for the ransom of my faithful companion in arms."[275]

Far greater was the danger at the River Beresina. The Russian army of
the south had seized the bridge at Borisoff on which Napoleon's safety
depended, and Oudinot vainly struggled to wrest it back. The
Muscovites burnt it under his eyes. Such was the news which Napoleon
heard at Bobr on November 24th. It staggered him; for, with his usual
excess of confidence, he had destroyed his pontoons on the banks of
the Dnieper; and now there was no means of crossing a river, usually
insignificant, but swollen by floods and bridged only by half-thawed
ice. Yet French resource was far from vanquished. General Corbineau,
finding from some peasants that the river was fordable three leagues
above Borisoff, brought the news to Oudinot, who forthwith prepared to
cross there. Napoleon, coming up on the 26th, approved the plan, and
cheeringly said to his Marshal, "Well, you shall be my locksmith and
open that passage for me."[276]

To deceive the foe, the Emperor told off a regiment or two southwards
with a long tail of camp-followers that were taken to be an army. And
this wily move, harmonizing with recent demonstrations of the
Austrians on the side of Minsk, convinced the Muscovite leader that
Napoleon was minded to clasp hands with them.[277] While the Russians
patrolled the river on the south, French sappers were working, often
neck deep in the water, to throw two light bridges across the stream
higher up. By heroic toil, which to most of them brought death, the
bridges were speedily finished, and, as the light of November 26th was
waning Oudinot's corps of 7,000 men gained a firm footing on the
homeward side. But they were observed by Russian scouts, and when on
the next day Napoleon and other corps had struggled across, the enemy
came up, captured a whole division, and on the morrow strove to hurl
the invaders into the river. Victor and the rearguard staunchly kept
them at bay; but at one point the Russian army of the Dwina
temporarily gained ground and swept the bridges and their approaches
with artillery fire.

Then the panic-stricken throngs of wounded and stragglers, women and
camp-followers, writhed and fought their way until the frail planks
were piled high with living and dead. To add to the horrors, one
bridge gave way under the weight of the cannon. The rush for the one
remaining bridge became yet more frantic and the day closed amidst
scenes of unspeakable woe. St