men were binding up their wounds--one his head, another
his arm or his leg. A cantiniere with her donkey and cart, and with a
great straw hat flattened on her back--was there too in a corner. I do
not know what had brought the wretched creature there. Several
sorry-looking horses were standing there, exhausted with fatigue, with
their heads hanging down, and covered with blood and mud.

What a difference between them now, and in the morning. Then the
companies were half destroyed, but still they were companies.
Confusion was coming. It had taken only three hours to reduce us to
the same condition we were in at Leipzig at the end of a year. The
remains of the two battalions still formed only one line, in good
order, and I must admit that we began to be anxious.

When men have tasted nothing for twenty-four hours, and have exhausted
all their strength by fighting all day, the pangs of hunger seize them
at night, fear comes also, and the most courageous lose hope. All our
great retreats, with their horrors, are traceable to the want of food.

For in spite of everything we were not conquered; the cuirassiers still
held their position on the plateau, and from all sides over the thunder
of cannon, over all the tumult, the cry was heard, "The Guard is
coming!" Yes, the Guard was coming at last! We could see them in the
distance on the highway, with their high bear-skin caps, advancing in
good order.

Those who have never witnessed the arrival of the Guard on the
battle-field, can never know the confidence which is inspired by a body
of tried soldiers; the kind of respect paid to courage and force.

The soldiers of the Old Guard were nearly all old peasants, born before
the Republic; men five feet and six inches in height, thin and well
built, who had held the plough for convent and chateau; afterward they
were levied with all the rest of the people, and went to Germany,
Holland, Italy, Egypt, Poland, Spain, and Russia, under Kleber, Hoche,
and Marceau first, and under Napoleon afterward. He took special care
of them and paid them liberally. They regarded themselves as the
proprietors of an immense farm, which they must defend and enlarge more
and more. This gained them consideration; they were defending their
own property. They no longer knew parents, relatives, or compatriots;
they only knew the Emperor; he was their God. And lastly they had
adopted the King of Rome, who was to inherit all with them, and to