友情提示:如果本网页打开太慢或显示不完整,请尝试鼠标右键“刷新”本网页!阅读过程发现任何错误请告诉我们,谢谢!! 报告错误
九色书籍 返回本书目录 我的书架 我的书签 TXT全本下载 进入书吧 加入书签

burlesques-第10章

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!




of yesterday。〃  So; when Cambaceres came out; which he did

presently; with a more furious air than before; I handed him at

once over to Eugene; who begged him to name a friend; and an early

hour for the meeting to take place。



〃Can you make it before eleven; Phil?〃 said Beauharnais。  〃The

Emperor reviews the troops in the Bois de Boulogne at that hour;

and we might fight there handy before the review。〃



〃Done!〃 said I。  〃I want of all things to see the newly…arrived

Saxon cavalry manoeuvre:〃 on which Cambaceres; giving me a look; as

much as to say; 〃See sights!  Watch cavalry manoeuvres!  Make your

soul; and take measure for a coffin; my boy!〃 walked away; naming

our mutual acquaintance; Marshal Ney; to Eugene; as his second in

the business。



I had purchased from Murat a very fine Irish horse; Bugaboo; out of

Smithereens; by Fadladeen; which ran into the French ranks at

Salamanca; with poor Jack Clonakilty; of the 13th; dead; on the top

of him。  Bugaboo was too much and too ugly an animal for the King

of Naples; who; though a showy horseman; was a bad rider across

country; and I got the horse for a song。  A wickeder and uglier

brute never wore pig…skin; and I never put my leg over such a

timber…jumper in my life。  I rode the horse down to the Bois de

Boulogne on the morning that the affair with Cambaceres was to come

off; and Lanty held him as I went in; 〃sure to win;〃 as they say in

the ring。



Cambaceres was known to be the best shot in the French army; but I;

who am a pretty good hand at a snipe; thought a man was bigger; and

that I could wing him if I had a mind。  As soon as Ney gave the

word; we both fired: I felt a whiz past my left ear; and putting up

my hand there; found a large piece of my whiskers gone; whereas at

the same moment; and shrieking a horrible malediction; my adversary

reeled and fell。



〃Mon Dieu; il est mort!〃 cried Ney。



〃Pas de tout;〃 said Beauharnais。  〃Ecoute; il jure toujours。〃



And such; indeed; was the fact: the supposed dead man lay on the

ground cursing most frightfully。  We went up to him: he was blind

with the loss of blood; and my ball had carried off the bridge of

his nose。  He recovered; but he was always called the Prince of

Ponterotto in the French army; afterwards。  The surgeon in

attendance having taken charge of this unfortunate warrior; we rode

off to the review where Ney and Eugene were on duty at the head of

their respective divisions; and where; by the way; Cambaceres; as

the French say; 〃se faisait desirer。〃



It was arranged that Cambaceres' division of six battalions and

nine…and…twenty squadrons should execute a ricochet movement;

supported by artillery in the intervals; and converging by

different epaulements on the light infantry; that formed; as usual;

the centre of the line。  It was by this famous manoeuvre that at

Arcola; at Montenotte; at Friedland; and subsequently at Mazagran;

Suwaroff; Prince Charles; and General Castanos were defeated with

such victorious slaughter: but it is a movement which; I need not

tell every military man; requires the greatest delicacy of

execution; and which; if it fails; plunges an army into confusion。



〃Where is the Duke of Illyria?〃 Napoleon asked。  〃At the head of

his division; no doubt;〃 said Murat: at which Eugene; giving me an

arch look; put his hand to his nose; and caused me almost to fall

off my horse with laughter。  Napoleon looked sternly at me; but at

this moment the troops getting in motion; the celebrated manoeuvre

began; and his Majesty's attention was taken off from my impudence。



Milhaud's Dragoons; their bands playing 〃Vive Henri Quatre;〃 their

cuirasses gleaming in the sunshine; moved upon their own centre

from the left flank in the most brilliant order; while the

Carbineers of Foy; and the Grenadiers of the Guard under Drouet

d'Erlon; executed a carambolade on the right; with the precision

which became those veteran troops; but the Chasseurs of the young

guard; marching by twos instead of threes; bore consequently upon

the Bavarian Uhlans (an ill…disciplined and ill…affected body); and

then; falling back in disorder; became entangled with the artillery

and the left centre of the line; and in one instant thirty thousand

men were in inextricable confusion。



〃Clubbed; by Jabers!〃 roared out Lanty Clancy。  〃I wish we could

show 'em the Fighting Onety…oneth; Captain darling。〃



〃Silence; fellow!〃 I exclaimed。  I never saw the face of man

express passion so vividly as now did the livid countenance of

Napoleon。  He tore off General Milhaud's epaulettes; which he flung

into Foy's face。  He glared about him wildly; like a demon; and

shouted hoarsely for the Duke of Illyria。  〃He is wounded; Sire;〃

said General Foy; wiping a tear from his eye; which was blackened

by the force of the blow; 〃he was wounded an hour since in a duel;

Sire; by a young English prisoner; Monsieur de Fogarty。〃



〃Wounded! a marshal of France wounded!  Where is the Englishman?

Bring him out; and let a file of grenadiers〃



〃Sire!〃 interposed Eugene。



〃Let him be shot!〃 shrieked the Emperor; shaking his spyglass at me

with the fury of a fiend。



This was too much。  〃Here goes!〃 said I; and rode slap at him。



There was a shriek of terror from the whole of the French army; and

I should think at least forty thousand guns were levelled at me in

an instant。  But as the muskets were not loaded; and the cannon had

only wadding in them; these facts; I presume; saved the life of

Phil Fogarty from this discharge。



Knowing my horse; I put him at the Emperor's head; and Bugaboo went

at it like a shot。  He was riding his famous white Arab; and turned

quite pale as I came up and went over the horse and the Emperor;

scarcely brushing the cockade which he wore。



〃Bravo!〃 said Murat; bursting into enthusiasm at the leap。



〃Cut him down!〃 said Sieyes; once an Abbe; but now a gigantic

Cuirassier; and he made a pass at me with his sword。  But he little

knew an Irishman on an Irish horse。  Bugaboo cleared Sieyes; and

fetched the monster a slap with his near hind hoof which sent him

reeling from his saddle;and away I went; with an army of a hundred

and seventy…three thousand eight hundred men at my heels。 * * * *







BARBAZURE。



BY G。 P。 R。 JEAMES; ESQ。; ETC。





I。





It was upon one of those balmy evenings of November; which are only

known in the valleys of Languedoc and among the mountains of

Alsace; that two cavaliers might have been perceived by the naked

eye threading one of the rocky and romantic gorges that skirt the

mountain…land between the Marne and the Garonne。  The rosy tints of

the declining luminary were gilding the peaks and crags which lined

the path; through which the horsemen wound slowly; and as these

eternal battlements with which Nature had hemmed in the ravine

which our travellers trod; blushed with the last tints of the

fading sunlight; the valley below was gray and darkling; and the

hard and devious course was sombre in twilight。  A few goats;

hardly visible among the peaks; were cropping the scanty herbage

here and there。  The pipes of shepherds; calling in their flocks

as they trooped homewards to their mountain villages; sent up

plaintive echoes which moaned through those rocky and lonely

steeps; the stars began to glimmer in the purple heavens spread

serenely overhead and the faint crescent of the moon; which had

peered for some time scarce visible in the azure; gleamed out more

brilliantly at every moment; until it blazed as if in triumph at

the sun's retreat。  'Tis a fair land that of France; a gentle; a

green; and a beautiful; the home of arts and arms; of chivalry and

romance; and (however sadly stained by the excesses of modern

times) 'twas the unbought grace of nations once; and the seat of

ancient renown and disciplined valor。



And of all that fair land of France; whose beauty is so bright and

bravery is so famous; there is no spot greener or fairer than that

one over which our travellers wended; and which stretches between

the good towns of Vendemiaire and Nivose。  'Tis common now to a

hundred thousand voyagers: the English tourist; with his chariot

and his Harvey's Sauce; and his imperials; the bustling commis…

voyageur on the roof of the rumbling diligence; the rapid malle…

poste thundering over the chaussee at twelve miles an hourpass

the ground hourly and daily now: 'twas lonely and unfrequented at

the end of that seventeenth century with which our story commences。



Along the darkening mountain…paths the two gentlemen (for such

their outward bearing proclaimed them) caracoled together。  The

one; seemingly the younger of the twain; wore a flaunting feather

in his barret…cap; and managed a prancing Andalusian palfrey that

bounded and curveted gayly。  A surcoat of peach…colored samite and

a purfled doublet of vair bespoke him noble; as did his brilliant
返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 1
未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
温馨提示: 温看小说的同时发表评论,说出自己的看法和其它小伙伴们分享也不错哦!发表书评还可以获得积分和经验奖励,认真写原创书评 被采纳为精评可以获得大量金币、积分和经验奖励哦!