One fine evening in the month of July, an old soldier of the "grand army,"
who had left one of his arms on the field of battle, was seated at the
door of his pretty cottage.
He was surrounded by a group of young villagers, who were clamorously
reminding him of his promise to tell them some of his military adventures.
After a moment of pretended resistance to their wishes, the old man took
his pipe from his mouth, passed the back of his remaining hand across his
lips, and thus commenced his tale:
"In my time, my friends, the French would have disdained to fight against
Frenchmen in the streets, as they do in these days. No, no, when we fought
it was for the honor of France, and against her foreign enemies.
"But my story commences on the 6th of November, 1812, a short time after
the battle of Wiazma. We beat a retreat, not before the Russians, for they
were at a respectful distance from our camp, but before the sharp and
bitter cold of their detestable country, a cold more terrible to us than
the Russians, Austrians, and Bavarians all put together.
"During the preceding days our officers had told us that we were
approaching Smolensko, where we should get food, fire, brandy, and shoes;
but in the meantime we were perishing in the glaciers, and continually
harassed by the Cossacks.
"We had marched for six hours without stopping to take breath, for we knew
that repose was certain death. An icy wind blew the drifting snow in our
faces, and from time to time we stumbled over the frozen corpse of a
comrade. We neither spoke nor sang, even complaints were no longer heard,
and that was a bad sign.
"I marched by the side of my captain; short, strongly built, rough, and
severe, but brave and true as the blade of his sword; we called him
'Captain Obstinate'; for when once he said a thing, it was fixed; he never
changed his opinions. He had been wounded at Wiazma, and his usually
crimson face was then ghastly pale, while a ragged white handkerchief, all
stained with blood, was bound round his head, and added to the pallor of
his countenance.
"All at once I saw him stagger on his legs like a drunken man, then fall
like a block to the ground.
"'_Morbleu!_ captain,' said I, bending over him, 'you can not remain
here.'
"'You see that I can, since I do it,' replied he, showing his legs.
"'Captain,' said I, 'you must not give way.' Lifting him in my arms, I
tried to put him on his feet. He leaned on me, and attempted to walk, but
in vain; he fell again, dragging me with him.
"'Jobin,' he said; 'all is over. Leave me here, and rejoin your company as
quickly as possible. One word before you go: at Voreppe, near Grenoble,
lives a good woman, eighty-two years of age, my--my mother. Go and see
her, embrace her for me, and tell her that--that--tell her what you will,
but give her this purse and my cross. It is all I have! Now go.'
"'Is that all, captain?'
"'That is all. God bless you! Make haste. Adieu!' My friends, I do not
know how it was, but I felt two tears roll down my cheeks.
"'No, captain,' I cried, 'I will not leave you; either you come with me,
or I will remain with you.'
"'I forbid you to remain.'
"'You may put me under arrest, then, if you like, but at present you must
let me do as I please.'
"'You are an insolent fellow.'
"'Very good, captain, but you must come with me.'
"He bit his lips with rage, but said no more.
"I lifted him, and carried him on my shoulders like a sack. You can easily
imagine that with such a burden I could not keep pace with my comrades. In
fact, I soon lost sight of their columns, and could discern nothing around
me but the white and silent plain.
"I still walked on, when presently appeared a troop of Cossacks galloping
toward me, with furious gesticulations and wild cries.
"The captain was by this time completely insensible, and I resolved,
whatever it might cost me, not to abandon him. I laid him down on the
ground, and covered him with snow; then I crept beneath a heap of dead
bodies, leaving, however, my eyes at liberty.
"Presently the Cossacks came up, and began to strike with their lances
right and left, while their horses trampled us under their feet. One of
these heavy beasts set his foot upon my right arm, and crushed it.
"My friends, I did not speak, I did not stir; I put my right hand into my
mouth to stifle the cry of torture which nearly escaped from me, and in a
few minutes the Cossacks had dispersed.
"When the last of them had disappeared, I quitted my refuge, and proceeded
to disinter the captain. To my joy he gave some signs of life; I contrived
to carry him with my one arm toward a rock which offered a sort of
shelter, and then I laid myself by his side, wrapping my cloak round us
both.
"The night had closed in, and the snow continued to fall.
"The rear-guard had long since disappeared, and the only sound that broke
the stillness of the night was the whistle of a bullet, or the howling of
the wolves feasting on the corpses that lay stretched around.
"God knows what thoughts passed through my soul during that dreadful
night, which, I felt sure, would be my last upon earth. But I remembered
the prayer which my mother had taught me long before, when I was a child
at her knee, and bending low, I repeated it with fervor.
"My children, that did me good, and remember always that a sincere and
fervent prayer is sure to comfort you. I felt astonishingly calmed when I
returned to my place by the captain. But the time passed, and I had fallen
into a state of half stupor, when I saw a group of French officers
approach. Before I had time to speak to them, their chief, a little man,
dressed in a furred pelisse, stepped forward toward me, and said:
'What are you doing here? Why are you away from your regiment?'
"'For two good reasons,' said I, pointing first to the captain, and then
to my bleeding arm.
"'The man says true, Sire,' said one of those who followed him; 'I saw him
marching in the rear of his regiment, and carrying this officer on his
back.'
"The emperor--for, my friends, it was he!--gave me one of those glances
that only he, or the eagle of the Alps, could give, and said: 'It is well.
You have done very well.' Then opening his pelisse, he took the cross
which decorated his green coat, and gave it to me. At that instant I was
no longer hungry, no longer cold; I felt no more pain from my arm than if
that awkward beast had never touched it.
"'Davoust,' added the emperor, addressing the officer who had spoken to
him, 'see this man and his captain placed in one of the baggage-wagons.
Adieu!' And making me a motion of the hand, he went away."
Here the veteran ceased, and resumed his pipe.
"But tell us what became of 'Captain Obstinate,'" cried many impatient
voices.
"The captain recovered, and is now a general on the retired list. But the
best of the joke was, that as soon as he got well, he put me under arrest
for fifteen days, as a punishment for my infraction of discipline.
"This circumstance came to the ears of Napoleon, and after laughing
heartily, he not only caused me to be set free, but promoted me to the
rank of sergeant. As to the decoration, my children, here is the ribbon at
my button-hole, but the cross I wear next my heart."
And opening his vest, he showed his eager audience the precious relic,
suspended from his neck in a little satin bag.--_Harper's Magazine_,
1854.