the first to reach the ravine. Ah! Mon Dieu! How the colonels are
falling, and the lieutenants, and the soldiers! But never mind! There'll
be all the more shoes for those who haven't any, and epaulets for the
ambitious fellows who know how to read.

At last the cry of "Victory!" rang all along the line; but--would you
believe it?--there were twenty-five thousand Frenchmen lying on the
ground! A trifle, eh? Well, such a thing had never been seen before. It
was a regular harvest field after the reaping; only instead of stalks of
grain there were bodies of men. That sobered the rest of us. But the
Emperor soon came along, and when we formed a circle around him, he
praised us and cheered us up (he could be very amiable when he liked),
and made us feel quite contented, even although we were as hungry as
wolves. Then he distributed crosses of honor among us, saluted the dead,
and said, "On to Moscow!"

"All right! To Moscow!" replied the army.

And then what did the Russians do but burn their city! It made a
six-mile bonfire which blazed for two days. The buildings fell like
slates, and there was a rain of melted iron and lead which was simply
horrible! Indeed, that fire was the lightning from the dark cloud of our
misfortunes. The Emperor said: "There's enough of this. If we stay here,
none of my soldiers will ever get out." But we waited a little to cool
off and to refresh our carcasses; because we were really played out. We
carried away a golden cross that was on the Kremlin, and every soldier
had a small fortune.

On our way back, winter came upon us, a month earlier than usual,--a
thing that those stupid scientific men have never properly