they believed that all the force was in the front.'

'_Sacre tonnerre!_ I believe that our armies of the Sambre and the
Rhine never have any other notion of battles than that eternal flank
movement!' cried a young sergeant of the voltigeurs, who had just come
up from the army of Italy. 'Our general used to split the enemy by the
centre, cut him piecemeal by attack in columns, and then mow him down
with artillery at short range--not leaving him time for a retreat in
heavy masses----'

'Silence, silence, and let us hear Petit Pierre!' shouted a dozen
voices, who cared far more for an incident than a scientific discussion
about manoeuvres.

'The plan I speak of was General Moreau's,' continued Pierre; 'and I
fancy that your Bonaparte has something to learn ere he be his equal!'

This rebuke seeming to have engaged the suffrages of the company, he
went on: 'The boat division consisted of four battalions of infantry,
two batteries of light artillery, and a voltigeur company of the
"Regiment de Marboeuf"--to which I was then, for the time, attached as
_tambour en chef_. What fellows they were--the greatest devils in
the whole army! They came from the Faubourg St. Antoine, and were as
reckless and undisciplined as when they strutted the streets of Paris.
When they were thrown out to skirmish, they used to play as many tricks
as schoolboys: sometimes they 'd run up to the roof of a cabin or a
hut--and they could climb like cats--and, sitting down on the chimney,
begin firing away at the enemy as coolly as if from a battery; sometimes
they'd capture half-a-dozen asses, and ride forward as if to charge, and
then, affecting to tumble off, the fellows would pick down any of the
enemy's officers that were fools enough to come near--scampering back to
the cover of the line, laughing and joking as if the whole were sport.
I saw one when his wrist was shattered by a shot, and he couldn't fire,
take a comrade on his back and caper away like a horse, just to tempt
the Germans to come out of their lines. It was with these blessed youths
I was now to serve, for the _tambour_ of the "Marboeuf" was drowned in
crossing the Sambre a few days before. Well, we passed the river safely,
and, unperceived by the enemy, gained the pine wood, where we formed
in two columns, one of attack, and the other of support--the voltigeurs
about five hundred paces in advance of the leading files. The morning
was dull and hazy, for a heavy rain had fallen duri