ich France
rallied during those dreadful days.

It is well known that neither I nor the regiment of Hussars of Conflans
were at Moscow. We were left behind on the lines of communication
at Borodino. How the Emperor could have advanced without us is
incomprehensible to me, and, indeed, it was only then that I understood
that his judgment was weakening and that he was no longer the man that
he had been. However, a soldier has to obey orders, and so I remained
at this village, which was poisoned by the bodies of thirty thousand men
who had lost their lives in the great battle. I spent the late autumn in
getting my horses into condition and reclothing my men, so that when the
army fell back on Borodino my Hussars were the best of the cavalry, and
were placed under Ney in the rear-guard.

What could he have done without us during those dreadful days? "Ah,
Gerard," said he one evening--but it is not for me to repeat the words.
Suffice it that he spoke what the whole army felt. The rear-guard
covered the army and the Hussars of Conflans covered the rear-guard.
There was the whole truth in a sentence.

Always the Cossacks were on us. Always we held them off. Never a day
passed that we had not to wipe our sabres. That was soldiering indeed.

But there came a time between Wilna and Smolensk when the situation
became impossible. Cossacks and even cold we could fight, but we could
not fight hunger as well. Food must be got at all costs. That night Ney
sent for me to the waggon in which he slept. His great head was sunk on
his hands. Mind and body he was wearied to death.

"Colonel Gerard," said he, "things are going very badly with us. The men
are starving. We must have food at all costs."

"The horses," I suggested.

"Save your handful of cavalry; there are none left."

"The band," said I.

He laughed, even in his despair.

"Why the band?" he asked.

"Fighting men are of value."

"Good," said he. "You would play the game down to the last card and so
would I. Good, Gerard, good!"

He clasped my hand in his. "But there is one chance for us yet, Gerard."
He unhooked a lantern from the roof of the waggon and he laid it on
a map which was stretched before him. "To the south of us," said he,
"there lies the town of Minsk. I have word from a Russian deserter that
much corn has been stored in the town-hall. I wish you to take as many
men as you think best, set forth for Minsk, seize the corn, load any
carts which you may