tune turned against him, he became ever more nervous about
Leipzig. Yet, for the present, the northward march of Bluecher rivetted
his attention. It puzzled him. Even as late as October 2nd he had not
fathomed Bluecher's real aim[369]. But four days later he heard that
the Prussian leader had crossed the Elbe. At once he hurried
north-west with the Guard to crush him, and to resume the favourite
project of threatening Berlin and join hands with Davoust. Charging
St-Cyr with the defence of Dresden, and Murat with the defence of
Leipzig, he took his stand at Dueben, a small town on the Mulde, nearly
midway between Leipzig and Wittenberg. Thence he reinforced Ney's
army, and ordered that Marshal northwards to fall on the rear of
Bernadotte and Bluecher; while he himself waited in a moated castle at
Dueben to learn the issue of events.

The saxon Colonel, von Odeleben, has left us a vivid picture of the
great man's restlessness during those four days. Surrounded by maps
and despatches, and waited on by watchful geographer and apprehensive
secretary, he spent much of the time scrawling large letters on a
sheet of paper, uneasily listening for the tramp of a courier. In
truth, few days of his life were more critical that those spent amidst
the rains, swamps, and fogs of Dueben. Could he have caught Bernadotte
and Bluecher far apart, he might have overwhelmed them singly, and then
have carried the war into the heart of Prussia. But he knows that
Dresden and Leipzig are far from safe. The news from that side begins
to alarm him: and though, on the north, Ney, Bertrand, and Reynier cut
up the rearguard of the allies, he learns with some disquiet that
Bluecher is withdrawing westwards behind the River Saale, a move which
betokens a wish to come into touch with Schwarzenberg near Leipzig.

Yet this disconcerting thought spurs him on to one of his most daring
designs. "As a means of upsetting all their plans, I will march to the
Elbe. There I have the advantage, since I have Hamburg, Magdeburg,
Wittenberg, Torgau, and Dresden."[370] What faith he had in the
defensive capacities of a great river line dotted with fortresses! His
lieutenants did not share it. Caulaincourt tells us that his plan of
dashing at Berlin roused general consternation at headquarters, and
that the staff came in a body to beg him to give it up, and march back
to protect Leipzig. Reluctantly he abandons it, and then only to
change it for one equally venturesom