CHAPTER XIII
WITH THE REAR-GUARD
Napoleon had as yet no idea that the fires were other than accidental,and the next morning removed his headquarters to the Imperial Palace,the Kremlin, from which he fondly hoped to dictate terms of peace toRussia. But it was not long before the truth became evident. Every hourfresh fires broke out, and, spreading rapidly, by nightfall the wholecity was in flames. On the following day the Kremlin itself became souninhabitable from the heat, that the Emperor was forced to withdrawfrom it, and could not return till the 20th, when heavy rainextinguished the flames, which had already consumed nine-tenths of thecity. Of 48,000 houses only 700 escaped; of 1600 churches 800 weredestroyed and 700 damaged; of 24,000 wounded French and Russians in thehospitals more than 20,000 perished in the flames. In the meantimeKutusow had tardily adopted the advice he had before rejected, had movedround with his army and taken up his position on the Oka river, nearKulouga, where he menaced the French line of communication. Already theCossack cavalry were hovering round Moscow, intercepting convoys andcutting up small detachments, while the horses of the French cavalrywere so worn out by fatigue and famine that in several affairs with theRussian cavalry the latter gained decisive advantages.
"You are right again, comrade," the old sergeant said to Julian, who hadbeen promoted to the rank of sergeant after the battle of Borodino, asthey stood together on the night of the 15th gazing at the terriblespectacle of the city enveloped in flames. "_Peste!_ these Russians areterrible fellows. Who could have thought of such a thing? It is a badlook-out for us."
"A terrible look-out, there is no denying it," Julian agreed. "It isimpossible for the army to stay here without food, without forage,without shelter, with our communications threatened, and the Russianarmy on our flank. I see nothing for it but to retreat, and the soonerwe are out of it the better. Were I the Emperor I would issue orders forthe march to begin at daylight. In another month winter will be on us,and none can say what disasters may befall the army."
Had the order been given that day the French army might have made itsway back to the frontier, with heavy loss doubtless, but withoutdisaster. But Napoleon could not bring himself to believe that theRussians would refuse to enter into negotiations. He tried throughvarious sources to send proposals to Alexander, and even opened secretnegotiations with Kutusow, and had arranged for a private meeting withhim, when the matter was stopped by Sir Robert Wilson, who had receivedspecific instructions from the Emperor Alexander to interpose in hisname to prevent any negotiations whatever being carried on. Thus weekafter week of precious time passed, and then a portion of the army movedagainst the Russians. Several engagements took place, the advantagegenerally resting with the Russians, especially in an engagement withMurat, who suffered a decisive repulse.
Julian had, as soon as the fire in Moscow burnt itself out, employedhimself in endeavouring to buy some warm garments. Money was plentiful,for there had been no means of spending it since they entered Russia,and he was fortunate in being able to buy some very warm tinder-garmentsthat had been looted by the plunderers on the night of their firstarrival before Moscow. He also purchased a peasant's sheep-skin caftanwith a hood, and sewed this into his military cloak so as to form alining, the hood being for the time turned inside. From anothersheep-skin he manufactured a couple of bags to be used as mittens,without fingers or thumbs. Many of his comrades laughed at him as he didhis work, but as the days grew colder most of them endeavoured to followhis example, and the skins of sheep brought in occasionally by thecavalry were eagerly bought up. Encouraged by his success, Julian nextmanufactured a pair of sheep-skin leggings, with the wool inside. Theywere sewn up at the bottom, so that they could be worn over his boots.The shape left much to be desired, but by cutting up a blanket he madetwo long bands, each three inches wide and some twenty feet long. Thesehe intended to wrap tightly round the leggings when in use.
The leggings, gloves, and bands were stowed away in his knapsack, almosteverything else being discarded to make room for them; for he felt surethat there would be no inspection of kits until the frontier had beencrossed.
Still, Napoleon could not bring himself to issue a general order for aretreat, but corps after corps was moved along the western road.Mortier's division remained last in Moscow, and marched on the 23rd ofOctober, after having, by Napoleon's orders, blown up the Kremlin, theChurch of St. Nicholas, and the adjoining buildings. The safest line ofretreat would have been through Witebsk, but Napoleon took the moresouthern road, and the army believed that it was intended to fightanother great battle with the Russians.
The weather at first was fine. On the 24th the vanguard, under theViceroy, came in contact with Doctorow's division, and a fierce fighttook place near Malo Jaroslavets. The French were checked, and Kutusow,coming up with the main army, it was apparent to all, that the Frenchvanguard could be overwhelmed and Napoleon's retreat brought to astandstill. But, just as the generals were all expecting the order toattack, Kutusow, whose previous conduct in entering into secretnegotiations with Napoleon had excited strong suspicions of his goodfaith, announced that he had changed his mind, and ordered the Russianarmy to draw off, thus for a time saving the French from completedisaster.
The battle, however, had been a sanguinary one, no less than tenthousand being killed on each side. After the retirement of the Russiansthe retreat was continued. Davoust commanded the advance; Ney's divisionwas to cover the rear. The French army at first moved very slowly, forit was not until the 29th that Napoleon reached Borodino. He himself hadlong been in ill-health; bodily pain had sapped his energy. He had for along time been unable to sit on a horse, and had travelled in a closecarriage. Consequently he seemed to have lost for a time all his energyand quickness of decision, and after five weeks thrown away at Moscow,another was wasted in slow movements when haste was of the greatestimportance. The French suffered, too, from the disadvantage that, whiletheir every movement was discovered and reported by the ubiquitousCossacks, they themselves were in absolute ignorance of the strength andmovements of the enemy.
On the 6th of November a bitter frost set in, and the soldiers awokechilled to the bone, and with gloomy anticipations of what would happenwhen the full rigour of a Russian winter was upon them. In some respectsthe frost was an advantage, for it hardened the roads, that were beforeoften almost impassable from the amount of heavy traffic that had passedover them. But, upon the other hand, floating masses of ice speedilycovered the rivers, rendering the work of fording them painful anddifficult in the extreme. A Russian division had, on the 3rd, pressedhotly on the retreating column just as they reached the Wiazma river. Asanguinary conflict took place, the corps of the Viceroy passed throughthe town on its banks, and crossed the river in fair order, but that ofDavoust broke and crossed in great confusion, covered by Ney's division,which retreated steadily, facing about from time to time, and repulsingthe infantry attacks, but suffering heavily from the artillery. Ney setthe town on fire to cover his retreat, crossed the bridges, and therestemmed the further advance of the Russians.
The French loss in the engagement was 6000 killed and wounded, and 2000prisoners. The Viceroy was directed to march on Witebsk, but he wasovertaken by the enemy when endeavouring to throw a bridge over thehalf-frozen little river called the Vop. The bridge, hastily made, gaveway. The banks were extremely steep. The Grenadiers waded through theriver, though the water, full of floating ice, came up to their breasts;but the artillery following were unable to climb the bank, and the gunswere soon frozen fast in the river, and they and the whole of thebaggage had to be left behind. A similar misfortune befell another ofthe Viceroy's divisions, which had remained behind to cover the retreat,and of the 14,000 soldiers who commenced the march but 6000 remainedwith their colours, and but 12 of the 92 guns that had accompanied them.
The condition of the French army rapidly deteriorated. The cold hadalready become intense, and the soldiers being weak with hunger were theless able to support it. The horses died in great num
bers, and theirflesh was the principal food upon which the troops had to rely. No onedared straggle to forage, for the Cossacks were ever hovering round, andthe peasants, emerging from their hiding-places in the forests,murdered, for the most part with atrocious tortures, everyone who fellout of the ranks from wounds, exhaustion, or frost-bite.
Julian had, since their retreat began, again recovered his spirits. Hewas now not fighting to conquer a country against which he had noanimosity, but for his own life and that of the thousands of sick andwounded.
"I am glad that we are in the rear-guard," he said to a number ofnon-commissioned officers who were one evening, when they were fortunateenough to be camped in a wood, gathered round a huge fire.
"Why so, Jules? It seems to me that we have the hardest work, and,besides, there is not a day that we have not to fight."
"That is the thing that does us good," Julian replied. "The columnsahead have nothing to do but to think of the cold, and hunger, andmisery. They straggle along; they no longer march. With us it isotherwise. We are still soldiers; we keep our order. We are proud toknow that the safety of the army depends on us; and, if we do getknocked over with a bullet, surely that is a better fate than droppingfrom exhaustion, and falling into the hands of the peasants."
"You are right, Jules," several of them exclaimed. "It is better athousand times."
"We have a bad prospect before us," Julian went on. "There is no denyingthat; but it will make all the difference how we face it. Above allthings we have got to keep up our spirits. I have heard that thecaptains of the whalers in the northern seas do everything in theirpower to interest and amuse their crews. They sing, they dance, theytell stories of adventures, and the great thing is to keep from broodingover the present. I am but a young sergeant, and most of you here havegone through many a campaign, and it is not for me to give advice, but Ishould say that above all things we ought to try to keep up the spiritsof our men. If we could but start the marching songs we used to sing aswe tramped through Germany, it would set men's feet going in time, wouldmake them forget the cold and hunger, and they would march along erect,instead of with their eyes fixed on the ground, and stumbling as if theycould not drag their feet along. We should tell them why we sing, orthey might think it was a mockery. Tell them that the Grenadiers of theRhone mean to show that, come what may, they intend to be soldiers tothe last, and to face death, whether from the Russians or from thewinter, heads erect and courage high. Let us show them that, as we haveever done our duty, so we shall do it to the end, and that it will be amatter of pride that throughout the division it should be said, whenthey hear our songs, 'There go the Grenadiers of the Rhone, bravefellows and good comrades; see how they bear themselves.'"
"Bravo, bravo, Jules! bravo, Englishman!" the whole of the partyshouted. "So it shall be, we swear it. The Grenadiers of the Rhone shallset an example."
Suddenly the voices hushed, and Julian was about to look round to seethe cause of their silence, when a hand was laid on his shoulder, and,turning, he saw Ney standing beside him, with three or four of hisstaff. They had come up unobserved, and had stopped a few paces awayjust as Julian began to speak.
"Bravo, comrade!" the marshal said; "spoken in the true spirit of asoldier. Were there a dozen men like you in every regiment I should haveno fear for the future. Did they call you Englishman?"
"Yes, General. I was a prisoner at Verdun, though neither an Englishsoldier or sailor, and when a call came for volunteers, and I waspromised that I should not be called upon to fight against my owncountrymen, I thought it better to carry a French musket than to rot ina French prison."
"And you have carried it well," the marshal said. "Had you not done soyou would not have won your stripes among the men of the Grenadiers ofthe Rhone, where every man has again and again shown that he is a hero.Carry out your brave comrade's idea, lads. We all want comforting, andmy own heart will beat quicker to-morrow as I ride along and hear yourmarching song, and I shall say to myself, 'God bless the braveGrenadiers of the Rhone;' I trust that others will follow your example.What is your name, sergeant?"
"Julian Wyatt, General."
"Put it down in my note-book," Ney said to one of his staff."Good-night, comrades, you have done me good. By the way, a hundredyards to your left I marked a dead horse as I came along; it may helpyour suppers." Then, amid a cheer from the soldiers, Ney moved on withhis staff.
It was not many minutes before portions of the horse were cooking overthe fire.
"I feel another man already," one of the younger sergeants laughed, asthey ate their meal. "Jules is right; good spirits are everything."
"Bear that in mind to-morrow, Antoine," another said. "It is easy enoughto be cheerful when one is warm and has got some meat, even though itbe only horse-flesh and mightily tough at that, between your teeth; butit is harder to be so after sixteen hours of marching and fighting."
"Well, we will try anyhow, Jacques."
Another quarter of an hour and the circle broke up, the non-commissionedofficers going off to the companies to which they belonged.
Wood being plentiful, great fires were kept blazing all night, and roundeach was told what Julian had said, the commendation Ney had given theregiment, and his warm approval of the plan. As soon as the order wasgiven to march in the morning, and Julian started one of their oldmarching songs, it was taken up from end to end of the column, to theastonishment of the officers and of the men of other regiments withinhearing. The effect upon the men themselves was electrical. The doggedlook of determination with which they had before plodded along wassupplanted by an air of gaiety. They marched along in time to the musicwith a step that was almost elastic. Not since they had crossed theNiemen had the song been heard; occasionally a singer was silent for aminute or two, and passed his hand across his eyes as he thought of themany voices of comrades, now hushed for ever, that had then joined inthe chorus. Half-an-hour later Ney, followed by his staff, rode alongpast the column. As he reached the head he spoke to the colonel, and theorder was at once given for the regiment to form up in hollow square.When they had done so the colonel shouted, "Attention!" Ney took off hisplumed hat and said, in a voice loud enough to be heard by all:
"Grenadiers of the Rhone, I salute you. All honour to the regiment thathas set an example to the army of cheerfulness under hardships. You willbe placed in the order of the day with the thanks of your marshal forthe spirit you have shown. Maintain it, my friends; it will warm youmore thoroughly than food or fire, and will carry you triumphantlythrough whatever fate may have in store for us."
A deep cheer burst from the regiment as the gallant soldier bowed to hishorse's mane and then rode on with his staff, while the regiment, againbreaking into a song, continued its march. Late in the afternoon theywere again engaged. The long columns ahead were delayed by crossing anarrow bridge over a river, and for two hours the rear-guard had tostand firm against constant attacks by the Russians. At one time a heavycolumn of Russian infantry moved down upon them, but Ney, riding up tothe grenadiers, said:
"I give you the post of honour, comrades. Drive back that column."
The colonel gave the order to charge, and the regiment rushed forwardwith such ardour to the attack, that the Russians were compelled to fallback with heavy loss, and shortly afterwards news came that the bridgewas clear, and the rear-guard followed the rest of the army. Forty ofthe grenadiers had fallen, among them their colonel and two otherofficers. The next morning, before the regiment marched, the major asusual read out to it the order of the day. The marshal expressed hisapprobation of the spirit which the Grenadiers of the Rhone hadmanifested.
"This fine regiment," he said, "has ever merited eulogium for the mannerin which it has sustained the honour of its flag in every engagement inwhich it has taken part. The marshal considers, however, that evenhigher praise is due to it for its bearing in the present stress ofcircumstances. Good spirits, and the resolution to look at things in acheerful light, is the best method of encountering them, and
it cheeredthe hearts of all near them to hear them singing their marching songs.The marshal in passing them was struck with the renewal of their martialappearance, as they marched, head erect, in time to their songs, and hehopes that their example will be followed by the other regiments of thecorps, and is sure that not only will it be to the advantage of thediscipline and efficiency of the troops, but it will greatly conduce totheir own well-being, and the manner in which they will be able tosupport cold, hunger, and fatigue."
The marshal had brought the conduct and fine bearing of the Grenadiersof the Rhone under the attention of the Emperor. In spite of the factthat the soldiers of Ney's corps had to endure a larger amount ofhardship than that of the rest of the army, from the necessity ofconstant vigilance, and from the long hours they were upon the road,their health suffered less than that of other troops. In the firstplace, they had an absolute faith in their commander; in the next, theywere in the post of honour, and on them the safety of the whole armydepended. Thus the constant skirmishing, and, occasionally, hardfighting that went on, braced them up, and saved them from the moodydepression that weighed upon the rest of the army. They had, too, somematerial advantage from the broken-down waggons and vehicles of allsorts that fell behind. Every day they obtained a certain amount ofstores, while from the bodies of those who had dropped from exhaustion,sickness, or cold they obtained a supply of extra clothing.
The morning after the reading of Ney's order of the day commending theregiment, an order from Napoleon himself was read at the head of theregiment, Ney taking his place by the side of the newly promotedcolonel. The Emperor said that he had received the report of Marshal Neyof the conduct and bearing of the Grenadiers of the Rhone, together witha copy of his order of the day, and that this was fully endorsed by theEmperor, who felt that the spirit they were showing was even morecreditable to them than the valour that they had so often exhibited inbattle, and that he desired personally to thank them. The marshal hadalso brought before his notice the conduct of Sergeant Wyatt of thatregiment, who had, he was informed, been the moving spirit in thechange that he so much commended, and, as a mark of his approbation, hehad requested the marshal himself, as his representative, to affix tohis breast the ribbon of the cross of the Legion of Honour.
The colonel called upon Sergeant Wyatt to come forward. Julian did so,saluted, and stood to attention, while the marshal dismounted and pinnedto his breast the insignia of the order, while the regiment saluted,and, as Julian returned to his place in the ranks, burst into a heartycheer. As soon as the marshal had ridden off, and the regiment fell out,the officers gathered round Julian and congratulated him upon the honourhe had received, and, at the same time, thanked him heartily for thecredit that the regiment had gained, through his means, while theenthusiasm of the soldiers knew no bounds. A word of praise from theEmperor was the distinction that French soldiers and French regimentsmost coveted, and to have been named, not only by their marshal in hisorders, but by the Emperor in a general order to the army, was an honourthat filled every heart with pride.
Julian had been a favourite before, but henceforth his popularity wasunbounded. Many of the other regiments followed the example of thegrenadiers, and, in spite of the ever-increasing cold and the constantlyaugmenting hardships, Ney's corps retained their discipline andefficiency. Their appearance, indeed, was no longer soldierly. Theirgarments were in rags. Many wore three or four coats. Their legs wereencased in hay-bands, strips of blanket, or sheep-skins. Julian now tookout for the first time from his knapsack the leggings that he hadmanufactured, and, with the strips of blanket that he wound round them,they differed in appearance in no degree from the leggings of some ofhis comrades, except that they enveloped the feet also. On the dayfollowing the reading of Napoleon's order, the grenadiers came upon anoverturned caleche. It had been ransacked by a regiment that hadpreceded them. The driver and a woman lay dead beside it, and they wouldhave passed on without paying any attention to it, had it not been for afaint cry that met the ears of Julian, as his company passed close byit. He dropped back a few paces to an officer, and asked leave to fallout for a minute. Going to the carriage he found lying there among thecushions a little girl some five or six years old. Her cloak had beenstripped off her, and she was blue with cold. Julian hesitated.
"I will try anyhow," he muttered to himself. He first ripped open one ofthe cushions, pulled out the woollen stuffing, and wrapped it round thechild's arms and legs, binding it there with strips of the velvetcovering the cushions. Then he took off his cloak, and raised her on tohis back, having first cut off one of the reins. With this he strappedher securely in that position, put on his warm cloak again, and then,hurrying forward, soon overtook the rear of his regiment.
"Bravo, Jules!" many of his comrades said, as he passed along thecolumn; while others asked, "Why do you encumber yourself with thatchild? It is enough now for every man to look to himself, and you cannotcarry her far."
"I will do what I can," he replied. "She is not so heavy as my knapsackwhen it is full, and it is empty now; I am only keeping it because it isuseful as a pillow. I can't say how far I can carry her, but as long asI can go she shall. We have taken lives enough, heaven knows. It is aswell to save one if one gets the opportunity."
In half an hour Julian felt a movement on the part of his little burden,whose hands he had been chafing with his own unoccupied one. Presentlysomething was said in Russian. He did not reply, and then there was alittle struggle, and the voice said in French: "Nurse, where am I? Whereare you taking me? Where is the carriage?"
"Do not fret, little one," Julian replied in the same language. "I am afriend, and will take care of you. Your carriage broke down, and so I amcarrying you until we can get you another. Are you warm?"
"Yes," the child said. "I am quite warm, but I want my nurse."
"Nurse can't come to you now, my dear; but I will try to be a good nurseto you."
"I want to see what you are like."
"You shall see presently," he said. "It would be very cold if you wereto put your head outside. The best thing that you can do is to try toget to sleep."
The warmth doubtless did more than Julian's exhortation, for the childsaid no more, and Julian felt certain after a short time that she hadgone off to sleep. He was now in his place with his company again, andjoined in the song that they were singing, softly at first, but, as hefelt no movement, louder and louder until, as usual, his voice rose highabove the chorus. Nevertheless, his thoughts were with the child. Whatwas he to do with her? how was she to be fed? He could only hope for thebest. So far Providence had assuredly made him the means of preservingher life, and to Providence he must leave the rest. It might be all forthe best. The weight was little to him, and there was a sense of warmthand comfort in the little body that lay so close to his back. Whattroubled him most was the thought of what he should do with her when hewas engaged with the Russians. He decided that she must stay then in oneof the carts that carried the spare ammunition of the regiment, andaccompanied it everywhere. "At any rate, if I should fall," he said,"and she be left behind, she has only to speak in Russian when the enemycome up, and no doubt they will take care of her. Her father must be aman of some importance. The carriage was a very handsome one. If she canmake them understand who she is, there is no doubt they will restoreher to her parents."
There was but little fighting that day, and when the regiment fell out,fortunately halting again in a wood, Julian waited until the fires werelighted, and then unloosened the straps and shifted the child round infront of him. She opened her eyes as he did so.
"Well, little one, here we are at our journey's end," he saidcheerfully. "You have had a nice sleep, and you look as warm as atoast."
She was indeed changed. A rosy flush had taken the place of thebluish-gray tint on her cheeks; her eyes were bright, and she lookedround at the strange scene with a face devoid of all fear.
"Are you my new nurse?" she asked.
"Yes, dear."
"You look
nice," she said calmly, "but I should like Claire, too."
"She can't come at present, little one, so you must put up with me."
"Are you one of those wicked Frenchmen?" she asked.
"I am an Englishman. Some of them are Frenchmen, but all Frenchmen arenot wicked. You will see that all my friends here will be very kind toyou, and will do everything they can to make you comfortable, till wecan send you to your friends again."
The child was silent for some time.
"There was a great noise," she said gravely, "and guns fired, and thecoachman fell off the box, and then nurse called out and opened the doorand jumped out, and then the horses plunged and the carriage fell over,and I don't know any more."
"There was an accident," Julian said. "Don't think about that now. Iwill tell you about it some day."
"I am hungry," the child said imperiously. "Get me something to eat."
"We are going to cook our suppers directly, dear. Now let us go and sitby that fire. I am afraid you won't find the supper very nice, but it isthe best we have got. What is your name?"
"I am the Countess Stephanie Woronski," the little maid said; "and whatis your name?"
"My name is Julian Wyatt."
"It is a funny name," the child said; "but I think I like it."
Julian carried her to the fire, and seated her with her feet before it.
"Where is my cloak," she asked, as on setting her down she perceived thedeficiency; "and what are those ugly things?" and she looked at theswathing round her arms and legs.
"Some bad men took your cloak," he said; "none of these men here did it;and you were very cold when I found you, so I put some of the stuffingfrom the cushions round you to keep you warm, and you must wear themtill I can get you another cloak. Comrades," he went on, to the soldierswho had gathered round to look at the little figure, "this is theCountess Stephanie Woronski, and I have told her that you will all bevery kind to her and make her as comfortable as you can as long as sheis with us."
There was a general hum of assent, and when the child went gravely amongthem, shaking hands with each, many an eye was moistened, as the men'sthoughts went back to their own homes, and to little sisters or nieceswhom they had played with there. Soon afterwards the colonel came by,and Julian, stepping forward, saluted him and said:
"I have picked up a little girl to-day, Colonel."
"So I have been told, Sergeant. I think it was a mistake, but that isyour business. Everyone is getting weaker, and you are not likely to beable to carry her for long. However, of course, you can take her if youlike, and as long as there are horses to drag the ammunition carts youcan put her in them when you choose."
"It is only when we are fighting that I should want to stow her away.She does not weigh more than a knapsack, Colonel."
"Well; just as you like, Sergeant. If you wanted to take along tenchildren I could not say no to you. She is a pretty little thing," headded, as he went nearer to her.
"Yes, Colonel. She says that she is a countess."
"Poor little countess!" the colonel said tenderly. "She will wantsomething warmer than she has got on now."
"We will manage that, Colonel. She will be warm enough as long as she ison the march with me; but as, even before that fire, she has not enoughon her, we will contrive something. In the first broken-downbaggage-waggon that we come across, we are pretty sure to find somethingthat we can fit her out in."
As yet the pressure of hunger had not come severely upon the grenadiers.In the fights with the Russians some of the horses of their own cavalryand artillery, and those of the enemy, were daily killed, besides theanimals which dropped from fatigue were at once shot and cut up.Moreover, a small ration of flour was still served out, and the supperthat night, if rough, was ample. Julian sat facing the fire with hiscloak open and the child nestling up close to him. As soon as supper wasover half a dozen of the soldiers started off.
"We will bring back a fit-out, Jules, never fear. It will be strange ifthere is not something to be picked up in the snow between us and thenext corps."
In half an hour they came in again, one of them carrying a bundle. Bythis time the child was fast asleep, and, taking off his cloak andwrapping it round her, Julian went across to them on the other side ofthe fire.
"What have you got?"
"A good find, Jules. It was a young officer. He was evidently comingback with an order, but his horse fell dead under him. The lad had lostan arm, at Borodino I expect, and was only just strong enough to sit hishorse. We think that the fall on the hard snow stunned him, and thefrost soon finished the work. He had been well fitted out, and some ofhis things will do for the little one. He had a fur-lined jacket whichwill wrap her up grandly from head to foot. Here are a pair of thickflannel drawers. If we cut them off at the knee you can tuck all herlittle clothes inside it, and they will button up under her arms andcome down over her feet. She will look queer, but it will keep her warm.This pair of stockings will pull up her arms to her shoulders, and hereis another pair that was in his valise. They are knitted, and one willpull down over her ears. You see they are blue, and if you cut the footoff and tie up the hole it will look like a fisherman's cap, and theother will go over her head and tie up under her chin."
"Splendid, comrade! That is a first-rate fit-out. I am obliged to youindeed."
"You need not talk of a little thing like that, Sergeant. There is not aman in the regiment who would not do a good deal more than that for you:besides we have all taken to the child. She will be quite the pet of theregiment. Moreover, the lad's valise was well filled. We have tossed upfor choice, and each of us has got something. Henri got the cloak, and agood one it is. I had the next choice, and I took his blanket, which isa double one. Jacques had the horse rug, Ferron had another pair ofdrawers and his gloves, and Pierre, who has got a small foot, took hisboots. So we have all done well."
As Julian lay down with his hood over his head and the child heldclosely in his arms under his cloak, he felt strangely warm andcomfortable, and breathed a prayer that he might be spared to carry thelittle waif he had rescued, in safety across the frontier.
"I will keep her with me," he said, "until she gets a bit bigger. Bythat time the war may be all over, and I will send her to my aunt, if Idare not go home myself. She will take care of her, and if she shouldhave gone, I know Frank will do the best he can for the child, and maybe able, through the Russian embassy, to send her back to her friends."
The cold was so intense in the morning that the child offered noobjection to her novel habiliments. Some inches had to be cut from thebottom of the jacket to keep it off the ground, and the strip served asa band to keep it close round her waist.
"It is too big," she said a little fretfully.
"It is large, Stephanie," Julian said, "but then, you see, there is theadvantage that when you like you can slip your arms altogether out ofthe sleeves, and keep them as warm as a toast inside. Now you get on myback and we will fasten you more comfortably than I could do yesterday."
This, with the assistance of a couple of soldiers, was done. Then,putting on his cloak again, Julian fell in with his comrades, and, asusual, striking up a merry song, in which the rest at once joined,continued his march.
Day passed after day. The Russians pressed hotly on the rear, and manytimes Ney's corps had to face about and repel their attacks. Sometimeswhen the fighting was likely to be serious Julian handed his charge overto the care of the driver of one of the ammunition carts, but as a rulehe carried her with him, for she objected strongly to leaving him. Onthe march she often chose to be carried on his shoulder--a strangelittle figure, with the high fur collar of the jacket standing uplevel with the top of her head, and a yellow curl or two making its waythrough the opening in front. She soon picked up the songs that weremost often sung, and her shrill little voice joined in. She was now aprime favourite with all the men.
"ON THE MARCH LITTLE STEPHANIE OFTEN CHOSE TO BE CARRIEDON JULIAN'S SHOULDER."]
Food b
ecame scarcer every day. The cavalry were now almost whollydismounted, the horses still available being taken for the guns. Amongthe divisions in front the disorganization was great indeed. It was amob rather than an army, and only when attacked did they form up, andwith sullen fury drive off the foe. At other times they tramped alongsilently, ragged, and often shoeless, their feet wrapped in roughbandages. Whenever one fell from weakness, he lay there unnoticed, savethat sometimes a comrade would, in answer to his entreaties to kill himrather than to leave him to the mercy of the peasants, put his musket tohis head and finish him at once. No one straggled, except to search adeserted cottage on the line, for all who fell into the hands of thepeasants--who followed the army like wolves after a wounded stag--wereeither put to death by atrocious tortures, or stripped and left toperish by cold. All the sufferings inflicted by the army in its advanceupon the peasantry were now repaid an hundredfold, and the atrocitiesperpetrated upon all who fell into their hands were so terrible that SirRobert Wilson wrote to the Czar, imploring him for the honour of thecountry to put a stop to them. Alexander at once issued a proclamationoffering the reward of a gold piece for every French prisoner broughtin, and so saved the lives of many hundreds of these unfortunates. Inthe French army itself all feelings of humanity were also obliterated.The men fought furiously among themselves for any scrap of food, and adead horse was often the centre of a desperate struggle. Those who fellwere at once stripped of their garments, and death came all the soonerto put an end to their sufferings. The authority of the officers wasaltogether unheeded.
Day by day the numbers dwindled away. The safety of the French army thusfar was chiefly due to the vacillation, if not the absolute treachery,of Kutusow. Moving on by roads well supplied with provisions, andperfectly acquainted with the movements of the enemy, he was able tooutmarch them, and several times had it absolutely in his power tocompletely overwhelm the broken remains of Napoleon's army. But, inspite of the entreaties of the generals and the indignation of the army,he obstinately refused to give the order. The French army no longertravelled by a single road; sometimes the corps were separated from eachother by great masses of Russian troops. Numerous detached battles werefought; but in each of these the French troops, although sufferingheavily, displayed their old courage, and either by hard fighting cuttheir way through obstacles, or managed by long and circuitous marchesto evade them.
Napoleon's plans, which, if carried out, would have saved the army, werebrought to nought by the incapacity of the generals charged with theduty. The vast depots and stores that had been formed at various pointsfell successively into the hands of the various Russian armies nowoperating against the French. Bridges of vital importance on the line ofretreat were captured and destroyed, and repeated defeats inflicted uponthe armies that should have joined Napoleon as he fell back. Everywherefatal blunders were made by the French commanders, and it seemed as ifHeaven had determined to overthrow every combination formed byNapoleon's sagacity, in order that the destruction of his army should becomplete. The army of Macdonald, that should have joined him, was itselfwarmly pressed by the forces of Wittgenstein and the garrison of Riga,which had been greatly reinforced. Schwarzenberg, with the Austrianarmy, fell back without striking a blow; for the Austrians, in view ofthe misfortunes that had befallen Napoleon, were preparing to cast offtheir alliance with him; and to aid in his discomfiture, Wittgensteinwas ordered by Alexander to withdraw at once from his operations againstMacdonald and to march upon Borizov on the Berezina, the point towardswhich Napoleon was making; while Admiral Tchichagow, with the army ofthe Danube, that had been engaged in watching the Austrians, was tomarch in the same direction, and also interpose to cut off the Frenchretreat.