With ordinary horsemen upon ordinary horses I
should have had no difficulty in doing so, but here both steeds
and riders were of the best. It was a grand creature that I
rode, but it was weary with its long night's work, and the
Emperor was one of those riders who do not know how to manage a
horse. He had little thought far them and a heavy hand upon
their mouths. On the other hand, Stein and his men had come both
far and fast. The race was a fair one.
So quick had been my impulse, and so rapidly had I acted upon it,
that I had not thought enough of my own safety. Had I done so in
the first instance I should, of course, have ridden straight back
the way we had come, for so I should have met our own people.
But I was off the road and had galloped a mile over the plain
before this occurred to me. Then when I looked back I saw that
the Prussians had spread out into a long line, so as to head me
off from the Charleroi road. I could not turn back, but at least
I could edge toward the north. I knew that the whole face of the
country was covered with our flying troops, and that sooner or
later I must come upon some of them.
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