"Sire," I said, "the young man is overtaken by a fever, caught in the river yesterday. It will probably be but a passing attack, but meanwhile his father knows all that your Majesty should know, and you will find him very much at your service. He has at the moment gone to the house yonder in quest of necessaries; but there is one here with whom you are acquainted and whom you will not be displeased to meet again under such circumstances."
With this I presented Mademoiselle Valerie to him, and he greeted her very warmly. The young pontonnier was still asleep, and it seemed idle to wake him. Nevertheless, the Emperor insisted, with his usual impetuosity, and nothing would content him but an immediate audience of this unhappy Gabriel. Judge of my astonishment when, upon being awakened, the lad seemed in possession of his normal faculties and ready to answer as though he were fresh from a healthy sleep.
"The ford is below Studianka," he said, with a warmth of feeling which betrayed an ardent loyalty. "It is four miles above the old bridge, your Majesty, and, should the river remain as it is, the engineers could cross it before nightfall. I beg you now to let me accompany you, for I am quite well again."
And then he said, lifting pathetic eyes which betrayed his youthful earnestness, "Your Majesty will not refuse me this last favour?"
Such was his request, which won an immediate assent from the Emperor. The lives of a hundred thousand men may have depended upon this youth's loyalty, and who would count the loss of his life if thereby the army could pass over? Not I, certainly—nor His Majesty, who never stood at a sentiment where his own interests were concerned. Half an hour had not elapsed when Gabriel d'Izambert had been lifted into one of the baggage wagons, and we had all set out for the Bérézina.
Put briefly, it was a race where life or death was the stake. If we could neither ford nor bridge the river by nightfall, assuredly was the Grand Army lost. There was not a man amongst us who did not know as much as we drew near to the fatal scene and set eyes for the first time upon those waters which had baffled us. Had the river risen during the night, or should we find it as Gabriel d'Izambert had found it yesterday? The lad himself put the question a hundred times as we tramped by the side of the wagon, and descended at length toward that gloomy Styx which was so soon to be the scene of our overwhelming desolation.
IV
Naturally, I considered myself released at this time from my understanding with the old gentleman. He, however, was of no such opinion, and, with an anxiety very natural under the circumstances, he reminded me frequently of the undertaking.
"You will not leave us, major," he said. "We are so very helpless, and you see what is about to happen to my son. We cannot leave him, and, if the bridge be built, naturally the army will be the first to cross. Remember what you have promised me, and let it be an honourable understanding between us."
It was difficult to answer such an appeal, and, for that matter, a greater anxiety concerning the state of the river led me to dismiss it lightly. What mattered it whether we crossed early or late if the army could be saved and the honour of France upheld? These thoughts were in my mind when, at length, the Bérézina came into view and all that gloomy panorama was unrolled before our wistful eyes. Let me tell you of this that you may understand more fully the calamity which subsequently overtook us.