Tom Burke Of "Ours" Volume I Part 66

continued he, "your Emperor is in the midst of you. France itself in all its majesty, is at your back, and you are but the advanced guard of a mighty people! There are fatigues and privations, battles, and forced marches, before you; but let them oppose to us every resistance they are able, we swear never to cry 'Halt!' till we have planted our eagles on the territory of our enemies!"

We halted two days at Manheim to permit some regiments to come up, and then marched forward to Nordlingen, which place the Emperor himself had only quitted the night before. Here the report reached us that a smart affair had taken place the previous morning between the Austrian division and a portion of Ney's advanced guard, in which we had rather the worst of it, and had lost some prisoners. The news excited considerable discontent among the troops, and increased their impatience to move forward to a very great degree. Meanwhile, the different divisions of the French army were converging towards Ulm, from the north, south, and west; and every hour brought them nearer to that devoted spot, which as yet, in the security of an enormous garrison, never dreamed of sudden attack.

The corps of Soult was now pushed forward to Augsburg, and, extended by a line of communication to Meiningen, the only channel of communication which remained open to the enemy. The quartier-gnral of the Emperor was established at Zummerhausen; Ney was at Guntzburg: Marmont threatened in the west; and Bernadotte, arriving by forced marches from Prussia, hovered in the north.--so that Ulm was invested in every direction at one blow, and that in a s.p.a.ce of time almost inconceivable.

While these immense combinations were being effected,--requiring as they did an enormous extent of circ.u.mference to march over before the fortress could be thus enclosed, as it were, within our grasp,--our astonishment increased daily that the Austrians delayed to give battle; but, as if terror-stricken, they waited on day after day while the measures for their ruin were accomplishing. At length a desperate sortie was made from the garrison; and a large body of troops, escaping by the left bank of the Danube, directed their course towards Bohemia; while another corps, in the opposite direction, forced back Ney's advanced guard, and took the road towards Nordlingen. Having directed a strong detachment in pursuit of this latter corps, which was commanded by the Archduke Frederick himself, the Emperor closed in around Ulm, and forcing the pa.s.sage of the river at Elchingen, prepared for the final attack.

While these dispositions were being effected, the cavalry brigade, under General d'Auvergne, consisting of three regiments of heavy dragoons, the Fourth Cuira.s.siers, and Eighth Hussars, continued to descend the left bank of the Danube in pursuit of a part of the Austrian garrison which had taken that line in retreat towards Vienna. We followed as far as Guntzburg without coming up with them; and there the news of the capitulation of Meiningen, with its garrison of six thousand men, to Marechal Soult, reached us, along with an order to return to Ulm.

Up to this time all I had seen of war was forced marches, bivouacs hastily broken up, hurried movements in advance and retreat, the fatigue of night parties, and a continual alert. At first the hourly expectation of coming in sight of the enemy kept up our spirits; but when day after day pa.s.sed, and the same pursuit followed, where the pursued never appeared, the younger soldiers grumbled loudly at fatigues undertaken without object, and, as it seemed to them, by mistake.

On the night of the 17th of October we bivouacked within a league of Ulm. Scarcely were the pickets formed for the night, when orders came for the whole brigade to a.s.semble under arms at daybreak. A thousand rumors were abroad as to the meaning of the order, but none came near the true solution; indeed, the difficulty was increased by the added command, that the regiments should appear _en grande tenue_, or in full dress.

I saw that my old commander made a point of keeping me in suspense as to the morrow, and affected as much as possible an air of indifference on the subject. He had himself arrived late from Ulm, where he had seen the Emperor; and amused me by mentioning the surprise of an Austrian aide-de-camp, who, sent to deliver a letter, found his Majesty sitting with his boots off, and stretched before a bivouac fire. "Yes," said Napoleon, divining at once his astonishment, "it is even so. Your master wished to remind me of my old trade, and I hope that the imperial purple has not made me forget its lessons."

By daybreak the next morning our brigade was in the saddle, and in motion towards the quartier-gnral,--a gently rising ground, surmounted by a farmhouse, where the Emperor had fixed his quarters. As we mounted the hill we came in sight of the whole army drawn up in battle array.

They stood in columns of divisions, with artillery and cavalry between them, the bands of the various regiments in front. The day was a brilliant one, and heightened the effect of the scene. Beyond us lay Ulm,--silent as if untenanted: not a sentinel appeared on the walls; the very flag had disappeared from the battlements. Our surprise was great at this; but how was it increased as the rumor fled from mouth to mouth,--"Ulm has capitulated; thirty-five thousand men have become prisoners of war!"

Ere the first moments of wonder had ceased, the staff of the Emperor was seen pa.s.sing along the line, and finally taking up its station on the hill, while the regimental bands burst forth into one crash the most spirit-stirring and exciting. The proud notes swelled and filled the air, as the sun, bursting forth with increased brilliancy, tipped every helmet and banner, and displayed the mighty hosts in all the splendor of their pageantry. Beneath the hill stretched a vast plain in the direction of Neuburg; and here we at first supposed it was the Emperor's intention to review the troops. But a very different scene was destined to pa.s.s on that spot.

Suddenly a single gun boom, out; and as the lazy smoke moved heavily along the earth, the gates of Ulm opened, and the head of an Austrian column appeared. Not with beat of drum or colors flying did they advance; but slow in step, with arms reversed, and their heads downcast, they marched on towards the mound. Defiling beneath this, they moved into the plain, and, corps by corps, piled their arms and resumed their "route," the white line serpentining along the vast plain, and stretching away into the dim distance. Never was a sight so sad as this! All that war can present of suffering and bloodshed, all that the battlefield can show of dead and dying, were nothing to the miserable abas.e.m.e.nt of those thousands, who from daybreak till noon poured on their unceasing tide!

On the hill beside the Emperor stood several officers in white uniform, whose sad faces and suffering looks attested the misery of their hearts.

"Better a thousand deaths than such humiliation!" was the muttered cry of every man about me; while in very sorrow at such a scene, the tears coursed down the hardy cheeks of many a bronzed soldier, and some turned away their heads, unable to behold the spectacle.

Seventy pieces of cannon, with a long train of ammunition wagons, and four thousand cavalry horses, brought up the rear of this melancholy procession,--the spoils of the capitulation of Ulm. Truly, if that day were, as the imperial bulletin announced it, "one of the most glorious for France," it was also the darkest in the history of Austria,--when thirty-two regiments of infantry and fifteen of cavalry, with artillery and siege defences of every kind, laid down their arms and surrendered themselves prisoners.

Thus in fifteen days from the pa.s.sing of the Rhine was the campaign begun and ended, and the Austrian Empire prostrate at the feet of Napoleon.

CHAPTER XLIV. THE CANTEEN.

The Emperor returned that night to Elchingen, accompanied by a numerous staff, among whom was the General d'Auvergne. I remember well the toilsome ascent of the steep town, which, built on a cliff above the Danube, was now little better than a heap of ruins, from the a.s.sault of Ney's division two days before. Scrambling our way over fallen houses and ma.s.sive fragments of masonry, we reached the square that forms the highest point of the city; from thence we looked down upon the great plain, with the majestic Danube winding along for miles. In the valley lay Ulm, now sad and silent: no watch-fires blazed along its deserted ramparts, and through its open gates there streamed the idle tide of soldiers and camp followers, curious to see the place which once they had deemed almost impregnable. The quartier-gnral was established here, and the different staffs disposed of themselves, as well as they were able, throughout the houses near: most of these, indeed, had been deserted by their inhabitants, whose dread of the French was a feeling ministered to by every artifice in the power of the Austrian Government.

As for me, I was but a young campaigner, and might from sheer ignorance have pa.s.sed my night in the open air, when by good fortune I caught sight of my old companion, Pioche, hurrying along a narrow street, carrying a basket well stored with bottles on his arm.

"Ah, mon lieutenant, you here! and not supped yet, I 'd wager a crown?"

"You'd win it too, Pioche; nor do I see very great chance of my doing so."

"Come along with me, sir; Mademoiselle Minette has just opened her canteen in the flower-market. Such it was once, they tell me; but there is little odor left there now, save such as contract powder gives.

But no matter you 'll have a roast capon and sausages, and some of the Austrian wine; I have just secured half a dozen bottles here."

I need scarcely say that this was an invitation there was no declining, and I joined the corporal at once, and hurried on to mademoiselle's quarters. We had not proceeded far, when the noise of voices speaking and singing in a loud tone announced that we were approaching the canteen.

"You hear them, mon lieutenant!" said Pioche, with a look of delight; "you hear the rogues. _Par Saint Jaaques_, they know where to make themselves merry. Good wine for drinking, lodging for nothing, fire for the trouble of lighting it, are brave inducements to enjoy life."

"But it 's a canteen; surely mademoiselle is paid?"

"Not the first night of a campaign, I suppose," said he, with a voice of rebuke. "_Parbleu_! that would be a pretty affair! No, no; each man brings what he can find, drinks what he is able, and leaves the rest; which, after all, is a very fair stock-in-trade to begin with. And so now, mon lieutenant, to commence operations regularly, just sling this ham on your sabre over your shoulder, and take this turkey carelessly in your hand,--that 's it. Here we are; follow me."

Pa.s.sing through an arched gateway, we entered a little courtyard where several horses were picketed, the ground about them being strewn with straw knee-deep; cavalry saddles, holsters, and sheepskins lay confusedly on every side, along with sabres and carbines; a great lamp, detached from its position over the street entrance, was suspended from a lance out of a window, and threw its light over the scene. Stepping cautiously through this chaotic heap, we reached a gla.s.s door, from within which the riotous sounds were most audibly issuing. Pioche pushed it open, and we entered a large room, full fifty feet in length, at one end of which, under a species of canopy, formed by two old regimental colors, sat Mademoiselle Minette,--for so I guessed to be a very pretty brunette, with a most decidedly Parisian look about her air and toilette; a table, covered with a snow-white napkin, was in front of her, on which lay a large bouquet and an open book, in which she appeared to be writing as we came in. The room on either side was filled by small tables, around which sat parties drinking, card-playing, singing or quarrelling as it might be, with a degree of energy and vociferation only campaigning can give an idea of.

The first thing which surprised me was, that all ranks in the service seemed confusedly mixed up together, there being no distinction of cla.s.s whatever; captains and corporals, sergeants, lieutenants, colonels, and tambourmajors, were inextricably commingled, hobn.o.bbing, handshaking, and even kissing in turn, that most fraternal and familiar "tu" of dearest friendship being heard on every side.

Resisting a hundred invitations to join some party or other as he pa.s.sed up the room, Pioche led me forward towards Mademoiselle Minette, to present me in due form ere I took my place.

The honest corporal, who would have charged a square without blinking, seemed actually to tremble as he came near the pretty vivandire; and when, with a roguish twinkle of her dark eye, and a half smile on her saucy lip, she said, "Ah, c'est toi, gros Pioche?" the poor fellow could only mutter a "Oui, Mademoiselle," in a voice scarce loud enough to be heard.

"And monsieur," said she, "whom I have the honor to see?"

"Is my lieutenant. Mademoiselle; or he is aide-de-camp of my general, which comes to the same thing."

With a few words of gracious civility, well and neatly expressed mademoiselle welcomed me to the canteen, which, she said, had often been graced by the presence of General d'Auvergne himself.

"Yes, by Saint Denis!" cried Pioche, with energy; "Prince Murat, and Marchal Davoust, too, have been here."

Dropping his voice to a whisper, he added something that called a faint blush to mademoiselle's cheek as she replied, "You think so, do you?"

Then, turning to me, asked if I were not disposed to sup.

"Yes, that he is," interrupted Pioche; "and here is the materiel;"--with which he displayed his pannier of bottles, and pointed to the spoils which, following his directions, I carried in my hands.

The corporal having despatched the fowls to the kitchen, proceeded to arrange a little table at a short distance from where mademoiselle sat,--an arrangement, I could perceive, which called forth some rather angry looks from those around the room, and I could overhear more than one muttered Sacre! as to the ambitious pretensions of the "gros Pioche."

He himself paid little if any attention to these signs of discontent, but seemed wholly occupied in perfecting the table arrangements, which he did with the skill and despatch of a tavern waiter.

"Here, mon lieutenant, this is your place," said he, with a bow, as he placed a chair for me at the head of the board; and then, with a polite obeisance to the lady, he added, "Avec permission, Mademoiselle," and took his own seat at the side.

A very appetizing dish made its appearance at this moment; and notwithstanding my curiosity to watch the proceedings of the party, and my admiration for mademoiselle herself, hunger carried the day, and I was soon too deeply engaged in the discussion of my supper to pay much attention to aught else. It was just then that, forgetting where I was, and unmindful that I was not enjoying the regular fare of an inn, I called out, as if to the waiter, for "bread." A roar of laughter ran through the room at my mistake, when a dark-whiskered little fellow, in an undress frock, stuck his small sword into a loaf, and handed it to me from the table where he sat.

There was something in the act which rather puzzled me, and might have continued longer to do so, had not Pioche whispered me in a low voice, "Take it, take it."

I reached out my hand for the purpose, when, just as I had caught the loaf, with a slight motion of his wrist he disengaged the point of the weapon, and gave me a scratch on the back of my hand. The gesture I made called forth a renewed peal of laughing; and I now perceived, from the little man's triumphant look at his companions, that the whole thing was intended as an insult. Resolving, however, to go quietly in the matter, I held out my hand when it was still bleeding, and said,--

"You perceive, sir?"

"Ah, an accident, _morbleu!_, said he, with a careless shrug of his shoulders, and a half leer of impertinent indifference.

"So is this also," replied I, as, springing up, I seized the sword he was returning to its scabbard, and smashed the blade across my knee.

"Well done, well done!" cried twenty voices in a breath; while the whole room rose in a confused manlier to take one side or other in the contest, several crowding around the little man, whose voice had suddenly lost its tone of easy impertinence, and was now heard swearing away, with the most guttural intonation.

"What kind of swordsman are you?" whispered Pioche, in my ear.

"Sufficiently expert to care little for an enemy of his caliber."

"Ah, you don't know that," replied he; "it's Franois, the matre d'armes of the Fourth."

"You must not fight him, Monsieur," said mademoiselle, as she laid her hand on mine, and looked up into my face with a most expressive glance.