Unless I did so it was
probable that my pursuers, even if they could not overtake me
themselves, would keep me in view until I was headed off by some
of their comrades coming from the north. As I looked to the
eastward I saw afar off a line of dust which stretched for miles
across the country. This was certainly the main road along which
our unhappy army was flying. But I soon had proof that some of
our stragglers had wandered into these side tracks, for I came
suddenly upon a horse grazing at the corner of a field, and
beside him, with his back against the bank, his master, a French
Cuirassier, terribly wounded and evidently on the point of death.
I sprang down, seized his long, heavy sword, and rode on with it.
Never shall I forget the poor man's face as he looked at me with
his failing sight. He was an old, grey-moustached soldier, one
of the real fanatics, and to him this last vision of his Emperor
was like a revelation from on high.
Astonishment, love, pride--all shone in his pallid face. He said
something--I fear they were his last words --but I had no time to
listen, and I galloped on my way.
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