talents as a draughtsman have procured you promotion, my
friend; I have obtained your discharge from your regiment, and you are
now my orderly--orderly on the staff, do you mind; so mount, sir, and
follow me.'

I saluted him respectfully, and prepared to obey his orders. Already
I foresaw the downfall of all the hopes I had been cherishing, and
anticipated the life of tyranny and oppression that lay before me. It
was clear to me that my discharge had been obtained solely as a means
of punishing me, and that Captain Discau, as the officer was called,
had destined me to a pleasant expiation of my note-book The savage
exultation with which he watched me, as I made up my kit and saddled
my horse--the cool malice with which he handed me back the accursed
journal, the cause of all my disasters--gave me a dark foreboding of
what was to follow; and as I mounted my saddle, my woeful face and
miserable look brought forth a perfect shout of laughter from the
bystanders.

Captain Discau's duty was to visit the banks of the Rhine and the Eslar
island, to take certain measurements of distances, and obtain accurate
information on various minute points respecting the late engagement;
for, while a brief announcement of the victory would suffice for the
bulletin, a detailed narrative of the event in all its bearings must be
drawn up for the minister of war, and for this latter purpose various
staff-officers were then employed in different parts of the field.

As we issued from the fortress, and took our way over the plain, we
struck out into a sharp gallop; but as we drew near the river, our
passage became so obstructed by lines of baggage-waggons, tumbrils, and
ammunition-carts, that we were obliged to dismount and proceed on foot;
and now I was to see for the first time that dreadful picture which, on
the day after a battle, forms the reverse of the great medal of glory.
Huge litters of wounded men, on their way back to Strasbourg, were drawn
by six or eight horses, their jolting motion increasing the agony of
sufferings that found their vent in terrific cries and screams; oaths,
yells, and blasphemies, the ravings of madness, and the wild shouts of
infuriated suffering, filled the air on every side. As if to give the
force of contrast to this uproar of misery, two regiments of Swabian
infantry marched past as prisoners. Silent, crest-fallen, and
wretched-looking, they never raised their eyes from the ground, but
moved, or halted,