'I hope you will not leave us again; you must come to our quarters, and as we are allowed to make use of sledges or carts to travel in, we will try to find one.'
We stopped in the street a long time waiting for King Murat. Meanwhile there were many surprises at meeting friends, in finding those living whom one had long thought dead. I had the pleasure of meeting Sergeant Humblot, with whom I had been travelling the evening before, and from whom I had been separated in the wood at the time of the Cossack attack. I learned also that the cantinières, Marie and Mother Gâteau, had got into good quarters.
As Murat did not come, the names of those men unable to walk were taken, these to be despatched the next day at six o'clock in the morning on sledges furnished by the authorities. We could not find one for ourselves, however, and had to comfort ourselves by preparing to pass a good night, so as to be fit to march the following day.
Picart had said that he wanted to speak to me before we separated. Hardly was the order for departure given, when I felt a smart tap on my shoulder. I turned and saw Picart. He made a sign to me, and Grangier also, to follow him, and when we had moved away a little, he said:
'You are going to do me the kindness of accepting a good pull of white wine—Rhine wine.'
'Is it possible?' I exclaimed.
For only answer he said: 'Follow me.'
He then told us that the evening before he had made the acquaintance of a Jew with the idea of selling him things he wanted to dispose of—his Colonel's epaulettes, for instance—and as he had been often taken for a Jew, he passed himself off as one, saying that his mother was the daughter of the Rabbi at Strasbourg, and that he was called Salomon. The Jew was delighted at the hope of making a good bargain, and had pointed out to him his house, assuring him that he would find some good Rhine wine there.
We went to the back of the synagogue. To one side was a little house, where Picart stopped. He looked all round to see if anyone was there; then, pinching his nose, he called out in a nasal voice, 'Jacob! Jacob!'