uld not have sufficed to carry the fingers
and the toes which the army had shed during that retreat. Still, lean
and crippled as we were, we had much to be thankful for when we thought
of our poor comrades whom we had left behind, and of the snowfields--the
horrible, horrible snowfields. To this day, my friends, I do not care to
see red and white together. Even my red cap thrown down upon my white
counterpane has given me dreams in which I have seen those monstrous
plains, the reeling, tortured army, and the crimson smears which glared
upon the snow behind them. You will coax no story out of me about that
business, for the thought of it is enough to turn my wine to vinegar and
my tobacco to straw.

Of the half-million who crossed the Elbe in the autumn of the year '12
about forty thousand infantry were left in the spring of '13. But they
were terrible men, these forty thousand: men of iron, eaters of horses,
and sleepers in the snow; filled, too, with rage and bitterness against
the Russians. They would hold the Elbe until the great army of
conscripts, which the Emperor was raising in France, should be ready to
help them to cross it once more.

But the cavalry was in a deplorable condition. My own hussars were at
Borna, and when I paraded them first, I burst into tears at the sight of
them. My fine men and my beautiful horses--it broke my heart to see the
state to which they were reduced. 'But, courage,' I thought, 'they have
lost much, but their Colonel is still left to them.' I set to work,
therefore, to repair their disasters, and had already constructed two
good squadrons, when an order came that all colonels of cavalry should
repair instantly to the depots of the regiments in France to organize
the recruits and the remounts for the coming campaign.

You will think, doubtless, that I was over-joyed at this chance of
visiting home once more. I will not deny that it was a pleasure to me to
know that I should see my mother again, and there were a few girls who
would be very glad at the news; but there were others in the army who
had a stronger claim. I would have given my place to any who had wives
and children whom they might not see again. However, there is no arguing
when the blue paper with the little red seal arrives, so within an hour
I was off upon my great ride from the Elbe to the Vosges. At last I was
to have a period of quiet. War lay behind my mare's tail and peace in
front of her nostrils. So I thought,