ang hoarsely from beneath his long mustaches.
I had a presentiment that great misfortunes might be coming upon me,
yet I was forced to put a good face upon it. But the sergeant was
right, for that very day, about three in the afternoon, all the troops
stationed around the city were in motion, and at five we were put under
arms. The Marshal Prince of Moskowa entered the town surrounded by the
officers and generals who composed his staff, and, almost immediately
after, the gray-haired Souham followed and passed us in review upon the
square. Then he spoke in a loud, clear voice so that every one could
hear:

"Soldiers!" said he, "you will form part of the advance-guard of the
Third corps. Try to remember that you are Frenchmen. _Vive
l'Empereur!_"

All shouted "_Vive l'Empereur!_" till the echoes rang again, while the
general departed with Colonel Zapfel.

That night we were relieved by the Hessians, and left Erfurt with the
Tenth hussars and a regiment of chasseurs. At six or seven in the
morning we were before the city of Weimar, and saw the sun rising on
its gardens, its churches, and its houses, as well as on an old castle
to the right. Here we bivouacked, and the hussars went forward to
reconnoitre the town. About nine, while we were breakfasting, suddenly
we heard the rattle of musketry and carbines. Our hussars had
encountered the Prussian hussars in the streets, and they were firing
on each other. But it was so far off that we saw nothing of the combat.

At the end of an hour the hussars returned, having lost two men. Thus
began the campaign.

We remained five days in our camp, while the whole Third corps were
coming up. As we were the advance-guard, we started again by way of
Suiza and Warthau. Then we saw the enemy; Cossacks who kept ever
beyond the range of our guns, and the farther they retired the greater
grew our courage.

But it annoyed me to hear Zebede constantly exclaiming in a tone of
ill-humor:

"Will they never stop; never make a stand!"

I thought that if they kept retreating we could ask nothing better. We
would gain all we wanted without loss of life or suffering.

But at last they halted on the farther side of the broad and deep
river, and I saw a great number posted near the bank to cut us to
pieces if we should cross unsupported.

It was the twenty-ninth of April, and growing late. Never did I see a
more glorious sunset. On the opposite side of the river stretched a