certain consistence, which greatly imposed upon my comrades. A quick
eye for manoeuvres, and a shrewd habit of combining in my own mind the
various facts that came before me, made me appear to them a perfect
authority on military matters, of which I talked, I shame to say, with
all the confidence and presumption of an accomplished general. A few
lucky guesses, and a few half hints, accidentally confirmed, completed
all that was wanting; and what says 'Le Jeune Maurice,' was the
inevitable question that followed each piece of flying gossip, or every
rumour that rose of a projected movement.

I have seen a good deal of the world since that time, and I am bound to
confess, that not a few of the great reputations I have witnessed have
stood upon grounds very similar, and not a whit more stable than my
own. A bold face, a ready tongue, a promptness to support, with my right
hand, whatever my lips were pledged to, and, above all, good-luck, made
me the king of my company; and although that sovereignty only extended
to half a squadron of hussars, it was a whole universe to me.

So stood matters when, on the 23rd of June, orders came for the whole
_corps d'armee_ to hold itself in readiness for a forward movement.
Rations for two days were distributed, and ammunition given out as if
for an attack of some duration. Meanwhile, to obviate any suspicion
of our intentions, the gates of Strasbourg, on the eastern side,
were closed--all egress in that direction forbidden--and couriers and
_estafettes_ sent off towards the north, as if to provide for the march
of our force in that direction. The arrival of various orderly dragoons
during the previous night, and on that morning early, told of a great
attack in force on Mannheim, about sixty miles lower down the Rhine,
and the cannonade of which some avowed that they could hear at that
distance. The rumour, therefore, seemed confirmed, that we were ordered
to move to the north, to support this assault.

The secret despatch of a few dismounted dragoons and some riflemen to
the hanks of the Rhine, however, did not strike me as according with
this view, and particularly as I saw that, although all were equipped,
and in readiness to move, the order to march was not given, a delay very
unlikely to be incurred if we were destined to act as the reserve of the
force already engaged.

Directly opposite to us, on the right bank of the river, and separated
from it by a low flat of about two mile