r his money if
he dropped them; each man followed his nose, and went as he pleased
without caring for glory. The weather was so bad the Emperor couldn't
see his star; there was something between him and the skies. Poor man!
it made him ill to see his eagles flying away from victory. Ah! 'twas a
mortal blow, you may believe me.

"Well, we got to the Beresina, My friends, I can affirm to you by all
that is most sacred, by my honour, that since mankind came into the
world, never, never was there seen such a fricassee of any army--guns,
carriages, artillery-waggons--in the midst of such snows, under such
relentless skies! The muzzles of the muskets burned our hands if we
touched them, the iron was so cold. It was there that the army was saved
by the pontoniers, who were firm at their post; and there that
Gondrin--sole survivor of the men who were bold enough to go into the
water and build the bridges by which the army crossed--that Gondrin,
here present, admirably conducted himself, and saved us from the
Russians, who, I must tell you, still respected the grand army,
remembering its victories. And," he added, pointing to Gondrin, who was
gazing at him with the peculiar attention of a deaf man, "Gondrin is a
finished soldier, a soldier who is honour itself, and he merits your
highest esteem.

"I saw the Emperor," he resumed, "standing by the bridge, motionless,
not feeling the cold--was that human? He looked at the destruction of
his treasure, his friends, his old Egyptians. Bah! all that passed him,
women, army-waggons, artillery, all were shattered, destroyed, ruined.
The bravest carried the eagles; for the eagles, d'ye see, were France,
the nation, all of you! they were the civil and the military honour that
must be kept pure; could their heads be lowered because of the cold? It
was only near the Emperor that we warmed ourselves, because when he was
in danger we ran, frozen as we were--we, who wouldn't have stretched a
hand to save a friend. They told us he wept at night over his poor
family of soldiers. Ah! none but he and Frenchmen could have got
themselves out of that business. We did get out, but with losses, great
losses, as I tell you. The Allies captured our provisions. Men began to
betray him, as the Red Man predicted. Those chatterers in Paris, who had
held their tongues after the Imperial Guard was formed, now thought he
was dead; so they hoodwinked the prefect of police, and hatched a
conspiracy to overthrow