he weapon was the cavalry sabre, and
the skill, the science, the vigour, and the determination displayed by
the adversaries compelled the admiration of the beholders. It became
the subject of talk on both shores of the Danube, and as far as the
garrisons of Gratz and Laybach. They crossed blades seven times. Both
had many cuts which bled profusely. Both refused to have the combat
stopped, time after time, with what appeared the most deadly animosity.
This appearance was caused on the part of Captain D'Hubert by a rational
desire to be done once for all with this worry; on the part of Captain
Feraud by a tremendous exaltation of his pugnacious instincts and the
incitement of wounded vanity. At last, dishevelled, their shirts in
rags, covered with gore and hardly able to stand, they were led away
forcibly by their marvelling and horrified seconds. Later on, besieged
by comrades avid of details, these gentlemen declared that they could
not have allowed that sort of hacking to go on indefinitely. Asked
whether the quarrel was settled this time, they gave it out as their
conviction that it was a difference which could only be settled by one
of the parties remaining lifeless on the ground. The sensation spread
from army corps to army corps, and penetrated at last to the smallest
detachments of the troops cantoned between the Rhine and the Save. In
the cafes in Vienna it was generally estimated, from details to hand,
that the adversaries would be able to meet again in three weeks' time
on the outside. Something really transcendent in the way of duelling was
expected.

These expectations were brought to naught by the necessities of the
service which separated the two officers. No official notice had been
taken of their quarrel. It was now the property of the army, and not
to be meddled with lightly. But the story of the duel, or rather their
duelling propensities, must have stood somewhat in the way of their
advancement, because they were still captains when they came together
again during the war with Prussia. Detached north after Jena, with
the army commanded by Marshal Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte Corvo, they
entered Lubeck together.

It was only after the occupation of that town that Captain Feraud found
leisure to consider his future conduct in view of the fact that Captain
D'Hubert had been given the position of third aide-de-camp to the
marshal. He considered it a great part of a night, and in the morning
summoned two s