cumstance which
increased the peril was, that their cries were at first mistaken for
acclamations, and their hurrahs for shouts of _Vive l'Empereur!_

It was Platof and six thousand Cossacks, who in the rear of our
victorious advanced-guard, had ventured to cross the river, the low
plain and the high road, carrying all before them; and it was at the
very moment when the Emperor, perfectly tranquil in the midst of his
army, and the windings of a deep river, was advancing, refusing belief
to so audacious a plan, that they put it in execution.

When they had once started, they approached with such speed, that Rapp
had but just time to say to the Emperor, "It is the Cossacks!--turn
back!" The Emperor, whose eyes deceived him, or who disliked running
away, stood firm, and was on the point of being surrounded, when Rapp
seized the bridle of his horse, and turned him round, crying. "Indeed
you must!" And really it was high time to fly, although Napoleon's pride
would not allow him to do so. He drew his sword, the Prince of
Neufchatel and the grand equerry did the same; then placing themselves
on the left side of the road, they waited the approach of the horde,
from which they were not forty paces distant. Rapp had barely time to
turn himself round to face these barbarians, when the foremost of them
thrust his lance into the chest of his horse with such violence as to
throw him down. The other aides-de-camp, and a few horse belonging to
the guard, extricated the general. This action, the bravery of
Lecoulteux, the efforts of a score of officers and chasseurs, and above
all the thirst of these barbarians for plunder, saved the Emperor. And
yet they needed only to have stretched out their hands and seized him;
for, at the same moment, the horde, in crossing the high road, overthrew
every thing before them, horses, men, and carriages, wounding and
killing some, and dragging them into the woods for the purpose of
plundering them; then, loosing the horses harnessed to the guns, they
took them along with them across the country. But they had only a
momentary victory; a triumph of surprise. The cavalry of the guard
galloped up; at this sight they let go their prey and fled; and this
torrent subsided, leaving indeed melancholy traces, but abandoning all
that it was hurrying away in its course.

Some of these barbarians, however, carried their audacity even to
insolence. They were seen retiring at a foot-pace across the interval
betw