Ho! in a twinkling, head
and plume were off! You must understand that Napoleon had promised to
keep the secret of his compact all to himself. That's why all those who
followed him, even his nearest friends, fell like nuts--Duroc,
Bessieres, Lannes--all strong as steel bars, though _he_ could bend them
as he pleased. Besides--to prove he was the child of God, and made to be
the father of soldiers--was he ever known to be lieutenant or captain?
No, no; commander-in-chief from the start. He didn't look to be more
than twenty-four years of age when he was an old general at the taking
of Toulon, where he first began to show the others that they knew
nothing about manoeuvring cannon.
"After that, down came our slip of a general to command the grand army
of Italy, which hadn't bread, nor munitions, nor shoes, nor coats--a
poor army, as naked as a worm. 'My friends,' said he, 'here we are
together. Get it into your pates that fifteen days from now you will be
conquerors--new clothes, good gaiters, famous shoes, and every man with
a great-coat; but, my children, to get these things you must march to
Milan, where they are.' And we marched. France, crushed as flat as a
bed-bug, straightened up. We were thirty thousand bare-feet against
eighty thousand Austrian bullies, all fine men, well set-up. I see 'em
now! But Napoleon--he was then only Bonaparte--he knew how to put the
courage into us! We marched by night, and we marched by day; we slapped
their faces at Montenotte, we thrashed them at Rivoli, Lodi, Arcole,
Millesimo, and we never let 'em up.
Pages:
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152