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consider it when you go to bed."
"I'll read it willingly," said Colonel Fougas. "But gold has no
attractions for my eyes. Wealth engenders weakness. Me, to languish in
the sluggish idleness of Sybaris!--to enervate my senses on a bed of
roses! Never! The smell of powder is dearer to me than all the perfumes
of Arabia. Life would have no charm or zest for me, if I had to give up
the inspiriting clash of arms. On the day when you are told that Fougas
no longer marches in the columns of the army, you can safely answer, 'It
is because Fougas is no more!'"
He turned to the new colonel of the 23d, and said:
"Oh! do you, my dear comrade, tell them that the proud pomp of wealth is
a thousand times less sweet than the austere simplicity of the
soldier--of a colonel, more than all. Colonels are the kings of the
army. A colonel is less than a general, but nevertheless he has
something more. He lives more with the soldier; he penetrates further
into the intimacy of his command. He is the father, the judge, the
friend of his regiment. The welfare of each one of his men is in his
hands; the flag is placed under his tent or in his chamber. The colonel
and the flag are not two separate existences; one is the soul, the other
is the body."
He asked M. Rollon's permission to go to see and embrace the flag of the
23d.
"You shall see it to-morrow morning," said the new colonel, "if you will
do me the honor to breakfast with me in company with some of my
officers."
He accepted the invitation with enthusiasm, and flung himself into the
midst of a thousand questions touching pay, the amount retained for
clothing, promotion, roster, reserve, uniform, full and fatigue dress,
armament, and tactics. He understood, without difficulty, the advantages
of the percussion gun, but the attempt to explain rifled cannon to him
was in vain. Artillery was not his forte; but he avowed, nevertheless,
that Napoleon had owed more than one victory to his fine artillery.
While the innumerable roasts of Mme. Renault were succeeding each other
on the table, Fougas asked--but without ever losing a bite--what were
the principal wars in progress, how many nations France had on her
hands, and if it was not intended ultimately to recommence the conquest
of the world? The answers which he received, without completely
satisfying him, did not entirely deprive him of hope.
"I did well to come," said he; "there's work to do."
The African wars did not in
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