I followed the soldiers as they marched beyond the outer boulevard and
gained the open country. Many of the idlers dropped off here; others
accompanied us a little farther; but at length, when the drums ceased
to beat, and were slung in marching order on the backs of the
drummers, when the men broke into the open order that French soldiers
instinctively assume on a march, the curiosity of the gazers appeared
to have nothing more to feed upon, and one by one they returned to the
capital, leaving me the only lingerer.
To any one accustomed to military display, there was little to attract
notice in the column, which consisted of detachments from various corps,
horse, foot, and artillery; some were returning to their regiments after
a furlough; some had just issued from the hospitals, and were seated in
_charrettes_, or country cars; and others, again, were peasant boys only
a few days before drawn in the conscription. There was every variety of
uniform, and, I may add, of raggedness, too--a coarse blouse and a pair
of worn shoes, with a red or blue handkerchief on the head, being the
dress of many among them. The Republic was not rich in those days,
and cared little for the costume in which her victories were won. The
artillery alone seemed to preserve anything like uniformity in dress.
They wore a plain uniform of blue, with long white gaiters coming
half-way up the thigh; a low cocked-hat, without feather, but with the
tricoloured cockade in front. They were mostly men middle aged, or past
the prime of life, bronzed, weather-beaten, hardy-looking fellows, whose
white moustaches contrasted well with their sun-burned faces. All their
weapons and equipments were of a superior kind, and showed the care
bestowed upon an arm whose efficiency was the first discovery of the
republican generals. The greater number of these were Bretons, and
several of them had served in the fleet, still bearing in their looks
and carriage something of that air which seems inherent in the seaman.
They were grave, serious, and almost stern in manner, and very unlike
the young cavalry soldiers, who, mostly recruited from the south of
France, many of them Gascons, had all the high-hearted gaiety and
reckless levity of their own peculiar land. A campaign to these fellows
seemed a pleasant excursion; they made a jest of everything, from the
wan faces of the invalids to the black bread of the commissary; they
quizzed the new ‘Tourlerous,’ as the recruits were styled, and the old
‘Grumblers,’ as it was the fashion to call the veterans of the army;
they passed their jokes on the Republic, and even their own officers
came in for a share of their ridicule. The Grenadiers, however, were
those who especially were made the subject of their sarcasm. They were
generally from the north of France, and the frontier country toward
Flanders, whence they probably imbibed a portion of that phlegm and
moroseness so very unlike the general gaiety of French nature; and
when assailed by such adversaries, were perfectly incapable of reply or
retaliation.
They all belonged to the army of the ‘Sambre et Meuse,’ which, although
at the beginning of the campaign highly distinguished for its successes,
had been latterly eclipsed by the extraordinary victories on the Upper
Rhine and in Western Germany; and it was curious to hear with what
intelligence and interest the greater questions of strategy were
discussed by those who carried their packs as common soldiers in the
ranks. Movements and manoeuvres were criticised, attacked, defended,
ridiculed, and condemned, with a degree of acuteness and knowledge that
showed the enormous progress the nation had made in military science,
and with what ease the Republic could recruit her officers from the
ranks of her soldiers.
At noon the column halted in the wood of Belleville; and while the men
were resting, an express arrived announcing that a fresh body of troops
would soon arrive, and ordering the others to delay their march till
they came up. The orderly who brought the tidings could only say that
he believed some hurried news had come from Germany, for before he left
Paris the rappel was beating in different quarters, and the rumour
ran that reinforcements were to set out for Strasbourg with the utmost
despatch.
‘And what troops are coming to join us?’ said an old artillery sergeant,
in evident disbelief of the tidings.
‘Two batteries of artillery and the voltigeurs of the 4th, I know for
certain are coming,’ said the orderly, ‘and they spoke of a battalion of
grenadiers.’
‘What! do these Germans need another lesson?’ said the cannonier. ‘I
thought Fleurus had taught them what our troops were made of.’
‘How you talk of Fleurus!’ interrupted a young hussar of the south. ‘I
have just come from the army of Italy, and, _ma foi!_ we should never
have mentioned such a battle as Fleurus in a despatch. Campaigning
amongst dikes and hedges--fighting with a river on one flank and a
fortress on t’other--parade manoeuvres--where, at the first check, the
enemy retreats, and leaves you free, for the whole afternoon, to write
off your successes to the Directory. Had you seen our fellows scaling
the Alps, with avalanches of snow descending at every fire of the great
guns--forcing pass after pass against an enemy, posted on every cliff
and crag above us--cutting our way to victory by roads the hardiest
hunter had seldom trod--I call that war.’
‘And I call it the skirmish of an outpost!’ said the gruff veteran, as
he smoked away in thorough contempt for the enthusiasm of the other. ‘I
have served under Kléber, Hoche, and Moreau, and I believe they are the
first generals of France.’
‘There is a name greater than them all,’ cried the hussar, with
eagerness.
‘Let us hear it, then--you mean Pichegru, perhaps, or Masséna?’
‘No, I mean Bonaparte!’ said the hussar triumphantly.
‘A good officer, and one of us,’ said the artilleryman, touching his
belt to intimate the arm of the service the general belonged to. ‘He
commanded the siege-train at Toulon.’
‘He belongs to all,’ said the other. ‘He is a dragoon, a voltigeur, an
artillerist, a pontonnier--what you will--he knows everything, as I know
my horse’s saddle, and cloak-bag.’
Both parties now grew warm; and as each was not only an eager partisan,
but well acquainted with the leading events of the two campaigns they
undertook to defend, the dispute attracted a large circle of listeners,
who, either seated on the green sward, or lying at full length, formed
a picturesque group under the shadow of the spreading oak-trees.
Meanwhile, the cooking went speedily forward, and the camp-kettles
smoked with a steam whose savoury odour was not a little tantalising to
one who, like myself, felt that he did not belong to the company.
‘What’s thy mess, boy?’ said an old grenadier to me, as I sat at
a little distance off, and affecting--but I fear very ill--a total
indifference to what went forward.
‘He is asking to what corps thou belong’st?’ said another, seeing that
the question puzzled me.
‘I Unfortunately I have none,’ said I. ‘I merely followed the march for
curiosity.’
‘And thy father and mother, child--what will they say to thee on thy
return home?’
‘I have neither father, mother, nor home,’ said I promptly.
‘Just like myself,’ said an old red-whiskered sapeur; ‘or if I ever had
parents they never had the grace to own me. Come over here, child, and
take share of my dinner.’
‘No, _parbleu!_ I ‘ll have him for my comrade,’ cried the young hussar.
‘I was made a corporal yesterday, and have a larger ration. Sit here, my
boy, and tell us how art called.’
‘Maurice Tiernay.’
‘Maurice will do; few of us care for more than one name, except in the
dead muster they like to have it in full. Help thyself, my lad, and
here’s the wine-flask beside thee.’
‘How comes it thou hast this old uniform, boy?’ said he, pointing to my
sleeve.
‘It was one they gave me in the Temple,’ said I. ‘I was a _rat du
prison_ for some time.’
‘Thunder of war!’ exclaimed the cannonier, ‘I had rather stand a whole
platoon-fire than see what thou must have seen, child.’
‘And hast heart to go back there, boy,’ said the corporal, ‘and live the
same life again?’
‘No, I ‘ll never go back,’ said I. ‘I ‘ll be a soldier.’
‘Well said, _mon brave_--thou’lt be a hussar, I know.’
‘If nature has given thee a good head, and a quick eye, my boy, thou
might even do better, and in time, perhaps, wear a coat like mine,’ said
the cannonier.
‘_Sacrebleu!_ cried a little fellow, whose age might have been anything
from boyhood to manhood--for while small of stature, he was shrivelled
and wrinkled like a mummy--‘why not be satisfied with the coat he
wears?’
‘And be a drummer, like thee?’ said the cannonier.
‘Just so, like me, and like Masséna--he was a drummer, too.’
‘No, no!’ cried a dozen voices together; ‘that’s not true.’
‘He’s right; Masséna was a drummer in the Eighth,’ said the cannonier;
‘I remember him when he was like that boy yonder.’
‘To be sure,’ said the little fellow, who, I now perceived, wore the
dress of a _tambour_; and is it a disgrace to be the first to face the
enemy?’
‘And the first to turn his back to him, comrade,’ cried another.
‘Not always---not always,’ said the little fellow, regardless of the
laugh against him. ‘Had it been so, I had not gained the battle of
Grandrengs on the Sambre.’
‘Thou gain a battle!’ shouted half a dozen, in derisive laughter.
‘What, Petit Pierre gained the day at Grandrengs!’ said the cannonier;
‘why, I was there myself, and never heard of that till now.’
‘I can believe it well,’ replied Pierre; ‘many a man’s merits go
unacknowledged--and Kléber got all the credit that belonged to Pierre
Canot.’
‘Let us hear about it, Pierre, for even thy victory is unknown by name
to us poor devils of the army of Italy. How call’st thou the place?’
‘Grandrengs,’ said Pierre proudly. ‘It’s name will live as long,
perhaps, as many of those high-sounding ones you have favoured us with.
Mayhap, thou hast heard of Cambray?’
‘Never!’ said the hussar, shaking his head.
‘Nor of Mons, either, I’ll be sworn?’ continued Pierre.
‘Quite true, I never heard of it before.’
‘_Voilà!_ exclaimed Pierre, in contemptuous triumph. ‘And these are the
fellows that pretend to feel their country’s glory, and take pride in
her conquests. Where hast thou been, lad, not to hear of places that
every child syllables nowadays?’
‘I will tell you where I’ve been,’ said the hussar haughtily, and
dropping at the same time the familiar ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ of soldier
intercourse--‘I’ve been at Montenotte, at Millesimo, at Mondove---
‘_Allons, donc!_ with your disputes,’ broke in an old grenadier; ‘as if
France was not victorious whether the enemies were English or German.
Let us hear how Pierre won his battle at--at----’
‘At Grandrengs,’ said Pierre. ‘They call it in the despatch the “action
of the Sambre,” because Kléber came up there--and Kléber being a great
man, and Pierre Canot a little one, you understand, the glory attaches
to the place where the bullion epaulettes are found--just as the old
King of Prussia used to say, “Le bon Dieu est toujours a côté des gros
bataillons.”’
‘I see we’ll never come to this same victory of Grandrengs, with all
these turnings and twistings,’ muttered the artillery sergeant.
‘Thou art very near it now, comrade, if thou’lt listen,’ said Pierre,
as he wiped his mouth after a long draught of the wine-flask. ‘I’ll
not weary the honourable company with any description of the battle
generally, but just confine myself to that part of it in which I was
myself in action. It is well known, that though we claimed the victory
of the 10th May, we did little more than keep our own, and were obliged
to cross the Sambre, and be satisfied with such a position as enabled us
to hold the two bridges over the river--and there we remained for four
days; some said preparing for a fresh attack upon Kaunitz, who commanded
the allies; some, and I believe they were right, alleging that
our generals were squabbling all day, and all night, too, with two
commissaries that the Government had sent down to teach us how to win
battles. _Ma foi!_ we had had some experience in that way ourselves,
without learning the art from two citizens with tricoloured scarfs round
their waists, and yellow tops to their boots! However that might be,
early on the morning of the 20th we received orders to cross the river
in two strong columns, and form on the opposite side; at the same time
that a division was to pass the stream by boat two miles higher up,
and, concealing themselves in a pine wood, be ready to take the enemy in
flank, when they believed that all the force was in the front.’
‘_Sacré tonnerre!_ I believe that our armies of the Sambre and the
Rhine never have any other notion of battles than that eternal flank
movement!’ cried a young sergeant of the voltigeurs, who had just come
up from the army of Italy. ‘Our general used to split the enemy by the
centre, cut him piecemeal by attack in columns, and then mow him down
with artillery at short range--not leaving him time for a retreat in
heavy masses----’
‘Silence, silence, and let us hear Petit Pierre!’ shouted a dozen
voices, who cared far more for an incident than a scientific discussion
about manoeuvres.
‘The plan I speak of was General Moreau’s,’ continued Pierre; ‘and I
fancy that your Bonaparte has something to learn ere he be his equal!’
This rebuke seeming to have engaged the suffrages of the company, he
went on: ‘The boat division consisted of four battalions of infantry,
two batteries of light artillery, and a voltigeur company of the
“Régiment de Marboeuf”--to which I was then, for the time, attached as
_tambour en chef_. What fellows they were--the greatest devils in
the whole army! They came from the Faubourg St. Antoine, and were as
reckless and undisciplined as when they strutted the streets of Paris.
When they were thrown out to skirmish, they used to play as many tricks
as schoolboys: sometimes they ‘d run up to the roof of a cabin or a
hut--and they could climb like cats--and, sitting down on the chimney,
begin firing away at the enemy as coolly as if from a battery; sometimes
they’d capture half-a-dozen asses, and ride forward as if to charge, and
then, affecting to tumble off, the fellows would pick down any of the
enemy’s officers that were fools enough to come near--scampering back to
the cover of the line, laughing and joking as if the whole were sport.
I saw one when his wrist was shattered by a shot, and he couldn’t fire,
take a comrade on his back and caper away like a horse, just to tempt
the Germans to come out of their lines. It was with these blessed youths
I was now to serve, for the _tambour_ of the “Marboeuf” was drowned in
crossing the Sambre a few days before. Well, we passed the river safely,
and, unperceived by the enemy, gained the pine wood, where we formed
in two columns, one of attack, and the other of support--the voltigeurs
about five hundred paces in advance of the leading files. The morning
was dull and hazy, for a heavy rain had fallen during the night; and
the country is flat, and so much intersected with drains, and dikes, and
ditches, that, after rain, the vapour is too thick to see twenty yards
on any side. Our business was to make a counter-march to the right,
and, guided by the noise of the cannonade, to come down upon the enemy’s
flank in the thickest of the engagement. As we advanced, we found
ourselves in a kind of marshy plain, planted with willows, and so
thick that it was often difficult for three men to march abreast. This
extended for a considerable distance; and on escaping from it we saw
that we were not above a mile from the enemy’s left, which rested on a
little village.’
‘I know it well,’ broke in the cannonier; ‘it’s called Huyningen.’
‘Just so. There was a formidable battery in position there; and part of
the place was stockaded, as if they expected an attack. Still, there
are no vedettes, nor any lookout party, so far as we could see; and our
commanding officer didn’t well know what to make of it, whether it was
a point of concealed strength, or a position they were about to withdraw
from. At all events, it required caution; and, although the battle had
already begun on the right--as a loud cannonade and a heavy smoke
told us--he halted the brigade in the wood, and held a council of his
officers to see what was to be done. The resolution come to was, that
the voltigeurs should advance alone to explore the way, the rest of the
force remaining in ambush. We were to go out in sections of companies,
and, spreading over a wide surface, see what we could of the place.
‘Scarcely was the order given, when away we went--and it was now a race
who should be earliest up and exchange first shot with the enemy. Some
dashed forward over the open field in front; others skulked along by
dikes and ditches; some, again, dodged here and there, as cover offered
its shelter; but about a dozen, of whom I was one, kept the track of a
little cart-road, which, half concealed by high banks and furze, ran in
a zigzag line towards the village. I was always smart of foot; and now,
having newly joined the voltigeurs, was naturally eager to show myself
not unworthy of my new associates. I went on at my best pace, and being
lightly equipped--neither musket nor ball cartridge to carry--I soon
outstripped them all; and, after about twenty minutes’ brisk running,
saw in front of me a long, low farmhouse, the walls all pierced for
musketry, and two small eight-pounders in battery at the gate. I looked
back for my companions, but they were not up--not a man of them to be
seen. “No matter,” thought I, “they’ll be here soon; meanwhile, I’ll
make for that little copse of brushwood”; for a small clump of low furze
and broom was standing at a little distance in front of the farm.
All this time, I ought to say, not a man of the enemy was to be seen,
although I, from where I stood, could see the crenelated walls, and
the guns, as they were pointed. At a distance all would seem like an
ordinary peasant house.
‘As I crossed the open space to gain the copse, piff! came a bullet,
whizzing past me; and just as I reached the cover, piff! came another.
I ducked my head and made for the thicket; but just as I did so, my foot
caught in a branch. I stumbled and pitched forward; and trying to save
myself, I grasped a bough above me; it smashed suddenly, and down I
went. Ay! down sure enough--for I went right through the furze, and into
a well--one of those old, walled wells they have in these countries,
with a huge bucket that fills up the whole space, and is worked by a
chain. Luckily, the bucket was linked up near the top, and caught me, or
I should have gone where there would have been no more heard of Pierre
Canot; as it was, I was sorely bruised by the fall, and didn’t recover
myself for full ten minutes after. Then I discovered that I was sitting
in a large wooden trough, hooped with iron, and supported by two heavy
chains that passed over a windlass, about ten feet above my head.
‘I was safe enough for the matter of that; at least, none were likely
to discover me, as I could easily see by the rust of the chain and the
grass-grown edges, that the well had been long disused. Now the position
was far from being pleasant. There stood the farmhouse full of soldiers,
the muskets ranging over every approach to where I lay. Of my comrades
there was nothing to be seen--they had either missed the way or
retreated; and so time crept on, and I pondered on what might be going
forward elsewhere, and whether it would ever be my own fortune to see my
comrades again.
‘It might be an hour--it seemed three or four to me--after this, as I
looked over the plain, I saw the caps of our infantry just issuing
over the brushwood, and a glancing lustre of their bayonets, as the sun
tipped them. They were advancing, but, as it seemed, slowly--halting
at times, and then moving forward again--just like a force waiting for
others to come up. At last they debouched into the plain; but, to my
surprise, they wheeled about to the right, leaving the farmhouse on
their flank, as if to march beyond it. This was to lose their way
totally; nothing would be easier than to carry the position of the
farm, for the Germans were evidently few, had no vedettes, and thought
themselves in perfect security. I crept out from my ambush, and, holding
my cap on a stick, tried to attract notice from our fellows, but none
saw me. I ventured at last to shout aloud, but with no better success;
so that, driven to the end of my resources, I set to and beat a
_roulade_ on the drum, thundering away with all my might, and not caring
what might come of it, for I was half mad with vexation as well as
despair. They heard me now; I saw a staff-officer gallop up to the head
of the leading division and halt them; a volley came peppering from
behind me, but without doing me any injury, for I was safe once more in
my bucket. Then came another pause, and again I repeated my manouvre,
and to my delight perceived that our fellows were advancing at quick
march. I beat harder, and the drums of the grenadiers answered me. All
right now, thought I, as, springing forward, I called out--“This way,
boys, the wall of the orchard has scarcely a man to defend it!” and I
rattled out the _pas de charge_ with all my force. One crashing fire of
guns and small-arms answered me from the farmhouse, and then away went
the Germans as hard as they could!--such running never was seen! One of
the guns they carried off with them; the tackle of the other broke, and
the drivers, jumping off their saddles, took to their legs at once. Our
lads were over the walls, through the windows, between the stockades,
everywhere, in fact, in a minute, and, once inside, they carried all
before them. The village was taken at the point of the bayonet, and in
less than an hour the whole force of the brigade was advancing in full
march on the enemy’s flank. There was little resistance made after that,
and Kaunitz only saved his artillery by leaving his rear-guard to be cut
to pieces.’
The cannonier nodded, as if in full assent, and Pierre looked around him
with the air of a man who has vindicated his claim to greatness.
‘Of course,’ said he, ‘the despatch said little about Pierre Canot, but
a great deal about Moreau, and Kléber, and the rest of them.’
While some were well satisfied that Pierre had well established his
merits as the conqueror of ‘Grandrengs,’ others quizzed him about the
heroism of lying hid in a well, and owing all his glory to a skin of
parchment.
‘An’ thou wert with the army of Italy, Pierre,’ said the hussar, ‘thou
‘d have seen men march boldly to victory, and not skulk underground like
a mole.’
‘I am tired of your song about this army of Italy,’ broke in the
cannonier; ‘we who have served in La Vendée and the North know what
fighting means as well, mayhap, as men whose boldest feats are scaling
rocks and clambering up precipices. Your Bonaparte is more like one of
those Guerilla chiefs they have in the “Basque,” than the general of a
French army.’
‘The man who insults the army of Italy, or its chief, insults me!’
said the corporal, springing up, and casting a sort of haughty defiance
around him.
‘And then?’--asked the other.
‘And then--if he be a French soldier, he knows what should follow.’
‘_Parbleu!_’ said the cannonier coolly, ‘there would be little glory in
cutting you down, and even less in being wounded by you; but if you
will have it so, it’s not an old soldier of the artillery will balk your
humour.’
As he spoke, he slowly arose from the ground, and tightening his
waist-belt, seemed prepared to follow the other. The rest sprang to
their feet at the same time, but not, as I anticipated, to offer a
friendly mediation between the angry parties, but in full approval of
their readiness to decide by the sword a matter too trivial to be called
a quarrel.
In the midst of the whispering conferences as to place and weapons--for
the short straight sword of the artillery was very unlike the curved
sabre of the hussar--the quick tramp of horses was heard, and suddenly
the head of a squadron was seen, as, with glancing helmets and
glittering equipments, they turned off the highroad and entered the
wood.
‘Here they come!--here come the troops!’ was now heard on every side;
and all question of the duel was forgotten in the greater interest
inspired by the arrival of the others. The sight was strikingly
picturesque; for, as they rode up, the order to dismount was given, and
in an instant the whole squadron was at work picketing and unsaddling
their horses; forage was shaken out before the weary and hungry beasts,
kits were unpacked, cooking utensils produced, and every one busy in
preparing for the bivouac. An infantry column followed close upon the
others, which was again succeeded by two batteries of field-artillery
and some squadrons of heavy dragoons; and now the whole wood, far and
near, was crammed with soldiers, waggons, caissons, and camp equipage.
To me the interest of the scene was never-ending--life, bustle, and
gaiety on every side. The reckless pleasantry of the camp, too, seemed
elevated by the warlike accompaniments of the picture--the caparisoned
horses, the brass guns, blackened on many a battlefield, the
weather-seamed faces of the hardy soldiers themselves, all conspiring to
excite a high enthusiasm for the career.
Most of the equipments were new and strange to my eyes. I had never
before seen the grenadiers of the Republican Guard, with their enormous
shakos, and their long-flapped vests, descending to the middle of the
thigh; neither had I seen the ‘Hussars de la mort,’ in their richly
braided uniform of black, and their long hair curled in ringlets
at either side of the face. The cuirassiers, too, with their
low cocked-hats, and straight black feathers, as well as the
‘Porte-drapeaux,’ whose brilliant uniforms, all slashed with gold,
seemed scarcely in keeping with yellow-topped boots; all were now seen
by me for the first time. But of all the figures which amused me most by
its singularity, was that of a woman, who, in a short frock-coat and
a low-crowned hat, carried a little barrel at her side, and led an ass
loaded with two similar but rather larger casks. Her air and gait
were perfectly soldierlike; and as she passed the different posts and
sentries, she saluted them in true military fashion. I was not long to
remain in ignorance of her vocation nor her name; for scarcely did she
pass a group without stopping to dispense a wonderful cordial that she
carried; and then I heard the familiar title of ‘La Mère Madou,’ uttered
in every form of panegyric.
She was a short, stoutly built figure, somewhat past the middle of life,
but without any impairment of activity in her movements. A pleasing
countenance, with good teeth, and black eyes, a merry voice, and a ready
tongue, were qualities more than sufficient to make her a favourite
with the soldiers, whom I found she had followed to more than one
battlefield.
‘_Peste!_ cried an old grenadier, as he spat out the liquor on the
ground. ‘This is one of those sweet things they make in Holland; it
smacks of treacle and bad lemons.’
‘Ah, Grognard!’ said she, laughing, ‘thou art more used to corn-brandy,
with a clove of garlick in’t, than to good curaçoa.’
‘What, curaçoa! Mère Madou, has got curaçoa there?’ cried a
grey-whiskered captain, as he turned on his saddle at the word.
‘Yes, _mon capitaine_, and such as no burgomaster ever drank better’;
and she filled out a little glass and presented it gracefully to him.
‘_Encore! ma bonne mère_,’ said he, as he wiped his thick moustache;
‘that liquor is another reason for extending the blessings of liberty to
the brave Dutch.’
‘Didn’t I tell you so?’ said she, refilling the glass; ‘but, holloa,
there goes Grégoire at full speed. Ah, scoundrels that ye are, I see
what ye ‘ve done.’ And so was it; some of the wild young voltigeur
fellows had fastened a lighted furze-bush to the beast’s tail, and had
set him at a gallop through the very middle of the encampment, upsetting
tents, scattering cooking-pans, and tumbling the groups, as they sat, in
every direction.
The confusion was tremendous, for the picketed horses jumped about, and
some, breaking loose, galloped here and there, while others set off with
half-unpacked waggons, scattering their loading as they went.
It was only when the blazing furze had dropped off, that the whole cause
of the mischance would suffer himself to be captured and led quietly
back to his mistress. Half crying with joy, and still wild with anger,
she kissed the beast and abused her tormentors by turns.
‘Cannoniers that ye are,’ she cried, ‘_ma foi_! you’ll have little taste
for fire when the day comes that ye should face it! _Pauvre_ Grégoire,
they’ve left thee a tail like a tirailleur’s feather! Plagues light
on the thieves that did it! Come here, boy,’ said she, addressing me,
‘hold, the bridle; what’s thy corps, lad?’
‘I have none now; I only followed the soldiers from Paris.’
‘Away with thee, street runner; away with thee, then,’ said she
contemptuously; ‘there are no pockets to pick here; and if there were,
thou ‘d lose thy ears for the doing it. Be off, then--back with thee
to Paris and all its villainies. There are twenty thousand of thy trade
there, but there’s work for ye all.’
‘Nay, mère, don’t be harsh with the boy,’ said a soldier; ‘you can see
by his coat that his heart is with us.’
‘And he stole that, I’ll be sworn,’ said she, pulling me round, by the
arm, full in front of her. ‘Answer me, _gamin_, where didst find that
old tawdry jacket?’
‘I got it in a place where, if they had hold of thee and thy bad tongue,
it would fare worse with thee than thou thinkest,’ said I, maddened by
the imputed theft and insolence together.
‘And where may that be, young slip of the galleys?’ cried she angrily.
‘In the “Prison du Temple.”’
‘Is that their livery, then?’ said she, laughing and pointing at me with
ridicule, ‘or is it a family dress made after thy father’s?’
‘My father wore a soldier’s coat, and bravely, too,’ said I, with
difficulty restraining the tears that rose to my eyes.
‘In what regiment, boy?’ asked the soldier who spoke before.
‘In one that exists no longer,’ said I sadly, and not wishing to allude
to a service that would find but slight favour in republican ears.
‘That must be the 24th of the Line; they were cut to pieces at
“Tongres.”’
‘No--no, he ‘s thinking of the 9th, that got so roughly handled at
Fontenoy,’ said another.
‘Of neither,’ said I; ‘I am speaking of those who have left nothing but
a name behind them--the Garde du Corps of the king.’
‘_Voilà!_ cried Madou, clapping her hands in astonishment at my
impertinence; ‘there’s an aristocrat for you! Look at him, _mes braves!_
it’s not every day we have the grand seigneurs condescending to come
amongst us! You can learn something of courtly manners from the polished
descendant of our nobility. Say, boy, art a count, or a baron, or
perhaps a duke?’
‘Make way there--out of the road, Mère Madou,’ cried a dragoon,
curveting his horse in such a fashion as almost to upset ass and
_cantinière_ together, ‘the staff is coming.’
The mere mention of the word sent numbers off in full speed to their
quarters; and now all was haste and bustle to prepare for the coming
inspection. The mère’s endeavours to drag her beast along were not very
successful, for, with the peculiar instinct of his species, the more
necessity there was of speed, the lazier he became; and as every one had
his own concerns to look after, she was left to her own unaided efforts
to drive him forward.
‘Thou’lt have a day in prison if thou’rt found here, Mère Madou,’ said a
dragoon, as he struck the ass with the flat of his sabre.
‘I know it well,’ cried she passionately; ‘but I have none to help me.
Come here, lad; be good-natured, and forget what passed. Take his bridle
while I whip him on.’
I was at first disposed to refuse, but her pitiful face and sad plight
made me think better of it, and I seized the bridle at once; but just as
I had done so, the escort galloped forward, and the dragoons coming
on the flank of the miserable beast, over he went, barrels and all,
crushing me beneath him as he fell.
[Illustration: 111]
‘Is the boy hurt?’ were the last words I heard, as I fainted; but a few
minutes after I found myself seated on the grass, while a soldier was
stanching the blood that ran freely from a cut in my forehead.
‘It is a trifle, general--a mere scratch,’ said a young officer to an
old man on horseback beside him, ‘and the leg is not broken.’
‘Glad of it,’ said the old officer; ‘casualties are insufferable, except
before an enemy. Send the lad to his regiment.’
‘He’s only a camp-follower, general. He does not belong to us.’
‘There, my lad, take this, then, and make thy way back to Paris,’ said
the old general, as he threw me a small piece of money.
I looked up, and, straight before me, saw the same officer who had given
me the assignat the night before.
‘General Lacoste!’ cried I, in delight, for I thought him already a
friend.
‘How is this--have I an acquaintance here?’ said he, smiling; ‘on my
life! it’s the young rogue I met this morning. Eh! art not thou the
artillery-driver I spoke to at the barrack?’
‘Yes, general, the same.’
‘_Diantre!_ It seems fated, then, that we are not to part company so
easily; for hadst thou remained in Paris, lad, we had most probably
never met again.’
‘_Ainsi, je suis bien tombé, general?_ said I, punning upon my accident.
He laughed heartily, less, I suppose, at the jest, which was a poor one,
than at the cool impudence with which I uttered it, and then turning to
one of the staff, said--
‘I spoke to Bertholet about this boy already; see that they take him in
the 9th. I say, my lad, what’s thy name?’
‘Tiernay, sir.’
‘Ay, to be sure, Tiernay. Well, Tiernay, thou shalt be a hussar, my man.
See that I get no disgrace by the appointment.’
I kissed his hand fervently, and the staff rode forward, leaving me the
happiest heart that beat in all the crowded host.