re
wounded and captured, most of whom subsequently died, and there were
about two thousand unhurt prisoners. Their ammunition was exhausted.
They were worn out. They were overwhelmed by massed charges at last.
Bluecher's line was pierced, his center crushed, and one of the finest
divisions of his army was eliminated.

In the wagon train recaptured at Aumenier had been found arms and
provisions and ammunition. Another Prussian wagon train, blundering
along the road, was seized by Maurice's cavalry, which had been sent
scouting to the eastward. From the Russian camp the starving French
had got food, more arms and clothing. The dead were quickly despoiled,
even the living were forced to contribute to the comfort of their
conquerors. It was night before the last French division got up from
Sezanne, but there was enough food and weapons for all.

A new spirit had come over that army. What had seemed to them a
purposeless, ghastly march through the mud was now realized to be one
of the most brilliant manoeuvres Napoleon had ever undertaken. The
conscripts, the raw boys, the National Guards, many of whom had been in
action for the first time that day, were filled with incredible
enthusiasm. They were ready for anything.

But the army must have rest. It must be permitted to sleep the night.
Accordingly the divisions were disposed in the fields. Those who had
fought hardest were given quarters in the village; the next were placed
in the captured Russian camp; the others made themselves as comfortable
as they could around huge fires. The poor prisoners had little or
nothing. The ragged French were at least better clothed than they were
in the morning. The defenseless had arms and the whole army had been
fed. There was wine, too; the Russian commissariat was a liberal one.
There was much laughter and jovialness in the camps that night. Of
course, the guard and the other veterans expected nothing else, but to
the youngsters the brilliant stroke of Napoleon was a revelation.

As the little Emperor rode from division to division, sometimes
dismounting and walking through the camps on foot, he was received with
such acclaim as reminded him of the old days in Italy. And, indeed,
the brief campaign which he had so brilliantly inaugurated can be
favorably compared to that famous Italian adventure, or to any other
short series of consecutive military exploits in the whole history of
war.

They said that the Emperor