse, which the general's staff now +occupied. Luckily for us, we took possession of one of the former, and +there I left Valerie with Monsieur d'Izambert and his daughter, while I +myself rode on to the river to get what tidings I could. These, to be +sure, were not of ill-omen, and the fact that they were not so is to be +set down to the bravery of the gallant fellows who were then working +for our salvation. + +Never in all the story of a retreat can there be a more glorious page +written than that which told of our own _pontonniers_ on this famous +day of November. + +Let me tell you in brief words that, despite the bitter cold, the snow +which beat upon their faces and the icy water of the river, they +plunged boldly into the stream, and stood there, often working up to +their necks, that the bridge which should save the army might be built. +The feat has been made light of by subsequent writers; yet here I bear +witness that a nobler thing was never done, nor any task achieved so +heroically in all the years of His Majesty's victories. + +Imagine it, my friends, and think upon our situation. + +We knew that the Russians were to the north and the south of us. The +ancient bridge below Borisoff had been cut. If we could not ford this +icy stream, then death or the horrors of a Russian prison awaited us. +Our one hope was this determined band of ten, who offered their own +lives upon the altar of our safety and plunged into the river that they +might win it for us. + +Hour by hour we watched them with feverish eyes. Even the Emperor came +down to the place, and with his own hand served wine to those heroes +who were winning life for him. One by one the pontoons were moored, +and the gap between the coveted shores made narrower. + +To me it seemed as though it were a race between Fate and the fortunes +of France. I saw the river rising every hour; the moaning wind became +a dreadful thing to hear as the day waxed and waned. And ever through +the terrible hours the snow fell pitilessly and the ice gathered and +crashed in the torrent which lashed the pontoons. + +Would our fellows win by nightfall, or was all indeed lost? I answered +the question for myself when, at sunset, the triumphant cries of the +fusiliers announced that a communication with the opposite shore was +established, and I saw the Guard ride over, their trumpets blaring and +their eagles proudly proclaiming their victory. + +A few minutes later I myself rode over the bridge, and immediately rode +back again. It was something to feel that the devilish stream was +conquered and the fruits of brave men's toil reaped to the full. Alas, +how little I knew of what was to come after or of the slaughter which +must attend the unspeakable morrow! + +I have told you that I crossed the bridge and immediately recrossed it. +This was upon an order of General Roguet himself, who told me that +every surgeon would be needed upon the other side to help the sick +across, and that I must rejoin our own company of Velites as quickly as +might be. It had never been in my head to desert old Monsieur +d'Izambert and his daughter, and I sought them out directly I had +recrossed to the eastern bank. My nephew was with them at this time, +but Gabriel d'Izambert had not yet returned from the river, nor did any +know his whereabouts. Naturally, we hoped that he had gone across with +the Fusiliers of the Guard, but the old gentleman refused to believe +that he had done so, and was already determined to spend the night in +the shepherd's hut. Here he was well enough, and, for that matter, I +thought we had all done wisely to camp where we were rather than to +find an open bivouac on the farther shore. + +That this was the general opinion the scene upon our side of the river +quickly made manifest. Far to the north and south of the twin bridges +which the _pontonniers_ had now erected were the bivouac fires and the +camps of the gathered remnants. Baggage wagons began to roll up, and +their attendants to gather in hundreds, eyeing the dismal waters and +promising to cross at dawn. No one seemed to think that there was any +hurry or that it mattered where he slept to-night. In truth, I think +the army believed that a great moral victory had already been won, and +that the end of its sufferings was at hand. Let them but cross the +river, and the fair fields of France would beckon them. Again I say +that they had forgotten the bitter leagues which lay between them and +liberty. + +My own duty at this time was to see to the sick of our own regiment, +and to provide for their crossing. Here I found willing helpers. We +collected the wagons with their unhappy burdens, and drew them up as +near to the river as we dared. Why they were not sent across that +night, I cannot tell you. When I recall the precious hours that we +wasted, the solitude of the bridges, and the miracle of the +opportunity, it seems to me that no words can describe truly the +magnitude of that blunder. Yet there it was, and so at length we slept +during the long hours of storm and darkness. When we awoke the +Russians were upon the hills about us, and their shells were already +thundering upon our bivouac. God, what an awakening for men who had +hoped so much! + + +V + +The sound of cannon broke in upon our sleep a little after the hour of +dawn. + +We had made a comfortable bivouac in the hut, and were all dozing in +the straw which covered its floor, when the earth about us began to +tremble, and everyone started up to realise the dread alarm. + +It chanced that I was lying cheek by jowl with Valerie St. Antoine, and +that we were the first of them all to run into the open and ascertain +the truth. It needed but a single glance at the hills and the river to +tell us that story in all its menace. + +It was just light at this time--a colder morning than that of +yesterday, with a clearer heaven. As the clouds of night rolled away, +the black figures of the Cossacks upon the hills were clearly to be +discerned, while the smoke of their cannon drifted slowly upon the +still air and hovered above the swirling river. It was plain that a +considerable force had come up in the night, and, having discovered our +intention, began immediately to fire upon the bridges. We could see +their cannon-balls plumping into the water, striking the floes of +driving ice, or even rending the frail pontoons which our engineers had +moored with such difficulty. And while they did this a cry of horror +ran from end to end of our own encampment--the cries of those who +believed that delay had undone them, and that they were betrayed. + +From every camp fire now, from the shelter of puny huts and caves dug +out of the earth, from wagons and tents, there appeared a stream of men +and women, too, camp followers who mingled with the soldiery and cursed +or entreated as the mood dictated. + +Standing upon a knoll not a hundred paces from the bridge, Mademoiselle +Valerie and I were soon enveloped by these pitiful creatures, who ran +to and fro like driven sheep, and had lost what little wit they had +possessed. It was a dreadful thing to see women of all ages, with the +tears streaming down their faces, their hair unkempt and their dress +but a tatter of rags, throwing themselves at the feet of officers as +helpless as they, and begging instantly to be escorted across the +bridge. Yet such was the scene into which I was now plunged, and such +the disorderly mob with which the remnant of the army had to deal. As +for ourselves, it did not seem very much to matter what we did. + +Mademoiselle Valerie, as imperturbable as ever, addressed words of +comfort to the unhappy people and begged them to be patient. + +"The soldiers will protect you," she said; and, God knows, how much I +wished that the boast could be made good. + +We, however, were as helpless as they, and, when we found ourselves +alone, the truth was not to be concealed. + +"They will destroy the bridge, Monsieur Constant," she said; "and what +then? Is there anyone here who can tell us what to do?" + +I rejoined that wiser heads would have told us last night, and reminded +her that we had the old man and the child to think of. + +"The bridge must be crossed at any cost," said I. "Convince the old +gentleman of that, and we will set out immediately. It is idle to stop +here on the supposition that his son will return. Do you not see +yourself how unreasonable it is?" + +She agreed with me, and returned immediately to the hut. +Unfortunately, we had to deal with the obstinacy of a father to whom +the only son was all that mattered in this world. Monsieur d'Izambert +refused to move a step until the young _pontonnier_ had returned. Nor +would he hear of our escorting his daughter across the river. + +"We will cross together," he said, "or we will not cross at all. My +daughter would wish it, major. How would it help her to return to +France when those dear to her remain the prisoners of this unhappy +country? You do not know what you are asking me--to leave my only son; +it is impossible." + +I saw that nothing would convince him, and taking Valerie aside, I told +her as much. + +"It will be a case of sauve qui peut," said I. "We are under no +obligation to these people, and why should we perish because of them? +Come with me now, and, if it is possible to do so, I will recross the +river later in the day. I pledge my word upon that. But, +mademoiselle," said I, "it is madness for you to listen to them." + +She shook her head, smiling in the old, alluring way. + +"It has all been madness," she exclaimed; and that was as true a thing +as ever she said. + +"We shall stand a better chance to-night, Monsieur Constant, than now, +when there are so many on the bridge," she continued. "Let us wait +upon our opportunity. Surely you would not attempt the passage at this +moment?" And she pointed to the bridges, thronged already by a +terrified mob, and pounded by the cannon of the Russians. + +My answer to this was a shrug of the shoulders, for no other seemed +possible. + +Any man who was at the Berezina will understand the terror and pity of +the scene I now witnessed and the helplessness of any Frenchman who +stood upon the eastern bank of the cursed river. + +As a hail of death, the shells and the bullets of the Russians poured +down upon the terror-stricken fugitives. Dreadful cries arose. So +great was the press upon the pontoons that hundreds of our people were +thrust headlong into the swirling waters, hundreds of the weak crushed +beneath the feet of the stronger. All huddled together--wagons driven +over living men, cavalry hewing their way with swords, the cries of +cantinieres, women and children screaming for pity--all, I say, pressed +on in that mad quest of shelter which was to be offered to so few. + +Soon the river was black with the bodies of the drowned. I saw +wretched creatures clinging to the ice-floes or the pontoons of the +bridge; some fighting as devils for a foothold upon the narrow way; +others too weak to struggle as the strong thrust them aside and the +black water enveloped them. Wisely indeed had Valerie insisted upon +delay. Yet it was a melancholy thing to reflect that even an hour +before the day had dawned we might all have passed over in safety and +set out upon our way to the Paris of our dreams. + +I shall not weary you with any undue recital of the horrors of that +unnameable day. From dawn to dusk the slaughter continued. It was a +tragic moment indeed when the Russians at length destroyed the greater +bridge, and with it a regiment of cavalry of the Guard then passing +over. This was quite early in the day, and thereafter the scenes upon +the pontoons became beyond all words awful to witness. Even the +bravest were as helpless as children in that terrible _lutte pour la +vie_. I remember, about one o'clock in the afternoon, riding down to +the water's edge with my old friend Gros-Jean of the Velites, and +watching the frantic endeavour that most courageous of men made to +cross the bridge, despite my entreaties. Alas! he had but plunged into +the medley when a Cuirassier of the Guard thrust him down, and he, in +turn, clinging to his aggressor's cloak, they rolled headlong on to a +great floe of ice, and were presently engulfed with the thousands the +insatiable waters already had claimed. Who in the face of such scenes +would have advised a woman and an old man to dare the transit? Not I, +in truth, whatever the cost. + +The miseries of our own situation will now be perceived by all. We had +refrained from crossing upon a quixotic impulse, and it seemed that our +sacrifice had cost us our liberty if not our lives. Hour by hour the +Cossacks were drawing nearer, their fire becoming more terrible and +their hosts more plainly to be seen. Night must find them down upon +us, or we ourselves but units amidst the maddened people who fought +like wild beasts for a foothold on the bridge. Even old Monsieur +d'Izambert began to perceive the folly of it as the day waxed and +waned, and vainly he waited for the son who did not return. + +"We should have crossed," he said; "Gabriel must have gone with the +Emperor." + +So much I believed to be the truth until about the hour of five +o'clock, when to our great astonishment the young _pontonnier_ himself +appeared at the hut, and carried that dire intelligence which was all +that was needed to consummate our despair. + +"I am to blow up the bridge," he said. "It is by the Emperor's orders. +We must save the army; the others must perish." + +We did not answer him. To such had our mistaken folly led us. It was +death or the Russian prison indeed; there could be no alternative. + + +VI + +You will see the nature of the difficulty which now confronted us. + +It was almost certain death to venture upon the bridge; the alternative +meant that we faced the Cossacks and accepted grace at their hands. + +To myself, an old soldier who had served His Majesty so many years, it +mattered little now what befell me. So much had I suffered, so bitter +had been the days, that any shelter--even that of a prison, in which I +could eat and sleep--would have been a welcome harbourage from this +march of death. + +But for Valerie St. Antoine, she who had carried herself so bravely +during the terrible weeks, she who had served France with such valour +and loyalty--that she should become the prisoner and the victim of +these devils, was indeed the last calamity. What to say to her in the +face of the Emperor's order I knew not. The bridge must be destroyed +to save His Majesty. Would she deny the necessity of that? + +These thoughts were in my mind when I took her aside and questioned her +as to the course we should pursue. To my astonishment I found that she +herself had already debated the question, and that her mind was made up. + +"We must swim the river, Monsieur Constant," she said; "you and I. Let +Joan go with us. Monsieur d'Izambert will not leave his son. I do not +blame him, but now we must think of ourselves." + +It was a bold response, and yet I will not say that I had not thought +of it. + +From time to time during the hours of the day's agony I had seen +intrepid cavalry men go down to the swirling Berezina, and boldly put +their horses to the water. Few who did so had lived. Some were struck +by Russian bullets, and died in the saddle. The horses of others, +overcome by the cold, sank without warning, and dragged their masters +with them. A few gained the marsh upon the opposite shore, and either +breasted it or ended their sufferings there. All this we had witnessed +together, and yet, as Valerie said, it was the only way--the river or +the prison! Do you wonder that our choice was soon made? + +We returned to the hut, and, taking Monsieur d'Izambert aside, I put +the alternatives to him. + +"Your son," said I, "is a very noble fellow. Be sure, monsieur, that +his name will not be forgotten when the story of this day is told. The +command which has been given him is a very great compliment. No doubt +he will be clever enough to save himself when he has done his duty; but +we must now save ourselves. It would be a madman's task to attempt to +cross the bridge at such a time. There is only one way, and it is that +which Mademoiselle Valerie and I propose to take." + +And then I told him of our intention to swim the river. + +"Your daughter," said I, "may go upon my saddle-bow. If you yourself +have a mind for the venture, I will find you a horse quickly enough. +The decision must rest with you. We have no time to lose, for the +river is rising every hour. If you decide to remain here, being a +civilian and a non-combatant, I doubt if the Russians will trouble you. +That, monsieur, is for you to say. I will save your daughter if I can; +the rest is in the hands of God." + +He was much distressed, but he did not fail to perceive the realities +of the situation. His love for his son touched me deeply, and when he +declared that he would remain with Gabriel, I could not gainsay him. + +"Save Joan," he said, putting both his hands into mine. "If the time +should ever come that we meet again in Paris, I will never forget this +day, Major Constant. I am an old man, and it can matter little to me +now--but the child has all her life before her." + +I thought it a wise resolution, and told him as much. + +"We will wait for you on the other side," said I, though in my heart I +doubted it I should ever see him there. Then, bidding him be of good +courage, and taking a cordial farewell of his son, I set out +immediately. + +Valerie awaited me on the brink of the river. Her black charger +appeared to be as fresh as though he had left his stable at Moscow but +yesterday; her uniform of hussars was as trim and well kept as any good +soldier might have desired. As for little Joan, the tale we had told +her was one which a child would not question. We were to carry her +across the river, and her father and brother would follow presently in +the baggage wagons. She believed us with a child's faith, and, being +drawn up upon the saddle before me, she asked when we would cross the +bridge. Then I told her the truth. + +"You see for yourself," said I, "what a dreadful place the bridge now +is. We are going to swim the river, ma petite, and in that way we +shall cheat the Russians. Now, cling to me with both your arms, and do +not mind what happens. Why should you be afraid?" + +She told me very proudly that she was not, and, calling to Valerie, I +put my horse at the water. + +The place might have been some twenty yards from the first pontoon, and +for awhile the good beast which carried me found ground for his feet. +In those moments I could see how wise we had been to prefer the hazard +of the water to that of the bridge. Such a scene as was then taking +place upon that frail structure has surely never been witnessed in all +the story of His Majesty's wars. + +Pell-mell upon it went wagons and cannon and the terrified +camp-followers. Horsemen cut their way as though sabreing an enemy; +women screamed with terror; the strong were dragged down with the weak; +men trampled one another under foot without a thought of mercy. The +number of the dead and dying no man might estimate, and over these the +living crawled as they could, the Russian shells falling ceaselessly +amidst them, and the deadly bullets finding many a billet. + +All this I beheld as in some swift vision of horror, from which the +eyes turned almost with gratitude to the fetid waters about me. The +swirling torrent, the crashing of the ice-floes, the bobbing corpses +everywhere but fostered that pursuit of safety which now grew upon me +as a fever. I must win the opposite shore, I said, or all were lost. +Let me but set foot upon those black slopes which were the goal of my +desire and all were won by this supreme endeavour. It was easy to be +said, but how remote the hope of it! + +I should tell you that the darkness had now come down, and with it a +return of the bitter cold. + +I had caught the child up with my left arm, and, giving the good horse +his head, I felt the water strike me suddenly with a deadly chill, and +heard Joan's shrill cry of horror as at length the current caught us +and we were swept away into the vortex of the river. + +Now, indeed, we stood face to face with Death and felt his icy hand +upon us. + +The screams of the dying upon the bridge, the thunder of the cannon, +the moaning of the bullets--all were lesser sounds than that of the +crashing ice and the roaring torrent as it threatened to engulf us. +What had become of Valerie St. Antoine I knew not. It seemed to me +that I had been carried in an instant from human enemies to wage a +combat with Nature omnipotent, before which I must perish. The chill +of the water, the freezing wind, the sleet which beat upon my face were +the weapons with which this pitiless enemy would have conquered me. +Nothing but the instincts of the gallant brute stood between me and the +watery grave so many had found. On he pressed and on, fighting as a +human thing for the life no less precious to him than to us. I saw +dead men's eyes looking up at me from the black torrent; human arms, +outstretched but lifeless, touched my flesh and set the child shrieking +with terror. The shells fell about us and the foam was as a blinding +fountain in our eyes. Yet ever the coveted shore seemed more distant, +the sounds of human strife yet farther away, the world gone clean from +our knowledge. It is here, then, said I to myself, that Janil de +Constant must die. God knows that I would have welcomed death if it +could have come quickly. + +Such were the episodes of that fateful crossing, through which the +mercy of the Almighty alone brought us safely. + +I had given up all hope, when a sudden staggering of the horse, a cry +from Joan, and another shout of triumph from the bank itself bade me +look up and understand the wonder of the moment. We had touched the +shore--that shore of all our dreams, and found a footing there. +Valerie herself, the water running from her boots, but her eyes +triumphant and her arms outstretched, welcomed us with a woman's +laughter and claimed the victory. + +We had crossed the Berezina! The horrors of the bridge were done with +for ever; we were amid our comrades, and yonder beyond the forgotten +leagues stood Paris and our homes. + + +VII + +We crossed the bog with safety and reached the first of the low hills +on the hither shore. Hardly had we done so when a loud explosion shook +the very earth and caused us to wheel about suddenly. Then we saw the +bridge fall asunder, and knew that the thousands upon the far bank were +doomed to death or the prison. Such a cry as arose from our comrades +yonder has never been heard, nor will be again, I believe, in all the +story of the world. It was the voice of the ultimate woe of those who, +hoping much, now ceased to hope, and fearing, now feared the more. +Many have accused the Emperor of wanton cruelty because of what he did +on that November night. Yet we, who served France, believed that he +had done well, and we would have laid down our lives for him as readily +had the honour of our country demanded it. + +Naturally, we said nothing to Joan of the meaning of this tragic event. +Assuring her that Gabriel and her father would join us at dawn, we rode +on to the first of the bivouacs, where, happily, we found a squadron of +the fusiliers, under Colonel Bourgoriau, well known to me, and by him +were instantly made welcome. The Emperor, he told us, was camped at a +farmhouse not a quarter of a mile from where we stood. His Majesty was +cold and suffering, and they had sent wood for his fires, badly as they +needed it themselves. + +Here I left Valerie and the child, and, returning to the remnant of the +bridge, I waited to see if any might yet be saved. Alas! the stranded +pontoons showed me but a heap of dying and dead, and some of them were +in flames. It may have been the mere fancy of a man whose courage had +been sorely tried that day, but amongst those whom the swirling river +carried away, and upon whose faces the leaping fires cast a golden +aureole, I thought that I saw Gabriel the brave and the father who had +loved him. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE LAST REVIEW + +I + +The loss of the Grand Army at the River Berezina will never be fully +told. + +All the world knows now that more than twelve thousand corpses were +taken from the river when the ice melted in the spring; but this is to +give no account of the many who were butchered by the Cossacks, and of +the thousands of unhappy men, and women too, who went into the Russian +prisons when the last of the bridges was blown up. + +We were a mere remnant that got away in safety. + +I have heard the number variously estimated, but in my own opinion no +more than thirty thousand of those who marched to Moscow so proudly +struggled on towards Kovno when the battle of the Berezina had been +fought. + +At this time, too, we were so many hordes of miserable men rather than +an army. Many lost the road and wandered for weeks in the frozen +wilderness. Hardly a regiment preserved anything of its original +formation; those that did so were inspired by loyalty to His Majesty +the Emperor. When he left us at Smorgoni on the morning of December +5th and entrusted the command to Murat all order was finally done with. +The Cossacks pursued us as sheep are hunted by wolves. We struggled +into Vilna to find the town plundered. The mighty host which had set +out to conquer Russia now rotted beneath the snows of the steppes we +had crossed. + +It was every man for himself afterwards, as you can well imagine. We +made up little companies of friends and went together in the fashion of +the East. Naturally, Valerie St. Antoine was of my own party; and with +the child Joan and my own nephew Leon we had Sergeant Bardot, who had +been with us in the adventure at Moscow. I have told you of the +sergeant's adroitness, and we found him invaluable these later days. +Where others starved he would plunder. From a brawl at Vilna, when the +stores were rifled, Gustav Bardot emerged with as many bottles of +brandy as would have made a regiment drunk, and a supply of flour under +which our horses staggered. With this we set out almost gaily upon our +journey to the Prussian frontier. France seemed near to us now, though +so many hundreds of leagues away. + +To be sure we lost the road frequently enough, and were yet to meet +with some surprising adventures. It is of one of the most curious of +these that I am now about to write. + + +II + +It was the second day after our leaving Kovno. + +We had slept in a stable in that unhappy town and there had fallen in +with Sergeant Bardot and his plunder. + +I remember that it was a dreadful night, the roar of the wind almost +drowning the sound of the distant artillery, which we believed to be +fired at our rearguard by the Russians. It has been said since that +day that Marshal Ney himself fired the guns to drive the stragglers +into the town. I cannot tell you how it was, but I know that we all +suffered very much, especially the child Joan, who mourned ceaselessly +for her father and her brother. + +Next morning we set out for the bridge across the Niemen. It was +almost as great a press as that at the Berezina. Happily, the Cossacks +had not yet come up, and we got across at length to find an open +country where there were few signs of an army marching. + +Very shortly afterwards we lost all track of the vanguard, and were +mere stragglers with a few others upon a great white plain which the +wind swept pitilessly. That night we bivouacked in the barn of an +ancient farmhouse which marauders had burned. It was there that we +determined to go our own way henceforth and not to rejoin the regiment +until we came to Elbing. + +"Why should we?" old Bardot asked in his matter-of-fact way. "There +will be no fighting, my friends; and if there be, the marshal will take +care of those fellows. No one expects the Cossacks to cross the +Niemen, and if they are wise they will now go back to their own +country. We have food enough for some days and our horses are good. +Let us make a caravan as the Easterns do, and leave the rest to +Providence." + +This was very sensible advice, and it fell upon willing ears. We were +a genial company, and if my nephew spent most of his hours in close +converse with Valerie St. Antoine, at least I had the benefit of the +sergeant's company. As for little Joan, she rarely spoke to anyone; +or, if she did, it was to raise again that fatal question of her +father's whereabouts. For all these reasons I deemed it wise to do as +Bardot directed, and to seek a route of our own. We should find the +remnant of the army at Elbing; it would be time enough to think of +re-formation when we arrived there. + +So behold us crossing those fearsome steppes, Valerie and Leon for our +van, the sergeant and myself, with the child between us, talking of a +thousand things which were to be done if ever we saw the city of Paris +again. We had come by this time to believe that we should do so, and +despite the sufferings which we endured our courage remained unshaken. +Alas! that it was so soon to be put to the proof. We were hopelessly +lost upon the evening of the third day, and knew no more than the dead +whether we were marching to Elbing or to the sea. + +Remember that the heaven above us had been perpetually obscured by +cloud and that the night showed us no stars. The plain in itself was a +vast sea of snow, broken rarely by clumps or pines and hardly showing +us a house which had not been burned by the army on its outward march. +From time to time, it is true, we espied little companies of stragglers +in the far distance, or groups of horsemen poised upon a knoll; but of +the high road we saw nothing, and gradually it began to dawn upon us +that even Bardot's store was not inexhaustible, and that we must surely +perish in this wild place unless we recovered the high road speedily. + +We slept that night in a dismal wood, listening to the howling of the +wolves and but ill-protected by the snow-pit we had digged. The others +were merry enough save little Joan, whose strength could not support +these hardships and for whose safety we were all tenderly solicitous. +Fortunately, we had more than one great-coat of fur with us, and we +made the child a bed in the snow as well as we could, and then fell to +talking of our position. + +Old Bardot's plan clearly had broken down, and it remained to find +another. Should we waste the precious hours trudging northward on the +chance that the high road lay there, or should we hold our course and +risk the discovery of a town or village in our path? Bardot was for +the latter plan; Valerie for the former. + +"I have friends in Elbing," she said. "Prince Nicholas visited the +city frequently, and if we ever reach the town I am sure they will +welcome me. We cannot do wrong to go to the north, for the sea will +soon tell us where we are. Here it is a wilderness where none but +madmen would remain." + +She looked at the sergeant as she spoke; and, in truth, there never had +been much love lost between those two. His defence of himself was lame +but valiant. + +"We should have been pillaged upon the high road," he said truculently. +"It was wiser to do as we have done." + +Her answer was that we had now nothing to pillage. The argument +threatened to grow heated when, to our great surprise, we heard the +barking of a watch-dog, and, all springing to our feet, we discovered +that the sound came from the far side of the wood and that a human +habitation must be there. + + +III + +Ten minutes later we were knocking at its door. It proved to be a +little farmhouse kept by Poles--a widow and two sons--and they were +greatly alarmed when we waked them. Our civilities presently obtained +admittance, and we found ourselves in a long, low room with a wood fire +burning brightly, and about it some evidence of an unexpected +prosperity. Fine skins decorated the walls of this mean habitation. +There were guns in the corner by the chimney, and among them some +French weapons obviously taken from our own soldiers. A handsome +drinking cup in silver stood upon a shelf which harboured good china; +while a little shrine with candles denoted that the people were of the +Catholic faith. + +I thought them all strikingly handsome; the lads were dark, with +intelligent eyes; the old woman looked a picture of almost saintly +sweetness and benignity. With Valerie she was at home directly, and it +was good to see the conquest which the French beauty made so quickly. + +The result of this was immediate. We had not been in the farm ten +minutes when the table was spread with viands and a bottle of French +brandy set before us. Of the sons, one waited upon us and the other +went out, as the old woman said, to cut wood. I thought it a little +odd that he remained away so long, but the circumstance escaped my +notice presently when rugs were spread upon the floor and our beds made +ready. + +So weary were we all that we lay down upon the floor without any +ceremony, and the last I remember before going to sleep were the +whispers of Valerie and my nephew, who, I doubt not, were telling each +other an ancient story. When I awoke a light sound in the room +disturbed me. I sat up and looked about me, bewildered by the +flickering rays of the ebbing fire and uncertain for the moment where I +was. + +We all experience this in strange places, but a soldier usually is not +at a loss. Upon this occasion, whether it were the unusual aspect of +the room, the circumstances of our bivouac, or the treacherous +firelight, I cannot tell you, but moments passed before I remembered +our coming to the house at all. + +To this there succeeded a sense of alarm and of a peril I could not +define. I thought that I was in a prison, and the Cossacks were my +jailers. The fitful light upon the floor showed red and ghastly, and +suggested the blood of dead comrades. I started up, pressing my hands +to my eyes and prepared for any ignominy, when, as in a flash, the +whole scene was recalled, and I remembered both the room and the Poles. +At the same instant the fire, leaping into flame, showed me the figure +of Valerie, and I could have sworn that she was about to quit the +apartment. This was not so. She made a sign to me, and I perceived +immediately that it was one which warned me to be silent. + +Naturally, all this astonished me very much, for I had expected to find +her fast asleep. And yet here she was, sword in hand, standing by the +door as though an enemy had knocked upon it. Stepping over the +sleeping figures of Bardot and my nephew, I asked her in a whisper what +had happened. + +"The Pole has not returned," she said. "I heard a sound of footsteps +on the snow--many of them. We must lock the door; there is danger." + +With this she swung over the great bar of iron, and it fell softly into +its place. If I had any doubt of the wisdom of what she did, a quick +glance about the apartment would have set it at rest. Neither the old +woman herself nor the younger son were where they had been last night. +Moreover, a sound of footsteps was now audible beyond all question. It +was evident that the house was surrounded and that these cunning people +had betrayed us. + +A kick from my foot woke old Bardot, and Leon started up directly the +sergeant moved. The briefest words told them what had happened; and, +still yawning, they stretched out their hands and felt in the straw for +their swords. Our muskets had been piled up in the corner with those +of the young men, but it was soon apparent that they had been pillaged +while we slept, for a purpose we could readily imagine. We had only +the pistols, of which no occasion robbed us, and our first care was to +prime them before going to the window. It was well that we did so. +Hardly had Bardot thrown open the casement when bullets hailed into the +room, and the china came crashing down like slates from a penthouse +when the wind is high. This was a pretty business, to be sure--the +last kind of welcome we had expected when we fell asleep by the fire. + +"To the door!" cried I, as the shots rang out. We all were down on our +marrow bones in a twinkling, protected by the great wooden doors and +the bolt we had drawn. It was plain to me that no bullet would pierce +the wood of the door, and that those who were after us must come in by +the windows. The greater mystery remained--who were the bandits who +attacked us in this headlong way, and what was their number? That they +were not Cossacks I felt sure, for soldiers would have known how to +take us in our sleep, and the rest had been easy. Were they the +wretched moujiks, so many of whom armed themselves against the wounded +of the Grand Army when it fled from Russia? Or were they the real +bandits of the steppes? We answered the question when a bearded +brigand, waving a gardener's hoe, appeared at the window and slashed at +us with the gleaming steel. This man I shot dead directly he showed +his face. It was evident that he was but a peasant after all, and that +we had his fellows to deal with. + +I say that I shot him dead; but the respite was brief enough. No +sooner had the man fallen than his place was taken by others, all armed +with the most barbarous weapons, but no less zealous for our blood. +Under any other circumstance the scene must have been droll enough. +Here were we four with our backs to the great door, the latticed +windows, by which the assassins tried to enter, upon either side of us. +Frightened by the death of their comrade, they now resorted to a +primitive attempt to harpoon us, as though we had been so many fish in +a sea. It was ridiculous to watch the hairy arms thrust in at the +window, while scythes or pikes or bayonets on sticks were turned +menacingly toward us and their owners bayed like dogs after quarry. + +Happily, our position enabled us to treat this puny assault with +derision. We were beyond the reach of their harpoons, and we neglected +no opportunity to retaliate. More than one of the assassins lost his +hand or his arm by a swift cut from the swords we knew so well how to +use. This was satisfactory enough, but it carried us nowhere, and +behind it all there lay the real apprehension that these monsters would +force the window presently and butcher us as though we had been sheep. +Hundreds of our comrades had so perished since we left Krasnoe. Wild +creatures, more like gorillas than men, had come out of the woods with +their scythes roped to sticks and had slashed and maimed the wounded +without grace or pity. And here we were dealing with the same kind of +villains, but, happily, neither wounded nor frightened by them. If any +secret anxiety had accompanied the first moments of this amazing +encounter, it was for little Joan d'Izambert, who still lay upon the +far side of the room and had been forbidden by me to join us. I saw +that the heavy table protected her from bullets, and bidding her lie +still, I turned my attention to the window. It was time truly. +Someone had now pushed a musket through the casement, and, aiming at +hazard, the roar of the discharge shook everything in the apartment. +This was the turn we had not anticipated. It needed all our wits now +to slash at the barrels as they were poised by unseen hands, and +nothing but the greatest agility saved our lives at such a crisis. + +This was all very well, but you will soon see that it could not +continue. Four of us there were to slash at the guns, but many outside +to direct them; and presently my poor friend Bardot uttered a low cry +and fell in the straw at my side. + +"I am done for," said he, and instantly he fainted. + +The success redoubled the fury of those without. Heads were seen at +the window again; there was a new and more savage onslaught with the +pikes; the door itself began to tremble under the thud of axes. I +believed then that we were done for, and I am sure that the others were +of my opinion. Let the door fall, and we should be cut to pieces. No +hope of plunder animated these savages, but that insensate hatred of +the invader by which our poor fellows had suffered so much already. +They lusted for our blood, and that alone would satisfy them. + +Surely this was a very terrible moment. The blows of the axes seemed +to number the moments we had to live. Convinced now that they would +not get us by the windows, but that the door must be forced, the +wretches had drawn off and concentrated all their fury upon these +ancient beams. Happily for us, the man who built the house was himself +a child of the wilderness, and his life, no less than ours, may have +depended many a time upon the stoutness of his portals. The door +withstood the attack, though the very walls shook with the fury of it. +We could do nothing but crouch there and wait, hope almost dead, the +promise of the day but a mockery. When to this we heard a cry of +"Fire!"--for that was a word every French soldier had learned in +Moscow--then we understood and believed that it was the end. They were +going to burn us out. The cries of the old woman whose house they +would have fired moved them not at all. "Fire!" they yelled; and we +could hear them running hither and thither--a savage horde mad in its +lust for blood. + +We had uttered few words until this time; and, as for that, a man could +hardly have heard himself speak in the room. Now, however, we knew an +instant of respite, and it was then that Valerie proposed that we +should open the doors. + +"Anything is better than this," she said. "Courage may find the +horses--who knows?" + +The suggestion was wise, and I fell in with it readily. + +"Let Leon go first and do you follow him," said I. "The child shall +come with me." + +And at that I stooped over my poor Bardot and perceived that he was +indeed dead. The prospect of dying out there in the open was less +horrible than that of being cooped up in this miserable house, which +presently must become a furnace; and who could say what these wretches +might do or not do when confronted by soldiers of the Guard? The +resolution hardly was taken when we lifted the bolt and threw the great +doors wide open. "En avant!" cries Leon, rushing out with his sword +flashing. Then he laughed drolly. Not a moujik was to be seen; not a +voice to be heard. A sound of approaching sleigh bells alone broke in +upon the silence of the night. + + +IV + +Well, we all stood there to listen--our swords in our hands, our ears +bent. A miracle had happened, and our enemies were fled. None of us, +if it were not the child, understood the reality of the peril we had +escaped, or surrendered to that revulsion of feeling natural to the +circumstance. Little Joan, however, shed childish tears and was upon +her knees giving thanks in an instant. The rest of us looked at her +somewhat ashamed; our faith remained shaken. Beyond that, old Bardot +was dead. I think we remembered the fact even when our own delivery +tempted us to rejoice. + +But was it delivery? + +I have told you that the sound of twinkling sleigh-bells arrested our +attention. Minute by minute they grew louder; we heard the thud of +hoofs upon the snow, and presently we discerned a troop of horsemen +approaching at a trot, and amidst them a sleigh of unusual size drawn +by no fewer than four horses abreast. This unexpected company made +straight for the house, and drew rein only at its door. Who they were, +or what country, whether friend or enemies, the wan light forbade us to +say. Their master evidently rode in the sleigh, and no sooner had it +pulled up than he sprang out upon the snow and in a twinkling was +doffing his hat to Valerie St. Antoine. Such a merry old gentleman I +had not met in Russia. Verily he did not cease to smile from the +moment his troop first surrounded us until that other moment, less +pleasing, when we were trussed like fowls and thrust headlong into +other sleighs which followed in his wake. + +Surely this was the most surprising adventure we had yet experienced in +Russia. + +Here was a merry old gentleman who knew nothing of us, but whose mere +presence had scattered the moujiks like chaff; here was he riding up to +the wretched house; clapping eyes upon Valerie and the child; hustling +them headlong into his own sleigh; nodding to his troopers to fall upon +us and carrying us away as though we were so many sheep for the block. +Never have I known such a surprise. I could have laughed aloud at the +irony of it when my nephew and I found ourselves upon our backs in a +wretched coracle and heard the crack of the whips which hurried us on +to a Russian prison. Assuredly there could be no other destination. +We admitted as much to each other without any preface at all. + +"They will be the Polish lancers from Orcha," said Leon. "I suppose +the old man is one of their princes. Devilish unlucky, upon my word, +mon oncle; we had done better with the peasants." + +I told him that it was possible. The same thought was in both our +minds. What of Valerie and the child? That the old man had been +bewitched by Valerie's beauty there was no doubt whatever. Every +gesture, every look marked him as a libertine from the moment when he +first clapped eyes upon her until he had dragged her into his sledge +and the horses had gone off at a gallop. Leon knew this as well as I, +and his anger was a dreadful thing to see. + +"I will shoot him like a dog, so help me God!" he said. And he +strained with the strength of an ox to burst the ropes which bound him. + +He might as well have tried to break a tree asunder. We were bound +hand and foot, as though we had been the meanest of criminals. Our +escort was a troop of some eighty men armed with lances and muskets, +and plainly showing that they had their orders. There remained but the +idle speculation upon that which must come after. Would this old man +butcher us, fearing our tongues, or would he hand us over to the +Cossacks at the first station we came to? We could not tell; the +humiliation of our defeat was beyond all words insupportable, and our +wrists bled with our efforts to free them. Valerie was in this man's +power, and she had but us to look to. I could not have suffered more +had my own sister's honour been at stake. + +"The opportunity is not here," said I to Leon; "but it may come. Words +will not help us. Take my advice and feign submission; it is better +than being butchered. We shall not help Valerie that way. Let us +remember what we have to do, and not act like children." + +His answer was a frenzied outburst of rage which appalled me. So loud +was it that the escort derided him, and the driver slashed back at him +with his whip. When it had passed I perceived the old Leon, whose wit +was quick even under such an emergency. He lay back upon the boards of +the sleigh and feigned sleep. + +Day was breaking then, and a dim sun seeking to shine. The country +itself was the same God-forsaken wilderness that we had trod these many +days. No man at the heart of the ocean could have discerned an horizon +more hopeless. Everywhere the snow and the whitened pines and the +ultimate desolation. Man seemed to have fled the wretched farms we +passed. Once upon the horizon we saw a troop of horsemen, but they +disappeared from our view immediately. It was not until nightfall +approached that we came without warning upon an unspeakable village, +and this grim procession halted. + +Here we saw the merry old gentleman's sleigh again, but it was now +empty and obviously being driven to a stable. We ourselves, lifted by +brawny arms, were hurled headlong into the cellar of a filthy inn, and +there unbound and left for many hours in darkness. When the door next +was opened the sergeant of the troop appeared carrying a lantern and a +mess of mutton and potatoes. To our astonishment he greeted us in the +German tongue, and seemed to have come upon a mission of +reconciliation. Speaking in his master's name he apologised for what +had happened to us. + +"His Excellency regrets that you have been treated with so little +ceremony," he said; "but, meine Herren, he has suffered much at the +hands of your countrymen, and is in no mood for civilities. You were +lucky to find him in a good humour. Give me your parole that you will +make no attempt to escape, and he will carry you to Elbing and leave it +with the general in command there to say what shall be done with you. +Otherwise, I fear that you will not go to Elbing at all." And he +looked at us as one who shall say, "In that case he will deal with you +here and now." + +"As his Excellency pleases," said I. "If he prefers the Russians at +Elbing to settle this affair, we are in his hands. But let him know +that I am a surgeon upon His Majesty's staff, and that my nephew here +is of the Guard. I think your master will be wise to remember that +when the time comes." + +The fellow said that our message should be delivered, and leaving the +light with us, he withdrew and bolted the trap of the cellar behind +him. His intimation that we were to go to Elbing seemed odd, and I +could make little of it, nor Leon for that matter. + +"With any luck we should find the marshal and the rear-guard there," +said I. "On the other hand, if there has been an action and the +Russians have taken Elbing, God help us. The old man must have heard +something of the kind, or he would never be going there. What do you +make of it, nephew? Was I wise to give him the parole, or should we +have held our tongues?" + +Leon was altogether at a loss. + +"I am thinking of Valerie," said he. "Good God, what a thing to +happen! All this would have been very different if we had remained +with the army, mon oncle. Undoubtedly there has been a battle and +Marshal Ney has been beaten. We shall find the Cossacks in Elbing, and +God help us, as you say!" + +Then he added very solemnly, "There is only one thing to hope, that I +may yet meet this merry old gentleman. Let him look to himself if I +do, for by the God above me I will kill him like a sheep." + +The woman dictated his frenzy, and who could wonder? For myself, I had +an extraordinary confidence in the wit of Valerie St. Antoine and was +ready to match it against that of any old dotard in Russia. At the +same time it was impossible to forget her situation--here in this +cursed wilderness, alone amid a troop of savages and with no prospect +at the far end of it but that of an unnameable submission. Naturally I +said nothing of this to my nephew, nor encouraged his wild notion that +we might escape from the cellar. They had caught us in the trap, and +nothing but a miracle could get us out. Beyond that we had given our +paroles, and well done or ill, the attempt to break them at such an +hour would have been madness. So we slept upon it, and were awakened +at dawn to be told that the sledges were ready. + +We found a fine sunny morning and a dingy street full of gaping +moujiks. Of the merry old gentleman, however, we heard nothing; nor +had we any word from Valerie or the child. Our own escort was as it +had been yesterday, a troop of Lithuanians well clad and armed, and +apparently immune to the severities of the weather. Satisfied with our +parole, they indicated our places in the sledge and made no attempt to +bind us, and presently we all set out with a rattle of accoutrements +and a tinkle of bells which would have been pleasant music had the +circumstances permitted. + +Soon it was plain that we were not very distant from the sea, and we +travelled all that day towards the south-east as I judged. When night +fell the spires of Elbing came to view upon the horizon, and a little +after dusk we drew near to the city. + +"And now," said I to Leon, "we shall know." + +I did not add that it seemed a thousand chances to one against any hope +of our ever seeing the French frontier again. + + +V + +It was nearly ten o'clock at night when we entered the city. There +were few people in its streets, and save some German hussars and a +troop of dragoons, whose uniform was unknown to me, I saw no troops. +The hope that the remnant of the Grand Army had marched in was, +therefore, shattered. + +It may have been that we had come after our comrades had left. This +was a very unpleasant supposition, which I feared to speak of, though +Leon was quick to remember it. + +"The fellows appear to have been speaking the truth," said he gloomily, +as he looked at the silent house and wondered, I doubt not, which of +them sheltered Valerie. "The marshal has been beaten, and we shall see +no more Frenchmen in Elbing, mon oncle. What then? What are they +going to do with us?" + +I confessed my inability to answer. The Poles were our allies, and it +was inconceivable that we should suffer a mischief at their hands. +Nevertheless, these were strange times, and God knows how little any +man could be relied upon where French soldiers were concerned. If we +had not misjudged the merry old gentleman our presence in Elbing could +not but be inconvenient to him. I perceived this immediately, though I +forbore to speak of it. + +"We must carry it with a high hand," said I; "nothing will be done here +by submission. Remember that we are of His Majesty's Guard, and let us +take insults from no man quietly." + +Leon smiled in his old way. + +"To do you justice, mon oncle," said he, "that is not your habit." + +The words were hardly spoken when the sledge stopped, and looking up, I +saw the gates of the prison frowning upon us. So this was our merry +friend's hospitality! Even my nephew perceived the drift of it now. + +"The old rascal will trump up some charge against us and keep us out of +the way," said he. "By God, mon oncle, this is too much! Parole or no +parole, I mean to make a run for it." + +I dissuaded him, pointing out the folly of it in the presence of the +escort. + +"Do not give them the satisfaction of shooting you," said I. "We have +money with us, and will make ourselves heard. This is neither the +place nor the time." + +And so saying, I stepped out of the sledge and followed the captain of +the hussars into the courtyard of the prison. Truly was it a +remarkable predicament for two of the Guard to be in. + +This scene will always remain in my memory. Even to-day I can recall +every detail of it, the square courtyard, the guard-room upon the +left-hand side, the inner gate with its portcullis and the gloomy +buildings of the prison beyond. The astonishing thing was that we +seemed to be expected, and all preparations were made to receive us. +No sooner were we brought in and the gates shut than they conducted us +to the guard-room and there brought us before a young captain of the +garrison, who immediately made known the alleged reason of our arrest. + +"You are accused of rendering help to the Emperor's enemies and of +robbing French soldiers in this vicinity," said he. "The information +is laid by Herrn Immo von Gustorf, the prefect of this city. The court +will try you as soon as it can be constituted. Meanwhile I am to hold +you here, as prisoners." + +It was an amazing declaration, and even the young man seemed surprised +when he looked at us. A soldier does not require to be told that +another is of the same profession, and the young captain must already +have perceived our condition. When upon this came my heated protest, +and Leon's fiery threats, I could see that suspicion gave place to an +apprehension which was very real. + +"Herr Captain," said I, "your charge is preposterous. We wear His +Majesty's uniform, and such crimes as you name are beneath us. Let me +warn you very seriously of the consequences of that which you are about +to do. His Majesty is careful of the reputation of his Guard, and he +will know how to deal with such an outrage as this." + +The threat moved him not at all. He declared that he but did his duty. + +"If you are innocent, gentlemen," said he, "you can prove it to the +court. My duty is to keep you here until you are tried. I may say, +however, that if I can be of service to you in other ways, you have +only to command me. This is not a house of hospitalities, but such as +I can procure shall be offered to you." + +To this I answered civilly that we were very much obliged to him, and +bidding Leon hold his tongue, I said that we should remember any +service of the kind when the French rode in--upon which I looked at him +closely to see what he would make of it. When he did not contradict +me, then I knew that the story of Marshal Ney's defeat was a lie, and +for the first time since we had met the merry old gentleman I began to +hope. + +The young captain, meanwhile, had caught up a lantern and set out to +cross the yard. We followed him to a tower on the eastern side, where +in a considerable apartment upon the first floor he told us that we +must be prepared to spend the night. + +"I will send you what supper I can," said he. "Food is not readily to +be had in Elbing; there has been no bread for three days. None the +less, I will do what I can, messieurs." And setting the lantern upon +the table, he commanded the sergeant to have beds made ready for us. + +When he was gone and the door bolted, we began to examine the apartment +with the eager eyes of men who did not submit to adversity readily. +Would our wits get us out of this cursed hole, or must we suffer the +tragic farce to the end? Alas, it was soon evident that any hope of +escape was out of the question. Not only were the windows grilled +heavily with iron, but they looked upon a moat, whose further wall must +have been thirty feet high, while beyond it stood a rampart patrolled +by sentries. The door itself should have withstood artillery. We +could dare nothing here, and we sat down in the dim light to remember +that Valerie St. Antoine and Joan d'Izambert were still the "guests" of +the villain who had entrapped us. + +"There is only one chance," says Leon; "we are lost if the army does +not come in." + +I knew it to be true; but even if it were so, what then? Would our +comrades learn of our pitiable condition? I could hardly believe it, +and my heart sank low. Odd that we had marched so many thousands of +leagues and had lived through the terrible days to come to such a +judgment as this. + + +VI + +They brought us a supper of mutton and rice and a bottle of gin about +the hour of ten o'clock, and then they spread our beds upon the bare +stone floor. These were of heavy blankets with a rude mattress beneath +them. But they were beds for all that, and under any other +circumstances they would have been a luxury. This night, however, we +regarded them with indifference. Our brains were fired and our ears +awake. Who would have slept under circumstances so tragic? + +Perchance the impotence of our condition added to its bitterness. If +we could have struck a blow in the cause; have buckled on our swords +and gone out to deal with the merry old gentleman and his satellites, +it would have been different: but to sit in that gloomy room, to hear +the city's bells numbering the hours, to count the footsteps of the +sentries and to pray for dawn--that was a torture beyond compare. + +Not a mouthful of food had Leon eaten that day, nor could I persuade +him to touch the mess they offered us. He spoke of Valerie always, +delighting to remind me of the day when he had first seen her in Prince +Nicholas's palace; or of that night when she had saved us at the tower, +and of her courage during the dreadful days--indeed, of a thousand +things which a lover had seen but older eyes had missed. To all of +which I could but answer indifferently. + +"She is clever," I would say. "She will know how to deal with your +merry old gentleman." When he asked if we knew how to deal with him, +there was nothing more to be said. The grim walls of the prison +answered him; the chime of the distant bells was an irony. + +So the night sped on. For an hour, I think about twelve o'clock, I +flung myself upon the wretched bed and slept fitfully. My head was in +a whirl, and vain dreams tormented me. At one time I thought that we +had leapt down into the moat and that the icy water choked us. At +another I was riding proudly into Elbing at the head of the Velites. +Upon this there came the voice of many crying "Vive l'Empereur!" and +"Vive la France!" I heard a great rolling of drums and the welcome +blare of trumpets. This roused me thoroughly, and sitting up I saw +that Leon was standing at the window and that the dream indeed had come +true. + +"Good God!" cried I. "What is it? What do you hear, Leon?" + +He answered me, still standing there. + +"The French are in the city, mon oncle. Listen to that!" + +His voice echoed a triumph which thrilled me. Instantly I was at his +side listening to the familiar sounds. Never did the roll of a drum +fall so pleasantly upon a man's ear. + +"We are saved," said I, though heaven knows the hope of it was still +but a dream. + + +VII + +Well, we stood there for a full hour, speculating upon what we should +do to get the news to our comrades. Certainly we might have bribed the +jailers if any had come to the tower. Not a sound, however, disturbed +the serenity of the prison. Our attempt to attract the attention of +the sentries by smashing the lantern against the glass of the windows +ended but in ignominious derision. The fellows never noticed us, and +another hour must have passed before the door of the cell was opened +and the young captain entered. I perceived immediately that he had +come to tell us the news. His manner was obsequious to the point of +ridicule. + +"Messieurs," he said, "I am to take you immediately to the prefect's +house." + +Upon which he uttered a word of command and a dozen men with lanterns +appeared upon the narrow staircase. + +It was a new turn and we knew not what to make of it. Evidently the +merry old gentleman desired still to have us in his power, and the +prospect of finding ourselves alone with him was far from reassuring. +So much the young captain perceived and hastened to remove our +apprehensions. + +"Messieurs," he said, "you have nothing to fear. The prefect has +discovered his mistake and is anxious to apologise. You will be wise +to take advantage of so favourable an opportunity. As for myself, I +have done my duty. You will remember that when you make a report of +this affair to his Excellency the marshal." + +We promised that we would do so. It was evident, upon reflection, that +no mischief could come to us now that the French were in the city, and +curiosity alone would have sent us to the prefect's house. + +The latter proved to be hardly a stone's throw from the prison walls. +We were driven there in the same sledge which had carried us to Elbing, +and, being arrived at the _conciergerie_, were immediately admitted and +conducted into a spacious hall, blazing with lights and superb in the +richness of its decoration. Here, to our astonishment, Valerie herself +received us. + +I will not dwell upon the manner of her meeting with Leon, nor upon the +amazement with which I beheld her in this situation. No magic of +wonderland could have wrought such a change in men's condition as we +then experienced when they carried us from the gloom of the prison to +this princely mansion. + +"Where is his Excellency the prefect?" I asked her when we had embraced +for the twentieth time. + +She told me in a word. + +"Many miles from Elbing," says she. "I am mistress here. I have told +him he must not be found in the city while the French are here." + +"Good God," cried I, "what a turn about!" + +Miraculous indeed it was that so young a girl had won so astonishing a +victory. The coming of the French saved her and us. There was not a +more frightened man in Prussia than the prefect, who fled directly +French bugles blared at the gates. So much Valerie told us while she +led us in and showed us the banquet she had prepared for us. + + +VIII + +We lived gallantly at the prefect's expense during the days we spent in +Elbing. They were happy days, and yet what regrets attended them! Of +all the six hundred thousand who had set out so bravely from Moscow but +a few short months ago, there were but twenty-two thousand of us, +soldiers of the line and of the Guard--worn, weary, and ragged men--who +survived to reach that haven. + +Never shall I forget that last review when the marshal himself rode up +and down our battered ranks and told us that our troubles were at an +end. Henceforth we were to be carried in sledges to the French +frontier and our homes. The day of battle was over; the night of our +sorry victory had been won. + + + + +PRINTED BY + +CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, + +LONDON, E.C. + +100.716 + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great White Army, by Max Pemberton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT WHITE ARMY *** + +***** This file should be named 35540.txt or 35540.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/5/4/35540/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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