his horse to the
river, and soon they were plunging through it with the water sometimes
more than half over them, and musket balls lashing the river around
them.

Madame Ladoinski had recognised her husband the instant he placed her
before him on his horse, and, overcome with joy, she had swooned before
she could utter a word. He remained quite unconscious of whom he had
rescued until, in mid-stream, the shawl which had been over his wife's
head and shoulders slipped and disclosed her face. Joy did not cause
the Polish captain to lose his wits, but made him more careful of his
precious burden. He had been in a reckless mood, courting death in
fact, during the last quarter of an hour of the fight, but now he was
anxious to live. It would indeed be sad, he thought, if now, when
safety was almost reached, a shot should lay him, or still worse, his
wife, low. But on through danger the brave horse struggled with his
heavy load, and soon Captain Ladoinski was able to place his wife and
son on dry land, and to give them the warmth and food which they sadly
needed.

Then when Madame Ladoinski had recovered from the excitement of again
meeting her husband, he told her that he had long since been assured
that both she and their boy were dead. He, as the wagon-drivers had
sworn, had been thrown out of the wagon for dead, but some of his men
came along soon after, and seeing him lying in the snow dismounted to
see if he were alive. Finding that his heart was beating, they set to
work and restored him to consciousness, and then took him on to
Smolensk, whence he sent back to enquire after his wife and child. The
message that was brought to him was that his wife and child had been
murdered on the road. Believing this to be true, he went on with his
regiment--before they arrived at Smolensk--with henceforth only one aim
in life--to avenge Poland's wrongs.

The story of Captain Ladoinski's extraordinary rescue of his own wife
and child created some excitement among Napoleon's soldiers, dispirited
though they were by the terrible march they had undergone, and numerous
and hearty were the congratulations which husband and wife received.
Prince Eugene was one of the first to congratulate them, and Captain
Ladoinski seized the opportunity to express his deep gratitude to the
prince for the kindness he had shown to his wife in her sorrow, a
kindness that was all the more creditable because Prince Eugene knew
that Madame Ladoin