ced in the front ranks, and in a very few days had occasion to
display their fighting qualities. At the very first onslaught of the
enemy they stood their ground manfully till the French troops had
approached within ten feet, when, with one accord, they took to their
heels, and never stopped running till they were entirely out of sight.
It was a disastrous day for the Russians. The commander-in-chief was
overwhelmed with shame and mortification. A detachment of cavalry was
dispatched in pursuit of the fugitives, who were finally arrested in
their flight and brought back. "Cowards!" thundered the enraged
commander, as they stood drawn up before him; "miserable poltroons!
dastards! is this the way you do honor to your imperial master? Am I
to report to his most potent majesty that, without striking one blow
in his defense, you ran like sheep? Wretches, what have you to say for
yourselves?"

[Illustration: IMPERIAL NOSEGAY.]

"May it please your excellency," responded the men, firmly and with
unblenched faces, "we ran away, it is true; but we are not cowards. On
the contrary, sire, we are brave men, and fear neither man nor beast.
But your excellency is aware that nature has gifted us with noses
peculiarly open to unusual impressions. We have smelled all the
smells known from the far North to the far South, from the stewed rats
of Moscow to the carrion that lies mouldering upon the plains of the
Crimea; but, if it please your highness, we never smelled Frenchmen
before. There was an unearthly odor about them that filled our
nostrils, and struck a mysterious terror into our souls."

"Fools!" roared the commander-in-chief, bursting with rage, "what you
smelled was nothing more than garlic, to which these Frenchmen are
addicted."

"Call it as you will," firmly responded the men with the noses, "it
was too horrible to be endured. We are willing to die by the natural
casualties of war, but not by unseen blasts of garlic, against which
no human power can contend."

"Then," cried the commander, in tones of thunder, "I'll see that you
die to-morrow by the natural casualties of war. You shall be put in
the very front rank, and care shall be taken to have every man of you
shot down the moment you undertake to run."

On the following day this rigorous order was carried into effect. The
nose regiment was placed in front, and the battle opened with great
spirit. The French troops swept down upon them like an avalanche. For
an