The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard

those grotesque door-knockers which one sees in the Faubourg St Germain. We heard afterwards that the Emperor had said in jest that he would have sent him against Wel

rs,’ said he, with the air of

alu

tier of the Ho

n answered

has a missi

flung open the doo

ide quite heavy enough for a hussar. It is evident, too, that his body is too long for his legs. With his big, round head, his curved shoulders, and his clean-shaven face, he is more like a Professor at the Sorbonne than the first soldier in France. Every man to his taste, but it seems to me that, if I could cl

g to look wise, and just as we entered, Napoleon snatched his sword impatiently from him and pointed with it on the map. He was talking fast and low, but I heard him

d the cross of honour, Br

that it was not for want of having deserved i

Major?’

, s

both have your o

n the wall and placed the tip

used to light up his pale face with a kind of cold sunshine. ‘Here at Rheims are our present headquarters on this the 14th of March. Very good. Here is P

King of Spain, will be there with a hundred thousand men. It is to him that I send you. You will hand him this letter, a copy of which I confide to each of you. It is to tell him that I

o us I clicked my spurs and threw out my chest, smiling and nodding to let him know that I saw what he would be after. He smiled also, and res

as far as Bazoches. You will then separate, the one making for Paris by Oulchy and Neuilly, and th

ideas. I had begun to speak about glory a

Major Ch

afe, are we at liberty to

o show that we were dismissed, and turned round to Berthier

e fastest horse in the six brigades of light cavalry, and was only beaten by the Duke of Rovigo’s racer from England. As to Charpentier, he had the kind of horse which a horse grenadier or a cuirassier would be likely to ride: a back like a bedstead, you understand, and legs like the posts.

t. Our army was thawing away. The Guards were all right, though the young guard was full of conscripts. The artillery and the heavy cavalry were also good if there were more of them, but the infantry privates with their under of

my dolman and had promised me a medal of honour. This set me singing, and I spurred Violette on, until Charpentier had to beg me to have mercy on his great, snorti

eavy with thought. More than once I asked him what was on his mind, thinking that, perhaps, with my quicker intelligence I might set the matter straight. His answer always was that it was his mission of whi

oad and I the northern. He half turned in his saddle before he left me

ke of it, Briga

wh

ur mi

t is plai

should the Emperor

ecognized our

ed in a manner whi

do if you find these village

obey my

will be

poss

oad. I saw his big fur cap vanish over the brow of the hill, and then I rode upon my way, wondering at his conduct. From time to time I put my hand to the breast of my tunic and felt the paper crackle beneath my

e hear one’s own voice. It was from the innkeeper that I learned that Marmont had fallen back two days before, and that the Prussians were over the Aisne. An hour later, in the

of the tone of his voice when he said to Charpentier that a soldier must not choose, but must obey. I should follow the route he had laid down for me as long as Violette could move a hoof or I a finger upon her bridle. All the way from Sermoi

, a woman cried to me from the field, saying that the Prussians were in Soissons. A small party of their lancers, she said, had come in that very afternoon, and a whole

g, and I stabbed at another but missed him. Pang, pang, went two carbines, but I had flown round the curve of the street, and never so much as heard the hiss of the balls. Ah, we were great, both Violette and I. She lay down to it like a coursed hare, the fire flying from her hoofs. I stood in my stirrups and brandished my sword. Someone sprang for my bridle. I sliced him through the arm, and I heard him howl

ng her two pieces of sugar soaked in cognac from my flask. She was spent from the sharp chase, but it was wonderful to see how she came round with a half-hour’s

fields to avoid it. At another time two men came out into the moonlight (for by this time it was a cloudless night) and shouted something in German, but I galloped on without hee

f the night-time, and with the knowledge that danger was in front and behind me, the sight of that great distant fire was very striking and awesome. But I am not easily clouded, for I have seen too many singular things, so I hummed a tun

had brooded for a week. Now I saw like a flash that, come what might, I should be chased, and on a horse which had already done a long twelve leagues. But it was better to be chased onwards than to

f them fired and three swung themselves on to their horses. A bullet rapped on the crupper of my saddle with a noise like a stick on a door. Violette sprang madly forward, and I thought she had been wounded, but it was only a graze above the near fore-fetlock. Ah, the dear little mare

of them, a young boy of an officer, who was better mounted than the others. He drew ahead with every stride. Two hundred yards behind him were two troopers,

a very, very little, so that he might think he was really catching me. When he came within pistol-shot of me I drew and cocked my own pistol, and laid my chin upon my shoulder to see what he would do. He did not offer to fire, and I soon discerned the cause. The silly boy had taken his

vous!’ h

ace, and could see, even in the moonlight, how white he grew when he understood that it was all up with him. But even as my finger pressed the trigger I thought of his mother, and I pu

had heard the last of them; but, my faith, I soon saw there was no time for loitering, so away we went, the mare tossing her head and I my shako, to show what we thought of two dragoons who tried to catch a hussar. But at this moment, even while I laughed at the thought, my hear

t such things, and the only words I could remember were the prayer for fine weather which we used at the school on the evening before holidays. Even this seemed better than nothing, and I was pattering it out, when suddenly I heard French voices in front of me. Ah, mon Dieu, but the joy went through my heart like a musket-ball. They were ours — our own dear little rascals from the co

s little pink eyes filled with tears, and, indeed, I could not but shed a few myself at the sight

here,’ said he.

where the enemy

h? Why should you choose to pass through the one pl

he obeys,’ said I, just as

d to give my moustachios a twirl and look him up

rders are to reconnoitre the place. A squadron of Poniatowski’s Polish Lancers are in fro

for their horses. It was a treat to see them, for they could not have carried themselves better if they had belonged to my own brigade. We rode togeth

ir frightful language — quartered upon the Mayor’s house, which stands at the corner of the market-place, and is the largest building in the town. A whole division of Prussion infantry was encampe

ey shrieked, and fired with their carbines, but our fellows were into the house and at their throats before they had wiped the sleep out of their eyes. It was dreadful to see how the Poles flung themselves upon them, like starving wolves upon a herd of fat bucks — for, as you know, the Poles have a blood feud against the Cossacks. The most were killed in the upper

o this moment I had carried out my mission in a manner which only my modesty prevents me from de

I might have three hours the better at the other end. Then on the top of it came those heads at the windows, with their sheepskin hats and their barbarous cries. I sprang from my saddle, threw Violette’s bridle over a rail-post, and ran into the house with the rest. It is true that I was too late to be of service, and that I was n

ept his fodder. My faith, but the little sweetheart was ready for it. Then I sponged down her legs, and leaving her still te

ich have happened to me in my lifetime. You can understand that, to a man who spends his life in scouting and vedette duties on the bloody

e might not crack a bottle of wine together. ‘My faith, we must not be long,’ s

the wine

ne is,’ said he, and taking a candle in his hand, h

sh to have a better set of bins to pick from. Chambertin, Graves, Alicant, white wine and red, sparkling and still, they lay in pyramids peeping coyly out of sawdust. Old Bouvet stood with his candle looking here and peeping there, purring in his throat like a

ered up the stone steps, his spurs clinking as he ran. I followed him, but just as we came

I cried, grasping

n not throwing out his scouts to warn him if the Germans advanced upon him. For an instant I was about to rush up with him, and then I bethought myself that, after all, I had my own mission to

y sword. Then I found that it lighted easily enough. But what to do I could not imagine. The scoundrels upstairs were shouting themselves hoarse, several hundred of them from the sound, and it was clear that some of them would soon want to moisten their throats. There would be an end to a dashing soldier, and of the mission and of the medal. I thought of my mother and I thought of the Emperor. It made me weep to think that the one would lose so ex

l, so that it was only a man with quick sight who would have noticed it. I pushed against it, and at first I imagined that it was locked. Presently, however, it gave a little, and then I understood that it was held by the pressure of something on the other side. I put my feet

think that perhaps this was where the Mayor kept his reserves of wine while they were maturing. At any rate, it seemed to be a safer hiding-place than the outer cellar, so gather

of daylight, and then out again into the darkness at the further end. My word, I gave such a start that my shako nearly broke its chin-strap! It was only a glance, but, none the less, I had time to see that the fellow had a ha

t he was afraid — horribly afraid. I could read it from his quick step and his bent shoulders as he ran among the barrels, like a rat making for its hole. And, of course, it must have been he who had held the door against me, and not some packing-case or win

catching my spurs in some canvas, I thought the bolder course the wiser. I lit it, therefore, and then I advanced with long

at me over a barrel. He had a gold chevron on his black cap, and the expression

myself on a promise of quarter. But if I do not have you

is safe.’ With that he handed his sword over the top of the barrel, and I bow

he. ‘I came out with my troop to reconnoitre Senlis, and as we fo

’ I asked, ‘if I were to inquire

harm, so I came down to see what I could find. As I was rummaging about, the house was suddenly carried by assault so rapidly that by the time I had cli

unt, being in the back cellar while we were in the front one, had not heard the sounds which would have told him that the house was once again in the hands of his own allies. If he should once understand this the tabl

I, ‘I find myself in a

hy?’ h

ve promised y

dropped

ithdraw your pro

can die in your defence,’ said I;

it, then?

ncensed against the Cossacks that the mere sight of the uniform drives them mad. They precipitate thems

at my words and the wa

is terribl

up together at this moment I cannot

ld you suggest that we should do? Would i

worst

d w

be cut to pieces. No, no, I must go and break it to them. But even then,

en take the

ill take your uniform off and put on mine. Tha

ench I fear so mu

ill be a safeguar

he cried. ‘But you —

l wear

ll a victim to

swords will be turned upon me. “Hold!” I will shout, “I am the Brigadier Gerard!” Then they will see my fac

y hussar jacket, my dolman, my shako, my sword-belt, and my sabre-tasche, while I took in exchange his high sheepskin cap with the gold chevron, his fur-trimmed

aid I, ‘I shall now

upon my plans? He was leaning against a barrel at the time, so I ran six times round it with a rope, and then tied it with a big knot behind. If he wished to come upstairs he would, at least, have to carry a

n leg and saw the horse artillery galloping down upon me. Of course, I knew that if I were taken I should be shot instantly as being disguised within the enemy’s lines. Still, it was a glorious death — in the

was Bouvet’s dead body, with his legs drawn up and a broken sword in his hand. I could see by the black smudge that he had been shot at cl

across and clapped me on the shoulder, pointing to the dead bodies of our poor hussars, and saying something which was meant for a jest, for his long beard opened and showed every fang in his head. I laughed heartily also, and said the only Russian words that I knew. I learned them from little Sophie, at Wilna, and they meant: ‘If the night is fine we shall

not mount her. No. I was much too cunning for that. On the contrary, I chose the most shaggy little Cossack horse that I could see, and I sprang upon it with as much assurance as though it had belonged to my father b

ointed me out to each other, saying, as I could judge from their gestures, ‘There

until I was beyond the northern outskirt of the town. I could see in the roadway two lancer vedettes with their black and white pennons, and I knew that when I was once past these I should be a free man once more. I made my pony trot, therefore, Violette rubbing her nose against my knee al

ow myself down in my despair, and to cry out that I had been betrayed. But, no; I was not beaten even now. I opened two buttons of my tunic so that I might get easily at the Emperor’s message, for it was my fixed determination when all hope was gone to swallow the letter and then die sword in hand. Then I fe

hing which was as it should not be. He shouted out a question, and then when I gave no answer he pulled out his sword. I was glad in my heart to see him do so, for I had always rather fight than cut down an unsuspecting enemy. Now I made at him full tilt, and, parrying his cut, I got my point in just under the fourth button of his tunic. Down he went, and the weight of him nearly took me off my horse before I could disengage. I never glanced at him to see if he were living or dead, for I sprang off my pony and on to Violette, with a shake

he incredible way in which I had risen above every danger? He had ordered me to go through Sermoise, Soissons, and Senlis, little dreaming that they were all three occupied by the enemy. And yet

ould see from the horsehair crests that they were French. I galloped towards them in order to ask them if all was safe between there and Par

n ever, but you can imagine my feelings when he suddenly made a cut at me which would certainly have taken my head off if I had not fallen forward with my nose in Violette’s mane. My faith, it whistled just over my cap like an east wind. Of course, it came from this accursed Cossack

s going north to Marmont and Mortier. You cannot conceive the excitement which my appearance in such a costume made in Paris, and when I came to the Rue de Rivoli I should think I had a quarter of a mile of folk riding or running behind me. Wo

but now I threw out my chest until it was as tight as a sausage-skin. And my little sweetheart of a mare tossed her mane and pawed with her front hoofs, frisking her tail about as though she said, ‘We’ve done it together t

in Spain. He seemed as stout, as quiet, and as amiable as ever. Talleyrand was in the room with him, or I suppose I should call him the Duke of Benevento, but I confess that I li

only messeng

said I. ‘Major Charpentier

arrived,’ said t

his horse, sire, you would

’ said Talleyrand, and he ga

nt to my old friend Chaubert, in the Rue Miromesnil, and there I got his hussar uniform, which fitted me very well. He and Lisette and I supped together in his rooms, and all my dangers were forgotten. In the morning I fou

ed at Rheims, where Napoleon was still lying. The bodies of our fellows and of St Prest’s Russians had all been buried, and I could see changes in the camp also. The soldiers

ront of him. Berthier and Macdonald were leaning, one over each shoulder, and he was talking so quickly that I don’t believe that either of them could catch a h

re?’ he shouted. When he was ang

re,’ said I, ‘that I have delivered you

. Oh, those dreadful eyes, shifting from grey to blue, like ste

me of Charpent

ured,’ said

wh

Russi

Cossa

single

e himse

t resis

. You will see that the medal

I had to rub my eyes to m

mportant message by such a hand as yours, and through every village which the enemy holds? How you came through them passes my comprehension; but if your fellow-messenger had had but as little sense as you, my w

for my mind was failing me and my knees would hardly bear me up. But then I took courage as I reflected that I was

t you had wished the despatch to fall into the hands of the enemy, I would have seen that it came there. As I believed that I was to guard it, I was prepared to sacrifice

s, my adventure in Senlis, my rencontre with Count Boutkine in the cellar, my disguise, my meeting with the Cossack officer, my flight, and how at the last moment I was nearly cut

ing which I may have said. I would hav

nd was upon the handle, when th

adier Gerard has the special medal of honour, for I believe that if