to every child from one end of Europe to the other. Beneath me was
the Emperor's own famous white charger. It was complete.

Already as I rode clear the Prussians were within two hundred yards of
us. I made a gesture of terror and despair with my hands, and I sprang
my horse over the bank which lined the road. It was enough. A yell of
exultation and of furious hatred broke from the Prussians.

It was the howl of starving wolves who scent their prey. I spurred my
horse over the meadow-land and looked back under my arm as I rode. Oh,
the glorious moment when one after the other I saw eight horsemen come
over the bank at my heels! Only one had stayed behind, and I heard
shouting and the sounds of a struggle. I remembered my old sergeant of
Chasseurs, and I was sure that number nine would trouble us no more. The
road was clear and the Emperor free to continue his journey.

But now I had to think of myself. If I were overtaken the Prussians
would certainly make short work of me in their disappointment. If it
were so--if I lost my life--I should still have sold it at a glorious
price. But I had hopes that I might shake them off. With ordinary
horsemen upon ordinary horses I should have had no difficulty in doing
so, but here both steeds and riders were of the best. It was a grand
creature that I rode, but it was weary with its long night's work, and
the Emperor was one of those riders who do not know how to manage
a horse. He had little thought far them and a heavy hand upon their
mouths. On the other hand, Stein and his men had come both far and fast.
The race was a fair one.

So quick had been my impulse, and so rapidly had I acted upon it, that
I had not thought enough of my own safety. Had I done so in the first
instance I should, of course, have ridden straight back the way we had
come, for so I should have met our own people. But I was off the road
and had galloped a mile over the plain before this occurred to me. Then
when I looked back I saw that the Prussians had spread out into a long
line, so as to head me off from the Charleroi road. I could not turn
back, but at least I could edge toward the north. I knew that the whole
face of the country was covered with our flying troops, and that sooner
or later I must come upon some of them.

But one thing I had forgotten--the Sambre. In my excitement I never gave
it a thought until I saw it, deep and broad, gleaming in the morning
sunlight. It barred my path, and the Pr