and falling into the hands of the peasants."

"You are right, Jules," several of them exclaimed. "It is better a
thousand times."

"We have a bad prospect before us," Julian went on. "There is no denying
that; but it will make all the difference how we face it. Above all
things we have got to keep up our spirits. I have heard that the
captains of the whalers in the northern seas do everything in their
power to interest and amuse their crews. They sing, they dance, they
tell stories of adventures, and the great thing is to keep from brooding
over the present. I am but a young sergeant, and most of you here have
gone through many a campaign, and it is not for me to give advice, but I
should say that above all things we ought to try to keep up the spirits
of our men. If we could but start the marching songs we used to sing as
we tramped through Germany, it would set men's feet going in time, would
make them forget the cold and hunger, and they would march along erect,
instead of with their eyes fixed on the ground, and stumbling as if they
could not drag their feet along. We should tell them why we sing, or
they might think it was a mockery. Tell them that the Grenadiers of the
Rhone mean to show that, come what may, they intend to be soldiers to
the last, and to face death, whether from the Russians or from the
winter, heads erect and courage high. Let us show them that, as we have
ever done our duty, so we shall do it to the end, and that it will be a
matter of pride that throughout the division it should be said, when
they hear our songs, 'There go the Grenadiers of the Rhone, brave
fellows and good comrades; see how they bear themselves.'"

"Bravo, bravo, Jules! bravo, Englishman!" the whole of the party
shouted. "So it shall be, we swear it. The Grenadiers of the Rhone shall
set an example."

Suddenly the voices hushed, and Julian was about to look round to see
the cause of their silence, when a hand was laid on his shoulder, and,
turning, he saw Ney standing beside him, with three or four of his
staff. They had come up unobserved, and had stopped a few paces away
just as Julian began to speak.

"Bravo, comrade!" the marshal said; "spoken in the true spirit of a
soldier. Were there a dozen men like you in every regiment I should have
no fear for the future. Did they call you Englishman?"

"Yes, General. I was a prisoner at Verdun, though neither an English
soldier or sailor, and when a call came for volunteers,