it upon the husband and wife, then he flung some of
the broiled fragments of horseflesh into a corner of the carriage.

"Now, what do you mean to do?" asked the aide-de-camp.

"Drag them along!" answered Sucy.

"You are mad!"

"You are right!" exclaimed Philip, folding his arms on his breast.

Suddenly a desperate plan occurred to him.

"Look you here!" he said, grasping his sentinel by the unwounded arm.
"I leave her in your care for one hour. Bear in mind that you must die
sooner than let any one, no matter whom, come near the carriage!"

The major seized a handful of the lady's diamonds, drew his sabre, and
violently battered those who seemed to him to be the bravest among the
sleepers. By this means he succeeded in rousing the gigantic grenadier
and a couple of men whose rank and regiment were undiscoverable.

"It is all up with us!" he cried.

"Of course it is," returned the grenadier; "but that is all one to me."

"Very well then, if die you must, isn't it better to sell your life for
a pretty woman, and stand a chance of going back to France again?"

"I would rather go to sleep," said one of the men, dropping down
into the snow; "and if you worry me again, major, I shall stick my
toasting-iron into your body."

"What is it all about, sir?" asked the grenadier. "The man's drunk. He
is a Parisian, and likes to lie in the lap of luxury."

"You shall have these, good fellow," said the major, holding out a
riviere of diamonds, "if you will follow me and fight like a madman. The
Russians are not ten minutes away; they have horses; we will march up to
the nearest battery and carry off two stout ones."

"How about the sentinels, major?"

"One of us three--" he began; then he turned from the soldier and looked
at the aide-de-camp.--"You are coming, aren't you, Hippolyte?"

Hippolyte nodded assent.

"One of us," the major went on, "will look after the sentry. Besides,
perhaps those blessed Russians are also fast asleep."

"All right, major; you are a good sort! But will you take me in your
carriage?" asked the grenadier.

"Yes, if you don't leave your bones up yonder.--If I come to grief,
promise me, you two, that you will do everything in your power to save
the Countess."

"All right," said the grenadier.

They set out for the Russian lines, taking the direction of the
batteries that had so cruelly raked the mass of miserable creatures
huddled together by the river bank. A few minutes later the ho