[22] This was one of the first questions General Pau put to the Admiral:
"Are your men good walkers?" He foresaw that they might have to execute
a very rapid retreat. Our officers felt some anxiety on this score.
"When not in danger," says Dr. L. F. in his note-book, "the sailor gets
rusty. At the beginning of October all of us, officers and men alike,
had received the blue infantry overcoat, which was obligatory. The men
shouldered knapsacks (not without grumbling), and we were transformed
into troopers, nothing left of naval uniform but our caps.... This part
of the foot-soldier assigned to them seems an inferior one to our men,
and they accept it unwillingly, especially when it entails military
marches with great-coats and haversacks. We had innumerable limpers and
laggards on our marches in the environs of Paris. The contrast was very
striking to those who saw our men afterwards in Belgium. It was a proof
of the marvellous resilience of our race, and more particularly of our
Bretons, who are always in the majority in the brigade."