in the room crowded to the windows. I alone remained
behind upon my bed. At the end of five minutes the clash of sabres
made my heart almost cease to beat; the blood seemed no longer to flow
through my veins.

But this did not last long; for suddenly Klipfel exclaimed, "Touched!"

Then I made my way--I know not how--to a window, and, looking over the
heads of the others, saw the old hussar leaning against the wall, and
Zebede rising, his sabre all dripping with blood. He had fallen upon
his knees during the fight, and, while the old man's sword pierced the
air just above his shoulder, he plunged his blade into the hussar's
breast. If he had not slipped, he himself would have been run through
and through.

The hussar sank at the foot of the wall. His seconds lifted him in
their arms, while Zebede pale as a corpse, gazed at his bloody sabre,
and Klipfel handed him his cloak. Almost immediately the reveille was
sounded, and we went off to morning call.

These events happened on the eighteenth of February. The same day we
received orders to pack our knapsacks, and left Frankfort for
Seligenstadt, where we remained until the eighth of March, by which
time all the recruits were well instructed in the use of the musket and
the school of the platoon. From Seligenstadt we went to Schweinheim,
and on the twenty-fourth of March, 1813, joined the division at
Aschaffenbourg, where Marshal Ney passed us in review.

The captain of the company was named Florentin; the lieutenant,
Bretonville; the commandant of the battalion, Gemeau; the captain,
Vidal; the colonel, Zapfel; the general of brigade, Ladoucette; and the
general of division, Souham. These are things that every soldier
should know.

XI

The melting of the snows began about the middle of March. I remember
that during the great review of Aschaffenbourg, on a large open space
whence one saw the Main as far as eye could reach, the rain never
ceased to fall from ten o'clock in the morning till three o'clock in
the afternoon. We had on our left a castle, from the windows of which
people looked out quite at their ease, while the water ran into our
shoes. On the right the river rushed, foaming, seen dimly as if
through a mist. Every moment, to keep us brightened up, the order rang
out:

"Carry arms! Shoulder arms!"

The Marshal advanced slowly, surrounded by his staff. What consoled
Zebede was, that we were about to see "the bravest of the brave."