"I did, Sire," said the officer.
"How are the roads, sir?"
"Much cut up, and in one place a torrent has carried away part of a bridge."
"I knew it,--I knew it," said he, bitterly; "it is too late. Duroc,"
cried he, while the words seemed to come forth with a hissing sound, "did I not tell you, "Grattez le Russe, et vous trouverez le Tartare!""
The words were graven in my memory from that hour; even yet, I can recall the very accents as when I heard them.
"And you, sir," said he, turning suddenly towards me, "you came from General Savary. Return to him with this letter. Have you written, Duroc?
Well, you"ll deliver this to General Savary at Holitsch. He may require you to proceed to G.o.ding. Are you well mounted?"
"Yes, Sire."
"Come, then, sir. I made you a captain yesterday; let us see if you can win your spurs to-day."
From the time I received the despatch to that in which I was in the saddle not more than five minutes elapsed. The idea of being chosen by the Emperor himself for a service was a proud one, and I resolved to acquit myself with credit. With what concert does one"s heart beat to the free stride of a mettled charger! how does each bold plunge warm the blood and stir up the spirits! and as, careering free over hill and valley, we pa.s.s in our flight the clouds that drift above, how does the sense of freedom, realized as it is, impart a feeling of ecstasy to our minds! Our thoughts, revelling on the wayward liberty our course suggests, rise free and untrammelled from the doubts and cares of every-day life.
Onward I went, and soon the old mill came in sight, rearing its ruined head amid the black desolation of the plain. I could not resist the impulse to see what had become of De Beauvais; and leading my horse into the kitchen, I hastened up the stairs and through the rooms. But all were deserted; the little chamber lay open, the granary too; but no one was there.
With a mind relieved, in a great measure, from anxiety, I remounted and continued my way; and soon entered the dark woods of Holitsch. The chateau and demesne were a private estate of the Emperor Francis, and once formed a favorite resort of Joseph the Second in his hunting excursions. The chateau itself was a large, irregular ma.s.s of building, but still, with all its incongruity of architecture, not devoid of picturesque effect,--and the older portion of it was even handsome.
While I stood in front of a long terrace, on which several windows opened from a gallery that ran along one side of the chateau, I was somewhat surprised that no guard was to be seen, nor even a single sentinel on duty. I dismounted, and leading my horse, approached the avenue that led up between a double range of statues to the door. An old man, dressed in the slouched hat and light blue jacket of a Bohemian peasant, was busily engaged in wrapping matting around some shrubs, to protect them from the frost. A little boy--his second self in costume--stood beside him with his pruning-knife, and stared at me with a kind of stupid wonder as I approached. With some difficulty I made out from the old man that the Emperor occupied a smaller building called the Kaiser-l.u.s.t, about half a league distant in the forest, having given strict orders that no one was to approach the chateau nor its immediate grounds. It was his favorite retreat, and perhaps he did not wish it should be a.s.sociated in his mind with a period of such misfortune. The old peasant continued his occupation while he spoke, never lifting his head from his work, and seeming all absorbed in the necessity of what he was engaged in. As I inquired the nearest road to the imperial quarters, he employed me to a.s.sist him for a moment in his task by holding one end of the matting, with which he was now about to envelop a marble statue of Maria Theresa.
I could not refuse a request so naturally proffered; and while I did so, a little wicket opened at a short distance off, and a tall man, in a gray surtout and a plain c.o.c.ked hat without a feather, came forward. He held a riding-whip in his hand, and seemed, from his splashed equipment, to have just descended from the saddle.
"Well, Fritz," said he, "I hope the frost has done us no mischief?"
The old gardener turned round at the words, and, touching his hat respectfully, continued his work, while he replied,--
"No, Mein Herr; it was but a white h.o.a.r, and everything has escaped well."
"And whom have you got here for an a.s.sistant, may I ask?" said he, pointing to me, whom he now saw for the first time.
As the question was asked in German, although I understood it I left the reply to the gardener.
"G.o.d knows!" said the old fellow, in a tone of easy indifference; "I think he must be a soldier of some sort."
The other smiled at the remark, and, turning towards me, said, in French,--
"You are, perhaps, unaware, sir, being a stranger, that it is the Emperor of Austria"s desire this chateau should not be intruded on."
"My offending, sir," interrupted I, "was purely accidental. I am the bearer of despatches for General Savary; and having stopped to inquire from this honest man--"
"The general has taken his departure for G.o.ding," he broke in, without paying further attention to my explanation.
"For G.o.ding! and may I ask what distance that may be?"
"Scarcely a league, if you can hit upon the right path; the road lies yonder, where you see that dead fir-tree."
"I thank you, sir," said I, touching my hat; "and must now ask my friend here to release me,--my orders are of moment."
"You may find some difficulty in the wood, after all," said he; "I "ll send my groom part of the way with you."
Before I could proffer my thanks suitably for such an unexpected politeness, he had disappeared in the garden through which he entered a few minutes before.
"I say, my worthy friend, tell me the name of that gentleman; he"s one of the Emperor"s staff, if I mistake not. I "m certain I "ve seen the face before."
"If you had," said the old fellow, laughing, "you could scarcely forget him; old Frantzerl is just the same these twenty years."
"Whom did you say?"
Before he could reply, the other was at my side.
"Now, sir," said he, "he will conduct you to the highroad. I wish you a good journey."
These words were uttered in a tone somewhat more haughty than his previous ones; and contenting myself with a civil acknowledgment of his attention, I bowed and returned to my horse, which the little peasant child had been holding.
"This way, Monsieur," said the groom, who, dressed in a plain dark brown livery, was mounted on a horse of great size and symmetry.
As he spoke, he dashed forward at a gallop which all my efforts could not succeed in overtaking. In less than ten minutes the man halted, and, waiting till I came up, he pointed to a gentle acclivity before me, across which the highroad led.
"There lies the road, sir; continue your speed, and in twenty minutes you reach G.o.ding."
"One word," said I, drawing forth my purse as I spoke,--"one word. Tell me, who is your master?"
The groom smiled, slightly touched his hat, and without uttering a word, wheeled round his horse, and before I could repeat my question, was far on his road back to the chateau.
Before me lay the river, and the little bridge of G.o.ding, across which now the Russian columns were marching in rapid but compact order. Their cavalry had nearly all pa.s.sed, and was drawn with some field-guns along the bank; while at half-cannon-shot distance, the corps of Davoust were drawn up in order of battle, and standing spectators of the scene. On an eminence of the field a splendid staff were a.s.sembled, accompanied by a troop of Tartar hors.e.m.e.n, whose gay colors and strange equipment were a remarkable feature of the picture; and here, I learned, the Emperor Alexander then was, accompanied by General Savary.
As I drew near, my French uniform caught the eye of the latter, and he cantered forward to meet me. Tearing open the despatch with eagerness, he rapidly perused the few lines it contained; then, seizing me by the arm in his-strong grasp, he exclaimed,--
"Look yonder, sir! You see their columns extending to Serritz. Go back and tell his Majesty. But no; my own mission here is ended. You may return to Austerlitz."
So saying, he rode back to the group around the Emperor, where I saw him a few minutes after addressing his Majesty; and then, after a formal leave-taking, turn his horse"s head and set out towards Brunn.
As I retraced my steps towards the camp, I began to muse over the events which had just occurred; and even by the imperfect glimpses I could catch of the negotiations, could perceive that the Czar had out-manoeuvred Napoleon. It is true, I was not aware by what means the success had been obtained; nor was it for many a year after that I became cognizant of the few autograph lines by which Alexander induced Davoust to suspend his operations, under the pretence that the Austrian armistice included the Russian army. It was an unworthy act and ill befitting one whose high personal courage and chivalrous bearing gave promise of better things.
CHAPTER VIII. THE COMPAGNIE D"ELITE
With whatever triumphant feelings the Emperor Napoleon may have witnessed the glorious termination of this brief campaign, to the young officers of the army it brought anything rather than satisfaction, and the news of the armistice was received in the camp with gloom and discontent. The brilliant action at Elchingen, and the great victory at Austerlitz, were hailed as a glorious presage of future successes, for which the high-sounding phrases of a bulletin were deemed but a poor requital. A great proportion of the army were new levies, who had not seen service, and felt proportionably desirous for opportunities of distinction; and to them the promise of a triumphant return to France was a miserable exchange for those battlefields on which they dreamed they should win honor and fame, and from whence they hoped to date their rise of fortune. Little did we guess, that while words of peace and avowals of moderation were on his lips, Napoleon was at that very moment meditating on the opening of that great campaign, which, beginning at Jena, was to end in the most b.l.o.o.d.y and long sustained of all his wars.
Nothing, however, was now talked of but the fetes which awaited us on our return to Paris,--while liberal grants of money were made to all the wounded, and no effort was spared which should mark that feeling of the Emperor"s, which so conspicuously opened his bulletin, in the emphatic words, "Soldiers, I am content with you!"
Napoleon well understood, and indeed appeared to have antic.i.p.ated, the disappointment the army would experience at this sudden cessation of hostilities; and endeavored now to divert the torrent of their enthusiasm into another and a safer channel. The bulk of the army were cantoned around Brunn and Olmutz; some picked regiments were recalled to Vienna, where the Emperor was soon expected to establish his headquarters; while many of those who had suffered most severely from forced marches and fatigues were formed into corps of escort to accompany the Russian prisoners--sixteen thousand in number--on their way to France; and lastly, a _compagnie d"elite_, as it was called, was selected to carry to the Senate the glorious spoils of victory,--forty-five standards taken on the field of Austerlitz, and now destined to grace the Palace of the Luxembourg.