In an instant he had torn away my sword, had slipped
a sack over my head, and had tied a rope firmly round the outside
of it.
There I was at the bottom of the gondola as helpless as a trussed
fowl. I could not shout, I could not move; I was a mere bundle.
An instant later I heard once more the swishing of the water and
the creaking of the oar.
This fellow had done his work and had resumed his journey as
quietly and unconcernedly as if he were accustomed to clap a sack
over a colonel of Hussars every day of the week.
I cannot tell you the humiliation and also the fury which filled
my mind as I lay there like a helpless sheep being carried to the
butcher's. I, Etienne Gerard, the champion of the six brigades
of light cavalry and the first swordsman of the Grand Army, to be
overpowered by a single unarmed man in such a fashion! Yet I lay
quiet, for there is a time to resist and there is a time to save
one's strength. I had felt the fellow's grip upon my arms, and I
knew that I would be a child in his hands.
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