Tom Burke Of "Ours" Volume Ii Part 6

"May I speak to him?" said Murat, in a low voice.

"Yes, that you may," replied Louis, who now pushed his way forward and approached the litter.

"Ah, so soon!" said the wounded man, looking up; "a man of your word, Louis. And how is Rapp? Nothing in this fashion, I hope," added he, pointing to his fractured limb with a sickly smile.

"No, no," replied the surgeon. "But here is Marshal Murat come to inquire after you, from the Emperor."

A flush of pride lit up St. Hilaire's features as he heard this, and he asked eagerly, "Where, where?"

"We must remove you, St. Hilaire," said Murat, endeavoring to speak calmly, when it was evident his feelings were highly excited; "Louis says you must not remain here."

"As you like, Marshal. What says his Majesty? Is the affair as decisive as he looked for?"

"Far more so. The allied army is destroyed; the campaign is ended."

"Come, then, this is not so bad as I deemed it," rejoined St. Hilaire, with a tone of almost gayety; "I can afford to be invalided if the Emperor has no further occasion for me."

While these few words were interchanging, Louis had applied a tourniquet around the wounded limb, and having given the soldiers directions how they were to step, so as not to disturb or displace the shattered bones, he took his place beside the litter, and said,--

"We are ready now, General."

They lifted the litter as he spoke, and moved slowly forward. Murat pressed the hand St. Hilaire extended to him without a word; and then, turning his head away, suffered the party to pa.s.s on.

Before we reached Beygern, the wounded general had fallen into a heavy sleep, from which he did not awake as they laid him on the bed in the hospital.

"Good-night, sir,--or rather, good-morning," said Louis to me, as I turned to leave the spot. "We may chance to have better news for you than we antic.i.p.ated, when you visit us here again."

And so we parted.

CHAPTER V. A MAiTRE D'ARMES.

The day after the battle of Austerlitz the Prince of Lichtenstein arrived in our camp, with, as it was rumored, proposals for a peace.

The negotiations, whatever they were, were strictly secret, not even the marshals themselves being admitted to Napoleon's confidence on this occasion. Soon after mid-day, a great body of the Guard who had been in reserve the previous day were drawn up in order of battle, presenting an array of several thousand men, whose dress, look, and equipment, fresh as if on parade before the Tuileries, could not fail to strike the Austrian envoy with amazement. Everything that could indicate the appearance of suffering, or even fatigue, among the troops, was sedulously kept out of view. Such of the cavalry regiments as suffered least in the battle were under arms; while the generals of division received orders to have their respective staffs fully equipped and mounted, as if on a day of review.

It was late in the afternoon when the word was pa.s.sed along the lines to stand to arms; and the moment after a _caleche_, drawn by six horses, pa.s.sed in full gallop, and took the road towards Austerlitz. The return of the Austrian envoy set a thousand conjectures in motion, and all were eager to find out what had been the result of his mission.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BrowneBivwacAfterBattle027]

"We must soon learn it all," said an old colonel of artillery near me.

"If the game be war, we shall be called up to a.s.sist Davoust's movement on G.o.ding. The Russians have but one line of retreat, and that is already in our possession."

"I cannot for the life of me understand the Emperor's inaction," said a younger officer; "here we remain just as if nothing had been done. One would suppose that a Russian army stood in full force before us, and that we had not gained a tremendous battle."

"Depend on it, Auguste," said the old officer, smiling, "his Majesty is not the man to let slip his golden opportunities. If we don't advance, it is because it is safer to remain where we are."

"Safer than pursue a flying enemy?"

"Even so. It is not Russia, nor Austria, we have in the field against us; but Europe,--the world."

"With all my heart," retorted the other, boldly; "nor do I think the odds unfair. All I would ask is, the General Bonaparte of Cairo or Marengo, and not the purple-clad Emperor of the Tuileries."

"It is not while the plain is yet reeking with the blood of Austerlitz that such a reproach should be spoken," said I, indignantly. "Never was Bonaparte greater than Napoleon."

"Monsieur has served in Egypt?" said the young man, contemptuously, while he measured me from head to foot.

"Would that I had! Would that I could give whatever years I may have before me, for those whose every day shall live in history!"

"You are right, young man," said the old colonel; "they were glorious times, and a worthy prelude to the greatness that followed them."

"A bright promise of the future,--never to come," rejoined the younger, with a flash of anger on his cheek.

"_Parbleu_, sir, you speak boldly!" said a harsh, low voice from behind.

We turned: it was Napoleon, dressed in a gray coat, all covered with fur, and looking like one of the couriers of the army. "I did not know my measures were so freely canva.s.sed as I find them. Who are you, sir?"

"Legrange, Sire, chef d'escadron of the Second Voltigeurs," said the young man, trembling from head to foot while he uncovered his head, and stood, cap in hand, before him.

"Since when, sir, have I called you into my counsels and asked your advice? or what is it in your position which ent.i.tles you to question one in mine? Duroc, come here. Your sword, sir!"

The young man let fall his shako from his hand, and laid it on his sword-hilt.

"Ah!" cried the Emperor, suddenly; "what became of your right arm?"

"I left it at Aboukir, Sire."

Napoleon muttered something between his teeth; then added, aloud,--

"Come, sir, you are not the first whose hand has saved his head. Return to your duty, and, mark me! be satisfied with doing yours, and leave me to mine. And you, sir," said he, turning towards me, and using the same harsh tone of voice, "I should know your face."

"Lieutenant Burke, of the Eighth Hussars."

"Ah! I remember,--the Chouanist. So, sir, it seems that I stand somewhat higher in your esteem than when you kept company with Messieurs Georges and Pichegru, eh?"

"No, Sire; your Majesty ever occupied the first place in my admiration and devotion."

"_Sacristi!_ then you took a strange way to show it when first I had the pleasure of your acquaintance. You are on General St. Hilaire's staff?"

"General d'Auvergne's, Sire."

"True. D'Auvergne, a word with you."

He turned and whispered something to the old general, who during the whole colloquy stood at his back, anxious but not daring to interpose a word.

"Well, well," said Napoleon, in a voice of much kinder accent, "I am satisfied. Your general, sir, reports favorably of your zeal and capacity. I do not desire to let your former conduct prove any bar to your advancement; and on his recommendation, of which I trust you may prove yourself worthy, I name you to a troop in your own regiment."

"And still to serve on my staff?" said the general, half questioning the Emperor.