'What,' I said, 'an old soldier crying!'
'Let me cry,' he said; 'it will do me good. I feel miserable, and if we don't get to the regiment to-morrow, it's all up with me.'
'Cheer up! We shall be there to-morrow, I hope, or the next day at latest. How's this? You are taking on just like a woman.'
'That is so,' he said; 'I can't explain it. I was either sleeping or dreaming; but I am better now.'
'That's right, mon vieux. It's nothing; it has often happened to me before. But since you came I have felt quite hopeful.'
As I talked, I saw our guide stop continually to listen. Suddenly Picart threw himself full length in the snow, and shouted in a commanding voice, 'Silence!'
'Now,' I said to myself, 'he's done with—my old comrade has gone mad! What will become of me?'
I looked at him petrified. He then got up, and shouted again, 'Vive l'Empereur! The guns! Listen! We're saved!'
'What do you mean?' I said.
'Yes, listen,' he went on.