Chapter 130
"_Parbleu!_" exclaimed he, "that is very different. Twenty thousand francs, however, is a considerable sum."
"I have as much, and something more, if need be, in my carriage,--if English gold be no objection."
"No, _pardie!_ that it is not," cried he, laughing; "I only wish we saw more of it. Are you serious in all this?"
The best reply to his question was to hasten down stairs and return with two small canvas bags in my hands.
"Here are one thousand guineas," said I, laying them on the table.
While one of the general's aides-de-camp was counting and examining the gold, I repeated at his request the circ.u.mstances which brought me once again to France to serve under the banner of the Emperor.
"And your name, sir," said he, as he seated himself to write, "is Thomas Burke, ci-devant captain of the Eighth Hussars of the Guard. Well, I can promise you the restoration of your old grade. Meanwhile, you must take command of these fellows. They are mere partisan troops, hurriedly raised, and ill organized; but I'll give you a letter to General Damremont at Chalons, and he 'll attend to you."
"It is not a position for myself I seek, General," said I. "Wherever I can best serve the Emperor, there only I desire to be."
"I have ventured to leave that point to General Damremont," said he, smiling. "Your motives do not require much explanation. Let us to breakfast now, and by noon we shall have everything in readiness for your departure."
Thus rapidly, and as it were by the merest accident, was I again become a soldier of the Emperor; and that same day was once more at the head of a squadron, on my way to Chalons. My troop were, indeed, very unlike the splendid array of my old Hussars of the Guard. They were hurriedly raised, and not over well equipped, but still they were stout-looking, hardy peasants, who, whatever deficiency of drill they might display, I knew well would exhibit no lack of courage before an enemy.
On reaching Chalons, I found that General Damremont had left with the staff for Vitry only a few hours before; and so I reported myself to the officer commanding the town, and was ordered by him to join the cavalry brigade then advancing on Vitry.
Had I time at this moment, I could not help devoting some minutes to an account of that strange and motley ma.s.s which then were brigaded as Imperial cavalry. Dragoons of every cla.s.s, heavy and light-armed,--grenadiers a cheval and hussars, cuira.s.siers, carbineers, and lancers,--were all, pell-mell, mixed up confusedly together, and hurried onwards; some to join their respective corps if they could find them, but all prepared to serve wherever their sabres might be called for. It was confusion to the last degree; but a tumult without enthusiasm or impulse. The superior officers, who were well acquainted with the state of events, made no secret of their gloomy forebodings; the juniors lacked energy in a cause where they saw no field for advancement; and the soldiers, always prepared to imbibe their feelings from their officers, seemed alike sad and dispirited.
What a change was this from the wild and joyous spirit which once animated every grade and cla.s.s,--from the generous enthusiasm that once warmed each bold heart, and made every soldier a hero! Alas! the terrible consequences of long defeat were on all. The tide of battle that rolled disastrously from the ruined walls of the Kremlin still swept along towards the great Palace of the Tuileries. Germany had witnessed the destruction of two mighty armies; the third and last was now awaiting the eventful struggle on the very soil of their country.
The tide of fugitives, which preceded the retiring columns of Victor and Ney, met the advancing bodies of the conscripts, and spread dismay and consternation as they went.
The dejection was but the shadow of the last approaching disaster.
On the night of the 27th January, the cavalry brigade with which I was received orders to march by the Forest of Bar on Brienne, where Blucher was stationed in no expectation of being attacked. The movement, notwithstanding the heavy roads, was made with great rapidity; and by noon on the following day we
Then once more did I recognize the old spirit of the army. Joyous songs and gay cheers were heard from the different corps we pa.s.sed.
The announcement of a speedy meeting with the Prussians had infused new vigor among the troops. We were emerging from the deep shade of the wood into a valley, where a light infantry regiment were bivouacked. Their fires were formed in a wide circle, and the cooking went merrily on, amid the pleasant song and jocund cries.
Our own brief halt was just concluded, when the bugles sounded to resume the march; and I stood for a moment admiring the merry gambols of the infantry, when an air I well remembered was chanted forth in full chorus. But my memory was not left long in doubt as to where and how these sounds were first heard. The wild uproar at once recalled both, as they sang out,--
"Hurrah for the Faubourg of St. Antoine!"
No sooner did I hear the words, than I spurred my horse forward and rode down towards them.
"What regiment's yours, Comrade?" said I, to a fellow hurrying to the ranks.
"The Fifth, mon officier," said he, "Voltigeurs of the Line."
"Have you a certain Francois, a maitre d'armes, still among you?"
"Yes, that we have. There he is yonder, beating time to the roulade."
I looked in the direction he pointed, and there stood my old friend. He was advanced in front of a company, and with the air of a tambour-major he seemed as if he was giving time to the melody.
"Ah, _sacre_ conscripts that ye are!" cried he, as with his fist clenched he gesticulated fiercely towards them; "can't ye keep the measure? Once, now, and all together:--
"'Picardy first, and then--."
"Halloo, Maitre Francois! can you remember an old friend?"
The little man turned suddenly, and bringing his hand to the salute, remained stiff and erect, as if on parade.
"Connais pas, mon capitaine," was his answer, after a considerable pause.
"What! not know me!--me, whom you made one of your own gallant company, calling me 'Burke of Ours'?"
"Ah, _par la barbe de Saint Pierre!_ is this my dear comrade of the Eighth? Why, where have you been? They said you left us forever and aye."
"I tried it, Francois; but it wouldn't do."
"Mille bombes!" said he; "but you 're back in pleasant times,--to see the Cossacks learning to drink champagne, and leave us to pay the score.
Come along, however; take your old place here. You are free to choose now, and needn't be a dragoon any longer; not but that your old general will be glad to see you again."
"General d'Auvergne! Where is he now?"
"With the light cavalry brigade, in front; I saw him pa.s.s here two hours since."
"And how looks he, Francois?"
"A little stooped, or so, more than you knew him; but his seat in the saddle seems just as firm. _Ventrebleu!_ if he 'd been a voltigeur, he 'd be a good man these ten years to come."
Delighted to learn that I was so near my dearest and oldest friend in the world, I shook Francois's hand, and parted; but not without a pledge, that whenever I joined the infantry, the Fifth Voltigeurs of the Line were to have the preference.
As we advanced towards Brienne the distant thunder of large guns was heard; which gradually grew louder and more sustained, and betokened that the battle had already begun. The roads, blocked up with dense ma.s.ses of infantry and long trains of wagons, prevented our rapid advance; and when we tried the fields at either side, the soil, cut up with recent rains, made us sink to the very girths of our horses. Still, order after order came for the troops to press forward, and every effort was made to obey the command.
It was five o'clock as we debouched into the plain, and beheld the fields whereon the battle had been contested; for already the enemy were retiring, and the French troops in eager pursuit. Behind, however, lay the town of Brienne, still held by the Russians, but now little better than a heap of smoking ruins, the tremendous fire of the French artillery having reduced the place to ashes. Conspicuous above all rose the dismantled walls of the ancient military college; the school where Napoleon had learned his first lesson in war, where first he essayed to point those guns which now with such fearful havoc he turned against itself. What a strange, sad Subject of contemplation for him who now gazed on it! On either side, the fire of the artillery continued till nightfall; but the Russians still held the town. A few straggling shots closed the combat; and darkness now spread over the wide plain, save where the watchfires marked out the position of the French troops.
A sudden flash of lurid flame, however, threw its gleam over the town, and a wild cheer was heard rising above the clatter of musketry. It was a surprise party of grenadiers, who had forced their way into the grounds of the old chateau, where Blucher held his headquarters. Louder and louder grew the firing, and a red glare in the dark sky told how the battle was raging. Up that steep street, at the top of which the venerable chateau stood, poured the infantry columns in a run. The struggle was short. The dull sound of the Russian drum soon proclaimed a retreat; and a rocket darting through the black sky announced to the Emperor that the position had been won.
The next day the Emperor fixed his headquarters at the chateau, and a battalion of the guard bivouacked in the park around it. I had sent forward the letter to General Damremont, and was wondering when and in what terms the reply might come, when the general himself rode up, accompanied by a single aide-de-camp.
"I have had the opportunity, sir, to speak of your conduct in the proper quarter," said he, courteously; "and the result is, your appointment as major of the Tenth Hussars, or, if you prefer it, the staff."
"Wherever, sir, my humble services can best be employed. I have no other wish."
"Then take the regimental rank," said he; "your brigade will see enough of hot work ere long. And now push forward to Mezieres, where you'll find your regiment. They have received orders to march to-morrow, early."
I was not sorry to be relieved from the command of my irregular horse, who went by the t.i.tle of "brigands" in the army generally; though, if the truth were to be told, the reproach on the score of honesty came ill from those who conferred it. Still, it was a more gratifying position to hold a rank in a regiment of regular cavalry, and one whose reputation was second to none in the service.
"I wish to present myself to the colonel in command, sir," said I, addressing an officer, who with two or three others stood chatting at the door of a cottage.
"You 'll find him here, sir," said he, pointing to the hut. But, as he spoke, the clank of a sabre was heard, and at the same instant a tall, soldierlike figure stooped beneath the low doorway, and came forth.
"The colonel of the Tenth, I presume?" said I, handing the despatch from General Damremont.