judicious they were. Now here's the end of it. In
Ventose, '96--in those times that was the month of March of to-day--we
lay cuddled in a corner of Savoie with the marmots; and yet, before that
campaign was over, we were masters of Italy, just as Napoleon had
predicted; and by the following March--in a single year and two
campaigns--he had brought us within sight of Vienna. 'Twas a clean
sweep. We devoured their armies, one after the other, and made an end of
four Austrian generals. One old fellow, with white hair, was roasted
like a rat in the straw at Mantua. Kings begged for mercy on their
knees! Peace was won.

"Could a _man_ have done that? No; God helped him, to a certainty!

"He divided himself up like the loaves in the Gospel, commanded the
battle by day, planned it by night; going and coming, for the sentinels
saw him--never eating, never sleeping. So, seeing these prodigies, the
soldiers adopted him for their father. Forward, march! Then those
others, the rulers in Paris, seeing this, said to themselves: 'Here's a
bold one that seems to get his orders from the skies; he's likely to put
his paw on France. We must let him loose on Asia; we will send him to
America, perhaps that will satisfy him.' But 't was _written above_ for
him, as it was for Jesus Christ. The command went forth that he should
go to Egypt. See, again, his resemblance to the Son of God. But that's
not all. He called together his best veterans, his fire-eaters, the ones
he had particularly put the devil into, and he said to them like this:
'My friends, they have given us Egypt to chew up, just to keep us busy,
but we'll swallow it whole in a couple of campaigns, as we did Italy.
The common soldiers shall be princes and have the land for their own.
Forward, march!' 'Forward, march!' cried the sergeants, and there we
were at Toulon, road to Egypt. At that time the English had all their
ships in the sea; but when we embarked, Napoleon said: 'They won't see
us. It is just as well that you should know from this time forth that
your general has got his star in the sky, which guides and protects us.'
What was said was done. Passing over the sea, we took Malta like an
orange, just to quench his thirst for victory; for he was a man who
couldn't live and do nothing.

"So here we are in Egypt. Good. Once here, other orders. The Egyptians,
d'ye see, are men who, ever since the earth was, have had giants for
sovereigns, and armies as numerous as ants; for