ine's successor, this is what I shall do: I shall
embark forty thousand Russians on the Volga; I shall send them down
the river to Astrakhan; they will cross the Caspian and await me at
Asterabad."

Sir John bowed in sign of deep attention. Bonaparte continued: "I shall
embark forty thousand Frenchmen on the Danube."

"Excuse me, citizen First Consul, but the Danube is an Austrian river."

"I shall have taken Vienna."

Sir John stared at Bonaparte.

"I shall have taken Vienna," continued the latter. "I shall then embark
forty thousand Frenchmen on the Danube; I find Russian vessels at its
mouth ready to transport them to Taganrog; I march them by land along
the course of the Don to Pratisbianskaia, whence they move to Tzaritsin;
there they descend the Volga in the same vessels that have transported
the forty thousand Russians to Asterabad; fifteen days later I have
eighty thousand men in western Persia. From Asterabad, these united
corps will march to the Indus; Persia, the enemy of England, is our
natural ally."

"Yes; but once in the Punjab, the Persian alliance will do you no good;
and an army of eighty thousand men cannot drag its provisions along with
it."

"You forget one thing," said Bonaparte, as if the expedition were
already under way, "I have left bankers at Teheran and Caboul. Now,
remember what happened nine years ago in Lord Cornwallis' war with Tippo
Saib. The commander-in-chief fell short of provisions, and a simple
captain--I forget his name."

"Captain Malcolm," said Lord Tanlay.

"That's it!" cried Bonaparte. "You know the story! Captain Malcolm had
recourse to the Brinjaries, those Bohemians of India, who cover the
whole Hindostan peninsula with their encampments, and control the grain
supplies. Well, those Bohemians are faithful to the last penny to those
who pay them; they will feed me."

"You must cross the Indus."

"What of that!" exclaimed Bonaparte, "I have a hundred and eighty miles
of bank between Dera-Ismael-Khan and Attok to choose from. I know the
Indus as well as I do the Seine. It is a slow current flowing about
three miles an hour; its medium depth is, I should say, at the point I
mentioned, from twelve to fifteen feet, and there are ten or more fords
on the line of my operations."

"Then your line is already traced out?" asked Sir John smiling.

"Yes, in so far as it follows a broad uninterrupted stretch of fertile,
well-watered provinces; that I avoid the sandy desert