by his flowing pantaloons, and pitched him ten feet into the stream of
Malmaison, which was barely two feet deep. The plunge brought him at
once to his senses; and besides, his poniard had gone to the bottom,
which made him much less dangerous. But in his disappointment he yelled
so loudly that Madame Bonaparte heard him; and as she had quite a fancy
for her mameluke, I was sharply scolded. However, this poor Ali was of
such an unsocial temperament that he got into difficulties with almost
every one in the household, and at last was sent away to Fontainebleau,
to take the place of manservant there.

I now return to our campaign. On the 13th of June the First Consul spent
the night at Torre-di-Galifolo, where he established his headquarters.
From the day of our entry into Milan the advance of the army had not
slackened; General Murat had passed the Po, and taken possession of
Piacenza; and General Lannes, still pushing forward with his brave
advance guard, had fought a bloody battle at Montebello, a name which he
afterwards rendered illustrious by bearing it. The recent arrival of
General Desaix, who had just returned from Egypt, completed the joy of
the general-in-chief, and also added much to the confidence of the
soldiers, by whom the good and modest Desaix was adored. The First
Consul received him with the frankest and most cordial friendship, and
they remained together three consecutive hours in private conversation.
At the end of this conference, an order of the day announced to the army
that General Desaix would take command of the division Boudet. I heard
some persons in the suite of General Desaix say that his patience and
evenness of temper were rudely tried during his voyage, by contrary
winds, forced delays, the ennui of quarantine, and above all by the bad
conduct of the English, who had kept him for some time a prisoner in
their fleet, in sight of the shores of France, although he bore a
passport, signed by the English authorities in Egypt, in consequence of