The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard

ith wine and folly. Now I, Etienne Gerard, was always totally devoid of swagger, and at the same time I was very abstemious, except, maybe, at the end of a campaign, or when I met

n his early campaigns. Except Lasalle, and Labau, and Drouet, I can hardly remember any one of the generals who had not already made his name before the Egyptian business. Even I, with all m

you the other night, they kept a very good guard over me at Oporto, and I promise you that they did not give such a formidable opponent a chance of slipping through their fingers. It was on the

ou understand that we were all brave men there, and that

were seamen, or from the ranks. You ask me, perhaps, why it was that I did not give this parole, and so enjoy the s

income of my mother. On the other hand, it would never do for a man like me to be outshone by the bourgeois society of an English country town, or to be without the means of showing courtesies and attentions to those ladies whom I should

men — warriors, you understand, men of experience and courage. Around there were a double wall and a ditch, and warders and soldiers; but, my faith! you could not coop men like that up like rabbits in a hutch! They would escape by twos and tens and twenties, and then the cannon would boom, and the search parties run, and we, who were left behind, would laugh and dance and shout ‘Vive l’Emp

o escape. Well, that night, owing to some form or other which had to be gone through, they did not take him out from among the other prisoners, and though he wept and screamed, and grovelled upon the ground, they left him there amongst the comrades whom he had betrayed. That night there was a trial with a whispered

aten at Vimiera. We had chasseurs in their green tunics, and hussars, like myself, and blue-coated dragoons, and white-fronted lancers, and voltigeurs, and grenadiers, and the men of the artillery and engineers. But the greater part were naval officers, for the English had had the better of us u

again, and you can readily believe that, with wits sharpened by

e ancient kings of the country. I was quickly able to speak it with some facility, for I do not take long to master anything to which I set my mind. In three months I could not only express my meaning, but I could use the idioms of the people. It was

e, for my room-mate was a tall, silent man named Beaumont, of the Fl

I thought that his two years of captivity had driven him crazy. Ah, how I longed that old Bouvet, or any of my comrades of the hussars, was there, instead of this mummy of a man. But such as he was I had to make the best of him, and it was very evident

ands — nothing more. It was enough for my wants, for when had I had as much during those twelve years spent in camps? But how was I to get out? Night after night I thought of my five hundred hussars, and had dreadful nightmares, in which I fancied that the whole regiment needed shoeing, or that my horses were all bloated with green

ters worse, it only led out into the exercise yard, which was surrounded by two high walls. Still, as I said to my sullen comrade, it is time to talk of the Vistula when you are over the Rhine. I got a small piece of iron, therefore, from the fittings of my bed, and I set to work to loosen the

ld work like a madman, until my iron was crusted with blood, as if with rust. And so, night by night, I loosened that stony plaster, and hid it away in the stuf

d I picked and picked with the sharpened end of my bar until I had worked out the mortar all round. You understand, of course, that during the day I replaced everything in its position, and that the warder was never permitted to see a speck upon the floor. At the end of three weeks I had separated the stone, and had the rapture of drawing it through, a

rved for prisoners who are caught in escaping. I set to work, therefore, to plan what I should do. I have never, as you know, had the chance of showing what I could do as a general. Sometimes, after a glass or two of wine, I have found myself capable of thinking out surprising combinations, and have felt that if Napoleon had intrusted me wit

exercise yard was open. It appeared to be about the same height, and was also spiked at the top. The space between the walls was over twenty feet, and I had reason to believe that there were no se

he spikes, I could easily scale the wall. Could I pull my big companion up after me? That was the question, for when I set forth with a comrade, even though it be one for whom I bear no affection, nothing on earth would ma

ence between them. There were some who were so keen that a rat could not cross the yard unseen, while others thought only of their own ease, and could sleep as soundly leaning upon a musket as if they were at home upon a feather bed. There was one especially, a fat, heavy man, who would reti

thought that the warder would detect the looseness of the bar, or that the sentry would observe the unmortared stone, which I could not conceal outside, as I did within.

him upon the shoulder. ‘You will see y

he. ‘But whither will yo

mes right for a brave man, and I sh

ght for the underground cells, or

emarked. ‘It is only the poltroon

t his hand out towards his water-jug, as though he would have hurled it at me, but then he shrugged his shoulders and sat in silence once more, biting his nails, and

heavens. The rain was pouring down, and what with its hissing and splashing, and the howling and screaming of the wind, it was impossible for me to hear the steps of the sentinels. ‘If I cannot hear them,’ thought I, ‘then it is unlikely that they can hear me’; and I waited with the utmost impatience until the time when the

, Colonel,

ot go first

r you showed

but come silently, a

se. I seized the bar, however, and mounting upon my stool, I thrust my head and shoulders into the hole. I had wriggled through as far a

e sure of a free pardon from the English for having prevented the escape of one so much more distinguished than himself? I had recognized him as a poltroon and a sneak, but I h

I struck him twice with my iron bar. At the first blow he yelped as a little cur does when you tread upon its paw. At the second, down he fell

at amid the fury of the storm his warning cries had passed unheeded? At first it was but a tiny hope, another minute and it was probable, another and

his head. I raised my iron bar, but there was something, my friends, which prevented me from bringing it down. In the heat of fight I have slain many men — men of honour, too, who had done me no injury. Yet here was this wretch, a creature too foul to live,

od reason to think that, in any case, he might not get free before the next visit of the warder. But now again I was faced with new difficulties, for you will remember that I had relied upon his height to help me over the walls. I could have

at I had nothing to fear from him. When I had come under the wall I threw up my bar, and to my joy it stuck the very first time between the spikes at the top. I climbed up my rope, pulled it after me, and dropped down on the other side. Then I scaled the second wall, and was sitting astride among the spikes upon the top, when I saw something twinkle in the darkness beneath me. It was the bayonet of the sentinel below, and so close was it (the second wall being rather lower than the first) that I could easily, by leaning ove

my ears. I stumbled into holes. I tripped over bushes. I fell among brambles. I was torn and breathless and bleeding. My

had told Beaumont the opposite. I would fly to the north, and they would seek me in the south. Perhaps you will ask me how I could tell which was which on such a night

ssar uniform, you understand, and it seemed to me that the very first thing that I should aim at was to get some dress which should not betray me. If these lights came from a cottage, it was probab

at there were two horses to the equipage, that a small post-boy was standing at their heads, and that one of the wheels was lying in the road beside him. I can see them now, my friends: the steaming creatures, the stunte

n a voice of despair. ‘Sir Charles is certainly lost

to the glare of the lamps. A woman in distress is a sacred thing to me, and this one was beautif

uniform all stained and torn with brambles, I was not entirely the sort of gentleman whom one would choose to meet in the middle of a lonely moor. Still, after the first surpri

r remark, and I could not refrain from offering you my assistance.’ I bowed a

ock. Finally, one of our wheels came off, and here we are helpless in the middle of the moor. My

ch her companion must have left behind him. It was exactly what I needed to conceal my uniform. It is true that I felt

I remarked. ‘You will, I am sure, forgive me, if I am c

ok of surprise and fear and di

to rob me, then, and not to help me. You have the bear

necessary that I should take this coat, but if you will have the goodness to tell me who it i

‘is Sir Charles Meredith, and he is travelling to Dartmoor Prison, upon important Government

ng which belongs to hi

en it from the ca

ed. ‘It still

in her frank

pliments, you were to return

le. If you will allow me to come into the carriage, I

eard a faint halloa in the distance, which was answered by a shout from the little post-boy.

pause a moment to salute the lady’s hand, which she snatched through the window with an admirable pretence of being offended at my presumption. Then, as the lanter

was young and hard, with muscles of steel, and a frame which had been toughened by twelve years of camp and field. Thus I was able to keep up this wild flight for another three hours, during which I still guided myself, you understand, by keeping the wind in my face. At the end of that time I calculated that I had put nearly twenty miles bet

es, just as I did at Elchingen. I stood in my stirrups to shout ‘Vive l’Empereur!’ and as I did so, there came the answering roar from my hussars, ‘Vive l’Empereur!’ I sprang from my rough bed, with the words still ringing in my ears, and then, as I rubb

became clear to me, and I struck my head with my hands in my despair. The wind had veered from north to south during the night, and I, keeping my face always towards it, had run ten miles out and ten miles in, winding up where I had started. When I thought of my hurry, my fall

ck from there, and I lay quite undisturbed in the little bush-covered cup at the summit of my knoll. The prisoners had, of course, learned of my escape, and all day exultant yells, like that which had aroused me in the morning, resounded over the moor, bearing a welcome message of sympathy and companionship to my ears. How little did they dream that on the top of that very mound, which they could see from their windows, was lying the comrade whose escape they were celebrating? As for me — I could look down upon thi

screen of bushes, listening to the

water, so that I was able to get through the day without hardship. The only other things in the pockets were a red silk handkerchief, a tortoise-shell snuff-box, and

almost made up my mind to leave it under a stone upon the roadway within musket-shot of the gate. This would guide them in their search for me, however, and so, on the whole, I sa

My plan now was to obtain a complete suit of clothes from the first person whom I could waylay, and I should then find my way to the north coast, where there were many smugglers and fishermen who would be ready to earn the reward which was paid by the Emperor to those wh

f the customs of the English, which differ very much from those of other nations. Much as I should have wished, however, to have seen them eat their raw meat and sell their wives, it would have been dangerous until I

d hens. I lay down among the ferns and watched it, for it seemed to be exactly the kind of place where I might obtain what I wanted. My bread was finished, and I was exceedingly hungry after my long journey; I determined, therefore

hem up and down, and round and round, with extraordinary swiftness. The other, standing beside him, appeared to watch him with great attention, and occasionally to advise him. Finally he took a rope, and began skipping like a girl, the othe

ident that his exercise is over’; but, far from this being so, the man began to run, in spite of his heavy coat, and as it chanced, he came right over the moor in my direction. His companion had re-entered the house, so that this arrangement suited me admirably. I

coat, and the perspiration running down his face. He seemed to be a very solid man — but small — so small that I feared that his

‘give it a name, guv’nor!

ough I cannot pretend to t

‘but I am under the necessity of

u what?’

clot

-fighting!’ said he. ‘What am

e I nee

ppose I

‘I shall have no choi

his great-coat, and a most amused smile

this time. I know who you are. You’re a runaway Frenchy, from the prison yonder, as anyone could tell with half an eye. But you don’t know who I a

crushed me to the earth, but I smiled at him in my turn,

u are opposed to Colonel Etienne Gerard, of the Hussars of Conflans, you

it!’ he cried; ‘this’ll e

instant!’ I shouted, ad

but on horse or on foot, with arms or without them, I am always ready to take my own part. You understand that a soldier cannot always choose his own methods, and that it is time to howl when you are living among wolves. I rushed at him, therefo

nose was full of a pungent smell, and I soon found that a strip of paper soaked in vinegar was fastened across my brow. At the other end of the room this terrible little man was sitting with his knee

the weight of it on my shoulders, and then when I get you as fit as a trout, and within two days

ther, sulkily. ‘You’re a very good traine

knee don’t get well before next Wednesday, they’ll have it that you foug

ever so much as dared to say the word “cross” in my hearin’. How the deuce

a mile of you. You could have set them on to him as well th

’, but when it comes to givin’ up my clothes to a Frenchy who couldn

ounds on you? When you jump the ropes on Wednesday, you’ll carry every penny of fifty thousan

he’d ha’ kicked,’

n’s rules, and strict P.R.? Why, you silly,

, that we have paid our little visit to nearly every capital in Europe, and very soon we are coming to London. But we fight like soldiers, you understand, and not like gamins in th

at me in their so

sn’t much sign of life in you when the Bustler and me carried you down. That head

ubbing his knee. ‘I got my old left-right in, and he went over as if he had been p

t in England,’ said the older man, looking at me with an expression of congratulation upon his

showing my two musket wounds. Then I bared my ankle also, an

is gruel,’ sai

emarked the trainer; ‘with six months’ coaching he’d asto

ark at all. I buttoned up my

let me continue m

a man as you back to such a place, but business is business, and there’s a twenty pound

urned my he

you twice twenty pounds on the day that I set foot upon F

the fellowship of brave men, but I might as well have been addressing the two great wooden clubs whi

t the Bustler into the ring on Wednesday if he’s jugged by the beak for aidin’ and a

could fancy that I should submit to such a fate. I had heard enough to tell me where the weak point of these two men was, and I showed, as I have often showed before, tha

ied, ‘you shall be sp

have sprung at me, but the other flung his

es while I am by. Get away out of this, Frenchy. We only wa

nsider all that I had been through, the anxiety of my escape, the long, useless flight in the storm, the day spent amid wet ferns, with only bread for food, the second journey

one my best, and I could do no more. It was the sound of horses’ hoofs which made me at last raise my head, and there

ith a bitter smile, ‘we h

in which he accepts his defeat. For me, I took the letter which I had in my pocket, and

ne, sir, to detain one o

s to arrest me. Then he broke the seal of the letter. I

er which Sir Charles M

the pocket

arried it f

night bef

looked at t

ed an indiscretion in asking a question which

burst out into a

given both yourself and us a great deal of unnecessary trouble. All

was what

enne Gerard, of the 3rd Hussars, who has been exchanged aga

, and my struggles and dangers, what could a debonair soldier do but lean against the porch once more, and laugh as heartily as any of them? And of them all was it not I who had the best r