the long journey was at last over. the last alp had been surmounted, the last pass traversed. behind them rose the snowy summit of mighty mont blanc itself. before them lay their wearying journey's end. it was cold even in sunny southern france on that morning in early spring. marteau, his uniform worn, frayed, travel-stained, and dusty, his close-wrapped precious parcel held to his breast under his shabby great coat, his face pale and haggard from hardship and heartbreak, his body weak and wasted from long illness and long captivity, stood on the top of a ridge of the hill called mont rachais, overlooking the walled town of grenoble, on the right bank of the isère. the fifth-of-the-line had been stationed there before in one of the infrequent periods of peace during the napoleonic era. he was familiar with the place and he knew exactly where to look for what he expected to see.
more ragged and tattered, more travel-stained indeed, and with only the semblance of a uniform left, was the young lad who stood by the soldier's side. but the boy was in good health and looked strong and sturdy.
"there," said the officer. "you see that square bulk of buildings against the wall beyond the cathedral church-tower and over the palais de justice?"
"i see them, my officer," answered the other, shading his hand and staring over the roofs and walls and spires of the compact little town.
"the barracks will be there unless the regiment has moved. that will be the end of our journey."
"the building with the flag, you mean, monsieur?" asked pierre.
"that one."
alas! the flag was no longer the tricolor but the white flag of ancient royal france. marteau heaved a deep sigh as he stared at it with sad eyes and sadder face.
the unexpected, that is, from the young soldier's point of view, had happened. the empire was no more. the allies had triumphed. the emperor has been beaten. he had abdicated and gone. he was practically a prisoner on the little island of elba, adjacent to that greater island of corsica, where he had been born. the great circle of his life had been completed. and all the achievements were to be comprehended between those two little islands in the blue mediterranean—from corsica to elba, the phrase ran. was that all?
much water had flowed under the bridges of europe since that mad ride of the infantry in the farm wagons to face schwarzenberg after their smashing and successful attacks upon blücher, although the intervening time had been short. a year had scarcely elapsed, but that twelve months had been crowded with incident, excitement, and vivid interest almost unparalleled by any similar period in modern history. the emperor had, indeed, fought hard for his throne and against heavy odds. he had fought against indifference, against carelessness, against negligence, last of all against treachery. for in the end it was treachery that had undone him and france. still, it may be that even had marmont and mortier remained loyal the end would have been the same.
the odds were too heavy, in fine. the emperor did not realize their preponderance until it was too late. if he had assembled every soldier, abandoning everything else but the defense of france, and if he had shown with such an army as he could have gathered under those conditions the same spirit of generalship which he had exhibited in that marvelous campaign against blücher, he might have saved france, his throne, his wife, his little son, his prestige, everything. as it was, he lost all. but not without fighting. stubborn, determined, magnificently defiant he had been to the last.
marteau had often thrilled to the recollection during the long hours he spent in captivity in austria, and even in the delirium and fever of his long and wasting illness, begot of the foul prison, he had remembered it. in all the hard fighting and hard marching of those mournful if splendid days the young man had faithfully and well borne his important if humble part. there was a great dearth of officers, staff officers as well as the others. he had been very near to the emperor during those last days.
he remembered the smashing attack upon the van of the allies at montereau. he could feel once more the thrill of the army, as the circumspect schwarzenberg stopped his advance, retired, concentrated his columns. he remembered the long, swift march back across the country, after further demonstrations to keep schwarzenberg in his cautious mood, against the rear of the reorganized and advancing army of blücher; the desperate, bloody, fruitless battles of laon and craonne, rendered necessary by treachery.
he could recall again the furious rage of napoleon, the almost despair that filled the emperor's heart, when the news came of the cowardly surrender of the fort at soissons by its incapable commandant, which rendered useless napoleon's cunning plans, and all the hard marching and harder fighting of his heroic soldiery.
he recalled the escape of hard-pressed blücher again, the return of the french to face the overwhelming main army of the allies, slowly but surely moving toward its goal whenever the withdrawal of the emperor left it free to advance, the detachment of marmont and mortier to defend paris, the fierce two-day battle at arcis-sur-aube, the dash of maurice's and sebastiani's gallant cavalry upon the whole austrian army, the deadly conflict before the bridge, the picture of the retreat that bade fair to become a rout.
he could see again the emperor, riding down, sword in hand, into the midst of the fugitives crossing the bridge, and, amid a storm of bullets, ordering and beseeching and imploring the men to rally. he had been there on that mad march morning. he would never forget the sight of that figure, the words the emperor said. it reminded him of the dash of the "little corporal" with the flag on the bridge of lodi, of which old bullet-stopper had often told him and the other young men over the camp-fires.
the fifth-of-the-line had immortalized itself that day, adding to the fame it had gained upon a hundred fields, an imperishable crown. napoleon saw that the battle was lost, that the whole austrian army had blundered upon that first french division and that, unless their steady advance could be checked, the division itself would be cut to pieces. men had grown more precious to the emperor every hour. what would he not have given for those he had spent so recklessly years before? and here was a whole division about to be annihilated, to say nothing of the cavalry, which had performed prodigies of valor.
"what regiment is that?" he had asked marteau, who was riding at his heels in the midst of the fugitives, and doing his best to second the emperor's frantic efforts to restore order and bring the men to a stand.
"the fifth-of-the-line, sire."
"your old regiment?"
"the same, sire."
"it still stands."
"and it will stand."
"good! go to it. tell them that i, the emperor, devote them to death, for me and for the army. they must hold the austrians in check and cover the retreat."
"farewell, sire," the young soldier had said, saluting.
"what mean you?"
"i shall not come back with the remainder."
"adieu," said the emperor, acknowledging the salute and understanding all.
how well marteau remembered that frightful conflict. the fifth-of-the-line had not waited to be attacked. it had gone forward. the colonel had been shot down. officer after officer had fallen. the advancing line had wavered, hesitated, halted. the eagle-bearer fell. eager hands caught the staff. the austrian fire was concentrated upon it. the color guard was shot to pieces. the eagle itself had the tip of its right wing shot away. mortal men could do no more. the regiment began to give back.
it was marteau who sprang to the front, he and young pierre, who had attached himself to the officer in a sort of unofficial way. it was marteau who seized the eagle; it was he who rallied the line. the new men formed up like veterans, the old men settled in their places, cool and ready. they returned the austrian fire, they checked the austrian advance, they stood ready while the troops behind them ran for their lives. napoleon, whose eye nothing escaped, saw it all. he even recognized marteau carrying the eagle.
the fifth-of-the-line made good that defense until the time came for the retreat. then it retired slowly, fighting every step of the way down the low hill to the bridge. the men dropped by scores. the austrians, seeing victory in reach, pressed closer. a charge at the last minute by the cuirassiers of the emperor francis' guard almost completed the annihilation of the first battalion of the regiment. the survivors sought to form a square, under a withering gun fire, to meet the uplifted sabers of the heavy cavalry. there were not enough of them left. they were ridden down. two hundred and fifty of the four hundred who went into that fight lay dead on that field. of the survivors scarce a handful got across the river. some of the unhurt men, disdaining quarter and unable to fly, fought until they fell. the wounded, of whom there were many, were all captured out of hand.
marteau, with the eagle, had stood nearest the enemy. they had swarmed about him at last. he found himself alone, save for the boy, pierre. he could see the red-faced, excited, shouting, yelling, passion-animated austrian soldiers crowding upon him. his sword was broken, his pistols empty and gone. he was defenseless. retreat was cut off. the eagle staff had been shot away. the flag torn to pieces. hands were stretched out to seize it. he could not escape with it, yet it must not fall to the enemy. it was the tradition of the service that the eagles were to be preserved at all hazards—not the flag, that was a mere perishable adjunct to the eagle, but the eagle itself. the river ran but a few feet away. thrusting aside the nearest austrian with the stump of his blade, marteau cleared a path for a second, and into the swift deep waters he hurled the sacred emblem.
he, at least, he thought swiftly, had a right to dispose of it thus, for out of the waters of the elster he had brought it, so into the waters of the aube he threw it.
with cries of rage, for the eagle was the most precious spoil of war, and the regiment or the officer seizing it was distinguished above all others, the austrians would have cut him down where he stood with arms crossed, facing the enemy, but officers who had ridden up had seen the exploit and had interfered. he had been made a prisoner and pierre with him. he just had time to whisper to the boy to mark well the spot where the eagle had disappeared in the waters before they marched away.
while under guard with other prisoners at salzburg he had heard the story of the end. how napoleon, trusting the defense of paris to marmont and mortier, had resolved on the bold move of cutting the communications of the allies with his little army, and how the allies had decided to disregard their rear and march on paris; how marmont and mortier had battled for the capital, how the emperor, hearing of their straits, had begun that mad march toward his beloved city; how he had ordered every soldier that could be reached to march in that direction; how he had stopped at a wayside inn one night for a few hours' rest, after a furious day's ride, only to be told that marmont and mortier had gone over to the enemy, that paris was lost!
the prisoners had learned how the emperor, not yet despairing, had striven to quicken the spirits of his marshals and soldiers for a last try; how the marshals and great officers had failed him. they had all heard of those lonely hours at fontainebleau, of the farewell to the guard, of the kiss on the eagle, which he surrendered to general petit, of the abdication, of the exile to elba, of the restoration of king louis.
it had made marteau ill, frightfully so, and but for the tender nursing and loving care of young pierre he had died. the lad had been devotion itself, but marteau missed more than anything else the companionship, the sage advice, the bon camaraderie of old bullet-stopper. he had never seen him or heard from him after that day at the bridge-head at arcis. where was he now?
oh, yes, those days and their tidings would never be forgot. they all came back to the young officer, as with his humble but devoted companion he stood there on the heights above grenoble looking at the white flag.
