mpletely sever all connection between their two main armies save by
devious routes many miles in their rear. They therefore clung
desperately to the six mamelons and redoubts which barred the valley
and dominated some of the neighbouring heights. Yet such was the
superiority of the French in numbers that these positions were
speedily turned by Massena, whom Bonaparte again intrusted with the
movement on the enemy's flank and rear. A strange event followed. The
victors, while pillaging the country for the supplies which
Bonaparte's sharpest orders failed to draw from the magazines and
stores on the sea-coast, were attacked in the dead of night by five
Austrian battalions that had been ordered up to support their
countrymen at Dego. These, after straying among the mountains, found
themselves among bands of the marauding French, whom they easily
scattered, seizing Dego itself. Apprised of this mishap, Bonaparte
hurried up more troops from the rear, and on the 15th recovered the
prize which had so nearly been snatched from his grasp. Had Beaulieu
at this time thrown all his forces on the French, he might have
retrieved his first misfortunes: but foresight and energy were not to
be found at the Austrian headquarters: the surprise at Dego was the
work of a colonel; and for many years to come the incompetence of
their aged commanders was to paralyze the fine fighting qualities of
the "white-coats." In three conflicts they had been outmanoeuvred and
outnumbered, and drew in their shattered columns to Acqui.

The French commander now led his columns westward against the
Sardinians, who had fallen back on their fortified camp at Ceva, in
the upper valley of the Tanaro. There they beat off one attack of the
French. A check in front of a strongly intrenched position was
serious. It might have led to a French disaster, had the Austrians
been able to bring aid to their allies. Bonaparte even summoned a
council of war to deliberate on the situation. As a rule, a council of
war gives timid advice. This one strongly advised a second attack on
the camp--a striking proof of the ardour which then nerved the
republican generals. Not yet were they _condottieri_ carving out
fortunes by their swords: not yet were they the pampered minions of an
autocrat, intent primarily on guarding the estates which his favour
had bestowed. Timidity was rather the mark of their opponents. When
the assault on the intrenchments of Ceva was about to be renewed,