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 the Cornell University Library. 
 
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 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 92401 3342260 
 
Cornell University Library 
 PR 4622.A2 1908 
 
 Adventures of Gerard. 
 
 3 1924 013 342 260 
 
ADVENTURES 
 OF GERARD 
 
'Right in Front ok 
 
 us WAS DRAWN UV 
 
 Grenadiers." 
 
 A Triple Line of Russian 
 
ADVENTURES 
 OF GERARD 
 
 By a. CONAN DOYLE 
 
 II ftait brave mais avec cette graine de folic 
 dans sa bravoure que les Fran;ais aimeut. 
 
 Fkbnch Biography. 
 
 NEW EDITION 
 
 
 
 
 LONDON 
 
 .( 
 
 1 ' ■ 
 
 SMITH, ELDER & CO., 15, WATERLOO PLACE 
 
 1908 
 
 % 
 
 (All rights reserved) 
 
 
 ■'ti„..:i 
 

PREFACE 
 
 T HOPE that some readers may possibly 
 -*■ be interested in these little tales of 
 the Napoleonic soldiers to the extent of 
 following them up to the springs from which 
 they flow. The age was rich in military 
 material, some of it the most human and 
 the most picturesque that I have ever 
 read. Setting aside historical works or the 
 biographies of the leaders, there is a mass 
 of evidence written by the actual fighting 
 men themselves, which describes their feel- 
 ings and their experiences, stated always from 
 the point of view of the particular branch 
 of the service to which they belonged. The 
 Cavalry were particularly happy in their 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 writers of memoirs. Thus De Rocca, in 
 his " Mdmoires sur la Guerre des Frangais 
 en Espagne," has given the narrative of a 
 Hussar, while De Naylies, in his " M^moires 
 sur la Guerre d' Espagne," gives the same 
 campaigns from the point of view of the 
 Dragoon. Then we have the " Souvenirs 
 Militaires du Colonel de Gonneville," which 
 treat a series of wars, including that of 
 Spain, as seen from under the steel-brimmed, 
 hair-crested helmet of a Cuirassier. Pre- 
 eminent among all these works, and among- 
 all military memoirs, are the famous 
 reminiscences of Marbot, which can be 
 obtained in an English form. Marbot was 
 a Chasseur, so again we obtain the Cavalry 
 point of view. Among other books which 
 help one to an understanding of the 
 Napoleonic soldier, I would specially re- 
 commend " Les Cahiers du Capitaine 
 Coignet," which treat the wars from the 
 
PREFACE vii 
 
 point of view of the private of the Guards, 
 and " Les M^moires du Sergeant Bourgoyne," 
 who was a non-commissioned officer in the 
 same corps. The "Journal" of Sergeant 
 Fricasse and the " Recollections " of de 
 Fezenac and of de Segur complete the 
 materials from which I have worked in 
 my endeavour to give a true historical 
 and military atmosphere to an imaginary 
 figure. 
 
 ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE. 
 
 March, 1903. 
 
CONTENTS 
 I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 HOW THE BRIGADIER LOST HIS EAR ... I 
 
 II 
 
 HOW THE BRIGADIER CAPTURED SARAGOSSA . . 49 
 
 III 
 
 HOW THE BRIGADIER SLEW THE FOX ... 96 
 
 IV 
 
 HOW THE BRIGADIER SAVED AN ARMY. . .127 
 
 V 
 
 HOW THE BRIGADIER TRIUMPHED IN ENGLAND . 1 76 
 
 VI 
 
 HOW THE BRIGADIER RODE TO MINSK . . "SIS 
 
 VII 
 HOW THE BRIGADIER BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO — 
 
 I. — THE STORY OF THE FOREST INN . -259 
 
 II. — THE STORY OF THE NINE PRUSSIAN 
 
 HORSEMEN 300 
 
 VIII 
 
 THE LAST ADVENTURE OF THE BRIGADIER . . 344 
 
 ix 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 " Right in Front of us was drawn up a Triple 
 
 Line of Russian Grenadiers" .... Frontisfiece 
 
 "The Gondolier fell upon me from behind" . Facing 12 
 
 "With Dignity I advanced towards the 
 
 Tribunal" 22 
 
 ' He fell with a Loud Crashing through the 
 Branches and came with a Thud to the 
 Ground" 70 
 
 "With One Impulse the Twelve Swords flew 
 from their Scabbards and we^e raised in 
 Salute" ,,94 
 
 " I SAT upon my Dead Horse and sank my Face 
 
 IN MY Hands in my Despair" .... „ 108 
 
 "I looked back and waved the Blood-stained 
 
 Sabre in the Air" „ 124 
 
 "We could see that Impassive Body amid the 
 Flames, and the Black Figures of the 
 Guerillas as they danced round the Pile ". „ 174 
 
 " Holding me with one Hand, he struck me 
 
 with the Other" „ i86 
 
 "His Bullet would have blown out my Brains 
 
 had I BEEN Erect" » 208 
 
 'The Words were his Death-warrant" . . „ 258 
 
 " The young Surgeon pushed open the Trap-door 
 
 AND CLIMBED INTO THE LOFT" 284 
 
 " ' I AM Marshal Blucher. Go on 1 go on I ' cried 
 
 the impatient old man " , 290 
 
 " He rode in Silence, the Greatest and the 
 
 Saddest of Men " 316 
 
 "I heard the Crack, and my Horse gave a 
 
 Convulsive Spring" .338 
 
 "I raised my Hand in a Last Salute" . , „ 07a 
 
 X 
 
ADVENTURES OF 
 GERARD 
 
 I 
 
 How the Brigadier lost his Ear 
 
 IT was the old Brigadier who was talking 
 in the caf6. 
 
 I have seen a great many cities, my friends. 
 I would not dare to tell you how many I 
 have entered as a conqueror with eight 
 hundred of my little fighting devils clanking 
 and jingling behind me. The cavalry were 
 in front of the Grande Arm^e, and the 
 Hussars of Conflans were in front of the 
 cavalry, and I was in front of the Hussars. 
 But of all the cities which we visited Venice 
 is the most ill-built and ridiculous. I cannot 
 
2 ^ HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 imagine how the people who laid it out 
 thought that the cavalry could manoeuvre. 
 It would puzzle Murat or Lasalle to bring 
 a squadron into that square of theirs. For 
 this reason we left Kellermann's heavy- 
 brigade and also my own Hussars at Padua 
 on the mainland. But Suchet with the 
 infantry held the town, and he had chosen 
 me as his aide-de-camp for that winter, 
 because he was pleased about the affair of 
 the Italian fencing-master at Milan. The 
 fellow was a good swordsman, and it was 
 fortunate for the credit of French arms that 
 it was I who was opposed to him. Besides, 
 he deserved a lesson, for if one does not 
 like a prima donnas singing one can always 
 be silent, but it is intolerable that a public 
 affront should be put upon a pretty woman. 
 So the sympathy was all with me, and after 
 the affair had blown over and the man's 
 widow had been pensioned, Suchet chose me 
 as his own galloper, and I followed him to 
 Venice, where I had the strange adventure 
 which I am about to tell you. 
 
LOST HIS EAR 3 
 
 You have not been to Venice ? No, for 
 it is seldom that the French travel. We 
 were great travellers in those days. From 
 Moscow to Cairo we had travelled every- 
 where, but we went in larger parties than 
 were convenient to those whom we visited, 
 and we carried our passports in our limbers. 
 It will be a bad day for Europe when the 
 French start travelling again, for they are 
 slow to leave their homes ; but when they 
 have done so no one can say how far they 
 will go if they have a guide like our little 
 man to point out the way. But the great 
 days are gone and the great men are dead, 
 and here am I, the last of them, drinking 
 wine of Suresnes and telling old tales in a 
 caf6. 
 
 But it is of Venice that I would speak. 
 The folks there live like water-rats upon a 
 mud-bank ; but the houses are very fine, 
 and the churches, especially that of St. 
 Mark, are as great as any I have seen. 
 But, above all, they are all proud of their 
 statues and their pictures, which are the 
 
4 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 most famous in Europe. There are many 
 soldiers who think that because one's trade 
 is to make war one should never have a 
 thought above fighting and plunder. There 
 was old Bouvet, for example — the one who 
 was killed by the Prussians on the day that 
 I won the Emperor's medal ; if you took 
 him away from the camp and the canteen, 
 and spoke to him of books or of art, he 
 would sit and stare at you. But the highest 
 soldier is a man like myself who can under- 
 stand the things of the mind and the soul. 
 It is true that I was very yOung when I 
 joined the army, and that the quarter-master 
 was my only teacher ; but if you go about 
 the world with your eyes open you cannot 
 help learning a great deal. 
 
 Thus I was able to admire the pictures 
 in Venice, and to know the names of the 
 great men, Michael Titiens, and Angelus, 
 and the others, who had painted them. No 
 one can say that Napoleon did not admire 
 them also, for the very first thing which he 
 did when he captured the town was to send 
 
LOST HIS EAR 5 
 
 the best of them to Paris. We all took 
 what we could get, and I had two pictures 
 for my share. One of them, called " Nymphs 
 Surprised," I kept for myself, and the other, 
 " Saint Barbara," I sent as a present for my 
 mother. 
 
 It must be confessed, however, that some 
 of our men behaved very badly in this 
 matter of the statues and the pictures. The 
 people at Venice were very much attached 
 to them, and as to the four bronze horses 
 which stood over the gate of their great 
 church, they loved them as dearly as if they 
 had been their children. I have always 
 been a judge of a horse, and I had a good 
 look at these ones, but I could not see that 
 there was much to be said for them. They 
 were too coarse-limbed for light cavalry 
 chargers, and they had not the weight for 
 the gun-teams. Howeyer, they were the 
 only four horses„ alive or dead, in the whole 
 town, so it was not to be expected that the 
 people would know any better. They wept 
 bitterly when they were sent away, and ten 
 
6 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 French soldiers were found floating in the 
 canals that night. As a punishment for 
 these murders a great many more of their 
 pictures were sent away, and the soldiers 
 took to breaking the statues and firing their 
 muskets at the stained-glass windows. This 
 made the people furious, and there was very 
 bad feeling in the town. Many officers and 
 men disappeared during that winter, and 
 even their bodies were never found. 
 
 For myself I had plenty to do, and I never 
 found the time heavy on my hands. In 
 every country it has been my custom to try 
 to learn the language. For this reason I 
 always look round for some lady who will 
 be kind enough to teach it to me, and then 
 we practise it together. This is the most 
 interesting way of picking it up, and before 
 I was thirty I could speak nearly every 
 tongue in Europe ; but it must be confessed 
 that what you learn is not of much use for 
 the ordinary purposes of life. My business, 
 for example, has usually been with soldiers 
 and peasants, and what advantage is it to be 
 
LOST HIS EAR 7 
 
 able to say to them that I love only them, 
 and that I will come back when the wars 
 are over ? 
 
 Never have I had so sweet a teacher as 
 in Venice. Lucia was her first name, and 
 her second — but a gentleman forgets second 
 names. I can say this with all discretion, 
 that she was of one of the senatorial families 
 of Venice, and that her grandfather had been 
 Doge of the town. She was of an exquisite 
 beauty — and when I, Etienne Gerard, use 
 such a word as " exquisite," my friends, it 
 has a meaning. I have judgment, I have 
 memories, I have the means of comparison. 
 Of all the women who have loved me there 
 are not twenty to whom I could apply such 
 a term as that. But I say again that Lucia 
 was exquisite. Of the dark type I do not 
 recall her equal unless it were Dolores of 
 Toledo. There was a little brunette whom 
 I loved at Santarem when I was soldiering 
 under Massena in Portugal — her name has 
 escaped me. She was of a perfect beauty, 
 but she had not the figure nor the grace of 
 
8 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 Lucia. There was Agnes also. I could not 
 put one before the other, but I do none an 
 injustice when I say that Lucia was the equal 
 of the best. 
 
 It was over this matter of pictures that I 
 had first met her, for her father owned a 
 palace on the farther side of the Rialto 
 Bridge upon the Grand Canal, and it was 
 so packed with wall-paintings that Suchet 
 sent a party of sappers to cut some of them 
 out and send them to Paris. I had gone 
 down with them, and after I had seen 
 Lucia in tears it appeared to me that the 
 plaster would crack if it were taken from 
 the support of the wall. I said so, and the 
 sappers were withdrawn. After that I was 
 the friend of the family, and many a flask of 
 Chianti have I cracked with the father and 
 many a sweet lesson have I had from the 
 daughter. Some of our French officers 
 married in Venice that winter, and I might 
 have done the same, for I loved her with all 
 my heart ; but Etienne Gerard had his 
 sword, his horse, his regiment, his mother, 
 
LOST HIS EAR 9 
 
 his Emperor, and his career. A debonair 
 Hussar has room in his heart for love, but 
 none for a wife. So I thought then, my 
 friends, but I did not see the lonely days 
 when I should long to clasp those vanished 
 hands, and turn my head away when I saw 
 old comrades with their tall children standing 
 round their chairs. This love which I had 
 thought was a joke and a plaything — it is 
 only now that I understand that it is the 
 moulder of one's life, the most solemn and 
 sacred of all things. . , . Thank you, my 
 friend, thank you ! It is a good wine, and a 
 second bottle cannot hurt. 
 
 And now I will tell you how my love for 
 Lucia was the cause of one of the most 
 terrible of all the wonderful adventures which 
 have ever befallen me, and how it was that I 
 came to lose the top of my right ear. You 
 have often asked me why it was missing. 
 To-night for the first time I will tell you. 
 
 Suchet's head-quarters at that time was 
 the old palace of the Doge Dandolo, which 
 stands on the lagoon not far from the place 
 
lo HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 of San Marco. It was near the end of the 
 winter, and I had returned one night from 
 the Theatre Goldini, when I found a note 
 from Lucia and a gondola waiting. She 
 prayed me to come to her at once as she was 
 in trouble. To a Frenchman and a soldier 
 there was but one answer to such a note. 
 In an instant I was in the boat and the 
 gondolier was pushing out into the dark 
 lagoon. I remember that as I took my seat 
 in the boat I was struck by the man's great 
 size. He was not tall, but he was one of 
 the broadest men that I have ever seen in 
 my life. But the gondoliers of Venice are 
 a strong breed, and powerful men are 
 common enough among them. The fellow 
 took his place behind me and began to row. 
 A good soldier in an enemy's country 
 should everywhere and at all times be on 
 the alert. It has been one of the rules of 
 my life, and if I have lived to wear grey 
 hairs it is because I have observed it. And 
 yet upon that night I was as careless as a 
 foolish young recruit who fears lest he should 
 
LOST HIS EAR 
 
 II 
 
 be thought to be afraid. My pistols I had 
 left behind in my hurry. My sword was at 
 my belt, but it is not always the most con- 
 venient of weapons. I lay back in my 
 seat in the gondola, lulled by the gentle 
 swish of the water and the steady creak- 
 ing of the oar. Our way lay through a 
 network of narrow canals with high houses 
 towering on either side and a thin slit of 
 star-spangled sky above us. Here and there, 
 on the bridges which spanned the canal, 
 there was the dim glimmer of an oil lamp, 
 and sometimes there came a gleam from 
 some niche, where a candle burned before 
 the image of a saint. But save for this it 
 was all black, and one could only see the 
 water by the white fringe which curled 
 round the long black nose of our boat. It 
 was a place and a time for dreaming. I 
 thought of my own past life, of all the great 
 deeds in which I had been concerned, of 
 the horses that I had handled, and of the 
 women that I had loved. Then I thought 
 also of my dear mother, and I fancied her 
 
12 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 joy when she heard the folk in the village 
 talking about the fame of her son. Of the 
 Emperor also I thought, and of France, 
 the dear fatherland, the sunny France, 
 mother of beautiful daughters and of gallant 
 sons. My heart glowed within me as I 
 thought of how we had brought her colours 
 so many hundred leagues beyond her borders. 
 To her greatness I would dedicate my life, 
 I placed my hand upon my heart as I 
 swore it, and at that instant the gondolier 
 fell upon me from behind. 
 
 When I say that he fell upon me I do not 
 mean merely that he attacked me, but that 
 he really did tumble upon me with all his 
 weight. The fellow stands behind you and 
 above you as he rows, so that you can neither 
 see him nor can you in any way guard 
 against such an assault. One moment I had 
 sat with my mind filled with sublime resolu- 
 tions, the next I was flattened out upon the 
 bottom of the boat, the breath dashed out 
 of my body, and this monster pinning me 
 down. I felt the fierce pants of his hot 
 
'The Gondolier fell upon me from behind. 
 
LOST HIS EAR 13 
 
 breath upon the back of my neck. In an 
 instant he had torn away my sword, had 
 slipped a sack over my head, and had tied 
 a rope firmly round the outside of it. There 
 I was at the bottom of the gondola as 
 helpless as a trussed fowl. I could not 
 shout, I could not move ; I was a mere 
 bundle. An instant later I heard once more 
 the swishing of the water and the creaking 
 of the oar. This fellow had done his work 
 and had resumed his journey as quietly and 
 unconcernedly as if he were accustomed to 
 clap a sack over a colonel of Hussars every 
 day of the week. 
 
 I cannot tell you the humiliation and also 
 the fury which filled my mind as I lay there 
 like a helpless sheep being carried to the 
 butcher's. I, Etienne Gerard, the champion 
 of the six brigades of light cavalry and the 
 first swordsman of the Grand Army, to be 
 overpowered by a single .unarmed man in 
 such a fashion ! Yet I lay quiet, for there is 
 a time to resist and there is a time to save 
 one's strength. I had felt the fellow's grip 
 
14 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 upon my arms, and I knew that I would be a 
 child in his hands. I waited quietly, there- 
 fore, with a heart which burned with rage, 
 until my opportunity should come. 
 
 How long I lay there at the bottom of 
 the boat I cannot tell ; but it seemed to 
 me to be a long time, and always there 
 were the hiss of the waters and the steady 
 creaking of the oars. Several times we 
 turned corners, for I heard the long, sad 
 cry which these gondoliers give when they 
 wish to warn their fellows that they are 
 coming. At last, after a considerable jour- 
 ney, I felt the side of the boat scrape up 
 against a landing-place. The fellow knocked 
 three times with his oar upon wood, and 
 in answer to his summons I heard the rasping 
 of bars and the turning of keys. A great 
 door creaked back upon its hinges. 
 
 "Have you got him?" asked a voice, in 
 I talian. 
 
 My monster gave a laugh and kicked the 
 sack in which I lay. 
 
 " Here he is," said he. 
 
LOST HIS EAR 15 
 
 " They are waiting." He added some- 
 thing which I could not understand. 
 
 " Take him, then," said my captor. He 
 raised me in his arms, ascended some steps, 
 and I was thrown down upon a hard floor. 
 A moment later the bars creaked and the 
 key whined once more. I was a prisoner 
 inside a house. 
 
 From the voices and the steps there 
 seemed now to be several people round 
 me. I understand Italian a great deal 
 better than I speak it, and I could make 
 out very well what they were saying. 
 
 "You have not killed him, Matteo.?" 
 
 " What matter if I have ? " 
 
 " My faith, you will have to answer for 
 it to the tribunal." 
 
 " They will kill him, will they not ? " 
 
 "Yes, but it is not for you or me to 
 take it out of their hands." 
 
 "Tut! I have not killed him. Dead 
 men do not bite, and his cursed teeth met 
 in my thumb as I pulled the sack over his 
 head." 
 
i6 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 " He lies very quiet." 
 
 " Tumble him out and you will find he 
 is lively enough." 
 
 The cord which bound me was undone 
 and the sack drawn from over my head. 
 With my eyes closed I lay motionless upon 
 the floor. 
 
 " By the saints, Matteo, I tell you that 
 you have broken his neck." 
 
 " Not I. He has only fainted. The 
 better for him if he never came out of it 
 again." 
 
 I felt a hand within my tunic. 
 
 " Matteo is right," said a voice. " His 
 heart beats like a hammer. Let him lie 
 and he will soon find his senses." 
 
 I waited for a minute or so and then I 
 ventured to take a stealthy peep from 
 between my lashes. At first I could see 
 nothing, for I had been so long in darkness 
 and it was but a dim light in which I 
 found myself. Soon, however, I made out 
 that a high and vaulted ceiling covered 
 with painted gods and goddesses was 
 
LOST HIS EAR 17 
 
 arching over my head. This was no mean 
 den of cut-throats into which I had been 
 carried, but it must be the hall of some 
 Venetian palace. Then, without movement, 
 very slowly and stealthily I had a peep at 
 the men who surrounded me. There was 
 the gondolier, a swart, hard-faced, murderous 
 ruffian, and beside him were three other 
 men, one of them a little, twisted fellow 
 with an air of authority and several keys 
 in his hand, the other two tall young 
 servants in a smart livery. As I listened 
 to their talk I saw that the small man was 
 the steward of the house, and that the 
 others were under his orders. 
 
 There were four of them, then, but the 
 little steward might be left out of the 
 reckoning. Had I a weapon I should have 
 smiled at such odds as those. But, hand 
 to hand, I was no match for the one 
 even without three others to aid him. 
 Cunning, then, not force, must be my aid. 
 I wished to look round for some mode 
 of escape, and in doing so I gave an 
 
 2 
 
i8 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 almost imperceptible movement of my head 
 Slight as it was it did not escape my 
 guardians. 
 
 " Come, wake up, wake up ! " cried the 
 steward. 
 
 " Get on your feet, little Frenchman," 
 growled the gondolier. " Get up, I say ! " 
 and for the second time he spurned me 
 with his foot. 
 
 Never in the world was a command 
 obeyed so promptly as that one. In an 
 instant I had bounded to my feet and 
 rushed as hard as I could run to the back 
 of the hall. They were after me as I 
 have seen the English hounds follow a fox, 
 but there was a long passage down which 
 I tore. It turned to the left and again to 
 the left, and then I found myself back in 
 the hall once more. They were almost 
 within touch of me and there was no time 
 for thought. I turned towards the stair- 
 case, but two men were coming down it. 
 I dogded back and tried the door through 
 which I had been brought, but it was 
 
LOST HIS EAR ig 
 
 fastened with great bars and I could not 
 loosen them. The gondolier was on me 
 with his knife, but I met him with a kick 
 on the body which stretched him on his 
 back. His dagger flew with a clatter 
 across the marble floor. I had no time 
 to seize it, for there were half-a-dozen of 
 them now clutching at me. As I rushed 
 through them the little steward thrust his 
 leg before me and I fell with a crash, but 
 I was up in an instant, and breaking from 
 their grasp I burst through the very middle 
 of them and made for a door at the other 
 end of the hall. I reached it well in front 
 of them, and I gave a shout of triumph 
 as the handle turned freely in my hand, 
 for I could see that it led to the outside 
 and that all was clear for my escape. But 
 I had forgotten this strange city in which 
 I was. Every house is an island. As I 
 flung open the door, ready to bound out 
 into the street, the light of the hall shone 
 upon the deep, still, black water which lay 
 flush with the topmost step. I shrank 
 
20 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 back, and in an instant my pursuers were 
 on me. But I am not taken so easily. 
 
 Again I kicked and fought my way through 
 them, though one of them tore a handful 
 of hair from my head in his effort to hold 
 me. The little steward struck me with a 
 key and I was battered and bruised, but 
 once more I cleared a way in front of me. 
 Up the grand staircase I rushed, burst 
 open the pair of huge folding doors which 
 faced me, and learned at last that my efforts 
 were in vain. 
 
 The room into which I had broken was 
 brilliantly lighted. With its gold cornices, 
 its massive pillars, and its painted walls and 
 ceilings it was evidently the grand hall of 
 some famous Venetian palace. There are 
 many hundred such in this strange city, 
 any one of which has rooms which would 
 grace the Louvre or Versailles. In the 
 centre of this great hall there was a raised 
 dais, and upon it in a half circle there sat 
 twelve men all clad in black gowns, like 
 those of a Franciscan monk, and each 
 
LOST HIS EAR 21 
 
 with a mask over the upper part of his 
 face. 
 
 A group of armed men — rough-looking 
 rascals — were standing round the door, and 
 amid them facing the dais was a young 
 fellow in the uniform of the light infantry. 
 As he turned his head I recognised him. 
 It was Captain Auret, of the 7th, a young 
 Basque with whom I had drunk many a 
 glass during the winter. He was deadly 
 white, poor wretch, but he held himself 
 manfully amid the assassins who surrounded 
 him. Never shall I forget the sudden flash 
 of hope which shone in his dark eyes when 
 he saw a comrade burst into the room, or 
 the look of despair which followed as he 
 understood that I had come not to change 
 his fate but to share it. 
 
 You can think how amazed these people 
 were when I hurled myself into their 
 presence. My pursuers had crowded in 
 behind me and choked the doorway, so 
 that all further flight was out of the question. 
 It is at such instants that my nature asserts 
 
22 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 itself. With dignity I advanced towards 
 the tribunal. My jacket was torn, my hair 
 was dishevelled, my head was bleeding, but 
 there was that in my eyes and in my 
 carriage which made them realise that no 
 common man was before them. Not a 
 hand was raised to arrest me until I halted 
 in front of a formidable old man whose 
 long grey beard and masterful manner told 
 me that both by years and by character 
 he was the man in authority. 
 
 " Sir," said I, " you will perhaps tell me 
 why I have been forcibly arrested and 
 brought to this place. I am an honourable 
 soldier, as is this other gentleman here, and 
 I demand that you will instantly set us both 
 at liberty." 
 
 There was an appalling silence to my 
 appeal. It is not pleasant to have twelve 
 masked faces turned upon you and to see 
 twelve pairs of vindictive Italian eyes fixed 
 with fierce intentness upon your face. But 
 I stood as a debonair soldier should, and I 
 could not but reflect how much credit I was 
 
'With Dignity I advanced towards the Tribunal." 
 
LOST HIS EAR 23 
 
 bringing upon the Hussars of Conflans by 
 the dignity of my bearing, I do not think 
 that any one could have carried himself 
 better under such difficult circumstances. I 
 looked with a fearless face from one assassin 
 to another, and I waited for some reply. 
 
 It was the greybeard who at last broke 
 the silence. 
 
 " Who is this man ? " he asked 
 
 " His name is Gerard," said the little 
 steward at the door, 
 
 " Colonel Gerard," said I. '• I will not 
 deceive you. I am Etienne Gerard, the 
 Colonel Gerard, five times mentioned in 
 despatches and recommended for the sword 
 of honour. I am aide-de-camp to General 
 Suchet, and I demand my instant release, 
 together with that of my comrade in arms." 
 
 The same terrible silence fell upon the 
 assembly, and the same twelve pairs of 
 merciless eyes were bent upon my face. 
 Again it was the greybeard who spoke, 
 
 "He is out of his order. There are two 
 names upon our list before him." 
 
24 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 "He escaped from our hands and burst 
 into the room." 
 
 " Let him await his turn. Take him 
 down to the wooden cell." 
 
 " If he resist us, your excellency?" 
 
 " Bury your knives in his body. The 
 tribunal will uphold you. Remove him 
 until we have dealt with the others." 
 
 They advanced upon me, and for an 
 instant I thought of resistance. ' It would 
 have been a heroic death, but who was there 
 to see it or to chronicle it ? I might be only 
 postponing my fate, and yet I had been in 
 so many bad places and come out unhurt 
 that I had learned always to hope and to 
 trust my star. I allowed these rascals to 
 seize me, and I was led from the room, the 
 gondolier walking at my side with a long 
 naked knife in his hand. I could see in his 
 brutal eyes the satisfaction which it would 
 give him if he could find some excuse for 
 plunging it into my body. 
 
 They are wonderful places, these great 
 Venetian houses, palaces and fortresses and 
 
LOST HIS EAR 25 
 
 prisons all in one. I was led along a 
 passage and down a bare stone stair until 
 we came to a short corridor from which 
 three doors opened. Through one of these 
 I was thrust and the spring lock closed 
 behind me. The only light came dimly 
 through a small grating which opened on 
 the passage. Peering and feeling, I care- 
 fully examined the chamber in which I had 
 been placed. I understood from what I had 
 heard that I should soon have to leave it 
 again in order to appear before this tribunal, 
 but still it is not my nature to throw away 
 any possible chances^ 
 
 The stone floor of the cell was so damp 
 and the walls for some feet high were so 
 slimy and foul that it was evident they 
 were beneath the level of the water. A 
 single slanting hole high up near the ceiling 
 was the only aperture for light or air. 
 Through it I saw one bright star shining 
 down upon me, and the sight filled me with 
 comfort and with hope. I have never been 
 a man of religion, though I have always had 
 
26 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 a respect for those who were, but I re- 
 member that night that the star shining 
 down the shaft seemed to be an all-seeing 
 eye which was upon me, and I felt as a 
 young and frightened recruit might feel in 
 battle when he saw the calm gaze of his 
 colonel turned upon him. 
 
 Three of the sides of my prison were 
 formed of stone, but the fourth was of wood, 
 and I could see that it had only recently 
 been erected. Evidently a partition had 
 been thrown up to divide a single large cell 
 into two smaller ones. There was no hope 
 for me in the old walls, in the tiny window, 
 or in the massive door. It was only in this 
 one direction of the wooden screen that there 
 was any possibility of exploring. My reason 
 told me that if I should pierce it — which did 
 not seem very difficult — ^it would only be to 
 find myself in another cell as strong as that 
 in which I then was. Yet I had always 
 rather be doing something than doing no- 
 thing, so I bent all my attention and all my 
 energies upon the wooden wall. Two planks 
 
LOST HIS EAR 27 
 
 were badly joined and so loose that I was 
 certain I could easily detach them. I 
 searched about for some tool, and I found 
 one in the leg of a small bed which stood in 
 the corner. I forced the end of this into 
 the chink of the planks, and I was about to 
 twist them outwards when the sound of rapid 
 footsteps caused me to pause and to listen. 
 I wish I could forget what I heard. 
 Many a hundred men have I seen die in 
 battle, and I have slain more myself than 
 I care to think of, but all that was fair fight 
 and the duty of a soldier. It was a very 
 different matter to listen to a murder in 
 this den of assassins. They were pushing 
 some one along the passage, some one who 
 resisted and who clung to my door as he 
 passed. They must have taken him into 
 the third cell, the one which was farthest 
 from me. " Help ! help ! " cried a voice, 
 and then I heard a blow and a scream. 
 " Help ! help ! " cried the voice again, and 
 then " Gerard ! Colonel Gerard ! " It was 
 my poor captain of infantry whom they were 
 
28 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 slaughtering. '* Murderers ! murderers ! " I 
 yelled, and I kicked at my door, but again 
 I heard him shout, and then everything was 
 silent, A minute later there was a heavy 
 splash, and I knew that no human eye would 
 ever see Auret again. He had gone as a 
 hundred others had gone whose names were 
 missing from the roll-calls of their regiments 
 during that winter in Venice. 
 
 The steps returned along the passage, and 
 I thought that they were coming for me. 
 Instead of that they opened the door of the 
 cell next to mine, and they took some one 
 out of it. I heard the steps die away up 
 the stair. At once I renewed my work 
 upon the planks, and within a very few 
 minutes I had loosened them in such a way 
 that I could remove and replace them at 
 pleasure. Passing through the aperture I 
 found myself in the farther cell, which, as 
 I expected, was the other half of the one in 
 which I had been confined. I was not any 
 nearer to escape than I had been before, for 
 there was no other wooden wall which I 
 
LOST HIS EAR 29 
 
 could penetrate, and the spring lock of the 
 door had been closed. There were no traces 
 to show who was my companion in mis- 
 fortune. Closing the two loose planks 
 behind me, I returned to my own cell, and 
 waited there with all the courage which I 
 could command for the summons which 
 would probably be my death-knell. 
 
 It was a long time in coming, but at last 
 I heard the sound of feet once more in the 
 passage, and I nerved myself to listen to 
 some other odious deed and to hear the cries 
 of the poor victim. Nothing of the kind 
 occurred, however, and the prisoner was 
 placed in the cell without violence. I had 
 no time to peep through my hole of com- 
 munication, for next moment my own door 
 was flung open and my rascally gondolier, 
 with the other assassins, came into the 
 cell. 
 
 " Come, Frenchman,'' said he. He held 
 his blood-stained knife in his great hairy 
 hand, and I read in his fierce eyes that he 
 only looked for some excuse in order to 
 
30 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 plunge it into my heart. Resistance was 
 useless. I followed without a word, I was 
 led up the stone stair and back into that 
 gorgeous chamber in which I had left the 
 secret tribunal. I was ushered in, but to my 
 surprise it was not on me that their attention 
 was fixed. One of their own number, a tall, 
 dark young man, was standing before them 
 and was pleading with them in low, earnest 
 tones. His voice quivered with anxiety 
 and his hands darted in and out or writhed 
 together in an agony of entreaty. " You 
 cannot do it ! You cannot do it ! " he cried. 
 " I implore the tribunal to reconsider this 
 decision." 
 
 " Stand aside, brother," said the old man 
 who presided. " The case is decided and 
 another is up for judgment." 
 
 "For Heaven's sake be merciful!" cried 
 the young man. 
 
 " We have already been merciful," the 
 other answered. " Death would have been 
 a small penalty for such an offence. Be 
 silent and let judgment take its course." 
 
LOST HIS EAR 31 
 
 I saw the young man throw himself in 
 an agony of grief into his chair. I had no 
 time, however, to speculate as to what it 
 was which was troubling him, for his eleven 
 colleagues had already fixed their stern 
 eyes upon me. The moment of fate had 
 arrived. 
 
 " You are Colonel Gerard ? " said the 
 terrible old man 
 
 " I am." 
 
 " Aide-de-camp to the robber who calls 
 himself General Suchet, who in turn repre- 
 sents that arch-robber Buonaparte ? " 
 
 It was on my lips to tell him that he was 
 a liar, but there is a time to argue and a 
 time to be silent. 
 
 " I am an honourable soldier," said I. 
 " I have obeyed my orders and done my 
 duty." 
 
 The blood flushed into the old man's face 
 and his eyes blazed through his mask. 
 
 " You are thieves and murderers, every 
 man of you," he cried. " What are you 
 doing here ? You are Frenchmen. Why 
 
32 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 are you not in France ? Did we invite you 
 to Venice ? By what right are you here ? 
 Where are our pictures ? Where are the 
 horses of St. Mark ? Who are you that 
 you should pilfer those treasures which our 
 fathers through so many centuries have col- 
 lected ? We were a great city when France 
 was a desert. Your drunken, brawling, 
 ignorant soldiers have undone the work of 
 saints and heroes. What have you to say 
 to it?" 
 
 He was, indeed, a formidable old man, for 
 his white beard bristled with fury and he 
 barked out the little sentences like a savage 
 hound. For my part I could have told him 
 that his pictures would be safe in Paris, 
 that his horses were really not worth making 
 a fuss about, and that he could see heroes 
 — I say nothing of saints — without going 
 back to his ancestors or even moving out 
 of his chair. All this I could have pointed 
 out, but one might as well argue with a 
 Mamaluke about religion. I shrugged my 
 shoulders and said nothing. 
 
LOST HIS EAR 33 
 
 " The prisoner has no defence," said one 
 of my masked judges. 
 
 " Has any one any observation to make 
 before judgment is passed ? " The old man 
 glared round him at the others. 
 
 " There is one matter, your excellency," 
 said another, "It can scarce be referred 
 to without re-opening a brother's wounds, 
 but I would remind you that there is a 
 very particular reason why an exemplary 
 punishment should be inilicted in the case of 
 this officer." 
 
 '* I had not forgotten it," the old man 
 answered. " Brother, if the tribunal has 
 injured you in one direction, it will give you 
 ample satisfaction in another." 
 
 The young man who had been pleading 
 when I entered the room staggered to his 
 feet. 
 
 " I cannot endure it," he cried. " Your 
 excellency must forgive me. The tribunal 
 can act without me. I am ill ! I am mad ! " 
 He flung his hands up with a furious gesture 
 and rushed from the room. 
 
 3 
 
34 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 " Let him go ! Let him go ! " said the 
 (president. "It is, indeed, more than can 
 be asked of flesh and blood that he should 
 remain under this roof. But he is a true 
 Venetian, and when the first agony is over 
 he will understand that it could not be 
 otherwise." 
 
 I had been forgotten during this episode, 
 and though I am not a man who is accus- 
 tomed to being overlooked I should have 
 been all the happier had they continued to 
 neglect me. But now the old president 
 glared at me again like a tiger who comes 
 back to his victim. 
 
 " You shall pay for it all, and it is but 
 justice that you should," said he. "You, 
 an upstart adventurer and foreigner, have 
 dared to raise your eyes in love to the 
 grand-daughter of a Doge of Venice who 
 was already betrothed to the heir of the 
 Loredans. He who enjoys such privileges 
 must pay a price for them." 
 
 " It cannot be higher than they are 
 worth," said I. 
 
LOST HIS EAR 35 
 
 •' You will tell us that when you have 
 made a part payment," he said. " Perhaps 
 your spirit may not be so proud by that 
 time. Matteo, you will lead this prisoner 
 to the wooden cell. To-night is Monday. 
 Let him have no food or water, and let 
 him be led before the tribunal again on 
 Wednesday night. We shall then decide 
 upon the death which he is to die." 
 
 It was not a pleasant prospect, and yet 
 it was a reprieve. One is thankful for 
 small mercies when a hairy savage with a 
 blood-stained knife is standing at one's 
 elbow. He dragged me from the room 
 and I was thrust down the stairs and back 
 into my cell. The door was locked and I 
 was left to my reflections. 
 
 My first thought was to establish connec- 
 tion with my neighbour in misfortune. I 
 waited until the steps had died away, and 
 then I cautiously drew aside the two boards 
 and peeped through. The light was very 
 dim, so dim that I could only just discern 
 a figure huddled in the corner, and I could 
 
36 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 hear the low whisper of a voice which 
 prayed as one prays who is in deadly 
 fear. The boards must have made a 
 creaking. There was a sharp exclamation 
 of surprise. 
 
 " Courage, friend, courage ! " I cried. 
 "All is not lost. Keep a stout heart, for 
 Etienne Gerard is by your side." 
 
 " Etienne! " It was a woman's voice which 
 spoke — a voice which was always music to 
 my ears. I sprang through the gap and I 
 flung my arms round her. "Lucia! Lucia!" 
 I cried. 
 
 It was "Etienne!" and "Lucia!" for 
 some minutes, for one does not make 
 speeches at moments like that. It was she 
 who came to her senses first. 
 
 " Oh, Etienne, they will kill you. How 
 came you into their hands ? " 
 
 "In answer to your letter." 
 
 " I wrote no letter." 
 
 " The cunning demons ! But you ? " 
 
 " I came also in answer to your letter." 
 
 " Lucia, I wrote no letter." 
 
LOST HIS EAR 37 
 
 "They have trapped us both with the 
 same bait." 
 
 " I care nothing about myself, Lucia. 
 Besides, there is no pressing danger with 
 me. They have simply returned me to my 
 cell." 
 
 " Oh, Etienne, Etienne, they will kill 
 you. Lorenzo is there." 
 
 "The old greybeard?" 
 
 "No, no, a young dark man. He loved 
 me, and I thought I loved him until — 
 until I learned what love is, Etienne. He 
 will never forgive you. He has a heart of 
 stone." 
 
 " Let them do what they like. They 
 cannot rob me of the past, Lucia. But 
 you — what about you ? " 
 
 "It will be nothing, Etienne. Only a 
 pang for an instant and then all over. They 
 mean it as a badge of infamy, dear, but I 
 will carry it like a crown of honour since it 
 was through you that I gained it." 
 
 Her words froze my blood with horror. All 
 my adventures were insignificant compared 
 
38 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 to this terrible shadow which was creeping 
 over my soul. 
 
 " Lucia I Lucia I " I cried. " For pity's 
 sake tell me what these butchers are about 
 to do. Tell me, Lucia ! Tell me ! " 
 
 " I will not tell you, Etienne, for it would 
 hurt you far more than it would me. Well, 
 well, I will tell you lest you should fear it 
 was something worse. The president has 
 ordered that my ear be cut off, that I may 
 be marked for ever as having loved a 
 Frenchman." 
 
 Her ear! The dear little ear which I 
 had kissed so often. I put my hand to 
 each little velvet shell to make certain that 
 this sacrilege had not yet been committed. 
 Only over my dead body should they reach 
 them. I swore it to her between my clenched 
 teeth. 
 
 "You must not care, Etienne. And yet 
 I love that you should care all the same." 
 
 " They shall not hurt you — the fiends ! " 
 
 " I have hopes, Etienne. Lorenzo is 
 there. He was silent while I was judged, 
 
LOST HIS EAR 39 
 
 but he may have pleaded for me after I was 
 gone." 
 
 " He did. I heard him." 
 
 " Then he may have softened their hearts." 
 
 I knew that it was not so, but how could 
 I bring myself to tell her ? I might as well 
 have done so, for with the quick instinct of 
 woman my silence was speech to her, 
 
 " They would not listen to him ! You 
 need not fear to tell me, dear, for you will 
 find that I am worthy to be loved by such 
 a soldier. Where is Lorenzo now ? " 
 
 " He left the hall." 
 
 "Then he may have left the house as 
 well." 
 
 " I believe that he did." 
 
 " He has abandoned me to my fate. 
 Etienne, Etienne, they are coming!" 
 
 Afar off I heard those fateful steps and 
 the jingle of distant keys. What were they 
 coming for now, since there were no other 
 prisoners to drag to judgment? It could 
 only be to carry out the sentence upon my 
 darling. I stood between her and the door. 
 
40 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 with the strength of a lion in my limbs. I 
 would tear the house down before they 
 should touch her. 
 
 " Go back ! Go back ! " she cried. " They 
 win murder you, Etienne. My life, at least, 
 is safe. For the love you bear me, Etienne, 
 go back. It is nothing. I will make 
 no sound. You will not hear that it is 
 done." 
 
 She wrestled with me, this delicate creature, 
 and by main force she dragged me to the 
 opening between the cells. But a sudden 
 thought had crossed my mind." 
 
 " We may yet be saved," I whispered. 
 " Do what I tell you at once and without 
 argument. Go into my cell. Quick ! " 
 
 I pushed her through the gap and helped 
 her to replace the planks. I had retained 
 her cloak in my hands, and with this wrapped 
 round me I crept into the darkest corner of 
 her cell. There I lay when the door was 
 opened and several men came in. I had 
 reckoned that they would bring no lantern, 
 for they had none with them before. To 
 
LOST HIS EAR 41 
 
 their eyes I was only a black blur in the 
 corner. 
 
 " Bring a light," said one of them. 
 
 " No, no ; curse it ! " cried a rough voice, 
 which I knew to be that of the ruffian 
 Matteo. "It is not a job that I like, and 
 the more I saw it the less I should like it. 
 I am sorry, signora, but the order of the 
 tribunal has to be obeyed." 
 
 My impulse was to spring to my feet and 
 to rush through them all and out by the 
 open door. But how would that help Lucia ? 
 Suppose that I got clear away, she would be 
 in their hands until I could come back with 
 help, for single-handed I could not hope to 
 clear a way for her. All this flashed through 
 my mind in an instant, and I saw that the 
 only course for me was to lie still, take what 
 came, and wait my chance. The fellow's 
 coarse hand felt about among my curls — 
 those curls in which only a woman's fingers 
 had ever wandered. The next instant he 
 gripped my ear, and a pain shot through me 
 as if I had been touched with a hot iron. I 
 
42 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 bit my lip to stifle a cry, and I felt the blood 
 run warm down my neck and back. 
 
 " There, thank Heaven that's over," said 
 the fellow, giving me a friendly pat on the 
 head. " You're a brave girl, signora, I'll 
 say that for you, and I only wish you'd have 
 better taste than to love a Frenchman. You 
 can blame him and not me for what I have 
 done." 
 
 What could I do save to lie still and grind 
 my teeth at my own helplessness ? At the 
 same time my pain and my rage were always 
 soothed by the reflection that I had suffered 
 for the woman whom I loved. It is the 
 custom of men to say to ladies that they 
 would willingly endure any pain for their 
 sake, but it was my privilege to show that 
 I had said no more than I meant. I thought 
 also how nobly I would seem to have acted 
 if ever the story came to be told, and how 
 proud the regiment of Conflans might well 
 be of their colonel. These thoughts helped 
 me to suffer in silence while the blood still 
 trickled over my neck and dripped upon the 
 
LOST HIS EAR 43 
 
 stone floor. It was that sound which nearly- 
 led to my destruction. 
 
 "She's bleeding fast," said one of the 
 valets. "You had best fetch a surgeon or 
 you will find her dead in the morning." 
 
 " She lies very still and she has never 
 opened her mouth," said another. " The 
 shock has killed her." 
 
 " Nonsense ; a young woman does not 
 die so easily." It was Matteo who spoke. 
 " Besides, I did but snip off enough to leave 
 the tribunal's mark upon her. Rouse up, 
 signora, rouse up ! " 
 
 He shook me by the shoulder, and my 
 heart stood still for fear he should feel the 
 epaulette under the mantle. 
 
 "How is it with you now ? " he asked. 
 
 I made no answer. 
 
 " Curse it I I wish I had to do with a man 
 instead of a woman, and the fairest woman 
 in Venice," said the gondolier. " Here, 
 Nicholas, lend me your handkerchief and 
 bring a light." 
 
 It was all over. The worst had happened. 
 
44 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 Nothing could save me. I still crouched in 
 the corner, but I was tense in every muscle, 
 like a wild cat about to spring. If I had to 
 die I was determined that my end should be 
 worthy of my life. 
 
 One of them had gone for a lamp, and 
 Matteo was stooping over me with a hand- 
 kerchief In another instant my secret would 
 be discovered. But he suddenly drew him- 
 self straight and stood motionless. At the 
 same instant there came a confused murmur- 
 ing sound through the little window far 
 above my head. It was the rattle of oars 
 and the buzz of many voices. Then there 
 was a crash upon the door upstairs, and a 
 terrible voice roared : " Open ! Open in the 
 name of the Emperor ! " 
 
 The Emperor! It was like the mention 
 of some saint which, by its very sound, can 
 frighten the demons. Away they ran with 
 cries of terror — Matteo, the valets, the 
 steward, all of the murderous gang. Another 
 shout and then the crash of a hatchet and 
 the splintering of planks. There were the 
 
LOST HIS EAR 45 
 
 rattle of arms and the cries of French soldiers 
 in the hall. Next instant feet came flying 
 down the stair and a man burst frantically 
 into my cell. 
 
 " Lucia ! " he cried, " Lucia ! " He stood 
 in the dim light, panting and unable to find 
 his words. Then he broke out again. " Have 
 I not shown you how I love you, Lucia ? 
 What more could I do to prove it ? I have 
 betrayed my country, I have broken my vow, 
 I have ruined my friends, and I have given 
 my life in order to save you." 
 
 It was young Lorenzo Loredan, the lover 
 whom I had superseded. My heart was 
 heavy for him at the time, but after all it 
 is every man for himself in love, and if one 
 fails in the game it is some consolation to 
 lose to one who can be a graceful and con- 
 siderate winner. I was about to point this 
 out to him, but at the first word I uttered he 
 gave a «hout of astonishment, and, rushing 
 out, he seized the lamp which hung in the 
 corridor and flashed it in my face. 
 
 " It is you, you villain ! " he cried. " You 
 
46 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 French coxcomb. You shall pay me for the 
 wrong which you have done me." 
 
 But the next instant he saw the pallor of 
 my face and the blood which was still pouring 
 from my head. 
 
 "What is this?" he asked. "How come 
 you to have lost your ear?" 
 
 I shook off my weakness and, pressing 
 my handkerchief to my wound, I rose from 
 my couch, the debonair colonel of Hussars. 
 
 " My injury, sir, is nothing. With your 
 permission we will not allude to a matter 
 so trifling and so personal." 
 
 But Lucia had burst through from her cell 
 and was pouring out the whole story while 
 she clasped Lorenzo's arm. 
 
 " This noble gentleman — he has taken my 
 place, Lorenzo ! He has borne it for me. 
 He has suffered that I might be saved." 
 
 I could sympathise with the struggle which 
 I could see in the Italian's face. At last 
 he held out his hand to me. 
 
 " Colonel Gerard," he said, " you are 
 worthy of a great love. I forgive you, for 
 
LOST HIS EAR 47 
 
 if you have wronged me you have made a 
 noble atonement. But I wonder to see you 
 aUve. I left the tribunal before you were 
 judged, but I understood that no mercy 
 would be shown to any Frenchman since 
 the destruction of the ornaments of Venice." 
 
 "He did not destroy them," cried Lucia. 
 "He has helped to preserve those in our 
 palace." 
 
 "One of them, at any rate," said I, as I 
 stooped and kissed her hand. 
 
 This was the way, my friends, in which 
 I lost my ear. Lorenzo was found stabbed 
 to the heart in the Piazza of St. Mark 
 within two days of the night of my ad- 
 venture. Of the tribunal and its ruffians, 
 Matteo and three others were shot, the rest 
 banished from the town. Lucia, my lovely 
 Lucia, retired into a convent at Murano after 
 the French had left the city, and there she 
 still may be, some gentle lady abbess who 
 has perhaps long forgotten the days when 
 our hearts throbbed together, and when the 
 whole great world seemed so small a thing 
 
HOW THE BRIGADIER LOST HIS EAR 
 
 beside the love which burned in our veins. 
 Or perhaps it may not be so. Perhaps she 
 has not forgotten. There may still be times 
 when the peace of the cloister is broken by 
 the memory of the old soldier who loved 
 her in those distant days. Youth is past 
 and passion is gone, but the soul of the 
 gentleman can never change, and still Etienne 
 Gerard would bow his grey head before her 
 and would very gladly lose this other ear 
 if he might do her a service. 
 
 48 
 
II 
 
 How the Brigadier Captured Saragossa 
 
 HAVE I ever told you, my friends, the 
 circumstances connected with my 
 joining the Hussars of Conflans at the time 
 of the siege of Saragossa, and the very 
 remarkable exploit which I performed in 
 connection with the taking of that city ? 
 No ? Then you have indeed something still 
 to learn. I will tell it to you exactly as it 
 occurred. Save for two or three men and 
 a score or two of women, you are the first 
 who have ever heard the story. 
 
 You must know, then, that it was in the 
 2nd Hussars — called the Hussars of Cham- 
 beran — that I had served as a lieutenant 
 and as a junior captain. At the time I 
 speak of I was only twenty-five years of 
 age, as reckless and desperate a man as any 
 
 49 4 
 
so HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 in that great army. It chanced that the 
 war had come to a halt in Germany, while 
 it was still raging in Spain ; so the Emperor, 
 wishing to reinforce the Spanish army, trans- 
 ferred me as senior captain to the Hussars of 
 Conflans, which were at that time in the 5th 
 Army Corps under Marshal Lannes. 
 
 It was a long journey from Berlin to the 
 Pyrenees. My new regiment formed part 
 of the force which, under Marshal Lannes, 
 was then besieging the Spanish town of 
 Saragossa. I turned my horse's head in that 
 direction, therefore, and behold me a week 
 or so later at the French headquarters, 
 whence I was directed to the camp of the 
 Hussars of Conflans. 
 
 You have read, no doubt, of this famous 
 siege of Saragossa, and I will only say that 
 no general could have had a harder task 
 than that with which Marshal Lannes was 
 confronted. The immense city was crowded 
 with a horde of Spaniards — soldiers, peasants, 
 priests — all filled with the most furious 
 hatred of the French, and the most savage 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA $1 
 
 determination to perish before they would 
 surrender. There were eighty thousand 
 men in the town and only thirty thousand 
 to besiege them. Yet we had a powerful 
 artillery, and our Engineers were of the 
 best. There was never such a siege, for it 
 is usual that when the fortifications are 
 taken the city falls ; but here it was not until 
 the fortifications were taken that the real 
 fighting began. Every house was a fort 
 and every street a battlefield, so that slowly, 
 day by day, we had to work our way inwards, 
 blowing up the houses with their garrisons 
 until more than half the city had disappeared. 
 Yet the other half was as determined as ever, 
 and in a better position for defence, since 
 it consisted of enormous convents and 
 monasteries with walls like the Bastille, 
 which could not be so easily brushed out of 
 our way. This was the state of things at 
 the time that I joined the army. 
 
 I will confess to you that cavalry are not 
 of much use in a siege, although there was 
 a time when I would not have permitted 
 
52 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 any one to have made such an observation. 
 The Hussars of Conflans were encamped 
 to the south of the town, and it was their 
 duty to throw out patrols and to make sure 
 that no Spanish force was advancing from 
 that quarter. The colonel of the regiment 
 was not a good soldier, and the regiment 
 was at that time very far from being in the 
 high condition which it afterwards attained. 
 Even in that one evening I saw several 
 things which shocked me ; for I had a high 
 standard, and it went to my heart to see an 
 ill-arranged camp, an ill-groomed horse, or 
 a slovenly trooper. That night I supped 
 with twenty-six of my new brother-officers, 
 and I fear that in my zeal I showed them 
 only too plainly that I found things very 
 different to what I was accustomed in the 
 army of Germany. There was silence in 
 the mess after my remarks, and I felt that 
 I had been indiscreet when I saw the glances 
 that were cast at me. The colonel especially 
 was furious, and a great major named Olivier, 
 who was the fire-eater of the regiment, sat 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA 53 
 
 opposite to me curling his huge black 
 moustaches, and staring at me as if he would 
 eat me. However, I did not resent his 
 attitude, for I felt that I had indeed been 
 indiscreet, and that it would give a bad 
 impression if upon this my first evening I 
 quarrelled with my superior officer. 
 
 So far I admit that I was wrong, but now 
 I come to the sequel. Supper over, the 
 colonel and some other officers left the room, 
 for it was in a farmhouse that the mess was 
 held. There remained a dozen or so, and 
 a goat-skin of Spanish wine having been 
 brought in, we all made merry. Presently 
 this Major Olivier asked me some questions 
 concerning the army of Germany and as to 
 the part which I had myself played in the 
 campaign. Flushed with the wine, I was 
 drawn on from story to story. It was not 
 unnatural, my friends. You will sympathise 
 with me. Up there I had been the model 
 for every officer of my years in the army. I 
 was the first swordsman, the most dashing 
 rider, the hero of a hundred adventures. 
 
54 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 Here I found myself not only unknown, but 
 even disliked. Was it not natural that I 
 should wish to tell these brave comrades 
 what sort of man it was that had come 
 among them? Was it not natural that I 
 should wish to say, " Rejoice, my friends, 
 rejoice ! It is no ordinary man who has 
 joined you to-night, but it is I, the Gerard, 
 the hero of Ratisbon, the victor of Jena, the 
 man who broke the square at Austerlitz ? " 
 I could not say all this. But I could at 
 least tell them some incidents which would 
 enable them to say it for themselves. I did 
 so. They listened unmoved. I told them 
 more. At last, after my tale of how I had 
 guided the army across the Danube, one 
 universal shout of laughter broke from them 
 all. I sprang to my feet, flushed with 
 shame and anger. They had drawn me on. 
 They were making game of me. They 
 were convinced that they had to do with 
 a braggart and a liar. Was this my re- 
 ception in the Hussars of Conflans ? I 
 dashed the tears of mortification from my 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA SS 
 
 eyes, and they laughed the more at the 
 sight. 
 
 " Do you know, Captain Pelletan, whether 
 Marshal Lannes is still with the army?" 
 asked the major. 
 
 " I believe that he is, sir," said the other. 
 
 " Really, I should have thought that his 
 presence was hardly necessary now that 
 Captain Gerard has arrived." 
 
 Again there was a roar of laughter. I can 
 see the ring of faces, the mocking eyes, the 
 open mouths — Olivier with his great black 
 bristles, Pelletan thin and sneering, even the 
 young sub-lieutenants convulsed with merri- 
 ment. Heavens, the indignity of it ! But 
 my rage had dried my tears. I was myself 
 again, cold, quiet, self-contained, ice without 
 and fire within. 
 
 " May I ask, sir," said I to the major, 
 "at what hour the regiment is paraded)"' 
 
 " I trust, Captain Gerard, that you do not 
 mean to alter our hours," said he, and again 
 there was a burst of laughter, which died 
 away as I looked -slowly round the circle. 
 
56 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 "What hour is the assembly?" I asked, 
 sharply, of Captain Pelletan. 
 
 Some mocking answer was on his tongue, 
 but my glance kept it there. " The assembly 
 is at six," he answered. 
 
 " I thank you," said I. I then counted 
 the company, and found that I had to do 
 with fourteen officers, two of whom appeared 
 to be boys fresh from St. Cyr. I could not 
 condescend to take any notice of their in- 
 discretion. There remained the major, four 
 captains, and seven lieutenants. 
 
 " Gentlemen," I continued, looking from 
 one to the other of them, " I should feel 
 myself unworthy of this famous regiment if 
 I did not ask you for satisfaction for the 
 rudeness with which you have greeted me, 
 and I should hold you to be unworthy of it 
 if on any pretext you refused to grant it." 
 
 " You will have no difficulty upon that 
 score," said the major. " I am prepared 
 to waive my rank and to give you every 
 satisfaction in the name of the Hussars of 
 Conflans." 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA 57 
 
 " I thank " you," I answered. " I feel, 
 however, that I have some claim upon 
 these other gentlemen who laughed at my 
 expense." 
 
 "Whom would you fight, then?" asked 
 Captain Pelletan. 
 
 " All of you," I answered. 
 
 They looked in surprise from one to the 
 other. Then they drew off to the other end 
 of the room, and I heard the buzz of their 
 whispers. They were laughing. Evidently 
 they still thought that they had to do 
 with some empty braggart. Then they 
 returned. 
 
 "Your request is unusual," said Major 
 Olivier, " but it will be granted. How do 
 you propose to conduct such a duel ? The 
 terms lie with you," 
 
 "Sabres," said I. "And I will take you 
 in order of seniority, beginning with you, 
 Major Olivier, at five o'clock. I will thus 
 be able to devote five minutes to each before 
 the assembly is blown. I must, however, 
 beg you to have the courtesy to name the 
 
S8 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 place of meeting, since I am still ignorant 
 of the locality." 
 
 They were impressed by my cold and 
 practical manner. Already the smile had 
 died away from their lips. Olivier's face 
 was no longer mocking, but it was dark and 
 stern. 
 
 " There is a small open space behind the 
 horse lines," said he. " We have held a few 
 afiairs of honour there, and it has done very 
 well. We shall be there, Captain Gerard, 
 at the hour you name." 
 
 I was in the act of bowing to thank them 
 for their acceptance when the door of, the 
 mess-room was flung open and the colohel 
 hurried into the room, with an agitated face. 
 
 " Gentlemen," said he, '* I have been 
 asked to call for a volunteer from among 
 you for a service which involves the greatest 
 possible danger. I will not disguise from 
 you that the matter is serious in the last 
 degree, and that Marshal Lannes has chosen 
 a cavalry officer because he can be better 
 spared than an officer of infantry or of 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA 59 
 
 Engineers. Married men are not eligible. 
 Of the others, who will volunteer ? " 
 
 I need not say that all the unmarried 
 officers stepped to the front. The colonel 
 looked round in some embarrassment, I 
 could see his dilemma. It was the best man 
 who should go, and yet it was the best man 
 whom he could least spare. 
 
 "Sir," said I, "may I be permitted to 
 make a suggestion?" 
 
 He looked at me with a hard eye. He 
 had not forgotten my observations at supper. 
 " Speak 1 " said he. 
 
 "I would point out, sir," said I, "that 
 this mission is mine both by right and by 
 convenience." 
 
 "Why so. Captain Gerard?" 
 
 " By right, because I am the senior cap- 
 tain. By convenience, because I shall not 
 be missed in the regiment, since the men 
 have not yet learned to know me." 
 
 The colonel's features relaxed. 
 
 " There is certainly, truth in what you 
 say, Captain Gerard," said he. " I think 
 
6o HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 that you are indeed best fitted to go upon 
 this mission. If you will come with me I 
 will give you your instructions." 
 
 I wished my new comrades good-night as 
 I left the room, and I repeated that I should 
 hold myself at their disposal at five o'clock 
 next morning. They bowed in silence, and 
 I thought that I could see, from the expres- 
 sion of their faces, that they had already 
 begun to take a more just view of my 
 character. 
 
 I had expected that the colonel would at 
 once inform me what it was that I had been 
 chosen to do, but instead of that he walked 
 on in silence, I following behind him. We 
 passed through the camp and made our 
 way across the trenches and over the ruined 
 heaps of stones which marked the old wall 
 of the town. Within there was a labyrinth 
 of passages, formed among the dibris of the 
 houses which had been destroyed by the 
 mines of the Engineers. Acres and acres 
 were covered with splintered walls and piles 
 of brick which had once been a populous 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA 6i 
 
 suburb. Lanes had been driven through 
 it and lanterns placed at the corners with 
 inscriptions to direct the wayfarer. The 
 colonel hurried onwards until at last, after 
 a long walk, we found our way barred by a 
 high grey wall which stretched right across 
 our path. Here behind a barricade lay our 
 advanced guard. The colonel led me into 
 a roofless house, and there I found two 
 general officers, a map stretched over a 
 drum in front of them, they kneeling beside 
 it and examining it carefully by the light of 
 a lantern. The one with the clean-shaven face 
 and the twisted neck was Marshal Lannes, 
 the other was General Razout, the head of 
 the Engineers. 
 
 " Captain Gerard has volunteered to go," 
 said the colonel. 
 
 Marshal Lannes rose from his knees and 
 shook me by the hand. 
 
 " You are a brave man, sir," said he. ■' I 
 have a present to make to you," he added, 
 handing me a very tiny glass tube. "It 
 has been specially prepared by Dr. Fardet, 
 
62 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 At the supreme moment you have but to 
 put it to your lips and you will be dead in 
 an instant." 
 
 This was a cheerful beginning. I will 
 confess to you, my friends, that a cold chill 
 passed up my back and my hair rose upon 
 my head. 
 
 "Excuse me, sir," said I, as I saluted, 
 "I am aware that I have volunteered for 
 a service of great danger, but the exact 
 details have not yet been given to me." 
 
 " Colonel Perrin," said Lannes, severely, 
 " it is unfair to allow this brave officer to 
 volunteer before he has learned what the 
 perils are to which he will be exposed." 
 
 But already I was myself once more. 
 
 "Sir," said I, "permit me to remark that 
 the greater the danger the greater the glory, 
 and that I could only repent of volunteering 
 if I found that there were no risks to be 
 run." 
 
 It was a noble speech, and my appearance 
 gave force to my words. For the moment 
 I was a heroic figure. As I saw Lannes's 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA 63 
 
 eyes fixed in admiration upon my face it 
 thrilled me to think how splendid was the 
 ddbut which I was making in the army of 
 Spain. If I died that night my name would 
 not be forgotten. My new comrades and 
 my old, divided in all else, would still have 
 a point of union in their love and admiration 
 of Etienne Gerard. 
 
 "General Razout, explain the situation!" 
 said Lannes, briefly. 
 
 The Engineer officer rose, his compasses 
 in his hand. He led me to the door and 
 pointed to the high grey wall which towered 
 up amongst the cUbris of the shattered 
 houses. 
 
 " That is the enemy's present line of 
 defence," said he. " It is the waU of the 
 great Convent of the Madonna. If we can 
 carry it the city must fall, but they have run 
 countermines all round it, and the walls are 
 so enormously thick that it would be an 
 immense labour to breach it with artillery. 
 We happen to know, however, that the 
 enemy have a considerable store of powder 
 
64 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 in one of the lower chambers. If that could 
 be exploded the way would be clear for us." 
 
 "How can it be reached ? " I asked. 
 
 " I will explain. We have a French 
 agent within the town named Hubert. This 
 brave man has been in -constant communi- 
 cation with us, and he had promised to 
 explode the magazine. It was to be done 
 in the early morning, and for two days 
 running we have had a storming party of 
 a thousand Grenadiers waiting for the 
 breach to be formed. But there has been 
 no explosion, and for these two days we 
 have had no communication from Hubert. 
 The question is, what has become of him ? " 
 
 " You wish me to go and see ? " 
 
 " Precisely. Is he ill, or wounded, or 
 dead ? Shall we still wait for him, or shall 
 we attempt the attack elsewhere ? We 
 cannot determine this until we have heard 
 from him. This is a map of the town, Captain 
 Gerard. You perceive that within this ring 
 of convents and monasteries are a number 
 of streets which branch off from a central 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA 6$ 
 
 square. If you come so far as this square 
 you will find the cathedral at one corner. 
 In that corner is the street of Toledo. 
 Hubert lives in a small house between a 
 cobbler's and a wine-shop, on the right-hand 
 side as you go from the cathedral. Do 
 you follow me ? " 
 
 " Clearly." 
 
 " You are to reach that house, to see him, 
 and to find out if his plan is still feasible 
 or if we must abandon it." He produced 
 what appeared to' be a roll of dirty brown 
 flannel. This is the dress of a Franciscan 
 friar," said he. " You will find it the most 
 useful disguise." 
 
 I shrank away from it. 
 
 '• It turns me into a spy," I cried. " Surely 
 I can go in my uniform ? " 
 
 " Impossible ! How could you hope to 
 pass through the streets of the city ? Re- 
 member, also, that the Spaniards take no 
 prisoners, and that your fate will be the 
 same in whatever dress you are taken." 
 
 It was true, and^I had been long enough 
 
 5 
 
66^ HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 in Spain to know that that fate was likely 
 to be something more serious than mere 
 death. All the way from the frontier I 
 had heard grim tales of torture and mutila- 
 tion. I enveloped myself in the Franciscan 
 gown. 
 
 " Now I am ready." 
 
 •• Are you armed ? " 
 
 " My sabre." 
 
 " They will hear it clank. Take this 
 knife and leave your sword. Tell Hubert 
 that at four o'clock before dawn the storming 
 party will again be ready. There is a 
 sergeant outside who will show you how to 
 get into the city. Good-night, and good 
 luck ! " 
 
 Before I had left the room the two 
 generals had their cocked hats touching each 
 other over the map. At the door an under- 
 officer of Engineers was waiting for me. I 
 tied the girdle of my gown, and taking off 
 my busby I drew the cowl over my head. 
 My spurs I removed. Then in silence I 
 followed my guide. 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA 67 
 
 It was necessary to move with caution, 
 for the walls above were lined by the 
 Spanish sentries, who fired down continually 
 at our advance posts. Slinking along under 
 the very shadow of the great convent, we 
 picked our way slowly and carefully among 
 the piles of ruins until we came to a large 
 chestnut tree. Here the sergeant stopped. 
 
 "It is an easy tree to climb," said he. 
 " A scaling ladder would not be simpler. 
 Go up it, and you will find that the top 
 branch will enable you to step upon the 
 roof of that house. After that it is your 
 guardian angel who must be your guide, 
 for I can help you no more." 
 
 Girding up the heavy brown gown I 
 ascended the tree as directed. A half moon 
 was shining brightly, and the line of roof 
 stood out dark and hard against the purple, 
 starry sky. The tree was in the shadow 
 of the house. Slowly I crept from branch 
 to branch until I was near the top. I had 
 but to climb along a stout limb in order 
 to reach the wall. But suddenly my ears 
 
68 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 caught the patter of feet, and I cowered 
 against the trunk and tried to blend myself 
 with its shadow. A man was coming 
 towards me on the roof. I saw his dark 
 figure creeping along, his body crouching, 
 his head advanced, the barrel of his gun 
 protruding. His whole bearing was full of 
 caution and suspicion. Once or twice he 
 paused, and then came on again until he had 
 reached the edge of the parapet within a 
 few yards of me. Then he knelt down, 
 levelled his musket, and fired, 
 
 I was so astonished at this sudden crash 
 at my very elbow that I nearly fell out ot 
 the tree. For an instant I could not be 
 sure that he had not hit me. But when I 
 heard a deep groan from below, and the 
 Spaniard leaned over the parapet and laughed 
 aloud, I understood what had occurred. It 
 was my poor, faithful sergeant who had 
 waited to see the last of me. The Spaniard 
 had seen him standing under the tree and 
 had shot him. You will think that it was 
 good shooting in the dark, but these people 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA 69 
 
 use trebucos, or blunderbusses, which were 
 filled up with all sorts of stones and scraps 
 of metal, so that they would hit you as 
 certainly as I have hit a pheasant on a 
 branch. The Spaniard stood peering down 
 through the darkness, while an occasional 
 groan from below showed that the sergeant 
 was still living. The sentry looked round 
 and everything was still and safe. Perhaps 
 he thought that he would like to finish off 
 this accursed Frenchman, or perhaps he 
 had a desire to see what was in his pockets ; 
 but whatever his motive he laid down his 
 gun, leaned forward, and swung himself 
 into the tree. The same instant I buried my 
 knife in his body, and he fell with a loud 
 crashing through the branches and came 
 with a thud to the ground. I heard a short 
 struggle below and an oath or two in 
 French. The wounded sergeant had not 
 waited long for his vengeance. 
 
 For some minutes I did not dare to 
 move, for it seemed certain that someone 
 would be attracted by the noise. However, 
 
70 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 all was silent save for the chimes striking 
 midnight in the city. I crept along the 
 branch and lifted myself on to the roof 
 The Spaniard's gun was lying there, but it 
 was of no service to me, since he had the 
 powder-horn at his belt. At the same time, 
 if it were found it would warn the enemy 
 that something had happened, so I thought 
 it best to drop it over the wall. Then I 
 looked round for the means of getting off 
 the roof and down into the city. 
 
 It was very evident that the siniplest way 
 by which I could get down was that by 
 which the sentinel had got up, and what 
 this was soon became evident. A voice 
 along the roof called " Manuelo ! Manuelo!" 
 several times, and, crouching in the shadow, 
 I saw in the moonlight a bearded head, 
 which protruded from a trap-door. Re- 
 ceiving no answer to his summons the 
 man climbed through, followed by three 
 other fellows all armed to the teeth. You 
 will see here how important it is not to 
 neglect small precautions, for had I left 
 
"He fell with a Loud Crashing through the Branches and came with 
 « Thud to the Ground." 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA 71 
 
 the man's gun where I found it a search 
 must have followed, and I should certainly 
 have been discovered. As it was, the patrol 
 saw no sign of their sentry and thought, 
 no doubt, that he had moved along the 
 line of the roofs. They hurried on, there- 
 fore, in that direction, and I, the instant that 
 their backs were turned, rushed to the open 
 trap-door and descended the flight of steps 
 which led from it. The house appeared to 
 be an empty one, for I passed through the 
 heart of it and out, by an open door, into 
 the street beyond. 
 
 It was a narrow and deserted lane, but it 
 opened into a broader road, which was dotted 
 with fires, round which a great number of 
 soldiers and peasants were sleeping. The 
 smell within the city was so horrible that 
 one wondered how people could live in it, 
 for during the months that the siege had 
 lasted there had been no attempt to cleanse 
 the streets or to bury the dead. Many 
 people were moving up and down from 
 fire to fire, and among them I observed 
 
72 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 several monks. Seeing that they came and 
 went unquestioned, I took heart and hurried 
 on my way in the direction of the great 
 square. Once a man rose from beside one 
 of the fires and stopped me by seizing my 
 sleeve. He pointed to a woman who lay 
 motionless upon the road, and I took him 
 to mean that she* was dying, and that he 
 desired me to administer the last offices of 
 the Church. I sought refuge, however, in 
 the very little Latin that was left to me. 
 " Ora pro nobis," said I, from the depths 
 of my cowl. " Te deum laudamus. Ora 
 pro nobis." I raised my hand as I spoke 
 and pointed forwards. The fellow released 
 my sleeve and shrank back in silence, while 
 I, with a solemn gesture, hurried upon my 
 way. 
 
 As I had imagined, this broad boulevard 
 led out into the central square, which was 
 full of troops and blazing with fires. I 
 walked swiftly onwards, disregarding one 
 or two people who addressed remarks to 
 me, I passed the cathedral and followed 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA 73 
 
 the street which had been described to me. 
 Being upon the side of the city which was 
 farthest from our attack, there were no 
 troops encamped in it, and it lay in darkness, 
 save for an occasional glimmer in a window. 
 It was not difficult to find the house to 
 which I had been directed, between the 
 wine-shop and the cobbler's. There was 
 no light within, and the door was shut. 
 Cautiously I pressed the latch, and I felt 
 that it had yielded. Who was within I 
 could not tell, and yet I must take the 
 risk. I pushed the door open and entered. 
 It was pitch-dark within — the more so 
 as I had closed the door behind me. I 
 felt round and came upon the edge of a 
 table. Then I stood still and wondered 
 what I should do next, and how I could 
 gain some news of this Hubert, in whose 
 house I found myself Any mistake would 
 cost me not only my life, but the failure 
 of my mission. Perhaps he did not live 
 alone. Perhaps he was only a lodger in a 
 Spanish family, and my visit might bring 
 
74 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 ruin to him as well as to myself. Seldom 
 in my life have I been more perplexed. 
 And then, suddenly, something turned my 
 blood cold in my veins. It was a voice, 
 a whispering voice, in my very ear. " Mon 
 Dieu ! " cried the voice in a tone of agony. 
 " Oh, mon Dieu ! mon Dieu ! " Then there 
 was a dry sob in the darkness, and all was 
 still once more. 
 
 It thrilled me with horror, that terrible 
 voice ; but it thrilled me also with hope, 
 for it was the voice of a Frenchman. 
 
 " Who is there ? " I asked. 
 
 There was a groaning, but no reply. 
 
 "Is that you. Monsieur Hubert?" 
 
 " Yes, yes," sighed the voice, so low that 
 I could hardly hear it. " Water, water, 
 for Heaven's sake, water ! " 
 
 I advanced in the direction of the sound, 
 but only to come in contact with the wall. 
 Again I heard a groan, but this time there 
 could be no doubt that it was above my 
 head. I put up my hands, but they felt 
 only empty air. 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA 75 
 
 " Where are you ? " I cried. 
 
 "Here! Here!" whispered the strange, 
 tremulous voice. I stretched my hand along 
 the wall, and I came upon a man's naked 
 foot. It was as high as my face, and yet, 
 so far as I could feel, it had nothing to 
 support it. I staggered back in amazement. 
 Then I took a tinder-box from my pocket 
 and struck a light. At the first flash a man 
 seemed to be floating in the air in front 
 of me, and I dropped the box in my amaze- 
 ment. Again, with tremulous fingers, I 
 struck the flint against the steel, and this 
 time I lit not only the tinder, but the wax 
 taper. I held it up, and if my amazement 
 was lessened, my horror was increased by 
 that which it revealed. 
 
 The man had been nailed to the wall 
 as a weasel is nailed to the door of a 
 barn. Huge spikes had been driven through 
 his hands and his feet. The poor wretch 
 was in his last agony, his head sunk upon 
 his shoulder and his blackened tongue pro- 
 truded from his lips. He was dying as 
 
76 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 much from thirst as from his wounds, and 
 these inhuman wretches had placed a beaker 
 of wine upon the table in front of him 
 to add a fresh pang to his tortures. I 
 raised it to his lips. He had still strength 
 enough to swallow, and the light came back 
 a little to his dim eyes. 
 
 " Are you a Frenchman ? " he whispered. 
 
 " Yes. They have sent me to learn what 
 had befallen you." 
 
 " They discovered me. They have killed 
 me for it. But before I die let me tell 
 you what I know. A little more of that 
 wine, please ! Quick ! Quick ! I am very 
 near the end. My strength is going. Listen 
 to me ! The powder is stored in the Mother 
 Superior's room. The wall is pierced, and 
 the end of the train is in Sister Angela's 
 cell, next the chapel. All was ready two 
 days ago. But they discovered a letter, 
 and they tortured me." 
 
 " Good Heavens ! have you been hanging 
 here for two days ? " 
 
 "It seems like two years. Comrade, I 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA ^^ 
 
 have served France, have I not ? Then 
 do one Httle service for me. Stab me to 
 the heart, dear friend ! I implore you, I 
 entreat you, to put an end to my sufferings." 
 
 The man was indeed in a hopeless plight, 
 and the kindest action would have been that 
 for which he begged. And yet I could not 
 in cold blood drive my knife into his body, 
 although I knew how I should have prayed 
 for such a mercy had I been in his place. 
 But a sudden thought crossed my mind. 
 In my pocket I held that which would give 
 an instant and a painless death. It was 
 my own safeguard against torture, and yet 
 this poor soul was in very pressing need 
 of it, and he had deserved well of France. 
 
 I took out my phial and emptied it into 
 the cup of wine. I was in the act of 
 handing it to him when I heard a sudden 
 clash of arms outside the door. In an 
 instant I put out my light and slipped 
 behind the window-curtains. Next moment 
 the door was flung open, and two Spaniards 
 strode into the room — fierce, swarthy men 
 
78 HOW THE. BRIGADIER 
 
 in the dress of citizens', but with muskets 
 slung over their shoulders. I looked 
 through the chink in the curtains in an 
 agony of fear lest they had come upon my 
 traces, but it was evident that their visit 
 was simply in order to feast their eyes upon 
 my unfortunate compatriot. One of them 
 held the lantern which he carried up in 
 front of the dying man, and both of them 
 burst into a shout of mocking laughter, 
 Then the eyes of the man with the lantern 
 fell upon the flagon of wine upon the table. 
 He picked it up, held it, with a devilish 
 grin, to the lips of Hubert, and then, as 
 the poor wretch involuntarily inclined his 
 head forward to reach it, snatched it back 
 and took a long gulp himself. At the same 
 instant he uttered a loud cry, clutched 
 wildly at his own throat, and fell stone- 
 dead upon the floor. His comrade stared 
 at him in horror and amazement. Then, 
 overcome by his own superstitious fears, 
 he gave a yell of terror and rushed madly 
 from the room. I heard his feet clattering 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA 79 
 
 wildly on the cobble-stones until the sound 
 died away in the distance. 
 
 The lantern had been left burning upoa 
 the table, and by its light I saw, as I came 
 out from behind my curtain, that the un- 
 fortunate Hubert's head had fallen forward 
 upon his chest and that he also was dead. 
 That motion to reach the wine with his lips 
 had been his last. A clock ticked loudly 
 in the house, but otherwise all was abso- 
 lutely still. On the wall hung the twisted 
 form of the Frenchman, on the floor lay 
 the motionless body of the Spaniard, all 
 dimly lit by the horn lantern. For the 
 first time in my life a frantic spasm of terror 
 came over me. I had seen ten thousand 
 men in every conceivable degree of muti- 
 lation stretched upon the ground, but the 
 sight had never affected me like those two 
 silent figures who were my companions in 
 that shadowy room. I rushed into the street 
 as the Spaniard had done, eager only to 
 leave that house of gloom behind me, and 
 I had run as far as the cathedral before 
 
8o HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 my wits came back to me. There I stopped 
 panting in the shadow, and, my hand pressed 
 to my side, I tried to collect my scattered 
 senses and to plan out what I should do. 
 As I stood there, breathless, the great brass 
 bells roared twice above my head. It was 
 two o'clock. Four was the hour when the 
 storming party would be in its place. I had 
 still two hours in which to act. 
 
 The cathedral was brilliantly lit within, 
 and a number of people were passing in 
 and out ; so I entered, thinking that I was 
 less likely to be accosted there and that I 
 might have quiet to form my plans. It 
 was certainly a singular sight, for the place 
 had been turned into an hospital, a refuge, 
 and a storehouse. One aisle was crammed 
 with provisions, another was littered with 
 sick and wounded, while in the centre a 
 great number of helpless people had taken 
 up their abode and had even lit their 
 cooking fires upon the mosaic floors. There 
 were many at prayer, so I knelt in the 
 shadow of a pillar and I prayed with all 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA 8i 
 
 my heart that I might have the good luck 
 to get out of this scrape alive, and that I 
 might do such a deed that night as would 
 make my name as famous in Spain as it 
 had already become in Germany. I waited 
 until the clock struck three and then I left 
 the cathedral and made my way towards 
 the Convent of the Madonna, where the 
 assault was to be delivered. You will under- 
 stand, you who know me so well, that I 
 was not the man to return tamely to the 
 French camp with the report that our agent 
 was dead and that other means must be found 
 of entering the city. Either I should find 
 some means to finish his uncompleted task 
 or there would be a vacancy for a senior 
 captain in the Hussars of Conflans. 
 
 I passed unquestioned down the broad 
 boulevard, which I have already described, 
 until I came to the great stone convent 
 which formed the outwork of the defence. 
 It was built in a square with a garden in 
 the centre. In this garden some hundreds 
 of men were assembled, all armed and ready, 
 
 6 
 
82 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 for it was known, of course, within the town 
 that this was the point against which the 
 French attack was likely to be made. Up 
 to this time our fighting all over Europe had 
 always been done between one army and 
 another. It was only here in Spain that 
 we learned how terrible a thing it is to 
 fight against a people. On the one hand 
 there is no glory, for what glory could be 
 gained by defeating this rabble of elderly 
 shopkeepers, ignorant peasants, fanatical 
 priests, excited women, and all the other 
 creatures who made up the garrison ? On 
 the other hand there were extreme dis- 
 comfort and danger, for these people would 
 give you no rest, would observe no rules 
 of war, and were desperately earnest in 
 their desire by hook or by crook to do 
 you an injury. I began to realise how 
 odious was our task as I looked upon the 
 motley but ferocious groups who were 
 gathered round the watch fires in the garden 
 of the Convent of the Madonna. It was 
 not for us soldiers to think about politics. 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA 83 
 
 but from the beginning there always seemed 
 to be a curse upon this war in Spain. 
 
 However, at the moment I had no time 
 to brood over such rpatters as these. There 
 was, as I have said, no difficulty in getting 
 as far as the convent garden, but to pass 
 inside the convent unquestioned was not 
 so easy. The first thing which I did was 
 to walk round the garden, and I was soon 
 able to pick out one large stained-glass 
 window which must belong to the chapel. 
 I had understood from Hubert that the 
 Mother Superior's room in which the powder 
 was stored was near to this, and that the 
 train had been laid through a hole in the 
 wall from some neighbouring cell. I must 
 at all costs get into the convent. There 
 was a guard at the door, and how could 
 I get in without explanations ? But a 
 sudden inspiration showed me how the thing 
 might be done. In the garden was a well, 
 and beside the well were a number of 
 empty buckets. I filled two of these and 
 approached the door. The errand of a man 
 
84 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 who carries a bucket of water in each hand 
 does not need to be explained. The guard 
 opened to let me through. I found myself 
 in a long stone-flagged corridor lit with 
 lanterns, with the cells of the nuns leading 
 out from one side of it. Now at last I was 
 on the high road to success. I walked on 
 without hesitation, for I knew by rny obser- 
 vations in the garden which way to go for 
 the chapel. 
 
 A number of Spanish soldiers were loung- 
 ing and smoking in the corridor, several of 
 whom addressed me as I passed. I fancy 
 it was for my blessing that they asked, and 
 my " Ora pro nobis " seemed to entirely 
 satisfy them. Soon I had got as far as the 
 chapel, and it was easy enough to see that 
 the cell next door was used as a magazine, 
 for the floor was all black with powder in 
 front of it. The door was shut, and two 
 fierce-looking fellows stood on guard outside 
 it, one of them with a key stuck in his 
 belt. Had we been alone it would not have 
 been long before it would have been in 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA 85 
 
 my hand, but with his comrade there it was 
 impossible for me to hope to take it by 
 force. The cell next door to the magazine 
 on the far side from the chapel must be 
 the one which belonged to Sister Angela. 
 It was half open. I took my courage in 
 both hands and, leaving my buckets in the 
 corridor, I walked unchallenged into the 
 room. 
 
 I was prepared to find half-a-dozen fierce 
 Spanish desperadoes within, but what actually 
 met my eyes was even more embarrassing. 
 The room had apparently been set aside 
 for the use of some of the nuns, who for 
 some reason had refused to quit their home. 
 Three of them were within, one an elderly, 
 stern-faced dame who was evidently the 
 Mother Superior, the others young ladies 
 of charming appearance. They were seated 
 together at the far side of the room, but 
 they all rose at my entrance, and I saw 
 with some amazement, by their manner and 
 expressions, that my coming was both wel- 
 come and expected. In a moment my 
 
86 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 presence of mind had returned, and I saw 
 exactly how the matter lay. Naturally, 
 since an attack was about to be made upon 
 the convent, these sisters had been expecting 
 to be directed to some place of safety. Pro- 
 bably they were under vow not to quit 
 the walls, and they had been told to remain 
 in this cell until they had received further 
 orders. In any case I adapted my conduct 
 to this supposition, since it was clear that 
 I must get them out of the room, and this 
 would give me a ready excuse to do so. I 
 first cast a glance at the door and observed 
 that the key was within, I then made a 
 gesture to the nuns to follow me. The 
 Mother Superior asked me some question, 
 but I shook my head impatiently and 
 beckoned to her again. She hesitated, but 
 I stamped my foot and called them forth 
 in so imperious a manner that they came 
 at once. They would be safer in the chapel, 
 and thither I led them, placing them at 
 the end which was farthest from the maga- 
 zine. As the three nuns took their places 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA 87 
 
 before the altar my heart bounded with 
 joy and pride within me, for I felt that the 
 last obstacle had been lifted from my path. 
 And yet how often have I not found that 
 this is the very moment of danger ? I took 
 a last glance at the Mother Superior, and 
 to my dismay I saw that her piercing dark 
 eyes were fixed, with an expression in which 
 surprise was deepening into suspicion, upon 
 my right hand. There were two points 
 which might well have attracted her atten- 
 tion. One was that it was red with the 
 blood of the sentinel whom I had stabbed 
 in the tree. That alone might count for 
 little, as the knife was as familiar as the 
 breviary to the monks of Saragossa, But 
 on my forefinger I wore a heavy gold ring 
 — the gift of a German baroness whose 
 name I may not mention. It shone brightly 
 in the light of the altar lamp. Now, a ring 
 upon a friar's hand is an impossibility, since 
 they are vowed to absolute poverty. I 
 turned quickly and made for the door of 
 the chapel, but the mischief was done. As 
 
88 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 I glanced back I saw that the Mother 
 Superior was already hurrying after me. I 
 ran through the chapel door and along the 
 corridor, but she called out some shrill 
 warning to the two guards in front. For- 
 tunately I had the presence of mind to call 
 out also, and to point down the passage as 
 if we were both pursuing the same object. 
 Next instant I had dashed past them, sprang 
 into the cell, slammed the heavy door, and 
 fastened it upon the inside. With a bolt 
 above and below and a huge lock in the 
 centre it was a piece of timber that would 
 take some forcing. 
 
 Even now if they had had the wit to put 
 a barrel of powder against the door I should 
 have been ruined. It was their only chance, 
 for I had come to the final stage ot my 
 adventure. Here at last, after such a string 
 of dangers as few men have ever lived to 
 talk of, I was at one end of the powder train, 
 with the Saragossa magazine at the other. 
 They were howling like wolves out in the 
 passage, and muskets were crashing against 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA 89 
 
 the door. I paid no heed to their clamour, 
 but I looked eagerly around for that train of 
 which Hubert had spoken. Of course, it 
 must be at the side of the room next to the 
 magazine. I crawled along it on my hands 
 and knees, looking into every crevice, but no 
 sign could I see. Two bullets flew through 
 the door and flattened themselves against 
 the wall. The thudding and smashing grew 
 ever louder. I saw a grey pile in a corner, 
 flew to it with a cry of joy, and found that 
 it was only dust. Then I got back to the 
 side of the door where no bullets could ever 
 reach me — they were streaming freely into 
 the room — and I tried to forget this fiendish 
 howling in my ear and to think out where 
 this train could be. It must have been care- 
 fully laid by Hubert lest these nuns should 
 see it. I tried to imagine how I should 
 myself have arranged it had I been in his 
 place. My eye was attracted by a statue 
 of St. Joseph which stood in the corner. 
 There was a wreath of leaves along the edge 
 of the pedestal, with a lamp burning amidst 
 
90 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 them. I rushed across to it and tore the 
 leaves aside. Yes, yes, there was a thin 
 black line, which disappeared through a small 
 hole in the wall. I tilted over the lamp, and 
 threw myself on the ground. Next instant 
 came a roar like thunder, the walls wavered 
 and tottered around me, the ceiling clattered 
 down from above, and over the yell of the 
 terrified Spaniards was heard the terrific 
 shout of the storming column of the Grena- 
 diers. As in a dream — a happy dream — I 
 heard it, and then I heard no more. 
 
 When I came to my senses two French 
 soldiers were propping me up, and my head 
 was singing like a kettle. I staggered to 
 my feet and looked around me. The plaster 
 had fallen, the furniture was scattered, and 
 there were rents in the bricks, but no signs 
 of a breach. In fact, the walls of the 
 convent had been so solid that the ex- 
 plosion of the magazine had been insufficient 
 to throw them down. On the other hand, it 
 had caused such a panic among the defenders 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA 91 
 
 that our stormers had been able to carry the 
 windows and throw open the doors almost 
 without resistance. As I ran out into the 
 corridor I found it full of troops, and I met 
 Marshal Lannes himself, who was entering 
 with his staff. He stopped and listened 
 eagerly to my story. 
 
 " Splendid, Captain Gerard, splendid ! " 
 he cried, " These facts will certainly be 
 reported to the Emperor." 
 
 " I would suggest to your Excellency," 
 said I, "that I have only finished the work 
 that was planned and carried out by 
 Monsieur Hubert, who gave his life for 
 the cause." 
 
 "His services will not be forgotten," said 
 the Marshal. " Meanwhile, Captain Gerard, 
 it is half-past four, and you must be starving 
 after such a night of exertion. My staff and 
 I will breakfast inside the city. I assure you 
 that you will be an honoured guest." 
 
 " I will follow your Excellency," said I. 
 " There is a small engagement which detains 
 me." 
 
92 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 He opened his eyes. 
 
 "At this hour?" 
 
 " Yes, sir," I answered. " My fellow- 
 officers, whom I never saw until last night, 
 will not be content unless they catch another 
 glimpse of me the first thing this morning." 
 
 " Au revoir, then," said Marshal Lannes, 
 as he passed upon his way. 
 
 I hurried through the shattered door of 
 the convent. When I reached the roofless 
 house in which we had held the consultation 
 the night before, I threw off my gown, and I 
 put on the busby and sabre which I had left 
 there. Then, a Hussar once more, I hurried 
 onwards to the grove which was our 
 rendezvous. My brain was still reeling from 
 the concussion of the powder, and I was 
 exhausted by the many emotions which had 
 shaken me during that terrible night. It is 
 like a dream, all that walk in the first dim 
 grey light of dawn, with the smouldering 
 camp-fires around me and the buzz of the 
 waking army. Bugles and drums in every 
 direction were mustering the infantry, for 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA 93 
 
 the explosion and the shouting had told 
 their own tale. I strode onwards until, as I 
 entered the little clump of cork oaks behind 
 the horse lines, I saw my twelve comrades 
 waiting in a group, their sabres at their 
 sides. They looked at me curiously as 
 I approached. Perhaps with my powder- 
 blackened face and my blood-stained hands 
 I seemed a different Gerard to the young 
 captain whom they had made game of the 
 night before. 
 
 " Good morning, gentlemen," said I. " I 
 regret exceedingly if I have kept you waiting, 
 but I have not been master of my own time." 
 
 They said nothing, but they still scanned 
 me with curious eyes. I can see them now, 
 standing in a line before me, tall men and 
 short men, stout men and thin men ; Olivier, 
 with his warlike moustache ; the thin, eager 
 face of Pelletan ; young Oudin, flushed by his 
 first duel ; Mortier, with the sword-cut across 
 his wrinkled brow. I laid aside my busby 
 and drew my sword. 
 
 " I have one tavour to ask you, gentlemen," 
 
94 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 said I. " Marshal Lannes has invited me to 
 breakfast, and I cannot keep him waiting," 
 
 "What do you suggest?" asked Major 
 Olivier. 
 
 " That you release me from my promise 
 to give you five minutes each, and that you 
 will permit me to attack you all together." I 
 stood upon my guard as I spoke. 
 
 But their answer was truly beautiful and 
 truly French. With one impulse the twelve 
 swords flew from their scabbards and were 
 raised in salute. There they stood, the 
 twelve of them, motionless, their heels to- 
 gether, each with his sword upright before 
 his face. 
 
 I staggered back from them. I looked 
 from one to the other. For an instant I 
 could not believe my own eyes. They were 
 paying me homage, these, the men who had 
 jeered me ! Then I understood it all. I 
 saw the effect that I had made upon them 
 and their desire to make reparation. When 
 a man is weak he can steel himself against 
 danger, but not against emotion. " Com- 
 
"With One Impulse the Twelve Swords flew from their Scabbards 
 
 AND WERE RAISED IN SaLUTE." 
 
CAPTURED SARAGOSSA 95 
 
 rades," I cried, " comrades ! " but I 
 
 could say no more. Something seemed to 
 take me by the throat and choke me. And 
 then in an instant Olivier's arms were round 
 me, Pelletan had seized me by the right 
 hand, Mortier by the left, some were patting 
 me on the shoulder, some were clapping me 
 on the back, on every side smiling faces were 
 looking into mine ; and so it was that I 
 knew that I had won my footing in the 
 Hussars of Conflans. 
 
Ill 
 
 How the Brigadier Slew the Fox* 
 
 IN all the great hosts of France there 
 was only one officer towards whom 
 the English of Wellington's army retained 
 a deep, steady, and unchangeable hatred. 
 There were plunderers among the French, 
 and men of violence, gamblers, duellists, and 
 rouds. All these could be forgiven, for others 
 of their kidney were to be found among the 
 ranks of the English. But one officer of 
 Massena's force had committed a crime which 
 was unspeakable, unheard of, abominable ; 
 only to be alluded to with curses late in the 
 evening, when a second bottle had loosened 
 the tongues of men. The news of it was 
 
 * This story has, by the kind consent of Messrs. Smith, 
 Elder & Co., been transferred from "The Green Flag," so 
 that all the Brigadier Gerard stories may appear together. 
 
 96 
 
HOW THE BRIGADIER SLEW THE FOX 
 
 carried back to England, and country gentle- 
 men who knew little of the details of the 
 war grew crimson with passion when they 
 heard of it, and yeomen of the shires raised 
 freckled fists to Heaven and swore. And 
 yet who should be the doer of this dreadful 
 deed but our friend the brigadier, Etienne 
 Gerard, ot the Hussars of Conflans, gay- 
 riding, plume-tossing, debonair, the darling 
 of the ladies and of the six brigades of light 
 cavalry. 
 
 But the strange part of it is that this 
 gallant gentleman did this hateful thing, and 
 made himself the most unpopular man in 
 the Peninsula, without ever knowing that he 
 had done a crime for which there is hardly a 
 name amid all the resources of our language. 
 He died of old age, and never once in that 
 imperturbable self-confidence which adorned 
 or disfigured his character knew that so 
 many thousand Englishmen would gladly 
 have hanged him with their own hands. On 
 the contrary, he numbered this adventure 
 among those other exploits which he has 
 
 97. n 
 
98 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 given to the world, and many a time he 
 chuckled and hugged himself as he narrated 
 it to the eager circle who gathered round 
 him in that humble cafd where, between his 
 dinner and his dominoes, he would tell, amid 
 tears and laughter, of that inconceivable 
 Napoleonic past when France, like an angel 
 of wrath, rose up, splendid and terrible, 
 before a cowering continent. Let us listen 
 to him as he tells the story in his own way 
 and from his own point of view. 
 
 You must know, my friends (said he), that 
 it was towards the end of the year eighteen 
 hundred and ten that I and Massena and 
 the others pushed Wellington backwards 
 until we had hoped to drive him and his 
 army into the Tagus. But when we were 
 still twenty-five miles from Lisbon we found 
 that we were betrayed, for what had this 
 Englishman done but build an enormous 
 line of works and forts at a place called 
 Torres Vedras, so that even we were unable 
 to get through them ! They lay across the 
 
SLEW THE FOX gg 
 
 whole peninsula, and our army was so far 
 from home that we did not dare to risk a 
 reverse, and we had already learned at 
 Busaco that it was no child's play to fight 
 against these people. What could we do, 
 then, but sit down in front of these lines 
 and blockade them to the best of our power ? 
 There we remained for six months, amid 
 such anxieties that Massena said afterwards 
 that he had not one hair which was not 
 white upon his body. For my own part, 
 I did not worry much about our situation, 
 but I looked after our horses, who were 
 in great need of rest and green fodder. For 
 the rest, we drank the wine of the country 
 and passed the time as best we might, 
 There was a lady at Santarem — but my lips 
 are sealed. It is the part of a gallant man 
 to say nothing, though he may indicate that 
 he could say a great deal. 
 
 One day Massena sent for me, and I 
 found him in his tent with a great plan 
 pinned upon the table. He looked at me 
 in silence with that single piercing eye of 
 
lOO HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 his, and I felt by his expression that the 
 matter was serious. He was nervous and 
 ill at ease, but my bearing seemed to re- 
 assure him. It is good to be in contact 
 with brave men. 
 
 " Colonel Etienne Gerard," said he, " I 
 have always heard that you are a very 
 gallant and enterprising officer." 
 
 It was not for me to confirm such a report, 
 and yet it would be folly to deny it, so I 
 clinked my spurs together and saluted. 
 
 " You are also an excellent rider." 
 
 I admitted it. 
 
 " And the best swordsman in the six 
 brigades of light cavalry." 
 
 Massena was famous for the accuracy of 
 his information. 
 
 " Now," said he, " if you will look at this 
 plan you will have no difficulty in under- 
 standing what it is that I wish you to do. 
 These are the lines of Torres Vedras. You 
 will perceive that they cover a vast space, 
 and you will realise that the English can 
 only hold a position here and there. Once 
 
SLEW THE FOX loi 
 
 through the lines, you have twenty-five miles 
 of open country which lie between them and 
 Lisbon. It is very important to me to learn 
 how Wellington's troops are distributed 
 throughout that space, and it is my wish 
 that you should go and ascertain." 
 
 His words turned me cold. 
 
 " Sir," said I, " it is impossible that a 
 colonel of light cavalry should condescend 
 to act as a spy." 
 
 He laughed and clapped me on the 
 shoulder. " You would not be a Hussar 
 if you were not a hot-head," said he. " If 
 you will listen you will understand that I 
 have not asked you to act as a spy. What 
 do you think of that horse ? " 
 
 He had conducted me to the opening of 
 his tent, and there was a Chasseur who led 
 up and down a most admirable creature. 
 He was a dapple grey, not very tall — a 
 little over fifteen hands perhaps — but with 
 the short head and splendid arch of the neck 
 which comes with the Arab blood. His 
 shoulders and haunches were so muscular, 
 
I02 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 and yet his legs so fine, that it thrilled 
 me with joy just to gaze upon him. A 
 fine horse or a beautifijl woman, I cannot 
 look at them unmoved, even now when 
 seventy winters have chilled my blood. 
 You can think how it was in the year 'lo. 
 "This," said Massena, "is Voltigeur, the 
 swiftest horse in our army. What I desire 
 is that you should start to-night, ride round 
 the lines upon the flank, make your way 
 across the enemy's rear, and return upon 
 the other flank, bringing me news of his 
 dispositions. You will wear a uniform, and 
 will, therefore, if captured, be safe from the 
 death of a spy. It is probable that you 
 will get through the lines unchallenged, 
 for the posts are very scattered. Once 
 through, in daylight you can outride any- 
 thing which you meet, and if you keep off 
 the roads you may escape entirely unnoticed. 
 If you have not reported yourself by to- 
 morrow night I will understand that you 
 are taken, and I will offer them Colonel 
 Petrie in exchange." 
 
SLEW THE FOX 103 
 
 Ah, how my heart swelled with pride and 
 joy as I sprang into the saddle and galloped 
 this grand horse up and down to show the 
 marshal the mastery which I had of him! 
 He was magnificent — we were both mag- 
 nificent, for Massena clapped his hands and 
 cried out in his delight. It was not I, 
 but he, who said that a gallant beast de- 
 serves a gallant rider. Then, when for 
 the third time, with my panache flying and 
 my dolman streaming behind me, I thun- 
 dered past him, I saw upon his hard old 
 face that he had no longer any doubt that 
 he had chosen the man for his purpose. 
 I drew my sabre, raised the hilt to my 
 lips in salute, and galloped on to my own 
 quarters. Already the news had spread that 
 I had been chosen for a mission, and my 
 little rascals came swarming out of their 
 tents to cheer me. Ah ! it brings the tears 
 to my old eyes when I think- how proud 
 they were of their colonel. And I was 
 proud of them also. They deserved a 
 dashing leader. 
 
I04 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 The night promised to be a stormy one, 
 which was very much to my liking. It was 
 my desire to keep my departure most secret, 
 for it was evident that if the English heard 
 that I had been detached from the army 
 they would naturally conclude that some- 
 thing important was about to happen. My 
 horse was taken, therefore, beyond the 
 picket line, as if for watering, and I followed 
 and mounted him there. I had a map, a 
 compass, and a paper of instructions from 
 the marshal, and with these in the bosom 
 of my tunic, and a sabre at my side, I set 
 out upon my adventure. A thin rain was 
 falling, and there was no moon, so you may 
 imagine that it was not very cheerful. But 
 my heart was light at the thought of the 
 honour which had been done me, and the 
 glory which awaited me. This exploit 
 should be one more in that brilliant series 
 which was to change my sabre into a baton. 
 Ah, how we dreamed, we foolish fellows, 
 young, and drunk with success ! Could I 
 have foreseen that night as I rode, the 
 
SLEW THE FOX 105 
 
 chosen man of 60,000, that I should spend 
 my life planting cabbages on a hundred 
 francs a month ! Oh, my youth, my hopes, 
 my comrades ! But the wheel turns and 
 never stops. Forgive me, my friends, for 
 an old man has his weakness. 
 
 My route, then, lay across the face of 
 the high ground of Torres Vedras, then 
 over a streamlet, past a farmhouse which 
 had been burned down and was now only 
 a landmark, then through a forest of young 
 cork oaks, and so to the monastery of San 
 Antonio, which marked the left of the 
 English position. Here I turned south 
 and rode quietly over the downs, for it was 
 at this point that Massena thought that it 
 would be most easy for me to find my 
 way unobserved through the position. I 
 went very slowly, for it was so dark that I 
 could not see my hand in front of me. In 
 such cases I leave my bridle loose, and let 
 my horse pick its own way. Voltigeur went 
 confidently forward, and I was very content 
 to sit upon his back, and to peer about 
 
io6 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 me, avoiding every light. For three hours 
 we advanced in this cautious way, until it 
 seemed to me that I must have left all 
 danger behind me. I then pushed on more 
 briskly, for I wished to be in the rear of the 
 whole army by daybreak. There are many 
 vineyards in these parts which in winter 
 become open plains, and a horseman finds 
 few difficulties in his way. 
 
 But Massena had underrated the cunning 
 of these English, for it appears that there 
 was not one line of defence, but three, and 
 it was the third which was the most formid- 
 able, through which I was at that instant 
 passing. As I rode, elated at my own 
 success, a lantern flashed suddenly before 
 me, and I saw the glint of polished gun 
 barrels and the gleam of a red coat. 
 
 " Who goes there ? " cried a voice — such 
 a voice ! I swerved to the right and rode 
 like a madman, but a dozen squirts of fire 
 came out of the darkness, and the bullets 
 whizzed all round my ears. That was no 
 new sound to me, my friends, though I 
 
SLEW THE FOX 107 
 
 will not talk like a foolish conscript and say 
 that I have ever liked it. But at least it 
 had never kept me from thinking clearly, and 
 so I knew that there was nothing for it but to 
 gallop hard and try my luck elsewhere. I 
 rode round the English picket, and then, 
 as I heard nothing more of them, I concluded 
 rightly that I had at last come through their 
 defences. For five miles I rode south, 
 striking a tinder from time to time to look 
 at my pocket compass. And then in an 
 instant — I feel the pang once more as my 
 memory brings back the moment — my horse, 
 without a sob or stagger, fell stone dead 
 beneath me ! 
 
 I had not known it, but one of the bullets 
 from that infernal picket had passed through 
 his body. The gallant creature had never 
 winced nor weakened, but had gone while 
 life was in him. One instant I was secure 
 on the swiftest, most graceful horse in 
 Massena's army. The next he lay upon his 
 side, worth only the price of his hide, and I 
 stood there that most helpless, most ungainly 
 
io8 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 of creatures, a dismounted Hussar. What 
 could I do with my boots, my spurs, my 
 trailing sabre ? I was far inside the enemy's 
 lines. How could I hope to get back 
 again ? I am not ashamed to say that I, 
 Etienne Gerard, sat upon my dead horse 
 and sank my face in my hands in my despair. 
 Already the first streaks were whitening in 
 the east. In half an hour it would be light. 
 That I should have won my way past every 
 obstacle, and then at this last instant be 
 left at the mercy of my enemies, my mission 
 ruined, and myself a prisoner — was it not 
 enough to break a soldier's heart ? 
 
 But courage, my friends ! We have these 
 moments of weakness, the bravest of us ; 
 but I have a spirit like a slip of steel, 
 for the more you bend it the higher it 
 springs. One spasm of despair, and then a 
 brain of ice and a heart of fire. All was 
 not yet lost. I, who had come through so 
 many hazards, would come through this 
 one also. I rose from my horse and con- 
 sidered what had best be done. 
 
' I SAT UPON MY Dead Horse and sank my Face in my Hands in mv 
 Despair." 
 
SLEW THE FOX 109. 
 
 And first of all it was certain that I 
 could not get back. Long before I could 
 pass the lines it would be broad daylight. 
 I must hide myself for the day, and devote 
 the next night to my escape. I took the 
 saddle, holsters, and bridle from my poor 
 Voltigeur, and I concealed them among some 
 bushes, so that no one finding him could 
 know that he was a French horse. Then, 
 leaving him lying there, I wandered on in 
 search of some place where I might be 
 safe for the day. In every direction I 
 could see camp fires upon the sides of the 
 hills, and already figures had begun to move 
 around them. I must hide quickly or I 
 was lost. But where was I to hide ? It 
 was a vineyard in which I found myself, 
 the poles of the vines still standing, but 
 the plants gone. There was no cover there. 
 Beside, I should want some food and water 
 before another night had come. I hurried 
 wildly onwards through the waning darkness, 
 trusting that chance would be my friend. 
 And I was not disappointed. Chance is a 
 
no HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 woman, my friends, and she has her eye 
 always upon a gallant Hussar. 
 
 Well, then, I stumbled through the vine- 
 yard, something loomed in front of me, 
 and I came upon a great square house 
 with another long, low building upon one 
 side of it. Three roads met there, and it 
 was easy to see that this was the posada, 
 or wine-shop. There was no light in the 
 windows, and everything was dark and 
 silent, but, of course, I knew that such 
 comfortable quarters were certainly occupied, 
 and probably by someone of importance. 
 I have learned, however, that the nearer 
 the danger may really be the safer the 
 place, and so I was by no means inclined 
 to trust myself away from this shelter. The 
 low building was evidently the stable, and 
 into this I crept, for the door was unlatched. 
 The place was full of bullocks and sheep, 
 gathered there, no doubt, to be out of the 
 clutches of marauders. A ladder led to a 
 loft, and up this I climbed, and concealed 
 myself very snugly among some bales of 
 
SLEW THE FOX in 
 
 hay upon the top. This loft had a small 
 open window, and I was able to look down 
 upon the front of the inn and also upon 
 the road. Then I crouched and waited to 
 see what would happen. 
 
 It was soon evident that I had not been 
 mistaken when I had thought that this might 
 be the quarters of some person of import- 
 ance. Shortly after daybreak an English 
 light dragoon arrived with a despatch, and 
 from then onwards the place was in a tur- 
 moil, officers continually riding up and away. 
 Always the same name was upon their lips : 
 " Sir Stapleton — Sir Stapleton." It was 
 hard for me to lie there with a dry moustache 
 and watch the great flagons which were 
 brought out by the landlord to these English 
 officers. But it amused me to look at their 
 fresh-coloured, clean-shaven, careless faces, 
 and to wonder what they would think if they 
 knew that so celebrated a person was lying 
 so near to them. And then, as I lay and 
 watched, I saw a sight which filled me with 
 surprise. 
 
11^ HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 It is incredible the insolence of these 
 English ! What do you suppose Milord 
 Wellington had done when he found that 
 Massena had blockaded him and that he 
 could not move his army ? I might give 
 you many guesses. You might say that 
 he had raged, that he had despaired, that he 
 had brought his troops together and spoken 
 to them about glory and the fatherland 
 before leading them to one last battle. No, 
 Milord did none of these things. But he 
 sent a fleet ship to England to bring him 
 a number of fox-dogs, and he with his officers 
 settled himself down to chase the fox. It 
 is true what I tell you. Behind the lines 
 of Torres Vedras these mad Englishmen 
 made the fox-chase three days in the week. 
 We had heard of it in the camp, and now 
 I myself was to see that it was true. 
 
 For, along the road which I have de- 
 scribed, there came these very dogs, thirty or 
 forty of them, white and brown, each with 
 its tail at the same angle, like the bayonets of 
 the Old Guard. My faith, but it was a pretty 
 
SLEW THE FOX 113 
 
 sight ! And behind and amidst them there 
 rode three men with peaked cap and red 
 coats, whom I understood to be the hunters. 
 After them came many horsemen with 
 uniforms of various kinds, stringing along 
 the road in twos and threes, talking together 
 and laughing. They did not seem to be going 
 above a trot, and it appeared to me that it 
 must indeed be a slow fox which they hoped 
 to catch. However, it was their affair, not 
 mine, and soon they had all passed my 
 window and were out bf sight. I waited 
 and I watched, ready for any chance which 
 might offer. 
 
 Presently an officer, in a blue uniform 
 not unlike that of our flying artillery, came 
 cantering down the road — an elderly, stout 
 man he was, with grey side-whiskers. He 
 stopped and began to talk with an orderly 
 officer of dragoons, who waited outside the 
 inn, and it was then that I learned the 
 advantage of the English which had been 
 taught me. I could hear and understand 
 all that was said. 
 
 8 
 
114 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 " Where is the meet ? " said the ofificer, 
 and I thought that he was hungering for his 
 bifstek. But the other answered him that 
 it was near Altara, so I saw that it was a 
 place of which he spoke. 
 
 "You are late, Sir George," said the 
 orderly. 
 
 " Yes, I had a court-martial. Has Sir 
 Stapleton Cotton gone?" 
 
 At this moment a window opened, and 
 a handsome young man in a very splendid 
 uniform looked out of it. 
 
 " Halloa, Murray ! " said he. " These 
 cursed papers keep me, but I will be at 
 your heels." 
 
 " Very good, Cotton. I am late already, 
 so I will ride on." 
 
 "You might order my groom to bring 
 round my horse," said the young general at 
 the window to the orderly below, while the 
 other went on down the road. 
 
 The orderly rode away to some outlying 
 stable, and then in a few minutes there came 
 a smart English groom with a cockade in 
 
SLEW THE FOX 115 
 
 his hat, leading by the bridle a horse — and, 
 oh, my friends, you have never known the 
 perfection to which a horse can attain until 
 you have seen a first-class English hunter. 
 He was superb : tall, broad, strong, and yet 
 as graceful and agile as a deer. Coal black 
 he was in colour, and his neck, and his 
 shoulder, and his quarters, and his fetlocks 
 — how can I describe him all to you ? The 
 sun shone upon him as on polished ebony, 
 and he raised his hoofs in a little playful 
 dance so lightly and prettily, while he tossed 
 his mane and whinnied with impatience. 
 Never have I seen such a mixture of 
 strength and beauty and grace. I had often 
 wondered how the English Hussars had 
 managed to ride over the Chasseurs of the 
 Guards in the affair at Astorga, but I 
 wondered no longer when I saw the English 
 horses. 
 
 There was a ring for fastening bridles at 
 the door of the inn, and the groom tied the 
 horse there while he entered the house. 
 In an instant I had seen the chance which 
 
n 
 
 ii6 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 Fate had brought to me. Were I in that 
 saddle I should be better off than when I 
 started. Even Voltigeur could not compare 
 with this magnificent creature. To think 
 is to act with me. In one instant I was 
 down the ladder and at the door of the 
 stable. The next I was out and the bridle 
 was in my hand. I bounded into the saddle. 
 Somebody, the master or the man, shouted 
 wildly behind me. What cared I for his 
 shouts ! I touched the horse with my spurs, 
 and he bounded forward with such a spring 
 that only a rider like myself could have sat 
 him. I gave him his head and let him go — 
 it did not matter to me where, s& long as 
 we left this inn far behind us. He thundered 
 away across the vineyards, and in a very 
 few minutes I had placed miles between 
 myself and my pursuers. They could no 
 longer tell, in that wild country, in which 
 direction I had gone. I knew that I was 
 safe, and so, riding to the top of a small 
 hill, I drew my pencil and note-book from 
 my pocket, and proceeded to make plans 
 
SLEW THE FOX 117 
 
 of those camps which I could see, and to 
 draw the outline of the country. 
 
 He was a dear creature upon whom I sat, 
 but it was not easy to draw upon his back, 
 for every now and then his two ears would 
 cock, and he would start and quiver with 
 impatience. At first I could not understand 
 this trick of his, but soon I observed that 
 he only did it when a peculiar noise — " Yoy, 
 yoy, yoy " — came from somewhere among- 
 the oak woods beneath us. And then sud- 
 denly this strange cry changed into a most 
 terrible screaming, with the frantic blowing 
 of a horn. Instantly he went mad — this 
 horse. His eyes blazed. His mane bristled. 
 He bounded from the earth and bounded 
 again, twisting and turning in a frenzy. My 
 pencil flew one way and my note-book 
 another. And then, as I looked down into 
 the valley, an extraordinary sight met my 
 eyes. The hunt was streaming down it. 
 The fox I could not see, but the dogs 
 were in full cry, their noses down, their tails 
 up, so close together that they might have 
 
il8 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 been one great yellow and white moving 
 carpet. And behind them rode the horse- 
 men — my faith, what a sight! Consider 
 every type which a great army could show : 
 some in hunting dress, but the most in 
 uniforms ; blue dragoons, red dragoons, red- 
 trousered hussars, green riflemen, artillery- 
 men, gold-slashed lancers, and most of all 
 red, red, red, for the infantry officers ride 
 as hard as the cavalry. Such a crowd, some 
 well mounted, some ill, but all flying along 
 as best they might, the subaltern as good 
 as the general, jostling and pushing, spurring 
 and driving, with every thought thrown to 
 the winds save that they should have the 
 blood of this absurd fox ! Truly, they are 
 an extraordinary people, the English ! But 
 I had little time to watch the hunt or to 
 marvel at these islanders, for of all these 
 mad creatures the very horse upon which 
 I sat was the maddest. You understand 
 that he was himself a hunter, and that the 
 crying of these dogs was to him what the 
 call of a cavalry trumpet in the street yonder 
 
SLEW THE FOX 119 
 
 would be to me. It thrilled him. It drove 
 him wild. Again and again he bounded into 
 the air, and then, seizing the bit between 
 his teeth, he plunged down the slope, and 
 galloped after the dogs. I swore, and 
 tugged, and pulled, but I was powerless. 
 This English general rode his horse with a 
 snaffle only, and the beast had a mouth of 
 iron. It was useless to pull him back. One 
 might as well try to keep a Grenadier from 
 a wine bottle. I gave it up in despair, and, 
 settling down in the saddle, I prepared for 
 the worst which could befall. 
 
 What a creature he was ! Never have 
 I felt such a horse between my knees. His 
 great haunches gathered under him with 
 every stride, and he shot forward ever faster 
 and faster, stretched like a greyhound, while 
 the wind beat in my face and whistled past 
 my ears. I was wearing our undress jacket, 
 a uniform simple and dark in itself — though 
 some figures give distinction to any uniform 
 — and I had taken the precaution to remove 
 the long panache from my busby. The 
 
I20 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 result was that, amidst the mixture of cos- 
 tumes in the hunt, there was no reason why 
 mine should attract attention, or why these 
 men, whose thoughts were all with the 
 chase, should give any heed to me. The 
 idea that a French officer might be riding 
 with them was too absurd to enter their 
 minds. I laughed as I rode, for, indeed, 
 amid all the danger, there was something 
 of comic in the situation. 
 
 I have said that the hunters were very 
 unequally mounted, and so, at the end of a 
 few miles, instead of being one body of men, 
 like a charging regiment, they were scattered 
 over a considerable space, the better riders 
 well up to the dogs, and the others trailing 
 away behind. Now, I was as good a rider 
 as any, and my horse was the best of them 
 all, and so you can imagine that it was not 
 long before he carried me to the front. 
 And when I saw the dogs streaming over 
 the open, and the red-coated huntsman 
 behind them, and only, seven or eight 
 horsemen between us, then it was that the 
 
SLEW THE FOX 121 
 
 strangest thing of all happened, for I, too, 
 went mad — I, Etienne Gerard ! In a moment 
 it came upon me, this spirit of sport, this 
 desire to excel, this hatred of the fox. 
 Accursed animal, should he then defy us? 
 Vile robber, his hour was come ! Ah, it is 
 a great feeling, this feeling of sport, my 
 friends, this desire to trample the fox under 
 the hoofs of your horse. I have made the 
 fox-chase with the English. I have also, 
 as I may tell you some day, fought the 
 box-fight with the Bustler, of Bristol. And 
 I say to you that this sport is a wonderful 
 thing — full of interest as well as madness. 
 
 The farther we went the faster galloped 
 my horse, and soon there were but three 
 men as near the dogs as I was. All thought 
 of fear of discovery had vanished. My brain 
 throbbed, my blood ran hot^only one thing 
 upon earth seemed worth living for, and that 
 was to overtake this infernal fox. I passed 
 one of the horsemen — a Hussar like myself 
 There were only two in front of me now — 
 the one in a black coat, the other the blue 
 
122 HOW THE BRIGADIER, 
 
 artilleryman whom I had seen at the inn. 
 His grey whiskers streamed in the wind, but 
 he rode magnificently. For a mile or more 
 we kept in this order, and then, as we 
 galloped up a steep slope, my lighter weight 
 brought me to the front. I passed them 
 both, and when I reached the crown I was 
 riding level with the little, hard-faced Eng- 
 lish huntsman. In front of us were the 
 dogs, and then, a hundred paces beyond 
 them, was a brown wisp of a thing, the fox 
 itself, stretched to the uttermost. The sight 
 of him fired my blood. "Aha, we have you 
 then, assassin ! " I cried, and shouted my 
 encouragement to the huntsman. I waved 
 my hand to show him that there was one 
 upon whom he could rely. 
 
 And now there were only the dogs 
 between me and my prey. These dogs, 
 whose duty it is to point out the game, 
 were now rather a hindrance than a help 
 to us, for it was hard to know how to pass 
 them. The huntsman felt the difficulty as 
 much as I, for he rode behind them and 
 
SLEW THE FOX 123 
 
 could make no progress towards the fox. 
 He was a swift rider, but wanting in 
 enterprise. For my part, I felt that it 
 would be unworthy of the Hussars of Con- 
 flans if I could not overcome such a difficulty 
 as this. Was Etienne Gerard to be stopped 
 by a herd of fox-dogs ? It was absurd. I 
 gave a shout and spurred my horse. 
 
 "Hold hard, sir ! Hold hard ! " cried the 
 huntsman. 
 
 He was uneasy for me, this good old 
 man, but I reassured him by a wave and 
 smile. The dogs opened in front of me. 
 One or two may have been hurt, but what 
 would you have ? The egg must be broken 
 for the omelette, I could hear the hunts- 
 man shouting his congratulations behind me. 
 One more effort, and the dogs were all 
 behind me. Only the fox was in front. 
 
 Ah, the joy and pride of that moment ! 
 To know that I had beaten the English 
 at their own sport. Here were three hun- 
 dred all thirsting for the life of this animal, 
 and yet it was I who was about to take it. 
 
124 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 I thought of my comrades of the light 
 cavalry brigade, of my mother, ot the 
 Emperor, of France. I had brought honour 
 to each and all. Every instant brought me 
 nearer to the fox. The moment for action 
 had arrived, so I unsheathed my sabre. I 
 waved it in the air, and the brave English 
 all shouted behind me. 
 
 Only then did I understand how difficult 
 is this fox-chase, for one may cut again and 
 again at the creature and never strike him 
 once. He is small, and turns quickly from 
 a blow. At every cut I heard those shouts 
 of encouragement behind me, and they 
 spurred me to yet another effort. And then, 
 at last the supreme moment of my triumph 
 arrived. In the very act of turning I caught 
 him fair with such another back-handed cut 
 as that with which I killed the aide-de-camp 
 of the Emperor of Russia. He flew into 
 two pieces, his head one way and his tail 
 another. I looked back and waved the 
 blood-stained sabre in the air. For the 
 moment I was exalted — superb ! 
 
' I LOOKED BACK AND WAVED THE BlOOD-STAINED SaBRE IN THE AlR." 
 
SLEW THE FOX 125 
 
 Ah ! how I should have loved to have 
 waited to have received the congratulations 
 of these generous enemies. There were 
 fifty of them in sight, and not one of them 
 who was not waving his hand and shouting. 
 They are not really such a phlegmatic race, 
 the English. A gallant deed in war or in 
 sport will always warm their hearts. As 
 to the old huntsman, he was the nearest 
 to me, and I could see with my own eyes 
 how overcome he was by what he had seen. 
 He was like a man paralysed — his mouth 
 open, his hand, with outspread fingers, 
 raised in the air. For a moment my in- 
 clination was to return and embrace him. 
 But already the call of duty was sounding 
 in my ears, and these English, in spite of 
 all the fraternity which exists among sports- 
 men, would certainly have made me prisoner. 
 There was no hope for my mission now, and 
 I had done all that I could do. I could 
 see the lines of Massena's camp no very 
 great distance off, for, by a lucky chance, the 
 chase had taken us in that direction. I 
 
HOW THE BRIGADIER SLEW THE FOX 
 
 turned from the dead fox, saluted with my 
 sabre, and galloped away. 
 
 But they would not leave me so easily, 
 these gallant huntsmen. I was the fox now, 
 and the chase swept bravely over the plain. 
 It was only at the moment when I started 
 for the camp that they could have known 
 that I was a Frenchman, and now the whole 
 swarm of them were at my heels. We were 
 within gunshot of our pickets before they 
 would halt, and then they stood in knots 
 and would not go away, but shouted and 
 waved their hands at me. No, I will not 
 think that it was in enmity. Rather would 
 I fancy that a glow of admiration filled their 
 breasts, and that their one desire was to 
 embrace the stranger who had carried him- 
 self so gallantly and well. 
 
 u6 
 
IV 
 How the Brigadier Saved an Army 
 
 I HAVE told you, my friends, how we 
 held the English shut up for six 
 months, from October, 1810, to March, 
 181 1, within their lines of Torres Vedras. 
 It was during this time that I hunted the, 
 fox in their company, and showed them that 
 amidst all their sportsmen there was not 
 one who could outride a Hussar of Conflans. 
 When I galloped back into the French lines 
 with the blood of the creature still moist 
 upon my blade, the outposts who had seen 
 what I had done raised a frenzied cry in 
 my honour, whilst these English hunters still 
 yelled behind me, so that I had the applause 
 of both armies. It made the tears rise to 
 my eyes to feel that I had won the admiration 
 
 of so many brave men. These English are 
 
 127 
 
128 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 generous foes. That very evening there 
 came a packet under a white flag addressed 
 " To the Hussar officer who cut down the 
 fox." Within I found the fox itself in two 
 pieces, as I had left it. There was a note 
 also, short but hearty as the English fashion 
 is, to say that as I had slaughtered the fox it 
 only remained for me to eat it. They could 
 not know that it was not our French custom 
 to eat foxes, and it showed their desire 
 that he who had won the honours of the 
 chase should also partake of the game. It 
 is not for a Frenchman to be outdone in 
 politeness, and so I returned it to these 
 brave hunters, and begged them to accept 
 it as a side-dish for their next dejeuner de la 
 chasse. It is thus that chivalrous opponents 
 make war. 
 
 I had brought back with me from my ride 
 a clear plan of the English lines, and this I 
 laid before Massena that very evening. 
 
 I had hoped that it would lead him to 
 attack, but all the marshals were at each 
 other's throats, snapping and growling like 
 
SAVED AN ARMY 129 
 
 so many hungry hounds. Ney hated 
 Massena, and Massena hated Junot, and 
 Soult hated them all. For this reason 
 nothing was done. In the meantime food 
 grew more and more scarce, and our 
 beautiful cavalry was ruined for want of 
 fodder. With the end of the winter we had 
 swept the whole country bare, and nothing 
 remained for us to eat, although we sent 
 our forage parties far and wide. It was 
 clear even to the bravest of us that the 
 time had come to retreat. I was myself 
 forced to admit it. 
 
 But retreat was not so easy. Not only 
 were the troops weak and exhausted from 
 want of supplies, but the enemy had been 
 much encouraged by our long inaction. Of 
 Wellington we had no great fear. We had 
 found him to be brave and cautious, but with 
 little enterprise. Besides, in that barren 
 country his pursuit could not be rapid. But 
 on our flanks and in our rear there had 
 gathered great numbers of Portuguese militia, 
 of armed peasants, and of guerillas. These 
 
 9 
 
130 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 people had kept a safe distance all the winter, 
 but now that our horses were foundered they 
 were as thick as flies all round our outposts, 
 and no man's life was worth a sou when once 
 he fell into their hands. I could name a 
 dozen officers of my own acquaintance who 
 were cut off during that time, and the 
 luckiest was he who received a ball from 
 behind a rpck through his head or his heart. 
 There were some whose deaths were so 
 terrible that no report of them was ever 
 allowed to reach their relatives. So frequent 
 were these tragedies, and so much did they 
 impress the imagination of the men, that it 
 became very difficult to induce them to 
 leave the camp. There was one especial 
 scoundrel, a guerilla chief named Manuelo, 
 ' The Smiler," whose exploits filled our men 
 with horror. He was a large, fat man of 
 jovial aspect, and he lurked with a fierce 
 gang among the mountains which lay upon 
 our left flank. A volume might be written 
 of this fellow's cruelties and brutalities, but 
 he was certainly a man of power, for he 
 
SAVED AN ARMY 131 
 
 organised his brigands in a manner which 
 made it almost impossible for us to get 
 through his country. This he did by im- 
 posing a severe discipline upon them and 
 enforcing it by cruel penalties, a policy by 
 which he made them formidable, but which 
 had some unexpected results, as I will show 
 you in my story. Had he not flogged his 
 
 own lieutenant but you will hear of that 
 
 when the time comes. 
 
 There were many difficulties in connection 
 with a retreat, but it was very evident that 
 there was no other possible course, and so 
 Massena began to quickly pass his baggage 
 and his sick from Torres Novas, which was 
 his headquarters, to Coimbra, the first strong 
 post on his line of communications. He 
 could not do this unperceived, however, and 
 at once the guerillas came swarming closer 
 and closer upon our flanks. One of our 
 divisions, that of Clausel, with a brigade of 
 Montbrun's cavalry, was far to the south of 
 the Tagus, and it became very necessary to 
 let them know that we were about to retreat, 
 
132 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 for otherwise they would be left unsupported 
 in the very heart of the enemy's country. 
 I remember wondering how Massena would 
 accomplish this, for simple couriers could 
 not get through, and small parties would be 
 certainly destroyed. In some way an order 
 to fall back must be conveyed to these men, 
 or France would be the weaker by fourteen 
 thousand men. Little did I think that it was 
 I, Colonel Gerard, who was to have the 
 honour of a deed which might have formed 
 the crowning glory of any other man's life, 
 and which stands high among those exploits 
 which have made my own so famous. 
 
 At that time I was serving on Massena's 
 staff, and he had two other aides-de-camp, 
 who were also very brave and intelligent 
 officers. The name of one was Cortex and 
 of the other Duplessis. They were senior to 
 me in age, but junior in every other respect. 
 Cortex was a small, dark man, very quick 
 and eager. He was a fine soldier, but he 
 was ruined by his conceit. To take him at 
 his own valuation, he was the first man in the 
 
SAVED AN ARMY 133 
 
 army. Duplessis was a Gascon, like myself, 
 and he was a very fine fellow, as all Gascon 
 gentlemen are. We took it in turn, day 
 about, to do duty, and it was Cortex who 
 was in attendance upon the morning of which 
 I speak. I saw him at breakfast, but after- 
 wards neither he nor his horse was to be 
 seen. All day Massena was in his usual 
 gloom, and he spent much of his time staring 
 with his telescope at the English lines and 
 at the shipping in the Tagus. He said 
 nothing of the mission upon which he had 
 sent our comrade, and it was not for us to 
 ask him any questions. 
 
 That night, about twelve o'clock, I was 
 standing outside the Marshal's headquarters 
 when he came out and stood motionless for 
 half an hour, his arms folded upon his 
 breast, staring through the darkness towards 
 the east. So rigid and intent was he that 
 you might have believed the muffled figure 
 and the cocked hat to have been the statue 
 of the man. What he was looking for I 
 could not imagine; but at last he gave a 
 
134 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 bitter curse, and, turning on his heel, he 
 went back into the house, banging the door 
 behind him. 
 
 Next day the second aide-de-camp, Du- 
 plessis, had an interview with Massena in 
 the morning, after which neither he nor 
 his horse was seen again. That night, as 
 I sat in the ante-room, the Marshal passed 
 me, and I observed him through the window 
 standing and staring to the east exactly as 
 he had done before. For fully half an hour 
 he remained there, a black shadow in the 
 gloom. Then he strode in, the door banged, 
 and I heard his spurs and his scabbard 
 jingling and clanking through the passage. 
 At the best he was a savage old man, but 
 when he was crossed I had almost as soon 
 face the Emperor himself. I heard him 
 that night cursing and stamping above my 
 head, but he did not send for me, and I 
 knew him too -well to go unsought. 
 
 Next morning it was my turn, for I was 
 the only aide-de-camp left. I was his 
 favourite aide-de-camp. His heart went out 
 
SAVED AN ARMY 135 
 
 always to a smart soldier. I declare that 
 I think there were tears in his black eyes 
 when he sent for me that morning. 
 
 " Gerard ! " said he. " Come here ! " 
 
 With a friendly gesture he took me by 
 the sleeve and he led me to the open 
 window which faced the east. Beneath us 
 was the infantry camp, and beyond that the 
 lines of the cavalry with the long rows of 
 picketed horses. We could see the French 
 outposts, and then a stretch of open country, 
 intersected by vineyards, A range of hills 
 lay beyond, with one well-marked peak 
 towering above them. Round the base of 
 these hills was a broad belt of forest. A 
 single road ran white and clear, dipping and 
 rising until it passed through a gap in the 
 hills. 
 
 " This," said Massena, pointing to the 
 mountain, " is the Sierra de Merodal. Do 
 you perceive anything upon the top ? " 
 
 I answered that I did not. 
 
 " Now ? " he asked, and he handed me 
 his field-glass. 
 
136 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 With its aid I perceived a small mound or 
 cairn upon the crest. 
 
 " What you see," said the Marshal, " is 
 a pile of logs which was placed there as a 
 beacon. We laid it when the country was 
 in our hands, and now, although we no 
 longer hold it, the beacon remains undis- 
 turbed. Gerard, that beacon must be lit 
 to-night. France needs it, the Emperor 
 needs it, the army needs it. Two of your 
 comrades have gone to light it, but neither 
 has made his way to the summit. To-day 
 it is your turn, and I pray that you may 
 have better luck." 
 
 It is not for a soldier to ask the reason 
 for his orders, and so I was about to hurry 
 from the room, but the Marshal laid his 
 hand upon my shoulder and held me. 
 
 " You shall know all, and so learn how 
 high is the cause for which you risk your 
 life," said he. " Fifty miles to the south 
 of us, on the other side of the Tagus, is 
 the army of General Clausel. His camp 
 is situated near a peak named the Sierra 
 
SAVED AN ARMY 137 
 
 d'Ossa. On the summit of this peak is a 
 beacon, and by this beacon he has a picket. 
 It is agreed between us that when at mid- 
 night he shall see our signal fire he shall 
 light his own as an answer, and shall then 
 at once fall back upon the main army. If 
 he does not start at once I must go without 
 him. For two days I have endeavoured to 
 send him his message. It must reach him 
 to-day, or his army will be left behind and 
 destroyed." 
 
 Ah, my friends, how my heart swelled 
 when I heard how high was the task which 
 Fortune had assigned to me ! If my life 
 were spared, here was one more splendid 
 new leaf for my laurel crown. If, on the 
 other hand, I died, then it would be a death 
 worthy of such a career. I said nothing, 
 but I cannot doubt that all the noble 
 thoughts that were in me shone in my face, 
 for Massena took my hand and wrung it. 
 
 " There is the hill and there the beacon," 
 said he. " There is only this guerilla and 
 his men between you and it. I cannot 
 
138 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 detach a large party for the enterprise, and 
 a small one would be seen and destroyed. 
 Therefore to you alone I commit it. Carry 
 it out in your own way, but at twelve o'clock 
 this night let me see the fire upon the hill." 
 
 " If it is not there," said I, " then I pray 
 you, Marshal Massena, to see that my effects 
 are sold and the money sent to my mother." 
 So I raised my hand to my busby and 
 turned upon my heel, my heart glowing at 
 the thought of the great exploit which lay 
 before me. 
 
 I sat in my own chamber for some little 
 time considering how I had best take the 
 matter in hand. The fact that neither 
 Cortex nor Duplessis, who were very zealous 
 and active officers, had succeeded in reaching 
 the summit of the Sierra de Merodal showed 
 that the country was very closely watched by 
 the guerillas. I reckoned out the distance 
 upon a map. There were ten miles of open 
 country to be crossed before reaching the 
 hills. Then came a belt of forest on the 
 lower slopes of the mountain, which may 
 
SAVED AN ARMY 139 
 
 have been three or four miles wide. And 
 then there was the actual peak itself, of no 
 very great height, but without any cover to 
 conceal me. Those were the three stages 
 of my journey. 
 
 It seemed to me that once I had reached 
 the shelter of the wood all would be easy, 
 for I could lie concealed within its shadows 
 and climb upwards under the cover of night. 
 From eight till twelve would give me four 
 hours of darkness in which to make the 
 ascent. It was only the first stage, then, 
 which I had seriously to consider. 
 
 Over that flat country there lay the in- 
 viting white road, and I remembered that 
 my comrades had both taken their horses. 
 That was clearly their ruin, for nothing could 
 be easier than for the brigands to keep watch 
 upon the road, and to lay an ambush for all 
 who passed along it. It would not be diffi- 
 cult for me to ride across country, and I was 
 well horsed at that time, for I had not only 
 Violette and Rataplan, who were two of 
 the finest mounts in the army, but I had 
 
I40 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 the splendid black English hunter which I 
 had taken from Sir Cotton. However, after 
 much thought, I determined to go upon foot, 
 since I should then be in a better state 
 to take advantage of any chance which 
 might offer. As to my dress, I covered my 
 Hussar uniform with a long cloak, and I 
 put a grey forage cap upon my head. You 
 may ask me why I did not dress as a 
 peasant, but I answer that a man of honour 
 has no desire to die the death of a spy. It 
 is one thing to be murdered, and it is 
 another to be justly executed by the laws 
 of war. I would not run the risk of such 
 an end. 
 
 In the late afternoon I stole out of the 
 camp and passed through the line of our 
 pickets. Beneath my cloak I had a field- 
 glass and a pocket pistol, as well as my 
 sword. In my pocket were tinder, flint, and 
 steel. 
 
 For two or three miles I kept under cover 
 of the vineyards, and made such good 
 progress that my heart was high within 
 
SAVED AN ARMY 141 
 
 me, and I thought to myself that it only 
 needed a man of some brains to take the 
 matter in hand to bring it easily to success. 
 Of course, Cortex and Duplessis galloping 
 down the high road would be easily seen, 
 but the intelligent Gerard lurking among 
 the vines was quite another person. I dare 
 say I had got as far as five miles before 
 I met any check. At that point there is 
 a small winehouse, round which I perceived 
 some carts and a number of people, the first 
 that I had seen. Now that I was well 
 outside the lines I knew that every person 
 was my enemy, so I crouched lower while 
 I stole along to a point from which I could 
 get a better view of what was going on. 
 I then perceived that these people were 
 peasants, who were loading two waggons 
 with empty wine-casks. I failed to see how 
 they could either help or hinder me, so I 
 continued upon my way. 
 
 But soon I understood that my task was 
 not so simple as had appeared. As the 
 ground rose the vineyards ceased, and I 
 
142 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 came upon a stretch of open country studded 
 with low hills. Crouching in a ditch I 
 examined them with a glass, and I very soon 
 perceived that there was a watcher upon 
 every one of them, and that these people 
 had a line of pickets and outposts thrown 
 forward exactly like our own. I had heard 
 of the discipline which was practised by this 
 scoundrel whom they called " The Smiler," 
 and this, no doubt, was an example of it. 
 Between the hills there was a cordon of 
 sentries, and, though I worked some distance 
 round to the flank, I still found myself faced 
 by the enemy. It was a puzzle what to do. 
 There was so little cover that a rat could 
 hardly cross without being seen. Of course, 
 it would be easy enough to slip through at 
 night, as I had done with the English at 
 Torres Vedras ; but I was still far from the 
 mountain, and I could not in that case reach 
 it in time to light the midnight beacon. 1 
 lay in my ditch and I made a thousand plans, 
 each more dangerous than the last. ^And 
 then suddenly I had that flash of light which 
 
SAVED AN ARMY 143 
 
 comes to the brave man who refuses to 
 despair. 
 
 You remember I have mentioned that two 
 waggons were loading up with empty casks 
 at the inn. The heads of the oxen were 
 turned to the east, and it was evident that 
 those waggons were going in the direction 
 which I desired. Could I only conceal 
 myself upon one of them, what better and 
 easier way could I find of passing through 
 the lines of the guerillas ? So simple and so 
 good was the plan that I could not restrain 
 a cry of delight as it crossed my mind, and I 
 hurried away instantly in the direction of the 
 inn. There, from behind some bushes, I 
 had a good look at what was going on upon 
 the road. 
 
 There were three peasants with red 
 montero caps loading the barrels, and they 
 had completed one waggon and the lower 
 tier of the other. A number of empty 
 barrels still lay outside the winehouse waiting 
 to be put on. Fortune was my friend — I 
 have always said that she is a woman and 
 
144 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 cannot resist a dashing young Hussar. As 
 I watched, the three fellows went into the 
 inn, for the day was hot, and they were 
 thirsty after their labour. Quick as a flash I 
 darted out from my hiding-place, climbed on 
 to the waggon, and crept into one of the 
 empty casks. It had a bottom but no top, 
 and it lay upon its side with the open end 
 inwards. There I crouched like a dog in its 
 kennel, my knees drawn up to my chin ; for 
 the barrels were not very large and I am a 
 well-grown man. As t lay there out came 
 the three peasants again, and presently I 
 heard a crash upon the top of me, which told 
 that I had another barrel above me. They 
 piled them upon the cart until I could not 
 imagine how I was ever to get out again. 
 However, it is time to think of crossing the 
 Vistula when you are over the Rhine, and I 
 had no doubt that if chance and my own wits 
 had carried me so far they would carry me 
 farther. 
 
 Soon, when the waggon was full, they set 
 forth upon their way, and I within my barrel 
 
SAVED AN ARMY 145 
 
 chuckled at every step, for it was carrying 
 me whither I wished to go. We travelled 
 slowly, and the peasants walked beside the 
 waggons. This I knew, because I heard 
 their voices close to me. They seemed to 
 me to be very merry fellows, for they laughed 
 heartily as they went. What the joke was 
 I could not understand. Though I speak 
 their language . fairly well I could not hear 
 anything comic in the scraps of their con- 
 versation which met my ear. 
 
 I reckoned that at the rate of walking of 
 a team of oxen we covered about two miles 
 an hour. Therefore, when I was sure that 
 two and a half hours had passed — such 
 hours, my friends, cramped, suffocated, and 
 nearly poisoned with the fumes of the lees — 
 when they had passed, I was sure that the 
 dangerous open country was behind us, and 
 that we were upon the edge of the forest 
 and the mountain. So now I had to turn 
 my mind upon how I was to get out of my 
 barrel. I had thought of several ways, and 
 was balancing one against the other, when 
 
 10 
 
146 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 the question was decided for me in a very 
 simple but unexpected manner. 
 
 The waggon stopped suddenly with a jerk, 
 and I heard a number of gruff voices in 
 excited talk. "Where, where?" cried one. 
 " On our cart," said another. " Who is he ? " 
 said a third. " A French officer ; I saw his 
 cap and his boots." They all roared with 
 laughter. " I was looking out of the window 
 of the posada and I saw him spring into the 
 cask like a toreador with a Seville bull at his 
 heels." " Which cask, then ? " " It was this 
 one," said the fellow, and, sure enough, his 
 fist struck the wood beside my head. 
 
 What a situation, my friends, for a man 
 of my standing! I blush now, after forty 
 years, when I think of it. To be trussed 
 like a fowl and to listen helplessly to the 
 rude laughter of these boors — to know, too, 
 that my mission had come to an ignominious 
 and even ridiculous end. I would have 
 blessed the man who would have sent a 
 bullet through the cask and freed me from 
 my misery. 
 
SAVED AN ARMY 147 
 
 I heard the crashing of the barrels as they 
 hurled them off the waggon, and then a 
 couple of bearded faces and the muzzles of 
 two guns looked in at me. They seized me 
 by the sleeves of my coat, and they dragged 
 me out into the daylight. A strange figure 
 I must have looked as I stood blinking and 
 gaping in the blinding sunlight. My body 
 was bent like a cripple's, for I could not 
 straighten my stiff joints, and half my coat 
 was as red as an English soldier's from the 
 lees in which I had lain. They laughed and 
 laughed, these dogs, and as I tried to express 
 by my bearing and gestures the contempt 
 in which I held them, their laughter grew 
 all the louder. But even in these hard cir- 
 cumstances I bore myself like the man I am, 
 and as I cast my eye slowly round I did 
 not find that any of the laughers were very 
 ready to face it. 
 
 That one glance round was enough to tell 
 me exactly how I was situated. I had been 
 betrayed by these peasants into the hands 
 of an outpost of guerillas. There were eight 
 
148 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 of them, savage-lopkjng, hairy creatures, with 
 cotton handkerchiefs under their sombreros, 
 and many-buttoned jackets with coloured 
 sashes round the waist. Each had a gun 
 and one or two pistols stuck in his girdle. 
 The leader, a great bearded ruffian, held his 
 gun against my ear vvhile the others searched 
 my pockets, taking from me my overcoat, 
 my pistol, my glass, my sword, and, worst 
 of all, my flint and steel and tinder. Come 
 what might I was ruined, for I had no longer 
 the means of lighting the beacon even if I 
 should reach it. 
 
 Eighj; of them, my friends, with three 
 peasants, and I unarmed ! Was Etienne 
 Gerard in despair ? Did he lose his wits ? 
 Ah, you know me too well ; but they did not 
 know me yet, these dogs of brigands. Never 
 have I made so supreme and astounding an 
 effort as at this very instant when all seemed 
 lost. Yet you might guess many times before 
 you would hit upon the device by which I 
 escaped them. Listen and I will tell you. 
 
 They had dragged me from the waggon 
 
SAVED AN ARMY 149 
 
 when they searched me, and I stood, still 
 twisted and warped, in the midst of them. 
 But the stiffness was wearing off, and already 
 my mind was very actively looking out for 
 some method of breaking away. It was a 
 narrow pass in which the brigands had their 
 outpost. It was bounded on the one hand 
 by a steep mountain side. On the othet' the 
 ground fell away in a Very long slope, which 
 ended in a bushy valley many hundreds df 
 feet below. These fellows, yoti understand, 
 were hardy mountaineers, who could travel 
 either up hill or down very itiuch quicker 
 than I. They wore abaftas, or shoes of skin, 
 tied on like sandals, which gave them a foot- 
 hold everywhere. A less resolute man would 
 have despaired. But in an instant I saw and 
 used the strange chartce which Fortune had 
 placed in my way. On the very edge of 
 the slope was one of the wine-barrels. I 
 moved slowly towards it, and then with a 
 tiger spring I dived into it feet foremost, and 
 with a roll of my body I tipped it over the 
 side of the hill. 
 
ISO HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 Shall I ever forget that dreadful journey — 
 how I bounded and crashed and whizzed 
 down that terrible slope ? I had dug in my 
 knees and elbows, bunching my body into a 
 compact bundle so as to steady it ; but my 
 head projected from the end, and it was a 
 marvel that I did not dash out my brains. 
 There were long, smooth slopes, and then 
 came steeper scarps where the barrel ceased 
 to roll, and sprang into the air like a goat, 
 coming down with a rattle and crash which 
 jarred every bone in my body. How the 
 wind whistled in my ears, and my head 
 turned and turned until I was sick and giddy 
 and nearly senseless 1 Then, with a swish 
 and a great rasping and crackling of branches, 
 I reached the bushes which I had seen so far 
 below me. Through them I broke my way, 
 down a slope beyond, and deep into another 
 patch of underwood, where striking a sapling 
 my barrel flew to pieces. From amid a heap 
 of staves and hoops I crawled out, my body 
 aching in every inch of it, but my heart 
 singing loudly with joy and my spirit high 
 
SAVED AN ARMY 151 
 
 within me, for I knew how great was the 
 feat which I had accomplished, and I already 
 seemed to see the beacon blazing on the hill. 
 
 A horrible nausea had seized me from the 
 tossing which I had undergone, and I felt as 
 I did upon the ocean when first I experienced 
 those movements of which the English have 
 taken so perfidious an advantage. I had to 
 sit for a few moments with my head upon 
 my hands beside the ruins of my barrel. 
 But there was no time for rest. Already 
 I heard shouts above me which told that 
 my pursuers were descending the hill. I 
 dashed into the thickest part of the under- 
 wood, and I ran and ran until I was utterly 
 exhausted. Then I lay panting and listened 
 with all my ears, but no sound came to them. 
 i had shaken off my enemies. 
 
 When I had recovered my breath I 
 travelled swiftly on, and waded knee-deep 
 through several brooks, for it came into my 
 head that they might follow me with dogs. 
 On gaining a clear place and looking round 
 me, I found to my delight that in spite of 
 
152 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 my adventures I had not been much out 
 of my way. Above me towered the peak of 
 Merodal, with its bare and bold summit shoot- 
 ing out of the groves of dwarf oaks which 
 shrouded its flanks. These groves were the 
 continuation of the cover under which I 
 found myself, and it seemed to me that I 
 had nothing to fear now until I reached the 
 other side of the forest. At the same time I 
 knew that every man's hand was against me, 
 that I was unharmed, and that there were 
 many people about me. I saw no one^ but 
 several times I heard shrill whistles, and once 
 the sound of a gun in the distance. 
 
 It was hard work pushing one's way 
 through the bushes, and so I was glad when 
 I came to the larger trees and found a path 
 which led between them. Of course, I wa^ 
 too wise to walk upon it, but I kept near it 
 and followed its course. I had gone some 
 distance, and had, as I imagined, nearly 
 reached the limit of the wood, when a 
 strange, moaning sound fell upon my ears. 
 At first I thought it was the cry of some 
 
SAVED AN ARMY 153 
 
 animal, but then there came words, of which 
 I only caught the French exclamation, "Mon 
 Dieu ! " With great caution I advanced in 
 the direction from which the sound pro- 
 ceeded, and this is what I saw. 
 
 On a couch of dried leaves there was 
 stretched a man dressed in the same grey- 
 uniform which I wore myself He was 
 evidently horribly wounded, for he held a 
 cloth to his breast which was crimson with 
 his blood. A pool had formed all round his 
 couch, and he lay in a haze of flies, whose 
 buzzing attd droiiing would certainly have 
 called my attention if his groans had not 
 come to my ear. I lay for a moment; fearing 
 some trap, and then, my pity and loyalty 
 rising above all other feelings, I ran forward 
 and knelt by his side. He turned a haggard 
 face upon me, and it was Duplessis, the man 
 who had gone before me. It needed but one 
 glance at his sunken cheeks and glazing 
 eyes to tell me that he was dying. 
 " Gerard ! " said he ; " Gerard ! " 
 I could but look my sympathy, but he. 
 
154 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 though the life was ebbing swiftly out of 
 him, still kept his duty before him, like the 
 gallant gentleman he was. 
 
 " The beacon, Gerard ! You will light 
 it?" 
 
 "Have you flint and steel?" 
 
 " It is here." 
 
 "Then I will light it to-night." 
 
 " I die happy to hear you say so. They 
 shot me, Gerard. But you will tell the 
 Marshal that I did my best," 
 
 "And Cortex?" 
 
 " He was less fortunate. He fell into 
 their hands and died horribly. If you see 
 that you cannot get away, Gerard, put a 
 bullet into your own heart. Don't die as 
 Cortex did." 
 
 I could see that his breath was failing, 
 and I bent low to catch his words. 
 
 "Can you tell me anything which can 
 help me in my task?" I asked. 
 
 " Yes, yes ; De Pombal. He will help 
 you. Trust De Pombal." With the words 
 his head fell back and he was dead. 
 
SAVED AN ARMY ISS 
 
 " Trust De Pombal, It is good advice." 
 To my amazement a man was standing at 
 the very side of me. So absorbed had I 
 been in my comrade's words and intent on 
 his advice that he had crept up withput my 
 observing him. Now I sprang to my feet 
 and faced him. He was a tall, dark fellow, 
 black-haired, black-eyed, black-bearded, with 
 a long, sad face. In his hand he had a 
 wine-bottle and over his shoulder was slung 
 one of the trabucos or blunderbusses which 
 these fellows bear. He made no effort to 
 unsling it, and I understood that this was 
 the man to whom my dead friend had com- 
 mended me. 
 
 " Alas, he is gone ! " said he, bending 
 over Duplessis. "He fled into the wood 
 after he was shot, but I was fortunate enough 
 to find where he had fallen and to make 
 his last hours more easy. This couch was 
 my making, and I had brought this wine 
 to slake his thirst." 
 
 "Sir," said I, "in the name of France I 
 thank you, I am but a colonel of light 
 
IS6 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 cavalry, but I am Etienne Gerat-dj and the 
 tiame stands for something in the French 
 arrtiy. May I ask " 
 
 "Yes, sir, I am Aloysius de Pombal, 
 younger brother of the fanious nobleman 
 of that name. At present I am the first 
 Heutenant in the band of the guerilla chief 
 who is usually known as Manudo* 'The 
 Smiler.' " 
 
 My word, I clapped my hand to the place 
 where my pistol should have been, but the 
 man only smiled at the gesture. 
 
 " I am his first lieutenant, but I ant also 
 his deadly enemy," said he. He slipped 
 off his jacket and pulled up his shirt as he 
 spoke. " Look at this ! " he cried, and he 
 turned upon me a back which was all scored 
 and lacerated with red and purple weals. 
 " This is what ' The Smiler' has done to me, 
 a man with the noblest blood of Portugal in 
 my veins. What I will do to ' The Smiler ' 
 you have still to see." 
 
 There was such fury in his eyes atid in 
 the grin of his white teeth that I could no 
 
SAVED AN ARMY 157 
 
 longer doubt his truth, with that clotted and 
 oozing back to corroborate his words. 
 
 " I have ten men sworn to stand by me," 
 said he. " In a few days I hope to join 
 your army, when I have done my work 
 
 here. In the meanwhile ." A strange 
 
 change came over his face, and he suddenly 
 slung his musket to the front : " Hold up 
 your hands, you French hound ! " he yelled. 
 " Up with them, or I blow your head off! " 
 
 You start, my friends ! Yqu stare ! Think, 
 then, how I stared and started at this sudden 
 ending of our talk. There was the black 
 muzzle, and there the dark, angry eyes be- 
 hind it. What could I do ? I was helpless. 
 I raised my hands in the air. At the same 
 moment voices sounded from all parts of 
 the wood, there were crying and calling 
 and rushing of many feet. A swarm of 
 dreadful figures broke through the green 
 bushes, a dozen hands seized me, and I, 
 poor, luckless, frenzied I, was a prisoner 
 once more. Thank God, there was no 
 pistol which I could have plucked from my 
 
IS8 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 belt and snapped at my own head. Had I 
 been armed at that moment I should not 
 be sitting here in this cafe and telling you 
 these old-world tales. 
 
 With grimy, hairy hands clutching me on 
 every side I was led along the pathway 
 through the wood, the villain De Pombal 
 giving directions to my captors. Four of 
 the brigands carried up the dead body of 
 Duplessis. The shadows of evening were 
 already falling when we cleared the forest 
 and came out upon the mountain-side. Up 
 this I was driven until we reached the head- 
 quarters of the guerillas, which lay in a cleft 
 close to the summit of the mountain. There 
 was the beacon which had cost me so much, 
 a square stack of wood, immediately above 
 our heads. Below were two or three huts 
 which had belonged, no doubt, to goatherds, 
 and which were now used to shelter these 
 rascals. Into one of these I was cast, bound 
 and helpless, and the dead body of my poor 
 comrade was laid beside me. 
 
 I was lying there with the one thought 
 
SAVED AN ARMY 159. 
 
 still consuming me, how to wait a few hours 
 and to get at that pile of faggots above my 
 head, when the door of my prison opened 
 and a man entered. Had my hands been 
 free I should have flown at his throat, for 
 it was none other than De Pombal. A 
 couple of brigands were at his heels, but 
 he ordered them back and closed the door 
 behind him. 
 
 " You villain ! " said I. 
 
 " Hush ! " he cried. " Speak low, for I 
 do not know who may be listening, and my 
 life is at stake. I have some words to say 
 to you, Colonel Gerard; I wish well to 
 you, as I did to your dead companion. As 
 I spoke to you beside his body I saw that 
 we were surrounded, and that your capture 
 was unavoidable. I should have shared your 
 fate had I hqsitated. I instantly captured 
 you myself, so as to preserve the confidence 
 of the band. Your own sense will tell you 
 that there was nothing else for me to do. 
 I do not know now whether I can save 
 you, but at least I will try." 
 
i6o HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 This was a new light upon the situation. 
 I told him that I could not tell how far he 
 spoke the truth, but that I would judge him 
 by his actions. 
 
 " I ask nothing better," said he. " A 
 word of advice to you ! The chief will see 
 you now. Speak him fair, or he will have 
 you sawn between two planks. Contradict 
 nothing he says. Give him such informa- 
 tion he wants. It is your only chance. If 
 you can gain time something may come in our 
 favour. Now, I have no more time. Come 
 at once, or suspicion may be awakened." 
 He helped me to rise and then, opening the 
 door, he dragged me out very roughly, and 
 with the aid of the fellows outside he 
 brutally pushed and thrust me to the place 
 where the guerilla chief was seated, with his 
 rude followers gathered round him. 
 
 A remarkable man was Manuelo, " The 
 Smiler." He was fat and florid and com- 
 fortable, with a big, clean-shaven face and 
 a bald head, the very model of a kindly 
 father of a family. As I looked at his 
 
SAVED AN ARMY i6i 
 
 honest smile I could scarcely believe that 
 this was, indeed, the infamous ruffian whose 
 name was a horror through the English 
 Army as well as our own. It is well known 
 that Trent, who was a British officer, 
 afterwards had the fellow hanged for his 
 brutalities. He sat upon a boulder and he 
 beamed upon me like one who meets an 
 old acquaintance. I observed, however, that 
 one of his men leaned upon a long saw, 
 and the sight was enough to cure me of all 
 delusions. 
 
 " Good evening. Colonel Gerard," said 
 he. " We have been highly honoured by 
 General Massena's staff: Major Cortex one 
 day. Colonel Duplessis the next, and now 
 Colonel Gerard. Possibly the Marshal him- 
 self may be induced to honour us with a 
 visit. You have seen Duplessis, I under- 
 stand. Cortex you will find nailed to a 
 tree down yonder. It only remains to be 
 decided how we can best dispose of your- 
 self." 
 
 It was not a cheering speech ; but all the 
 
 II 
 
i62 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 time his fat face was wreathed in smiles, and 
 he lisped out his words in the most mincing 
 and amiable fashion. Now, however, he 
 suddenly leaned forward, and I read a very 
 real intensity in his eyes. 
 
 "Colonel Gerard," said he, "I cannot 
 promise you your life, for it is not our 
 custom, but I can give you an easy death or 
 I can give you a terrible one. Which shall 
 it be ? " 
 
 " What do you wish me to do in ex- 
 change ? " 
 
 "If you would die easy I ask you to 
 give me truthful answers to the questions 
 which I ask." 
 
 A sudden thought flashed through my 
 mind. 
 
 "You wish to kill me," said I ; "it cannot 
 matter to you how I die. If I answer your 
 questions, will you let me choose the manner 
 of my own death ? " 
 
 "Yes, I will," said he, "so long as it is 
 before midnight to-night." 
 " Swear it ! " I cried. 
 
SAVED AN ARMY 163 
 
 " The word of a Portuguese gentleman is 
 sufBcient," said he. 
 
 " Not a word will I say until you have 
 sworn it." 
 
 He flushed with anger and his eyes swept 
 round towards the saw. But he understood 
 from my tone that I meant what I said, 
 and that I was not a man to be bullied 
 into submission. He pulled a cross from 
 under his zammara or jacket of black sheep- 
 skin. 
 
 " I swear it," said he. 
 
 Oh, my joy as I heard the words ! What 
 an end — what an end for the first swords- 
 man of France ! I could have laughed with 
 delight at the thought, 
 
 " Now, your questions ! " said I. 
 
 "You swear in turn to answer them 
 truly ? " 
 
 " I do, upon the honour of a gentleman 
 and a soldier." It was, as you perceive, a 
 terrible thing that I promised, but what 
 was it compared to what I might gain by 
 compliance ? 
 
i64 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 " This is a very fair and a very interest- 
 ing bargain," said he, taking a note-book 
 from his pocket. "Would you kindly turn 
 your gaze towards the French camp ? " 
 
 Following the direction of his gesture, I 
 turned and looked down upon the camp in 
 the plain beneath us. In spite of the fifteen 
 miles, one could in that clear atmosphere 
 see every detail with the utmost distinct- 
 ness. There were the long squares of our 
 tents and our huts, with the cavalry lines 
 and the dark patches which marked the ten 
 batteries of artillery. How sad to think 
 of my magnificent regiment waiting down 
 yonder, and to know that they would never 
 see their colonel again ! With one squadron 
 of them I could have swept all these cut- 
 throats off the face of the earth. My eager 
 eyes filled with tears as I looked at the 
 corner of the camp where I knew that 
 there were eight hundred men, anyone of 
 whom would have died for his colonel. But 
 my sadness vanished when I saw behind 
 the tents the plumes of smoke which marked 
 
SAVED AN ARMY 165 
 
 the head-quarters at Torres Novas. There 
 was Massena, and, please God, at the cost 
 of my life his mission would that night be 
 done. A spasm of pride and exultation 
 filled my breast. I should have liked to 
 have had a voice of thunder that I might 
 call to them, " Behold it is I, Etienne 
 Gerard, who will die in order to save the 
 army of Clausel ! " It was, indeed, sad to 
 think that so noble a deed should be done, 
 and that no one should be there to tell 
 the tale. 
 
 " Now," said the brigand chief, " you see 
 the camp and you see also the road which 
 leads to Coimbra. It is crowded with your 
 fourgons and your ambulances. Does this 
 mean that Massena is about to retreat ? " 
 
 One could see the dark moving lines of 
 waggons with an occasional flash of steel 
 from the escort. There could, apart from 
 my promise, be no indiscretion in admitting 
 that which was already obvious. 
 
 "He will retreat," said I. 
 
 "By Coimbra?" 
 
i66 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 " I believe so." 
 
 " But the army of Clausel ? ' 
 
 I shrugged my shoulders. 
 
 " Every path to the south is blocked. No 
 message can reach them. If Massena falls 
 back the army of Clausel is doomed." 
 
 "It must take its chance," said I. 
 
 " How many men has he?" 
 
 " I should say about fourteen thousand." 
 
 " How much cavalry ? " 
 
 " One brigade of Montbrun's Division.'' 
 
 " What regiments ? " 
 
 " The 4th Chasseurs, the 9th Hussars, 
 and a regiment of Cuirassiers." 
 
 " Quite right," said he, looking at his 
 note-book. " I can tell you speak the truth, 
 and Heaven help you if you don't." Then, 
 division by division, he went over the whole 
 army, asking the composition of each brigade. 
 Need I tell you that I would have had my 
 tongue torn out before I would have told 
 him such things had I not a greater end 
 in view ? I would let him know all if I 
 could but save the army of Clause!. 
 
SAVED AN ARMY 167 
 
 At last he closed his note-book and re- 
 placed it in his pocket. "I am obliged to 
 you for this information, which shall reach 
 Lord Wellington to-morrow," said he. " You 
 have done your share of the bargain ; it is 
 for me now to perform mine. How would 
 you wish to die? As a soldier you would, 
 no doubt, prefer to be shot, but some think 
 that a jump over the Merodal precipice is 
 really an easier death. A good few have 
 taken it, but we were, unfortunately, never 
 able to get an opinion from them after- 
 wards. There is the saw, too, which does 
 not appear to be popular. We could hang 
 you, no doubt, but it would involve the 
 inconvenience of going down to the wood. 
 However, a promise is a promise, and 
 you seem to be an excellent fellow, so 
 we will spare no pains to meet your 
 wishes." 
 
 " You said," I answered, " that I must die 
 before midnight. I will choose, therefore, 
 just one minute before that hour." 
 
 " Very good," said he. " Such clinging 
 
168 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 to life is rather childish, but your wishes 
 shall be met." 
 
 " As to the method," I added, " I love a 
 death which all the world can see. Put me 
 on yonder pile of faggots and burn me alive, 
 as saints and martyrs have been burned 
 before me. That is no common end, but 
 one which an Emperor might envy." 
 
 The idea seemed to amuse him very 
 much. 
 
 "Why not?" said he. "If Massena 
 has sent you to spy upon us, he may 
 guess what the fire upon the mountains 
 means." 
 
 "Exactly," said I, "You have hit upon 
 my very reason. He will guess, and all 
 will know, that I have died a soldier's 
 death." 
 
 " I see no objection whatever," said the 
 brigand, with his abominable smile. " I will 
 send some goat's flesh and wine into your 
 hut. The sun is sinking, and it is nearly 
 eight o'clock. In four hours be ready for 
 your end." 
 
SAVED AN ARMY 169 
 
 It was a beautiful world to be leaving. I 
 looked at the golden haze below, where the 
 last rays of the sinking sun shone upon 
 the blue waters of the winding Tagus and 
 gleamed upon the white sails of the English 
 transports. Very beautiful it was, and very 
 sad to leave ; but there are things more 
 beautiful than that. The death that is died 
 for the sake of others, honour, and duty, 
 and loyalty, and love — these are the beauties 
 far brighter than any which the eye can 
 see. My breast was filled with admiration 
 for my own most noble conduct, and with 
 wonder whether any soul would ever come 
 to know how I had placed myself in the 
 heart of the beacon which saved the army 
 of Clausel. I hoped so and I prayed so, 
 for what a consolation it would be to my 
 mother, what an example to the army, what 
 a pride to my Hussars ! When De Pombal 
 came at last into my hut with the food and 
 the wine, the ifirst request I made him was 
 that he would write an account of my death 
 and send it to the French camp. He 
 
170 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 answered not a word, but I ate my supper 
 with a better appetite from the thought that 
 my glorious fate would not be altogether 
 unknown. 
 
 I had been there about two hours when 
 the door opened again, and the chief stood 
 looking in. I was in darkness, but a brigand 
 with a torch stood beside him, and I saw 
 his eyes and his teeth gleaming as he peered 
 at me. 
 
 " Ready ? " he asked. 
 
 "It is not yet time." 
 
 " You stand out for the last minute ? " 
 
 " A promise is a promise." 
 
 " Very good. Be it so. We have a little 
 justice to do among ourselves, for one of 
 my fellows has been misbehaving. We 
 have a strict rule of our own which is no 
 respecter of persons, as De Pombal here 
 could tell you. Do you truss him and lay 
 him on the faggots, De Pombal, and I will 
 return to see him die." 
 
 De Pombal and the man with the torch 
 entered, while I heard the steps of the 
 
SAVED AN ARMY 171 
 
 chief passing away. De Pombal closed 
 the door. 
 
 " Colonel Gerard," said he, " you must 
 trust this man, for he is one of my party. 
 It is neck or nothing. We may save you 
 yet. But I take a great risk, and I want 
 a definite promise. If we save you, will 
 you guarantee that we have a friendly re- 
 ception in the French camp and that all 
 the past will be forgotten.""' 
 
 " I do guarantee it." 
 
 " And I trust your honour. Now, quick, 
 quick, there is not an instant to lose ! If 
 this monster returns we shall die horribly, 
 all three." 
 
 I stared in amazement at what he did. 
 Catching up a long rope he wound it round 
 the body of my dead comrade, and he tied 
 a cloth roun4 his mouth so as to almost 
 cover his face. 
 
 "Do you lie there!" he cried, and he 
 laid me in the place of the dead body. " I 
 have four of my men waiting, and they will 
 place this upon the beacon." He opened 
 
172 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 the door and gave an order. Several of 
 the brigands entered and bore out Duplessis. 
 For myself I remained upon the floor, 
 with my mind in a turmoil of hope and 
 wonder. 
 
 Five minutes later De Pombal and his 
 men were back. 
 
 " You are laid upon the beacon," said he ; 
 " I defy any one in the world to say it is 
 not you, and you are so gagged and bound 
 that no one can expect you to speak or 
 move. Now, it only remains to carry forth 
 the body of Duplessis and to toss it over 
 the Merodal precipice." 
 
 Two of them seized me by the head and 
 two by the heels and carried me, stiff and 
 inert, from the hut. As I came into the 
 open air I could have cried out in my 
 amazement. The moon had risen above 
 the beacon, and there, clear outlined against 
 its silver light, was the figure of the man 
 stretched upon the top. The brigands were 
 either in their camp or standing round the 
 beacon, for none of them stopped or 
 
SAVED AN ARMY 173 
 
 questioned our little party. De Pombal 
 led them in the direction of the precipice. 
 At the brow we were out of sight, and 
 there I was allowed to use my feet once 
 more. De Pombal pointed to a narrow, 
 winding track. 
 
 " This is the way down," said he, 
 and then, suddenly, " Dios mio, what is 
 that?" 
 
 A terrible cry had risen out of the woods 
 beneath us. I saw that De Pombal was 
 shivering like a frightened horse. 
 
 " It is that devil,'.' he whispered. " He is 
 treating another as he treated me. But on, 
 on, for Heaven help us if he lays his hands 
 upon us ! " 
 
 One by one we crawled down the narrow 
 goat track. At the bottom of the cliff we 
 were back in the woods once more. Sud- 
 denly a yellow glare shone above us, and 
 the black shadows of the tree-trunks started 
 out in front. They had fired the beacon 
 behind us. Even from where we stood 
 we could see that impassive body amid the 
 
174 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 flames, and the black figures of the guerillas 
 as they danced, howling like cannibals, round 
 the pile. Ha 1 how I shook my fist at them, 
 the dogs, and how I vowed that one day my 
 Hussars and I would make the reckoning 
 level ! 
 
 De Pombal knew how the outposts were 
 placed and all the paths which led through 
 the forest. But to avoid these villains we 
 had to plunge among the hills and walk for 
 many a weary mile. And yet how gladly 
 would I have walked those extra leagues if 
 only for one sight which they brought to 
 my eyes ! It may have been two o'clock in 
 the morning when we halted upon the bare 
 shoulder of a hill over which our path curled. 
 Looking back we saw the red glow of the 
 embers of the beacon as if volcanic fires 
 were bursting from the tall peak of Merodal. 
 And then, as I gazed, I saw something else 
 — something which caused me to shriek with 
 joy and to fall upon the ground, rolling in 
 my delight. For, far away upon the southern 
 horizon, there winked and twinkled one great 
 
*'We could see that Impassive Body amid the Flames, and the Black 
 Figures of the Guerillas as they danced round the Pile." 
 
SAVED AN ARMY I75 
 
 yellow light, throbbing and flaming, the 
 light of no house, the light of no star, 
 but the answering beacon of Mount d'Ossa, 
 which told that the army of Clausel knew 
 what Etienne Gerard had been sent to tell 
 them. 
 
V 
 
 How the Brigadier Triumphed in England 
 
 I HAVE told you, my friends, how I 
 triumphed over the English at the 
 fox-hunt when I pursued the animal so 
 fiercely that even the herd of trained dogs 
 was unable to keep up, and alone with my 
 own hand I put him to the sword. Perhaps 
 I have said too much of the matter, but 
 there is a thrill in the triumphs of sport 
 which even warfare cannot give, for in war- 
 fare you share your successes with your 
 regiment and your army, but in sport it is 
 you yourself unaided who have won the 
 laurels. It is an advantage which the 
 English have over us that in all classes 
 they take great interest in every form of 
 sport. It may be that they are richer 
 
 than we, or it may be that they are more 
 176 
 
HOW THE BRIGADIER TRIUMPHED 
 
 idle ; but I was surprised when I was a 
 prisoner in that country to observe how 
 widespread was this feeling, and how much 
 it filled the minds and the lives of the people. 
 A horse that will run, a cock that will fight, 
 a dog that will kill rats, a man that will box 
 — they would turn away from the Emperor 
 in all his glory in order to look upon any 
 of these. 
 
 I could tell you many stories of English 
 sport, for I saw much of it during the time 
 that I was the guest of Lord Rufton, after 
 the order for my exchange had come to 
 England. There were months before I 
 could be sent back to France, and during 
 that time I stayed with this good Lord 
 Rufton at his beautiful house at High 
 Combe, which is at the northern end of 
 Dartmoor. He had ridden with the police 
 when they had pursued me from Prince- 
 town, and he had felt towards me when 
 I was overtaken as I would myself 
 have felt had I, in my own country, seen 
 a brave and debonair soldier without a 
 
 177 12 
 
178 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 friend to help him. In a word, he took me 
 to his house, clad me, fed me, and treated 
 me as if he had been my brother. I will say 
 this of the English, that they were always 
 generous enemies, and very good people 
 with whom to fight. In the Peninsula the 
 Spanish outposts would present their muskets 
 at ours, but the British their brandy flasks. 
 And of all these generous men there was 
 none who was the equal of this admirable 
 milord, who held out so warm a hand to an 
 enemy in distress. 
 
 Ah ! what thoughts of sport it brings back 
 to me, the very name of High Combe! I 
 can see it now, the long, low, brick house, 
 warm and ruddy, with white plaster pillars 
 before the door. He was a great sportsman 
 this Lord Rufton, and all who were about 
 him were of the same sort. But you will 
 be pleased to hear that there were few things 
 in which I could not hold my own, and in 
 some I excelled. Behind the house was a 
 wood in which pheasants were reared, and 
 it was Lord Rufton's joy to kill these birds. 
 
TRIUMPHED IN ENGLAND 179 
 
 which was done by sending in men to drive 
 them out while he and his friends stood out- 
 side and shot them as they passed. For my 
 part I was more crafty, for I studied the 
 habits of the bird, and steaHng out in the 
 evening I was able to kill a number of them 
 as they roosted in the trees. Hardly a single 
 shot was wasted, but the keeper was attracted 
 by the sound of the firing,, and he implored 
 me in his rough English fashion to spare 
 those that were left. That night I was able 
 to place twelve birds as a surprise upon Lord 
 Rufton's supper table, and he laughed until 
 he cried, so overjoyed was he to see them. 
 " Gad, Gerard, you'll be the death of me yet ! " 
 he cried. Often he said the same thing, for 
 at every turn I amazed him by the way in 
 which I entered into the sports of the 
 English. 
 
 There is a game called cricket which they 
 play in the summer, and this also I learned. 
 Rudd, the head gardener, was a famous 
 player of cricket, and so was Lord Rufton 
 himself. Before the house was a lawn, and 
 
t8o HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 here it was that Rudd taught me the game. 
 It is a brave pastime, a game for soldiers, 
 for each tries to strike the other with the 
 ball, and it is but a small stick with which 
 you may ward it off. Three sticks behind 
 show the spot beyond which you may not 
 retreat. I can tell you that it is no game for 
 children, and I will confess that, in spite of 
 my nine campaigns, I felt myself turn pale 
 when first the ball flashed past me. So swift 
 was it that I had not time to raise my stick 
 to ward it off, but by good fortune it missed 
 me and knocked down the wooden pins which 
 marked the boundary. It was for Rudd then 
 to defend himself and for me to attack. 
 When I was a boy in Gascony I learned to 
 throw both far and straight, so that I made 
 sure that I could hit this gallant Englishman. 
 With a shout I rushed forward and hurled 
 the ball at him. It flew as swift as a bullet 
 towards his ribs, but without a word he swung 
 his staff and the ball rose a surprising dis- 
 tance in the air. Lord Rufton clapped his 
 hands and cheered. Again the ball was 
 
TRIUMPHED IN ENGLAND i8i 
 
 brought to me, and again it was for me to 
 throw. This time it flew past his head, and 
 it seemed to me that it was his turn to look 
 pale. But he was a brave man this gardener, 
 and again he faced me. Ah, my friends, the 
 hour of my triumph had come ! It was a red 
 waistcoat that he wore, and at this I hurled 
 the ball. You would have said that I was a 
 gunner, not a hussar, for never was so straight 
 an aim. With a despairing cry — .the cry of 
 the brave man who is beaten — he fell upon 
 the wooden pegs behind him, and they all 
 rolled upon the ground together. He was 
 cruel, this English milord, and he laughed so 
 that he could not come to the aid of his 
 servant. It was for me, the victor, to rush 
 forwards to embrace this intrepid player, 
 and to raise him to his feet with words 
 of praise, and encouragement, and hope. 
 He was in pain and could not stand erect, 
 yet the honest fellow confessed that there 
 was no accident in my victory. " He 
 did it a-purpose !' He did it a-purpose ! " 
 Again and again he said it. Yes, it is a 
 
i82 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 great game this cricket, and I would 
 gladly have ventured upon it again but 
 Lord Rufton and Rudd said that it was 
 late in the season, and so they would play 
 no more. 
 
 How foolish of me, the old broken man, 
 to dwell upon these successes, and yet I will 
 confess that my age has been very much 
 soothed and comforted by the memory of the 
 women who have loved me and the men 
 whom I have overcome. It is pleasant to 
 think that five years afterwards, when Lord 
 Rufton came to Paris after the peace, he was 
 able to assure me that my name was still a 
 famous one in the north of Devonshire for 
 the fine exploits that I had performed. 
 Especially, he said, that they still talked 
 over my boxing match with the Honourable 
 Baldock, It came about in this way. Of 
 an evening many sportsmen would assemble 
 at the house of Lord Rufton, where they 
 would drink much wine, make wild bets, and 
 talk of their horses and their foxes. How 
 well I remember those strange creatures, 
 
TRIUMPHED IN ENGLAND 183 
 
 Sir Barrington, Jack Lupton of Barnstaple, 
 Colonel Addison, Johnny Miller, Lord 
 Sadler, and my enemy, the Honourable 
 Baldock. They were of the same stamp 
 all of them, drinkers, madcaps, fighters, 
 gamblers, full of strange caprices and extra- 
 ordinary whims. Yet they were kindly 
 fellows in their rough fashion, save only this 
 Baldock, a fat man who prided himself on 
 his skill at the box-fight. It was he who, 
 by his laughter against the French because 
 they were ignorant of sport, caused me to 
 challenge him in the very sport at which he 
 excelled. You will say that it was foolish, 
 my friends, but the decanter had passed 
 many times, and the blood of youth ran hot 
 in my veins. I would fight him, this 
 boaster ; I would show him that if we had 
 not skill, at least we had courage. Lord 
 Rufton would not allow it. I insisted. The 
 others cheered me pn and slapped me on 
 the back. " No, dash it, Baldock, he's our 
 guest," said Rufton. " It's his own doing," 
 the other answered. " Look here, Rufton, 
 
i84 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 they can't hurt each other if they wear the 
 mawleys," cried Lord Sadler. And so it 
 was agreed. 
 
 What the mawleys were I did not know ; 
 but presently they brought out four great 
 puddings of leather, not unlike a fencing- 
 glove, but larger. With these our hands 
 were covered after we had stripped ourselves 
 of our coats and our waistcoats. Then the 
 table, with the glasses and decanters, was 
 pushed into the corner of the room, and 
 behold us, face to face ! Lord Sadler sat in 
 the armchair with a watch in his open hand. 
 Time ! " said he. 
 
 I will confess to you, my friends, that I 
 felt at that moment a tremor such as none of 
 my many duels have ever given me. With 
 sword or pistol I am at home ; but here I 
 only understood that I must struggle with 
 this fat Englishman and do what I could, in 
 spite of these great puddings upon my hands, 
 to overcome him. And at the very outset I 
 was disarmed of the best weapon that was 
 left to me. " Mind, Gerard, no kicking ! " 
 
TRIUMPHED IN ENGLAND 185 
 
 said Lord Rufton in my ear. I had only a 
 pair of thin dancing slippers, and yet the 
 man was fat, and a few well-directed kicks 
 might have left me the victor. But there is 
 an etiquette just as there is in fencing, and I 
 refrained. I looked at this Englishman and 
 I wondered how I should attack him. His 
 ears were large and prominent. Could I 
 seize them I might drag him to the ground. 
 I rushed in, but I was betrayed by this flabby 
 glove, and twice I lost my hold. He struck 
 me, but I cared little for his blows, and again 
 I seized him by the ear. He fell, and I 
 rolled upon him and thumped his head upon 
 the ground. How they cheered and laughed, 
 these gallant Englishmen, and how they 
 clapped me on the back ! 
 
 " Even money on the Frenchman," cried 
 Lord Sadler. 
 
 " He fights foul," cried the enemy, rubbing 
 his crimson ears. " He savaged me on the 
 ground." 
 
 "You must take your chance of that," 
 said Lord Rufton coldly. 
 
i86 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 " Time," cried Lord Sadler, and once again 
 we advanced to the assault. 
 
 He was flushed, and his small eyes were 
 as vicious as those of a bulldog. There was 
 hatred on his face. For my part I carried 
 myself lightly and gaily. A French gentle- 
 man fights, but he does not hate. I drew 
 myself up before him, and I bowed as I have 
 done in the duello. There can be grace and 
 courtesy as well as defiance in a bow ; I put 
 all three into this one, with a touch of ridicule 
 in the shrug which accompanied it. It was 
 at this moment that he struck me. The 
 room spun round with me. I fell upon my 
 back. But in an instant I was on my feet 
 again and had rushed to a close combat. 
 His ear, his hair, his nose, I seized them 
 each in turn. Once again the mad joy of 
 the battle was in my veins. The old cry 
 of triumph rose to my lips. " Vive 
 I'Empereur ! " I yelled as I drove my head 
 into his stomach. He threw his arm round 
 my neck, and holding me with one hand 
 he struck me with the other. I buried my 
 
'Holding me with one Hand, he struck me with the Other." 
 
TRIUMPHED IN ENGLAND 187 
 
 teeth in his arm, and he shouted with pain. 
 "Call him off, Rufton!" he screamed. 
 " Call him ofiC man ! He's worrying me ! " 
 They dragged me away from him. Can 
 I ever forget it ? — the laughter, the cheering, 
 the congratulations ! Even my enemy bore 
 me no ill will, for he shook me by the 
 hand. For my part I embraced him on 
 each cheek. Five years afterwards I learned 
 from Lord Rufton that my noble bearing 
 upon that evening was still fresh in the 
 memory of my English friends. 
 
 It is not, however, of my own exploits 
 in sport that I wish to speak to you 
 to-night, but it is of the Lady Jane Dacre 
 and the strange adventure of which she 
 was the cause. Lady Jane Dacre was 
 Lord Rufton's sister and the lady of his 
 household. I fear that until I came it was 
 lonely for her, since she was a beautiful 
 and refined woman with nothing in common 
 with those who were about her. Indeed, 
 this might be said of many women in the 
 England of those days, for the men were 
 
i88 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 rude and rough and coarse, with boorish 
 habits and few accomplishments, while the 
 women were the most lovely and tender 
 that I have ever known. We became great 
 friends, the Lady Jane and I, for it was 
 not possible for me to drink three bottles 
 of port after dinner like those Devonshire 
 gentlemen, and so I would seek refuge in 
 her drawing-room, where evening after 
 evening she would play the harpsichord 
 and I would sing the songs of my own 
 land. In those peaceful moments I would 
 find a refuge from the misery which filled 
 me, when I reflected that my regiment was 
 left in the front of the enemy without the 
 chief whom they had learned to love and 
 to follow. Indeed, I could have torn my 
 hair when I read in the English papers of 
 the fine fighting which was going on in 
 Portugal and on the frontiers of Spain, all 
 of which I had missed through my misfortune 
 in falling into the hands of Milord 
 Wellington. 
 
 From what I have told you of the Lady 
 
TRIUMPHED IN ENGLAND 189 
 
 Jane you will have guessed what occurred, 
 my friends. Etienne Gerard is thrown into 
 the company of a young and beautiful 
 woman. What must it mean for him ? 
 What must it mean for her ? It was not 
 for me, the guest, the captive, to make 
 love to the sister of my host. But I was 
 reserved. I was discreet. I tried to curb 
 my own emotions and to discourage hers. 
 For my own part I fear that I betrayed 
 myself, for the eye becomes more eloquent 
 when the tongue is silent. Every quiver 
 of my fingers as I turned over her music- 
 sheets told her my secret. But she — she 
 was admirable. It is in these matters that 
 women have a genius for deception. If 
 I had not penetrated her secret I should 
 often have thought that she forgot even that 
 I was in the house. For hours she would 
 sit lost in a sweet melancholy, while I 
 admired her pale face and her curls in the 
 lamp-light, and thrilled within me to think 
 that I had moved her so deeply. Then 
 at last I would speak, and she would start 
 
igo HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 in her chair and stare at me with the most 
 admirable pretence of being surprised to 
 find me in the room. Ah ! how I longed 
 to hurl myself suddenly at her feet, to kiss 
 her white hand, to assure her that I had 
 surprised her secret and that I would not 
 abuse her confidence. But, no, I was not 
 her equal, and I was under her roof as a 
 castaway enemy. My lips were sealed. I 
 endeavoured to imitate her own wonderful 
 affectation of indifference, but, as you may 
 think, I was eagerly alert for any opportunity 
 of serving her. 
 
 One morning Lady Jane had driven in 
 her phaeton to Okehampton, and I strolled 
 along the road which led to that place in 
 the hope that I might meet her on her 
 return. It was the early winter, and banks of 
 fading fern sloped down to the winding road. 
 It is a bleak place this Dartmoor, wild 
 and rocky — a country of wind and mist. 
 I felt as I walked that it is no wonder 
 Englishmen should suffer from the spleen. 
 My own heart was heavy within me, and 
 
TRIUMPHED IN ENGLAND 191 
 
 I sat upon a rock by the wayside looking 
 out on the dreary view with my thoughts 
 full of trouble and foreboding. Suddenly, 
 however, as I glanced down the road I saw 
 a sight which drove everything else from 
 my mind, and caused me to leap to my feet 
 with a cry of astonishment and anger. 
 
 Down the curve of the road a phaeton 
 was coming, the pony tearing along at full 
 gallop. Within was the very lady whom 
 I had come to meet. She lashed at the 
 pony like one who endeavours to escape 
 fr©m some pressing danger, glancing ever 
 backwards over her shoulder. The bend 
 of the road concealed from me what it was 
 that had alarmed her, and I ran forward 
 not knowing what to expect. The next 
 instant I saw the pursuer, and my amazement 
 was increased at the sight. It was a 
 gentleman in the red coat of an English 
 fox-hunter, mounted on a great grey horse. 
 He was galloping as if in a race, and the 
 long stride of the splendid creature beneath 
 him soon brought him up to the lady's flying 
 
192 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 carriage. I saw him stoop and seize the 
 reins of the pony, so as to bring it to a halt. 
 The next instant he was deep in talk with 
 the lady, he bending forward in his saddle 
 and speaking eagerly, she shrinking away 
 from him as if she feared and loathed him. 
 
 You may think, my dear friends, that 
 this was not a sight at which I could calmly 
 gaze. How my heart thrilled within me 
 to think that a chance should have been 
 given to me to serve the Lady Jane ! I 
 ran — oh, good Lord, how I ran I At last 
 breathless, speechless, I reached the phaeton. 
 The man glanced up at me with his blue 
 English eyes, but so deep was he in his 
 talk that he paid no heed to me, nor did 
 the lady say a word. She still leaned back, 
 her beautiful pale face gazing up at him. 
 He was a good-looking fellow — tall, and 
 strong, and brown ; a pang of jealousy 
 seized me as I looked at him. He was 
 talking low and fast, as the English do when 
 they are in earnest. 
 
 " I tell you, Jinny, it's you sind only you 
 
TRIUMPHED IN ENGLAND 193 
 
 that I love," said he. " Don't bear malice, 
 Jinny. Let bygones be bygones. Come 
 now, say it's all over." 
 
 " No, never, George, never ! " she cried. 
 
 A dusky red suffused his handsome face. 
 The man was furious. 
 
 " Why can't you forgive me, Jinny?" 
 
 " I can't forget the past." 
 
 " By George, you must ! I've asked 
 enough. It's time to order now. I'll have 
 my rights. D'ye hear ? " His hand closed 
 upon her wrist. 
 
 At last my breath had returned to me. 
 
 " Madame," I said, as I raised my hat, 
 " do I intrude, or is there any possible way 
 in which I can be of service to you ? " 
 
 But neither of them minded me any more 
 than if I had been a fly who buzzed between 
 them. Their eyes were locked together. 
 
 "I'll have my rights, I tell you. I've 
 waited long enough." 
 
 " There's no use bullying, George." 
 
 " Do you give in ? " 
 
 «'No, never!" 
 
 13 
 
194 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 " Is that your final answer ? " 
 
 " Yes, it is." 
 
 He gave a bitter curse and threw down 
 her hand. 
 
 " All right, my lady, we'll see about this." 
 
 " Excuse me, sir," said I, with dignity. 
 
 " Oh, go to blazes ! " he cried, turning 
 on me with his furious face. The next 
 instant he had spurred his horse and was 
 galloping down the road once more. 
 
 Lady Jane gazed after him until he was 
 out of sight, and I was surprised to see 
 that her face wore a smile and not a frown. 
 Then she turned to me and held out her 
 hand. 
 
 " You are very kind, Colonel Gerard. 
 You meant well, I am sure." 
 
 " Madame," said I, " if you can oblige 
 me with the gentleman's name and address 
 I will arrange that he shall never trouble 
 you again." 
 
 " No scandal, I beg of you," she cried, 
 
 " Madame, I could not so far forget my- 
 self. Rest assured that no lady's name 
 
TRIUMPHED IN ENGLAND 195 
 
 would ever be mentioned by me in the 
 course of such an incident. In bidding me 
 to go to blazes this gentleman has relieved 
 me from the embarrassment of having to 
 invent a cause of quarrel." 
 
 " Colonel Gerard," said the lady, earnestly, 
 " you must give me your word as a soldier 
 and a gentleman that this matter goes no 
 farther, and also that you will say nothing 
 to my brother about what you have seen. 
 Promise me ! " 
 
 " If I must." 
 
 " I hold you to your word. Now drive 
 with me to High Combe, and I will explain 
 as we go." 
 
 The first words of her explanation went 
 into me like a sabre-point. 
 
 " That gentleman," said she, " is my 
 husband," 
 
 " Your husband ! " 
 
 " You must have known that I was 
 married." She seemed surprised at my 
 agitation. 
 
 "I did not know." 
 
196 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 " This is Lord George Dacre. We have 
 been married two years. There is no need 
 to tell you how he wronged me. I left him 
 and sought a refuge under my brother's 
 roof. Up till to-day he has left me there 
 unmolested. What I must above all things 
 avoid is the chance of a duel betwixt my 
 husband and my brother. It is horrible to 
 think of. For this reason Lord Rufton must 
 know nothing of this chance meeting of 
 to-day." 
 
 "If my pistol could free you from this 
 annoyance " 
 
 " No, no, it is not to be thought of 
 Remember your promise, Colonel Gerard. 
 And not a word at High Combe of what 
 you have seen ! " 
 
 Her husband ! I had pictured in my mind 
 that she was a young widow. This brown- 
 faced brute with his "go to blazes " was the 
 husband of this tender dove of a woman. 
 Oh, if she would but allow me to free her 
 from so odious an encumbrance ! There is 
 no divorce so quick and certain as that 
 
TRIUMPHED IN ENGLAND 197 
 
 which I could give her. But a p^iBmise is 
 a promise, and I kept it to the letter. My 
 mouth was sealed. In a week I was to be 
 sent back from Plymouth to St. Malo, and 
 it seemed to me that I might never hear 
 the sequel of the story. And yet it was 
 destined that it should have a sequel, and 
 that I should play a very pleasing and 
 honourable part in it. 
 
 It was only three days after the event 
 which I have described when Lord Rufton 
 burst hurriedly into my room. His face was 
 pale, and his manner that of a man in 
 extreme agitation, 
 
 " Gerard," he cried, " have you seen Lady 
 Jane Dacre ? " 
 
 I had seen her after breakfast, and it was 
 now midday. 
 
 " By Heaven, there's villainy here ! " cried 
 my poor friend, rushing about like a mad- 
 man. " The bailiff has been up to say that 
 a chaise and pair were seen driving full split 
 down the Tavistock Road. The blacksmith 
 
198 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 heard a woman scream as it passed his forge. 
 Jane has disappeared. By the Lord, I 
 believe that she has been kidnapped by this 
 villain Dacre." He rang the bell furiously. 
 "Two horses this instant!" he cried. 
 Colonel Gerard, your pistols! Jane comes 
 back with me this night from Gravel Hanger, 
 or there will be a new master in High 
 Combe Hall." 
 
 Behold us then within half an hour, like 
 two knight-errants of old, riding forth to the 
 rescue of this lady in distress. It was near 
 Tavistock that Lord Dacre lived, and at 
 every house and toll-gate along the road 
 we heard the news of the flying post-chaise 
 in front of us, so there could be no doubt 
 whither they were bound. As we rode Lord 
 Rufton told me of the man whom we were 
 pursuing. His name, it seems, was a house- 
 hold word throughout all England for every 
 sort of mischief Wine, women, dice, cards, 
 racing — in all forms of debauchery he had 
 earned for himself a terrible name. He 
 was of an old and noble family, and it had 
 
TRIUMPHED IN ENGLAND 199 
 
 been hoped that he had sowed his wild oats 
 when he married the beautiful Lady Jane 
 Rufton. For some months he had indeed 
 behaved well, and then he had wounded her 
 feelings in their most tender part by some 
 unworthy liaison. She had fled from his 
 house and taken refuge with her brother, 
 from whose care she had now been dragged 
 once more, against her will. I ask you if 
 two men could have had a fairer errand 
 than that upon which Lord Rufton and 
 myself were riding ? 
 
 " That's Gravel Hanger," he cried at last, 
 pointing with his crop ; and there on the 
 green side of a hill was an old brick and 
 timber building as beautiful as only an 
 English country house can be. " There's 
 an inn by the park-gate, and there we shall 
 leave our horses," he added. 
 
 For my own part it seemed to me that 
 with so just a cause we should have done 
 best to ride boldly up to his door and 
 summon him to surrender the lady. But 
 there I was wrong. For the one thing 
 
200 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 which every Englishman fears is the law. 
 He makes it himself, and when he has once 
 made it it becomes a terrible tyrant before 
 whom the bravest quails. He will smile at 
 breaking his neck, but he will turn pale at 
 breaking the law. It seems, then, from 
 what Lord Rufton told me as we walked 
 through the park, that we were on the 
 wrong side of the law in this matter. 
 Lord Dacre was in the right in carrying 
 off his wife, since she did indeed belong 
 to him, and our own position now was 
 nothing better than that of burglars and 
 trespassers. It was not for burglars to 
 openly approach the front door. We could 
 take the lady by force or by craft, but 
 we could not take her by right, for the 
 law was against us. This was "what my 
 friend explained to me as we crept up 
 towards the shelter of a shrubbery which 
 was close to the windows of the house. 
 Thence we could examine this fortress, 
 see whether we could effect a lodgment 
 in it, and, above all, try to establish some 
 
TRIUMPHED IN ENGLAND 201 
 
 communication with the beautiful prisoner 
 inside. 
 
 There we were, then, in the shrubbery, 
 Lord Rufton and I, each with a pistol in the 
 pockets of our riding-coats, and with the 
 most resolute determination in our hearts 
 that we should not return without the lady. 
 Eagerly we scanned every window of the 
 wide-spread house. Not a sign could we 
 see of the prisoner or of any one else ; but 
 on the gravel drive outside the door were 
 the deep-sunk marks of the wheels of the 
 chaise. There was no doubt that they had 
 arrived. Crouching among the laurel bushes 
 we held a whispered council of war, but a 
 singular interruption brought it to an end. 
 
 Out of the door of the house there stepped 
 a tall, flaxen-haired man, such a figure as 
 one would choose for the flank of a 
 Grenadier company. As he turned his 
 brown face and his blue eyes towards us I 
 recognised Lord Dacre. With long strides 
 he came down the gravel path straight for 
 the spot where we lay. 
 
202 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 " Come out, Ned ! " he shouted ; " you'll 
 have the gamekeeper putting a charge of 
 shot into you. Come out, man, and don't 
 skulk behind the bushes." 
 
 It was not a very heroic situation for us. 
 My poor friend rose with a crimson face. 
 I sprang to my feet also and bowed with 
 such dignity as I could muster. 
 
 " Halloa ! it's the Frenchman, is it ? " said 
 he, without returning my bow. " I've got 
 a crow to pluck with him already. As to 
 you, Ned, I knew you would be hot on 
 our scent, and so I was looking out for you. 
 I saw you cross the park and go to ground 
 in the shrubbery. Come in, man, and let 
 us have all the cards on the table." 
 
 He seemed master of the situation, this 
 handsome giant of a man, standing at his 
 ease on his own ground while we slunk out 
 of our hiding-place. Lord Rufton had said 
 not a word, but I saw by his darkened brow 
 and his sombre eyes that the storm was 
 gathering. Lord Dacre led the way into 
 the house, and we followed close at his heels. 
 
TRIUMPHED IN ENGLAND 203 
 
 He ushered us himself into an oak -panelled 
 sitting-room, closing the door behind us. 
 Then he looked me up and down with 
 insolent eyes. 
 
 "Look here, Ned," said he, "time was 
 when an English family could settle their 
 own affairs in their own way. What has 
 this foreign fellow got to do with your sister 
 and my wife .'' " 
 
 " Sir," said I, " permit me to point out to 
 you that this is not a case merely of a sister 
 or a wife, but that I am the friend of the 
 lady in question, and that I have the 
 privilege which every gentleman possesses 
 of protecting a woman against brutality. 1 1 
 is only by a gesture that I can show you 
 what I think of you." I had my riding 
 glove in my hand, and I flicked him across 
 the face with it. He drew back with a bitter 
 smile and his eyes were as hard as flint. 
 
 " So you've brought your bully with you, 
 Ned ?" said he. " You might at least have 
 done your fighting yourself, if it must come 
 to a fight." 
 
204 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 " So I will," cried Lord Rufton. " Here 
 and now." 
 
 " When I've killed this swaggering French- 
 man," said Lord Dacre. He stepped to 
 a side table and opened a brass-bound 
 case. " By Gad," said he, " either that 
 man or I go out of this room feet foremost. 
 I meant well by you, Ned ; I did, by 
 George, but I'll shoot this Ued-captaih of 
 yours as sure as my name's George Dacre. 
 Take your choice of pistols, sir, and shoot 
 across this table. The barkers are loaded. 
 Aim straight and kill me if you can, 
 for, by the Lord, if you don't, you're 
 done." 
 
 In vain Lord Rufton tried to take the 
 quarrel upon himself. Two things were 
 clear in my mind — one that the Lady Jane 
 had feared above all things that her husband 
 and brother should fight, the other that if 
 I could but kill this big milord, then the 
 whole question would be settled for ever 
 in the best way. Lord Rufton did not 
 want him. Lady Jane did not want him. 
 
TRIUMPHED IN ENGLAND 205 
 
 Therefore, I, Etienne Gerard, their friend, 
 would pay the debt of gratitude which I 
 owed them by freeing them of this encum- 
 brance. But, indeed, there was no choice 
 in the matter, for Lord Dacre was as eager 
 to put a bullet into me as I could be to 
 do the same service to him. In vain Lord 
 Rufton argued and scolded. The afifair 
 must continue. 
 
 " Well, if you must fight my guest instead 
 of myself, let it be to-morrow morning with 
 two witnesses," he cried at last ; " this is 
 sheer murder across the table." 
 
 " But it suits my humour, Ned," said Lord 
 Dacre. 
 
 " And mine, sir," said L 
 
 " Then I'll have nothing to do with it," 
 cried Lord Rufton. " I tell you, George, 
 if you shoot Colonel Gerard under these 
 circumstances you'll find yourself in the 
 dock instead of on the bench. I won't 
 act as second, and that's flat." 
 
 "Sir," said I, "I am perfectly prepared 
 to proceed without a second." 
 
2o6 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 " That won't do. It's against the law," 
 cried Lord Dacre. " Come, Ned, don't 
 be a fool. You see we mean to fight. 
 Hang it, man, all I want you to do is to 
 drop a handkerchief." 
 
 " I'll take no part in it." 
 
 "Then I must find someone who will," 
 said Lord Dacre. He threw a cloth over 
 the pistols, which lay upon the table, and 
 he rang the bell. A footman entered. 
 " Ask Colonel Berkeley if he will step this 
 way. You will find him in the billiard- 
 room." 
 
 A moment later there entered a tall thin 
 Englishman with a great moustache, which 
 was a rare thing amid that clean-shaven race. 
 I have heard since that they were worn 
 only by the Guards and the Hussars. This 
 Colonel Berkeley was a guardsman. He 
 seemed a strange, tired, languid, drawling 
 creature with a long black cigar thrusting 
 out, like a pole from a bush, amidst that 
 immense moustache. He looked from one 
 to the other of us with true English phlegm, 
 
TRIUMPHED IN ENGLAND 207 
 
 and he betrayed not the slightest surprise 
 when he was told our intention. 
 
 " Quite so," said he ; " quite so." 
 
 " I refuse to act, Colonel Berkeley," cried 
 Lord Rufton. " Remember, this duel can- 
 not proceed without you, and I hold you 
 personally responsible for anything that 
 happens." 
 
 This Colonel Berkeley appeared to be 
 an authority upon the question, for he 
 removed the cigar from his mouth and he 
 laid down the law in his strange, drawling 
 voice. 
 
 " The circumstances are unusual, but not 
 irregular, Lord Rufton," said he. " This 
 gentleman has given a blow, and this other 
 gentleman has received it. That is a clear 
 issue. Time and conditions depend upon 
 the person who demands satisfaction. Very 
 good. He claims it here and now, across 
 the table. He is acting within his rights. 
 I am prepared to accept the responsibility." 
 
 There was nothing more to be said. 
 Lord Rufton sat moodily in the corner. 
 
208 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 with his brows drawn down and his hands 
 thrust deep into the pockets of his riding- 
 breeches. Colonel Berkeley examined the 
 two pistols and laid them both in the centre 
 of the table. Lord Dacre was at one end 
 and I at the other, with eight feet of shining 
 mahogany between us. On the hearthrug, 
 with his back to the fire, stood the tall 
 colonel, his handkerchief in his left hand, 
 his cigar between two fingers of his right. 
 
 "When I drop the handkerchief," said 
 he, "you will pick up your pistols and you 
 will fire at your own convenience. Are 
 you ready ? " 
 
 " Yes," we cried. 
 
 His hand opened, and the handkerchief 
 fell. I bent swiftly forward and seized a 
 pistol, but the table, as I have said, was 
 eight feet across, and it was easier for this 
 long-armed milord to reach the pistols than 
 it was for me. I had not yet drawn myself 
 straight before he fired, and to this it was 
 that I owe my life. His bullet would have 
 blown out my brains had I been erect. 
 
TRIUMPHED IN ENGLAND 209 
 
 As it was, it whistled through my curls. 
 At the same instant, just as I threw up 
 my own pistol to fire, the door flew open, 
 and a pair of arms were thrown round 
 me. It was the beautiful, flushed, frantic 
 face of Lady Jane which looked up into 
 mine. 
 
 " You shan't fire ! Colonel Gerard, for 
 my sake, don't fire," she cried. " It is a 
 mistake, I tell you — a mistake, a mistake ! 
 He is the best and dearest of husbands. 
 Never again shall I leave his side." Her 
 hands slid down my arm and closed upon 
 my pistol. 
 
 " Jane, Jane," cried Lord Rufton ; " come 
 with me. You should not be here. Come 
 away." 
 
 "It is all confoundedly irregular," said 
 Colonel Berkeley, 
 
 " Colonel Gerard, you won't fire, will you ? 
 My heart would break if he were hurt." 
 
 " Hang it all, Jinny, give the fellow 
 fair play," cried Lord Dacre. " He stood 
 my fire like a man, and I won't see him 
 
 14 
 
2IO HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 interfered with. Whatever happens, I can't 
 get worse than I deserve." 
 
 But already there had passed between 
 me and the lady a quick glance of the eyes 
 which told her everything. Her hands 
 slipped from my arm. " I leave my hus- 
 band's life and my own happiness to Colonel 
 Gerard," said she. 
 
 How well she knew me, this admirable 
 woman ! I stood for an instant irresolute, 
 with the pistol cocked in my hand. My 
 antagonist faced me bravely, with no blench- 
 ing of his sunburnt face and no flinching 
 of his bold, blue eyes. 
 
 " Come, come, sir, take your shot ! " cried 
 the colonel from the mat. 
 
 " Let us have it, then," said Lord Dacre. 
 
 I would, at least, show them how com- 
 pletely his life was at the mercy of my 
 skill. So much I owed to my own self- 
 respect. I glanced round for a mark. The 
 colonel was looking towards my antagonist, 
 expecting to see him drop. His face was 
 sideways to me, his long cigar projecting 
 
TRIUMPHED IN ENGLAND 211 
 
 from his lips with an inch of ash at the 
 end of it. Quick as a flash I raised my 
 pistol and fired. 
 
 " Permit me to trim your ash, sir," said 
 I, and I bowed with a grace which is 
 unknown among these islanders. 
 
 I am convinced that the fault lay with 
 the pistol and not with my aim. I could 
 hardly believe my own eyes when I saw 
 that I had snapped off the cigar within half 
 an inch of his lips. He stood staring at 
 me with the ragged stub of the cigar -end 
 sticking out from his singed moustache. I 
 can see him now with his foolish, angry 
 eyes and his long, thin, puzzled face. Then 
 he began to talk. I have always said that 
 the English are not really a phlegmatic or 
 a taciturn nation if you stir them out of 
 their groove. No one could have talked 
 in a more animated way than this colonel. 
 Lady Jane put her hands over her ears. 
 
 " Come, come. Colonel Berkeley," said 
 Lord Dacre, sternly, " you forget yourself. 
 There is a lady in the room." 
 
212 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 The colonel gave a stiff bow. 
 
 "If Lady Dacre will kindly leave the 
 room," said he, "I will be able to tell this 
 infernal little Frenchman what I think of 
 him and his monkey tricks." 
 
 I was splendid at that moment, for I 
 ignored the words that he had said and 
 remembered only the extreme provocation. 
 
 " Sir," said I, " I freely offer you my 
 apologies for this unhappy incident. I felt 
 that if I did not discharge my pistol Lord 
 Dacre's honour might feel hurt, and yet it 
 was quite impossible for me, after hearing 
 what this lady had said, to aim it at her 
 husband. I looked round for a mark, there- 
 fore, and I had the extreme misfortune to 
 blow your cigar out of your mouth when 
 my intention had merely been to snuff the 
 ash. I was betrayed by my pistol. This is my 
 explanation, sir, and if after listening to my 
 apologies you still feel that I owe you satis- 
 faction, I need not say that it is a request 
 which I am unable to refuse." 
 
 It was certainly a charming attitude which 
 
TRIUMPHED IN ENGLAND 213 
 
 I had assumed, and it won the hearts of all 
 of them. Lord Dacre stepped forward and 
 wrung me by the hand. " By George, sir," 
 said he, "I never thought to feel towards 
 a Frenchman as I do to you. You're a 
 man and a gentleman, and I can't say 
 more." Lord Rufton said nothing, but his 
 hand-grip told me all that he thought. 
 Even Colonel Berkeley paid me a compli- 
 ment, and declared that he would think no 
 more about the unfortunate cigar. And she 
 — ah, if you could have seen the look she 
 gave me, the flushed cheek, the moist eye, the 
 tremulous lip ! When I think of my beauti- 
 ful Lady Jane it is at that moment that I 
 recall her. They would have had me stay 
 to dinner, but you will understand, my 
 friends, that this was no time for either 
 Lord Rufton or myself to remain at Gravel 
 Hanger. This reconciled couple desired 
 only to be alone. In the chaise he had 
 persuaded her of his sincere repentance, and 
 once again they were a loving husband 
 and wife. If they were to remain so, it 
 
HOW THE BRIGADIER TRIUMPHED 
 
 was best perhaps that I should go. Why 
 should I unsettle that domestic peace ? 
 Even against my own will my mere presence 
 and appearance might have their effect upon 
 the lady. No, no, I must tear myself away 
 — even her persuasions were unable to make 
 me stop. Years afterwards I heard that 
 the household of the Dacres was among 
 the happiest in the whole country, and 
 that no cloud had ever come again to 
 darken their lives. Yet I dare say if he 
 could have seen into his wife's mind — but 
 there, I say no more ! A lady's secret is 
 her own, and I fear that she and it are 
 buried long years ago in some Devonshire 
 churchyard. Perhaps all that gay circle 
 are gone and the Lady Jane only lives 
 now in the memory of an old half-pay 
 French brigadier. He at least can never 
 forget. 
 
 214 
 
VI 
 How the Brigadier rode to Minsk 
 
 I WOULD have a stronger wine to-night, 
 my friends, a wine of Burgundy rather 
 than of Bordeaux. It is that my heart, 
 my old soldier heart, is heavy within me. 
 It is a strange thing, this age which creeps 
 upon one. One does not know, one does 
 not understand ; the spirit is ever the same, 
 and one does not remember how the poor 
 body crumbles. But there comes a moment 
 when it is brought home, when quick as the 
 sparkle of a whirling sabre it is clear to us, 
 and we see the men we were and the men 
 we are. Yes, yes, it was so to-day, and I 
 would have a wine of Burgundy to-night. 
 
 White Burgundy — Montrachet Sir, I am 
 
 your debtor ! 
 
 It was this morning in the Champ de 
 
 ais 
 
2i6 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 Mars. Your pardon, friends, while an old 
 man tells his trouble. You saw the review. 
 Was it not splendid ? I was in the enclosure 
 for veteran officers who have been decorated. 
 This ribbon on my breast was my passport. 
 The cross itself I keep at home in a leathern 
 pouch. They did us honour, for we were 
 placed at the saluting point, with the 
 Emperor and the carriages of the Court 
 upon our right. 
 
 It is years since I have been to a review, 
 for I cannot approve of many things which 
 I have seen. I do not approve of the red 
 breeches of the infantry. It was in white 
 breeches that the infantry used to fight. 
 Red is for the cavalry. A little more, and 
 they would ask our busbies and our spurs ! 
 Had I been seen at a review they might 
 well have said that I, Etienne Gerard, had 
 condoned it. So I have stayed at home. 
 But this war of the Crimea is different. The 
 men go to battle. It is not for me to be 
 absent when brave men gather. 
 
 My faith, they march well, those little 
 
RODE TO MINSK 217 
 
 infantrymen ! They are not large, but they 
 are very solid and they carry themselves 
 well. I took off my hat to them as they 
 passed. Then there came the guns. They 
 were good guns, well horsed, and well 
 manned. I took off my hat to them. Then 
 came the Engineers, and to them also I 
 took off my hat. There are no braver men 
 than the Engineers. Then came the cavalry. 
 Lancers, Cuirassiers, Chasseurs, and Spahis. 
 To all of them in turn I was able to take 
 off my hat, save only to the Spahis. The 
 Emperor had no Spahis. But when all of the 
 others had passed, what think you came at 
 the close.-* A brigade of Hussars, and at 
 the charge ! Oh, my friends, the pride and 
 the glory and the beauty, the flash and the 
 sparkle, the roar of the hoofs and the jingle 
 of chains, the tossing manes, the noble 
 heads, the rolling cloud, and the dancing 
 waves of steel ! My heart drummed to them 
 as they passed. And the last of all, was it 
 not my own old regiment ? My eyes fell 
 upon the grey and silver dolmans, with the 
 
2i8 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 leopard-skin shabraques, and at that instant 
 the years fell away from me and I saw my 
 own beautiful men and horses, even as 
 they had swept behind their young colonel, 
 in the pride of our youth and our strength, 
 just forty years ago. Up flew my cane. 
 " Chargez ! En avant ! Vive I'Empereur !" 
 It was the past calling to the present. But, 
 oh, what a thin, piping voice ! Was this the 
 voice that had once thundered from wing 
 to wing of a strong- brigade ? And the arm 
 that could scarce wave a cane, were these 
 the muscles of fire and steel which had no 
 match in all Napoleon's mighty host ? They 
 smiled at me. They cheered me. The 
 Emperor laughed and bowed. But to me 
 the present was a dim dream, and what was 
 real were my eight hundred dead Hussars 
 and the Etienne of long ago. Enough — a 
 brave man can face age and fate as he faced 
 Cossacks and Uhlans. But there are times 
 when Montrachet is better than the wine of 
 Bordeaux. 
 
 It is to Russia that they go, and so I will 
 
RODE TO MINSK 219 
 
 tell you a story of Russia. Ah, what an evil 
 dream qf the night it seems ! Blood and 
 ice. Ice and blood. Fierce faces with snow 
 upon the whiskers. Blue hands held out 
 for succour. And across the great white 
 plain the one long black line of moving 
 figures, trudging, trudging, a hundred miles, 
 another hundred, and still always the same 
 white plain. Sometimes there were fir-woods 
 to limit it, sometimes it stretched away to 
 the cold blue sky, but the black line 
 stumbled on and on. Those weary, ragged, 
 starving men, the spirit frozen out of them, 
 looked neither to right nor left, but with 
 sunken faces and rounded backs trailed 
 onwards and ever onwards, making for 
 France as wounded beasts make for their 
 lair. There was no speaking, and you could 
 scarce hear the shuffle of feet in the snow. 
 Once only I heard them laugh. It was 
 outside Wilna, when an aide-de-camp rode 
 up to the head of that dreadful column and 
 asked if that were the Grand Army. All 
 who were within hearing looked round, and 
 
220 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 when they saw those broken men, those 
 ruined regiments, those fur-capped skeletons 
 who were once the Guard, they laughed, 
 and the laugh crackled down the column like 
 a feu de joie. I have heard many a groan 
 and cry and scream in my life, but nothing 
 so terrible as the laugh of the Grand 
 Army. 
 
 But why was it that these helpless men 
 were not destroyed by the Russians ? Why 
 was it that they were not speared by the 
 Cossacks or herded into droves, and driven 
 as prisoners into the heart of Russia ? On 
 every side as you watched the black snake 
 winding over the snow you saw also dark, 
 moving shadows which came and went like 
 cloud drifts on either flank and behind. 
 They were the Cossacks, who hung round 
 us like wolves round the flock. But the 
 reason why they did not ride in upon us 
 was that all the ice of Russia could not cool 
 the hot hearts of some of our soldiers. To 
 the end there were always those who were 
 ready to throw themselves between these 
 
RODE TO MINSK 221 
 
 savages and their prey. One man above 
 all rose greater as the danger thickened, and 
 won a higher name amid disaster than he 
 had done when he led our van to victory. 
 To him I drink this glass — to Ney, the 
 red-maned Lion, glaring back over his 
 shoulder at the enemy who feared to tread 
 too closely on his heels. I can see him now, 
 his broad white face convulsed with fury, 
 his light blue eyes sparkling like flints, his 
 great voice roaring and crashing amid the 
 roll of the musketry. His glazed and 
 featherless cocked hat was the ensign upon 
 which France rallied during those dreadful 
 days. 
 
 It is well known that neither I nor the 
 regiment of Hussars of Conflans were at 
 Moscow, We were left behind on the 
 lines of communication at Borodino. How 
 the Emperor could have advanced without 
 us is incomprehensible to me, and, indeed, 
 it was only then that I understood that his 
 judgment was weakening, and that he was 
 no longer the man that he had been. 
 
222 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 However, a soldier has to obey orders, 
 and so I remained at this village, which 
 was poisoned by the bodies of thirty thou- 
 sand men who had lost their lives in the 
 great battle. I spent the late autumn in 
 getting my horses into condition and re- 
 clothing my men, so that when the army 
 fell back on Borodino my Hussars were 
 the best of the cavalry, and were placed 
 under Ney in the rear-guard. What could 
 he have done without us during those 
 dreadful days ? " Ah, Gerard," said he one 
 evening — but it is not for me to repeat 
 the words. Suffice it that he spoke what 
 the whole army felt. The rear-guard covered 
 the army, and the Hussars of Conflans 
 covered the rear-guard. There was the 
 whole truth in a sentence. Always the 
 Cossacks were on us. Always we held 
 them off. Never a day passed that we 
 had not to -wipe our sabres. That was 
 soldiering indeed. 
 
 But there came a time between Wilna 
 and Smolensk when the situation became 
 
RODE TO MINSK 223 
 
 impossible. Cossacks and even cold we 
 could fight, but we could not fight hunger 
 as well. Food must be got at all costs. 
 That night Ney sent for me to the waggon 
 in which he slept. His great head was 
 sunk on his hands. Mind and body, he 
 was wearied to death. 
 
 " Colonel Gerard," said he, " things are 
 going very badly with us. The men are 
 starving. We must have food at all costs." 
 
 " The horses," I suggested. 
 
 " Save your handful of cavalry, there are 
 none left." 
 
 " The band," said I. 
 
 He laughed, even in his despair. 
 
 " Why the band ? " he asked. 
 
 " Fighting men are of value." 
 
 " Good ! " said he. " You would play the 
 game down to the last card, and so would 
 I. Good, Gerard, good ! " He clasped my 
 hand in his. " But there is one chance 
 for us yet, Gerard." He unhooked a lantern 
 from the roof of the waggon, and he laid 
 it on a map which was stretched before 
 
224 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 him. " To the south of us," said he, 
 " there lies the town of Minsk. I have 
 word from a Russian deserter that much 
 corn has been stored in the town-hall. I 
 wish you to take as many men as you 
 think best, set forth for Minsk, seize the 
 corn, load any carts which you may collect 
 in the town, and bring them to me between 
 here and Smolensk. If you fail, it is but 
 a detachment cut off If you succeed, it 
 is new life to the army." 
 
 He had not expressed himself well, for 
 it was evident that if we failed it was not 
 merely the loss of a detachment. It is 
 quality as well as quantity which counts. 
 And yet how honourable a mission, and 
 how glorious a risk ! If mortal men could 
 bring it, then the corn should come from 
 Minsk. I said so, and spoke a few burning 
 words about a brave man's duty until the 
 Marshal was so moved that he rose and, 
 taking me affectionately by the shoulders, 
 pushed me out of the waggon. 
 
 It was clear to me that in order to succeed 
 
RODE TO MINSK 225 
 
 in my enterprise I should take a small force 
 and depend rather upon surprise than upon 
 numbers. A large body could not conceal 
 itself, would have great difficulty in getting 
 food, and would cause all the Russians 
 around us to concentrate for its certain 
 destruction. On the other hand, if a small 
 body of cavalry could get past the Cossacks 
 unseen it was probable that they would 
 find no troops to oppose them, for we knew 
 that the main Russian army was several 
 days' march behind us. This corn was 
 meant, no doubt, for their consumption. A 
 squadron of Hussars and thirty Polish 
 Lancers were all whom I chose for the 
 venture. That very night we rode out of 
 the camp, and struck south in the direction 
 of Minsk. 
 
 Fortunately there was but a half moon, 
 and we were able to pass without being 
 attacked by the enemy. Twice we saw 
 great fires burning amid the snow, and 
 around them a thick bristle of long poles. 
 These were the lances of Cossacks, which 
 
 IS 
 
226 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 they had stood upright while they slept. 
 It would have been a great joy to us to 
 have charged in amongst them, for we had 
 much to revenge, and the eyes of my com- 
 rades looked longingly from me to those 
 red flickering patches in the darkness. My 
 faith, I was sorely tempted to do it, for it 
 would have been a good lesson to teach 
 them that they must keep a few miles 
 between themselves and a French army. 
 It is the essence of good generalship, how- 
 ever, to keep one thing before one at a 
 time, and so we rode silently on through 
 the snow, leaving these Cossack bivouacs 
 to right and left. Behind us the black sky 
 was all mottled with a line of flame, which 
 showed where our own poor wretches were 
 trying to keep themselves alive for another 
 day of misery and starvation. 
 
 All night we rode slowly onwards, keeping 
 our horses' tails to the Pole Star. There 
 were many tracks in the snow, and we 
 kept to the line of these, that no one might 
 remark that a body of cavalry had passed 
 
RODE TO MINSK 227 
 
 that way. These are the little precautions 
 which mark the experienced officer. Be- 
 sides, by keeping to the tracks we were 
 most likely to find the villages, and only 
 in the villages could we hope to get food. 
 The dawn of day found us in a thick fir- 
 wood, the trees so loaded with snow that 
 the light could hardly reach us. When we 
 had found our way out of it it was full 
 daylight, the rim of the rising sun peeping 
 over the edge of the great snow-plain and 
 turning it crimson from end to end. I 
 halted my Hussars and Lancers under the 
 shadow of the wood, and I studied the 
 country. Close to us there was a small 
 farmhouse. Beyond, at the distance of 
 several miles, was a village. Far away on 
 the skyline rose a considerable town all 
 bristling with church towers. This must be 
 Minsk. In no direction could I see any 
 signs of troops. It was evident that we had 
 passed through the Cossacks, and that there 
 was nothing between us and our goal. A 
 joyous shout burst from my men when I 
 
228 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 told them our position, and we advanced 
 rapidly towards the village. 
 
 I have said, however, that there was a 
 small farmhouse immediately in front of us. 
 As we rode up to it I observed that a 
 fine grey horse with a military saddle was 
 tethered by the door. Instantly I galjoped 
 forward, but before I could reach it a man 
 dashed out of the door, flung himself on to 
 the horse, and rode furiously away, the crisp, 
 dry snow flying up in a cloud behind him. 
 The sunlight gleamed upon his gold epau- 
 lettes, and I knew that he was a Russian 
 officer. He would raise the whole country- 
 side if we did not catch him. I put spurs 
 to Violette and flew after him. My troopers 
 followed ; but there was no horse among 
 them to compare with Violette, and I knew 
 well that if I could not catch the Russian 
 I need expect no help from them. 
 
 But it is a swift horse indeed and a skilful 
 rider who can hope to escape from Violette 
 with Etienne Gerard in the saddle. He 
 rode well, this young Russian, and his 
 
RODE TO MINSK 229 
 
 mount was a good one, but gradually we 
 wore him down. His face glanced con- 
 tinually over his shoulder — a dark, hand- 
 some face, with ^yes like an eagle — and I 
 saw as I closed with him that he was 
 measuring the distance between us. Sud- 
 denly he half turned ; there were a flash 
 and a crack as his pistol bullet hummed 
 past my ear. Before he could draw his 
 sword I was upon him ; but he still spurred 
 his horse, and the two galloped together 
 over the plain, I with my leg against the 
 Russian's and my left hand upon his right 
 shoulder. I saw his hand fly up to his 
 mouth. Instantly I dragged him across my 
 pommel and seized him by the throat, so 
 that he could not swallow. His horse shot 
 from under him, but I held him fast, and 
 Violette came to a stand. Sergeant Oudin 
 of the Hussars was the first to join us. He 
 was an old soldier, and he saw at a glance 
 what I was after. 
 
 " Hold tight, Colonel," said he ; " I'll do 
 the rest." 
 
230 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 He slipped out his knife, thrust the blade 
 between the clenched teeth of the Russian, 
 and turned it so as to force his mouth 
 open. There, on his tongue, was the little 
 wad of wet paper which he had been so 
 anxious to swallow. Oudin picked it out, 
 and I let go of the man's throat. From 
 the way in which, half strangled as he was, 
 he glanced at the paper I was sure that 
 it was a message of extreme importance. 
 His hands twitched as if he longed to snatch 
 it from me. He shrugged his shoulders, 
 however, and smiled good-humouredly when 
 I apologised for my roughness. 
 
 "And now to business," said I, when he 
 had done coughing and hawking. "What 
 is your name ? " 
 
 " Alexis Barakoff." 
 
 " Your rank and regiment ? " 
 
 " Captain of the Dragoons of Grodno." 
 
 " What is this note which you were 
 carrying ? " 
 
 "It is a line which I had written to my 
 sweetheart." 
 
RODE TO MINSK 231 
 
 "Whose name," said I, examining the 
 address, " is the Hetman Platofif Come, 
 come, sir, this is an important military- 
 document, which you are carrying from one 
 general to another. Tell me this instant 
 what it is." 
 
 " Read it, and then you will know. He 
 spoke perfect French, as , do most of the 
 educated Russians. But he knew well that 
 there is not one French officer in a thousand 
 who knows a word of Russian. The inside 
 of the note contained one single line, which 
 ran like this : — 
 
 " Pustj Franzuzy pridutt v Minsk. Min 
 gotovy." 
 
 I stared at it, and I had to shake my 
 head. Then I showed it to my Hussars, 
 but they could make nothing of it. The 
 Poles were all rough fellows who could not 
 read or write, save only the sergeant, who 
 came from Memel, in East Prussia, and 
 knew no Russian. It was maddening, for 
 I felt that I had possession of some im- 
 portant secret upon which the safety of 
 
232 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 the army might depend, and yet I could 
 make no sense of it. Again I entreated 
 our prisoner to translate it, and offered him 
 his freedom if he would d£> so. He only 
 smiled at my request. I could not but 
 admire him, for it was the very smile which 
 I should have myself smiled had I been 
 in his position. 
 
 "At least," said I, "tell us the name of 
 this village." 
 
 " It is Dobrova." 
 
 " And that is Minsk over yonder I 
 suppose ? " 
 
 "Yes, that is Minsk." 
 
 " Then we shall go to the village and we 
 shall very soon find some one who will 
 translate this despatch." 
 
 So we rode onward together, a trooper 
 with his carbine unslung on either side of our 
 prisoner. The village was but a little place, 
 and I set a guard at the ends of the single 
 street, so that no one could escape from 
 it. It was necessary to call a halt and to 
 find some food for the men and horses, since 
 
RODE TO MINSK 233 
 
 they had travelled all night and had a long 
 journey still before them. 
 
 There was one large stone house in the 
 centre of the village, and to this I rode. 
 It was the house of the priest — a snufify 
 and ill-favoured old man who had not a 
 civil answer to any of our questions. An 
 uglier fellow I never met, but, my faith, 
 it was very different with his only daughter, 
 who kept house for him. She was a 
 brunette, a rare thing in Russia, with creamy 
 skin, raven hair, and a pair of the most 
 glorious dark eyes that ever kindled at the 
 sight of a Hussar. From the first glance 
 I saw that she was mine. It was no time 
 for love-making when a soldier's duty had 
 to be done, but still, as I took the simple 
 meal which they laid before me, I chatted 
 lightly with the lady, and we were the best 
 of friends before an hour had passed. 
 Sophie was her first name, her second I 
 never knew. I taught her to call me 
 Etienne, and I tried to cheer her up, for 
 her sweet face was sad and there were tears 
 
234 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 in her beautiful dark eyes. I pressed her 
 to tell me what it was which was grieving 
 her. 
 
 " How can I be otherwise," said she, 
 speaking French with a most adorable lisp, 
 "when one of my poor countrymen is a 
 prisoner in your hands ? I saw him between 
 two of your Hussars as you rode into the 
 village." 
 
 " It is the fortune of war," said I. " His 
 turn to-day ; mine, perhaps, to-morrow." 
 
 " But consider, Monsieur " said she. 
 
 " Etienne," said I. 
 
 " Oh, Monsieur -" 
 
 " Etienne," said I. 
 
 " Well, then," she cried, beautifully flushed 
 and desperate, "consider, Etienne, that this 
 young officer will be taken back to your 
 army and will be starved or frozen, for if, 
 as I hear, your own soldiers have a hard 
 march, what will be the lot of a prisoner ? " 
 
 I shrugged my shoulders. 
 
 "You have a kind face, Etienne," said 
 she; "you would not condemn this poor 
 
RODE TO MINSK 235 
 
 man to certain death. I entreat you to let 
 him go." 
 
 Her delicate hand rested upon my sleeve, 
 her dark eyes looked imploringly into 
 mine. 
 
 A sudden thought passed through my 
 jnind. I would grant her request, but I 
 would demand a favour in return. At my 
 order the prisoner was brought up into the 
 room. 
 
 " Captain Barakoff," said I, " this young 
 lady has begged me to release you, and I 
 am inclined to do so. I would ask you to 
 give your parole that you will remain in this 
 dwelling for twenty-four hours, and take no 
 steps to inform any one of our movements." 
 
 " I will do so," said he. 
 
 " Then I trust in your honour. One man 
 more or less can make no difference in a 
 struggle between great armies, and to take 
 you back as a prisoner would be to condemn 
 you to death. Depart, sir, and show your 
 gratitude not to me, but to the first French 
 officer who falls into your hands." 
 
236 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 When he was gone I drev/ my paper 
 from my pocket. 
 
 " Now, Sophie," said I, " I have done what 
 you asked me, and all that I ask in return is 
 that you will give me a lesson in Russian." 
 
 " With all my heart," said she. 
 
 " Let us begin on this," said I, spreading 
 out the paper before her. " Let us take it 
 word for word and see what it means." 
 
 She looked at the writing with some sur- 
 prise. " It means," said she, " if the French 
 come to Minsk all is lost." Suddenly z look 
 of consternation passed over her beautiful 
 face. " Great heavens ! " she cried, " what is 
 it that I have done? I have betrayed my 
 Country! Oh, Etienne, your eyes are the 
 last for whom this message is meant. How 
 could you be so cunning as to make a poor, 
 simple-minded, and unsuspecting girl betray 
 the cause of her country ? " 
 
 I consoled my poor Sophie as best I 
 might, and I assured her that it was no 
 reproach to her that she should be outwitted 
 by so old a campaigner and so shrewd a 
 
RODE TO MINSK 237 
 
 man as myself. But it was no time now 
 for talk. This message made it clear that 
 the corn was indeed at Minsk, and that 
 there were no troops there to defend it. I 
 gave a hurried order from the window, the 
 trumpeter blew the assembly, and in ten 
 minutes we had left the village behind us 
 and were riding hard for the city, the gilded 
 domes and minarets of which glimmered 
 above the snow of the horizon. Higher 
 they rose and higher, until at last, as the 
 sun sank towards the west, we were in the 
 broad main street, and galloped up it amid 
 the shouts of the moujiks and the cries of 
 frightened women until we found ourselves 
 in front of the great town-hall. My cavalry 
 I drew up in the square, and I, with my 
 two sergeants, Oudin and Papilette, rushed 
 into the building. 
 
 Heavens ! shall I ever forget the sight 
 which greeted us ? Right in front of us 
 was drawn up a triple line of Russian 
 Grenadiers. Their muskets rose as we 
 entered, and a crashing volley burst into 
 
238 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 our very faces. Oudin and Papilette 
 dropped upon the floor, riddled with bullets. 
 For myself, my busby was shot away and 
 I had two holes through my dolman. The 
 Grenadiers ran at me with their bayonets. 
 " Treason ! " I cried. " We are betrayed ! 
 Stand to your horses ! " I rushed out of 
 the hall, but the whole square was swarming 
 with troops. From every side street Dra- 
 goons and Cossacks were riding down upon 
 us, and such a rolling fire had burst from 
 the surrounding houses that half my men 
 and horses were on the ground. " Follow 
 me ! " I yelled, and sprang upon Violette, 
 but a giant of a Russian Dragoon officer 
 threw his arms round me, and we rolled 
 on the ground together. He shortened his 
 sword to kill me, but, changing his mind, 
 he seized me by the throat and banged my 
 head against the stones until I was uncon- 
 scious. So it was that I became the prisoner 
 of the Russians. 
 
 When I came to myself my only regret 
 was that my captor had not beaten out my 
 
RODE TO MINSK 239. 
 
 brains. There in the grand square of Minsk 
 lay half my troopers dead or wounded, with 
 exultant crowds of Russians gathered round 
 them. The rest, in a melancholy group, 
 were herded into the porch of the town-hall, 
 a sotnia of Cossacks keeping guard over 
 them. Alas ! what could I say, what could 
 I do ? It was evident that I had led my 
 men into a carefully baited trap. They had 
 heard of our mission, and they had prepared 
 for us. And yet there was that despatch 
 which had caused me to neglect all pre- 
 cautions and to ride straight into the town. 
 How was I to account for that ? The tears 
 ran down my cheeks as I surveyed the ruin 
 of my squadron, and as I thought of the 
 plight of my comrades of the Grand Army 
 who awaited the food which I was to have 
 brought them. Ney had trusted me, and I 
 had failed him. How often he would strain 
 his eyes over the snowfields for that convoy 
 of grain which should never gladden his 
 sight ! My own fate was hard enough. An 
 exile in Siberia was the best which the 
 
240 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 future could bring me. But you will believe 
 me, my friends, that it was not for his own 
 sake, but for that of his starving comrades, 
 that Etienne Gerard's cheeks were lined 
 by his tears, frozen even as they were shed. 
 
 "What's this?" said a gruff voice at my 
 elbow ; and I turned to face the huge, black- 
 bearded Dragoon who had dragged me 
 from my saddle. " Look at the French- 
 man crying! I thought that the Corsican 
 was followed by brave men, and not by 
 children." 
 
 "If you and I were face to face and 
 alone, I should let you see which is the 
 better man," said I. 
 
 For answer the brute struck me across 
 the face with his open hand. I seized him 
 by the throat, but a dozen of his soldiers 
 tore me away from him, and he struck me 
 again while they held my hands. 
 
 " You base hound," I cried, " is this the 
 way to treat an officer and a gentleman ? " 
 
 "We never asked you to come to Russia," 
 said he. "If you do you must take such 
 
RODE TO MINSK 241 
 
 treatment as you can get. I would shoot 
 you off-hand if I had my way." 
 
 "You will answer for this some day," I 
 cried, as I wiped the blood from my 
 moustache. 
 
 "If the Hetman Platofif is of my way of 
 thinking you will not be alive this time 
 to-morrow," he answered, with a ferocious 
 scowl. He added some words in Russian 
 to his troops, and instantly they all sprang 
 to their saddles. Poor Violette, looking as 
 miserable as her master, was led round and 
 I was told to mount her. My left arm 
 was tied with a thong which was fastened 
 to the stirrup-iron of a sergeant of Dragoons. 
 So in most sorry plight I and the remnant 
 of my men set forth from Minsk. 
 
 Never have I met such a brute as this 
 man Sergine, who commanded the escort. 
 The Russian army contains the best and 
 the worst in the world, but a worse than 
 Major Sergine of the Dragoons of Kieff I 
 have never seen in any force outside of 
 the guerillas of the Peninsula. He was a 
 
 16 
 
242 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 man of great stature, with a fierce, hard 
 face and a bristling black beard, which fell 
 over his cuirass. I have been told since 
 that he was noted for his strength and his 
 bfavery, and I could answer for it that he 
 had the grip of a bear, for I had felt it 
 when he tore me from my saddle. He was 
 a wit, too, in his way, and made continual 
 remarks in Russian at our expense which 
 set all his Dragoons and Cossacks laugh- 
 ing. Twice he beat my comrades with 
 his riding-whip, and once he approached 
 me with the lash swung over his shoulder, 
 but there was something in my eyes which 
 prevented it from falling. So in misery 
 and humiliation, cold and starving, we rode 
 in a disconsolate column across the vast 
 snow-plain. The sun had sunk, but still 
 in the long northern twilight we pursued 
 our weary journey. Numbed and frozen, 
 with my head aching from the blows it had 
 received, I was borne onwards by Violette, 
 hardly conscious of where I was or whither 
 I was going. The little mare walked with 
 
RODE TO MINSK 243 
 
 a sunken head, only raising it to snort her 
 contempt for the mangy Cossack ponies who 
 were round her. 
 
 But suddenly the escort stopped, and I 
 found that we had halted in the single 
 street of a small Russian village. There 
 was a church on one side, and on the other 
 was a large stone house, the outline of 
 which seemed to me to be familiar. I 
 looked around me in the twilight, and then 
 I saw that we had been led back to 
 Dobrova, and that this house at the door 
 of which we were waiting was the same 
 house of the priest at which we had stopped 
 in the morning. Here it was that my 
 charming Sophie in her innocence had 
 translated the unlucky message which had 
 in some strange way led us to our ruin. 
 To think that only a few hours before we 
 had left this very spot with such high hopes 
 and all fair prospects for our mission, and 
 now the remnants of us waited as beaten 
 and humiliated men for whatever lot a 
 brutal enemy might ordain ! But such is 
 
244 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 the fate of the soldier, my friends— kisses 
 to-day, blows to-morrow, Tokay in a palace, 
 ditch-water in a hovel, furs or rags, a full 
 purse or an empty pocket, ever swaying 
 from the best to the worst, with only his 
 courage and his honour unchanging. 
 
 The Russian horsemen dismounted, and 
 my poor fellows were ordered to do the 
 same. It was already late, and it was 
 clearly their intention to spend the night 
 in this village. There were great cheering 
 and joy amongst the peasants when they 
 understood that we had all been taken, 
 and they flocked out of their houses with 
 flaming torches, the women carrying out tea 
 and brandy for the Cossacks, Amongst 
 others, the old priest came forth — the same 
 whom we had seen in the morning. He 
 was all smiles now, and he bore with him 
 some hot punch on a salver, the reek of 
 which I can remember still. Behind her 
 father was Sophie. With horror I saw her 
 clasp Major Sergine's hand as she con- 
 gratulated him upon the victory he had won 
 
RODE TO MINSK 245 
 
 and the prisoners he had made. The old 
 priest, her father, looked at me with an 
 insolent face, and made insulting remarks 
 at my expense, pointing at me with his lean 
 and grimy hand. His fair daughter Sophie 
 looked at me also, but she said nothing, 
 and I could read her tender pity in her 
 dark eyes. At last she turned to Major 
 Sergine and said something to him in 
 Russian, on which he frowned and shook 
 his head impatiently. She appeared to 
 plead with him, standing there in the flood 
 of light which shone from the open door 
 of her father's house. My eyes were fixed 
 upon the two faces, that of the beautiful 
 girl and of the dark, fierce man, for my 
 instinct told me that it was my own fate 
 which was under debate. For a long time 
 the soldier shook his head, and then, at 
 last softening before her pleadings, he ap- 
 peared to give way. He turned to where I 
 stood with my guardian sergeant beside me. 
 
 " These good people offer you the shelter 
 of their roof for the night," said he to me, 
 
246 HOW THE BRIGADIER. 
 
 looking me up and down with vindictive 
 eyes. " I find it hard to refuse them, but 
 I tell you straight that for my part I had 
 rather see you on the snow. It would 
 cool your hot blood, you rascal of a French- 
 man ! " 
 
 I looked at him with the contempt that 
 I felt. 
 
 " You were born a savage, and you will 
 die one," said I. 
 
 My words stung him, for he broke into 
 an oath, raising his whip as if he would 
 strike me. 
 
 " Silence, you crop-eared dog ! " he cried. 
 " Had I my way some of the insolence 
 would be frozen out of you before morning." 
 Mastering his passion, he turned upon 
 Sophie with what he meant to be a gallant 
 manner. "If you have a cellar with a 
 good lock," said he, " the fellow may lie 
 in it for the night, since you have done 
 him the honour to take an interest in his 
 comfort. I must have his parole that he 
 will not attempt to play us any tricks, as 
 
RODE TO MINSK 247 
 
 I am answerable for him until I hand him 
 over to the Hetman Platoff to-morrow." 
 
 His supercilious manner was more than I 
 could endure. He had evidently spoken 
 French to the lady in order that I might 
 understand the humiliating way in which he 
 referred to me. 
 
 " I will take no favour from you," said I. 
 '" You may do what you like, but I will 
 never give you my parole." 
 
 The Russian shrugged his great shoulders, 
 and turned away as if the matter were 
 ended. 
 
 " Very well, my fine fellow, so much the 
 worse for your fingers and toes. We shall 
 see how you are in the morning after a 
 night in the snow." 
 
 " One moment, Major Sergine," cried 
 Sophie. " You must not be so hard upon 
 this prisoner. There are some special 
 reasons why he has a claim upon our kind- 
 ness and mercy." 
 
 The Russian looked with suspicion upon 
 his face from her to me. 
 
248 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 " What are the special reasons ? You cer- 
 tainly seem to take a remarkable interest 
 in this Frenchman," said he. 
 
 " The chief reason is that he has this 
 very morning of his own accord released 
 Captain Alexis BarakofiC of the Dragoons 
 of Grodno." 
 
 " It is true," said BarakofiC who had 
 come out of the house. "He captured me 
 this morning, and he released me upon 
 parole rather than take me back to the 
 French army, where I should have been 
 starved." 
 
 " Since Colonel Gerard has acted so 
 generously you will surely, now that fortune 
 has changed, allow us to ofifer him the poor 
 shelter of our cellar upon this bitter night," 
 said Sophie. "It is a small return for his 
 generosity." 
 
 But the Dragoon was still in the sulks. 
 
 " Let him give me his parole first that he 
 will not attempt to escape," said he. " Do 
 you hear, sir ? Do you give me your 
 parole ? " 
 
RODE TO MINSK 249 
 
 " I give you nothing," said I. 
 
 " Colonel Gerard," cried Sophie, turning 
 to me with a coaxing smile, " you will give 
 me your parole, will you not ? " 
 
 " To you, mademoiselle, I can refuse 
 nothing. I will give you my parole, with 
 pleasure." 
 
 " There, Major Sergine," cried Sophie, in 
 triumph, " that is surely sufficient. You 
 have heard him say that he gives me his 
 parole. I will be answei'able for his safety." 
 
 In an ungracious fashion my Russian bear 
 grunted his consent, and so I was led into 
 the house, followed by the scowling father 
 and by the big, black-bearded Dragoon. In 
 the basement there was a large and roomy 
 chamber, where the winter logs were stored. 
 Thither it was that I was led, and I was 
 given to understand that this was to be my 
 lodging for the night. One side of this bleak 
 apartment was heaped up to the ceiling 
 with faggots of firewood. The rest of the 
 room was stone-flagged and bare- walled, 
 with a single, deep-set window upon one 
 
250 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 side, which was safely guarded with iron 
 bars. For light I had a large stable lantern, 
 which swung from a beam of the low ceiling. 
 Major Sergine smiled as he took this down, 
 and swung it round so as to throw its light 
 into every corner of that dreary chamber. 
 
 " How do you like our Russian hotels, 
 monsieur ? " he asked, with his hateful sneer. 
 " They are not very grand, but they are the 
 best that we can give you. Perhaps the 
 next time that you Frenchmen take a 
 fancy to travel you will choose some other 
 country where they will make you more 
 comfortable." He stood laughing at me, 
 his white teeth gleaming through his beard. 
 Then he left me, and I heard the great key 
 creak in the lock. 
 
 For an hour of utter misery, chilled in 
 body and soul, I sat upon a pile of faggots, 
 my face sunk upon my hands and my mind 
 full of the saddest thoughts. It was cold 
 enough within those four walls, but I thought 
 of the sufferings of my poor troopers out- 
 side, and I sorrowed with their sorrow. 
 
RODE TO MINSK 251 
 
 Then I paced up and down, and I clapped 
 my hands together and kicked my feet 
 against the walls to keep them from being 
 frozen. The lamp gave out some warmth, 
 but still it was bitterly cold, and I had had 
 no food since morning. It seemed to me 
 that every one had forgotten me, but at last 
 I heard the key turn in the lock, and who 
 should enter but my prisoner of the morning. 
 Captain Alexis Barakofif A bottle of wine 
 projected from under his arm, and he carried 
 a great plate of hot stew in front of him. 
 
 " Hush ! " said he ; " not a word ! Keep 
 up your heart ! I cannot stop to explain, for 
 Sergine is still with us. Keep awake and 
 ready ! " With these hurried words he laid 
 down the welcome food and ran out of the 
 room. 
 
 " Keep awake and ready ! " The words 
 rang in my ears. I ate my food and I 
 drank my wine, but it was neither food nor 
 wine which had warmed the heart within me. 
 What could those words of Barakoff mean ? 
 Why was I to remain awake ? For what 
 
252 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 was I to be ready ? Was it possible that 
 there was a chance yet of escape ? I have 
 never respected the man who neglects his 
 prayers at all other times and yet prays 
 when he is in peril. It is like a bad soldier 
 who pays no respect to the colonel save 
 when he would demand a favour of him. 
 And yet when I thought of the salt-mines of 
 Siberia on the one side ^nd of my mother 
 in France upon the other, I could not help 
 a prayer rising, not from my lips, but from 
 my heart, that the words of Barakoff might 
 mean all that I hoped. But hour after hour 
 struck upon the village clock, and still I 
 heard nothing save the call of the Russian 
 sentries in the street outside. 
 
 Then at last my heart leaped within me, 
 for I heard a light step in the passage. An 
 instant later the key turned, the door opened, 
 and Sophie was in the room. 
 
 " Monsieur " she cried, 
 
 " Etienne," said I. 
 
 " Nothing will change you," said she. 
 " But is it possible that you do not hate me ? 
 
RODE TO MINSK 253 
 
 Have you forgiven me the trick which I 
 played you ? " 
 
 " What trick ? " I asked. 
 
 " Good heavens ! is it possible that even 
 now you have not understood it ? You 
 asked me to translate the despatch. I have 
 told you that it meant, ' If the French come 
 to Minsk all is lost.'" 
 
 " What did it mean, then ? " 
 
 "It means, ' Let the French come to 
 Minsk. We are awaiting them.' " 
 
 I sprang back from her. 
 
 "You betrayed me ! " I cried. "You lured 
 me into this trap. It is to you that I owe the 
 death and capture of my men. Fool , that I 
 was to trust a woman ! " 
 
 " Do not be unjust, Colonel Gerard. I 
 am a Russian woman, and my first duty is 
 to my country. Would you not wish a 
 French girl to have acted as I have done ? 
 Had I translated the message correctly you 
 would not have gone to Minsk and your 
 squadron would have escaped. Tell me that 
 you forgive me ! " 
 
254 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 She looked bewitching as she stood plead- 
 ing her cause in front of me. And yet, as 
 I thought of my dead men, I could not take 
 the hand which she held out to me. 
 
 " Very good," said she, as she dropped 
 it by her side. " You feel for your own 
 people and I feel for mine, and so we are 
 equal. But you have said one wise and 
 kindly thing within these walls, Colonel 
 Gerard. You have said, ' One man more 
 or less can make no difference in a struggle 
 between two great armies.' Your lesson of 
 nobility is not wasted. Behind those faggots 
 is an unguarded door. Here is the key to 
 it. Go forth, Colonel Gerard, and I trust 
 that we may never look upon each other's 
 faces again." 
 
 I stood for an instant with the key in 
 my hand and my head in a whirl. Then 
 I handed it back to her. 
 
 " I cannot do it," I said. 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " I have given my parole." 
 
 " To whom ? " she asked. 
 
RODE TO MINSK 255 
 
 " Why, to you." 
 
 " And I release you from it." 
 
 My heart bounded with joy. Of course, 
 it was true what she said. I had refused 
 to give my parole to Sergine. I owed him 
 no duty. If she relieved me from my 
 protjiise my honour was clear. I took the 
 key from her hand. 
 
 " You will find Captain Barakofif at the 
 end of the village street," she said. "We 
 of the North never forget either an injury 
 or a kindness. He has your mare and your 
 sword waiting for you. Do not delay an 
 instant, for in two hours it will be dawn." 
 
 So I passed out into the starlit Russian 
 night, and had that last glimpse of Sophie 
 as she peered after me through the open 
 door. She looked wistfully at me as if she 
 expected something more than the cold 
 thanks which I gave her, but even the 
 humblest man has his pride, and I will not 
 deny that mine was hurt by the deception 
 which she had played upon me. I could 
 not have brought myself to kiss her hand, 
 
256 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 far less her lips. The door led into a 
 narrow alley, and at the end of it stood 
 a muffled figure who held Violette by the 
 bridle. 
 
 "You told me to be kind to the next 
 French officer whom I found in distress," 
 said he. " Good luck ! Bon voyage ! " he 
 whispered, as I bounded into the saddle. 
 "Remember, 'Poltava' is the watchword." 
 
 It was well that he had given it to me, 
 for twice I had to pass Cossack pickets 
 before I was clear of the lines. I had just 
 ridden past the last vedettes and hoped 
 that I was a free man again when there 
 was a soft thudding in the snow behind me, 
 and a heavy man upon a great black horse 
 came swiftly after me. My first impulse 
 was to put spurs to Violette. My second, 
 as I saw a long black beard against a steel 
 cuirass, was to halt and await him. 
 
 " I thought that it was you, you dog of 
 a Frenchman," he cried, shaking his drawn 
 sword at me. " So you have broken your 
 parole, you rascal ! " 
 
RODE TO MINSK 257 
 
 " I gave no parole." 
 
 " You lie, you hound ! " 
 
 I looked around and no one was coming. 
 The vedettes were motionless and distant. 
 We were all alone, with the moon above 
 and the snow beneath. Fortune has ever 
 been my friend, 
 
 " I gave you no parole." 
 
 " You gave it to the lady." 
 
 " Then I will answer for it to the lady." 
 
 " That would suit you better, no doubt. 
 But, unfortunately, you will have to answer 
 for it to me." 
 
 " I am ready." 
 
 " Your sword, too ! There is treason in 
 this ! Ah, I see it all ! The woman has 
 helped you. She shall see Siberia for this 
 night's work." 
 
 The words were his death-warrant. For 
 Sophie's sake I could not let him go back 
 alive. Our blades crossed, and an instant 
 later mine was through his black beard and 
 deep in his throat. I was on the ground 
 almost as soon as he, but the one thrust 
 
 17 
 
258 THE BRIGADIER RODE TO MINSK 
 
 was enough. He died, snapping his teeth 
 at my ankles like a savage wolf. 
 
 Two days later I had rejoined the army at 
 Smolensk, and was a part once more of 
 that dreary procession which tramped on- 
 wards through the snow, leaving a long 
 weal of blood to show the path which it 
 had taken. 
 
 Enough, my friends ; I would not re- 
 awaken the memory of those days of misery 
 and death. They still come to haunt me 
 in my dreams. When we halted at last in 
 Warsaw, we had left behind us our guns, 
 our transport, three-fourths of our comrades. 
 But we did not leave behind us the honour 
 of Etienne Gerard. They have said that 
 I broke my parole. Let them beware how 
 they say it to my face, for the story is as 
 I tell it, and old as I am my forefinger is 
 not too weak to press a trigger when my 
 honour is in question. 
 
VII 
 
 How the Brigadier bore himself at 
 Waterloo 
 
 I. — The Story of the Forest Inn 
 
 OF all the great battles in which I had 
 the honour of drawing my sword for 
 the Emperor and for France there was not 
 one which was lost. At Waterloo, although, 
 in a sense, I was present, I was unable to 
 fight, and the enemy was victorious. It 
 is not for me to say that there is a connec- 
 tion between these two things. You know 
 me too well, my friends, to imagine that 
 I would make such a claim. But it gives 
 matter for thought, and some have drawn 
 flattering conclusions from it. After all, it 
 was only a matter of breaking a few English 
 squares and the day would have been our 
 own. If the Hussars of Conflans, with 
 
 259 
 
26o HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 Etienne Gerard to lead them, could not do 
 this, then the best judges are mistaken. 
 But let that pass. The Fates had ordained 
 that I should hold my hand and that the 
 Empire should fall. But they had also 
 ordained that this day of gloom and sorrow 
 should bring such honour to me as had 
 never come when I swept on the wings of 
 victory from Boulogne to Vienna. Never 
 had I burned so brilliantly as at that supreme 
 moment when the darkness fell upon all 
 around me. You are aware that I was faithful 
 to the Emperor in his adversity, and that 
 I refused to sell my sword and my honour 
 to the Bourbons. Never again was I to 
 feel my war horse between my knees, never 
 again to hear the kettledrums and silver 
 trumpets behind me as I rode in front of 
 my little rascals. But it comforts my heart, 
 my friends, and it brings the tears to my 
 eyes, to think how great I was upon that 
 last day of my soldier life, and to remember 
 that of all the remarkable exploits which 
 have won me the love of so many beautiful 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 261 
 
 women, and the respect of so many noble 
 men, there was none which, in splendour, 
 in audacity, and in the great end which was 
 attained, could compare with my famous 
 ride upon the night of June i8th, 18 15. 
 I am aware that the story is often told at 
 mess-tables and in barrack-rooms, so that 
 there are few in the army who have not 
 heard it, but modesty has sealed my lips, 
 until now, my friends, in the privacy of 
 these intimate gatherings, I am inclined to 
 lay the true facts before you. 
 
 In the first place, there is one thing which 
 I can assure you. In all his career Napoleon 
 never had so spkndid an army as that with 
 which he took the field for that campaign. 
 In 1 8 13 France was exhausted. For every 
 veteran there were five children — Marie 
 Louises as we called them, for the Empress 
 had busied herself in raising levies while the 
 Emperor took the field. But it was very 
 different in 18 15. The prisoners had all 
 come back — the men from the snows of 
 Russia, the men from the dungeons of 
 
262 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 Spain, the men from the hulks in England. 
 These were the dangerous men, veterans of 
 twenty battles, longing for their old trade, 
 and with hearts filled with hatred and 
 revenge. The ranks were full of soldiers 
 who wore two and three chevrons, every 
 chevron meaning five years' service. And 
 the spirit of these men was terrible. They 
 were raging, furious, fanatical, adoring the 
 Emperor as a Mameluke does his prophet, 
 ready to fall upon their own bayonets if 
 their blood could serve him. If you had 
 seen these fierce old veterans going into 
 battle, with their flushed faces, their savage 
 eyes, their furious yells, you would wonder 
 that anything could stand against them. 
 So high was the spirit of France at that 
 time that every other spirit would have 
 quailed before it ; but these people, these 
 English, had neither spirit nor soul, but 
 only solid, immovable beef, against which 
 we broke ourselves in vain. That was it, 
 my friends! On the one side, poetry, 
 gallantry, self-sacrifice — all that is beautiful 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 263 
 
 and heroic. On the other side, beef. Our 
 hopes, our ideals, our dreams — all were 
 shattered on that terrible beef of Old 
 England. 
 
 You have read how the Emperor gathered 
 his forces, and then how he and I, with a 
 hundred and thirty thousand veterans, 
 hurried to the northern frontier and fell 
 upon the Prussians and the English. On 
 the 1 6th of June Ney held the English in 
 play at Quatre Bras while we beat the 
 Prussians at Ligny. It is not for me to 
 say how far I contributed to that victory, 
 but it is well known that the Hussars of 
 Conflaus covered themselves with glory. 
 They fought well, these Prussians, and 
 eight thousand of them were left upon the 
 field. The Emperor thought that he had 
 done with them, as he sent Marshal Grouchy 
 with thirty-two thousand men to follow them 
 up and to prevent their interfering with his 
 plans. Then, with nearly eighty thousand 
 men, he turned upon these " Goddam " 
 Englishmen. How much we had to avenge 
 
264 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 upon them, we Frenchmen — the guineas of 
 Pitt, the hulks of Portsmouth, the invasion 
 of Wellington, the perfidious victories of 
 Nelson ! At last the day of punishment 
 seemed to have arisen. 
 
 Wellington had with him sixty-seven 
 thousand men, but many of them were 
 known to be Dutch and Belgian, who had 
 no great desire to fight against us. Of good 
 troops he had not fifty thousand. Finding 
 himself in the presence of the Emperor in 
 person with eighty thousand men, this 
 Englishman was so paralysed with fear that 
 he could neither move himself nor his army. 
 You have seen the rabbit when the snake 
 approaches. So stood the English upon the 
 ridge of Waterloo. The night before, the 
 Emperor, who had lost an aide-de-camp at 
 Ligny, ordered me to join his staff, and I 
 had left my Hussars to the charge of Major 
 Victor. I know not which of us was the 
 most grieved, they or I, that I should be 
 called away upon the eve of battle ; but an 
 order is an order, and a good soldier can but 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 265 
 
 shrug his shoulders and obey. With the 
 Emperor I rode across the front of the 
 enemy's position on the morning of the i8th, 
 he looking at them through his glass and 
 planning which was the shortest way to 
 destroy them. Soult was at his elbow, and 
 Ney and Foy and others who had fought 
 the English in Portugal and Spain. " Have 
 a care, Sire," said Soult, " the English in- 
 fantry is very solid." 
 
 " You think them good soldiers because 
 they have beaten you," said the Emperor, 
 and we younger men turned away our faces 
 and smiled. But Ney and Foy were grave 
 and serious. All the time the English line, 
 chequered with red and blue and dotted with 
 batteries, was drawn up silent and watchful 
 within a long musket-shot of us. On the 
 other side of the shallow valley our own 
 people, having finished their soup, were 
 assembling for the battle. It had rained 
 very heavily; but at this moment the sun 
 shone out and beat upon the French army, 
 turning our brigades of cavalry into so many 
 
266 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 dazzling rivers of steel, and twinkling and 
 sparkling on the innumerable bayonets of the 
 infantry. At the sight of that splendid army, 
 and the beauty and majesty of its appearance, 
 I could contain myself no longer ; but, rising 
 in my stirrups, I waved my busby and cried, 
 " Vive I'Empereur ! " a shout which growled 
 and roared and clattered from one end of the 
 line to the other, while the horsemen waved 
 their swords and the footmen held up their 
 shakos upon their bayonets. The English 
 remained petrified upon their ridge. They 
 knew that their hour had come. 
 
 And so it would have come if at that 
 moment the word had been given and the 
 whole army had been permitted to advance. 
 We had but to fall upon them and to sweep 
 them from the face of the earth. To put 
 aside all question of courage, we were the 
 more numerous, the older soldiers, and the 
 better led. But the Emperor desired to do 
 all things in order, and he waited until the 
 ground should be drier and harder, so that 
 his artillery could manoeuvre. So three hours 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 26/ 
 
 were wasted, and it was eleven o'clock before 
 we saw Jerome Buonaparte's columns advance 
 upon our left and heard the crash of the 
 guns which told that the battle had begun. 
 The loss of those three hours was our 
 destruction. The attack upon the left was 
 directed upon a farmhouse which was held 
 by the English Guards, and we heard the 
 three loud shouts of apprehension which the 
 defenders were compelled to utter. They 
 were still holding out, and D'Erlon's corps 
 was advancing upon the right to engage 
 another portion of the English line, when 
 our attention was called away from the battle 
 beneath our noses to a distant portion of the 
 field of action. 
 
 The Emperor had been looking through 
 his glass to the extreme left of the English 
 line, and now he turned suddenly to the 
 Duke of Dalmatia, or Soult, as we soldiers 
 preferred to call him. 
 
 "What is it. Marshal?" said he. 
 
 We all followed the direction of his gaze, 
 some raising our glasses, some shading our 
 
268 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 eyes. There was a thick wood over yonder, 
 then a long, bare slope, and another wood 
 beyond. Over this bare strip between the 
 two woods there lay something dark, like 
 the shadow of a moving cloud. 
 
 " I think that they are cattle. Sire," said 
 Soult. 
 
 At that instant there came a quick twinkle 
 from amid the dark shadow. 
 
 " It is Grouchy," said the Emperor, and 
 he lowered his glass. " They are doubly 
 lost, these English. I hold them in the 
 hollow of my hand. They cannot escape 
 me." 
 
 He looked round, and his eyes fell upon 
 me. 
 
 " Ah ! here is the prince of messengers," 
 said he. " Are you well mounted. Colonel 
 Gerard?" 
 
 I was riding my little Violette, the pride ol 
 the brigade. I said so. 
 
 " Then ride hard to Marshal Grouchy, 
 whose troops you see over yonder. Tell 
 him that he is to fall upon the left flank and 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 269 
 
 rear of the English while I attack them in 
 front. Together we shall crush them and 
 not a man escape." 
 
 I saluted and rode off without a word, my 
 heart dancing with joy that such a mission 
 should be mine. I looked at that long, solid 
 line of red and blue looming through the 
 smoke of the guns, and I shook my fist at it 
 as I went. "We shall crush them and not 
 a man escape." They were the Emperor's 
 words, and it was I, Etienne Gerard, who 
 was to turn them into deeds. I burned to 
 reach the Marshal, and for an instant I 
 thought of riding through the English left 
 wing, as being the shortest cut. I have done 
 bolder deeds and come out safely, but I re- 
 flected that if things went badly with me and 
 I was taken or shot the message would be 
 lost and the plans of the Emperor miscarry. 
 I passed in front of the cavalry therefore, 
 past the Chasseurs, the Lancers of the Guard, 
 the Carabineers, the Horse Grenadiers, and, 
 lastly, my own little rascals, who followed 
 me wistfully with their eyes. Beyond the 
 
270 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 cavalry the Old Guard was standing, twelve 
 regiments of them, all veterans of many 
 battles, sombre and severe, in long blue 
 overcoats and high bearskins, from which 
 the plumes had been removed. Each bore 
 within the goatskin knapsack upon his back 
 the blue and white parade uniform which 
 they would use for their entry into Brussels 
 next day. As I rode past them I reflected 
 that these men had never been beaten, and, 
 as I looked at their weather-beaten faces and 
 their stern and silent bearing, I said to 
 myself that they never would be beaten. 
 Great heavens, how little could I foresee 
 what a few more hours would bring! 
 
 On the right of the Old Guard were the 
 Young Guard and the 6th Corps of Lobau, 
 and then I passed Jacquinot's Lancers and 
 Marbot's Hussars, who held the extreme 
 flank of the line. All these troops knew 
 nothing of the corps which was coming 
 towards them through the wood, and their 
 attention was taken up in watching the battle 
 which raged upon their left. More than a 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 271 
 
 hundred guns were thundering from each, 
 side, and the din was so great that of all the 
 battles which I have fought I cannot recall 
 more than half-a-dozen which were as noisy. 
 I looked back over my shoulder, and there 
 were two brigades of Cuirassiers, English 
 and French, pouring down the hill together, 
 with the sword-blades playing over them like 
 summer lightning. How I longed to turn 
 Violette, and to lead my Hussars into the 
 thick of it ! What a picture ! Etienne 
 Gerard with his back to the battle, and a fine 
 cavalry action raging behind him. But duty 
 is duty, so I rode past Marbot's vedettes and 
 on in the direction of the wood, passing the 
 village of Frishermont upon my left. 
 
 In front of me lay the great wood, called 
 the Wood of Paris, consisting mostly of oak 
 trees, with a few narrow paths leading through 
 it. I halted and listened when I reached it ; 
 but out of its gloomy depths there came no 
 blare of trumpet, no murmur of wheels, no 
 tramp of horses to mark the advance of that 
 great column which with my own eyes I had 
 
272 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 seen streaming towards it. The battle roared 
 behind me, but in front all was as silent as 
 that grave in which so many brave men 
 would shortly sleep. The sunlight was cut 
 off by the arches of leaves above my head, 
 and a heavy damp smell rose from the sodden 
 ground. For , several miles I galloped at 
 such a pace as few riders would care to go 
 with roots below and branches above. Then, 
 at last, for the first time I caught a glimpse 
 of Grouchy's advance guard. Scattered 
 parties of Hussars passed me on either side, 
 but some distance off, among the trees. I 
 heard the beating of a drum far away, and 
 the low, dull murmur which an army makes 
 upon the march. Any moment I might come 
 upon the staff and deliver my message to 
 Grouchy in person, for I knew well that on 
 such a march a Marshal of France would 
 certainly ride with the van of his army. 
 
 Suddenly the trees thinned in front of 
 me, and I understood with delight that I 
 was coming to the end of the wood, whence 
 I could see the army and find the Marshal. 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 273 
 
 Where the track comes out from amid the 
 trees there is a small cabaret, where wood- 
 cutters and waggoners drink their wine. 
 Outside the door of this I reined up my 
 horse for an instant while I took in the 
 scene which was before me. Some few 
 miles away I saw a second great forest, that 
 of St. Lambert, out of which the Eiiiperor 
 had seen the troops advancing. It was easy 
 to see, however, why there had been so long 
 a delay in their leaving one wood and 
 reaching the other, because between the 
 two ran the deep defile of the Lasnes, 
 which had to be crossed. Sure enough, a 
 long column of troops — horse, foot, and guns — 
 was streaming down one side of it and 
 swarming up the other, while the advance 
 guard was already among the trees on either 
 side of me. A battery of Horse Artillery 
 was coming along the road, and I was about 
 to gallop up to it and ask the officer in 
 command if he could tell me where I should 
 find the Marshal, when suddenly I observed 
 that, though the gunners were dressed in 
 
 18 
 
274 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 blue, they had not the dolman trimmed 
 with red brandenburgs as our own horse- 
 gunners wear it. Amazed at the sight, I 
 was looking at these soldiers to left and 
 right when a hand touched my thigh, and 
 there was the landlord, who had rushed 
 from his inn. 
 
 "Madman!" he cried, "why are you 
 here ? What are you doing ? " 
 
 " I am seeking Marshal Grouchy." 
 
 "You are in the heart of the Prussian 
 army. Turn and fly ! " 
 
 " Impossible ; this is Grouchy's corps." 
 
 " How do you know ? " 
 
 " Because the Emperor has said it." 
 
 " Then the Emperor has made a terrible 
 mistake ! I tell you that a patrol of Silesian 
 Hussars has this instant left me. Did you 
 not see them in the wood .-' " 
 
 " I saw Hussars." 
 
 " They are the enemy." 
 
 " Where is Grouchy ? " 
 
 " He is behind. They have passed him." 
 
 " Then how can I go back ? If I go 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 2;s 
 
 forward I may see him yet. I must obey 
 my orders and find him wherever he is." 
 
 The man reflected for an instant. 
 
 " Quick ! quick ! " he cried, seizing my 
 bridle. "Do what I say and you may yet 
 escape. They have not observed you yet. 
 Come with me and I will hide you until they 
 pass." 
 
 Behind his house there was a low stable, 
 and into this he thrust Violette. Then he 
 half led and half dragged me into the kitchen 
 of the inn. It was a bare, brick-floored 
 room. A stout, red-faced woman was 
 cooking cutlets at the fire. 
 
 " What's the matter now ? " she asked, 
 looking with a frown from me to the inn- 
 keeper. " Who is this you have brought 
 in?" 
 
 "It is a French officer, Marie. We 
 cannot let the Prussians take him." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " Why not? Sacred name of a dog, was 
 I not myself a soldier of Napoleon ? Did 
 I not win a musket of honour among the 
 
276 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 Velites of the Guard? Shall I see a 
 comrade taken before my eyes ? Marie, 
 we must save him." 
 
 But the lady looked at me with most 
 unfriendly eyes. 
 
 "Pierre Charras," she said, "you will 
 not rest until you have your house burned 
 over your head. Do you not understand, 
 you blockhead, that if you fought for 
 Napoleon it was because Napoleon ruled 
 Belgium ? He does so no longer. The 
 Prussians are our allies and this is our 
 enemy. I will have no Frenchman in this 
 house. Give him up ! " 
 
 The innkeeper scratched his head and 
 looked at me in despair, but it was very 
 evident to me that it was neither for France 
 nor for Belgium that this woman cared, but 
 that it was the safety of her own house that 
 was nearest her heart. 
 
 " Madame," said I, with all the dignity 
 and assurance I could command, "the 
 Emperor is defeating the English and the 
 French army will be here before evening. 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 277 
 
 If you have used me well you will be 
 rewarded, and if you have denounced me 
 you will be punished and your house will 
 certainly be burned by the provost-marshal."' 
 
 She was shaken by this, and I hastened to 
 complete my victory by other methods. 
 
 " Surely," said I, "it is impossible that 
 any one so beautiful can also be hard-hearted ? 
 You will not refuse me the refuge which I 
 need." 
 
 She looked at my whiskers and I saw that 
 she was softened. I took her hand, and in 
 two minutes we were on such terms that 
 her husband swore roundly that he would 
 give me up himself if I pressed the matter 
 farther. 
 
 " Besides, the road is full of Prussians," 
 he cried. " Quick ! quick ! into the loft ! " 
 
 " Quick ! quick ! into the loft 1 " echoed 
 his wife, and together they hurried me 
 towards a ladder which led to a trap-door 
 in the ceiling. There was loud knocking 
 at the door, so you can think that it was 
 not long before my spurs went twinkling 
 
278 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 through the hole and the board was dropped 
 behind me. An instant later I heard the 
 voices of the Germans in the rooms below me. 
 
 The place in which I found myself was 
 a single long attic, the ceiling of which was 
 formed by the roof of the house. It ran 
 over the whole of one side of the inn, and 
 through the cracks in the flooring I could 
 look down either upon the kitchen, the 
 sitting-room, or the bar at my pleasure. 
 There were no windows, but the place was 
 in the last stage of disrepair, and several 
 missing slates upon the roof gave me light 
 and the means of observation. The place 
 was heaped with lumber — fodder at one end 
 and a huge pile of empty bottles at the other. 
 There was no door or window save the hole 
 through which I had come up. 
 
 I sat upon the heap of hay for a few 
 minutes to steady myself and to think out 
 my plans. It was very serious that the Prus- 
 sians should arrive upon the field of battle 
 earlier than our reserves, but there appeared 
 to be only one corps of them, and a corps 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 279 
 
 more or less makes little difference to such a 
 man as the Emperor. He could afford to 
 give the English all this and beat them still. 
 The best way in which I could serve him, 
 since Grouchy was behind, was to wait here 
 until they were past, and then to resume my 
 journey, to see the Marshal, and to give him 
 his orders. If he advanced upon the rear of 
 the English instead of following the Prus- 
 sians all would be well. The fate of France 
 depended upon my judgment and my nerve. 
 It was not the first time, my friends, as you 
 are well aware, and you know the reasons 
 that I had to trust that neither nerve nor 
 judgment would ever fail me. Certainly, the 
 Emperor had chosen the right man for his 
 mission. " The prince of messengers " he 
 had called me. I would earn my title. 
 
 It was clear that I could do nothing until 
 the Prussians had passed, so I spent my time 
 in observing them. I have no love for these 
 people, but I am compelled to say that they 
 kept excellent discipline, for not a man of 
 them entered the inn, though their lips were 
 
28o HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 caked with dust and they were ready to drop 
 with fatigue. Those who had knocked at 
 the door were bearing an insensible comrade, 
 and having left him they returned at once to 
 the ranks. Several others were carried in 
 the same fashion and laid in the kitchen, 
 while a young surgeon, little more than a 
 boy, remained behind in charge of them. 
 Having observed them through the cracks in 
 the floor, I next turned my attention to the 
 holes in the roof, from which I had an 
 excellent view of all that was passing outside. 
 The Prussian corps was still streaming past. 
 It was easy to see that they had made a 
 terrible march and had little food, for the 
 faces of the men were ghastly, and they were 
 plastered from head to foot with mud from 
 their falls upon the foul and slippery roads. 
 Yet, spent as they were, their spirit was 
 excellent, and they pushed and hauled at the 
 gun-carriages when the wheels sank up to 
 the axles in the mire, and the weary horses 
 were floundering knee-deep unable to draw 
 them through. The officers rode up and 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 281 
 
 down the column encouraging the more active 
 with words of praise, and the laggards with 
 blows from the flat of their swords. All 
 the time from over the wood in front of them 
 there came the tremendous roar of the battle, 
 as if all the rivers on earth had united in one 
 gigantic cataract, booming and crashing in a 
 mighty fall. Like the spray of the cataract 
 was the long veil of smoke which rose high 
 over the trees. The officers pointed to it 
 with their swords, and with hoarse cries from 
 their parched lips the mud-stained men 
 pushed onwards to the battle. For an hour 
 I watched them pass, and I reflected that 
 their vanguard must have come into touch 
 with Marbot's vedettes and that the Emperor 
 knew already of their coming. " You are 
 going very fast up the road, my friends, but 
 you will come down it a great deal faster," 
 said I to myself, and I consoled myself with 
 the thought. 
 
 But an adventure came to break the 
 monotony of this long wait. I was seated 
 beside my loophole and congratulating myself 
 
282 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 that the corps was nearly past, and that the 
 road would soon be clear for my journey, 
 when suddenly I heard a loud altercation 
 break out in French in the kitchen. 
 
 "You shall not go!" cried a woman's voice. 
 
 " I tell you that I will ! " said a man's, and 
 there was a sound of scuffling. 
 
 In an instant I had my eye to the crack 
 in the floor. There was my stout lady, like 
 a faithful watch-dog, at the bottom of the 
 ladder ; while the young German surgeon, 
 white with anger, was endeavouring to come 
 up it. Several of the German soldiers who 
 had recovered from their prostration were 
 sitting about on the kitchen floor and watch- 
 ing the quarrel with stolid, but attentive, 
 faces. The landlord was nowhere to be seen. 
 
 " There is no liquor there," said the 
 woman. 
 
 " I do not want liquor ; I want hay or 
 straw for these men to lie upon. Why should 
 they lie on the bricks when there is straw 
 overhead ? " 
 
 " There is no straw." 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 283 
 
 "What is up there?" 
 
 " Empty bottles." 
 
 " Nothing else?" 
 
 " No." 
 
 For a moment it looked as if the surgeon 
 would abandon his intention, but one of the 
 soldiers pointed up to the ceiling. I gathered 
 from what I could understand of his words 
 that he could see the straw sticking out 
 between the planks. In vain the woman 
 protested. Two of the soldiers were able to 
 get upon their feet and to drag her aside, 
 while the young surgeon ran up the ladder, 
 pushed open the trap-door, and climbed into 
 the loft. As he swung the door back I slipped 
 behind it, but as luck would have it he shut 
 it again behind him, and there we were left 
 standing face to face. 
 
 Never have I seen a more astonished 
 young man. 
 
 " A French officer ! " he gasped. 
 
 " Hush ! " said I. " Hush 1 Not a word 
 above a whisper." I had drawn my sword. 
 
 " I am not a combatant," he said ; " I am 
 
284 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 a doctor. Why do you threaten me with 
 your sword ? I am not armed." 
 
 " I do not wish to hurt you, but I must 
 protect myself. I am in hiding here." 
 
 " A spy ! " 
 
 "A spy does not wear such a uniform as 
 this, nor do you find spies on the staff of an 
 army. I rode by mistake into the heart 
 of this Prussian corps, and I concealed my- 
 self he-re in the hope of escaping when they 
 are past. I will not hurt you if you do not 
 hurt me, but if you do not swear that you 
 will be silent as to my presence you will 
 never go down alive from this attic." 
 
 "You can put up your sword, sir," said 
 the surgeon, and I saw a friendly twinkle 
 in his eyes. " I am a Pole by birth, and 
 I have no ill-feeling to you or your people. 
 I will do my best for my patients, but I 
 will do no more. Capturing Hussars is 
 not one of the duties of a surgeon. With 
 your permission I will now descend with 
 this truss of hay to make a couch for these 
 poor fellows below." 
 

BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 285 
 
 I had intended to exact an oath . from 
 him, but it is my experience that if a man 
 will not speak the truth he will not swear 
 the truth, so I said no more. The surgeon 
 opened the trap-door, threw out enough hay 
 for his purpose, and then descended the 
 ladder, letting down the door behind him. 
 I watched him anxiously when he rejoined 
 his patients, and so did my good friend 
 the landlady, but he said nothing and busied 
 himself with the needs of the soldiers. 
 
 By this time I was sure that the last of 
 the army corps was past, and I went to my 
 loop-hole confident that I should find the 
 coast clear, save, perhaps, for a few stragglers, 
 whom I could disregard. The first corps 
 was indeed past, and I could see the last 
 files of the infantry disappearing into the 
 wood ; but you can imagine my disappoint- 
 ment when out of the Forest of St. Lambert 
 I saw a second corps emerging, as numerpus 
 as the first. There could be no doubt that 
 the whole Prussian army, which we thought 
 we had destroyed at Ligny, was about to 
 
286 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 throw Itself upon our right wing while 
 Marshal Grouchy had been coaxed away 
 upon some fool's errand. The roar of guns, 
 much nearer than before, told me that the 
 Prussian batteries which had passed me were 
 already in action. Imagine my terrible posi- 
 tion ! Hour after hour was passing ; the sun 
 was sinking towards the west. And yet 
 this cursed inn, in which I lay hid, was 
 like a little island amid a rushing stream of 
 furious Prussians. It was all important that 
 I should reach Marshal Grouchy, and yet 
 I could not show my nose without being 
 made prisoner. You can think how I cursed 
 and tore my hair. How little do we know 
 what is in store for us! Even while I 
 raged against my ill-fortune, that same 
 fortune was reserving me for a far higher 
 task than to carry a message to Grouchy — a 
 task which could not have been mine had 
 I not been held tight in that little inn on 
 the edge of the Forest of Paris. 
 
 Two Prussian corps had passed and a 
 third was coming up, when I heard a great 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 287 
 
 fuss and the sound of several voices in the 
 sitting-room. By altering my position I 
 was able to look down and see what was 
 going on. 
 
 Two Prussian generals were beneath me, 
 their heads bent over a map which lay upon 
 the table. Several aides-de-camp and staff 
 officers stood round in silence. Of the two 
 generals one was a fierce old man, white- 
 haired and wrinkled, with a ragged, grizzled 
 moustache and a voice like the bark of a 
 hound. The other was younger, but long- 
 faced and solemn. He measured distances 
 upon the map with the air of a student, 
 while his companion stamped and fumed and 
 cursed like a corporal of Hussars. It was 
 strange to see the old man so fiery and the 
 young one so reserved. I could not under- 
 stand all that they said, but I was very sure 
 about their general meaning. 
 
 " I tell you we must push on and ever 
 on ! " cried the old fellow, with a furious 
 German oath. " I promised Wellington 
 that I would be there with the whole army 
 
288 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 even if I had to be strapped to my horse. 
 Biilow's corps is in action, and Zeithen's 
 shall support it with every man and gun. 
 Forwards, Gneisenau, forwards!" 
 
 The other shook his head. 
 
 " You must remember, your Excellency, 
 that if the English are beaten they will make 
 for the coast. What will your position be 
 then, with Grouchy between you and the 
 Rhine ? " 
 
 " We shall beat them, Gneisenau ; the 
 Duke and I will grind them to powder 
 between us. Push on, I say ! The whole 
 war will be ended in one blow. Bring 
 Pirsch up, and we can throw sixty thousand 
 men into the scale while Thielmann holds 
 Grouchy beyond Wavre." 
 
 Gneisenau shrugged his shoulders, but at 
 that instant an orderly appeared at the door. 
 
 " An aide-de-camp from the Duke; ot 
 Wellington," said he. 
 
 "Ha, ha ! " cried the old man ; "let us 
 hear what he has to say." 
 
 An English officer, with mud and blood 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 289 
 
 all over his scarlet jacket, staggered into 
 the room. A crimson-stained handkerchief 
 was knotted round his arm, and he held 
 the table to keep himself from falling. 
 
 " My message is to Marshal Blucher," 
 says he. 
 
 "I am Marshal Blucher. Go on ! go 
 on ! " cried the impatient old man. 
 
 " The Duke bade me to tell you, sir, 
 that the British Army can hold its own, 
 and that he has no fears for the result. 
 The French cavalry has been destroyed, 
 two of their divisions of infantry have ceased 
 to exist, and only the Guard is in reserve. 
 If you give us a vigorous support the defeat 
 
 will be changed to absolute rout and " 
 
 His knees gave way under him, and he 
 fell in a heap upon the floor. 
 
 " Enough ! enough ! " cried Blucher. 
 " Gneisenau, send an aide-de-camp to Wel- 
 lington and tell him to rely upon me to 
 the full. Come on, gentlemen, we have 
 our work to do ! " He bustled eagerly out 
 of the room, with all his staff clanking 
 
 19 
 
290 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 behind him, while two orderlies carried the 
 English messenger to the care of the 
 surgeon. 
 
 Gneisenau, the Chief of the Staff, had 
 lingered behind for an instant, and he laid 
 his hand upon one of the aides-de-camp, 
 The fellow had attracted my attention, for 
 I have always a quick eye for a fine man. 
 He was tall and slender, the very model 
 of a horseman ; indeed, there was some- 
 thing in his appearance which made it not 
 unlike my own. His face was dark and 
 as keen as that of a hawk, with fierce 
 black eyes under thick, shaggy brows, and 
 a moustache which would have put him in 
 the crack squadron of my Hussars. He 
 wore a green coat with white facings, and 
 a horsehair helmet — a Dragoon, as I con- 
 jectured, and as dashing a cavalier as one 
 would wish to have at the end of one's 
 sword-point. 
 
 "A word with you, Coynt Stein," said 
 Gneisenau. "If the enemy are routed, but 
 if the Emperor escapes, he will rally another 
 
'I AM Marshal Bluchee. Go on go on !' cried the Impatient Old 
 Man." 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 291 
 
 army, and all will have to be done again. 
 But if we can get the Emperor, then the 
 war is indeed ended. It is worth a great 
 effort and a great risk for such an object 
 as that." 
 
 The young Dragoon said nothing, but 
 he listened attentively. 
 
 " Suppose the Duke of Wellington's 
 words should prove to be correct, and the 
 French army should be driven in utter 
 rout from the field, the Emperor will cer- 
 tainly take the road back through Genappe 
 and Charleroi as being the shortest to the 
 frontier. We can imagine that his horses 
 will be fleet, and that the fugitives will make 
 way for him. Our cavalry will follow the 
 rear of the beaten army, but the Emperor 
 will be far away at the front of the throng." 
 
 The young Dragoon inclined his head. 
 
 " To you. Count Stein, I commit the 
 Emperor. If you take him your name will 
 live in history. You have the reputation 
 of being the hardest rider in our army. Do 
 you choose such comrades as you may select 
 
292 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 — ten or a dozen should be enough. You 
 are not to engage in the battle, nor are you 
 to follow the general pursuit, but you are 
 to ride clear of the crowd, reserving your 
 energies for a nobler end. Do you under- 
 stand me ? " 
 
 Again the Dragoon inclined his head. 
 This silence impressed me. I felt that 
 he was indeed a dangerous man. 
 
 " Then I leave the details in your own 
 hands. Strike at no one except the highest. 
 You cannot mistake the Imperial carriage, 
 nor can you fail to recognise the figure of 
 the Emperor. Now I must follow the 
 Marshal. Adieu! If ever I see you again 
 I trust that it will be to congratulate you 
 upon a deed which will ring through 
 Europe." 
 
 The Dragoon saluted, and Gneisenau 
 hurried from the room. The young officer 
 stood in deep thought for a few moments. 
 Then he followed the Chief of the Staff. 
 I looked with curiosity from my loophole 
 to see what his next proceeding would be. 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 293^ 
 
 His horse, a fine, strong chestnut with two 
 white stockings, was fastened to the rail 
 of the inn. He sprang into the saddle, 
 and, riding to intercept a column of cavalry 
 which was passing, he spoke to an officer 
 at the head of the leading regiment. Pre- 
 sently, after some talk, I saw two Hussars 
 — it was a Hussar regiment — drop out of 
 the ranks and take up their position beside 
 Count Stein. The next regiment was also 
 stopped, and two Lancers were added to 
 his escort. The next furnished him with 
 two Dragoons, and the next with two 
 Cuirassiers. Then he drew his little group 
 of horsemen aside, and he gathered them 
 round him, explaining to them what they 
 had to do. Finally the nine soldiers rode 
 off together and disappeared into the Wood 
 of Paris. 
 
 I need not tell you, my friends, what all 
 this portended. Indeed, he had acted 
 exactly as I should have done in his place. 
 From each colonel he had demanded the 
 two best horsemen in the regiment, and 
 
294 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 so he had assembled a band who might 
 expect to catch whatever they should 
 follow. Heaven help the Emperor if, 
 without an escort, he should find them on 
 his track ! 
 
 And I, dear friends — imagine the fever, 
 the ferment, the madness, of my mind ! All 
 thought of Grouchy had passed away. No 
 guns were to be heard to the east. He 
 could not be near. If he should come up 
 he would not now be in time to alter the 
 event of the day. The sun was already low 
 in the sky and there could not be more than 
 two or three hours of daylight. My mission 
 might be dismissed as useless. But here 
 was another mission, more pressing, more 
 immediate, a mission which meant the safety, 
 and perhaps the life, of the Emperor. At 
 all costs, through every danger, I must get 
 back to his side. But how was I to do it ? 
 The whole Prussian army was now between 
 me and the French lines. They blocked 
 every road, but they could not block the 
 path of duty when Etienne Gerard sees it 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 295 
 
 lie before him. I could not wait longer. 
 I must be gone. 
 
 There was but the one opening to the 
 loft, and so it was only down the ladder 
 that I could descend. I looked into the 
 kitchen, and I found that the young surgeon 
 was still there. In a chair sat the wounded 
 English aide-de-camp, and on the straw lay 
 two Prussian soldiers in the last stage of 
 exhaustion. The others had all recovered 
 and been sent on. These were my enemies, 
 and I must pass through them in order to 
 gain my horse. From the surgeon I had 
 nothing to fear ; the Englishman was 
 wounded, and his sword stood with his cloak 
 in a corner ; the two Germans were half 
 insensible, and their muskets were not beside 
 them. What could be simpler ? I opened 
 the trap-door, slipped down the ladder, and 
 appeared in the midst of them, my sword 
 drawn in my hand. 
 
 What a picture of surprise ! The surgeon, 
 of course, knew all, but to the Englishman 
 and the two Germans it must have seemed 
 
296 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 that the god of war in person had descended 
 from the skies. With my appearance, with 
 my figure, with my silver and grey uniform, 
 and with that gleaming sword in my hand, 
 I must indeed have been a sight worth 
 seeing. The two Germans lay petrified, 
 with staring eyes. The English officer half 
 rose, but sat down again from weakness, 
 his mouth open and his hand on the back 
 of his chair. 
 
 " What the deuce ! " he kept on repeating, 
 '' what the deuce ! " 
 
 " Pray do not move," said I ; "I will 
 hurt no one, but woe tO' the man who lays 
 hands ujion me to stop me. You have 
 nothing to fear if you leave me alone, and 
 nothing to hope if you try to hinder me. 
 I am Colonel Etienne Gerard, of the Hussars 
 of Conflans." 
 
 " The deuce ! " said the Englishman. 
 " You are the man that killed the fox." 
 A terrible scowl had darkened his face. 
 The jealousy of sportsmen is a base passion. 
 He hated me, this Englishman, because I 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 297 
 
 had been before him in transfixing the 
 animal. How different are our natures ! 
 Had I seen him do such a deed I would 
 have embraced him with cries of joy. But 
 there was no time for argument. 
 
 " I regret it, sir," said I ; "but you have 
 a cloak here and I must take it." 
 
 He tried to rise from his chair and reach 
 his sword, but I got between him and the 
 corner where it lay. 
 
 " If there is anything in the pockets " 
 
 " A case," said he. 
 
 " I would not rob you," said I ; and 
 raising the coat I took from the pockets 
 a silver flask, a square wooden case, and a 
 field-glass. All these I handed to him. 
 The wretch opened the case, took out 
 a pistol, and pointed it straight at my 
 head, 
 
 "Now, my fine fellow," said he, "put 
 down your sword and give yourself up." 
 
 I was so astonished at this infamous action 
 that I stood petrified before him. I tried 
 to speak to him of honour and gratitude, 
 
298 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 but I saw his eyes fix and harden over the 
 pistol. 
 
 " Enough talk ! " said he. " Drop it ! " 
 Could I endure such a humiliation ? 
 Death were better than to be disarmed in 
 such a fashion. The word " Fire ! " was 
 on my lips when in an instant the English- 
 man vanished from before my face, and in 
 his place was a great pile of hay, with a 
 red-coated arm and two Hessian boots 
 waving and kicking in the heart of it. Oh, 
 the gallant landlady ! It was my whiskers 
 that had saved me. 
 
 " Fly, soldier, fly ! " she cried, and she 
 heaped fresh trusses of hay from the floor 
 on to the struggling Englishman. In an 
 instant I was out in the courtyard, had led 
 Violette from her stable, and was on her 
 back. A pistol bullet whizzed past my 
 shoulder from the window^ and I saw a 
 furious face looking out at me. I smiled 
 my contempt and spurred out into the road. 
 The last of the Prussians had passed, and 
 both my road and my duty lay clear before 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 299 
 
 me. If France won, all was well. If 
 France lost, then on me and on my little 
 mare depended that which was more than 
 victory or defeat — the safety and the life 
 of the Emperor. " On, Etienne, on ! " I 
 cried. " Of all your noble exploits, the 
 greatest, even if it be the last, lies now 
 before you ! " 
 
How the Brigadier bore himself at 
 Waterloo 
 
 II. — The Story of the Nine Prussian 
 Horsemen 
 
 I TOLD you when last we met, my 
 friends, of the important mission from 
 the Emperor to Marshal Grouchy, which 
 failed through no fault of my own, and I 
 described to you how during a long after- 
 noon I was shut up in the attic of a country 
 inn, and was prevented from coming out 
 because the Prussians were all around me. 
 You will remember also how I overheard 
 the Chief of the Prussian Staff give his 
 instructions to Count Stein, and so learned 
 the dangerous plan which was on foot to kill 
 or capture the Emperor in the event of a 
 
 French defeat. At first I could not have 
 300 
 
THE BRIGADIER AT WATERLOO 301 
 
 believed in such a thing, but since the guns 
 had thundered all day, and since the sound 
 had made no advance in my direction, it 
 was evident that the English had at least 
 held their own and beaten off all our attacks. 
 
 I have said that it was a fight that day 
 between the soul of France and the beef 
 of England, but it must be confessed that 
 we found the beef was very tough. It was 
 clear that if the Emperor could not defeat the 
 English when alone, then it might, indeed, 
 go hard with him now that sixty thousand 
 of these cursed Prussians were swarming on 
 his flank. In any case, with this secret in 
 my possession, my place was by his side. 
 
 I had made my way out of the inn in the 
 dashing manner which I have described to 
 you when last we met, and I left the English 
 aide-de-camp shaking his foolish fist out of 
 the window. I could not but laugh as I 
 looked back at him, for his angry red face 
 was framed and frilled with hay. Once out 
 on the road I stood erect in my stirrups, and 
 I put on the handsome black riding-coat, 
 
302 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 lined with red, which had belonged to 
 him. It fell to the top of my high boots, 
 and covered my tell-tale uniform completely. 
 As to my busby, there are many such in 
 the German service, and there was no reason 
 why it should attract attention. So long as 
 no one spoke to me there was no reason 
 why I should not ride through the whole 
 of the Prussian army ; but though I under- 
 stood German, for I had many friends 
 among the German ladies during the 
 pleasant years that I fought all over that 
 country, still I spoke it with a pretty 
 Parisian accent which could not be con- 
 founded with their rough, unmusical speech. 
 I knew that this quality of my accent would 
 attract attention, but I could only hope and 
 pray that I would be permitted to go my 
 way in silence. 
 
 The Forest of Paris was so large that 
 it was useless to think of going round it, 
 and so I took my courage in both hands 
 and galloped on down the road in the track 
 of the Prussian army. It was not hard to 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 303 
 
 trace it, for it was rutted two feet deep by 
 the gunwheels and the caissons. Soon I 
 found a fringe of wounded men, Prussians 
 and French, on each side of it, where 
 Billow's advance had come into touch with 
 Marbot's Hussars. One old man with a 
 long white beard, a surgeon, I suppose, 
 shouted at me, and ran after me still 
 shouting, but I never turned my head and 
 took no notice of him save to spur on 
 faster. I heard his shouts long after I 
 had lost sight of him among the trees. 
 
 Presently I came up with the Prussian 
 reserves. The infantry were leaning on 
 their muskets or lying exhausted on the 
 wet ground, and the officers stood in groups 
 listening to the mighty roar of the battle 
 and discussing the reports which came from 
 the front, I hurried past at the top of my 
 speed, but one of them rushed out and stood 
 in my path with his hand up as a signal to 
 me to stop. Five thousand Prussian eyes 
 were turned upon me. There was- a 
 moment! You turn pale, my friends, at 
 
304 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 the thought of it. Think how every hair 
 upon me stood on end. But never for one 
 instant did my wits or my courage desert 
 me. " General Blucher ! " I cried. Was 
 it not my guardian angel who whispered 
 the words in my ear ? The Prussian sprang 
 from my path, saluted, and pointed forwards. 
 They are well disciplined, these Prussians, 
 and who was he that he should dare to 
 stop the officer who bore a message to the 
 general ? It was a talisman that would pass 
 me out of every danger, and my heart sang 
 within me at the thought. So elated was 
 I that I no longer waited to be asked, but 
 as I rode through the army I shouted to 
 right and left, "General Blucher! General 
 Blucher ! " and every man pointed me on- 
 wards and cleared a path to let me pass. 
 There are times when the most supreme 
 impudence is the highest wisdom. But 
 discretion must also be used, and I must 
 admit that I became indiscreet. For as 
 I rode upon my way, ever nearer to the 
 fighting line, a Prussian officer of Uhlans 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 305 
 
 gripped my bridle and pointed to a group 
 of men who stood near a burning farm. 
 " There is Marshal Blucher. Deliver your 
 message ! " said he, and sure enough my 
 terrible old grey-whiskered veteran was there 
 within' a pistol shot, his eyes turned in my 
 direction. 
 
 But the good guardian angel did not 
 desert me. Quick as a flash there came 
 into my memory the name of the general who 
 commanded the advance of the Prussians. 
 " General Biilow ! " I cried. The Uhlan 
 let go my bridle. " General Biilow ! General 
 Biilow ! " I shouted, as every stride of the 
 dear little mare took me nearer my own 
 people. Through the burning village of 
 Plancenoit I galloped, spurred my way 
 between two columns of Prussian infantry, 
 sprang over a hedge, cut down a Silesian 
 Hussar who flung himself before me, and 
 an instant afterwards, with my coat flying 
 open to show the uniform below, I passed 
 through the open files of the tenth of the 
 line, and was back in the heart of Lobau's 
 
 20 
 
306 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 corps once more. Outnumbered and out- 
 flanked, they were being slowly driven in 
 by the pressure of the Prussian advance. 
 I galloped onwards, anxious only to find 
 myself by the Emperor's side. 
 
 But a sight lay before me which held me 
 fast as though I had been turned into some 
 noble equestrian statue. I could not move, 
 I could scarce breathe, as I gazed upon it. 
 There was a mound over which my path 
 lay, and as I came out on the top of it I 
 looked down the long, shallow valley of 
 Waterloo, I had left it with two great 
 armies on either side and a clear field 
 between them. Now there were but long, 
 ragged fringes of broken and exhausted 
 regiments upon the two ridges, but a real 
 army of dead and wounded lay between. 
 For two miles in length and half a mile 
 across the ground was strewed and heaped 
 with them. But slaughter was no new sight 
 to me, and it was not that which held me 
 spellbound. It was that up the long slope 
 of the British position was moving a walking 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 307 
 
 forest — ^black, tossing, waving, unbroken. 
 Did I not know the bearskins of the Guard ? 
 And did I not also know, did not my 
 soldier's instinct tell me, that it was the last 
 reserve of France ; that the Emperor, like 
 a desperate gamester, was staking all upon 
 his last card ? Up they went and up — 
 grand, solid, unbreakable, scourged with 
 musketry, riddled with grape, flowing on- 
 wards in a black, heavy tide, which lapped 
 over the British batteries. With my glass 
 I could see the English gunners throw 
 themselves under their pieces or run to 
 the rear. On rolled the crest of the bear- 
 skins, and then, with a crash which was 
 swept across to my ears, they met the British 
 infantry. A minute passed, and another, 
 and another. My heart was in my mouth. 
 They swayed back and forwards ; they 
 no longer advanced ; they were held. Great 
 Heaven ! was it possible that they were 
 breaking ? One black dot ran down the 
 hill, then two, then four, then ten, then a 
 great, scattered, struggling mass, halting, 
 
308 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 breaking, halting, and at last shredding out 
 and rushing madly downwards. " The 
 Guard is beaten ! The Guard is beaten 1 " 
 From all around me I heard the cry. Along 
 the whole line the infantry turned their faces 
 and the gunners flinched from their guns. 
 
 " The Old Guard is beaten ! The Guard 
 retreats ! " An officer with a livid face 
 passed me yelling out these words of woe. 
 " Save yourselves ! Save yourselves ! You 
 are betrayed ! " cried another. " Save your- 
 selves ! Save yourselves ! " Men were 
 rushing madly to the rear, blundering and 
 jumping like frightened sheep. Cries and 
 screams rose from all around me. And at 
 that moment, as I looked at the British 
 position, I saw what I can never forget. A 
 single horseman stood out black and clear 
 upon the ridge against the last red angry 
 glow of the setting sun. So dark, so 
 motionless against that grim light, he might 
 have been the very spirit of Battle brooding 
 over that terrible valley. As I gazed he 
 raised his hat high in the air, and at the 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 309 
 
 signal, with a low, deep roar like a breaking- 
 wave, the whole British army flooded over 
 their ridge and came rolling down into the 
 valley. Long steel-fringed lines of red and 
 blue, sweeping waves of cavalry, horse 
 batteries rattling and laounding — down they 
 came on to our crumbling ranks. It was 
 over. A yell of agony, the agony of brave 
 men who see no hope, rose from one flank 
 to the other, and in an instant the whole 
 of that noble army was swept in a wild, 
 terror-stricken crowd from the field. Even 
 now, dear friends, I cannot, as you see, 
 speak of that dreadful moment with a dry 
 eye or with a steady voice. 
 
 At first I was carried away in that wild 
 rush, whirled off like a straw in a flooded 
 gutter. But, suddenly, what should I see 
 amongst the mixed regiments in front of me 
 but a group of stern horsemen, in silver and 
 grey, with a broken and tattered standard 
 held aloft in the heart of them ! Not all the 
 might of England and of Prussia could 
 break the Hussars of Conflans. But when 
 
3IO HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 I joined them it made my heart bleed to 
 see them. The major, seven captains, and 
 five hundred men were left upon the field. 
 Young Captain Sabbatier was in command, 
 and when I asked him where were the five 
 missing squadrons he pointed back and 
 answered : " You will find them round one 
 of those British squares." Men and horses 
 were at their last gasp, caked with sweat and 
 dirt, their black tongues hanging out from 
 their lips ; but it made me thrill with pride 
 to see how that shattered remnant still rode 
 knee to knee, with every man, from the boy 
 trumpeter to the farrier-sergeant, in his own 
 proper place. Would that I could have 
 brought them on with me as an escort for 
 the Emperor! In the heart of the Hussars 
 of Conflans he would be safe indeed. But 
 the horses were too spent to trot. I left 
 them behind me with orders to rally upon the 
 farmhouse of St. Aunay, where we ihad 
 camped two nights before. For my own 
 part I forced my horse through the throng in 
 search of the Emperor. 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 311 
 
 There were things which I saw then, as I 
 pressed through that dreadful crowd, which 
 can never be banished from my mind. In 
 evil dreams there comes back to me the 
 memory of that flowing stream of livid, 
 staring, screaming faces upon which I looked 
 down. It was a nightmare. In victory one 
 does not understand the horror of war. It 
 is only in the cold chill of defeat that it is 
 brought home to you. I remember an old 
 Grenadier of the Guard lying at the side of 
 the road with his broken leg doubled at a 
 right angle. " Comrades, comrades, keep off 
 my leg ! " he cried, but they tripped and 
 stumbled over him all the same. In front 
 of me rode a Lancer officer without his coat. 
 His arm had just been taken off in the 
 ambulance. The bandages had fallen. It 
 was horrible. Two gunners tried to drive 
 through with their gun. A Chasseur raised 
 his musket and shot one of them through 
 the head. I saw a major of Cuirassiers 
 draw his two holster pistols and shoot first 
 his horse and then himself. Beside the road 
 
312 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 a man in a blue coat was raging and raving 
 like a madman. His face was black with 
 powder, his clothes were torn, one epaulette 
 was gone, the other hung dangling over his 
 breast. Only when I came close to him did 
 I recognise that it was Marshal Ney. He 
 howled at the flying troops and his voice 
 was hardly human. Then he raised the 
 stump of his sword — it was broken three 
 inches from the hilt. " Come and see how 
 a Marshal of France can die ! " he cried. 
 Gladly would I have gone with him, but my 
 duty lay elsewhere. He did not, as you 
 know, find the death he sought, but he met 
 it a few weeks later in cold blood at the 
 hands of his enemies. 
 
 There is an old proverb that in attack 
 the French are more than men, in defeat 
 they are less than women. I knew that it 
 was true that day. But even in that rout 
 I saw things which I can tell with pride. 
 Through the fields which skirt the road 
 moved Cambronne's three reserve battalions 
 of the Guard, the cream of our army. They 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 313 
 
 walked slowly in square, their colours waving 
 over the sombre line of the bearskins. All 
 around them raged the English cavalry and 
 the black Lancers of Brunswick, wave after 
 wave thundering up, breaking with a crash, 
 and recoiling in ruin. When last I saw 
 them the English guns, six at a time, were 
 smashing grape-shot through their ranks, and 
 the English infantry were closing in upon 
 three sides and pouring volleys into them ; 
 but still, like a noble lion with fierce hounds 
 clinging to its flanks, the glorious remnant 
 of the Guard, marching slowly, halting, 
 closing up, dressing, moved majestically from 
 their last battle. Behind them the Guards' 
 battery of twelve-pounders was drawn up 
 upon the ridge. Every gunner was in his 
 place, but no gun fired. " Why do you not 
 fire ? " I asked the colonel as I passed. " Our 
 powder is finished." " Then why not 
 retire ? " " Our appearance may hold them 
 back for a little. We must giv^the Emperor 
 time to escape." Such were the soldiers of 
 France. 
 
314 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 Behind this screen of brave men the 
 others took their breath, and then went on 
 in less desperate fashion. They had broken 
 away from the road, and all over the 
 country-side in the twilight I could see the 
 timid, scattered, frightened crowd who ten 
 hours before had formed the finest army 
 that ever went down to battle. I with my 
 splendid mare was soon able to get clear of 
 the throng, and just after I passed Genappe 
 I overtook the Emperor with the remains 
 of his Staff. Soult was with him still, and 
 so were Drouot, Lobau, and Bertrand, with 
 five Chasseurs of the Guard, their horses 
 hardly able to move. The night was falling, 
 and the Emperor's haggard face gleamed 
 white through the gloom as he turned it 
 towards me. 
 
 " Who is that ?" he asked. 
 " It is Colonel Gerard," said Soult. 
 " Have you seen Marshal Grouchy?" 
 " No, Sir^ The Prussians were between." 
 " It does not matter. Nothing matters 
 now. Soult, I will go back." 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 315 
 
 He tried to turn his horse, but Bertrand 
 seized his bridle. " Ah, Sire," said Soult, 
 " the enemy has had good fortune enough 
 already." They forced him on among them. 
 He rode in silence with his chin upon his 
 breast, the greatest and the saddest of men. 
 Far away behind us those remorseless guns 
 were still roaring. Sometimes out of the 
 darkness would come shrieks and screams 
 and the low thunder of galloping hoofs. At 
 the sound we would spur our horses and 
 hasten onwards through the scattered troops. 
 At last, after riding all night in the clear 
 moonlight, we found that we had left both 
 pursued and pursuers behind. By the time 
 we passed over the bridge at Charleroi 
 the dawn was breaking. What a company 
 of spectres we looked in that cold, clear, 
 searching light, the Emperor with his face 
 of wax, Soult blotched with powder, Lobau 
 dabbled with blood! But we rode more 
 easily now and had ceased to glance over 
 our shoulders, for Waterloo was more than 
 thirty miles behind us. One of the Emperor's 
 
3i6 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 carriages had been picked up at Charleroi, 
 and we halted now on the other side 
 of the Sambre, and dismounted from our 
 horses. 
 
 You will ask me why it was that during 
 all this time I had said nothing of that which 
 was nearest my heart, the need for guarding 
 the Emperor. As a fact, I had tried to 
 speak of it both to Soult and to Lobau, but 
 their minds were so overwhelmed with the 
 disaster and so distracted by the pressing 
 needs of the moment that it was impossible 
 to make them understand how urgent was 
 my message. Besides, during this long flight 
 we had always had numbers of French 
 fugitives beside us on the road, and, however 
 demoralised they might be, we had nothing 
 to fear from the attack of nine men. But 
 now, as we stood round the Emperor's 
 carriage in the early morning, I observed 
 with anxiety that not a single French soldier 
 was to be seen upon the long, white road 
 behind us. We had outstripped the army. 
 I looked round to see what means of defence 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 317 
 
 were left to us. The horses of the Chasseurs 
 of the Guard had broken down, and only one 
 of them, a grey-whiskered sergeant, re- 
 mained. There were Soult, Lobau, and 
 Bertrand ; but, for all their talents, I had 
 rather, when it came to hard knocks, have 
 a single quarter-master-sergeant of Hussars 
 at my side than the three of them put 
 together. There remained the Emperor 
 himself, the coachman, and a valet of the 
 household who had joined us at Charleroi 
 — eight all told; but of the eight only 
 two, the Chasseur and I, were fighting 
 soldiers who could be depended upon at a 
 pinch. A chill came over me as I reflected 
 how utterly helpless we were. At that 
 moment I raised my eyes, and there were 
 the nine Prussian horsemen coming over 
 the hill. 
 
 On either side of the road at this point 
 are long stretches of rolling plain, part of it 
 yellow with corn and part of it rich grass 
 land watered by the Sambre. To the south 
 of us was a low ridge, over which was the 
 
3i8 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 road to France. Along this road the little 
 group of cavalry was riding. So well had 
 Count Stein obeyed his instructions that he 
 had struck far to the south of us in his 
 determination to get ahead of the Emperor. 
 Now he was riding from the direction in 
 which we were going — the last in which we 
 could expect an enemy. When I caught 
 that first glimpse of them they were still half 
 a mile away. 
 
 "Sire!" I cried, " the Prussians ! " 
 They all started and stared. It was the 
 Emperor who broke the silence. 
 " Who says they are Prussians ? ' 
 "I do, Sire — I, Etienne Gerard! 
 Unpleasant news always made the Emperor 
 furious against the man who broke it. He 
 railed at me now in the rasping, croaking, 
 Corsican voice which only made itself heard 
 when he had lost his self-control. 
 
 "You were always a buffoon," he cried. 
 " What do you mean, you numskull, by 
 saying that they are Prussians ? How could 
 Prussians be coming from the direction of 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 319 
 
 France? You have lost any wits that you 
 ever possessed." 
 
 His words cut me like a whip, and yet 
 we all felt towards the Emperor as an old 
 dog does to its master. His kick is soon 
 forgotten and forgiven. I would not argue 
 or justify myself At the first glance I had 
 seen the two white stockings on the forelegs 
 of the leading horse, and I knew well that 
 Count Stein was on its back. For an 
 instant the nine horsemen had halted and 
 surveyed us. Now they put spurs to their 
 horses, and with a yell of triumph they 
 galloped down the road. They had recog- 
 nised that their prey was in their power. 
 
 At that swift advance all doubt had 
 vanished. " By heavens, Sire, it is indeed 
 the Prussians!" cried Soult. Lobau and 
 Bertrand ran. about the road like two 
 frightened hens. The sergeant of Chasseurs 
 drew his sabre with a volley of curses. The 
 coachman and the valet cried and wrung 
 their hands. Napoleon stood with a frozen 
 face, one foot on the step of the carriage. 
 
320 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 And I — ah, my friends, I was magnificent! 
 What words can I use to do justice to my 
 own bearing at that supreme instant of my 
 life! So coldly alert, so deadly cool, so 
 clear in brain and ready in hand. He had 
 called me a numskull and a buffoon. How 
 quick and how noble was my revenge! 
 When his own wits failed him, it was 
 Etienne Gerard who supplied the want. 
 
 To fight was absurd ; to fly was ridiculous. 
 The Emperor was stout, and weary to death. 
 At the best he was never a good rider. 
 How could he fly from these, the picked 
 men of an army? The best horseman in 
 Prussia was among them. But I was the best 
 horseman in France. I, and only I, could 
 hold my own with them. If they were on 
 my track instead of the Emperor's, all might 
 still be well. These were the thoughts 
 which flashed so swiftly through my mind 
 that in an instant I had sprung from the 
 first idea to the final conclusion. Another 
 instant carried me from the final conclusion 
 to prompt and vigorous action. I rushed to 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 321 
 
 the side of the Emperor, who stood petrified, 
 with the carriage between him and our 
 enemies. "Your coat. Sire! your hat!" I 
 cried. I dragged them off him. Never had 
 he been so hustled in his life. In an instant 
 I had them on and had thrust him into the 
 carriage. The next I had sprung on to his 
 famous white Arab and had ridden clear of 
 the group upon the road. 
 
 You have already divined my plan; but 
 you may well ask how could I hope to pass 
 myself off as the Emperor. My figure is as 
 you still see it, and his was never beautiful, 
 for he was both short and stout. But a man's 
 height is not remarked when he is in the 
 saddle, and for the rest one had but to sit 
 forward on the horse and round one's back 
 and carry oneself like a sack of flour. I 
 wore the little cocked hat and the loose 
 grey coat with the silver star which was 
 known to every child from one end of 
 Europe to the other. Beneath me was the 
 Emperor's own famous white charger. It 
 
 was complete. 
 
 21 
 
322 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 Already as I rode clear the Prussians 
 were within two hundred yards of us. I 
 made a gesture of terror and despair with 
 my hands, and I sprang my horse over the 
 bank which lined the road. It was enough. 
 A yell of exultation and of furious hatred 
 broke from the Prussians. It was the howl 
 of starving wolves who scent their prey. I 
 spurred my horse over the meadow-land and 
 looked back under my arm as I rode. Oh, 
 the glorious moment when one after the 
 other I saw eight horsemen come over the 
 bank at my heels! Only one had stayed 
 behind, and I heard shouting and the 
 sounds of , a struggle. I remembered my 
 old sergeant of Chasseurs, and I was sure 
 that number nine would trouble us no more. 
 The road was clear, and the Emperor free to 
 continue his journey. 
 
 But now I had to think of myself. If I 
 were overtaken the Prussians would certainly 
 make short work of me in their disappoint- 
 ment. If it were so — if I lost my life — I 
 should still have sold it at a glorious price. 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 323 
 
 But I had hopes that I might shake them 
 off. With ordinary horsemen upon ordinary 
 horses I should have had no difficulty in 
 doing so, but here both steeds and riders 
 were of the best. It was a grand creature 
 that I rode, but it was weary with its long 
 night's work, and the Emperor was one of 
 those riders who do not know how to manage 
 a horse. He had little thought for them, 
 and a heavy hand upon their mouths. On 
 the other hand, Stein and his men had come 
 both far and fast. The race was a fair one. 
 So quick had been my impulse, and so 
 rapidly had I acted upon it, that I had not 
 thought enough of my own safety. Had I 
 done so in the first instance I should, of 
 course, have ridden straight back the way 
 we had come, for so I should have met our 
 own people. But I was off the road and 
 had galloped a mile over the plain before 
 this occurred to me. Then when I looked 
 back I saw that the Prussians had spread 
 out into a long line, so as to head me off 
 from the Charleroi road. I could not turn 
 
324 HOW Tf^ BRIGADIER 
 
 back, but at least I could edge towards the 
 north. I knew that the whole face of the 
 country was covered with our flying troops, 
 and that sooner or later I must come upon 
 some of them. 
 
 But one thing I had forgotten— the 
 Sambre. In my excitement I never gave 
 it a thought until I saw it, deep and broad, 
 gleaming in the morning sunlight. It barred 
 my path, and the Prussians howled behind 
 me. I galloped to the brink, but the horse 
 refused the plunge. I spurred him, but the 
 bank was high and the stream deep. He 
 shrank back trembling and snorting. The 
 yells of triumph were louder every instant. 
 I turned and rode for my life down the 
 river bank. It formed a loop at this part, 
 and I must get across somehow, for my 
 retreat was blocked. Suddenly a thrill of 
 hope ran through me, for I saw a house on 
 my side of the stream and another on the 
 farther bank. Where there are two such 
 houses it usually means that there is a ford 
 between them. A sloping path led to the 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 325 
 
 brink, and I urged my horse down it. On 
 he went, the water up to the saddle, the 
 foam flying right and left. He blundered 
 once and I thought we were lost, but he 
 recovered and an instant later was clattering 
 up the farther slope. As we came out I 
 heard the splash behind me as the first 
 Prussian took the water. There was just 
 the breadth of the Sambre between us, 
 
 I rode with my head sunk between my 
 shoulders in Napoleon's fashion, and I did 
 not dare to look back for fear they should 
 see my moustache. I had turned up the 
 collar of the grey coat so as partly to hide it. 
 Even now if they found out their mistake 
 they might turn and overtake the carriage. 
 But when once we were on the road I could 
 tell by the drumming of their hoofs how far 
 distant they were, and it seemed to me that 
 the sound grew perceptibly louder, as if they 
 were slowly gaining upon me. We were 
 riding now up the stony and rutted lane 
 which led from the ford. I peeped back 
 very cautiously from under my arm and I 
 
326 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 perceived that my danger came from a single 
 rider, who was far ahead of his comrades. 
 He was a Hussar, a very tiny fellow, upon a 
 big black horse, and it was his light weight 
 which had brought him into the foremost 
 place. It is a place of honour ; but it is also 
 a place of danger, as he was soon to learn. 
 I felt the holsters, but, to my horror, there 
 were no pistols. There was a field-glass in 
 one and the other was stuffed with papers. 
 My sword had been left behind with Violette. 
 Had I only my own weapons and my own 
 little mare I could have played with these 
 rascals. But I was not entirely unarmed. 
 The Emperor's own sword hung to the 
 saddle. It was curved and short, the hilt 
 all crusted with gold — a thing more fitted to 
 glitter at a review than to serve a soldier in 
 his deadly need. I drew it, such as it was, 
 and I waited my chance. Every instant the 
 clink and clatter of the hoofs grew nearer. 
 I heard the panting of the horse, and the 
 fellow shouted some threat at me. There 
 was a turn in the lane, and as I rounded it I 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 32; 
 
 drew up my white Arab on his haunches. 
 As we spun round I met the Prussian Hussar 
 face to face. He was going too fast to stop, 
 and his only chance was to ride me down. 
 Had he done so he might have met his own 
 death, but he would have injured me or my 
 horse past all hope of escape. But the fool 
 flinched as he saw me waiting, and flew past 
 me on my right. I lunged over my Arab's 
 neck and buried my toy sword in his side. 
 It must have been the finest steel and as 
 sharp as a razor, for I hardly felt it enter, 
 and yet his blood was within three inches of 
 the hilt. His horse galloped on and he kept 
 his saddle for a hundred yards before he sank 
 down with his face on the mane, and then 
 dived over the side of the neck on to the 
 road. For my own part, I was already at 
 his horse's heels. A few seconds had sufficed 
 for all that I have told. 
 
 I heard the cry of rage and vengeance 
 which rose from the Prussians as they passed 
 their dead comrade, and I could not but 
 smile as I wondered what they could think 
 
328 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 of the Emperor as a horseman and a 
 swordsman. I glanced back cautiously as 
 before, and I saw that none of the seven 
 men stopped. The fate of their comrade 
 was nothing compared to the carrying out of 
 their mission. They were as untiring and as 
 remorseless as bloodhounds. But I had a 
 good lead, and the brave Arab was still 
 going well. I thought that I was safe. And 
 yet it was at that very instant that the most 
 terrible danger befell me. The lane divided, 
 and I took the smaller of the two divisions 
 because it was the more grassy and the 
 easier for the horse's hoofs. Imagine my 
 horror when, riding through a gate, I found 
 myself in a square of stables and farm- 
 buildings, with no way out save that by 
 which I had come I Ah, my friends, if my 
 hair is snowy white, have I not had enough 
 to make it so ? 
 
 To retreat was impossible. I could hear 
 the thunder of the Prussians' hoofs in the 
 lane. I looked round me, and Nature has 
 blessed me with that quick eye which is the 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 329 
 
 first of gifts to any soldier, but most of all 
 to a leader of cavalry. Between a long, low 
 line of stables and the farmhouse there was 
 a pig-sty. Its front was made of bars of 
 wood four feet high ; the back was of stone, 
 higher than the front. What was beyond I 
 could not tell. The space between the front 
 and the back was not more than a few yards. 
 It was a desperate venture, and yet I must 
 take it. Every instant the beating of those 
 hurrying hoofs was louder and louder. I 
 put my Arab at the pig-sty. She cleared 
 the front beautifully, and came down with 
 her forefeet upon the sleeping pig within, 
 slipping forward upon her knees. I was 
 thrown over the wall beyond, and fell upon 
 my hands and face in a soft flower-bed. My 
 horse was upon one side of the wall, I upon 
 the other, and the Prussians were pouring 
 into the yard. But I was up in an instant, 
 and had seized the bridle of the plunging 
 horse over the top of the wall. It was built 
 of loose stones, and I dragged down a few 
 of them to make a gap. As I tugged at the 
 
330 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 bridle and shouted the gallant creature rose 
 to the leap, and an instant afterwards she 
 was by my side and I with my foot on the 
 stirrup. 
 
 An heroic idea had entered my mind as I 
 mounted into the saddle. These Prussians, 
 if they came over the pig-sty, could only 
 come one at once, and their attack would 
 not be formidable when they had not had 
 time to recover from such a leap. Why 
 should I not wait and kill them one by one 
 as they came over? It was a glorious 
 thought. They would learn that Etienne 
 Gerard was not a safe man to hunt. My 
 hand felt for my sword, but you can imagine 
 my feelings, my friends, when I came upon 
 an empty scabbard. It had been shaken out 
 when the horse had tripped over that infernal 
 pig. On what absurd trifles do our destinies 
 hang — a pig on one side, Etienne Gerard on 
 the other ! Could I spring over the wall and 
 get the sword ? Impossible! The Prussians 
 were already in the yard. I turned my Arab 
 and resumed my flight. 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 331 
 
 But for a moment it seemed to me that I 
 was in a far worse trap than before. I found 
 myself in the garden of the farmhouse, an 
 orchard in the centre and flower-beds all 
 round. A high wall surrounded the whole 
 place. I reflected, however, that there must 
 be some point of entrance, since every visitor 
 could not be expected to spring over the pig- 
 sty. I rode round the wall. As I expected, 
 I came upon a door with a key upon the 
 inner side. I dismounted, unlocked it, opened 
 it, and there was a Prussian Lancer sitting 
 his horse within six feet of me. 
 
 For a moment we each stared at the other. 
 Then I shut the door and locked it again. 
 A crash and a cry came from the other end 
 of the garden. I understood that one of my 
 enemies had come to grief in trying to get 
 over the pig-sty. How could I ever get out 
 of this cul-de-sac ? It was evident that some 
 of the party had galloped round, while some 
 had followed straight upon my tracks. Had 
 I my sword I might have beaten off the 
 Lancer at the door, but to come out now 
 
332 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 was to be butchered. And yet if I waited 
 some of them would certainly follow me on 
 foot over the pig-sty, and what could I do 
 then ? I must act at once or I was lost. 
 But It is at such moments that my wits are 
 most active and my actions most prompt. 
 Still leading my horse, I ran for a hundred 
 yards by the side of the wall away from the 
 spot where the Lancer was watching. There 
 I stopped, and with an effort I tumbled down 
 several of the loose stones from the top of 
 the wall. The instant I had done so I hurried 
 back to the door. As I had expected, he 
 thought I was making a gap for my escape 
 at that point, and I heard the thud of his 
 horse's hoofs as he galloped to cut me off. 
 As I reached the gate I looked back, and I 
 saw a green-coated horsehian, whom I knew 
 to be Count Stein, clear the pig-sty and 
 gallop furiously with a shout of triumph 
 across the garden. " Surrender, your 
 Majesty, surrender I " he yelled ; " we will 
 give you quarter ! " I slipped through the 
 gate, but had no time to lock it on the other 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 333 
 
 side. Stein was at my very heels, and the 
 Lancer had already turned his horse. 
 Springing upon my Arab's back, I was off 
 once more with a clear stretch of grass land 
 before me. Stein had to dismount to open 
 the gate, to lead his horse through, and to 
 mount again before he could follow. It 
 was he that I feared rather than the Lancer, 
 whose horse was coarse-bred and weary. 
 I galloped hard for a mile before I ventured 
 to look back, and then Stein was a musket- 
 shot from me, and the Lancer as much 
 again, while only three of the others were 
 in sight. My nine Prussians were coming 
 down to more manageable numbers, and yet 
 one was too much for an unarmed man. 
 
 It had surprised me that during this long 
 chase I had seen no fugitives from the army, 
 but I reflected that I was considerably to 
 the west of their line of flight, and that I 
 must edge more towards the east if I wished 
 to join them. Unless I did so it was 
 probable that my pursuers, even if they 
 could not overtake me themselves, would 
 
334 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 keep me in view until I was headed off by- 
 some of their comrades coming from the 
 north. As I looked to the eastward I saw 
 afar off a line of dust which stretched for 
 miles across the country. This was certainly 
 the main road along which our unhappy 
 army was flying. But I soon had proof that 
 some of our stragglers had wandered into 
 these side tracks, for I came suddenly upon 
 a horse grazing at the corner of a field, and 
 beside him, with his back against the bank, 
 his master, a French Cuirassier, terribly 
 wounded and evidently at the point of death. 
 I sprang down, seized his long, heavy sword, 
 and rode on with it. Never shall I forget 
 the poor man's face as he looked at me with 
 his failing sight. He was cin old, grey- 
 moustached soldier, one of the real fanatics, 
 and to him this last vision of his Emperor 
 was like a revelation from on high. As- 
 tonishment, love, pride — all shone in his 
 pallid face. He said something — I fear they 
 were his last words — but I had no time to 
 listen, and I galloped on my way. 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 335 
 
 All this time I had been on the meadow- 
 land, which was intersected in this part by 
 broad ditches. Some of them could not 
 have been less than from fourteen to fifteen 
 feet, and my heart was in my mouth as I 
 went at each of them, for a slip would have 
 been my ruin. But whoever selected the 
 Emperor's horses had done his work well. 
 The creature, save when it balked on the 
 bank of the Sambre, never failed me for an 
 instant. We cleared everything in one 
 stride. And yet we could not shake off 
 those infernal Prussians. As I left each 
 watercourse behind me I looked back with 
 renewed hope, but it was only to see Stein 
 on his white-legged chestnut flying over it as 
 lightly as I had done myself He was my 
 enemy, but I honoured him for the way in 
 which he carried himself that day. 
 
 Again and again I measured the distance 
 which separated him from the next horse- 
 man. I had the idea that I might turn and 
 cut him down, as I had the Hussar, before 
 hig comrade could come to his help. But 
 
336 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 the others had closed up and were not far 
 behind. I reflected that this Stein was 
 probably as fine a swordsman as he was a 
 rider, and that it might take me some little 
 time to get the better of him. In that case 
 the others would come to his aid and I 
 should be lost On the whole, it was wiser 
 to continue my flight. 
 
 A road with poplars on either side ran 
 across the plain from east to west. It would 
 lead me towards the long line of dust which 
 marked the French retreat. I wheeled my 
 horse, therefore, and galloped down it. As 
 I rode I saw a single house in front of me 
 upon the right, with a great bush hung over 
 the door to mark it as an inn. Outside there 
 were several peasants, but for them I cared 
 nothing. What frightened me was to see 
 the gleam of a red coat, which showed that 
 there were British in the place. However, 
 I could not turn and I could not stop, so 
 there was nothing for it but to gallop on and 
 to take my chance. There were no troops 
 in sight, so these men must be stragglers or 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 337 
 
 marauders, from whom I had little to fear. 
 As I approached I saw that there were two 
 of them sitting drinking on a bench outside 
 the inn door. I saw them stagger to their 
 feet, and it was evident that they were both 
 very drunk. One stood swaying in the 
 middle of the road. " It's Boney ! So help 
 me, it's Boney ! " he yelled. He ran with 
 his hands out to catch me, but luckily for 
 himself his drunken feet stumbled and he 
 fell on his face on the road. The other was 
 more dangerous. He had rushed into the 
 inn, and just as I passed I saw him run out 
 with his musket in his hand. He dropped 
 upon one knee, and I stooped forward over 
 my horse's neck. A single shot from a 
 Prussian or an Austrian is a small matter, 
 but the British were at that time the best 
 shots in Europe, and my drunkard seemed 
 steady enough when he had a gun at his 
 shoulder. I heard the crack, and my horse 
 gave a convulsive spring which would have 
 unseated many a rider. For an instant I 
 thought he was killed, but when I turned 
 
 22 
 
338 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 in my saddle I saw a stream of blood running 
 down the off hind-quarter. I looked back 
 at the Englishman, and the brute had 
 bitten the end off another cartridge and was 
 ramming it into his musket, but before he 
 had it primed we were beyond his range. 
 These men were foot-soldiers and could 
 not join in the chase, but I heard them 
 whooping and tally-hoing behind me as if I 
 had been a fox. The peasants also shouted 
 and ran through the fields flourishing their 
 sticks. From all sides I heard cries, and 
 everywhere were the rushing, waving figures 
 of my pursuers. To think of the great 
 Emperor being chivied over the country- 
 side in this fashion ! It made me long to 
 have these rascals within the sweep of my 
 sword. 
 
 But now I felt that I was nearing the end 
 of my course. I had done all that a man 
 could be expected to do — some would say 
 more — but at last I had come to a point 
 from which I could see no escape. The 
 horses of my pursuers were exhausted, but 
 
'* I HEARD THE CrACK, AND MY HORSE GAVE A CONVULSIVE SpRIKG." 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 339 
 
 mine was exhausted and wounded also. It 
 was losing blood fast, and we left a red trail 
 upon the white, dusty road. Already his 
 pace was slackening, and sooner or later he 
 must drop under me. I looked back, and 
 there were the five inevitable Prussians — 
 Stein, a hundred yards in front, then a 
 Lancer, and then three others riding to- 
 gether. Stein had drawn his sword, and 
 he waved it at me. For my own part I 
 was determined not to give myself up. I 
 would try how many of these Prussians I 
 could take with me into the other world. 
 At this supreme moment all the great deeds 
 of my life rose in a vision before me, and 
 I felt that this, my last exploit, was indeed 
 a worthy close to such a career. My death 
 would be a fatal blow to those who loved 
 me, to my dear mother, to my Hussars, to 
 others who shall be nameless. But all of 
 them had my honour and my fame at heart, 
 and I felt that their grief would be tinged 
 with pride when they learned how I had 
 ridden and how I had fought upon this last 
 
34Q HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 day. Therefore I hardened my heart and, 
 as my Arab limped more and more upon his 
 wounded leg, I drew the great sword which 
 I had taken from the Cuirassier, and I set 
 my teeth for my supreme struggle. My 
 hand was in the very act of tightening the 
 bridle, for I feared that if I delayed longer 
 I might find myself on foot fighting against 
 five mounted men. At that instant my eye 
 fell upon something which brought hope to 
 my heart and a shout of joy to my lips. 
 
 From a grove of trees in front of me there 
 projected the steeple of a village church. 
 But there could not be two steeples like that, 
 for the corner of it had crumbled away or 
 been struck by lightning, so that it was of 
 a most fantastic shape. I had seen it only 
 two days before, and it was the church of 
 the village of Gosselies. It was not the 
 hope of reaching the village which set my 
 heart singing with joy, but it was that I 
 knew my ground now, and that farmhouse 
 not half a mile ahead, with its gable end 
 sticking out from amid the trees, must be 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 341 
 
 that very farm of St. Aunay where we had 
 bivouacked, and which I had named to 
 Captain Sabbatier as the rendezvous of the 
 Hussars of Conflans. There they were, my 
 little rascals, if I could but reach them. 
 With every bound my horse grew weaker. 
 Each instant the sound of the pursuit grew 
 louder. I heard a gust of crackling German 
 oaths at my very heels. A pistol bullet 
 sighed in my ears. Spurring frantically and 
 beating my poor Arab with the flat of my 
 sword I kept him at the top of his speed. 
 The open gate of the farmyard lay before 
 me. I saw the twinkle of steel within. 
 Stein's horse's head was within ten yards 
 of me as I thundered through. " To me, 
 comrades ! To me ! " I yelled. I heard a 
 buzz as when the angry bees swarm from 
 their nest. Then my splendid white Arab 
 fell dead under me, and I was hurled on to 
 the cobble-stones of the yard, where I can 
 remember no more. 
 
 Such was my last and most famous exploit, 
 my dear friends, a story which rang through 
 
342 HOW THE BRIGADIER 
 
 Europe and has made the name of Etienne 
 Gerard famous in history. Alas ! that all 
 my efforts could only give the Emperor a 
 few weeks more liberty, since he surrendered 
 upon July 15th to the English. But it 
 was not my fault that he was not able to 
 collect the forces still waiting for him in 
 France, and to fight another Waterloo with 
 a happier ending. Had others been as loyal 
 as I was the history of the world might have 
 been changed, the Emperor would have 
 preserved his throne, and such a soldier as 
 I would not have been left to spend his life 
 in planting cabbages or to while away his 
 old age telling stories in a cafd. You ask 
 me about the fate of Stein and the Prussian 
 horsemen ! Of the three who dropped upon 
 the way I know nothing. One you will 
 remember that I killed. There remained 
 five, three of whom were cut down by my 
 Hussars, who, for the instant, were under 
 the impression that it was indeed the 
 Emperor whom they were defending. Stein 
 was taken, slightly wounded, and so was one 
 
BORE HIMSELF AT WATERLOO 343 
 
 of the Uhlans. The truth was not told to 
 them, for we thought it best that no news, 
 or false news, should get about as to where 
 the Emperor was, so that Count Stein still 
 believed that he was within a few yards of 
 making that tremendous capture. "You 
 ma:y well love and honour your Emperor," 
 said he, "for such a horseman and such a 
 swordsman I have never seen." He could 
 not understand why the young colonel of 
 Hussars laughed so heartily at his words — 
 but he has learned since. 
 
VIII 
 
 The Last Adventure of the Brigadier 
 
 • 
 
 I WILL tell you no more stories, my dear 
 friends. It is said that man is like the 
 hare, which runs in a circle and comes back 
 to die at'the point from which it started. 
 GasconyJias been calling to me of late. I 
 see the blue Garonne winding among the 
 vineyards and the bluer ocean towards which 
 its waters sweep. I see the old town also, 
 and the bristle of masts from the side of the 
 long stone quay. My heart hungers for the 
 breath of my native air and the warm glow 
 oflny native sun. Here in Paris are my 
 friends, my occupations, my pleasures. 
 There all who have known me are in their 
 grave. And yet the south-west wind as it 
 rattles oft my windows seems always to be 
 the strong voice of the jjfotherland calling 
 
 344 
 
THE LAST ADVENTURE 345 
 
 her child* bqck to that bosom into which I 
 am ready to sink. ^ have pl^yad my part 
 in my time. The time has passed. I must 
 pass also. Nay, -^ar friends, do not look 
 sad, for what can be happier than a life 
 completed in honour and made beautiful 
 with'^fisiendighip and love ? And yet it is 
 solemn also when a man approaches the end 
 of the long road and sees the turning which 
 leads him into the unknown. But the 
 Emp'feror and all his Marshals have ridden 
 rourii -tliwtf dark turning and passed into the 
 beyond. My Hussars, too — there are not 
 fifty men who are not waiting yonder. I 
 must go. But on this the last night I will 
 tell you that which is more than a tale — it is. 
 a great historical secret. My lips have been 
 sealed, but I see no reason why I shou,ld 
 not leave behind me some account of this 
 remarkable adventure, which must otherwise 
 be entirely lost, since I, and only I of 
 all living men, have a knowledg| of the 
 facts. .^ 
 
 I will ask j^u t'R go back with me to the 
 
346 THE LAST ADVENTURE 
 
 year 1821, In that year our great Emperor 
 had been absent from us for six years, and 
 only now and then from over the seas we 
 heard some whisper which showed that he 
 was still alive. You cannot think what a 
 weight it was upon our hearts for us who 
 loved him to think of him in captivity eating 
 his giant soul out upon that lonely island. 
 From the moment we rose until we closed 
 our eyes in sleep the thought was always 
 with us, and we felt dishonoured that he, 
 our chief and master, should be so humiliated 
 without our being able to move a hand to 
 help him. There were many who would 
 most willingly have laid down the remainder 
 of their lives to bring him a little ease, and 
 yet all that we could do was to sit and 
 grumble in our cafds and stare at the map, 
 counting up the leagues of water which lay 
 between us. It seemed that he might have 
 been in the moon for all that we could do to 
 help him. But that was only because we 
 were all soldiers and knew nothing of 
 the sea. 
 
OF THE BRIGADIER 347 
 
 Of course, we had our own little troubles 
 to make us bitter, as well as the wrongs of 
 our Emperor. There were many of us who 
 had held high rank and would hold it again 
 if he came back to his own. We had not 
 found it possible to take service under the 
 white flag of the Bourbons, or to take an 
 oath which might turn our sabres against the 
 man whom we loved. So we found our- 
 selves with neither work nor money. What 
 could we do save gather together and gossip 
 and grumble, while those who had a little 
 paid the score and those who had nothing 
 shared the bottle? Now and then, rf we 
 were lucky, we managed to pick a quarrel 
 with one of the Garde du Corps, and if we 
 left him on his back in the Bois we felt that 
 we had struck a blow for Napoleon once 
 again. They came to know our haunts in 
 time, and they avoided them as if they had 
 been hornets' nests. 
 
 There was one of these — the Sign of 
 the Great Man — in the Rue Varennes, 
 which was frequented by several of the 
 
348 THE LAST ADVENTURE 
 
 more distinguished and younger Napoleonic 
 officers. Nearly all of us had been colonels 
 or aides-de-camp, and when any man of less 
 distinction came among us we generally made 
 him feel that he had taken a liberty. There 
 were Captain Lepine, who had won the 
 medal of honour at Leipzig ; Colonel Bonnet, 
 aide-de-camp to Macdonald ; Colonel Jour- 
 dan, whose fame in the army was hardly 
 second to my own ; Sabbatier of my own 
 Hussars, Meunier of the Red Lancers, Le 
 Breton of the Guards, and a dozen others. 
 Every night we met and talked, played 
 dominoes, drank a glass or two, and won- 
 dered how long it would be before the 
 Emperor would be back and we at the head 
 of our regiments once more. The Bourbons 
 had already lost any hold they ever had 
 upon the country, as was shown a few years 
 afterwards, when Paris rose against them 
 and they were hunted for the third time out 
 of France. Napoleon had but to show 
 himself on the coast, and he would have 
 marched without firing a musket to the 
 
OF THE BRIGADIER 349 
 
 capital, exactly as he had done when he 
 came back from Elba. 
 
 Well, when affairs were in this state there 
 arrived one night in February, in our cafd, 
 a most singular little man. He was short 
 but exceedingly broad, with huge shoulders, 
 and a head which was a deformity, so large 
 was it. His heavy brown face was scarred 
 with white streaks in a most extraordinary 
 manner ,> and he had grizzled whiskers such 
 as seamen wear. Two gold ear-rings in his 
 ears, and plentiful tattooing upon his hands 
 and arms, told us also that he was of the sea 
 before he introduced himself to us as Captain 
 Fourneau, of the Emperor's navy. He had 
 letters of introduction to two of our number, 
 and there could be no doubt that he was 
 devoted to the cause. He won our respect, 
 too, for he had seen as much fighting as 
 any of us, and the burns upon his face were 
 caused by his standing to his post upon the 
 Orient, at the Battle of the Nile, until the 
 vessel blew up underneath him. Yet he 
 would say little about himself, but he sat in 
 
350 THE LAST ADVENTURE 
 
 the corner of the cafi watching us all with 
 a wonderfully sharp pair of eyes and listening 
 intently to our talk. 
 
 One night I was leaving the cafi when 
 Captain Fourneau followed me, and touching 
 me on the arm he led me without saying 
 a word for some distance until we reached 
 his lodgings. " I wish to have a chat with 
 you," said he, and so conducted me up the 
 stair to his room. There he lit a lamp and 
 handed me a sheet of paper which he took 
 from an envelope in his bureau. It was 
 dated a few months before from the Palace 
 of Schonbrunn at Vienna. " Captain Four- 
 neau is acting in the highest interests of the 
 Emperor Napoleon. Those who love the 
 Emperor should obey him without question 
 — Marie Louise." That is what I read. 
 I was familiar with the signature of the 
 Empress, and I could not doubt that this 
 was genuine. 
 
 "Well," said he, "are you satisfied as to 
 my credentials .? " 
 
 " Entirely." 
 
OF THE BRIGADIER 351 
 
 " Are you prepared to take your orders 
 from me ? " 
 
 " This document leaves me no choice." 
 
 " Good ! In the first place, I understand 
 from something you said in the cafd that you 
 can speak English ? " 
 
 "Yes, I can," 
 
 •' Let me hear you do so." 
 
 I said in English, " Whenever the 
 Emperor needs the help of Etienne Gerard, 
 I am ready night and day to give my life in 
 his service." Captain Fourneau smiled. 
 
 " It is funny English," said he, "but still 
 it is better than no English. For my own 
 part I speak English like an Englishman. 
 It is all that I have to show for six years 
 spent in an English prison. Now I will tell 
 you why I have come to Paris. I have 
 come in order to choose an agent who will 
 help me in a matter which affects the 
 interests of the Emperor. I was told that 
 it was at the caf4 of the Great Man that I 
 would find the pick of his old officers, and 
 that I could rely upon every man there 
 
3S2 THE LAST ADVENTURE 
 
 being devoted to his interests. I studied 
 you all, therefore, and I have come to the 
 conclusion that you are the one who is most 
 suited for my purpose." 
 
 I acknowledged the compliment. "What 
 is it that you wish me to do ? " I asked. 
 
 " Merely to keep me company for a few 
 months," said he. " You must know that 
 after my release in England I settled down 
 there, married an English wife, and rose to 
 command a small English merchant ship, 
 in which I have made several voyages from 
 Southampton to the Guinea coast. They 
 look on me there as an Englishman. You 
 can understand, however, that with my 
 feelings about the Emperor I am lonely 
 sometimes, and that it would be an advan- 
 tage to me to have a companion who would 
 sympathise with my thoughts. One gets 
 very bored on these long voyages, and i 
 would make it worth your while to share 
 my cabin." 
 
 He looked hard at me with his shrewd 
 grey eyes all the time that he was uttering 
 
OF THE BRIGADIER 353 
 
 this rigmarole, and I gave him a glance in 
 return which showed him that he was not 
 dealing with a fool. He took out a canvas 
 bag full of money. 
 
 " There are a hundred pounds iii gold in 
 this bag," said he. "You will be able to 
 buy some comforts for your voyage. I 
 should recommend you to get them in 
 Southampton, whence we will start in ten 
 days. The name of the vessel is the Black 
 Swan. I return to Southampton to-morrow, 
 and I shall hope to see you in the course 
 of the next week." 
 
 "Come now,'' said I, "tell me frankly 
 what is the destination of our voyage ? " 
 
 " Oh, didn't I tell you ? " he answered. 
 " We are bound for the Guinea coast of 
 Africa." 
 
 " Then how can that be in the highest 
 interests of the Emperor?" I asked. 
 
 " It is in his highest interests that you 
 ask no indiscreet questions and I give no 
 indiscreet replies," he answered, sharply. 
 So he brought the interview to an end, and 
 
 23 
 
354 THE LAST ADVENTURE 
 
 I found myself back in my lodgings with 
 nothing save this bag of gold to show that 
 this singular interview had indeed taken 
 place. 
 
 There was every reason why I should see 
 the adventure to a conclusion, and so within 
 a week I was on my way to England. I 
 passed from St. Malo to Southampton, and 
 on inquiry at the docks I had no difficulty 
 in finding the Black Swan, a neat little 
 vessel of a shape which is called, as I 
 learned afterwards, a brig. There was 
 Captain Fourneau himself upon the deck, 
 and seven or eight rough fellows hard at 
 work grooming her and making her ready 
 for sea. He greeted me and led me down 
 to his cabin. 
 
 " You are plain Mr. Gerard now," said 
 he, " and a Channel Islander. I would be 
 obliged to you if you would kindly forget 
 your military ways and drop your cavalry 
 swagger when you walk up and down my 
 deck. A beard, too, would seem more 
 sailor-like than those moustaches." 
 
OF THE BRIGADJER 355 
 
 I was horrified by his words, but, gfter all, 
 there are no ladies on the high seas, and what 
 did it matter ? He rang for the steward. 
 
 " Gustav," said he, " you will pay every 
 attention to my friend. Monsieur Etienne 
 Gerard, who makes this voyage with us. 
 This is Gustav Kerouan, my Breton 
 steward," he explained, "and you are very 
 safe in his hands." 
 
 This steward, with his harsh face and 
 stern eyes, looked a very warlike person for 
 so peaceful an employment. I said nothing, 
 however, though you may guess that I kept 
 my eyes open. A berth had been prepared 
 for me next the cabin, which would have 
 seemed comfortable enough had it not con- 
 trasted with the extraordinary splendour of 
 Fourneau's quarters. He was certainly a 
 most luxurious person, for his room was 
 new-fitted with velvet and silver in a way 
 which would have suited the yacht of a noble 
 better than a little West African trader. So 
 thought the mate, Mr. Burns, who could not 
 hide his amusement and contempt whenever 
 
3S6 THE LAST ADVENTURE 
 
 he looked at it. This fellow, a big, solid, 
 red-headed Englishman, had the other berth 
 connected with the cabin. There was a 
 second mate named Turner, who lodged in 
 the middle of the ship, and there were nine 
 men and one boy in the crew, three of 
 whom, as I was informed by Mr. Burns, 
 were Channel Islanders like myself. This 
 Burns, the first mate, was much interested 
 to know why I was coming with them. 
 
 " I come for pleasure," said I. 
 
 He stared at me. 
 
 "Ever been to the West Coast?" he 
 asked. 
 
 I said that I had not. 
 
 "I thought not," said he. "You'll never 
 come again for that reason, anyhow." 
 
 Some three days after my arrival we 
 untied the ropes by which the ship was 
 tethered and we set off upon our journey. 
 I was never a good sailor, and I may confess 
 that we were far out of sight of any land 
 before I was able to venture upon deck. At 
 last, however, upon the fifth day I drank the 
 
OF THE BRIGADIER 357 
 
 soup which the good Kerouan brought me, 
 and I was able to crawl from my bunk and 
 up the stair. The fresh air revived me, and 
 from that time onwards I accommodated 
 myself to the motion of the vessel. My 
 beard had begun to grow also, and I have 
 no doubt that I should have made as fine a 
 sailor as I have a soldier had I chanced to 
 be born to that branch of the service. I 
 learned to pull the ropes which hoisted the 
 sails, and also to haul round the long sticks 
 to which they are attached. For the most 
 part, however, my duties were to play ^cartd 
 with Captain Fourneau, and to act as his 
 companion. It was not strange that he 
 should need one, for neither of his mates 
 could read nor write, though each of them 
 was an excellent seamen. If our captain 
 had died suddenly I cannot imagine how we 
 should have found our way in that waste of 
 waters, for it was only he who had the 
 knowledge which enabled him to mark our 
 place upon the chart. He had this fixed 
 upon the cabin wall, and every day he put 
 
358 THE LAST ADVENTURE 
 
 our course upon it so that we could see at 
 a glance how far we were from our destina- 
 tion. It was wonderful how well he could 
 calculate it, for one morning he said that we 
 should see the Cape Verd light that very 
 night, and there it was, sure enough, upon 
 our left front the moment that darkness 
 came. Next day, however, the land was 
 out of sight, and Burns, the mate, explained 
 to me that we should see no more until we 
 came to our port in the Gulf of Biafra. 
 Every day we flew south with a favouring 
 wind, and always at noon the pin upon the 
 chart was moved nearer and nearer to the 
 African coast. I may explain that palm oil 
 was the cargo which we were in search 
 of, and that our own lading consisted 
 of coloured cloths, old muskets, and such 
 other trifles as the English sell to the 
 savages.. 
 
 At last the wind which had followed us so 
 long died away, and for several days we 
 drifted about on a calm and oily sea under 
 a sun which brought the pitch bubbling out 
 
OF THE BRIGADIER 359 
 
 between the planks upon the deck. We 
 turned and turned our sails to catch every 
 wandering puff, until at last we came out of 
 this belt of calm and ran south again with a 
 brisk breeze, the sea all round us being alive 
 with flying fishes. For some days Burns 
 appeared to be uneasy, and I observed him 
 continually shading his eyes with his hand 
 and staring at the horizon as if he were 
 looking for land. Twice I caught him with 
 his red head against the chart in the cabin, 
 gazing at that pin, which was always ap- 
 proaching and yet never reaching the 
 African coast. At last one evening, as 
 Captain Fourneau and I were playing ^carte 
 in the cabin, the mate entered with an angry 
 look upon his sunburned face. 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Captain Fourneau," 
 said he. " But do you know what course 
 the man at the wheel is steering ? " 
 
 " Due south," the captain answered, with 
 his eyes fixed upon his cards. 
 
 " And he should be steering due east." 
 
 " How do you make that out ? " 
 
36o THE LAST ADVENTURE 
 
 The mate gave an angry growl. 
 
 " I may not have much education," said 
 he, " but let me tell you this, Captain 
 Fourneau, I've sailed these waters since I 
 was a little nipper of ten, and I know the 
 line when I'm on it, and I know the 
 doldrums, and I know how to find my way 
 to the oil rivers. We are south of the line 
 now, and we should be steering due east 
 instead of due south if your port is the port 
 that the owners sent you to." 
 
 " Excuse me, Mr. Gerard. Just remember 
 that it is my lead," said the captain, laying 
 down his cards. " Come to the map here, 
 Mr. Burns, and I will give you a lesson in 
 practical navigation. Here is the trade wind 
 from the south-west and here is the line, and 
 here is the port that we want to make, and 
 here is a man who will have his own way 
 aboard his own ship." As he spoke he seized 
 the unfortunate mate by the throat and 
 squeezed him until he was nearly senseless. 
 Kerouan, the steward, had rushed in with a 
 rope, and between them they gagged and 
 
OF THE BRIGADIER 361 
 
 trussed the man, so that he was utterly 
 helpless. 
 
 " There is one of our Frenchmen at the 
 wheel. We had best put the mate over- 
 board," said the steward. 
 
 " That is safest," said Captain Fourneau. 
 
 But that was more than I could stand. 
 Nothing would persuade me to agree to the 
 death of a helpless man. With a bad grace 
 Captain Fourneau consented to spare him, 
 and we carried him to the after-hold, which 
 lay under the cabin. There he was laid 
 among the bales of Manchester cloth. 
 
 "It is not worth while to put down the 
 hatch," said Captain Fourneau. " Gustav, 
 go to Mr. Turner and tell him that I would 
 like to have a word with him." 
 
 The unsuspecting second mate entered the 
 cabin, and was instantly gagged and secured 
 as Burns had been. He was carried down 
 and laid beside his comrade. The hatch 
 was then replaced. 
 
 " Our hands have been forced by that red- 
 headed dolt," said the captain, " and I have 
 
362 THE LAST ADVENTURE 
 
 had to explode my mine before I wished. 
 However, there is no great harm done, and 
 it will not seriously disarrange my plans. 
 Kerouan, you will take a keg of rum forward 
 to the crew and tell them that the captain 
 gives it to them to drink his health on the 
 occasion of crossing the line. They will 
 know no better. As to our own fellows, 
 bring them down to your pantry so that we 
 may be sure that they are ready for business. 
 Now, Colonel Gerard, with your permission 
 we will resume our game of ecart6." 
 
 It is one of those occasions which one 
 does not forget. This captain, who was a 
 man of iron, shuffled and cut, dealt and 
 played, as if he were in his cafd. From 
 below we heard the inarticulate murmurings 
 of the two mates, half smothered by the 
 handkerchiefs which gagged them. Outside 
 the timbers creaked and the sails hummed 
 under the brisk breeze which was sweeping 
 us upon our way. Amid the splash of the 
 waves and the whistle of the wind we heard 
 the wild cheers and shoutings of the English 
 
OF THE BRIGADIER 363 
 
 sailors as they broached the keg of rum. 
 We played half a dozen games, and then the 
 captain rose. " I think they are ready for 
 us now," said he. He took a brace of 
 pistols from a locker, and he handed one 
 of them to me. 
 
 But we had no need to fear resistance, for 
 there was no one to resist. The English- 
 man of those days, whether soldier or sailor, 
 was an incorrigible drunkard. Without 
 drink he was a brave and good man. But 
 if drink were laid before him it was a perfect 
 madness — nothing could induce him to take 
 it with moderation. In the dim light of the 
 den which they inhabited, five senseless 
 figures and two shouting, swearing, singing 
 madmen represented the crew of the Black 
 Swan. Coils of rope were brought forward 
 by the steward, and with the help of two 
 French seamen (the third was at the wheel) 
 we secured the drunkards and tied them up, 
 so that it was impossible for them to speak or 
 move. They were placed under the fore- 
 hatch, as their officers had been under the 
 
364 THE LAST ADVENTURE 
 
 after one, and Kerouan was directed twice 
 a day to give them food and drink. So 
 at last we found that the Black Swan was 
 entirely our own. 
 
 Had there been bad weather I do not 
 know what we should have done, but we still 
 went gaily upon our way with a wind which 
 was strong enough to drive us swiftly south, 
 but not strong enough to cause us alarm. 
 On the evening of the third day I found 
 Captain Fourneau gazing eagerly out from 
 the platform in the front of the vessel. 
 " Look, Gerard, look I " he cried, and pointed 
 over the pole which stuck out in front. 
 
 A light blue sky rose from a dark blue 
 sea, and far away, at the point where they 
 met, was a shadowy something like a cloud, 
 but more definite in shape. 
 
 "What is it?" I cried. 
 
 '< It is land." 
 
 " And what land ? " 
 
 I strained my ears for the answer, and yet 
 I knew already what the answer would be. 
 
 " It is St. Helena." 
 
OF THE BRIGADIER 365 
 
 Here, then, was the island of my dreams! 
 Here was the cage where our great Eagle of 
 France was confined ! All those thousands 
 of leagues of water had not sufficed to keep 
 Gerard from the master whom he loved. 
 There he was, there on that cloud-bank 
 yonder over the dark blue sea. How my 
 eyes devoured it! How my soul flew in 
 front of the vessel — flew on and on to tell 
 him that he was not forgotten, that after 
 many days one faithful servant was coming 
 to his side! Every instant the dark blur 
 upon the water grew harder and clearer. 
 Soon I could see plainly enough that it 
 was indeed a mountainous island. The 
 night fell, but still I knelt upon the deck, 
 with my eyes fixed upon the darkness which 
 covered the spot where I knew that the great 
 Emperor was. An hour passed and another 
 one, and then suddenly a little golden twink- 
 ling light shone out exactly ahead of us. It 
 was the light of the window of some house — 
 perhaps of his house. It could not be more 
 than a mile or two away. Oh, how I held 
 
366 THE LAST ADVENTURE 
 
 out my hands to it ! — they were the hands 
 of Etienne Gerard, but it was for all France 
 that they were held out. 
 
 Every light had been extinguished aboard 
 our ship, and presently, at the direction of 
 Captain Fourneau, we all pulled upon one of 
 the ropes, which had the effect of swinging 
 round one of the sticks above us, and so 
 stopping the vessel. Then he asked me to 
 step down to the cabin. 
 
 "You understand everything now. Colonel 
 Gerard," said he, "and you will forgive me 
 if I did not take you into my complete confi- 
 dence before. In a matter of such import- 
 ance I make no man my confidant. I have 
 long planned the rescue of the Emperor, 
 aud my remaining in England and joining 
 their merchant service was entirely with that 
 design. All has worked out exactly as I 
 expected. I have made several successful 
 voyages to the West Coast of Africa, so that 
 there was no difficulty in my obtaining the 
 command of this one. One by one I got 
 these old French man-of-war's-men among 
 
OF THE BRIGADIER 367 
 
 the hands. As to you, I was anxious to have 
 one tried fighting man in case of resistance, 
 and I also desired to have a fitting com- 
 panion for the Emperor during his long 
 homeward voyage. My cabin is already 
 fitted up for his use. I trust that before to- 
 morrow morning he will be inside it, and we 
 out of sight of this accursed island." 
 
 You can think of my emotion, my friends, 
 as I listened to these words, I embraced 
 the brave Fourneau, and implored him to 
 tell me how I could assist him. 
 
 " I must leave it all in- your hands," said 
 he. " Would that I could have been the 
 first to pay him homage, but it would not be 
 wise for me to go. The glass is falling, 
 there is a storm brewing, and we have the 
 land under our lee. Besides, there are three 
 English cruisers near the island which may 
 be upon us at any moment. It is for me, 
 therefore, to guard the ship and for you to 
 bring off the Emperor." 
 
 I thrilled at the words. 
 
 "Give me your instructions!" I cried. 
 
368 THE LAST ADVENTURE 
 
 " I can only spare you one man, for 
 already I can hardly pull round the yards," 
 said he. " One of the boats has been 
 lowered, and this man will row you ashore 
 and await your return. The light which you 
 see is indeed the light of Longwood. All 
 who are in the house are your friends, and 
 all may be depended upon to aid the 
 Emperor's escape. There is a cordon of 
 English sentries, but they are not very near 
 to the house. Once you have got as far 
 as that you will convey our plans to the 
 Emperor, guide him down to the boat, and 
 bring him on board." 
 
 The Emperor himself could not have 
 given his instructions more shortly and 
 clearly. There was not a moment to be 
 lost. The boat with the seaman was waiting 
 alongside. I stepped into it, and an instant 
 afterwards we had pushed off. Our little 
 boat danced over the dark waters, but always 
 shining before my eyes was the light of 
 Longwood, the light of the Emperor, the 
 star of hope. Presently the bottom of the 
 
OF THE BRIGADIER 369 
 
 boat grated upon the pebbles of the beach. 
 It was a deserted cove, and no challenge 
 from a sentry came to disturb us. I left the 
 seaman by the boat and began to climb the 
 hillside. 
 
 There was a goat-track winding in and 
 out among this rocks, so I had no difficulty 
 in finding my way. It stands to reason that 
 all paths in St. Helena would lead to the 
 Emperor. I came to a gate. No sentry — 
 and I passed through. Another gate — still 
 no sentry ! I wondered what had become 
 of this cordon of which Fourneau had 
 spoken. I had come now to the top of 
 my climb, for there was the light burning 
 steadily right in front of me. I concealed 
 myself and took a good look round, but still 
 I could see no sign of the enemy. As I 
 approached I saw the house, a long, low 
 building with a veranda. A man was 
 walking up and down upon the path in front. 
 I crept nearer and had a look at him. 
 Perhaps it was this cursed Hudson Lowe. 
 What a triumph if I could not only rescue 
 
 24 
 
3;o THE LAST ADVENTURE 
 
 the Emperor, but also avenge him ! But 
 it was more likely that this man was an 
 English sentry. I crept nearer still, and the 
 man stopped in front of the lighted window, 
 so that I could see him. No ; it was no 
 soldier, but a priest. I wondered what such 
 a man could be doing there at two in the 
 morning. Was he French or English ? If 
 he were one of the household I might take 
 him into my confidence. If he were English 
 he might ruin all my plans. I crept a little 
 nearer still, and at that moment he entered 
 the house, a flood of light pouring out 
 through the open door. All was clear for 
 me now, and I understood that not an 
 instant was to be lost. Bending myself 
 double I ran swiftly forward to the lighted 
 window. Raising my head I peeped 
 through, and there was the Emperor lying 
 dead before me! 
 
 My friends, I fell down upon the gravel 
 walk as senseless as if a bullet had passed 
 through my brain. So great was the shock 
 that I wonder that I survived it. And yet 
 
OF THE BRIGADIER 371 
 
 in half an hour I had staggered to my feet 
 again, shivering in every limb, my teeth 
 chattering, and there I stood staring with 
 the eyes of a maniac into that room of 
 death. 
 
 He lay upon a bier in the centre of the 
 chamber, calm, composed, majestic, his face 
 full of that reserve . power which lightened 
 our hearts upon the day of battle. A half- 
 smile was fixed upon his pale lips, and his 
 eyes, half-opened, seemed to be turned on 
 mine. He was stouter than when I had 
 seen him at Waterloo, and there was a 
 gentleness of expression which I had never 
 seen in life. On either side of him burned 
 rows of candles, and this was the beacon 
 which had welcomed us at sea, which had 
 guided me over the water, and which I had 
 hailed as my star of hope. Dimly I became 
 conscious that many people were kneeling 
 in the room ; the little Court, men and 
 women, who had shared his fortunes, Bert- 
 rand, his wife, the priest, Montholon — all 
 were there. I would have prayed too, but 
 
372 THE LAST ADVENTURE 
 
 my heart was too heavy and bitter for 
 prayer. And yet I must leave, and I could 
 not leave him without a sign. Regardless 
 of whether I was seen or not, I drew myself 
 erect before my dead leader, brought my 
 heels together, and raised my hand in a 
 last salute. Then I turned and hurried off 
 through the darkness, with the picture of the 
 wan, smiling lips and the steady grey eyes 
 dancing always before me. 
 
 It had seemed to me but a little time that 
 I had been away, and yet the boatman told 
 me that it was hours. Only when he spoke 
 of it did I observe that the wind was blowing 
 half a gale from the sea and that the waves 
 were roaring in upon the beach. Twice we 
 tried to push out our little boat, and twice it 
 was thrown back by the sea. The third time 
 a great wave filled it and stove the bottom. 
 Helplessly we waited beside it until the 
 dawn broke, to show a raging sea and a 
 flying scud above it. There was no sign of 
 the Black Swan. Climbing the hill we 
 looked down, but on all the great torn 
 
' I EAISED MY Hand in a Last Salute." 
 
OF THE BRIGADIER 373 
 
 expanse of the ocean there was no gleam 
 of a sail. She was gone Whether she had 
 sunk, or whether she was recaptured by her 
 English crew, or what strange fate may have 
 been in store for her, I do not know. Never 
 again in this life did I see Captain Fourneau 
 to tell him the result of my mission. For 
 my own part I gave myself up to the 
 English, my boatman and I pretending that 
 we were the only survivors of a lost vessel — 
 though, indeed, there was no pretence in the 
 matter. At the hands of their officers I 
 received that generous hospitality which I 
 have always encountered, but it was many a 
 long month before I could get a passage 
 back to the dear land outside of which there 
 can be no happiness for so true a Frenchman 
 as myself. 
 
 And so I tell you in one evening how I 
 bade good-bye to my master, and I take my 
 leave also of you, my kind friends, who have 
 listened so patiently to the long-winded 
 stories of an old broken soldier. Russia, 
 Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and 
 
374 THE LAST ADVENTURE 
 
 England, you have gone with me to all these 
 countries, and you have seen through my 
 dim eyes something of the sparkle and 
 splendour of those great days, and I have 
 brought back to you some shadow of those 
 men whose tread shook the earth. Treasure 
 it in your minds and pass it on to your 
 children, for the memory of a great age is 
 the most precious treasure that a nation 
 can possess. As the tree is nurtured by its 
 own cast leaves, so it is these dead men and 
 vanished days which may bring out another 
 blossoming of heroes, of rulers, and of sages. 
 I go to Gascony, but my words stay here in 
 your memory, and long after Etienne Gerard 
 is forgotten a heart may be warmed or a 
 spirit braced by some faint echo of the words 
 that he has spoken. Gentlemen, an old 
 soldier salutes you and bids you farewell. 
 
 Printed by Hazell, Walson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury.