We left the cottage and went back through the lane. The cuirassier was
on the ground, but his horse still stood beside him. The sergeant took
him by the bridle and led him out into the orchard, pulled the bits
from his mouth and said:
"Go, and eat, they will find you again by and by."
And the poor beast walked quietly away. We hurried along the path
which runs by Ligny. The furrows stopped here and some plats of garden
ground lay along by the road. The sergeant looked about him as he
went, and stooped down to dig up some carrots and turnips which were
left. I quickly followed his example, while our comrades hastened on
without looking round.
I saw that it was a good thing to know the fruits of the earth. I
found two beautiful turnips and some carrots, which are very good raw,
but I followed the example of the sergeant and put them in my shako.
I ran on to overtake the squad, which was directing its steps toward
the fires at Sombref. As for the rest, I will not attempt to describe
to you the appearance of the plateau in the rear of Ligny where our
cuirassiers and dragoons had slaughtered all before them. The men and
horses were lying in heaps. The horses with their long necks stretched
out on the ground and the dead and wounded lying under them.
Sometimes the wounded men would raise their hands to make signs when
the horses would attempt to get up and fall back, crushing them still
more fearfully.
Blood! blood! everywhere. The directions of the balls and shot was
marked on the slope by the red lines, just as we see in our country the
lines in the sand formed by the water from the melting snow. But will
you believe it? These horrors scarcely made any impression upon me.
Before I went to Lutzen such a sight would have knocked me down. I
should have thought then, "Do our masters look upon us as brutes? Will
the good God give us up to be eaten by wolves? Have we mothers and
sisters and friends, beings who are dear to us, and will they not cry
out for vengeance?"
I should have thought of a thousand other things, but now I did not
think at all. From having seen such a mass of slaughter and wrong
every day and in every fashion, I began to say to myself:
"The strongest are always right. The Emperor is the strongest, and he
has called us, and we must come in spite of everything, from
Pfalzbourg, from Saverne, or other cities, and take our places in the
ranks and march. The one who would show the least sign of resistance
ought to be shot at once. The marshals, the generals, the officers,
down to the last man, follow their instructions, they dare not make a
move without orders, and everybody obeys the army. It is the Emperor
who wills, who has the power and who does everything. And would not
Joseph Bertha be a fool to believe that the Emperor ever committed a
single fault in his life? Would it not be contrary to reason?"
That was what we all thought, and if the Emperor had remained here, all
France would have had the same opinion.
My only satisfaction was in thinking that I had some carrots and
turnips, for in passing in the rear of the pickets to find our place in
the battalion, we learned that no rations had been distributed except
brandy and cartridges.
The veterans were filling their kettles; but the conscripts, who had
not yet learned the art of living while on a campaign, and who had
unfortunately already eaten all their bread, as will happen when one is
twenty years old, and is on the march with a good appetite, they had
not a spoonful of anything. At last about seven o'clock we reached the
camp. Zebede came to meet me and was delighted to see me, and said,
"What have you brought, Joseph? We have found a fat kid and we have
some salt, but not a mouthful of bread."