Through Russian Snows: A Story of Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow

  CHAPTER VII

  A FRENCH PRISON

  Julian Wyatt had expected that there would be some formalities on hisarrival at Nantes--that he should probably be taken before a court ofsome sort,--and he determined to make a protest, and to declare that hehad been forcibly brought over from England. At the same time he feltthat to do so would make little difference in his position. When Hollandwas overrun with the French, all English residents were thrown intoprison, and the same thing had happened after the short peace; still hedetermined to make the effort, for he thought that as a civilian hemight not be placed in a military prison, and might, therefore, have abetter chance of making his escape. He had, however, no opportunity forprotest or remonstrance. The captain of the lugger and two of his menwent ashore as soon as the craft was moored alongside the quay.

  A quarter of an hour later they returned with a sergeant and twosoldiers. The captain pointed him out to the sergeant. The lattercrossed the plank on to the deck, put his hand on Julian's shoulder, andmotioned to him to follow him ashore.

  "Good-bye, young fellow!" Markham said, as, feeling the uselessness ofprotest or resistance, Julian moved towards the plank. "I am very sorryfor you, but there is nothing else to do, and you will be as well thereas anywhere, for you couldn't show your face in Weymouth. I will keep mypromise, never fear; and some day or other everyone shall know that youhad nothing to do with giving that fellow the end he deserved."

  Julian was marched along the quay for some distance, and then throughthe streets till they came to a large building. The sergeant rang thebell at the gate. When it was opened he entered with Julian, leaving thetwo soldiers without. A sub-officer of the prison came up, and thesergeant handed to him a paper, which was an order signed by the mayorfor the governor of the prison to receive an English sailor, nameunknown, age twenty-one, who had been picked up at sea by the master ofthe French lugger _Lucille_. The official gave a receipt to the sergeantfor the prisoner, and a warder then led Julian away to a vaulted hall,where some forty or fifty men were either lying on some straw or werewalking up and down in the endeavour to warm themselves. Julian saw atonce that they were English sailors, although their clothes were for themost part ragged and torn.

  "Hulloa, mate!" one of them said as the door closed behind him. "Haveyou come all alone? For the most part we arrive in batches. Where do youhail from, and what was your ship?"

  "I hail from Weymouth," Julian replied cheerfully, his habit of makingthe best of things at once asserting itself. "I don't know that I can besaid to belong to any ship, but I made the passage across in a Frenchsmuggling lugger, the _Lucille_. I suppose I ought to feel indebted tothem, for they brought me across without asking for any passage-money;but they have played me a dirty trick here, for they have handed me overto the authorities, as far as I can understand the matter, as aman-of-war sailor they have picked up."

  "What were you doing on board?" another sailor asked. "Did you have toleave England in a hurry?"

  "I left in a hurry because I could not help it. Going across the hills Icame quite accidentally upon one of the smugglers' hiding-places, andwas seized before I had time to say a word. There was a littlediscussion among themselves as to what they would do with me, and Ishould have had my throat cut if an Englishman among them had not knownthat I was friends with most of the fishermen there, and had beenpresent once or twice when a cargo was run. So they finally made uptheir minds to bring me over here, and as they feared I might, if Ireturned, peach as to their hiding-place, they trumped up this storyabout me, and handed me over to the French to take care of."

  "Well, that story will do just as well as another," one of the sailorslaughed. "As to their taking care of you, beyond looking sharp that youdon't get away, the care they give you ain't worth speaking of. We arepretty nigh starved, and pretty nigh frozen. Well, there is one thing,we shall get out of it in two or three days, for we hear that we are allto be marched off somewhere. A batch generally goes off once afortnight."

  "Are you mostly men-of-war's men?"

  "None of us, at least not when we were taken, though I reckon most of ushave had a spell at it one time or other. No; we all belong to two shipsthat were captured by a couple of their confounded privateers. The one Ibelonged to was bound for Sicily with stores for some of the troopsstationed there; the other lot were on their way to the Tagus. Theycaught us off Finisterre within a couple of days of each other. We bothmade a fight of it, and if we had been together when they came up, wemight have beaten them off; but we had not any chance single-handedagainst two of them, for they both carried much heavier metal than wedid. I don't think we should have resisted if we had not thought thatthe noise of the guns might have brought one of our cruisers up. But wehad no such luck, and so here we are."

  "I suppose, lad, you haven't got anything to pay your footing with? Theydid not leave us a _sou_ in our pockets, and I don't suppose thesmugglers were much more generous to you."

  "Yes, they were," Julian said. "I have a guinea and some odd silver. Iwill keep the odd silver for the present, for it may come in handy lateron; but here is the guinea, and if there are any means of gettinganything with it, order what you like."

  There was a shout of satisfaction, followed by an animated debate as tohow the money should be spent. Julian learnt that there was nodifficulty in obtaining liquor in the prison, as one of the warders hadpermission to sell it in quantities not exceeding one glass, for whichthe charge was four _sous_, and also that prisoners with money couldsend out for food. After much discussion, it was finally settled thatforty-five pints of soup and the same number of rations of rum should beobtained. The soup was but three _sous_ a pint, which would leave themenough for a tot of grog all round next day. One of them, who had beenfirst mate on board--for Julian found that only the masters had separatetreatment as officers--went across to the man who supplied liquor. Thewarder soon returned with him, carrying four bottles, a large stone jarof water, and two or three small tin cups. The mate, who spoke Frenchpretty fluently, had a sharp argument with him as to the amount inFrench money that he should receive as change out of the guinea; and ashe had learnt from one of the last batch that had been sent away, theproper rate of exchange in the town, he finally got the best of it, andthe work of serving out the liquor then began.

  A few of the sailors tossed off their allowance without water, but mostof them took it half and half, so as to make it go further. Undoubtedlyif the warder would have sold more than one allowance to each man thewhole of the guinea would at once have been laid out, but he was firm onthis point. Soon afterwards the prisoners' dinner was brought in. Itconsisted of a slice of black bread to each man and a basin of very thinbroth, and Julian was not surprised at the hungry look that he hadnoticed on the men's faces.

  "Pretty poor fare, isn't it, mate?" one of them said as he observed theair of disfavour with which Julian regarded his rations. "It has been amatter of deep calculation with these French fellows as to how littlewould do just to keep a man alive, and I reckon they have got it to anicety. This is what we have three times a day, and I don't know whetherone is most hungry when one turns in at night, or when one turns out inthe morning. However, we shall be better off to-night. We get our supperat six, and at eight we shall get in that stuff you paid for. It is aprecious deal better than this, I can tell you; for one of our chumsmanaged to hide two or three shillings when they searched us, and gotsome in, and it was good, and no mistake; and they give half a slice ofbread with each pint. It is better bread than this black stuff they giveus in prison. Though an English dog would turn up his nose at it, stillit helps to fill up."

  The second supper was voted a great success, and after it was eaten, themen, cheered by its warmth, and freed for a time from the annoyingfeeling of hunger they generally experienced, became quite merry.Several songs were sung, but at the conclusion of a grand chorus anarmed warder came in and ordered them to be silent.

  "If the governor hears you making that row," he said, "you will have oneof
your meals cut off to-morrow."

  The threat was effectual, and the men lay down in the straw as close asthey could get to each other for warmth, as by this means the thin rugeach had served out to him sufficed to spread over two bodies, and theircovering was thus doubled. Julian had really another guinea besides thesilver in his pocket, but he had thought it better to make no mention ofthis, as in case of his ever being able to make his escape, it would beof vital service to him. The following day there was another councilover the ten francs still remaining. A few would have spent it inanother allowance of rum all round, but finally, by an almost unanimousvote, it was determined that fifteen clay pipes should be obtained, andthe rest laid out in tobacco. The forty-five were solemnly divided intothree watches. Each member of a watch was to have a pipe, which was tobe filled with tobacco. This he could smoke fast or slow as he chose,or, if he liked, could use the tobacco for chewing. At the end of halfan hour the pipes were to be handed over to the next watch, and so on inregular order until evening.

  This plan was carried out, and afforded unbounded satisfaction, and manyloudly regretted that it had not been thought of at first, as the moneyspent on grog would have largely extended the time the tobacco wouldhold out. So jealous did the men become of their store of tobacco thatthe mate was requested to fill all the pipes, as some of the men inhelping themselves rammed their pipes so closely that they held doublethe proper allowance of tobacco. This treat at once established Julianas a popular character, and upon his lamenting, when talking to themate, his inability to speak French, the latter offered to teach him asmuch as he could. Directly he began three or four of the younger sailorsasked to be allowed to listen, a school was established in one corner ofthe room, and for several hours a day work went on, both master andpupils finding that it greatly shortened the long weary hours ofidleness.

  Three weeks passed without change. Then they were told that next morningthey would be marched away to make room for another batch of prisonersthat had been brought into the fort that afternoon. All were glad of thechange, first, because it was a change, and next, because they allagreed they could not be worse off anywhere than they were at Nantes.They were mustered at daybreak, formed up in fours, and with a guard oftwenty soldiers with loaded muskets marched out from the prison gates.The first day's journey was a long one. Keeping along the north bank ofthe Loire, they marched to Angers, which they did not reach until nightwas falling. Many of the men, wholly unaccustomed to walking, werecompletely worn out before they reached their destination, but as awhole, with the exception of being somewhat footsore, they arrived infair condition. Julian marched by the side of the first mate, and thelesson in French was a long one, and whiled away the hours on the road.

  "It would not be difficult for us, if we were to pass the word down, tofall suddenly on our guards and overpower them," the mate said in one ofthe pauses of their talk. "A few of us might be shot, but as soon as wehad knocked some of them over and got their arms, we should easily makean end of the rest. The difficulty would be what to do afterwards."

  "That is a difficulty there is no getting over," Julian said. "With theexception of yourself, there is not one who speaks French well."

  "I don't speak it well," the mate said. "I know enough to get on with,but the first person that I addressed would see at once that I was aforeigner. No; we should all be in the same boat, and a very bad boat itwould be. We should all be hunted down in the course of twenty-fourhours, and I expect would be shot twelve hours afterwards. I think thatinstead of sending twenty men with us they might safely have sent onlytwo, for it would be simply madness to try to escape. If one alone couldmanage to slip off there would be some chance for him. There is no doubtthat the Bretons are bitterly opposed to the present state of things,and have not forgotten how they suffered in their rising early in thedays of the Republic. They would probably conceal a runaway, and mightpass him along through their woods to St. Malo or one of the otherseaports, and thence a passage across might be obtained in a smuggler,but it would be a hazardous job."

  "Too hazardous for me to care to undertake, even if I got the chance toslip away," Julian said.

  "You are right, mate; nothing short of a big reward would tempt any ofthe smugglers to run the risk of carrying an escaped prisoner out of thecountry; and as I have not a penny in my pocket, and nothing to draw onat home--for there is only my pay due up to the date we were capturedwhen we were only eight days out--I should not have the slightest chanceof getting away. No; I shall take whatever comes. I expect we are in forit to the end of the war, though when that will be is more than any mancan tell."

  They were marched into the prison at Angers, where they were providedwith a much more bountiful meal than they had been accustomed to, a goodallowance of straw, and two blankets each. To their great satisfactionthey were not called at daybreak, and on questioning one of the warderswho brought in their breakfast, the first mate learnt that after themarch to Angers it was customary to allow a day's rest to the prisonersgoing through. They were ready for the start on the following morning,and stopped for that night at La Fleche. The next march was a long oneto Vendome, and at this place they again halted for a day. Stopping fora night at Beaugency, they marched to Orleans, where was a large prison.Here they remained for a week. The guards who had accompanied them fromNantes left them here at Orleans and returned by water.

  From Orleans they struck more to the north, and after ten days' marchingarrived at Verdun, which was, they learned, their final destination.Here there were fully a thousand English prisoners, for the most partsailors. The greater portion of them were lodged in wooden huts erectedin a great courtyard surrounded by a high wall. The food was coarse, butwas much more abundant than it had been at Nantes. The newly arrivedparty were quartered together in one of the huts.

  Night and day sentries were posted on the wall, along which a woodenplatform, three feet from the top, permitted them to pass freely; onthis sentry-boxes were erected at short intervals. As soon as theirescort had left them, the newcomers were surrounded by sailors eager tolearn the last news from England--how the war was going on, and whatprospect there was of peace. As soon as their curiosity was satisfied,the crowd speedily dispersed. Julian was struck with the air of listlessindifference that prevailed among the prisoners, but it was not longbefore he quite understood it. Cut off from all news, without hope ofescape or exchange, it was difficult for even the most light-hearted toretain their spirits.

  As sailors, the men were somewhat better able to support the dullhopelessness of their lives than others would have been. Most of themwere handy in some way or other, and as they were permitted by theauthorities to make anything they could, they passed much of their timein working at something or other. Some cut out and rigged model ships,others knitted, some made quilts from patches purchased for a trifle bythe warders for them in the town, some made fancy boxes of straw, otherscarved walking-sticks, paper-cutters, and other trifles.

  Each day, two or three of their number had permission to go down intothe town to sell their own and their comrades' manufactures, and to buymaterials. There was a fair sale for most of the articles, for thesewere bought not only by the townspeople, but by pedlars, who carriedthem through the country. The prices obtained were small, but theyafforded a profit over the money laid out in materials, sufficient topurchase tobacco and other little luxuries--the introduction of spiritsinto the prison being, however, strictly forbidden. Of more importancethan the money they earned, was the relief to the tedium of their lifein the work itself. Julian found a similar relief in studying French.There were some among the prisoners who spoke the language far betterthan did the mate, and after three months' work with the latter, Julianwas advised by him to obtain a better teacher. He found no difficulty ingetting one, who spoke French really well, to talk with him three orfour hours a day on condition of being supplied with tobacco during thattime; and as tobacco was very cheap, and could be always bought from thesoldiers, Julian's store of money was not much di
minished by the outlay.

  He himself had now regularly taken to smoking; not at first because heliked it, but because he saw how much it cheered and comforted hiscomrades, who, however, generally used it in the sailor fashion ofchewing. Escape was never talked of. The watch kept was extremelystrict, and as on getting outside of the walls of the courtyard, theywould but find themselves in a town girt in by walls and fortifications,the risk was altogether too great to be encountered. It had beenattempted many times, but in the great majority of cases the fugitiveshad been shot, and their bodies had always been brought back to theprison in order to impress the others with the uselessness of theattempt. A very few, indeed, had got away; at least, it was supposedthat they had done so, as their bodies had not been brought back; but itwas generally considered that the chances were enormously against theirbeing able to make their way over the wide extent of country betweenVerdun and the sea, and then to succeed in obtaining a passage to someneutral port, from which they could make their way to England. Severaltimes offers of freedom were made to such of the prisoners asvolunteered to enter the French army or navy, but very few availedthemselves of them.

  At the end of ten months, Julian was able to speak French fluently.Large bodies of troops were continually marching through the town boundfor the east, and the prisoners learned from the guards that the generalbelief was that Napoleon intended to invade Russia.

  "I have a good mind to enlist," Julian said one day, to his friend themate. "Of course, nothing would persuade me to do so if it were aquestion of fighting against the English. But now that I have learntFrench fairly, I begin to find this life horrible, and am longingintensely to be doing something. There are the reasons that I havealready told you of why, even if I were free, I could not go home. Imight as well be taking part in this campaign as staying in prison.Besides, I should have infinitely better chances of escape as a soldierthan we have here, and if I find I don't like it, I can at least try toget off."

  "Well, placed as you are, Wyatt, I don't know that I should not beinclined to do the same. At any rate, you would be seeing something oflife, instead of living like a caged monkey here. Of course, as you say,no one would dream of such a thing if one would have to go to Spain tofight our fellows there. Still, if by any chance, after this Russianbusiness, your regiment was ordered back to France, and then to Spain,you would at any rate have a fair chance of escaping on such a journey.I would not do it myself, because I have a wife at home. One hopes,slight as the chance seems to be, that some day there will be a generalexchange of prisoners. But as you can't go home, I don't know but thatit would be a good plan for you to do what you propose. At any rate,your life as a soldier would be a thousand times better than this dog'sexistence."

  "I could put up with that for myself, but it is awful seeing many of themen walking about with their heads down, never speaking for hours, andthe pictures of hopeless melancholy. See how they die off, not fromhunger or fever, for we have enough to eat, but wasting away and dyingfrom home-sickness, and because they have nothing to live for. Why, ofthe forty-five of us who came up together, ten have gone already; andthere are three or four others who won't last long. It is downrightheartbreaking; and now that I have no longer anything to keep mythoughts employed a good part of the day, I begin to feel it myself. Icatch myself saying, what is the use of it all, it would be better makea bolt and have done with it. I can quite understand the feelings ofthat man who was shot last week. He ran straight out of the gate; he hadno thought of escape; he simply did it to be shot down by the sentries,instead of cutting his own throat. I don't believe I could stand itmuch longer, Jim; and even if I were certain of being killed by aRussian ball I think I should go."

  "Go then, lad," the man said. "I have always thought that you have borneup very well; but I know it is even worse for you than it is for ussailors. We are accustomed to be cooped up for six months at a time onboard a ship, without any news from outside; with nothing to do save tosee that the decks are washed, and the brasses polished, except whenthere is a shift of wind or a gale. But to anyone like yourself, I canunderstand that it must be terrible; and if you feel getting into thatstate, I should say go by all means."

  "I will give you a letter before I enlist, Jim; and I will get you, whenyou are exchanged, to go down with it yourself to Weymouth, and tellthem what became of me, and why I went into the French army. Don't letthem think that I turned traitor. I would shoot myself rather than runthe risk of having to fight Englishmen. But when it is a choice betweenfighting Russians and going out of my mind, I prefer shouldering aFrench musket. I will write the letter to-day. There is no saying whenthey may next call for volunteers; for, as you know, those who stepforward are taken away at once, so as to prevent their being persuadedby the others into drawing back."

  The next day Julian wrote his letter. He recapitulated the arguments hehad used to the mate, and bade Frank and his aunt a final farewell. "Imay, of course, get through the campaign," he said. "The French soldiershere seem to think that they will sweep the Russians before them, butthat is their way. They talked of sweeping us out of the Peninsula, andthey haven't done it yet; and there is no doubt that the Russians aregood soldiers, and will make a big fight of it. I hope you won't feelcut up about this, and really I care little whether I leave my bones inRussia or not. It may be twenty years or even longer before that fellowMarkham's letter arrives to clear me. And until then I cannot return toEngland, or at any rate to Weymouth; indeed, wherever I was, I shouldlive with the knowledge that I might at any moment be recognized andarrested. Therefore while others here have some hope of a return home,either by an exchange of prisoners or by the war coming to an end, Ihave nothing to look forward to. So you see, old fellow, that it is aswell as it is.

  "I have to earn my own living somehow, and this way will suit me betterthan most. Only, of one thing be sure, that if at the end of the Russianwar I return alive, and my regiment is sent where there is a chance offighting our people, I shall take an opportunity of deserting. As I havetold you, I can speak French fairly well now, and after a few months ina French regiment I shall be able to pass as a native, and should have agood chance of making my way somehow through the country to thefrontier. My idea at present is that I should make for Genoa and shipthere as a sailor on board an Italian vessel, or, better still, if wehappen to be masters of the place, or our fleet near, should eitherenlist in one of our regiments, or ship on board one of our men-of-war.I should, of course, take another name, and merely say that I had beencaptured by the French at sea, had been a prisoner at Verdun, and hadmanaged to get free, and make my way across the country. Probably in anycase I shall do this when the regiment returns from Russia. Two or threeyears' absence, and a fair share of the hardships of a soldier's life,and a disguise, might enable me without detection to travel down toWeymouth and see Aunt, and learn if there had been any news fromMarkham.

  "Whether I shall find you there or not I can't tell. I have but littlehope that you will be able to get a commission. This affair of minewill be, I fear, an absolute bar to that. But, wherever you may be, Ishall do my best to find you out, after I have seen Aunt. This will begiven you by a good fellow named Jim Thompson. He has been a first mate,and has been a good friend to me ever since I have been over here. If heis exchanged, he will bring it to you; if not, he will give it to one ofthe men who is exchanged to post it on his arrival in England. I shalldirect it both to you and Aunt, so that if you are away from Weymouthshe will open it. God bless you both."

  Three days later a notice was posted in the prison saying that any ofthe prisoners who chose to volunteer for service in Germany were atliberty to do so. They would not be called upon at any future time forservice against British troops, but would have the liberty to exchangeinto regiments destined for other service. Eight men, including Julian,came forward, when, an hour later, a French officer entered and calledfor volunteers. Julian had already announced his intention of doing soto his comrades in the hut, and to his other acquaintances.


  "You see," he said, "we shall not be called upon for service against theEnglish, and I would rather fight the Russians than stay in this placefor years."

  Hitherto the men who had volunteered had been hooted by theirfellow-prisoners as they went out, but the promise that they should notbe called upon for service against British troops made a greatdifference in the feeling with which the offer was regarded, and had itnot been for the hope that everyone felt that he should ere long beexchanged, the number who stepped forward would have been greatlyincreased. A strong French division had marched into Verdun thatmorning, and the new volunteers were all divided among different corps.Julian, who now stood over six feet, was told off to a Grenadierregiment. A uniform was at once given to him from those carried withthe baggage of the regiment, and the sergeant of the company in which hehad been placed took him to its barrack-room.

  "Comrades," he said, "here is a new recruit. He is an Englishman who hasthe good sense to prefer fighting the Russians to rotting in prison. Heis a brave fellow, and speaks our language well, and I think you willfind him a good comrade. He has handed over twenty francs to pay hisfooting in the company. You must not regard him as a traitor to hiscountry, my friends, for he has received from the colonel a paperauthorizing him to exchange into a regiment destined for other service,in case, after we have done with the Russians, we should be sent to someplace where we should have to fight against his countrymen."

  In half an hour Julian felt at home with his new comrades. They differedgreatly in age: some among them had grown grizzly in the service, andhad fought in all the wars of the Republic and Empire; others were ladsnot older than himself, taken but a month or two before from the plough.After they had drunk the liquor purchased with his twenty francs, theypatted him on the back and drank to the health of Jules Wyatt, forJulian had entered under his own surname, and his Christian name was atonce converted to its French equivalent. With his usual knack of makingfriends, he was soon on excellent terms with them all, joined in theirchoruses, and sang some English songs whose words he had as an exercisetranslated into French, and when the men lay down for the night on theirstraw pallets it was generally agreed that the new comrade was a finefellow and an acquisition to the company.

  The division was to halt for two days at Verdun, and the time was spent,as far as Julian was concerned, in the hands of a sergeant, who kept himhard at work all day acquiring the elements of drill. On the thirdmorning the regiment marched off at daybreak, Julian taking his placein the ranks, with his knapsack and firelock. After the long confinementin the prison he found his life thoroughly enjoyable. Sometimes theystopped in towns, where they were either quartered in barracks orbilleted on the inhabitants; sometimes they slept under canvas or in theopen air, and this Julian preferred, as they built great fires andgathered round them in merry groups. The conscripts had by this time gotover their home-sickness, and had caught the martial enthusiasm of theirolder comrades. All believed that the Grande Armee would be invincible,and fears were even expressed that the Russians would not venture tostand against them. Some of the older men, however, assured them thatthere was little chance of this.

  "The Russians are hardy fighters, comrades," one of the veterans said."_Parbleu!_ I who tell you, have fought against them, and they are notto be despised. They are slow at manuoevring, but put them in a placeand tell them to hold it, and they will do it to the last. I fought atAusterlitz against the Austrians, and at Jena against the Prussians, andin a score of other battles in Germany and Italy, and I tell you thatthe Russians are the toughest enemies I have met, save only yourIslanders, Jules. I was at Talavera, and the way your people held thathill after the cowardly Spaniards had bolted and left them, and at lastrolled us down it, was a thing I don't want to see again. I was woundedand sent home to be patched up, and that is how I come to be heremarching against Russia instead of being under Soult in Spain. No,comrades, you take my word for it, big as our army will be, we shallhave some tough fighting to do before we get to Moscow or St.Petersburg, whichever the Little Corporal intends to dictate terms in."

  "It is as you say, Victor," one of the other veterans said, "and it isall the better. It would be too bad if we had to march right acrossEurope and back without firing a shot, but I, who know the Russianstoo, feel sure that that will never be."

  Many a merry martial song was sung at the bivouac fires, many a story ofcampaigns and battles told, and no thought of failure entered the mindsof anyone, from the oldest veteran to the youngest drummer-boy. Of anevening, after halting, Julian generally had half an hour's drill,until, three weeks after leaving Verdun, he was pronounced fit to takepart in a review under the eyes of the Emperor himself. His readiness tooblige, even to undertaking sentry duty for a comrade who had grownfootsore on the march, or was suffering from some temporary ailment, hischeeriness and good temper, had by this time rendered him a generalfavourite in the company, and when he was dismissed from drill theveterans were always ready to give him lessons with the sabre or rapierin addition to those he received from the _maitre d'armes_ of theregiment. Julian entered into these exercises with great earnestness.Quarrels between the men were not infrequent, and these were alwayssettled by the sabre or straight sword, the officers' permission beingnecessary before these duels took place. It was seldom that theirconsequences were very serious. The _maitre d'armes_ was always present,and put a stop to the fight as soon as blood was drawn. At presentJulian was on the best terms with all his comrades, but he felt that, ifhe should become involved in a quarrel, he of all men must be ready tovindicate his honour and to show that, Englishman as he was, he was nota whit behind his comrades in his readiness to prove his courage. Thus,then, he worked with ardour, and ere long became able to hold his owneven with the veterans of the regiment.