But when I
joined them it made my heart bleed to see them. The major, seven
captains, and five hundred men were left upon the field. Young
Captain Sabbatier was in command, and when I asked him where were
the five missing squadrons he pointed back and answered: "You
will find them round one of those British squares." Men and
horses were at their last gasp, caked with sweat and dirt, their
black tongues hanging out from their lips; but it made me thrill
with pride to see how that shattered remnant still rode knee to
knee, with every man, from the boy trumpeter to the
farrier-sergeant, in his own proper place.
Would that I could have brought them on with me as an escort for
the Emperor! In the heart of the Hussars of Conflans he would be
safe indeed. But the horses were too spent to trot. I left them
behind me with orders to rally upon the farm-house of St. Aunay,
where we had camped two nights before. For my own part, I forced
my horse through the throng in search of the Emperor.
There were things which I saw then, as I pressed through that
dreadful crowd, which can never be banished from my mind.
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