Through Russian Snows (30 page)

At three o'clock Napoleon arrived with his guards, expecting to be met
on his arrival by the authorities of the city with assurances of their
submission and prayers for clemency for the population. He was astounded
with the silence that reigned everywhere, and at hearing that Moscow had
been evacuated by the population. Full of gloomy anticipations he
proceeded to the house Murat had selected for him. Strict orders were
issued against pillage, and the army bivouacked outside the city. The
troops, however, were not to be restrained, and as soon as it was dark
stole away and entered the town in large numbers and began the work of
pillage. Scarcely had they entered when in various quarters fires broke
out suddenly. The bazaar, with its ten thousand shops, the crown
magazines of forage, wines, brandy, military stores, and gunpowder were
speedily wrapped in flames. There were no means of combating the fire,
for every bucket in the town had been removed by the orders of the
governor.

Many a tale of strange experience in all parts of Europe was told around
the camp-fires of the grenadiers of the Rhone that evening. Several of
the younger men had been among those who had gone into Moscow in search
of plunder. They had returned laden with goods of all sorts, and but few
without a keg of spirits. The colonel had foreseen this, and had called
the sergeants together.

"My braves," he said, "I am not going to punish anyone for breaking
orders to-night. If I had been carrying a musket myself I have no doubt
that I should have been one of those to have gone into the town. After
such a march as we have had here, it is only natural that men should
think that they are entitled to some fun; but there must be no
drunkenness. I myself shall be at the quarter-guard, and six of you will
be there with me. Every bottle of spirits brought in is to be
confiscated. You will take it in your charge, and serve out a good
ration to every man in the regiment, so that those who have done their
duty and remained in camp shall fare as well as those who have broken
out. I have no doubt there will be sufficient brought in for all. What
remains over, you can serve out as a ration to-morrow. It is good to be
merry, but it is not good to be drunk. The grenadiers have done their
share of fighting and deserve their share of plunder, but do not let
pleasure go beyond the line of duty. Give a good ration to each man,
enough to enjoy the evening, and to celebrate our capture of Moscow, but
not enough to make them noisy. It is like enough that the general will
be round to-night to see how things are going on, and I should wish him
to see us enjoying ourselves reasonably. Anything else that is brought
in, with the exception of spirits, can be kept by the men, unless of
course there is a general order issued that all plunder is to be given
up."

As fully half the regiment were away, and as every man brought back one
or more bottles or kegs of spirits, the amount collected at the
quarter-guard was very considerable. Those of the men who, on coming
back, showed any signs of intoxication were not allowed a share, but
half a litre of spirits was served out to every other man in the
regiment; and although a few of those who had brought it in grumbled,
the colonel's decision gave general satisfaction, and there were merry
groups round the bivouac fires.

"I have marched into a good many capitals," the old sergeant said. "I
was with the first company that entered Madrid. I could never make out
the Spaniards. At one time they are ready to wave their hats and shout
"Viva!" till they are hoarse. At another, cutting your throat is too
good for you. One town will open its gates and treat you as their
dearest friends, the next will fight like fiends and not give in till
you have carried the last house at the point of the bayonet. I was fond
of a glass in those days; I am fond of it now, but I have gained wit
enough to know when it is good to drink. I had a sharp lesson, and I
took it to heart."

"Tell us about it, comrade," Julian said.

"Well it was after Talavera. We had fought a hard battle there with the
English, and found them rough customers. The Spaniards bolted like
sheep. As soldiers, they are the most contemptible curs in the world.
They fought well enough in the mountains under their own leaders, but as
soldiers, why, our regiment would thrash an army of 15,000 of them. The
English were on the top of the hill—at least at the beginning there
were a few of them up there, and we thought that it would be an easy job
to drive them off, but more came up, and do what we would, we could not
manage it; so it ended with something like a drawn battle. We claimed
the victory, because they fell back the next morning, and they claimed
it because they had repulsed all our attacks. However, we reaped the
benefit; they really fell back, because those rascally Spaniards they
were fighting for, starved them; and, besides that, we had two other
divisions marching to interpose between them and Portugal, and that old
fox Wellington saw that unless he went off as fast as he could, he would
be caught in a trap.

"They got a good start of us, but we followed, and three nights after
Talavera two companies of us were quartered for the night in the village
right out on the flank of the line we were following. Well, I got hold
of a skin of as good wine as ever I drank. Two or three of us stole out
to enjoy it quietly and comfortably, and so thoroughly did we do it,
that I suppose I somehow mistook my way back to my quarters, wandered
aside, and then lay down to sleep. I must have slept soundly, for I
heard neither bugle nor drum. When I awoke the sun was high, and there
was a group of ugly-looking Spaniards standing near me. I tried to jump
up on to my feet, but found that my arms and legs were both tied.
However, I managed to sit up and looked round. Not a sign of our uniform
was there to be seen; but a cloud of dust rising from the plain, maybe
ten miles away, showed where the army had gone.

"Well, I gave it up at once. A single French soldier had never found
mercy at the hands of the Spaniards, and I only wondered that they had
not cut my throat at once, instead of taking the trouble to fasten me
up. I knew enough of their language to get along with, and, putting as
bold a face as I could on it, I asked them what they had tied me up for.
They laughed in an unpleasant sort of way, and then went away. 'Let me
have a drink of water,' I said, for my throat was nearly as dry as a
furnace. They paid no attention, and till sunset left me there in the
full heat of the sun. By the time they came back again I was half mad
with thirst. I supposed then, as I have supposed ever since, that they
did not cut my throat at once, because they were afraid that some other
detachment might come along, and that if they found my body or a pool of
blood, they would, as like as not, burn the village over their heads.
Anyhow at sunset four men came, cut the ropes from my feet, and told me
to follow them. I said that I would follow willingly enough if they
would give me a drink of water first, but that if they didn't they might
shoot me if they liked, but not a step would I walk.

"They tried kicking and punching me with their guns, but finding that I
was obstinate, one of them called to a woman down by the village to
bring some water. I drank pretty near a bucketful, and then said I was
ready to go on. We went up the hill and then on some ten miles to a
village standing in the heart of a wild country. Here I was tied to a
post. Two of them went away and returned in a few minutes with a man
they called El Chico. I felt before that I had not much chance, but I
knew now that I had none at all, for the name was well enough known to
us as that of one of the most savage of the guerilla leaders. He abused
me for ten minutes, and told me that I should be burnt alive next
morning, in revenge for some misconduct or other of a scouting party of
ours. I pointed out that as I was not one of that scouting party it was
unfair that I should be punished for their misdeeds; but, of course, it
was of no use arguing with a ruffian like that, so he went away, leaving
me to my reflections.

"I stood all night with my back to that post. Two fellows with muskets
kept guard over me, but even if they hadn't done so I could not have got
away, for I was so tightly bound that my limbs were numbed, and the
cords felt as if they were red hot. In the morning a number of women
brought up faggots. El Chico himself superintended their arrangement,
taking care that they were placed in a large enough circle round me that
the flames would not touch me; so that, in fact, I should be slowly
roasted instead of burned. I looked about in the vague hope one always
has that something might occur to save me, and my heart gave a jump when
I saw a large body of men coming rapidly down a slope on the other side
of the village. They were not our men, I was sure, but I could not see
who they were; anyhow there might be someone among them who would
interpose to save me from this villain.

"Everyone round me was too interested in what was going on to notice
anything else; and you may be sure that I did not look that way again,
for I knew well enough that if the guerilla had noticed them he would
shoot me at once rather than run any risk of being baulked of his
vengeance. So it was not until they began to enter the village that
anyone noticed the new arrivals. A mounted officer, followed by four
troopers, dashed down ahead and rode up to us, scattering the crowd
right and left. I saw at once by his uniform that he was an English
officer, and knew that I was saved. I fancy I must have been weak, for I
had had nothing to eat the day before, and had been tied up all night.
For a time I think I really fainted. When I recovered some soldiers had
cut my bonds, and one was pouring some spirits down my throat. The
English officer was giving it hot to El Chico.

"'You dog!' he said, 'it is you, and the fellows like you, who bring
discredit on your country. You run like sheep when you see a French
force under arms. You behave like inhuman monsters when, by chance, a
single man falls into your power. I have half a mind to put you against
that wall there and have you shot; or, what would meet your deserts
better, hang you to yonder tree. Don't finger that pistol, you
scoundrel, or I will blow your brains out. Be off with you, and thank
your stars I did not arrive ten minutes later; for if I had come too
late to save this poor fellow's life, I swear to you that I would have
hung you like a dog. Who is the head man of the village?'"

A man stepped forward.

"'What do you mean, sir,' said the officer sternly, 'by permitting this
villain to use your village for his atrocities? As far as I can see you
are all as bad as he is, and I have a good mind to burn the whole place
over your ears. As it is, I fine the village 800 gallons of wine, and
4000 pounds of flour, and 10 bullocks. See that it is all forthcoming in
a quarter of an hour, or I shall set my men to help themselves. Not a
word! Do as you are ordered!'

"Then he dismounted, and was coming to me, when his eye fell on El
Chico. 'Sergeant,' he said to a non-commissioned officer,' take four
men and march that fellow well outside the village, and then stand and
watch him; and see that he goes on, and if he doesn't, shoot him.' Then
he came over to me. 'It is well that I arrived in time, my lad,' he said
in French.' How did you get into this scrape?'

"'It was wine did it, sir. I drank too much at our bivouac in a village
down the plain, and did not hear the bugles in the morning, and got left
behind. When I awoke they had tied me up, and they kept me lying in the
sun all day, not giving me as much as a drop of water. At sunset they
marched me up here and tied me to that post, and El Chico told me that I
should be roasted in the morning; and so it certainly would have been if
you had not come up.

"I learned that he was a Colonel Trant. He commanded a force of
Portuguese, and was a daring partizan leader, and gave us a great deal
of trouble. I was never more pleased than I was at seeing the disgust of
those villagers as they paid the fine imposed on them, and I should
imagine that when El Chico paid his next visit there, his reception
would not be a cordial one. The brigade had been marching all night, and
halted for six hours, and the bullocks, flour, and wine furnished them
with a good meal all round. It was an hour or two before I was able to
stand, but after a while the circulation got right, and I was able to
accompany them when they marched. They did not know until I told them
that our force had passed on ahead of them in pursuit of Wellington. I
made no secret of that, for they would have heard it from the first
peasant they met. When we started, the colonel asked me what I meant to
do.

"'I don't want to keep you prisoner, my man,' he said. 'In the first
place, I don't wish to be troubled with looking after you; and in the
second, you cannot be considered as a prisoner of war, for you were
unarmed and helpless when we found you. Now, we are going to march all
night. I am not going to tell where we are going; but I think it likely
that we shall pass within sight of your camp-fires, and in that case I
will leave you to make your way down to them, and will hand you back
your musket and pouch, which you may want if you happen to fall in with
a stray peasant or two.'

"I had noticed that they had taken along my musket and pouch, which had
been brought up by the fellows that guarded me. They were strapped on to
a mule's pack, of which they had about a couple of dozen with them, but
I little thought the gun was going to be given me again.

"'Monsieur le Colonel,' I said, 'I thank you from my heart. I should
have felt disgraced for ever if I were to go into the camp unarmed. Now,
I shall be able to go in with my head erect, and take my punishment for
having got drunk, and failing to fall in at the assembly, like a man. On
the honour of a French soldier, I swear that I shall for ever regard the
English as the most generous of foes.'