poor Sgt. Canon, and made him take off his chevrons in front of a
regiment of infantry and fifty Hussars. Then, coming to me, whose
name he did not know, he said, "You have carried out successfully a
mission which would normally be given only to an officer. I am sorry
that the powers of a divisional commander do not allow me to promote
you to sous-lieutenant, only the commander-in-chief can do that, and
I shall ask him to, do so, but in the meantime I promote you to
sergeant." He thereupon ordered his aide-de-camp to announce this in
front of the detachment. In order to carry out this formality, the
aide-de-camp had to ask my name, and it was only then that General
Séras learned that I was the son of his comrade, General Marbot. I
was very pleased about this, because it demonstrated to my father
that favouritism had nothing to do with my promotion.

Chap. 10.

The information which General Séras obtained from the prisoners
having decided him to push forward, he ordered his division to come
down from the heights of Mont Santa-Giacomo, and to encamp that
evening near to the inn. The prisoners were sent to Finale, and as
for the horses they belonged by rights to the Hussars. They were all
of good quality, but, according to the custom of the time, which was
aimed at favouring poorly mounted officers, captured horses were
always sold for five louis. This was a fixed price and was paid in
cash. As soon as the camp was established the sale began. General
Séras, the officers of his staff, the colonels and battalion
commanders of the regiments in his division soon took up our
seventeen horses, which produced the sum of 85 louis. This was
handed over to my detachment, who, not having had any pay for six
months, were delighted with this windfall, for which they gave me the