At about half-past ten, as we reached the environs of Genappe, terrible
cries were heard in the distance. Fires of straw had been lighted in
the middle of the principal street to give light to the multitude, and
we could see from where we were, that the houses were full of people
and the streets so full of horses and baggage that they could not move
a step. We knew that the Prussians might come at any moment, and that
they would have cannon; and that it would be better for us if we went
round the village than to be taken prisoners altogether. This was why
we turned to the left across the grain fields with a great many others.
We crossed the Thy in water up to our waists, and toward midnight we
reached Quatre-Bras.
We had done well not to stop at Genappe, for we already heard the roar
of the Prussian cannon and musketry near the village. Great numbers of
fugitives came along the road, cuirassiers, lancers, and chasseurs.
Not one of them stopped.
We began to be terribly hungry. We knew very well that everything in
these houses must have been eaten long ago, but still we went into the
one on the left. The floor was covered with straw, on which the
wounded were lying. We had hardly opened the door when they all began
to cry out at once; to tell the truth, the stench was so horrible that
we left immediately and took the road to Charleroi. The moon shone
beautifully, and we could see on the right amongst the grain a quantity
of dead men, who had not yet been buried.
Buche followed a furrow about twenty-five paces, to where three or four
Englishmen were lying one on the top of the other. I asked him what he
was going to do amongst the dead.
He came back with a tin bottle, and shaking it at his ear, he said,
"Joseph, it is full."
He dipped it in the water of the ditch before opening it, and then took
out the cork and drank, saying, "It is brandy!"
He passed it to me, and I drank also. I felt my life returning, and I
gave him back the bottle half full, thanking God for the good idea that
he had given us.
We looked on all sides to see if we could not find some bread in the
haversacks of the dead, but the uproar increased, and as we could not
resist the Prussians if they should surround us, we set off again full
of strength and courage. The brandy made us look at everything on the
bright side already, and I said to Buche:
"Jean, now the worst is over and we shall see Pfalzbourg and Harberg
again. We are on a good road which will take us back to France. If we
had gained the battle, we should have been forced to go still farther
into Germany, and we should have been obliged to fight the Austrians
and the Russians, and if we had had the good fortune to escape with our
lives, we should have returned old gray-haired veterans, and should
have been compelled to keep garrison at 'Petite Pierre,' or somewhere
else."
These miserable thoughts ran through my head, but I marched on with
more courage, and Buche said:
"The English are right in having their bottles made of tin, for if I
had not seen this shining in the moonlight, I should never have thought
of going to look for it."
Every moment while we were talking in this way men were riding by,
their horses almost ready to drop, but by beating and spurring, they
kept them trotting just the same.
The noise of the retreating army began to reach our ears again in the
distance, but fortunately we had the advance.
It might have been about one o'clock in the morning, and we thought
ourselves safe, when suddenly Buche said to me:
"Joseph, here are the Prussians!"
And looking behind us, I saw in the moonlight five bronzed hussars from
the same regiment as those who, the year before, had cut poor Klipfel
to pieces. I thought this was a bad sign.
"Is your gun loaded?" I asked Buche.
"Yes."
"Well! let us wait, we must defend ourselves, I will not surrender."
"Nor I either," said he, "I had rather die than to be taken prisoner."
At the same moment the Prussian officer shouted arrogantly, "Lay down
your arms."
Instead of waiting, as I did, Buche discharged the contents of his
musket full in the officer's breast. Then the other four fell upon us.
Buche received a blow from a sabre which cut his shako down to the
visor, but with one thrust with his bayonet he killed his antagonist.
Three of them still remained. My musket was loaded. Buche planted
himself with his back against a nut-tree, and every time the Prussians,
who had fallen back, approached us, I took aim. Neither of them wanted
to be the first to die! As we waited, Buche with his bayonet fixed and
I with my musket at my shoulder, we heard a galloping on the road.
This frightened us, for we thought more Prussians were coming, but they
were our lancers. The hussars then turned off into the grain, and
Buche hastened to re-load his gun.
Our lancers passed and we followed them on the run.
An officer who joined us, said that the Emperor had set out for Paris,
and that King Jerome had just taken command of the army.
Buche's scalp was laid completely open, but the bone was not injured,
and the blood ran down his cheeks. He bound up his head with his
handkerchief.
After that we saw no more Prussians.
About two o'clock in the morning, we were so weary we could hardly take
another step. About two hundred paces to the left of the road there
was a little beech grove. Buche said: "Look, Joseph, let us go in
there and lie down and sleep."
It was just what I wanted.
We went down across the oat-field to the wood, and entered a close
thicket of young trees.
We had both kept our guns and knapsacks and cartridge-boxes. We laid
our knapsacks on the ground for a pillow, and it had long been broad
daylight, and the retreating crowd had been passing for hours, when we
awoke and quietly pursued our journey.