o wrist, as prisoners
behind us, we presented, it must be owned, a far more picturesque than
soldierlike party.

Accepting all the attentions bestowed upon us in the most flattering
sense, and affecting not to perceive the ridicule we were exciting on
every hand, I rode up to the etat-major and dismounted. I had obtained
from 'my prisoners' what I deemed a very important secret, and was
resolved to make the most of it by asking for an immediate audience of
the general.

'I am the _officier d ordonnance_,' said a young lieutenant of dragoons,
stepping forward; 'any communications you have to make must be addressed
to me.'

'I have taken four prisoners, Monsieur le lieutenant,' said I, 'and
would wish to inform General Vandamme on certain matters they have
revealed to me.'

'Are you in the service?' asked he, with a glance at my incongruous
equipment.

'I have served, sir,' was my reply.

'In what army of brigands was it, then?' said he, laughing, 'for,
assuredly, you do not recall to my recollection any European force that
I know of.'

'I may find leisure and inclination to give you the fullest information
on this point at another moment, sir; for the present, my business is
more pressing. Can I see General Vandamme?'

'Of course you cannot, my worthy fellow! If you had served, as you say
you have, you could scarcely have made so absurd a request. A French
general of division does not give audience to every tatterdemalion who
picks up a prisoner on the highroad.'

'It is exactly because I have served that I do make the request,' said I
stoutly.

'How so, pray?' asked he, staring at me.

'Because I know well how often young staff-officers, in their
self-sufficiency, overlook the most important points, and, from the
humble character of their informants, frequently despise what their
superiors, had they known it, would have largely profited by. And, even
if I did not know this fact, I have the memory of another one scarcely
less striking, which was, that General Massena himself admitted me to
an audience when my appearance was not a whit more imposing than at
present.'

'You knew General Massena, then? Where was it, may I ask?'

'In Genoa, during the siege.'

'And what regiment have you served in?'

'The Ninth Hussars.'

'Quite enough, my good fellow. The Ninth were on the Sambre while that
siege was going on,' said he, laughing sarcastically.

'I never said that my regiment was at Genoa. I only ass