"But what should I have done, general?" asked the poor devil, so ingenuously that the general smiled in spite of himself.
"You ought to have allowed yourself to be eaten to the last morsel rather than have fired a shot which might have alarmed the enemy, and which has aroused the whole army."
"I did think of that, general; and you see that the rascals began;" and he showed his bleeding arms and cheeks. "But I said to myself, 'Faraud (that is my name, general), they have placed you here to prevent the enemy from passing, and they count on you to prevent them from passing.'"
"Well?" asked Pichegru.
"Well, if I had been eaten, general, there would have been no one to prevent the enemy from passing; it was that thought which determined me to fire. I give you my word of honor that the question of personal safety did not come till later."
"But this shot may have awakened the enemy's advance-posts."
"Don't worry about that, general; if they heard it, they have taken it for a mere poacher's shot."
"Are you a Parisian?"
"Yes, but I belong to the first battalion of the Indre; I am a volunteer."
"Well, Faraud, the only advice I have to give you is not to let me see you again until you have won your corporal's stripes, so that I may forget the breach of discipline which you have committed to-day."