returned to the Pont des Briques.

This immense army could not regain its quarters before eight o'clock in
the evening. The next day the camp of the left wing gave a military
fete, at which the Emperor was present.

From early in the morning, launches mounted on wheels ran at full speed
through the streets of the camp, driven by a favorable wind. Officers
amused themselves riding after them at a gallop, and rarely overtaking
them. This exercise lasted an hour or two; but, the wind having changed,
the launches upset, amid shouts of laughter.

This was followed by a horseback race, the prize being twelve hundred
francs. A lieutenant of dragoons, very popular in his company, asked as
a favor to be allowed to compete; but the haughty council of superior
officers refused to admit him, under the pretext that his rank was not
sufficiently high, but, in reality, because he had the reputation of
being a splendid horseman. Stung to the quick by this unjust refusal,
the lieutenant of dragoons applied to the Emperor, who gave him
permission to race with the others, after having learned that this brave
officer supported by his own exertions a numerous family, and that his
conduct was irreproachable.

At a given signal the races began. The lieutenant of dragoons soon
passed his antagonists, and had almost reached the goal, when, by an
unfortunate mischance, a little poodle ran between the legs of his horse,
and threw him down. An aide-de-camp who came immediately after was
proclaimed victor. The lieutenant picked himself up as well as he could,
and was preparing, very sadly, to retire, somewhat consoled by the signs
of interest which the spectators manifested, when the Emperor summoned