utenant? No, I was doomed in any case, and it was
as well perhaps that I should have put the best face on the matter. This
beast could bear witness that Etienne Gerard had died as he had lived,
and that one prisoner at least had not quailed before him. I lay there
thinking of the various girls who would mourn for me, and of my dear old
mother, and of the deplorable loss which I should be, both to my
regiment and to the Emperor, and I am not ashamed to confess to you that
I shed tears as I thought of the general consternation which my
premature end would give rise to.

But all the time I was taking the very keenest notice of everything
which might possibly help me. I am not a man who would lie like a sick
horse waiting for the farrier sergeant and the pole-axe. First I would
give a little tug at my ankle cords, and then another at those which
were round my wrists, and all the time that I was trying to loosen them
I was peering round to see if I could find something which was in my
favour. There was one thing which was very evident. A hussar is but half
formed without a horse, and there was my other half quietly grazing
within thirty yards of me. Then I observed yet another thing. The path
by which we had come over the mountains was so steep that a horse could
only be led across it slowly and with difficulty, but in the other
direction the ground appeared to be more open, and to lead straight down
into a gently-sloping valley. Had I but my feet in yonder stirrups and
my sabre in my hand, a single bold dash might take me out of the power
of these vermin of the rocks.

I was still thinking it over and straining with my wrists and my ankles,
when their chief came out from his grotto, and after some talk with his
lieutenant, who lay groaning near the fire, they both nodded their heads
and looked across at me. He then said some few words to the band, who
clapped their hands and laughed uproariously. Things looked ominous, and
I was delighted to feel that my hands were so far free that I could
easily slip them through the cords if I wished. But with my ankles I
feared that I could do nothing, for when I strained it brought such pain
into my lance-wound that I had to gnaw my moustache to keep from crying
out. I could only lie still, half-free and half-bound, and see what turn
things were likely to take.

For a little I could not make out what they were after. One of the
rascals climbed up a well-grown fir-tree upon one side of