CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE Date Due Then I bared my ankle also, and showed the place in my eye where the guerilla had stabbed me. • " He can take his gruel," said the Bustler. " What a glutton he'd have made for the middle- weights," remarked the trainer ; " with six months' coaching he'd astonish the fancy. It's a pity he's got to go back to prison." I did not like that last remark at all. I buttoned up my coat and rose from the bed. "" I must ask you to let me continue my jour- ney," said I. "There's no help for it, mounseer," the trainer answered. " It's a hard thing to send such a man as you back to such a place, but business is business, and there's a twenty pound reward. They were here this morning, looking for you, and I expect they'll be round again." His words turned my heart to lead. " Surely, you would not betray me ! " I cried. " I will send you twice twenty pounds on the day that I set foot upon France. I swear it upon the honour of a French gentleman." But I only got head-shakes for a reply. I pleaded, I argued, I spoke of the English hos- pitality and the fellowship of brave men, but I might as well have been addressing the two great wooden clubs which stood balanced upon the floor BRIGADIER GERARD. 163 in front of me. There was no sign of sympathy upon their bull-faces. " Business is business, mounseer," the old trainer repeated. " Besides, how am I to put the Bustler into the ring on Wednesday if he's jugged by the beak for aidin' and abettin' a prisoner of war ? I've got to look after the Bustler, and I take no risks." This, then, was the end of all my struggles and strivings. I was to be led back again like a poor silly sheep who has broken through the hurdles. They little knew me who could fancy that I should submit to such a fate. I had heard enough to tell me where the weak point of these two men was, and I showed, as I have often showed before, that Etienne Gerard is never so terrible as when all hope seems to have deserted him. With a single spring I seized one of the clubs and swung it over the head of the Bustler. " Come what may," I cried, "you shall be spoiled for Wednesday." The fellow growled out an oath, and would have sprung at me, but the other flung his arms round him and pinned him to the chair. "Not if I know it, Bustler," he screamed. " None of your games while I am by. Get away out of this, Frenchy. We only want to see your back. Run away, run away, or he'll get loose ! " 1 64 THE EXPLOITS OF It was good advice, I thought, and I ran to the door, but as I came out into the open air my head swam round and I had to lean against the porch to save myself from falling. Consider all that I had been through, the anxiety of my escape, the long, useless flight in the storm, the day spent amid wet ferns, with only bread for food, the second journey by night, and now the injuries which I had received in attempting to deprive the little man of his clothes. Was it wonderful that even I should reach the limits of my endurance ? I stood there in my heavy coat and my poor battered shako, my chin upon my chest, and my eyelids over my eyes. I had done my best, and I could do no more. It was the sound of horses' hoofs which made me at last raise my head, and there was the grey-moustached Governor of Dartmoor Prison not ten paces in front of me, with six mounted warders behind him ! " So, Colonel," said he, with a bitter smile, " we have found you once more." When a brave man has done his utmost, and has failed, he shows his breeding by the manner in which he accepts his defeat. For me, I took the letter which I had in my pocket, and stepping for- ward, I handed it with such grace of manner as I could summon to the Governor. ' . BRIGADIER GERARD. 165 " It has been my misfortune, sir, to detain one of your letters," said I. He looked at me in amazement, and beckoned to the warders to arrest me. Then he broke the seal pf the letter. I saw a curious expression come over his face as he read it. "This must be the letter which Sir Charles Meredith lost," said he. " It was in the pocket of his coat." " You have carried it for two days ? " " Since the night before last." " And never looked at the contents ? " I showed him by my manner that he had com- mitted an indiscretion in asking a question which one gentleman should not have put to another. To my surprise he burst out into a roar of laughter. " Colonel," said he, wiping the tears from his eyes, " you have really given both yourself and us a great deal of unnecessary trouble. Allow me to read the letter which you carried with you in your flight." And this was what I heard : — " On receipt of this you are directed to release Colonel Etienne Gerard, of the 3rd Hussars, who has been exchanged against Colonel Mason, of the Horse Artillery, now in Verdun." And as he read it, he laughed again, and the 166 BRIGADIER GERARD. warders laughed, and the two men from the cottage laughed, and then, as I heard this universal merriment, and thought of all my hopes and fears, and my struggles and dangers, what could a debonair soldier do but lean against the porch once more, and laugh as heartily as any of them ? And of them all was it not I who had the best reason to laugh, since in front of me I could see my dear France, and my mother, and the Emperor, and my horsemen ; while behind lay the gloomy prison, and the heavy hand of the English King ? HOW THE BRIGADIER TOOK THE FIELD AGAINST THE MARSHAL MILLEFLEURS. V. HOW THE BRIGADIER TOOK THE FIELD AGAINST THE MARSHAL MILLEFLEURS. MASSENA was a thin, sour little fellow, and after his hunting accident he had only one eye, but when it looked out from under his cocked hat there was not much upon a field of battle which escaped it. He could stand in front of a battalion, and with a single sweep tell you if a buckle or a gaiter button were out of place. Neither the officers nor the men were very fond of him, for he was, as you know, a miser, and soldiers love that their leaders should be free-handed. At the same time, when it came to work they had a very high respect for him, and they would rather fight under him than under anyone except the Emperor himself, and Lannes, when he was alive. After all, if he had a tight grasp upon his money-bags, there was a day also, you must remember, when that same grip was upon Zurich and Genoa. He clutched on to his positions as he did to his strong box, and it took a very clever man to loosen him from either. 170 THE EXPLOITS OF When I received his summons I went gladly to his head-quarters, for I was always a great favourite of his, and there was no officer of whom he thought more highly. That was the best of serving with those good old generals, that they knew enough to be able to pick out a fine soldier when they saw one. He was seated alone in his tent, with his chin upon his hand, and his brow as wrinkled as if he had been asked for a subscription. He smiled, however, when he saw me before him. " Good day, Colonel Gerard." " Good day, Marshal." " How is the Third of Hussars ? " " Seven hundred incomparable men upon seven hundred excellent horses." " And your wounds — are they healed ? " " My wounds never heal, Marshal," I answered. "And why?" " Because I have always new ones." " General Rapp must look to his laurels," said he, his face all breaking into wrinkles as he laughed. "He has had twenty-one from the enemy's bullets, and as many from Larrey's knives and probes. Knowing that you were hurt, Colonel, I have spared you of late." " Which hurt me most of all." " Tut, tut ! Since the English got behind these BRIGADIER GERARD. 171 accursed lines of Torres Vedras, there has been little for us to do. You did not miss much during your imprisonment at Dartmoor. But now we are on the eve of action." " We advance ? " " No, retire." My face must have shown my dismay. What, retire before this sacred dog of a Wellington — he who had listened unmoved to my words, and had sent me to his land of fogs ? I could have sobbed as I thought of it. "What would you have?" cried Massena, im- patiently. " When one is in check, it is necessary to move the king." " Forwards," I suggested. He shook his grizzled head. " The lines are not to be forced," said he. " I have already lost General St. Croix and more men than I can replace. On the other hand, we have been here at Santarem for nearly six months. There is not a pound of flour nor a jug of wine on the country side. We must retire." "There are flour and wine in Lisbon," I per- sisted. " Tut, you speak as if an army could charge in and charge out again like your regiment of hussars. If Soult were here with thirty thousand men — but he will not come. I sent for you, how- 172 THE EXPLOITS OF ever, Colonel Gerard, to say that I have a very singular and important expedition which I intend to place under your direction." I pricked up my ears, as you can imagine. The Marshal unrolled a great map of the country and spread it upon the table. He flattened it out with his little, hairy hands. " This is Santarem," he said, pointing. I nodded. " And here, twenty - five miles to the east, is Almeixal, celebrated for its vintages and for its enormous Abbey." Again I nodded ; I could not think what was coming. " Have you heard of the Marshal Millefleurs ? " asked Massena. " I have served with all the Marshals," said I, " but there is none of that name." " It is but the nickname which the soldiers have given him," said Massena. " If you had not been away from us for some months, it would not be necessary for me to tell you about him. He is an Englishman, and a man of good breeding. It is on account of his manners that they have given him his title. I wish you to go to this polite Englishman at Almeixal." " Yes, Marshal." " And to hang him to the nearest tree. HANG HIM TO THE NEAREST TREE. [To face page 172 BRIGADIER GERARD. 173 " Certainly, Marshal." I turned briskly upon my heels, but Massena recalled me before I could reach the opening of his tent. " One moment, Colonel," said he ; " you had best learn how matters stand before you start. You must know, then, that this Marshal Millefleurs, whose real name is Alexis Morgan, is a man of very great ingenuity and bravery. He was an officer in the English Guards, but having been broken for cheating at cards, he left the army. In some manner he gathered a number of English deserters round him and took to the mountains. French stragglers and Portuguese brigands joined him, and he found himself at the head of five hundred men. With these he took possession of the Abbey of Almeixal, sent the monks about their business, fortified the place, and gathered in the plunder of all the, country round." " For which it is high time he was hanged," said I, making once more for the door. " One instant ! " cried the Marshal, smiling at my impatience. "The worst remains behind. Only last week the Dowager Countess of La Ronda, the richest woman in Spain, was taken by these ruffians in the passes as she was journeying from King Joseph's Court to visit her grandson. 174 THE EXPLOITS OF She is now a prisoner in the Abbey, and is only protected by her " " Grandmotherhood," I suggested. " Her power of paying a ransom," said Massena. "You have three missions, then: To rescue this unfortunate lady; to punish this villain; and, if possible, to break up this nest of brigands. It will be a proof of the confidence which I have in you when I say that I can only spare you half a squadron with which to accomplish all this." My word, I could hardly believe my ears ! I thought that I should have had my regiment at the least. " I would give you more," said he, " but I com- mence my retreat to-day, and Wellington is so strong in horse that every trooper becomes of importance. I cannot spare you another man. You will see what you can do, and you will report yourself to me at Abrantes not later than to- morrow night." It was very complimentary that he should rate my powers so high, but it was also a little embarrassing. I was to rescue an old lady, to hang an Englishman, and to break up a band of five hundred assassins — all with fifty men. But after all, the fifty men were Hussars of Conflans, and they had an Etienne Gerard to lead them. As 1 came out into the warm Portuguese sunshine my BRIGADIER GERARD. 175 confidence had returned to me, and I had already begun to wonder whether the medal which I had so often deserved might not be waiting for me at Almeixal. You may be sure that I did not take my fifty men at haphazard. They were all old soldiers of the German wars, some of them with three stripes, and most of them with two. Oudet and Papilette, two of the best sub-officers in the regiment, were at their head. When I had them formed up in fours, all in silver grey and upon chestnut horses, with their leopard skin shabracks and their little red panaches, my heart beat high at the sight. I could not look at their weather-stained faces, with the great moustaches which bristled over their chin-straps, without feeling a glow of confidence, and, between ourselves, I have no doubt that that was exactly how they felt when they saw their young Colonel on his great black war-horse riding at their head. Well, when we got free of the camp and over the Tagus, I threw out my advance and my flankers, keeping my own place at the head of the main body. Looking back from the hills above. Santarem, we could see the dark lines of Massena's army, with the flash and twinkle of the sabres and bayonets as he moved his regiments into position for their retreat, To the south lay the scattered 176 THE EXPLOITS OF red patches of the English outposts, and behind the grey smoke-cloud which rose from Wellington's camp — thick, oily smoke, which seemed to our poor starving fellows to bear with it the rich smell of seething camp-kettles. Away to the west lay a curve of blue sea flecked with the white sails of the English ships. You will understand that as we were riding to the east, our road lay away from both armies. Our own marauders, however, and the scouting parties of the English, covered the country, and it was necessary with my small troop that I should take every precaution. During the whole day we rode over desolate hill-sides, the .lower portions covered by the budding vines, but the upper turning from green to grey, and jagged along the skyline like the back of a starved horse. Mountain streams crossed our path, run- ning west to the Tagus, and once we came to a deep, strong river, which might have checked us had I not found the ford by observing where houses had been built opposite each other upon either bank. Between them, as every scout should know, you will find your ford. There was none to give us information, for neither man nor beast, nor any living thing except great clouds of crows, was to be seen during our journey. The sun was beginning to sink when we came BRIGADIER GERARD. 177 to a valley clear in the centre, but shrouded by huge oak trees upon either side. We could not be more than a few miles from Almeixal, so it seemed to me to be best to keep among the groves, for the spring had been an early one and the leaves were already thick enough to conceal us. We were riding then in open order among the great trunks, when one of my flankers came galloping up. " There are English across the valley, Colonel," he cried, as he saluted. " Cavalry or infantry ? " " Dragoons, Colonel," said he ; "I saw the gleam of their helmets, and heard the neigh of a horse." Halting my men I hastened to the edge of the wood. There could be no doubt about it. A party of English cavalry was travelling in a line with us, and in the same direction. I caught a glimpse of their red coats and of their flashing arms glowing and twinkling among the tree- trunks. Once, as they passed through a small clearing, I could see their whole force, and I judged that they were of about the same strength as my own — a half squadron at the most. You who have heard some of my little adven- tures will give me credit for being quick in my decisions, and prompt in carrying them out. But here I must confess that I was in two minds. On N 178 THE EXPLOITS OF the one hand there was the chance of a fine cavalry skirmish with the English. On the other hand, there was my mission at the Abbey of Almeixal, which seemed already to be so much above my power. If I were to lose any of my men, it was certain that I should be unable to carry out my orders. I was sitting my horse, with my chin in my gauntlet, looking across at the rippling gleams of light from the further wood, when suddenly one of these red-coated English- men rode out from the cover, pointing at me and breaking into a shrill whoop and halloa as if I had been a fox. Three others joined him, and one who was a bugler sounded a call, which brought the whole of them into the open. They were, as I had thought, a half squadron, and they formed a double line with a front of twenty-five, their officer — the one who had whooped at me — at their head. For my own part, I had instantly brought my own troopers into the same formation, so that there we were, hussars and dragoons, with only two hundred yards of grassy sward between us. They carried themselves well, those red -coated troopers, with their silver helmets, their high white plumes, and their long, gleaming swords ; while, on the other hand, I am sure that they would acknow- ledge that they had never looked upon finer light BRIGADIER GERARD. 179 horsemen than the fifty hussars of Conflans who were facing them. They were heavier, it is true, and they may have seemed the smarter, for Wel- lington used to make them burnish their metal work, which was not usual among us. On the other hand, it is well known that the English tunics were too tight for the sword-arm, which gave our men an advantage. As to bravery, foolish, inexperienced people of every nation always think that their own soldiers are braver than any others. There is no nation in the world which does not entertain this idea. But when one has seen as much as I have done, one understands that there is no very marked difference, and that although nations differ very much in discipline* they are all equally brave — except that the French have rather more courage than the rest. Well, the cork was drawn and the glasses ready, when suddenly the English officer raised his sword to me as if in a challenge, and cantered his horse across the grassland. My word, there is no finer sight upon earth than that of a gallant man upon a gallant steed ! I could have halted there just to watch him as he came with such careless grace, his sabre down by his horse's shoulder, his head thrown back, his white plume tossing — youth and strength and courage, with the violet evening sky above and the oak trees behind. But it was not 180 THE EXPLOITS OF for me to stand and stare. Etienne Gerard may have his faults, but, my faith, he was never accused of being backward in taking his own part. The old horse, Rataplan, knew me so well that he had started off before ever I gave the first shake to the bridle. There are two things in this world that I am very slow to forget : the face of a pretty woman, and the legs of a fine horse. Well, as we drew together, I kept on saying, "Where have I seen those great roan shoulders ? Where have I seen that dainty fetlock ? " Then suddenly I re- membered, and as I looked up at the reckless eyes and the challenging smile, whom should I recognise but the man who had saved me from the brigands and played me for my freedom — he whose correct title was Milor the Hon. Sir Russell Bart ! " Bart ! " I shouted. He had his arm raised for a cut, and three parts of his body open to my point, for he did not know very much about the use of the sword. As I brought my hilt to the salute he dropped his hand and stared at me. " Halloa I" said he. " It's Gerard ! " You would have thought by his manner that I had met him by appointment. For my own part, I would have embraced him had he but come an inch of the way to meet me. BRIGADIER GERARD. 181 " I thought we were in for some sport," said he. " I never dreamed that it was you." I found this tone of disappointment somewhat irritating. Instead of being glad at having met a friend, he was sorry at having [missed an enemy. " I should have been happy to join in your sport, my dear Bart," said I. " But I really cannot turn my sword upon a man who saved my life." " Tut, never mind about that." " No, it is impossible. I should never forgive myself." " You make too much of a trifle." " My mother's one desire is to embrace you. If ever you should be in Gascony " " Lord Wellington is coming there with 60,000 men." " Then one of them will have a chance of sur- viving," said I, laughing. " In the meantime, put your sword in your sheath ! " Our horses were standing head to tail, and the Bart put out his hand and patted me on the thigh. " You're a good chap, Gerard," said he. " I only Wish you had been born on the right side of the Channel." " I was," said I. " Poor devil ! " he cried, with such an earnestness 1 8z THE EXPLOITS OF of pity that he set me laughing again. " But look here, Gerard," he continued ; " this is all very well, but it is not business, you know. I don't know what Massena would say to it, but our Chief would jump out of his riding-boots if he saw us. We weren't sent out here for a picnic — either of us." " What would you have ? " " Well, we had. a . little argument about our hussars and dragoons, if you remember. I've got fifty of the Sixteenth all chewing their carbine bullets behind me. You've got as many fine- looking boys over yonder, who seem to be fidget- ing in their saddles. If you and I took the right flanks we should not spoil each other's beauty — though a little blood-letting is a friendly thing in this climate." There seemed to me to be a good deal of sense in what he said. For the moment Mr. Alexis Morgan and the Countess of La Ronda and the Abbey of Almeixal went right out of my head, and I could only think of the fine level turf and of the beautiful skirmish which we might have. " Very good, Bart," said I. " We have seen the front of your dragoons. We shall now have a look at their backs." " Any betting ? " he asked, BRIGADIER GERARD. 183 " The stake," said I, " is nothing less than the honour of the Hussars of Conflans." " Well, come on ! " he answered. " If we break you, well and good — if you break us, it will be all the better for Marshal Millefleurs." When he said that I could only stare at him in astonishment. "Why for Marshal Millefleurs ?" I asked. " It is the name of a rascal who lives out this way. My dragoons have been sent by Lord Wellington to see him safely hanged." " Name of a name ! " I cried. " Why, my hussars have been sent by Massena for that very object." We burst out laughing at that, and sheathed our swords. There was a whirr of steel from behind us as our troopers followed our example. " We are allies ! " he cried. " For a day." " We must join forces." " There is no doubt of it." And so, instead of fighting, we wheeled our half squadrons round and moved in two little columns down the valley, the shakos and the helmets turned inwards, and the men looking their neighbours up and down, like old fighting dogs with tattered ears who have learned to respect each other's teeth. The most were on the broad i8 4 THE EXPLOITS OP grin, but there were some on either side who looked black and challenging, especially the English ser- geant and my own sub-officer Papilette. They were men of habit, you see, who could not change all their ways of thinking in a moment. Besides, Papilette had lost his only brother at Busaco. As for the Bart and me, we rode together at the head and chatted about all that had occurred to us since that famous game of ecart6 of which I have told you. For my own part, I spoke to him of my adventures in England. They are a very singular people, these English. Although he knew that I had been engaged in twelve campaigns, yet I am sure that the Bart thought more highly of me because I had had an affair with the Bristol Bustler. He told me, too, that the Colonel who presided over his court-martial for playing cards with a prisoner acquitted him of neglect of duty, but nearly broke him because he thought that he had not cleared his trumps before leading his suit. Yes, indeed, they are a singular people. At the end of the valley the road curved over some rising ground before winding down into another wider valley beyond. We called a halt when we came to the top ; for there, right in front of us, at the distance of about three miles, was a scattered, grey town, with a single enormous BRIGADIER GERARD. 185 building upon the flank of the mountain which overlooked it. We could not doubt that we were at last in sight of the Abbey that held the gang of rascals whom we had come to disperse. It was only now, I think, that we fully understood what a task lay in front of us, for the place was a veritable fortress, and it was evident that cavalry should 'never have been sent out upon such an errand. "That's got nothing to do with us," said the Bart ; " Wellington and Massena can settle that between them." " Courage ! " I answered. " Pir6 took Leipzig with fifty hussars." "Had they been dragoons," said the Bart, laughing, "he would have had Berlin. But you are senior officer ; give us a lead, and we'll see who will be the first to flinch." ' " Well," said I, " whatever we do must be done at once, for my orders are to be on my way to Abrantes by to-morrow night. But we must have some information first, and here is someone who should be able to give it to us." There was a square, whitewashed house standing by the roadside, which appeared, from the bush hanging over the door, to be one of those wayside tabernas which are provided for the muleteers. A lantern was hung in the porch t and by its light we 186 THE EXPLOITS OF saw two men, the one in the brown habit of a Capuchin monk, and the other girt with an apron, which showed him to be the landlord. They were conversing together so earnestly that we were upon them before they were aware of us. The innkeeper turned to fly, but one of the Englishmen seized him by the hair, and held him tight. " For mercy's sake, spare me," he yelled. " My house has been gutted by the French and harried by the English, and my feet have been burned by the brigands. I swear by the Virgin that I have neither money nor food in my inn, and the good Father Abbot, who is starving upon my doorstep, will be witness to it." " Indeed, sir,'' said the Capuchin, in excellent French, " what this worthy man says is very true. He is one of the many victims to these cruel wars, although his loss is but a feather-weight compared to mine. Let him go," he added, in English, to the trooper, "he is too weak to fly, even if he desired to." In the light of the lantern I saw that this monk was a magnificent man, dark and bearded, with the eyes of a hawk, and so tall that his cowl came up to Rataplan's ears. He wore the look of one who had been through much suffering, but he carried himself like a king, and we could form some opinion of his learning when we each heard him BRIGADIER GERARD. 187 talk our own language as fluently as if he were born to it. "You have nothing to fear," said I, to the trembling innkeeper, " As to you, father, you are, if I am not mistaken, the very man who can give us the information which we require." "All that I have is at your service, my son. But," he added, with a wan smile, " my Lenten fare is always somewhat meagre, and this year it has been such that I must ask you for a crust of bread if I am to have the strength to answer your questions.*' We bore two days' rations in our haversacks, so that he soon had the little he asked for. It was dreadful to see the wolfish way in which he seized the piece of dried goat's flesh which I was able to offer him. " Time presses, and we must come to the point,' ; said I. "We want your advice as to the weak points of yonder Abbey, and concerning the< habits of the rascals who infest it." He cried out something which I took to be Latin, with his hands clasped and his eyes up- turned. " The prayer of the just availeth much," said he, " and yet I had not dared to hope that mine would have been so speedily answered. In me you see the unfortunate Abbot of Almeixal, who has been cast out by this rabble of three 1 88 THE EXPLOITS OF armies with their heretical leader. Oh ! to think of what I have lost ! " his voice broke, arid the tears hung upon his lashes. " Cheer up, sir," said the Bart. " I'll lay nine to four that we have you back again by to-morrow night." " It is not of my own welfare that I think," said he, " nor even of that of my poor, scattered flock. But it is of the holy relics which are left in the sacrilegious hands of these robbers." " It's even betting whether they would ever bother their heads about them," said the Bart. " But show us the way inside the gates, and we'll soon clear the place out for you." In a few short words the good Abbot gave us the very points that we wished to know. But all that he said only made our task more formidable. The walls of the Abbey were forty feet high. The lower windows were barricaded, and the whole building loopholed for musketry fire. The gang preserved military discipline, and their sentries were too numerous for us to hope to take them by surprise. It was more than ever evident that a battalion of grenadiers and a couple of breaching pieces were what was needed. I raised my eyebrows, and the Bart began to whistle. " We must have a shot at it, come what may," said he. BRIGADIER GERARD. 189 The men had already dismounted, and, having watered their horses, were eating their suppers. For my own part I went into the sitting-room of the inn with the Abbot and the Bart, that we might talk about our plans. I had a little cognac in my sauve vie, and I divided it among us — just enough to wet our moustaches. " It is unlikely," said, I, " that those rascals know anything about our coming. I have seen no signs of scouts along the road. My own plan is that we should conceal ourselves in some neighbouring wood, and then, when they open their gates, charge down upon them and take them by surprise." The Bart was of opinion that this was the best that we could do, but, when we came to talk it over, the Abbot made us see that there were difficulties in the way. " Save on the side of the town, there is no place within a mile of the Abbey where you could shelter man or horse," said he. " As to the townsfolk, they are not to be trusted. I fear, my son, that your excellent plan would have little chance of success in the face of the vigilant guard which these men keep." " I see no other way," answered I. " Hussars of Conflans are not so plentiful that I can afford to run half a squadron of them agains* igo THE EXPLOITS OF a forty -foot wall with five hundred infantry behind it." " I am a man of peace," said the Abbot, " and yet I may, perhaps, give a word of counsel. I know these villains and their ways. Who should do so better, seeing that I have stayed for a month in this lonely spot, looking down in weariness of heart at the Abbey which was my own ? I will tell you now what I should myself do if I were in your place." " Pray tell us, father," we cried, both together. " You must know that bodies of deserters, both French and English, are continually coming in to them, carrying their weapons with them. Now, what is there to prevent you and your men from pretending to be such a body, and so making your way into the Abbey ? " I was amazed at the simplicity of the thing, and I embraced the good Abbot. The Bart, however, had some objections to offer. "That is all very well," said he, "but if these fellows are as sharp as you say, it is not very likely that they are going to let a hundred armed strangers into their crib. From all I have heard of Mr. Morgan, or Marshal Millefleurs, or whatever the rascal's name is, I give him credit for more sense than that." "Well, then," I cried, "let us send fifty in, and BRIGADIER GERARD. 191 let them at daybreak throw open the gates to the other fifty, who will be waiting outside." We discussed the question at great length and with much foresight and discretion. If it had been Massena and Wellington instead of two young officers of light cavalry, we could not have weighed it all with more judgment. At last we agreed, the Bart and I, that one of us should indeed go with fifty men, under pretence of being deserters, and that in the early morning he should gain command of the gate and admit the others. The Abbot, it is true, was still of opinion that it was dangerous to divide our force, but finding that we were both of the same mind, he shrugged his shoulders and gave in. " There is only one thing that I would ask," said he. " If you lay hands upon this Marshal Mille- fleurs — this dog of a brigand — what will you do with him ? " " Hang him," I answered. " It is too easy a death," cried the Capuchin, with a vindictive glow in his dark eyes. "Had I my way with him— rbut, oh, what thoughts are these for a servant of God to harbour!" He clapped his hands to his forehead like one who is half demented by his troubles, and rushed out of the room. There was an important point which we had still 192 THE EXPLOITS OF to settle, and that was whether the French or the English party should have the honour of entering the Abbey first. My faith, it was asking a great deal of Etienne Gerard that he should give place to any man at such a time ! But the poor Bart pleaded so hard, urging the few skirmishes which he had seen against my four-and-seventy engage- ments, that at last I consented that he should go. We had just clasped hands over the matter when there broke out such a shouting and cursing and yelling from the front of the inn, that out we rushed with our drawn sabres in our hands, convinced that the brigands were upon us. You may imagine our feelings when, by the light of the lantern which hung from the porch, we saw a score of our hussars and dragoons all mixed in one wild heap, red coats and blue, helmets and busbies, pommelling each other to their hearts' content. We flung ourselves upon them, im- ploring, threatening, tugging at a lace collar, or at a spurred heel, until, at last, we had dragged them all apart. There they stood, flushed and bleeding, glaring at each other, and all panting together like a line of troop horses after a ten-mile chase. It was only with our drawn swords that we could keep them from each other's throats. The poor Capuchin stood in the porch in his long brown BRIGADIER GERARD. 193 habit, wringing his hands and calling upon all the saints for mercy. He was, indeed, as I found upon inquiry, the in- nocent cause of all the turmoil, for, not understand- ing how soldiers look upon such things, he had made some remark to the English sergeant that it was a pity that his squadron was not as good as the French. The words were not out of his mouth before a dragoon knocked down the nearest hussar, and then, in a moment, they all flew at each other like tigers. We would trust them no more after that, but the Bart moved his men to the front of the inn, and I mine to the back, the English all scowling and silent, and our fellows shaking their fists and chattering, each after the fashion of their own people. Well, as our plans were made, we thought it best to carry them out at once, lest some fresh cause of quarrel should break out between our followers. The Bart and his men rode off, therefore, he having first torn the lace from his sleeves, and the gorget and sash from his uniform, so that he might pass as a simple trooper. He explained to his men what it was that was expected of them, and though they did not raise a cry or wave their weapons as mine might have done, there was an expression upon their stolid and clean-shaven faces which filled me with confidence. Their tunics 194 THE EXPLOITS OF were left unbuttoned, their scabbards and helmets stained with dirt, and their harness badly fastened, so that they might look the part of deserters, without order or discipline. At six o'clock next morning they were to gain command of the main gate of the Abbey, while at that, same hour my hussars were to gallop up to it from outside. The Bart and I pledged our words to it before he trotted off with his detachment. My sergeant, Papilette, with two troopers, followed the English at a distance, and returned in half an hour to say that, after some parley, and the flashing of lanterns upon them from the grille, they had been admitted into the Abbey. So far, then, all had gone well. It was a cloudy night with a sprinkling of rain, which was in our favour, as there was the less chance of our presence being discovered. My vedettes I placed two hundred yards in every direction, to guard against a surprise, and also to prevent any peasant who might stumble upon us from carrying the news to the Abbey. Oudin and Papilette were to take turns of duty, while the others with their horses had snug quarters in a great wooden granary. Having walked round and seen that all was as it should be, I flung myself upon the bed which the innkeeper had set apart for me, and fell into a dreamless sleep. BRIGADIER GERARD. 195 No doubt you have heard my name mentioned as being the beau-ideal of a soldier, and that not only by friends and admirers like our fellow- townsfolk, but also by old officers of the great wars who have shared the fortunes of those famous campaigns with me. Truth and modesty compel me to say, however, that this is not so. There are some gifts which I lack — very few, no doubt — but, still, amid the vast armies of the Emperor there may have been some who were free from those blemishes which stood between me and perfection. Of bravery I say nothing. Those who have seen me in the field are best fitted to speak about that. I have often heard the soldiers discussing round the camp-fires as to who was the bravest man in the Grand Army. Some said Murat, and some said Lasalle, and some Ney ; but for my own part, when they asked me, I merely shrugged my shoulders and smiled. It would have seemed mere conceit if I had answered that there was no man braver than Brigadier Gerard. At the same time, facts are facts, and a man knows best what his own feelings are, But there are other gifts besides bravery which are necessary for a soldier, and one of them is that he should be a light sleeper. Now, from my boyhood onwards, I have been hard to wake, and it was this which brought me to ruin upon that night. 196 THE EXPLOITS OF It may have been about two o'clock in the morning that I was suddenly conscious of a feeling of suffocation. I tried to call out, but there was something which prevented me from uttering a sound. I struggled to rise, but I could only flounder like a hamstrung horse. I was strapped at the ankles, strapped at the knees, and strapped again at the wrists. Only my eyes were free to move, and there at the foot of my couch, by the light of a Portuguese lamp, whom should I see but the Abbot and the innkeeper ! The latter's heavy, white face had appeared to me when I looked upon it the evening before to express nothing but stupidity and terror. Now, on the contrary, every feature bespoke brutality and ferocity. Never have I seen a more dreadful- looking villain. In his hand he held a long, dull-coloured knife. The Abbot, on the other hand, was as polished and as dignified as ever. His Capuchin gown had been thrown open, how- ever, and I saw beneath it a black, frogged coat, such as I have seen among the English officers. As our eyes met he leaned over the wooden end of the bed and laughed silently until it creaked again. " You will, I am sure, excuse my mirth, my dear Colonel Gerard," said he. "The fact is, that the expression upon your face when you grasped the \To face page 196 BRIGADIER GERARD. 197 situation was just a little funny. I have no doubt that you are an excellent soldier, but I hardly think that you are fit to measure wits with the Marshal Millefleurs, as your fellows have been good enough to call me. You appear to have given me credit for singularly little intelligence, which argues, if I may be allowed to say so, a want of acuteness upon your own part. Indeed, with the single exception of my thick-headed compatriot, the British dragoon, I have never met anyone who was less competent to carry out such a mission." You can imagine how I felt and how I looked, as I listened to this insolent harangue, which was all delivered in that flowery and condescending manner which had gained this rascal his nickname. I could say nothing, but they must have read my threat in my eyes, for the fellow who had played the part of the innkeeper whispered something to his companion. , " No, no, my dear Chenier, he will be infinitely more valuable alive," said he. "By the way, Colonel, it is just as well that you are a sound sleeper, for my friend here, who is a little rough in his ways, would certainly have cut your throat if you had raised any alarm. I should recommend you to keep in his good graces, for Sergeant Chenier, late of the 7th Imperial Light Infantry, r 9 8 THE EXPLOITS OF is a much more dangerous person than Captain Alexis Morgan, of His Majesty's foot-guards." Chenier grinned and shook his knife at me, while I tried to look the loathing which I felt at the thought that a soldier of the Emperor could fall so low. " It may amuse you to know," said the Marshal, in that soft, suave voice of his, "that both your expeditions were watched from the time that you left your respective camps. I think that you will allow that Chenier and I played our parts with some subtlety. We had made every arrangement for your reception at the Abbeys though we had hoped to receive the whole squadron instead of half. When the gates are secured behind them, our visitors find themselves in a very charming little mediaeval quadrangle, with no possible exit, commanded by musketry fire from a hundred windows. They may choose to be shot down ; or they may choose to surrender. Between ourselves, I have not the slightest doubt that they have been wise enough to do the latter. But since you are naturally interested in the matter, we thought that you would care to come with us and to see for yourself. I think I can promise you that yOu will find your titled friend waiting for you at the Abbey with a face as long as your own." The two villains began whispering together, BRIGADIER GERARD. 199 debating, as far as I could hear, which was the best way of avoiding my vedettes. " I will make sure that it is all clear upon the other side of the barn," said the Marshal at last. " You will stay here, my good Chenier, and if the prisoner gives any trouble you will know what to do." So we were left together, this murderous rene- gade and I — he sitting at the end of the bed, sharpening his knife upon his boot in the light of the single smoky little oil-lamp. As to me, I only wonder now, as I look back upon it, that I did not go mad with vexation and self-reproach as I lay helplessly upon the couch, unable to utter a word or move a finger, with the knowledge that my fifty gallant lads were so close to me, and yet with no means of letting them know the straits to which I was reduced. It was no new thing for me to be a prisoner ; but to be taken by these renegades, and to be led into their Abbey in the midst of their jeers, befooled and outwitted by their insolent leaders — that was indeed more than I could en- dure. The knife of the butcher beside me would cut less deeply than that. I twitched softly at my wrists, and then at my ankles, but whichever of the two had secured me was no bungler at his work. I could not move either of them an inch. Then I tried to work the 200 THE EXPLOITS OF handkerchief down over my mouth, but the ruffian beside me raised his knife with such a threatening snarl that I had to desist. I was lying still look- ing at his bull neck, and wondering whether it would ever be my good fortune to fit it for a cravat, when I heard returning steps coming down the inn passage and up the stair. What word would the villain bring back ? If he found it impossible to kidnap me, he would probably murder me where I lay. For my own part, I was indifferent which it might be, and I looked at the doorway with the contempt and defiance which I longed to put into words. But you can imagine my feelings, my dear friends, when, instead of the tall figure and dark, sneering face of the Capuchin, my eyes fell upon the grey pelisse and huge moustaches of my good little sub - officer, Papilette ! The French soldier of those days had seen too much to be ever taken by surprise. His eyes had hardly rested upon my bound figure and the sinister face beside me before he had seen how the matter lay. " Sacred name of a dog ! " he growled, and out flashed his great sabre. Chenier sprang forward at him with his knife, and then, thinking better of it, he darted back and stabbed frantically at my heart. For my own part, I had . hurled myself off the bed BRIGADIER GERARD. 201 on the side opposite to him, and the blade grazed my side before ripping its way through blanket and sheet. An instant later I heard the thud of a heavy fall, and then almost simultaneously a second object struck the floor— something lighter but harder, which rolled under the bed. I will not horrify you with details, my friends. Suffice it that Papilette was one of the strongest swords- men in the regiment, and that his sabre was heavy and sharp. It left a red blotch upon my wrists and my ankles, as it cut the thongs which bound me. When I had thrown off my gag, the first use which I made of my lips was to kiss the sergeant's scarred cheeks. The next was to ask him if all was well with the command. Yes, they had had no alarms. Oudin had just relieved him, and he had come to report. Had he seen the Abbot? No, he had seen nothing of him. Then we must form a cordon and prevent his escape. I was hurrying out to give the orders, when I heard a slow and measured step enter the door below, and come creaking up the stairs. Papilette understood it all in an instant. " You are not to kill him," I whispered, and thrust him into the shadow on one side of the door ; I crouched on the other. Up he came, up and up, and every footfall seemed to be upon my heart. 202 THE EXPLOITS OF The brown skirt of his gown was not over the threshold before we were both on him, like two wolves on a buck. Down we crashed, the three of us, he fighting like a tiger, and with such amazing strength that he might have broken away from the two of us. Thrice he got to his feet, and thrice we had him over again, until Papilette made him feel that there was a point to his sabre. He had sense enough then to know that the game was up, and to lie still while I lashed him with the very cords which had been round my own limbs. " There has been a fresh deal, my fine fellow," said I, " and you will find that I have some of the trumps in my hand this time." "Luck always comes to the aid of a fool," he answered. "Perhaps it is as well, otherwise the -world would fall too completely into the power of the astute. So, you have killed Chenier, I see. He was "an insubordinate dog, and always smelt abominably of garlic. Might I trouble you to lay me upon the bed ? The floor of these Portuguese tabernas is hardly a fitting couch for anyone who has prejudices in favour of cleanliness." I could not but admire the coolness of the man, and the way in which he preserved the same insolent air of condescension in spite of this sudden turning of the tables. I dispatched Papilette to summon a guard, whilst I stood over our BRIGADIER GERARD. 203 prisoner with my drawn sword, never taking my eyes off him for an instant, for I must confess that I had conceived a great respect for his audacity and resource. " I trust," said he, " that your men will treat me in a becoming manner." "You will get your deserts — you may depend upon that." " I ask nothing more. You may not be aware of my exalted birth, but I am so placed that I cannot name my father without treason, nor my mother without a scandal. I cannot claim Royal honours, but these things are so much more grace- ful when they are conceded without a claim. The thongs are cutting my skin. Might I beg you to loosen them ? " " You do not give me credit for much in- telligence," I remarked, repeating his own words. "Toucht? he cried, like a pinked fencer. " But here come your men, so it matters little whether you loosen them or not." I ordered the gown to be stripped from him and placed him under a strong guard. Then, as morn- ing was already breaking, I had to consider what my next step was to be. The poor Bart and his Englishmen had fallen victims to the deep scheme which might, had we adopted all the crafty sugges- tions of our adviser, have ended in the capture of 2o 4 THE EXPLOITS OF the whole instead of the half of our force. I must extricate them if it were still possible. Then there was the old lady, the Countess of La Ronda, to be thought of. As to the Abbey, since its garrison was on the alert it was hopeless to think of capturing that. All turned now upon the value which they placed upon their leader. The game depended upon my playing that one card. I will tell you how boldly and how skil- fully I played it. It was hardly light before my bugler blew the assembly, and out we trotted on to the plain. My prisoner was placed on horseback in the very centre of the troops. It chanced that there was a large tree just out of musket-shot from the main gate of the Abbey, and under this we halted. Had they opened the great doors in order to attack us, I should have charged home upon them ; but, as I had expected, they stood upon the defensive, lining the long wall and pouring down a torrent of hootings and taunts and derisive laughter upon us. A few fired their muskets, but finding that we were out of reach they soon ceased to waste their powder. It was the strangest sight to see that mixture of uniforms, French, English, and Portuguese, cavalry, infantry, and artillery, all wagging their heads and shaking their fists at us. BRIGADIER GERARD. 205 My word, their hubbub soon died away when we opened our ranks, and showed whom we had got in the midst of us ! There was silence for a few seconds, and then such a howl of rage and grief ! I could see some of them dancing like madmen upon the wall. He must have been a singular person, this prisoner of ours, to have gained the affection of such a gang. I had brought a rope from the inn, and we slung it over the lower bough of the tree. "You will permit me, monsieur, to undo your collar," said Papilette, with mock politeness. " If your hands are perfectly clean," answered our prisoner, and set the whole half - squadron laughing. There was another yell from the wall, followed by a profound hush as the noose was tightened round Marshal Millefleurs' neck. Then came a shriek from a bugle, the Abbey gates flew open, and three men rushed out waving white cloths in their hands. Ah, how my heart bounded with joy at the sight of them. And yet I would not advance an inch to meet them, so that all the eagerness might seem to be upon their side. I allowed my trumpeter, however, to wave a hand- kerchief in reply, upon which the three envoys came running towards us. The Marshal, still pinioned, and with the rope round his neck, sat his 206 THE EXPLOITS OF horse with a half smile, as one who is slightly bored and yet strives out of courtesy not to show it. If I were in such a situation I could not wish to carry myself better, and surely I can say no more than that. They were a singular trio, these ambassadors. The one was a Portuguese cacadore in his dark uniform, the second a French chasseur in the lightest green, and the third a big English artilleryman in blue and gold. They saluted, all three, and the Frenchman did the talking. " We have thirty-seven English dragoons in our hands," said he. " We give you our most solemn oath that they shall all hang from the Abbey wall within five minutes of the death of our Marshal." " Thirty-seven ! " I cried. " You have fifty-one." " Fourteen were cut down before they could be secured." "And the officer?" " He would not surrender his sword save with his life. It was not our fault. We would have saved him if we could." Alas for my poor Bart! I had met him but twice, and yet he was a man very much after my heart. I have always had a regard for the English for the sake of that one friend. A braver man and a worse swordsman I have never met. I did not, as you may think, take these rascals' BRIGADIER GERARD. 207 word for anything. Papilette was dispatched with one of them, and returned to say that it was too true. I had now to think of the living. " You will release the thirty-seven dragoons if I free your leader ? " " We will give you ten of them." " Up with him ! " I cried. " Twenty," shouted the chasseur. " No more words," said I. " Pull on the rope ! " " All of them," cried the envoy, as the cord tightened round the Marshal's nedc. " With horses and arms ? " They could see that I was not a man to jest with. " All complete," said the chasseur, sulkily. " And the Countess of La Ronda as well ? " said I. But here I met with firmer opposition. No threats of mine could induce them to give up the Countess. We tightened the cord. We moved the horse. We did all but leave the Marshal suspended. If once I broke his neck the dragoons were dead men. It was as precious to me as to them. "Allow me to remark," said the Marshal, blandly, "that you are exposing me to a risk of a quinsy. Do you not think, since there is a difference of opinion upon this point, that it would 208 THE EXPLOITS OF be an excellent idea to consult the lady herself? We would neither of us, I am sure, wish to over- ride her own inclinations." Nothing could be more satisfactory. You can imagine how quickly I grasped at so simple a solution. In ten minutes she was before us, a most stately dame, with her grey curls peeping out from under her mantilla. Her face was as yellow as though it reflected the countless doubloons "of her treasury. ..-.:'; "" 1 " This gentleman," said the Marshal, " is exceed- ingly anxious to convey you to a' place where you will never see us more. - It is for you to decide whether you would wish to go with him, or whether you prefer to remain with me." She was at his horse's side in an instant. " My own Alexis," she cried, " nothing can ever part us." He looked at me with a sneer upon his hand- some face. " By the way, you made a small slip of the tongue, my dear Colonel," said he. " Except by courtesy, no such person exists as the Dowager Countess of La Ronda. The lady whom I have the honour to present to you is my very dear wife, Mrs. Alexis Morgan — or shall I say Madame la Marechale Millefleurs ? " : It was at this moment that I came to the conclusion that I was dealing with the cleverest, SB m WW' " HER EYES WERE RAISED TO HIS FACE." [ To face page 208 BRIGADIER GERARD. 209 and also the most unscrupulous, man whom I had ever met. As I looked upon this unfortunate old woman my soul was filled with wonder and disgust. As for her, her eyes were raised to his face with such a look as a young recruit might give to the Emperor. " So be it," said I at last ; "give me the dragoons and let me go." They were brought out with their horses and weapons, and the rope was taken from the Marshal's neck. " Good-bye, my dear Colonel," said he. " I am afraid that you will have rather a lame account to give of your mission, when you find your way back to Massena, though, from all I hear, he will probably be too busy to think of you. I am free to confess that you have extricated yourself from your difficulties with greater ability than I had given you credit for. I presume that there is nothing which I can do for you before you go ? " " There is one thing." "And that is?" " To give fitting burial to this young officer and his men." " I pledge my word to it." " And there is one other." " Name it." "To give me five minutes in the open with a p 2io BRIGADIER GERARD. sword in your hand and a horse between your legs." " Tut, tut ! " said he. " I should either have to cut short your promising career, or else to bid adieu to my own bonny bride. It is unreasonable to ask such a request of a man in the first joys of matrimony." I gathered my horsemen together and wheeled them into column. " Au revoir," I cried, shaking my sword at him. " The next time you may not escape so easily." " Au revoir," he answered. " When you are weary of the Emperor, you will always find a commission waiting for you in the service of the Marshal Millefleurs." HOW THE BRIGADIER PLAYED FOR A KINGDOM. VI. HOW THE BRIGADIER PLAYED FOR A KINGDOM. It has sometimes struck me that some of you, when you have heard me tell these little adven- tures of mine, may have gone away with the impression that I was conceited. There could not be a greater mistake than this, for I have always observed that really fine soldiers are free from this failing. It is true that I have had to depict myself sometimes as brave, sometimes as full of resource, always as interesting ; but, then, it really was so, and I had to take the facts as I found them. It would be an unworthy affectation if I were to pretend that my career has been anything but a fine one. The incident which I will tell you to-night, however, is one which you will understand that only a modest man would describe. After all, when one has attained such a position as mine, one can afford to speak of what an ordinary man might be tempted to conceal. You must know, then, that after the Russian campaign the remains of our poor army were quartered along the western bank of the Elbe, where they might thaw their frozen blood and try, 2i4 THE EXPLOITS OF with the help of the good German beer, to put a little between their skin and their bones. There were some things which we could not hope to regain, for I daresay that three large commissariat fourgons would not have sufficed to carry the fingers and the toes which the army had shed during that retreat. Still, lean and crippled as we were, we had much to be thankful for when we thought of our poor comrades whom we had left behind, and of the snowfields — the horrible, horrible snowfields. To this day, my friends, I do not care to see red and white together. Even my red cap thrown down upon my white counter- pane has given me dreams in which I have seen those monstrous plains, the reeling, tortured army, and the crimson smears which glared upon the snow behind them. You will coax no story out of me about that business, for the thought of it is enough to turn my wine to vinegar and my tobacco to straw. Of the half-million who crossed the Elbe in the autumn of the year '12, about forty thousand infantry were left in the spring of '13. But they were terrible men, these forty thousand : men of iron, eaters of horses, and sleepers in the snow ; filled, too, with rage and bitterness against the Russians. They would hold the Elbe until the great army of conscripts, which the Emperor was BRIGADIER GERARD. 215 raising in France, should be ready to help them to cross it once more. But the cavalry was in a deplorable condition. My own hussars were at Borna, and when I paraded them first, I burst into tears at the sight of them. My fine men and my beautiful horses — it broke my heart to see the state to which they were reduced. " But, courage," I thought, " they have lost much, but their Colonel is still left to them." I set to work, therefore, to repair their disasters, and had already constructed two good squadrons, when an order came that all colonels of cavalry should repair instantly to the dep6ts of the regiments in France to organize the recruits and the remounts for the coming campaign. You will think, doubtless, that I was over-joyed at this chance of visiting home once more. I will not deny that it was a pleasure to me to know that I should see my mother again, and there were a few girls who would be very glad at the news ; but there were others in the army who had a stronger claim. I would have given my place to any who had wives and children whom they might not see again. However, there is no arguing when the blue paper with the little red seal arrives, so within an hour I was off upon my great ride from the Elbe to the Vosges. At last I was to have a period of quiet. War lay behind my mare's tail 216 THE EXPLOITS OF and peace in front of her nostrils. So I thought, as the sound of the bugles died in the distance, and the long, white road curled away in front of me through plain and forest and mountain, with France somewhere beyond the blue haze which lay upon the horizon. It is interesting, but it is also fatiguing, to ride in the rear of an army. In the harvest time our soldiers could do without supplies, for they had been trained to pluck the grain in the fields as they passed, and to grind it for themselves in their bivouacs. It was at that time of year, therefore, that those swift marches were performed which were the wonder and the despair of Europe. But now the starving men had to be made robust once more, and I was forced to draw into the ditch con- tinually as the Coburg sheep and the Bavarian bullocks came streaming past with waggon loads of Berlin beer and good French cognac. Some- times, too, I would hear the dry rattle of the drums and the shrill whistle of the fifes, and long columns of our good little infantry men would swing past me with the white dust lying thick upon their blue tunics. These were old soldiers drawn from the garrisons of our German fortresses, for it was not until May that the new conscripts began to arrive from France. Well, I was rather tired of this eternal stopping BRIGADIER GERARD. 217 and dodging, so that I was not sorry when I came to Altenburg to find that the road divided, and that I could take the southern and quieter branch. There were few wayfarers between there and Greiz, and the road wound through groves of oaks and beeches, which shot their branches across the path. You will think it strange that a Colonel of hussars should again and again pull up his horse in order to admire the beauty of the feathery branches and the little, green, new-budded leaves, but if you had spent six months among the fir trees of Russia you would be able to understand me. There was something, however, which pleased me very much less than the beauty of the forests, and that was the words and looks of the folk who lived in the woodland villages. We had always been excellent friends with the Germans, and during the last six years they had never seemed to bear us any malice for having made a little free with their country. We had shown kindnesses to the men and received them from the women, so that good, comfortable Germany was a second home to all of us. But now there was something which I could not understand in the behaviour of the people. The travellers made no answer to my Salute ; the foresters turned their heads away to avoid seeing me ; and in the villages the folk would gather into knots in the roadway and would scowl at me as I 218 THE EXPLOITS OF passed. Even women would do this, and it was something new for me in those days to see any- thing but a smile in a woman's eyes when they were turned upon me. It was in the hamlet of Schmolin, just ten miles out of Altenburg, that the thing became most marked. I had stopped at the little inn there just to damp my moustache and to wash the dust out of poor Violette's throat. It was my way to give some little compliment, or possibly a kiss, to the maid who served me ; but this one would have neither the one nor the other, but darted a glance at me like a bayonet-thrust. Then when I raised my glass to the folk who drank their beer by the door they turned their backs on me, save only one fellow, who cried, " Here's a toast for you, boys ! Here's to the letter T ! " At that they all emptied their beer mugs and laughed ; but it was not a laugh that had good-fellowship in it. I was turning this over in my head and wonder- ing what their boorish conduct could mean, when I saw, as I rode from the village, a great T new carved upon a tree. I had already seen more than one in my morning's ride, but I had given no thought to them until the words of the beer- drinker gave them an importance. It chanced that a respectable-looking person was riding past me at the moment, so I turned to him for information. BRIGADIER GERARD. 219 "Can you tell me, sir," said I, "what this letter T is?" He looked at it and then at me in the most singular fashion. " Young man," said he, " it is not the letter N." Then before I could ask further he clapped his spurs into his horse's ribs and rode, stomach to earth, upon his way. At first his words had no particular significance in my mind, but as I trotted onwards Violette chanced to half turn her dainty head, and my eyes were caught by the gleam of the brazen N's at the end of the bridle-chain. It was the Emperor's mark. And those T's meant something which was opposite to it. Things had been happening in Germany, then, during our absence, and the giant sleeper had begun to stir. I thought of the mutinous faces that I had seen, and I felt that if I could only have looked into the hearts of these people I might have had some strange news to bring into France with me. It made me the more eager to get my remounts, and to see ten strong squadrons behind my kettle-drums once more. While these thoughts were passing through my head I had been alternately walking and trotting, as a man should who has a long journey before, and a willing horse beneath, him. The woods were very open at this point, and beside the road there lay a great heap of fagots. As I passed there came 220 THE EXPLOITS OF a sharp sound from among them, and, glancing round, I saw a face looking out at me — a hot, red face, like that of a man who is beside himself with excitement and anxiety. A second glance told me that it was the very person with whom I had talked an hour before in the village. "Come nearer!" he hissed. "Nearer still! Now dismount and pretend to be mending the stirrup leather. Spies may be watching us, and it means death to me if I am seen helping you." " Death ! " I whispered. " From whom ? " " From the Tugendbund. From Lutzow's night- riders. You Frenchmen are living on a powder magazine, and the match has been struck that will fire it." "But this is all strange to me," said I, still fumbling at the leathers of my horse. "What is this Tugendbund ? " " It is the secret society which has planned the great rising which is to drive you out of Germany, just as you have been driven out of Russia." " And these T's stand for it? " " They are the signal. I should have told you all this in the village, but I dared not be seen speaking with you. I galloped through the woods to cut you off, and concealed both my horse and myself." " I am very much indebted to you," said I, " and BRIGADIER GERARD. 221 the more so as you are the only German that I have met to-day from whom I have had common civility." "All that I possess I have gained through contracting for the French armies," said he. "Your Emperor has been a good friend to me. But I beg that you will ride on now, for we have talked long enough. Beware only of Lutzow's night-riders ! " "Banditti?" I asked. " All that is best in Germany," said he. " But for God's sake ride forwards, for I have risked my life and exposed my good name in order to carry you this warning." Well, if I had been heavy with thought before, you can think how I felt after my strange talk with the man among the fagots. What came home to me even more than his words was his shivering, broken voice, his twitching face, and his eyes glancing swiftly to right and left, and opening in horror whenever a branch cracked upon a tree. It was clear that he was in the last extremity of terror, and it is possible that he had cause, for shortly after I had left him I heard a distant gunshot and a shouting from somewhere behind me. It may have been some sportsman halloaing to his dogs, but I never again heard of or saw the man who had given me my warning. I kept a good look-out after this, riding swiftly 222 THE EXPLOITS OF where the country was open, and slowly where there might be an ambuscade. It was serious for me, since 500 good miles of German soil lay in front of me ; but somehow I did not take it very much to heart, for the Germans had always seemed to me to be a kindly, gentle people, whose hands closed more readily round a pipe-stem than a sword-hilt — not out of want of valour, you under- stand, but because they are genial, open souls, who would rather be on good terms with all men. I did not know then that beneath that homely surface there lurks a devilry as fierce as, and far more per- sistent than, that of the Castilian or the Italian. And it was not long before I had shown to me that there was something more serious abroad than rough words and hard looks. I had come to a spot where the road runs upwards through a wild tract of heathland and vanishes into an oak wood. I may have been half-way up the hill when, looking forward, I saw something gleaming under the shadow of the tree-trunks, and a man came out with a coat which was so slashed and spangled with gold that he blazed like a fire in the sunlight. He appeared to be very drunk, for he reeled and staggered as he came towards me. One of his hands was held up to his ear and clutched a great red handkerchief, which was fixed to his neck. BRIGADIER GERARD. 223 I had reined up the mare and was looking at nim with some disgust, for it seemed strange to me that one who wore so gorgeous a uniform should show himself in such a state in broad daylight. For his part, he looked hard in my direction and came slowly onwards, stopping from time to time and swaying about as he gazed at me. Suddenly, as I again advanced, he screamed out his thanks to Christ, and, lurching forwards, he fell with a crash upon the dusty road. His hands flew forward with the fall, and I saw that what I had taken for a red cloth was a monstrous wound, which had left a great gap in his neck, from which a dark blood-clot hung, like an epaulette upon his shoulder. " My God ! " I cried, as I sprang to his aid. " And I thought that you were drunk ! " " Not drunk, but dying," said he. " But thank Heaven that I have seen a French officer while I have still strength to speak." I laid him among the heather and poured some brandy down his throat. All round us was the vast country side, green and peaceful, with nothing living in sight save only the mutilated man beside me. " Who has done this ? " I asked, " and what are you ? You are French, and yet the uniform is strange to me." " It is that of the Emperor's new guard of honour. I am the Marquis of Chateau St. 224 THE EXPLOITS OF Arnaud, and I am the ninth of my blood who has died in the service of France. I have been pursued and wounded by the night-riders of Lutzow, but I hid among the brushwood yonder, and waited in the hope that a Frenchman might pass. I could not be sure at first if you were friend or foe, but I felt that death was very near, and that I must take the chance." " Keep your heart up, comrade," said I ; " I have seen a man with a worse wound who has lived to boast of it." " No, no," he whispered ; " I am going fast." He laid his hand upon mine as he spoke, and I saw that his finger-nails were already blue. " But I have papers here in my tunic which you must carry at once to the Prince of Saxe-Felstein, at his Castle of Hof. He is still true to us, but the Princess is our deadly enemy. She is striving to make him declare against us. If he does so, it will determine all those who are wavering, for the King of Prussia is his uncle and the King of Bavaria his cousin. These papers will hold him to us if they can only reach him before he takes the last step. Place them in his hands to-night, and, perhaps, you will have saved all Germany for the Emperor. Had my horse not been shot, I might, wounded as I am " he choked, and the cold hand tightened into a grip, which left mine as BRIGADIER GERARD. 225 bloodless as itself. Then, with a groan, his head jerked back, and it was all over with him. Here was a fine start for my journey home. I was left with a commission of which I knew little, which would lead me to delay the pressing needs of my hussars, and which at the same time was of such importance that it was impossible for me to avoid it. I opened the Marquis's tunic, the brilliance of which had been devised by the Emperor in order to attract those young aristocrats from whom he hoped to raise these new regiments of his Guard. It was a small packet of papers which I drew out, tied up with silk, and addressed to the Prince of Saxe-Felstein. In the corner, in a sprawling, untidy hand, which I knew to be the Emperor's own, was written : " Pressing and most important." It was an order to me, those four words — an order as clear as if it had come straight from the firm lips with the cold grey eyes looking into mine. My troopers might wait for their horses, the dead Marquis might lie where I had laid him amongst! the heather, but if the mare and her rider had a breath left in them the papers should reach the Prince that night. I should not have feared to ride by the road through the wood, for I have learned in Spain that the safest time to pass through a guerilla country is after an outrage, and that the moment of danger Q 226 THE EXPLOITS OF is when all is peaceful. When I came to look upon my map, however, I saw that Hof lay further to the south of me, and that I might reach it more directly by keeping to the moors. Off I set, therefore, and had not gone fifty yards before two carbine shots rang out of the brushwood and a bullet hummed past me like a bee. It was clear that the night-riders were bolder in their ways than the brigands of Spain, and that my mission would have ended where it had begun if I had kept to the road. It was a mad ride, that — a ride with a loose rein, girth-deep in heather and in gorse, plunging through bushes, flying down hill-sides, with my neck at the mercy of my dear little Violette. But she — she never slipped, she never faltered, as swift and as surefooted as if she knew that her rider carried the fate of all Germany beneath the but- tons of his pelisse. And I — I had long borne the name of being the best horseman in the six brigades of light cavalry, but I never rode as I rode then. My friend the Bart has told me of how they hunt the fox in England, but the swiftest fox would have been captured by me that day. The wild pigeons which flew overhead did not take a straighter course than Violette and I below. As an officer, I have always been ready to sacrifice myself for my men, though the Emperor would m .MP' AS In [To /ace page 226 BRIGADIER GERARD. 227 not have thanked me for it, for he had many men, but only one — well, cavalry leaders of the first class are rare. But here I had an object which was indeed worth a sacrifice, and I thought no more of my life than of the clods of earth that flew from my darling's heels. We struck the road once more as the light was failing, and galloped into the little village of Lobenstein. But we had hardly got upon the cobble-stones when off came one of the mare's shoes, and I had to lead her to the village smithy. His fire was low, and his day's work done, so that it would be an hour at the least before I could hope to push on to Hof. Cursing at the delay, I strode into the village inn and ordered a cold chicken and some wine to be served for my dinner. It was but a few miles to Hof, and I had every hope that I might deliver my papers to the Prince on that very night, and be on my way for France next morning with despatches for the Emperor in my bosom. I will tell you now what befell me in the inn of Lobenstein. The chicken had been served and the wine drawn, and I had turned upon both as a man may who has ridden such a ride, when I was aware of a murmur and a scuffling in the hall outside my door. At first I thought that it was some brawl 228 THE EXPLOITS OF between peasants in their cups, and I left them to settle their own affairs. But of a sudden there broke from among the low, sullen growl of the voices such a sound as would send Etienne Gerard leaping from his death-bed. It was the whimpering cry of a woman in pain. Down clattered my knife and my fork, and in an instant I was in the thick of the crowd which had gathered outside my door. The heavy-cheeked landlord was there and his flaxen-haired wife, the two men from the stables, a chambermaid, and two or three villagers. All of them, women and men, were flushed and angry, while there in the centre of them, with pale cheeks and terror in her eyes, stood the loveliest woman that ever a soldier would wish to look upon. With her queenly head thrown back, and a touch of defiance mingled with her fear, she looked as she gazed round her like a creature of a different race from the vile, coarse-featured crew who surrounded her. I had not taken two steps from my door before she sprang to meet me, her hand resting upon my arm and her blue eyes sparkling with joy and triumph. " A French soldier and gentleman ! " she cried. " Now at last I am safe." " Yes, madam, you are safe," said I, and I could not resist taking her hand in mine in order that I might reassure her. " You have only to command BRIGADIER GERARD. 229 me," I added, kissing the hand as a sign that I meant what I was saying. " I am Polish," she cried ; " the Countess Palotta is my name. They abuse me because I love the French. I do not know what they might have done to me had Heaven not sent you to my help." I kissed her hand again lest she should doubt my intentions. Then I turned upon the crew with such an expression as I know how to assume. In an instant the hall was empty. " Countess," said I, " you are now under my protection. You are faint, and a glass of wine is necessary to restore you." I offered her my arm and escorted her into my room, where she sat by my side at the table and took the refreshment which I offered her. How she blossomed out in my presence, this woman, like a flower before the sun ! She lit up the room with her beauty. She must have read my admiration in my eyes, and it seemed to me that I also could see something of the sort in her own. Ah ! my friends, I was no ordinary-looking man when I was in my thirtieth year. In the whole light cavalry it would have been hard to find a finer pair of whiskers. Murat's may have been a shade longer, but the best judges are agreed that Murat's were a shade too long. And then I had a manner. Some women are to be approached in 230 THE EXPLOITS OF one way and some in another, just as a siege is an affair of fascines and gabions in hard weather and of trenches in soft. But the man who can mix daring with timidity, who can be outrageous with an air of humility, and presumptuous with a tone of deference, that is the man whom mothers have to fear. For myself, I felt that I was the guardian of this lonely lady, and knowing what a dangerous man I had to deal with, I kept strict watch upon myself. Still, even a guardian has his privileges, and I did not neglect them. But her talk was as charming as her face. In a few words she explained that she was travelling to Poland, and that her brother who had been her escort had fallen ill upon the way. She had more than once met with ill-treatment from the country folk because she could not conceal her good-will towards the French. Then turning from her own affairs she questioned me about the army, and so came round to myself and my own exploits. They were familiar to her, she said, for she knew several of Poniatowski's officers, and they had spoken of my doings. Yet she would be glad to hear them from my own lips. Never have I had so delightful a conversation. Most women make the mistake of talking rather too much about their own affairs, but this one listened to my tales just as you are listening now, ever asking for more and more and BRIGADIER GERARD. 231 more. The hours slipped rapidly by, and it was with horror that I heard the village clock strike eleven, and so learned that for four hours I had forgotten the Emperor's business. " Pardon me, my dear lady," I cried, springing to my feet, " but I must on instantly to Hof." She rose also, and looked at me with a pale, reproachful face. " And me ? " she said. " What is to become of me ? " " It is the Emperor's affair. I have already stayed far too long. My duty calls me, and I must go." "You must go? And I must be abandoned alone to these savages ? Oh, why did I ever meet you ? Why did you ever teach me to rely upon your strength ? " Her eyes glazed over, and in an instant she was sobbing upon my bosom. Here was a trying moment for a guardian ! Here was a time when he had to keep a watch upon a forward young officer. But I was equal to it. I smoothed her rich brown hair and whispered such consolations as I could think of in her ear, with one arm round' her, it is true, but that was to hold her lest she should faint. She turned her tear-stained face to mine. "Water," she whispered. " For God's sake, water ! " I saw that in another moment she would be senseless. I laid the drooping head upon the sofa, 232 THE EXPLOITS OE and then rushed furiously from the room, hunting from chamber to chamber for a carafe. It was some minutes before I could get one and hurry back with it. You can imagine my feelings to find the room empty and the lady gone. Not only was she gone, but her cap and silver- mounted riding switch which had lain upon the table were gone also. I rushed out and roared for the landlord. He knew nothing of the matter, had never seen the woman before, and did not care if he never saw her again. Had the peasants at the door seen anyone ride away? No, they had seen nobody. I searched here and searched there, until at last I chanced to find myself in front of a mirror, where I stood with my eyes staring and my jaw as far dropped as the chin-strap of my shako would allow. Four buttons of my pelisse were open, and it did not need me to put my hand up to know that my precious papers were gone. Oh ! the depth of cunning that lurks in a woman's heart. She had robbed me, this creature, robbed me as she clung to my breast. Even while I smoothed her hair, and whispered kind words into her ear, her hands had been at work beneath my dolman. And here I was, at the very last step of my journey, without the power of carrying out this mission which had already deprived one good man of his life, and was BRIGADIER GERARD. 233 likely to rob another one of his credit. What would the Emperor say when he heard that I had lost his despatches ? Would the army believe it of Etienne Gerard ? And when they heard that a woman's hand had coaxed them from me, what laughter there would be at mess-table and at camp-fire ! I could have rolled upon the ground in my despair. But one thing was certain — all this affair of the fracas in the hall and the persecution of the so- called Countess was a piece of acting from the beginning. This villainous innkeeper must be in the plot. From him I might learn who she was and where my papers had gone. I snatched my sabre from the table and rushed out in search of him. But the scoundrel had guessed what I would do, and had made his preparations for me. It was in the corner of the yard that I found him, a blunderbuss in his hands and a mastiff held upon a leash by his son. The two stable-hands, with pitchforks, stood upon either side, and the wife held a great lantern behind him, so as to guide his aim. " Ride away, sir, ride away ! " he cried, with a crackling voice. " Your horse is at the door, and no one will meddle with you if you go your way ; but if you come against us, you are alone against three* brave men." I had only the dog to fear, for the two forks and 234 THE EXPLOITS OF the blunderbuss were shaking about like branches in a wind. Still, I considered that, though I might force an answer with my sword-point at the throat of this fat rascal, still I should have no means of knowing whether that answer was the truth. It would be a struggle, then, with much to lose and nothing certain to gain. I looked them up and down, therefore, in a way that set their foolish weapons shaking worse than ever, and then, throw- ing myself upon my mare, I galloped away with the shrill laughter of the landlady jarring upon my ears. I had already formed my resolution. Although I had lost my papers, I could make a very good guess as to what their contents would be, and this I would say from my own lips to the Prince of Saxe-Felstein, as though the Emperor had com- missioned me to convey it in that way. It was a bold stroke and a dangerous one, but if I went too far I could afterwards be disavowed. It was that or nothing, and when all Germany hung on the balance the game should not be lost if the nerve of one man could save it. It was midnight when I rode into Hof, but every window was blazing, which was enough in itself, in that sleepy country, to tell the ferment of excite- ment in which the people were. There was hooting and jeering as I rode through the crowded streets, BRIGADIER GERARD. 235 and once a stone sang past my head, but I kept upon my way, neither slowing nor quickening my pace, until I came to the palace. It was lit from base to battlement, and the dark shadows, coming and going against the yellow glare, spoke of the turmoil within. For my part, I handed my mare to a groom at the gate, and striding in I demanded, in such a voice as an ambassador should have, to see the Prince instantly, upon business which would brook no delay. The hall was dark, but I was conscious as I entered of a buzz of innumerable voices, which hushed into silence as I loudly proclaimed my mission. Some great meeting was being held then — a meeting which, as my instincts told me, was to decide this very question of war and peace. It was possible that I might still be in time to turn the scale for the Emperor and for France. As to the major-domo, he looked blackly at me, and showing me into a small ante-chamber he left me. A minute later he returned to say that the Prince could not be disturbed at present, but that the Princess would take my message. The Princess ! What use was there in giving it to her? Had I not been warned that she was German in heart and soul, and that it was she who was turning her husband and her State against us ? " It is the Prince that I must see," said I. 236 THE EXPLOITS OF " Nay, it is the Princess," said a voice at the door, and a woman swept into the chamber. "Von Rosen, you had best stay with us. Now, sir, what is it that you have to say to either Prince or Princess of Saxe-Felstein ? " At the first sound of the voice I had sprung to my feet. At the first glance I had thrilled with anger. Not twice in a lifetime does one meet that noble figure, that queenly head, and those eyes as blue as the Garonne, and as chilling as her winter waters. " Time presses, sir ! " she cried, with an impatient tap of her foot. " What have you to say to me ? " " What have I to say to you ? " I cried. " What can I say, save that you have taught me never to trust a woman more ? You have ruined and dis- honoured me for ever." She looked with arched brows at her attendant. " Is this the raving of fever, or does it come from some less innocent cause ? " said she. " Per- haps a little blood-letting " " Ah, you can act ! " I cried. " You have shown me that already." " Do you mean that we have met before ? " " I mean that you have robbed me within the last two hours." " This is past all bearing," she cried, with an admirable affectation of anger. " You claim, as BRIGADIER GERARD. 237 I understand, to be an ambassador, but there are limits to the privileges which such an office brings with it." " You brazen it admirably," said I. " Your High- ness will not make a fool of me twice in one night." I sprang forward and, stooping down, caught up the hem of her dress. " You would have done well to change it after you had ridden so far and so fast," said I. It was like the dawn upon a snow-peak to see her ivory cheeks flush suddenly to crimson. " Insolent ! " she cried. " Call the foresters and have him thrust from the palace ! " " I will see the Prince first." "You will never see the Prince. Ah! Hold him, Von Rosen, hold him ! " She had forgotten the man with whom she had to deal — was it likely that I would wait until they could bring their rascals ? She had shown me he? cards too soon. Her game was to stand between me and her husband. Mine was to speak face to face with him at any cost. One spring took me out of the chamber. In another I had crossed the hall. An instant later I had burst into the great room from which the murmur of the meeting had come. At the far end I saw a figure upon a high chair under a dalts. Beneath him was a line of high dignitaries, and theri on every side I saw 238 THE EXPLOITS OF vaguely the heads of a vast assembly. Into the centre of the room I strode, my sabre clanking, my shako under my arm. " I am the messenger of the Emperor," I shouted. " I bear his message to His Highness the Prince of Saxe-Felstein." The man beneath the daKs raised his head, ana i saw that his face was thin and wan, and that his back was bowed as though some huge burden was balanced between his shoulders. " Your name, sir ? " he asked. " Colonel Etienne Gerard, of the Third Hussars." Every face in the gathering was turned upon me, and I heard the rustle of the innumerable necks and saw countless eyes without meeting one friendly one amongst them. The woman had swept past me, and was whispering, with many shakes of her head and dartings of her hands, into the Prince's ear. For my own part I threw out my chest and curled my moustache, glancing round in my own debonair fashion at the assembly. They were men, all of them, professors from the college, a sprinkling of their students, soldiers, gentlemen, artisans, all very silent and serious. In one corner there sat a group of men in black, with riding-coats drawn over their shoulders. They leaned their heads to each other, whispering under their breath, and with every movement I BRIGADIER GERARD. 239 caught the clank of their sabres or the clink of their spurs. " The Emperor's private letter to me informs me that it is the Marquis Chateau St. Arnaud who is bearing his despatches," said the Prince. " The Marquis has been foully murdered," I answered, and a buzz rose up from the people as I spoke. Many heads were turned, I noticed, towards the dark men in the cloaks. " Where are your papers ? " asked the Prince. " I have none." A fierce clamour rose instantly around me. " He is a spy ! He plays a part ! " they cried. " Hang him ! " roared a deep voice from the corner, and a dozen others took up the shout. For my part, I drew eut my handkerchief and flicked the dust from the fur of my pelisse. The Prince held out his thin hands, and the tumult died away, " Where, then, are your credentials, and what is your message ? " " My uniform is my credential, and my message is for your private ear." He passed his hand over his forehead with the gesture of a weak man who is at his wits' end what to do. The Princess stood beside him with her hand upon his throne, and again whispered in his ear. " We are here in council together, some of my trusty subjects and myself," said he. " I have no 2 4 o THE EXPLOITS OF secrets from them, and whatever message the Emperor may send to me at such a time concerns their interests no less than mine." There was a hum of applause at this, and every eye was turned once more upon me. My faith, it was an awkward position in which I found myself, for it is one thing to address eight hundred hussars, and another to speak to such an audience on such a subject. But I fixed my eyes upon the Prince, and tried to say just what I should have said if we had been alone, shouting it out, too, as though I had my regiment on parade. " You have often expressed friendship for the Emperor," I cried. " It is now at last that this friendship is about to be tried. If you will stand firm, he will reward you as only he can reward. It is an easy thing for him to turn a Prince into a King and a province into a power. His eyes are fixed upon you, and though you can do little to harm him, you can ruin yourself. At this moment he is crossing the Rhine with two hundred thousand men. Every fortress in the country is in his hands. He will be upon you in a week, and if you have played him false, God help both you and your people. You think that he is weakened because a few of us got the chilblains last winter. Look there ! " I cried, pointing to a great star which blazed through the window above BRIGADIER GERARD. 241 the Prince's head. " That is the Emperor's star, When it wanes, he will wane — but not before." You would have been proud of me, my friends, if you could have seen and heard me, for I clashed my sabre as I spoke, and swung my dolman as though my regiment was picketed outside in the courtyard. They listened to me in silence, but the back of the Prince bowed more and more as though the burden which weighed upon it was greater than his strength. He looked round with haggard eyes. " We have heard a Frenchman speak for France," said he. " Let us have a German speak for Germany." The folk glanced at each other, and whispered to their neighbours. My speech, as I think, had its effect, and no man wished to be the first to commit himself in the eyes of the Emperor. The Princess looked round her with blazing eyes, and her clear voice broke the silence. " Is a woman to give this Frenchman his answer ? " she cried. " Is it possible, then, that among the night-riders of Lutzow there is none who can use his tongue as well as his sabre ? " Over went a table with a crash, and a young man had bounded upon one of the chairs. He had the face of one inspired — pale, eager, with wild hawk eyes, and tangled hair. His sword R 2 4 2 THE EXPLOITS OF hung straight from his side, and his riding-boots were brown with mire. " It is Korner ! " the people cried. " It is young Korner, the poet ! Ah, he will sing, he will sing." And he sang ! It was soft, at first, and dreamy, telling of old Germany, the mother of nations, of the rich, warm plains, and the grey cities, and the fame of dead heroes. But then verse after verse rang like a trumpet-call. It was of the Germany of now, the Germany which had been taken unawares and overthrown, but which was up again, and snapping the bonds upon her giant limbs. What was life that one should covet it? What was glorious death that one should shun it ? The mother, the great mother, was calling. Her sigh was in the night wind. She was crying to her own children for help. Would they come? Would they come ? Would they come ? Ah, that terrible song, the spirit face and the ringing voice ! Where were I, and France, and the Emperor ? They did not shout, these people — they howled. They were up on the chairs and the tables. They were raving, sobbing, the tears running down their faces. Korner had sprung from the chair, and his comrades were round him with their sabres in the air. A flush had come into the pale face of the Prince, and he rose from his throne. 1 AH ! THAT TERRIBLE SONG 1 ); [ To face page 242 BRIGADIER GERARD. 243 " Colonel Gerard," said he, " you have heard the answer which you are to carry to your Emperor. The die is cast, my children. Your Prince and you must stand or fall together." He bowed to show that all was over, and the people with a shout made for the door to carry the tidings into the town. For my own part, I had done all that a brave man might, and so I was not sorry to be carried out amid the stream. Why should I linger in the palace? I had had my answer and must carry it, such as it was. I wished neither to see Hof nor its people again until I entered it at the head of a vanguard. I turned from the throng, then, and walked silently and sadly in the direction in which they had led the mare. . It was dark down there by the stables, and I was peering round for the hostler, when suddenly my two arms were seized from behind. There were hands at my wrists and at my throat, and I felt the cold muzzle of a pistol under my ear. " Keep your lips closed, you French dog," whispered a fierce voice. " We have him, captain." " Have you the bridle ? " " Here it is." " Sling it over his head." I felt the cold coil of leather tighten round my neck. An hostler with a stable lantern had come out and was gazing upon the scene. In its dim 244 THE EXPLOITS OF light I saw stern faces breaking everywhere through the gloom, with the black caps and dark cloaks of the night-riders. " What would you do with him, captain ? " cried a voice. " Hang him at the palace gate." " An ambassador ? " " An ambassador without papers." " But the Prince ? " " Tut, man, do you not see that the Prince will then be committed to our side? He will be beyond all hope of forgiveness. At present he may swing round to-morrow as he has done before. He may eat his words, but a dead hussar is more than he can explain." " No, no, Von Strelitz, we cannot do it," said another voice. " Can we not ? I shall show you that ! " and there came a jerk on the bridle which nearly pulled me to the ground. At the same instant a sword flashed and the leather was cut through within two inches of my neck. " By Heaven, Korner, this is rank mutiny," cried the captain. " You may hang yourself before you are through with it." " I have drawn my sword as a soldier and hot as a brigand," said the young poet. "Blood may dim its blade, but never dishonour. Com- BRIGADIER GERARD. 245 rades, will you stand by and see this gentleman mishandled ? " A dozen sabres flew from their sheaths, and it was evident that my friends and my foes were about equally balanced. But the angry voices and the gleam of steel had brought the folk running from all parts. " The Princess ! " they cried. " The Princess is coming ! " And even as they spoke I saw her in front of us, her sweet face framed in the darkness. I had cause to hate her, for she had cheated and befooled me, and yet it thrilled me then and thrills me now to think that my arms have embraced her, and that I have felt the scent of her hair in my nostrils. I know not whether she lies under her German earth, or whether she still lingers, a grey-haired woman in her Castle of Hof, but she lives ever, young and lovely, in the heart and memory of Etienne Gerard. " For shame ! " she cried, sweeping up to me, and tearing with her own hands the noose from my neck. " You are fighting in God's own quarrel, and yet you would begin with such a devil's deed as this. This man is mine, and he who touches a hair of his head will answer for it to me." They were glad enough to slink off into the darkness before those scornful eyes. Then she turned once more to me. 246 THE EXPLOITS OF " You can follow me, Colonel Gerard," she said. " I have a word that I would speak to you."., I walked behind her to the chamber into which I had originally been shown. She closed the door, and then looked at me with the archest twinkle in her eyes. " Is it not confiding of me to trust myself with you ? " said she. " You will remember that it is the Princess of Saxe-Felstein and not the poor Countess Palotta of Poland." " Be the name what it might," I answered," I helped a lady whom I believed to be in distress, and I have been robbed of my papers and almost of my honour as a reward." " Colonel Gerard," said she, " we have been playing a game, you and I, and the stake was a heavy one. You have shown by delivering a message which was never given to you that you would stand at nothing in the cause of your country. My heart is German and yours is French, and I also would go all lengths, even to deceit and to theft, if at this crisis I could help my suffering fatherland. You see how frank I am." " You tell me nothing that I have not seen." "But now that the game is played and won, why should we bear malice ? I will say this, that if ever I were in such a plight as that which I pretended in the inn of Lobenstein, I should never "THIS man is mine." {.To face page 246 BRIGADIER GERARD. 247 wish to meet a more gallant protector or a truer- hearted gentleman than Colonel Etienne Gerard. I had never thought that I could feel for a Frenchman as I felt for you when I slipped the papers from your breast." " But you took them, none the less." " They were necessary to me and to Germany. I knew the arguments which they contained and the effect which they would have upon the Prince. If they had reached him all would have been lost." " Why should your Highness descend to such expedients when a score of these brigands, who wished to hang me at your castle gate, would have done the work as well ? " " They are not brigands, but the best blood of Germany," she cried, hotly. " If you have been roughly used, you will remember the indignities to which every German has been subjected, from the Queen of Prussia downwards. As to why I did not have you waylaid upon the road, I may say that I had parties out on all sides, and that I was waiting at Lobenstein to hear of their success. When instead of their news you yourself arrived I was in despair, for there was only the one weak woman betwixt you and my husband. You see the straits to which I was driven before I used the weapon of my sex." " I confess that you have conquered me, your 248 BRIGADIER GERARD. Highness, and it only remains for me to leave you in possession of the field." " But you will take your papers with you." She held them out to me as she spoke. " The Prince has crossed the Rubicon now, and nothing can bring him back. You can return these to the Emperor, and tell him that we refused to receive them. No one can accuse you then of having lost your despatches. Good-bye, Colonel Gerard, and the best I can wish you is that when you reach France you may remain there. In a year's time there will be no place for a Frenchman upon this side of the Rhine." And thus it was that I played the Princess of Saxe-Felstein with all Germany for a stake, and lost my game to her. I had much to think of as I walked my poor, tired Violette along the highway which leads westward from Hof. But amid all the thoughts there came back to me always the proud, beautiful face of the German woman, and the voice of the soldier-poet as he sang from the chair. And I understood then that there was something terrible in this strong, patient Germany — this mother root of nations — and I saw that such a land, so old and so beloved, never could be conquered. And as I rode I saw that the dawn was breaking, and that the great star at which I had pointed through the palace window was dim and pale in the western sky. HOW THE BRIGADIER WON HIS MEDAL. VII HOW THE BRIGADIER WON" HIS MEDAL. The Duke of Tarentum, or Macdonald, as his old comrades prefer to call him, was, as I could per- ceive, in the vilest of tempers. His grim, Scotch face was like one of those grotesque door-knockers which one sees in the Faubourg St. Germain. We heard afterwards that the Emperor had said in jest that he would have sent him against Wellington in the South, but that he was afraid to trust him within the sound of the pipes. Major Charpentier and I could plainly see that he was smouldering with anger. " Brigadier Gerard of the Hussars," said he, with the air of the corporal with the recruit. I saluted. " Major Charpentier of the Horse Grenadiers." My companion answered to his name. " The Emperor has a mission for you." Without more ado he flung open the door and announced us. 2S2 THE EXPLOITS OF I have seen Napoleon ten times on horseback to once on foot, and. I think that he does wisely to show himself to the troops in this fashion, for he cuts a very good figure in the saddle. As we saw him now he was the shortest man out of six by a good hand's breadth, and yet I am no very big man myself, though I ride quite heavy enough for a hussar. It is evident, too, that his body is too long for his legs. With his big, round head, his curved shoulders, and his clean-shaven face, he is more like a Professor at the Sorbonne than the first soldier in France. Every man to his taste, but it seems to me that, if I could clap a pair of fine light cavalry whiskers, like my own, on to him, it would do him no harm. He has a firm mouth, however, and his eyes are remarkable. I have seen them once turned on me in anger, and I had rather ride at a square on a spent horse than face them again. I am not a man who is easily daunted, either. He was standing at the side of the room, away from the window, looking up at a great map of the country which was hung upon the wall. Berthier stood beside him, trying to look wise, and just as we entered, Napoleon snatched his sword im- patiently from him and pointed with it on the map. He was talking fast and low, but I heard him say, " The valley of the Meuse," and twice he repeated BRIGADIER GERARD. 253 " Berlin." As we entered, his aide-de-camp advanced to us, but the Emperor stopped him and beckoned us to his side. " You have not yet received the cross of honour, Brigadier Gerard ? " he asked. I replied that I had not, and was about to add that it was not for want of having deserved it, when he cut me short in his decided fashion. " And you, Major ? " he asked. "No, sire." "Then you shall both have your opportunity now." He led us to the great map upon the wall and placed the tip of Berthier's sword on Rheims. " I will be frank with you, gentlemen, as with two comrades. You have both been with me since Marengo, I believe ? " He had a strangely pleasant smile, which used to light up his pale face with a kind of cold sunshine. " Here at Rheims are our present head-quarters on this the 14th of March. Very good. Here is Paris, distant by road a good twenty-five leagues. Blucher lies to the north, Schwarzenberg to the south." He prodded at the map with the sword as he spoke. " Now," said he, " the further into the country these people march, the more completely I shall crush them. They are about to advance upon Paris Very good. Let them do so. My brother, 254 THE EXPLOITS OF the King of Spain, will be there with a hundred thousand men. It is to him that I send you. You will hand him this letter, a copy of which I confide to each of you. It is to tell him that I am coming at once, in two days' time, with every man and horse and gun to his relief. I must give them forty-eight hours to recover. Then straight to Paris ! You understand me, gentlemen ? " Ah, if I could tell you the glow of pride which it gave me to be taken into the great man's confidence in this way. As he handed our letters to us I clicked my spurs and threw out my chest, smiling and nodding to let him know that I saw what he would be after. He smiled also, and rested his hand for a moment upon the cape of my dolman. I would have given half my arrears of pay if my mother could have seen me at that instant. " I will show you your route," said he, turning back to the map. " Your orders are to ride together as far as Bazoches. You will then separate, the one making for Paris by Oulchy and Neuilly, and the other to the north by Braine, Soissons, and Senlis. Have you anything to say, Brigadier Gerard ? " I am a rough soldier, but I have words and ideas. I had begun to speak about glory and the peril of France when he cut me short. " And you. Major Charpentier ? " ' HE HANDED OUR LETTERS TO US. {To face page 254 BRIGADIER GERARD. 255 " ll weTfind our route unsafe, are we at liberty to choose another ? " said he. " Soldiers do not choose, they obey." He inclined his head to show that we were dismissed, and turned round to Berthier. I do not know what he said, but I heard them both laughing. Well, as you may think, we, lost little time in getting upon our way. In half an hour we were riding down the High Street of Rheims, and it struck twelve o'clock as we passed the Cathedral. I had my little grey mare, Violette, the one which Sebastiani had wished to buy after Dresden, it is the" fastest horse in the six brigades of light cavalry, and was only beaten by the Duke of Rovigo's racer from England. As to Charpentier, he had the kind of horse which a horse grenadier or a cuirassier would be likely to ride : a back like a bedstead, you understand, and legs like the posts. He is a hulking fellow himself, so that they looked a singular pair. And yet in his insane conceit he ogled the girls as they waved their handkerchiefs to me from the windows, and he twirled his ugly red moustache up into his eyes, just as if it were to him that their attention was addressed. When we came out of the town we passed through the French camp, and then across the battle-field of yesterday, which was still covered both by our own poor fellows and by the Russians. But of 256 THE EXPLOITS OF the two the camp was the sadder sight. Our army was thawing away. The Guards were all right, though the young guard was full of conscripts. The artillery and the heavy cavalry were also good if there were more of them, but the infantry privates with their under officers looked like schoolboys with their masters. And we had no reserves. When one considered that there were 80,000 Prussians to the north and 150,000 Russians and Austrians to the south, it might make even the bravest man grave. For my own part, I confess that I shed a tear until the thought came that the Emperor was still with us, and that on that very morning he had placed his hand upon my dolman and had promised me a medal of honour. This set me singing, and I spurred Violette on, until Charpentier had to beg me to have mercy on his great, snorting, panting camel. The road was beaten into paste and rutted two feet deep by the artillery, so that he was right in saying that it was not the place for a gallop. I have never been very friendly with this Charpentier ; and now for twenty miles of the way I could not draw a word from him. He rode with his brows puckered and his chin upon his breast, like a man who is heavy with thought. More than once I asked him what was on his mind, thinking BRIGADIER GERARD. 257 that, perhaps, with my quicker intelligence I might set the matter straight. His answer always was that it was his mission of which he was thinking, which surprised me, because, although I had never thought much of his intelligence, still it seemed to me to be impossible that anyone could be puzzled by so simple and soldierly a task. Well, we came at last to Bazoches, where he was to take the southern road and I the northern. He half turned in his saddle before he left me, and he looked at me with a singular expression of inquiry in his face. " What do you make of it, Brigadier ? " he asked. "Of what?" " Of our mission." " Surely it is plain enough." " You think so ? Why should the Emperor tell us his plans ? " " Because he recognised our intelligence." My companion laughed in a manner which I found annoying. " May I ask what you intend to do if you find these villages full of Prussians ? " he asked. " I shall obey my orders." " But you will be killed." " Very possibly." He laughed again, and so offensively that I clapped my hand to my sword. But before I could tell him S 258 THE EXPLOITS OF what I thought of his stupidity and rudeness he had wheeled his horse, and was lumbering away down the other road. I saw his big fur cap vanish over the brow of the hill, and then I rode upon my way, wondering at his conduct. From time to time I put my hand to the breast of my tunic and felt the paper crackle beneath my fingers. Ah, my precious paper, which should be turned into the little silver medal for which I had yearned so long. All the way from Braine to Sermoise I was thinking of what my mother would say when she saw it. I stopped to give Violette a meal at a wayside auberge on the side of a hill not far from Soissons — a place surrounded by old oaks, and with so many crows that one could scarce hear one's own voice. It was from the innkeeper that I learned that Marmont had fallen back two days before, and that the Prussians were over the Aisne. An hour later, in the fading light, I saw two of their vedettes upon the hill to the right, and then, as darkness gathered, the heavens to the north were all glimmering from the lights of a bivouac. When I heard that Blucher had been there for two days, I was much surprised that the Emperor should not have known that the country through which he had ordered me to carry my precious letter was already occupied by the enemy. Still, I thought of the tone of his voice when he said to BRIGADIER GERARD. 259 Charpentier that a soldier must not choose, but must obey. I should follow the route he had laid down for me as long as Violette could move a hoof or I a finger upon her bridle. All the way from Sermoise to Soissons, where the road dips up and down, curving among fir woods, I kept my pistol ready and my sword-belt braced, pushing on swiftly where the path was straight, and then coming slowly round the corners in the way we learned in Spain. When I came to the farmhouse which lies to the right of the road just after you cross the wooden bridge over the Crise, near where the great statue of the Virgin stands, a woman cried to me from the field, saying that the Prussians were in Soissons. A small party of their lancers, she said, had come in that very afternoon, and a whole division was expected before midnight. I did not wait to hear the end of her tale, but clapped spurs into Violette, and in five minutes was galloping her into the town. Three Uhlans were at the mouth of the main street, their horses tethered, and they gossiping together, each with a pipe as long as my sabre. I saw them well in the light of an open door, but of me they could have seen only the flash of Violette's grey side and the black flutter of my cloak. A moment later I flew through a stream of them 2 6o THE EXPLOITS OF rushing from an open gateway. Violette's shoulder sent one of them reeling, and I stabbed at another but missed him. Pang, pang, went two carbines, but I had flown round the curve of the street, and never so much as heard the hiss of the balls. Ah, we were great, both Violette and I. She lay down to it like a coursed hare, the fire flying from her hoofs. I stood in my stirrups and brandished my sword. Someone sprang for my bridle. I sliced him through the arm, and I heard him howling behind me. Two horsemen closed upon me. I cut one down and outpaced the other. A minute later I was clear of the town, and flying down a broad white road with the black poplars on either side. For a time I heard the rattle of hoofs behind me, but they died and died until I could not tell them from the throbbing of my own heart. Soon I pulled up and listened, but all was silent. They had given up the chase. Well, the first thing that I did was to dismount and to lead my mare into a small wood through which a stream ran. There I watered her and rubbed her down, giving her two pieces of sugar soaked in cognac from my flask. She was spent from the sharp chase, but it was wonderful to see how she came round with a half-hour's rest. When my thighs closed upon her again, I could tell by the spring and the swing of her that it would BRIGADIER GERARD. 261 not be her fault if I did not win my way safe to Paris. I must have been well within the enemy's lines now, for I heard a number of them shouting one of their rough drinking songs out of a house by the roadside, and I went round by the fields to avoid it. At another time two men came out into the moonlight (for by this time it was a cloudless night) and shouted something in German, but I galloped on without heeding them, and they were afraid to fire, for their own hussars are dressed exactly as I was. It is best to take no notice at these times, and then they put you down as a deaf man. It was a lovely moon, and every tree threw a black bar across the road. I could see the country side just as if it were daytime, and very peaceful it looked, save that there was a great fire raging somewhere in the north. In the silence of the night-time, and with the knowledge that danger was in front and behind me, the sight of that great distant fire was very striking and awe- some. But I am not easily clouded, for I have seen too many singular things, so I hummed a tune between my teeth and thought of little Lisette, whom I might see in Paris. My mind was full of her when, trotting round a corner, I came straight upon half-a-dozen 262 THE EXPLOITS OF German dragoons, who were sitting round a brush- wood fire by the roadside. I am an excellent soldier. I do not say this because I am prejudiced in my own favour, but because I really am so. I can weigh every chance in a moment, and decide with as much certainty as though I had brooded for a week. Now I saw like a flash that, come what might, I should be chased, and on a horse which had already done a long twelve leagues. But it was better to be chased onwards than to be chased back. On this moonlit night, with fresh horses behind me, I must take my risk in either case; but if I were to shake them off, I preferred that it should be near Senlis than near Soissons. All this flashed on me as if by instinct, you understand. My eyes had hardly rested on the bearded faces under the brass helmets before my rowels had touched Violette, and she off with a rattle like a pas-de-charge. Oh, the shout- ing and rushing and stamping from behind us ! Three of them fired and three swung themselves on to their horses. A bullet rapped on the crupper of my saddle with a noise like a stick on a door. Violette sprang madly forward, and I thought she had been wounded, but it was only a graze above the near fore-fetlock. Ah, the dear little mare, how I loved her when I felt her settle down into that BRIGADIER GERARD. 263 long, easy gallop of hers, her hoofs going Like a Spanish girl's castanets. I could not hold myself. I turned on my saddle and shouted and raved, " Vive l'Empereur ! " I screamed and laughed at the gust of oaths that came back to me. But it was not over yet. If she had been fresh she might have gained a mile in five. Now she could only hold her own with a very little over. There was one of them, a young boy of an officer, who was better mounted than the others. He drew ahead with every stride. Two hundred yards behind him were two troopers, but I saw every time that I glanced round that the distance between them was increasing. The other three who had waited to shoot were a long way in the rear. The officer's mount was a bay — a fine horse, though not to be spoken of with Violette ; yet it was a powerful brute, and it seemed "to me that in a few miles its freshness might tell. I waited until the lad was a long way in front of his comrades, and then I eased my mare down a little — a very, very little, so that he might think he was really catching me. When he came within pistol-shot of me I drew and cocked my own pistol, and laid my chin upon my shoulder to see what he would do. He did not offer to fire, and I soon discerned the cause. The 264 THE EXPLOITS OF silly boy had taken his pistols from his holsters when he had camped for the night. He wagged his sword at me now and roared some threat or other. He did not seem to understand that he was at my mercy. I eased Violette down until there was not the length of a long lance between the grey tail and the bay muzzle. " Rendez-vous ! " he yelled. " I must compliment monsieur upon his French," said I, resting the barrel of my pistol upon my bridle-arm, which I have always found best when shooting from the saddle. I aimed at his face, and could see, even in the moonlight, how white he grew when he understood that it was all up with him. But even as my finger pressed the trigger I thought of his mother, and I put my ball through his horse's shoulder. I fear he hurt himself in the fall, for it was a fearful crash, but I had my letter to think of, so I stretched the mare into a gallop once more. But they were not so easily shaken off, these brigands. The two troopers thought no more of their young officer than if he had been a recruit thrown in the riding-school. They left him to the others and thundered on after me. I had pulled up on the brow of a hill, thinking that I had heard the last of them ; but, my faith, I soon saw there was no time for loitering, so away we went, the mare BRIGADIER GERARD. 265 tossing her head and I my shako, to show what we thought of two dragoons who tried to catch a hussar. But at this moment, even while I laughed at the thought, my heart stood still within me, for there at the end of the long white road was a black patch of cavalry waiting to receive me. To a young soldier it might have seemed the shadow of the trees, but to me it was a troop of hussars, and, turn where I could, death seemed to be waiting for me. Well, I had the dragoons behind me and the hussars in front. Never since Moscow have I seemed to be in such peril. But for the honour of the brigade I had rather be cut down by a light cavalryman than by a heavy. I never drew bridle, therefore, or hesitated for an instant, but I let Violette have her head. I remember that I tried to pray as I rode, but I am a little out of practice at such things, and the only words I could re- member were the prayer for fine weather which we used at the school on the evening before holidays. Even this seemed better than nothing, and I was pattering it out, when suddenly I heard French voices in front of me. Ah, mon Dieu, but the joy went through my heart like a musket-ball. They were ours — our own dear little rascals from the corps of Marmont. Round whisked my two dragoons and galloped for their lives, with the 266 THE EXPLOITS OF moon gleaming on their brass helmets, while I trotted up to my friends with no undue haste, for I would have them understand that though a hussar may fly, it is not in his nature to fly very fast. Yet I fear that Violette's heaving flanks and foam-spattered muzzle gave the lie to my careless bearing. Who should be at the head of the troop but old Bouvet, whom I saved at Leipzig ! When he saw me his little pink eyes filled with tears, and, indeed, I could not but shed a few myself at the sight of his joy. I told him of my mission, but he laughed when I said that I must pass through Senlis. " The enemy is there," said he. " You cannot go." " I prefer to go where the enemy is," I answered. " But why not go straight to Paris with your despatch ? Why should you choose to pass through the one place where you are almost sure to be taken or killed ? " " A soldier does not choose — he obeys," said I, just as I had heard Napoleon say it. Old Bouvet laughed in his wheezy way, until I had to give my moustachios a twirl and look him up and down in a manner which brought him to reason. " Well," said he, " you had best come along with BRIGADIER GERARD. 267 us, for we are all bound for Senlis. Our orders are to reconnoitre the place. A squadron of Poniatow- ski's Polish Lancers are in front of us. If you must ride through it, it is possible that we may be able to go with you." So away we went, jingling and clanking through the quiet night until we came up with the Poles — fine old soldiers all of them, though a trifle heavy for their horses. It was a treat to see them, for they could not have carried themselves better if they had belonged to my own brigade. We rode together, until in the early morning we saw the lights of Senlis. A peasant was coming along with a cart, and from him we learned how things were going there. His information was certain, for his brother was the Mayor's coachman, and he had spoken with him late the night before. There was a single squadron of Cossacks — or a polk, as they call it in their frightful language — quartered upon the Mayor's house, which stands at the corner of the market-place, and is the largest building in the town. A whole division of Prussian infantry was encamped in the woods to the north, but only the Cossacks were in Senlis. Ah, what a chance to avenge ourselves upon these barbarians, whose cruelty to our poor countryfolk was the talk at every camp fire. 2 68 THE EXPLOITS OP We were into the town like a torrent, hacked down the vedettes, rode over the guard, and were smashing in the doors of the Mayor's house before they understood that there was a Frenchman within twenty miles of them. We saw horrid heads at the windows — heads bearded to the temples, with tangled hair and sheepskin caps, and silly, gaping mouths. " Hourra ! Hourra ! " they shrieked, and fired with their carbines, but our fellows were into the house and at their throats before they had wiped the sleep out of their eyes. It was dreadful to see how the Poles flung them- selves upon them, like starving wolves upon a herd of fat bucks — for, as you know, the Poles have a blood feud against the Cossacks. The most were killed in the upper rooms, whither they had fled for shelter, and the blood was pouring down into the hall like rain from a roof. They are terrible soldiers, these Poles, though I think they are a trifle heavy for their horses. Man for man, they are as big as Kellerman's cuirassiers. Their equipment is, of course, much lighter, since they are without the cuirass, back-plate, and helmet. Well, it was at this point that I made an error — a very serious error it must be admitted. Up to this moment I had carried out my mission in a manner which only my modesty prevents me from describing as remarkable. But now I did that BRIGADIER GERARD. 269 which an official would eondemn and a soldier excuse. There is no doubt that the mare was spent, but still it is true that I might have galloped on through Senlis and reached the country, where I should have had no enemy between me and Paris. But what hussar can ride past a fight and never draw rein ? It is to ask too much of him. Besides, I thought that if Violette had an hour of rest I might have three hours the better at the other end. Then on the top of it came those heads at the windows, with their sheepskin hats and their barbarous cries. I sprang from my Saddle, threw Violette's bridle over a rail-post, and ran into the house with the rest. It is true that I was too late to be of service, and that I was nearly wounded by a lance-thrust from one of these dying savages. Still, it is a pity to miss even the smallest affair, for one never knows what opportunity for advancement may present itself. I have seen more soldierly work in outpost skirmishes and little gallop - and hack affairs of the kind than in any of the Emperor's big battles. When the house was cleared I took a bucket of water out for Violette, and our peasant guide showed me where the good Mayor kept his fodder. My faith, but the little sweetheart was ready for it. 270 THE EXPLOITS OF Then I sponged down her legs, and leaving her still tethered I went back into the house to find a mouthful for myself, so that I should not need to half again until I was in Paris. And now I come to the part of my story which may seem singular to you, although I could tell you at least ten things every bit as queer which have happened to me in my lifetime. You can understand that, to a man who spends his life in scouting and vedette duties on the bloody ground which lies between two great armies, there are many chances of strange experiences. I'll tell you, however, exactly what occurred. Old Bouvet was waiting in the passage when I entered, and he asked me whether we might not crack a bottle of wine together. " My faith, we must not be long," said he. "There are ten thousand of Theilmann's Prussians in the woods up yonder." " Where is the wine ? " I asked. " Ah, you may trust two hussars to find where the wine is," said he, and taking a candle in his hand, he led the way down the stone stairs into the kitchen. When we got there we found another door, which opened on to a winding stair with the cellar at the bottom. The Cossacks had been there before us, as was easily seen by the broken bottles littered all BRIGADIER GERARD. 271 over it. However, the Mayor was a bon-vivant, and I do not wish to have a better set of bins to pick from. Chambertin, Graves, Alicant, white wine and red, sparkling and still, they lay in pyramids peeping coyly out of sawdust. Old Bouvet [stood with his candle looking here and peeping there, purring in his throat like a cat before a milk-pail. He had picked upon a Burgundy at last, and had his hand outstretched to the bottle when there came a roar of musketry from above us, a rush of feet, and such a yelping and screaming as I have never listened to. The Prussians were upon us ! Bouvet is a brave man : I will say that for him. He flashed out his sword arid away he clattered up the stone steps, his spurs clinking as he ran. I followed him, but just as we came out into the kitchen passage a tremendous shout told us that the house had been recaptured. " It is all over," I cried, grasping at Bouvet's sleeve. " There is one more to die," he shouted, and away he went like a madman up the second stair. In effect, I should have gone to my death also had I been in his place, for he had done very wrong in not throwing out his scouts to warn him if the Germans advanced upon him. For an instant I was about to rush up with him, and then I be- 272 THE EXPLOITS OF thought myself that, after all, I had my own mission to think of, and that if I were taken the important letter of the Emperor would be sacri- ficed. I let Bouvet die alone, therefore, and I went down into the cellar again, closing the door behind me. Well, it was not a very rosy prospect down there either. Bouvet had dropped the candle when the alarm came, and I, pawing about in the darkness, could find nothing but broken bottles. At last I came upon the candle, which had rolled under the curve of a cask, but, try as I would with my tinder- box, I could not light it. The reason was that the wick had been wet in a puddle of wine, so suspect- ing that this might be the case, I cut the end off with my sword. Then I found that it lighted easily enough. But what to do I could not imagine. The scoundrels upstairs were shouting themselves hoarse, several hundred of them from the sound, and it was clear that some of them would soon want to moisten their throats. There would be an end to a dashing soldier, and of the mission and of the medal. I thought of my mother and I thought of the Emperor. It made me weep to think that the one would lose so excellent a son and the other the best light cavalry officer he ever had since Lasalle's time. But presently I dashed the tears from my eyes. " Courage ! " I cried, BRIGADIER GERARD. 273 striking myself upon the chest. "Courage, my brave boy ! Is it possible that one who has come safely from Moscow without so much as a frost- bite will die in a French wine-cellar ? " At the thought I was up on my feet and clutching at the letter in my tunic, for the crackle of it gave me courage. My first plan was to set fire to the house, in the hope of escaping in the confusion. My second to get into an empty wine-cask. I was looking round to see if I could find one, when suddenly, in the corner, I espied a little low door, painted of the same grey colour as the wall, so that it was only a man with quick sight who would have noticed it. I pushed against it, and at first I imagined that it was locked. Presently, however, it gave a little, and then I understood that it was held by the pressure of something on the other side. I put my feet against a hogshead of wine, and I gave such a push that the door flew open and I came down with a crash upon my back, the candle flying out of my hands, so that I found myself in darkness once more. I picked myself up and stared through the black archway into the gloom beyond. There was a slight ray of light coming from some slit or grating. The dawn had broken outside, and I could dimly'see the long, curving sides of several huge casks, which made me think that perhaps this was T 274 THE EXPLOITS OF where the Mayor kept his reserves of wine while they were'maturing. At any rate, it'seemed to be a safer hiding-place than the outer cellar, so gather- ing up my candle, I was just closing the doer behind me, when I suddenly saw something which filled me with amazement, and even, I confess, with the smallest little touch of fear. I have said that at the further end of the cellar there was a dim grey fan of light striking down- wards from somewhere near the roof. Well, as I peered through the darkness, I suddenly saw a great, tall man skip into this belt of daylight, and then out again into the darkness at the further end. My word, I gave such a start that my shako nearly broke its chin-strap ! It was only a glance, but, none the less, I had time to see that the fellow had a hairy Cossack cap on his head, and that he was a great, long-legged, broad-shouldered brigand, with a sabre at his waist. My faith, even Etienne Gerard was a little staggered at being left alone with such a creature in the dark. But only for a moment. " Courage ! " I thought. " Am I not a hussar, a brigadier, too, at the age of thirty-one, and the chosen messenger of the Emperor?" After all, this skulker had more cause to be afraid of me than I of him. And then suddenly I understood that he was afraid — horribly afraid. I could read it from his quick step and BRIGADIER GERARD. 275 his bent shoulders as he ran among the barrels, like a rat making for its hole. And, of course, it must have been he who had held the door against me, and not some packing - case or wine- cask as I had imagined. He was the pursued then, and I the pursuer. Aha, I felt my whiskers bristle as I advanced upon him through the darkness ! He would find that he had no chicken to deal with, this robber from the North. For the moment I was magnificent. At first I had feared to light my candle lest I should make a mark of myself, but nowj after cracking my shin over a box, and catching my spurs in some canvas, I thought the bolder course the wiser. I lit it, therefore, and then I advanced with long strides, my sword in my hand. " Come out, you rascal ! " I cried. " Nothing can save you. You will at last meet with your deserts." I held my candle high, and presently I caught a glimpse of the man's head staring at me over a barrel. He had a gold chevron on his black cap, and the expression of his face told me in an instant that he was an officer and a man of refinement. " Monsieur," he cried, in excellent French, " I surrender myself on a promise of quarter. But if I do not have your promise, I will then sell my life as dearly as I can. 276 THE EXPLOITS OF " Sir," said I, " a Frenchman knows how to treat an unfortunate enemy. Your life is safe." With that he handed his sword over the top of the barrel, and I bowed with the candle on my heart. " Whom have I the honour of capturing ? " I asked. " I am the Count Boutkine, of the Emperor's own Don Cossacks," said he. " I came out with my troop to reconnoitre Senlis, and as we found no sign, of your people we determined to spend the night here." " And would it be an indiscretion," I asked, " if I were to inquire how you came into the back cellar ? " " Nothing more simple," said he. " It was our intention to start at early dawn. Feeling chilled after dressing, I thought that a cup of wine would do me no harm, so I came down to see what I could find. As I was rummaging about, the house was suddenly carried by assault so rapidly that by the time I had climbed the stairs it was all over. It only remained for me to save myself, so I came down here and hid myself in the back cellar, where you have found me.*' I thought of how old Bouvet had behaved under the same conditions, and the tears sprang to my eyes as I contemplated the glory of France. Then I had to consider what I should do next. It was BRIGADIER GERARD. 277 clear that this Russian Count, being in the back cellar while we were in the front one, had not heard the sounds which would have told him that the house was once again in the hands of his own allies. If he should once understand this the tables would be turned, and I should be his prisoner instead of he being mine. What was I to do ? I was at my wits' end, when suddenly there came to me an idea so brilliant that I could not but be amazed at my own invention. " Count Boutkine," said I, ' I find myself in a most difficult position." " And why ? " he asked. " Because I have promised you your life." His jaw dropped a little " You would not withdraw your promise ? " he cried. " If the worst comes to the worst I can die in your defence," said I ; " but the difficulties ate great." " What is it, then ? " he asked. " I will be frank with you," said I. " You must know that our fellows, and especially the Poles, are so incensed against the Cossacks that the mere sight of the uniform drives them mad. They pre- cipitate themselves instantly upon the wearer and tear him limb from limb. Even their officers cannot restrain them." 278 THE EXPLOITS OF The Russian grew pale at my words and the way in which I said them. " But this is terrible," said he. " Horrible ! " said I. " If we were to go up together at this moment I cannot promise how far I could protect you." " I am in your hands," he cried. " What would you suggest that we should do ? Would it not be best that I should remain here ? " " That worst of all." "And why?" " Because our fellows will ransack the house presently, and then you would be cut to pieces. No, no, I must go and break it to them. But even then, when once they see that accursed uniform, I do not know what may happen." " Should I then take the uniform off ? " " Excellent ! " I cried. " Hold, we have it ! You will take your uniform off and put on mine. That will make you sacred to every French soldier." "It is not the French I fear so much as the Poles." "But my uniform will be a safeguard against either.", " How can I thank you ? " he cried. " But you — what are you to wear ? " " I will wear yours." " And perhaps fall a victim to your generosity ? " BRIGADIER GERARD. 279 " It is my duty to take the risk," I answered ; " but I have no fears. I will ascend in your uniform. A hundred swords will be turned upon me. ' Hold ! ' I will shout, ' I am the Brigadier Gerard ! ' Then they will see my face. They will know me. And I will tell them about you. Under the shield of these clothes you will be sacred." His fingers trembled with eagerness as he tore off his tunic. His boots and breeches were much like my own, so there was no need to change them, but I gave him my hussar jacket, my dolman, my shako, my sword-belt, and my sabre-tasche, while I took in exchange his high sheepskin cap with the gold chevron, his fur-trimmed coat, and his crooked sword. Be it well understood that in changing the tunics I did not forget to change my thrice-precious letter also from my old one to my new. " With your leave," said I, " I shall now bind you to a barrel." He made a great fuss over this, but I have learned in my soldiering never to throw away chances, and how could I tell that he might not, when my back was turned, see how the matter really stood, and break in upon my plans? He was leaning against a barrel at the time, so I ran six times round it with a rope, and then tied it with a big knot behind. If he wished to come upstairs he would, at least, have to carry a thousand litres 2 8o THE EXPLOITS OF of good French wine for a knapsack. I then shut the door of the back cellar behind me, so that he might not hear what was going forward, and tossing the candle away I ascended the kitchen stair. There were only about twenty steps, and yet, while I came up them, I seemed to have time to think of everything that I had ever hoped to do. It was the same feeling that I had at Eylau when I lay with my broken leg and saw the horse artillery galloping down upon me. Of course, I knew that if I were taken I should be shot instantly as being disguised within the enemy's lines. Still, it was a glorious death — in the direct service of the Emperor — and I reflected that there could not be less than five lines, and perhaps seven, in the Moniteur about me. Palaret had eight lines, and I am sure that he had not so fine a career. When I made my way out into the hall, with all the nonchalance in my face and manner that I could assume, the very first thing that I saw was Bouvet's dead body, with his legs drawn up and a broken sword in his hand. I could see by the black smudge that he had been shot at close quarters. I should have wished to salute as I went by, for he was a gallant man, but I feared lest I should be seen, and so I passed on. The front of the hall was full of Prussian infantry, who were knocking loopholes in the wall, as though I LAUGHED HEARTILY. [To face Page 280 BRIGADIER GERARD. 281 they expected that there might be yet another attack. Their officer, a little man, was running about giving directions. They were all too busy to take much notice of me, but another officer, who was standing by the door with a long pipe in his mouth, strode across and clapped me on the shoulder, pointing to the dead bodies of our poor hussars, and saying something which was meant for a jest, for his long beard opened and showed every fang in his head. I laughed heartily also, and said the only Russian words that I knew. I learned them from little Sophie, at Wilna, and they meant : " If the night is fine we shall meet under the oak tree, but if it rains we shall meet in the byre." It was all the same to this German, however, and I have no doubt that he gave me credit for saying something very witty indeed, for he roared laughing, and slapped me on my shoulder again. I nodded to him and marched out of the hall-door as coolly if I were the com- mandant of the garrison. There were a hundred horses tethered about outside, most of them belonging to the Poles and hussars. Good little Violette was waiting with the others, and she whinnied when she saw me coming towards her. But I would not mount her. No. I was much too cunning for that. On the contrary. I chose the most shaggy little Cossack 282 THE EXPLOITS OF horse that I could see, and I sprang upon it with as much assurance as though it had belonged to my father before me. It had a great bag of plunder slung over its neck, and this I laid upon Violette's back, and led her along beside me. Never have you seen such a picture of the Cossack returning from the foray. It was superb. Well, the town was full of Prussians by this time. They lined the side-walks and pointed me out to each other, saying, as I could judge from their gestures, " There goes one of those devils of Cos- sacks. They are the boys for foraging and plunder." One or two officers spoke to me with an air of authority, but I shook my head and smiled, and said, "If the night is fine we shall meet under the oak tree, but if it rains we shall meet in the byre," at which they shrugged their shoulders and gave the matter up. In this way I worked along until I was beyond the northern outskirt of the town. I could see in the roadway two lancer vedettes with their black and white pennons, and I knew that when I was once past these I should be a free man once more. I made my pony trot, therefore, Violette rubbing her nose against my knee all the time, and looking up at me to ask how she had deserved that this hairy doormat of a creature should be preferred to her. I was not more than a BRIGADIER GERARD. 283 hundred yards from the Uhlans when, suddenly, you can imagine my feelings when I saw a real Cossack coming galloping along the road towards me. Ah, my friend, you who read this, if you have any heart, you will feel for a man like me, who had gone through so many dangers and trials, only at this very last moment to be confronted with one which appeared to put an end to everything. I will confess that for a moment I lost heart, and was inclined to throw myself down in my despair, and to cry out that I had been betrayed. But, no ; I was riot beaten even now. I opened two buttons of my tunic so that I might get easily at the Emperor's message, for it was my fixed determination when all hope was gone to swallow the letter and then die sword in hand. Then I felt that my little, crooked sword was loose in its sheath, and I trotted on to where the vedettes were waiting. They seemed inclined to stop me, but I pointed to the other Cossack, who was still a couple of hundred yards off, and they, understanding that I merely wished to meet him, let me pass with a salute. I dug my spurs into my pony then, for if I were only far enough from the lancers I thought I might manage the Cossack without much difficulty. He was an officer, a large, bearded man, with a gold 284 THE EXPLOITS OF chevron in his cap, just the same as mine. As I advanced he unconsciously aided me by pulling up his horse, so that I had a fine start of the vedettes. On I came for him, and I could see wonder changing to suspicion in his brown eyes as he looked at me and at my pony, and at my equipment. I do not know. what it was that was wrong, but he saw something which was as it should not be. He shouted out a question, and then when I gave no answer he pulled out his sword. I was glad in my heart to see him do so, for I had always rather fight than cut down an un- suspecting enemy. Now I made at him full tilt, and, parrying his cut, I got my point in just under the fourth button of his tunic. Down he went, and the weight of him nearly took me off my horse before I could disengage. I never glanced at him to see if he were living or dead, for I sprang off my pony and on to Violette, with a shake of my bridle and a kiss of my hand to the two Uhlans behind me. They galloped after me, shouting, but Violette had had her rest, and was just as fresh as when she started. I took the first side road to the west and then the first to the south, which would take me away from the enemy's country. On we went and on, every stride taking me further from my foes and nearer to my friends. At last, when I reached the end of a long stretch of BRIGADIER GERARD. 285 road, and looking back from it could see no sign of any pursuers, I understood that my troubles were over. And it gave me a glow of happiness, as I rode, to think that I had done to the letter what the Emperor had ordered. What would he say when he saw me? What could he say which would do justice to the incredible way in which I had risen above every danger? He had ordered me to go through Sermoise, Soissons, and Senlis, little dreaming that they were all three occupied by the enemy. And yet I had done it. I had borne .his letter in safety through each of these towns. Hussars, dragoons, lancers, Cossacks, and infantry — I had run the gauntlet of all of them, and had come out un- harmed. When I had got as far as Dammartin I caught a first glimpse of our own outposts. There was a troop of dragoons in a field, and of course I could see from the horsehair crests that they were French, I galloped towards them in order to ask them if all was safe between there and Paris, and as I rode I felt such a pride at having won my way back to my friends again, that I could not refrain from waving my sword in the air. At this a young officer galloped out from among the dragoons, also brandishing his sword, and it warmed my heart to think that he should 286 THE EXPLOITS O* come riding with such ardour and enthusiasm to greet me. I made Violette caracole, and as we came together I brandished my sword more gallantly than ever, but you can imagine my feelings when he suddenly made a cut at me which would certainly have taken my head off if I had not fallen forward with my nose in Violette's mane. My faith, it whistled just over my cap like an east wind. Of course, it came from this accursed Cossack uniform which, in my excitement, I had forgotten all about, and this young dragoon had imagined that I was some Russian champion who was challenging the French cavalry. My word, he was a frightened man when he understood how near he had been to killing the celebrated Brigadier Gerard. Well, the road was clear, and about three o'clock in the afternoon I was at St. Denis, though it took me a long two hours to get from there to Paris, for the road was blocked with commissariat waggons and guns of the artillery reserve, which was going north to Marmont and Mortier. You cannot con- ceive the excitement which my appearance in such a costume made in Paris, and when I came to the Rue de Rivoli I should think I had a quarter of a. mile of folk riding or running behind me. Word had got about from the dragoons (two of whom had come with me), and everybody knew about my BRIGADIER GERARD. 287 adventures and how I had come by my uniform. It was a triumph — men shouting and women waving their handkerchiefs and blowing kisses from the windows. Although I am a man singularly free from con- ceit, still I must confess that, on this one occasion, I could not restrain myself from showing that this reception gratified me. The Russian's coat had hung very loose upon me, but now I threw out my chest until it was as tight as a sausage-skin. And my little sweetheart of a mare tossed her mane and pawed with her front hoofs, frisking her tail about as though she said, " We've done it together this time. It is to us that commissions should be intrusted." When I kissed her between the nostrils as I dismounted at the gate of the Tuileries, there was as much shouting as if a bulletin had been read from the Grand Army. I was hardly in costume to visit a King ; but, after all, if one has a soldierly figure one can do without all that. I was shown up straight away to Joseph, whom I had often seen in Spain. He seemed as stout, as quiet, and as amiable as ever. Talleyrand was in the room with him, or I suppose I should call him the Duke of Benevento, but I confess that I like old names best. He read my letter when Joseph Buonaparte handed it to him, and then he looked at me with the strangest 288 THE EXPLOITS OF expression in those funny little, twinkling eyes of his. " Were you the only messenger ? " he asked. " There was one other, sir," said I. " Major Charpentier, of the Horse Grenadiers.' "He has not yet arrived," said the King of Spain. " If you had seen the legs of his horse, sire, you would not wonder at it," I remarked. " There may be other reasons," said Talleyrand, and he gave that singular smile of his. Well, they paid me a compliment or two, though they might have said a good deal more and yet have said too little. I bowed myself out, and very glad I was to get away, for I hate a Court as much as I love a camp. Away I went to my old friend Chaubert, in the Rue Miromesnil, and there I got his hussar uniform, which fitted me very well. He and Lisette and I supped together in his rooms, and all my dangers were forgotten. In the morning I found Violette ready for another twenty-league stretch. It was my intention to return instantly to the Emperor's head-quarters, for I was, as you may well imagine, impatient to hear his words of praise, and to receive my reward. I need not say that I rode back by a safe route, for I had seen quite enough of Uhlans and Cossacks, I passed through Meaux and Chateau "*Jfc ( WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?' HE SHOUTED." [ To face j BRIGADIER GERARD. 289 Thierry, and so in the evening I arrived at Rheims, where Napoleon was still lying. The bodies of our fellows and of St. Prest's Russians had all been buried, and I could see changes in the camp also. The soldiers looked better cared for ; some of the cavalry had received remounts, and everything was in excellent order. It was wonderful what a good general can effect in a couple of days. When I came to the head-quarters I was shown straight into the Emperor's room. He was drink- ing coffee at a writing-table, with a big plan drawn out on paper in front of him. Berthier and Macdonald were leaning, one over each shoulder, and he was talking so quickly that I don't believe that either of them could catch a half of what he was saying. But when his eyes fell upon me he dropped the pen on to the chart, and he sprang up with a look in his pale face which struck me cold. " What the deuce are you doing here ? " he shouted. When he was angry he had a voice like a peacock. " I have the honour to report to you, sire," said I, " that I have delivered your despatch safely to the King of Spain." " What ! " he yelled, and his two eyes trans- fixed me like bayonets. Oh, those dreadful eyes,, shifting from grey to blue, like steel in the U 290 THE EXPLOITS OF sunshine. I can see them now when I have a bad dream. " What has become of Charpentier ? " he asked. " He is captured," said Macdonald. " By whom ? " " The Russians." " The Cossacks ? " " No, a single Cossack." " He gave himself up ? " " Without resistance." " He is an intelligent officer. You will see that the medal of honour is awarded to him." When I heard those words I had to rub my eyes to make sure that I was awake. " As to you," cried the Emperor, taking a step forward as if he would have struck me, " you brain of a hare, what do you think that you were sent upon this mission for? Do you conceive that I would send a really important message by such a hand as yours, and through every village which the enemy holds ? How you came through them passes my comprehension ; but if your fellow- messenger had had but as little sense as you, my whole plan of campaign would have been ruined. Can you not see, coglione, that this message con- tained false news, and that it was intended to deceive the enemy whilst I put a very different scheme into execution ? " BRIGADIER GERARD. 291 When I heard those cruel words and saw the angry, white face which glared at me, I had to hold the back of a chair, for my mind was failing me and my knees would hardly bear me up. But then I took courage as 1 reflected that I was an honour- able gentleman, and that my whole life had been spent in toiling for this man and for my beloved country. " Sire," said I, and the tears would trickle down my cheeks whilst I spoke, " when you are dealing with a man like me you would find it wiser to deal openly. Had I known that you had wished the despatch to fall into the hands of the enemy, I would have seen that it came there. As I believed that I was to guard it, I was prepared to sacrifice my life for it. I do not believe, sire, that any man in the world ever met with more toils and perils than I have done in trying to carry out what I thought was your will." I dashed the tears from my eyes as I spoke, and with such fire and spirit as I could command I gave him an account of it all, of my dash through Soissons, my brush with the dragoons, my adven- ture in Senlis, my rencontre with Count Boutkine in the cellar, my disguise, my meeting with the Cossack officer, my flight, and how at the last moment I was nearly cut down by a French dragoon. The Emperor, Berthier, and Macdonald 2 9 2 BRIGADIER GERARD. listened with astonishment on their faces. When I had finished Napoleon stepped forward and he pinched me by the ear. " There, there ! " said he. " Forget anything which I may have said. I would have done better to trust you. You may go." I turned to the door, and my hand was upon the handle, when the Emperor called upon me to stop, i " You will see," said he, turning to the Duke of Tarentum, " that Brigadier Gerard has the special medal of honour, for I believe that if he has the thickest head he has also the stoutest heart in my army." HOW THE BRIGADIER WAS TEMPTED BY THE DEVIL. VIII. HOW THE BRIGADIER WAS TEMPTED BY THE DEVIL The spring is at hand, my friends. I can see the little green spear -heads breaking out once more upon the chestnut trees, and the cafe" tables have all been moved into the sunshine. It is more pleasant to sit there, and yet I do not wish to tell my little stories to the whole town. You have heard my doings as a lieutenant, as a squadron officer, as a colonel, as the chief of a brigade. But now I suddenly become something higher and more important. I become history. If you have read of those closing years of the life of the Emperor which were spent in the Island of St. Helena, you will remember that, again and again, he implored permission to send out one single letter which should be unopened by those who held him. Many times he made this request, and even went so far as to promise that he would provide for his own wants and cease to be an expense to the British Government if it were granted to him. But his guardians knew that he 296 THE EXPLOITS OF was a terrible man, this pale, fat gentleman in the straw hat, and they dared not grant him what he asked. Many have wondered who it was to whom he could have had anything so secret to say. Some have supposed that it was to his wife, and some that it was to his father-in-law ; some that it was to the Emperor Alexander, and some to Marshal Soult. What will you think of me, my friends, when I tell you it was to me — to me, the Brigadier Gerard — that the Emperor wished to write ? Yes, humble as you see me, with only my ioo francs a month of half-pay between me and hunger, it is none the less true that I was always in the Emperor's mind, and that he would have given his left hand for five minutes' talk with me. I will tell you to-night how this came about. It was after the Battle of Fere-Champenoise, where the conscripts in their blouses and their sabots made such a fine stand, that we, the more long-headed of us, began to understand that it was all over with us. Our reserve ammunition had been taken in the battle, and we were left with silent guns and empty caissons. Our cavalry, too, was in a deplorable condition, and my own brigade had been destroyed in the charge at Craonne. Then came the news that the enemy had taken Paris, that the citizens had mounted the white BRIGADIER GERARD. 297 cockade ; and finally, most terrible of all, that Marmont and his corps had gone over to the Bourbons. We looked at each other and asked how many more of our generals were going to turn against us. Already there were Jourdan, Marmont, Murat, Bernadotte, and Jomini — though nobody minded much about Jomini, for his pen was always sharper than his sword. We had been ready to fight Europe, but it looked now as though we were to fight Europe and half France as well. We had come to Fontainebleau by a long, forced march, and there we were assembled, the poor remnants of us, the corps of Ney, the corps of my cousin Gerard, and the corps of Macdonald : twenty-five thousand in all, with seven thousand of the guard. But we had our prestige, which was worth fifty thousand, and our Emperor, who was worth fifty thousand more. He was always among us, serene, smiling, confident, taking his snuff and playing with his little riding-whip. Never in the days of his greatest victories have I admired him as much as I did during the Campaign of France. One evening I was with a few of my officers, drinking a glass of wine of Suresnes. I mention that it was wine of Suresnes just to show you that times were not very good with us. Suddenly I was disturbed by a message from Berthier that he wished to see me. When I speak of my old 298 THE EXPLOITS OF comrades-in-arms, I will, with your permission, leave out all the fine foreign titles which they had picked up during the wars. They are ex- cellent for a Court, but you never heard them in the camp, for we could not afford to do away with our Ney, our Rapp, or our Soult— names which were as stirring to our ears as the blare of our trumpets blowing the reveille. It was Berthier, then, who Sent to say that he wished to see me. He had a suite of rooms at the end of the gallery of Francis the First, not very far from those of the Emperor. In the ante-chamber were waiting two men whom I knew well : Colonel Despienne, of the 57th of the line, and Captain Tremeau, of the Voltigeurs. They were both old soldiers — Tremeau had carried a musket in Egypt — and they were also both famous in the army for their courage and their skill with weapons. Tremeau had become a little stiff in the wrist, but Despienne was capable at his best of making me exert myself. He was a tiny fellow, about three inches short of the proper height for a man — he was exactly three inches shorter than myself — but both with the sabre and with the small-sword he had several times almost held his own against me when we used to exhibit at Verron's Hall of Arms in the Palais Royal. You may think that it made us sniff something in the wind when we found BRIGADIER GERARD. 299 three such men called together into one room. You cannot see the lettuce and dressing without suspecting a salad. " Name of a pipe ! " said Tremeau, in his barrack-room fashion. " Are we then expecting three champions of the Bourbons ? " To all of us the idea appeared not improbable. Certainly in the whole army we were the very three who might have been chosen to meet them. " The Prince of Neufchatel desires to speak with the Brigadier Gerard," said a footman, appearing at the door. In I went, leaving my two companions con- sumed with impatience behind me. It was a small room, but very gorgeously furnished. Berthier was seated opposite to me at a little table, with a pen in his hand and a note-book open before him. He was looking weary and slovenly — very different from that Berthier who used to give the fashion to the army, and who had so often set us poorer officers tearing our hair by trimming his pelisse with fur one campaign, and with grey astrakhan the next. On his clean-shaven, comely face there was an expression of trouble, and he looked at me as I entered his chamber in a way which had in it something furtive and displeasing. " Chief of Brigade Gerard ! " said he. " At your service, your Highness ! " I answered. 3 oo THE EXPLOITS OF " I must ask you, before I go farther, to promise me, upon your honour as a gentleman and a soldier, that what is about to pass between us shall never be mentioned to any third person." My word, this was a fine beginning ! I had no choice but to give the promise required. " You must know, then, that it is all over with the Emperor," said he, looking down at the table and speaking very slowly, as if he had a hard task in getting out the words. " Jourdan at Rouen and Marmont at Paris have both mounted the white cockade, and it is rumoured that Talleyrand has talked Ney into doing the same. It is evident that further resistance is useless, and that it can only bring misery upon our country. I wish to ask you, therefore, whether you are prepared to ioin me in laying hands upon the Emperor's person, and bringing the war to a conclusion by delivering him over to the allies ? " I assure you that when I heard this infamous proposition put forward by the man who had been the earliest friend of the Emperor, and who had received greater favours from him than any of his followers, I could only stand and stare at him in amazement. For his part he tapped his pen- handle against his teeth, and looked at me with a slanting head. " Well ? " he asked. BRIGADIER GERARD. 301 "lama little deaf on one side," said I, coldly. " There are some things which I cannot hear. I beg that you will permit me to return to my duties.' " Nay, but you must not be headstrong," rising up and laying his hand upon my shoulder. " You are aware that the Senate has declared against Napoleon, and that the Emperor Alexander re- fuses to treat with him." " Sir," I cried, with passion, " I would have you know that I do not care the dregs of a wine-glass for the Senate or for the Emperor Alexander either." " Then for what do you care ? " " For my own honour and for the service of my glorious master, the Emperor Napoleon." " That is all very well," said Berthier, peevishly, shrugging his shoulders. "Facts are facts, and as men of the world, we must look them in the face. Are we to stand against the will of the nation ? Are we to have civil war on the top of all our misfortunes ? And, besides, we are thinning away. Every hour comes the news of fresh desertions. We have still time to make our peace, and, indeed, to earn the highest reward, by giving up the Emperor." •• I shook so with passion that my sabre clattered against my thigh. 3 o2 THE EXPLOITS OF " Sir," I cried, " I never thought to have seen the day when a Marshal of France would have so far degraded himself as to put forward such a pro- posal. I leave you to your own conscience; but as for me, until I have the Emperor's own order, there shall always be the sword of Etienne Gerard between his enemies and himself." I was so moved by my own words and by the fine position which I had taken up, that my voice broke, and I could hardly refrain from tears. I should have liked the whole army to have seen me as I stood with my head so proudly erect and my hand upon my heart proclaiming my devotion to the Emperor in his adversity. It was one of the supreme moments of my life. " Very good," said Berthier, ringing a bell for the lackey. " You will show the Chief of Brigade Gerard into the salon." The footman led me into an inner room, where he desired me to be seated. For my own part, my only desire was to get away, and I could not understand why they should wish to detain me. When one has had no change of uniform during a whole winter's campaign, one does not feel at home in a palace. J had been there about a quarter of an hour when the footman opened the door again, and in came Colonel Despienne. Good heavens, what a TREMEAU AND BERTHIEE WERE ROLLING TOGETHER UPON THE FLOOR. [To face Page ^02 BRIGADIER GERARD. 303 sight he was ! His face was as white as a guards- man's gaiters, his eyes projecting, the veins swollen upon his forehead, and every hair of his moustache bristling like those of an angry cat. He was too angry to speak, and could only shake his hands at the ceiling and make a gurgling in his throat. " Parricide ! Viper ! " those were the words that I could catch as he stamped up and down the room. Of course it was evident to me that he had been subjected to the same infamous proposals as I had, and that he had received them in the same spirit. His lips were sealed to me, as mine were to him, by the promise which we had taken, but I con- tented myself with muttering " Atrocious ! Un- speakable ! " — so that he might know that I was in agreement with him. Well, we were still there, he striding furiously up and down, and I seated in the corner, when suddenly a most extraordinary uproar broke out in the room which we had just quitted. There was a snarling, worrying growl, like that of a fierce dog which has got his grip. Then came a crash and a voice calling for help. In we rushed, the two of us, and, my faith, we were none too soon. Old Tremeau and Berthier were rolling together upon the floor, with the table upon the top of them. The Captain had one of his great, skinny 3o 4 THE EXPLOITS OF yellow hands upon the Marshal's throat, and already his face was lead-coloured, and his eyes were starting from their sockets. As to Tremeau, he was beside himself, with foam upon the corners of his lips, and such a frantic expression upon him that I am convinced, had we not loosened his iron grip, finger by finger, that it would never have relaxed while the Marshal lived. His nails were white with the power of his grasp. " I have been tempted by the devil ! " he cried, as he staggered to his feet. "Yes, I have been tempted by the devil ! " As to Berthier, he could only lean against the wall, and pant for a couple of minutes, putting his hands up to his throat and rolling his head about. Then, with an angry gesture, he turned to the heavy blue curtain which hung behind his chair. The curtain was torn to one side and the Emperor stepped out into the room. We sprang to the salute, we three old soldiers, but it was all like a scene in a dream to us, and our eyes were as far out as Berthier's had been. Napoleon was dressed in his green-coated chasseur uniform, and he held his little, silver-headed switch in his hand. He looked at us each in turn, with a smile upon his face — that frightful smile in which neither eyes nor brow joined — and each in turn had, I believe, a pringling on his skin, for that was the BRIGADIER GERARD. 305 effect which the Emperor's gaze had upon most of us. Then he walked across to Berthier and put his hand upon his shoulder. "You must not quarrel with blows, my dear Prince," said he ; " they are your title to nobility." He spoke in that soft, caressing manner which he could assume. There was no one who could make the French tongue sound so pretty as the Emperor, and no one who could make it more harsh and terrible. " I believe he would have killed me," cried Berthier, still rolling his head about. "Tut, tut! I should have come to your help had these officers not heard your cries. But I trust that you are not really hurt ! " He spoke with earnestness, for he was in truth very fond of Berthier — more so than of any man, unless it were of poor Duroc. Berthier laughed, though not with a very good grace. " It is new for me to receive my injuries from French hands," said he. "And yet it was in the cause of France," re- turned the Emperor. Then, turning to us, he took old Tremeau by the ear. " Ah, old grumbler," said he, "you were one of my Egyptian grenadiers, were you not, and had your musket of honour at Marengo. I remember you very well, my good X 3 o6 THE EXPLOITS OF friend. So the old fires are not yet extinguished ! They still burn up when you think that your Em- peror is wronged. And you, Colonel Despienne, you would not even listen to the tempter. And you, Gerard, your faithful sword is ever to be between me and my enemies. Well, well, I have had some traitors about me, but now at last we are beginning to see who are the true men." You can fancy, my friends, the thrill of joy which it gave us when the greatest man in the whole world spoke to us in this fashion. Tremeau shook until I thought he would have fallen, and the tears ran down his gigantic moustache. If you had not seen it, you could never believe the influence which the Emperor had upon those coarse-grained, savage old veterans. " Well, my faithful friends," said he, " if you will follow me into this room, I will explain to you the meaning of this little farce which we have been acting. I beg, Berthier, that you will remain in this chamber, and so make sure that no one interrupts us." It was new for us to be doing business, with a Marshal of France as sentry at the door. How- ever, we followed the Emperor as we were ordered, and he led us into the recess of the window, gathering us around him and sinking his voice as he addressed us. BRIGADIER GERARD. 307 I have picked you out of the whole army," said he, "as being not only the most formidable but also the most faithful of my soldiers. I was con- vinced that you were all three men who would never waver in your fidelity to me. If I have ventured to put that fidelity to the proof, and to watch you while attempts were at my orders made upon your honour, it was only because, in the days when I have found the blackest treason amongst my own flesh and blood, it is necessary that I should be doubly circumspect. Suffice it that I am well convinced now that I can rely upon your valour." " To the death, sire ! " cried Tremeau, and we both repeated it after him. Napoleon drew us all yet a little closer to him, and sank his voice still lower. " What I say to you now I have said to no one — not to my wife or my brothers ; only to you. It is all up with us, my friends. We have come to our last rally. The game is finished, and we must make provision accordingly." My heart seemed to have changed to a nine- pounder ball as I listened to him. We had hoped against hope, but now when he, the man who was always serene and who always had reserves — when he, in that quiet, impassive voice of his, said that everything was over, we realized that the clouds 3 o8 THE EXPLOITS OF had shut for ever, and the last gleam gone. Tremeau snarled and gripped at his sabre, Despienne ground his teeth, and for my own part I threw out my chest and clicked my heels to show the Emperor that there were some spirits which could rise to adversity. " My papers and my fortune must be secured," whispered the Emperor. " The whole course of the future may depend upon my having them safe. They are our base for the next attempt — for I am very sure that these poor Bourbons would find that my footstool is too large to make a throne for them. Where am I to keep these precious things ? My belongings will be searched — so will the houses of my supporters. They must be secured and concealed by men whom I can trust with that which is more precious to me than my life. Out of the whole of France, you are those whom I have chosen for this sacred trust. " In the first place, I will tell you what these papers are. You shall not say that I have made you blind agents in the matter. They are the official proof of my divorce from Josephine, of my legal marriage to Marie Louise, and of the birth of my son and heir, the King of Rome. If we cannot prove each of these, the future claim of my family to the throne of France falls to the ground. Then there are securities to the value of forty BRIGADIER GERARD. 309 millions of francs — an immense sum, my friends, but of no more value than this riding-switch when compared to the other papers of which I have spoken. I tell you these things that you may realize the enormous importance of the task which I am committing to your care. Listen, now, while I inform you where you are to get these papers, and what you are to do with them. "They were handed over to my trusty friend, the Countess Walewski, at Paris, this morning. At five o'clock she starts for Fontainebleau in her blue berline. She should reach here between half- past nine and ten. The papers will be concealed in the berline, in a hiding-place which none know but herself. She has been warned that her carriage will be stopped outside the town by three mounted officers, and she will hand the packet over to your care. You are the younger man, Gerard, but you are of the senior grade. I confide to your care this amethyst ring, which you will show the lady as a token of your mission, and which you will leave with her as a receipt for her papers. " Having received the packet, you will ride with it into the forest as far as the ruined dove-house — the Colombier. It is possible that I may meet you there — but if it seems to me to be dangerous, I will send my body-servant, Mustapha, whose 310 THE EXPLOITS OF directions you may take as being mine. There is no roof to the Colombier, and to-night will be a full moon. At the right of the entrance you will find three spades leaning against the wall. With these you will dig a hole three feet deep in the north-eastern corner— that is, in the corner to the left of the door, and nearest to Fontainebleau. Having buried the papers, you will replace the soil with great care, and you will then report to me at the palace." These were the Emperor's directions, but given with an accuracy and minuteness of detail such as no one but himseh could put into an order. When he had finished, he made us swear to keep his secret as long as he lived, and as long as the papers should remain buried. Again and again he made us swear it before he dismissed us from his presence. Colonel Despienne had quarters at the " Sign 0/ the Pheasant," and it was there that we supped together. We were all three men who had been trained to take the strangest turns of fortune as part of our daily life and business, yet we were all flushed and moved by the extraordinary interview which we had had, and by the thought of the great adventure which lay before us. For my own part, it had been my fate three several times to take my orders from the lips of the Emperor BRIGADIER GERARD. 311 himself, but neither the incident of the Ajaccio murderers nor the famous ride which I made to Paris appeared to offer such opportunities as this new and most intimate commission. " If things go right with the Emperor," said Despienne, " we shall all live to be marshals yet." We drank with him to our future cocked hats and our batons. It was agreed between us that we should make our way separately to our rendezvous, which was to be the first milestone upon the Paris road. In this way we should avoid the gossip which might get about if three men who were so well known were to be seen riding out together. My little Violette had cast a shoe that morning, and the farrier was at work upon her when I returned, so that my comrades were already there when I arrived at the trysting-place. I had taken with me not only my sabre, but also my new pair of English rifled pistols, with a mallet for knocking in the charges. They had cost me a hundred and fifty francs at Trouvel's, in the Rue de Rivoli, but they would carry far further and straighter than the others. It was with one of them that I had saved old Bouvet's life at Leipzig. The night was cloudless, and there was a brilliant moon behind us, so that we always had three black horsemen riding down the white road 3" THE EXPLOITS OF in front of us. The country is so thickly wooded, however, that we could not see very far. The great palace clock had already struck ten, but there was no sign of the Countess. We began to fear that something might have prevented her from starting. And then suddenly we heard her in the distance. Very faint at first were the birr of wheels and the tat-tat-tat of the horses' feet. Then they grew louder and clearer and louder yet, until, a pair of yellow lanterns swung round the curve, and in their light we saw the two big brown horses tearing along with the high, blue carriage at the back of them. The postilion pulled them up panting and foaming within a few yards of us. In a moment we were at the window and had raised our hands in a salute to the beautiful pale face which looked out at us. "We are the three officers of the Emperor, madame," said I, in a low voice, leaning my face down to the open window. "You have already been warned that we should wait upon you." The Countess had a very beautiful, cream-tinted complexion of a sort which I particularly admire, but she grew whiter and whiter as she looked up at me. Harsh lines deepened upon her face until she seemed, even as I looked at her, to turn from youth into age. BRIGADIER GERARD. 313 " It is evident to me," she said, " that you are three impostors." If she had struck me across the face with her delicate hand she could not have startled me more. It was not her words only, but the bitterness with which she hissed them out. " Indeed, madame," said I. " You do us less than justice. These are the Colonel Despienne and Captain Tremeau. For myself, my name is Brigadier Gerard, and I have only to mention it to assure anyone who has heard of me that " " Oh, you villains ! " she interrupted. " You think that because I am only a woman I am very easily to be hoodwinked ! You miserable im- postors ! " I looked at Despienne, who had turned white with anger, and at Tremeau, who was tugging at his moustache. " Madame," said I, coldly, " when the Emperor did us the honour to intrust us with this mission, he gave me this amethyst ring as a token. I had not thought that three honourable gentlemen would have needed such corroboration, but I can only confute your unworthy suspicions by placing it in your hands." She held it up in the light of the carriage lamp, and the most dreadful expression of grief and of horror contorted her face. 314 THE EXPLOITS OF " It is his ! " she screamed, and then, " Oh, my God, what have I done ? What have I done ? " I felt that something terrible had befallen. "Quick, madame, quick ! " I cried. " Give us the papers ! " " I have already given them." " Given them ! To whom ? " " To three officers." "When?" " Within the half-hour." " Where are they ? " " God help me, I do not know. They stopped the berline, and I handed them over to them with- out hesitation, thinking that they had come from the Emperor." It was a thunder-clap. But those are the moments when I am at my finest. "You remain here," said I, to my comrades. " If three horsemen pass you, stop them at any hazard. The lady will describe them to you; I will be with you presently." One shake of the bridle, and I was flying into Fontainebleau as only Violette could have carried me. At the palace I flung myself off, rushed up the stairs, brushed aside the lackeys who would have stopped me, and pushed my way into the Emperor's own cabinet. He and Macdonald were busy with pencil and compasses over a chart. He looked up with an angry frown BRIGADIER GERARD. 315 at my sudden entry, but his face changed colour when he saw that it was I. " You can leave us, Marshal," said he, and then, the instant the door was closed : " What news about the papers ? " "They are gone!" said I, and in a few curt words I told him what had happened. His face was calm, but I saw the compasses quiver in his hand. " You must recover them, Gerard ! " he cried. '* The destinies of my dynasty are at stake. Not a moment is to be lost ! To horse, sir, to horse ! " " Who are they, sire ? " " I cannot tell. I am surrounded with treason. But they will take them to Paris. To whom should they carry them but to the villain Talley- rand ? Yes, yes, they are on the Paris road, and may yet be overtaken. With the three best mounts in my stables and " I did not wait to hear the end of the sentence. I was already clattering down the stair. I am sure that five minutes had not passed before I was galloping Violette out of the town with the bridle of one of the Emperor's own Arab chargers in either hand. They wished me to take three, but I should have never dared to look my Violette in the face again. I feel that the spectacle must have been superb when I dashed up to my comrades 3i6 THE EXPLOITS OF and pulled the horses on to their haunches in the moonlight. " No one has passed ? " "No one." " Then they are on the Paris road. Quick ! Up and after them ! " They did not take long, those good soldiers. In a flash they were upon the Emperor's horses, and their own left masterless by the roadside. Then away we went upon our long chase, I in the centre, Despienne upon my right, and Tremeau a little behind, for he was the heavier man. Heavens, how we galloped ! The twelve flying hoofs roared and roared along the hard, smooth road. Poplars and moon, black bars and silver streaks, for mile after mile our course lay along the same chequered track, with our shadows in front and our dust behind. We could hear the rasping of bolts and the creaking of shutters from the cottages as we thundered past them, but we were only three dark blurs upon the road by the time that the folk could look after us. It was just striking midnight as we raced into Corbail ; but an hostler with a bucket in either hand was throwing his black shadow across the golden fan which was cast from the open door of the inn. " Three riders ! " I gasped. " Have they passed ? " BRIGADIER GERARD. 317 " I have just been watering their horses," said he. " I should think they " " On, on, my friends ! " and away we flew, strik- ing fire from the cobblestones of the little town. A gendarme tried to stop us, but his voice was drowned by our rattle and clatter. The houses slid past, and we were out on the country road again, with a clear twenty miles between ourselves and Paris. How could they escape us, with the finest horses in France behind them ? Not one of the three had turned a hair, but Violette was always a head and shoulders to the front. She was going within herself too, and I knew by the spring of her that I had only to let her stretch herself, and the Emperor's horses would see the colour of her tail. " There they are ! " cried Despienne. " We have them ! " growled Tremeau. " On, comrades, on ! " I shouted, once more. A long stretch of white road lay before us in the moonlight. Far away down it we could see three cavaliers, lying low upon their horses' necks. Every instant they grew larger and clearer as we gained upon them. I could see quite plainly that the two upon either side were wrapped in mantles and rode upon chestnut horses, whilst the man between them was dressed in a chasseur uniform and mounted upon a grey. They were keeping 318 THE EXPLOITS OF abreast, but it was easy enough to see from the way in which he gathered his legs for each spring that the centre horse was far the fresher of the three. And the rider appeared to be the leader of the party, for we continually saw the glint of his face in the moonshine as he looked back to measure the distance between us. At first it was only a glimmer, then it was cut across with a moustache, and at last when we began to feel their dust in our throats I could give a name to my man. " Halt, Colonel de Montluc ! " I shouted. "Halt, in the Emperor's name ! " I had known him for years as a daring officer and an unprincipled rascal. Indeed, there was a score between us, for he had shot my friend, Treville, at Warsaw, pulling his trigger, as some said, a good second before the drop of the handkerchief. Well, the words were hardly out of my mouth when his two comrades wheeled round and fired their pistols at us. I heard Despienne give a terrible cry, and at the same instant both Tremeau and I let drive at the same man. He fell forward with his hands swinging on each side of his horse's neck. His comrade spurred on to Tremeau, sabre in hand, and I heard the crash which comes when a strong cut is met by a stronger parry. For my own part I never turned my head, but I touched BRIGADIER GERARD. 319 Violette with the spur for the first time and flew after the leader. That he should leave his com- rades and fly was proof enough that I should leave mine and follow. He had gained a couple of hundred paces, but the good little mare set that right before we could have passed two milestones. It was in vain that he spurred and thrashed like a gunner driver on a soft road. His hat flew off with his exertions, and his bald head gleamed in the moonshine. But do what he might, he still heard the rattle of the hoofs growing louder and louder behind him. I could not have been twenty yards from him, and the shadow head was touching the shadow haunch, when he turned with a curse in his saddle and emptied both his pistols, one after the other, into Violette. I have been wounded myself so often that I have to stop and think before I can tell you the exact number of times. I have been hit by musket balls, by pistol bullets, and by bursting shells, besides being pierced by bayonet, lance, sabre, and finally by a brad-awl, which was the most painful of any. Yet out of all these injuries I have never known the same deadly sickness as came over me when I felt the poor, silent, patient creature, which I had come to love more than anything in the world except my mother and the Emperor, reel 3 2o THE EXPLOITS OF and stagger beneath me. I pulled my second pistol from my holster and fired point-blank between the fellow's broad shoulders. He slashed his horse across the flank with his whip, and for a moment I thought that I had missed him. But then on the green of his chasseur jacket I saw an ever-widening black smudge, and he began to sway in his saddle, very slightly at first, but more and more with every bound, until at last over he went, with his foot caught in the stirrup and his shoulders thud-thud-thudding along the road, until the drag was too much for the tired horse, and I closed my hand upon the foam-spattered bridle- chain. As I pulled him up it eased the stirrup leather, and the spurred heel clinked loudly as it fell. " Your papers ! " I cried, springing from my saddle. " This instant ! " But even as I said it, the huddle of the green body and the fantastic sprawl of the limbs in the moonlight told me clearly enough that it was all over with him. My bullet had passed through his heart, and it was only his own iron will which had held him so long in the saddle. He had lived hard, this Montluc, and I will do him justice to say that he died hard also. But it was the papers — always the papers — of which I thought. I opened his tunic and I felt in BRIGADIER GERARD. 321 his shirt. Then I searched his holsters and his sabre-tasche. Finally I dragged off his boots, and undid his horse's girth so as to hunt under the saddle. There was not a nook or crevice which I did not ransack. It was useless. They were not upon him. When this stunning blow came upon me I could have sat down by the roadside and wept. Fate seemed to be righting against me, and that is an enemy from whom even a gallant hussar might not be ashamed to flinch. I stood with my arm over the neck of my poor wounded Violette, and I tried to think it all out, that I might act in the wisest way. I was aware that the Emperor had no great respect for my wits, and I longed to show him that he had done me an injustice. Montluc had not the papers. And yet Montluc had sacrificed his companions in order to make his escape. I could make nothing of that. On the other hand, it was clear that, if he had not got them, one or other of his comrades had. One of them was certainly dead. The other I had left fighting with Tremeau, and if he escaped from the old swordsman he had still to pass me. Clearly, my work lay behind me. I hammered fresh charges into my pistols after I had turned this over in my head. Then I put them back in the holsters, and I examined my little mare, she jerking her head and cocking her ears Y 322 THE EXPLOITS OF the while, as if to tell me that an old soldier like herself did not make a fuss about a scratch or two. The first shot had merely grazed her off-shoulder, leaving a skin-mark, as if she had brushed a wall. The second was more serious. It had passed through the muscle of her neck, but already it had ceased to bleed. I reflected that if she weakened I could mount Montluc's grey, and meanwhile I led him along beside us, for he was a fine horse, worth fifteen hundred francs at the least, and it seemed to me that no one had a better right to him than I. Well, I was all impatience now to get back to the others, and I had just given Violette her head, when suddenly I saw something glimmering in a field by the roadside. It was the brass-work upon the chasseur hat which had flown from Montluc's head ; and at the sight of it a thought made me jump in the saddle. How could the hat have flown off? With its weight, would it not have simply dropped? And here it lay, fifteen paces from the roadway ! Of course, he must have thrown it off when he had made sure that I would overtake him. And if he threw it off — I did not stop to reason any more, but sprang from the mare with my heart beating the pas-de-ckarge. Yes, it was all right this time. There, in the crown of the hat was stuffed a roll of papers in a parchment wrapper bound round with yellow ribbon. I fV!i(vHw ; i' l |;i : ""™' "™ : """'" : [To face page 322 BRIGADIER GERARD. 323 pulled it out with the one hand, and holding the hat in the other, I danced for joy in the moonlight. The Emperor would see that he had not made a mistake when he put his affairs into the charge of Etienne Gerard. I had a safe pocket on the inside of my tunic just over my heart, where I kept a few little things which were dear to me, and into this I thrust my precious roll. Then I sprang upon Violette, and was pushing forward to see what had become of Tremeau, when I saw a horseman riding across the field in the distance. At the same instant I heard the sound of hoofs approaching me, and there in the moonlight was the Emperor upon his white charger, dressed in his grey overcoat and his three- cornered hat, just as I had seen him so often upon the field of battle. " Well ! " he cried, in the sharp, sergeant-major way of his. " Where are my papers ? " I spurred forward and presented them without a word. He broke the ribbon and ran his eyes rapidly over them. Then, as we sat our horses head to tail, he threw his left arm across me with his hand upon my shoulder. Yes, my friends, simple as you see me, I have been embraced by my great master. " Gerard," he cried, " you are a marvel ! " I did not wish to contradict, him, and it brought 324 THE EXPLOITS OF a flush of joy upon my cheeks to know that he had done me justice at last. " Where is the thief, Gerard ? " he asked. " Dead, sire." "You killed him?" " He wounded my horse, sire, and would have escaped had I not shot him." " Did you recognise him ? ' " De Montluc is his name, sire — a Colonel of Chasseurs." "Tut," said the Emperor. "We have got the poor pawn, but the hand which plays the game is still out of our reach." He sat in silent thought for a little, with his chin sunk upon his chest. " Ah, Talleyrand, Talleyrand," I heard him mutter, " if I had been in your place and you in mine, you would have crushed a viper when you held it under your heel. For five years I have known you for what you are, and yet I have let you live to sting me. Never mind, my brave," he continued, turning to me, " there will come a day of reckoning for everybody, and when it arrives, I promise you that my friends will be remembered as well as my enemies." " Sire," said I, for I had had time for thought as well as he, " if your plans about these papers have been carried to the ears of your enemies, I trust you do not think that it was owing to BRIGADIER GERARD. 325 any indiscretion upon the part of myself or of my comrades." " It would be hardly reasonable for me to do so," he answered, " seeing that this plot was hatched in Paris, and that you only had your orders a few hours ago." "Then how ?" " Enough," he cried, sternly. " You take an undue advantage of your position." That was always the way with the Emperor. He would chat with you as with a friend and a brother, and then when he had wiled you into forgetting the gulf which lay between you, he would suddenly, with a word or with a look, remind you that it was as impassable as ever. When I have fondled my old hound until he has been encouraged to paw my knees, and I have then thrust him down again, it has made me think of the Emperor and his ways. He reined his horse round, and I followed him in silence and with a heavy heart. But when he spoke again his words were enough to drive all thought of myself out of my mind. " I could not sleep until I knew how you had fared," said he. "I have paid a price for my papers. There are not so many of my old soldiers left that I can afford to lose two in one night." When he said " two " it turned me cold. 326 THE EXPLOITS OF "Colonel Despienne was shot, sire," I stammered. "And Captain Tremeau cut down. Had I been a few minutes earlier, I might have saved him. The other escaped across the fields." I remembered that I had seen a horseman a moment before I had met the Emperor. He had taken to the fields to avoid me, but if I had known, and Violette been unwounded, the old soldier would not have gone unavenged. I was thinking sadly of his sword-play, and wondering whether it was his stiffening wrist which had been fatal to him, when Napoleon spoke again. " Yes, Brigadier," said he, " you are now the only man who will know where these papers are con- cealed." It must have been imagination, my friends, but for an instant I may confess that it seemed to me that there was a tone in the Emperor's voice which was not altogether one of sorrow. But the dark thought had hardly time to form itself in my mind before he let me see that I was doing him an in- justice. " Yes, I have paid a price for my papers," he said, and I heard them crackle as he put his hand up to his bosom. " No man has ever had more faithful servants — no man since the beginning of the world.' As he spoke we came upon the scene of the BRIGADIER GERARD. 327 struggle. Colonel Despienne and the man whom we had shot lay together some distance down the road, while their horses grazed contentedly beneath the poplars. Captain Tremeau lay in front of us upon his back, with his arms and legs stretched out, and his sabre broken short off in his hand. His tunic was open, and a huge blood-clot hung like a dark handkerchief out of a slit in his white shirt. I could see the gleam of his clenched teeth from under his immense moustache. The Emperor sprang from his horse and bent down over the dead man. " He was with me since Rivoli," said he, sadly. " He was one of my old grumblers in Egypt." And the voice brought the man back from the dead. I saw his eyelids shiver. He twitched his arm, and moved the sword-hilt a few. inches. He was trying to raise it in salute. Then the mouth opened, and the hilt tinkled down on to the ground. " May we all die as gallantly," said the Emperor, as he rose, and from my heart I added " Amen." There was a farm within fifty yards of where we were standing, and the farmer, roused from his sleep by the clatter of hoofs and the cracking of pistols, had rushed out to the roadside. We saw him now, dumb with fear and astonishment, staring open-eyed at the Emperor. It was to him that we 328 THE EXPLOITS OF committed the care of the four dead men and of the horses also. For my own part, I thought it best to leave Violette with him and to take De Montluc's grey with me, for he could not refuse to give me back my own mare, whilst there might be difficulties about the other. Besides, my little friend's wound had to be considered, and we had a long return ride before us. The Emperor did not at first talk much upon the way. Perhaps the deaths of Despienne and Tremeau still weighed heavily upon his spirits. He was always a reserved man, and in those times, when every hour brought him the news of some success of his enemies or defection of his friends, one could not expect him to be a merry com- panion. Nevertheless, when I reflected that he was carrying in his bosom those papers which he valued so highly, and which only a few hours ago appeared to be for ever lost, and when I further thought that it was I, Etienne Gerard, who had placed them there, I felt that I had deserved some little consideration. The same idea may have occurred to him, for when we had at last left the Paris high road, and had entered the forest, he began of his own accord to tell me that which I should have most liked to have asked him. " As to the papers," said he, " I have already told you that there is no one now, except you and BRIGADIER GERARD. 329 me, who knows where they are to be concealed. My Mameluke carried the spades to the pigeon- house, but I have told him nothing. Our plans, however, for bringing the packet from Paris have been formed since Monday. There were three in the secret, a woman and two men. The woman I would trust with my life ; which of the two men has betrayed us I do not know, but I think that I may promise to find out." We were riding in the shadow of the trees at the time, and I could hear him slapping his riding- whip against his boot, and taking pinch after pinch of snuff, as was his way when he was excited. " You wonder, no doubt," said he, after a pause, " why these rascals did not stop the carriage at Paris instead of at the entrance to Fontainebleau." In truth, the objection had not occurred to me, but I did not wish to appear to have less wits than he gave me credit for, so I answered that it was indeed surprising. " Had they done so they would have made a public scandal, and run a chance of missing their end. Short of taking the berline to pieces, they could not have discovered the hiding-place. He planned it well — he could always plan well — and he chose his agents well also. But mine were the better." It is not for me to repeat to you, my friends, all 330 THE EXPLOITS OF that was said to me by the Emperor as we walked our horses amid the black shadows and through the moon - silvered glades of the great forest. Every word of it is impressed upon my memory, and before I pass away it is likely that I will place it all upon paper, so that others may read it in the days to come. He spoke freely of his past, and something also of his future ; of the devotion of Macdonald, of the treason of Marmont, of the little King of Rome, concerning whom he talked with as much tenderness as any bourgeois father of a single child ; and, finally, of his father- in-law, the Emperor of Austria, who would, he thought, stand between his enemies and himself. For myself, I dared not say a word, remembering how I had already brought a rebuke upon myself ; but I rode by his side, hardly able to believe that this was indeed the great Emperor, the man whose glance sent a thrill through me, who was now pouring out his thoughts to me in short, eager sentences, the words rattling and racing like the hoofs of a galloping squadron. It is possible that, after the word-splittings and diplomacy of a Court, it was a relief to him to speak his mind to a plain soldier like myself. In this way the Emperor and I — even after years it sends a flush of pride into my cheeks to be able to put those words together — the Emperor BRIGADIER GERARD. 331 and I walked our horses through the Forest of Fontainebleau, until we came at last to the Colombier. The three spades were propped against the wall upon the right-hand side of the ruined door, and at the sight of them the tears sprang to my eyes as I thought of the hands for which they were intended. The Emperor seized one and I another. " Quick ! " said he. " The dawn will be upon us before we get back to the palace." We dug the hole, and placing the papers in one of my pistol holsters to screen them from the damp, we laid them at the bottom and covered them up. We then carefully removed all marks of the ground having been disturbed, and we placed a large stone upon the top. I dare say that since the Emperor was a young gunner, and helped to train his pieces against Toulon, he had not worked so hard with his hands. He was mopping his forehead with his silk handkerchief long before we had come to the end of our task. The first grey cold light of morning was stealing through the tree trunks when we came out to- gether from the old pigeon-house. The Emperor laid his hand upon my shoulder as I stood ready to help him to mount. " We have left the papers there," said he, solemnly, "and I desire that you shall leave all 332 THE EXPLOITS OF thought of them there also. Let the recollection of them pass entirely from your mind, to be re- vived only when you receive a direct order under my own hand and seal. From this time onwards you forget all that has passed." " I forget it, sire," said I. We rode together to the edge of the town, where he desired that I should separate from him. I had saluted, and was turning my horse, when he called me back. " It is easy to mistake the points of the compass in the forest," said he. " Would you not say that it was in the north-eastern corner that we buried them?" " Buried what, sire ? " " The papers, of course," he cried, impatiently. " What papers, sire ? " " Name of a name ! Why, the papers that you have recovered for me." " I am really at a loss to know what your Majesty is talking about." He flushed with anger for a moment, and then he burst out laughing. " Very good, Brigadier ! " he cried. " I begin to believe that you are as good a diplomatist as you are a soldier, and I cannot say more than that." So that was my strange adventure in which I BRIGADIER GERARD. 333 found myself the friend and confident agent of the Emperor. When he returned from Elba he refrained from digging up the papers until his position should be secure, and they still remained in the corner of the old pigeon-house after his exile to St. Helena. It was at this time that he was desirous of getting them into the hands of his own supporters, and for that purpose he wrote me, as I afterwards learned, three letters, all of which were intercepted by his guardians. Finally, he offered to support himself and his own establish- ment — which he might very easily have done out of the gigantic sum which belonged to him — if they would only pass one of his letters unopened. This request was refused, and so, up to his death in '21, the papers still remained where I have told you. How they came to be dug up by Count Bertrand and myself, and who eventually obtained them, is a story which I would tell you, were it not that the end has not yet come. Some day you will hear of those papers, and you will see how, after he has been so long in his grave, that great man can still set Europe shaking. When that day comes, you will think of Etienne Gerard, and you will tell your children that you have heard the story from the lips of the man who was the only one living of all who took part in that strange history — the man who was tempted by 334 BRIGADIER GERARD. Marshal Berthier, who led that wild pursuit upon the Paris road, who was honoured by the embrace of the Emperor, and who rode with him by moon- light in the Forest of Fontainebleau. The buds are bursting and the birds are calling, my friends. You may find better things to do in the sunlight than listening to the stories of an old, broken soldier. 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Thin Paper Edition of Henry Seton Merriman's Novels, in 14 Volumes With an Introduction in the First Volume by E. F. S. and S. G. T. In clear type and handy size. Fcap. 8vo, gilt top Each Volume j fs- net In Cloth ( 3s. net in Leather Or the 14 Volumes hri 31s. 6d. net in Cloth or gold lettered case / 50s. net in Leather TITLES OF THE VOLUMES i. The Slave of the Lamp 2. The Sowers 3- From One Generation to Another 4- With Edged Tools 5. The Grey Lady 6. Flotsam 7- In Kedar's Tents 8. Roden's Corner 9- The Isle of Unrest io. The Velvet Glove ii. The Vultures 12. Barlasch of the Guard 13- Tomaso's Fortune, and other Stories i4- The Last Hope LONDON: SMITH, ELDER 6 CO. 15 Waterloo Place, S.W. 6/- RECENT FICTION. 6/- THE PALADIN: As Beheld by a Woman of Temperament. By HORACE ANNESLEY VACHELL. Third Impression. DAILY TELEGRAPH.— " A remarkably clever study of diverse characters and a deeply interesting story. . . . 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By KATHARINE TYNAN. 2ND Impression. b IRISH INDEPENDENT.— 11 For charm of diction and brilliancy of descrip- tion few writers can equal Miss Katharine Tynan, and we doubt if amongst the many excellent works of fiction she has written there is a story more delightfully fresh and artistically perfect than her latest novel." THE CARAVANERS. By the Author of "Elizabeth and her German Garden." 5th Impression. DAILY CHRONICLE. — "It is very amusing — could our author write any- thing that was really dull? One laughs and laughs again at the colossal conceit of the Baron." OBSERVER.— "'Elisabeth' is always maliciously entertaining. ... We are grateful to the Baron for being so outrageous, and to ' Elizabeth ' for meeting him and for letting us meet him, too." London : SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 Waterloo Place, S.W. Works by the Author of ' Elizabeth and her German Garden.' Large post 8vo. 6s. each. THE CARAVANERS. Fifth Impression. TIMES. — 'Very agreeable humour sparkles on every page of this entertaining narrative of experience on the Kentish roads.' DAIL Y CHRONICLE.—' It is very amusing— could our author write anything that was really dull? One laughs and laughs again at the colossal conceit of the Baron.' OBSERVER. — '" Elizabeth " is always maliciously entertaining. . . . We are grateful to the Baron for being so outrageous, and to "Elizabeth" for meeting him and for letting us meet him, too.' FRAULEIN SCHMIDT AND MR. ANSTRUTHER: Being the Letters of an Independent Woman. Second Edition. DAILY TELEGRAPH.—- A volume of rare charm, a volume quite apart from the ruck of contemporary fiction.' A THENM UM.—' The most attractive piece of work that the author has yet given us. It has all the old grace and vivacity, and is free from the suspicion of coldness and heartlessness that occasionally dashed our enjoyment in her earlier books. .- . . Fraulein Schmidt is altogether delightful ; her letters are invariably piquant and entertaining, and we may add that they contain much excellent advice and criticism.' ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS.—' Elizabeth has excelled her- self in this new book. The brave spirit of the Fraulein is fit to go hand-in- hand with Stevenson. ' THE PRINCESS PRISCILLA'S FORTNIGHT. Fifth Impression. SPECTA TOR.—' Priscilla is one of the most engaging characters we, have met in fiction for years.' WESTMINSTER G A ZE TTE.—' Humour and tears lie very close to us and to one another in this most delightful book.' ACADEMY. ' We may as well confess at once that Elizabeth has. enchanted us again ; enchanted us against our reason. Her qualities seem to us to lie outside the realm of sober argument.' London: SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 Waterloo Place, S.W. THE CORNHILL MAGAZINE. Published Monthly. Price Is. Annual Subscription, including postage, to any address in the Postal Union, 14s. (or to Canada and Newfoundland, 13 s.), payable in advance. SOME PRESS OPINIONS. British Weekly. * The Cornhill is always good — a judicious blend of fiction, biography, and miscellaneous articles.' Public Opinion. ' A most readable magazine. It is readable from beginning to end, and with matter worth reading.' Country Life. ' The Editor of the Cornhill Magazine is usually successful in getting together a number of anecdotal literary articles. ' Guardian. ' The counsel of perfection is to purchase the Cornhill, that you may not only enjoy its contents but keep them to show a friend.' OPINIONS OP PUBLIC LIBRARIANS. Arbroath. ' My Committee are of opinion that there is room for one of its kind. (Personally, I think there is only one of the Cornhill kind, and that is the Cornhill itself. ) I may say at once that the Corn- hill exactly meets the wants of a select body of readels. ' Hampstead. ' I find upon inquiry at our five Libraries that the Cornhill is well read, and certainly it appeals to a section of readers who can appreciate better literary fare than is offered in most of the modern monthlies. May I take this op- portunity of expressing my own admiration for the high literary tone which you preserve in the Cornhill.' Kinross. ' The magazine is much appre- ciated by our better-class readers and is well read.' To be had of all Booksellers and Newsagents, or direct from the Publishers, London : SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 Waterloo Place, S.W. PR4622.E9 O i n 910 n,Ver8 " yLibrary .j[Jj« ..gjits of brigadier Gerard. 3 1924 013 342 369 \'i''r