CHAPTER XXXV. A NOVEL COUNCIL OP WAR
I had scarcely finished my breakfast, when a group of officers rode upto our quarters to visit me. My arrival had already created an immensesensation in the city, and all kinds of rumours were afloat as to thetidings I had brought. The meagreness of the information would, indeed,have seemed in strong contrast to the enterprise and hazard of theescape, had I not the craft to eke it out by that process of suggestionand speculation in which I was rather an adept.
Little in substance as my information was, all the younger officerswere in favour of acting upon it. The English are no bad judges of ourposition and chances, was the constant argument. They see exactly how westand; they know the relative forces of our army and the enemy's; and ifthe 'cautious islanders'--such was the phrase--advised a _coup de main_,it surely must have much in its favour. I lay stress upon the remark,trifling as it may seem; but it is curious to know, that with all theimmense successes of England on sea, her reputation at that time amongFrenchmen was rather for prudent and well-matured undertaking than forthose daring enterprises which are as much the character of her courage.
My visitors continued to pour in during the morning--officers of everyarm and rank, some from mere idle curiosity, some to question andinterrogate, and not a few to solve doubts in their mind as to my beingreally French, and a soldier, and not an agent of that 'perfide Albion,'whose treachery was become a proverb amongst us. Many were disappointedat my knowing so little. I neither could tell the date of Napoleon'spassing St. Gothard, nor the amount of his force; neither knew I whetherhe meant to turn eastward towards the plains of Lombardy, or marchdirect to the relief of Genoa. Of Moreau's successes in Germany, too, Ihad only heard vaguely, and, of course, could recount nothing. Icould overhear, occasionally, around and about me, the murmurs ofdissatisfaction my ignorance called forth, and was not a little gratefulto an old artillery captain for saying, 'That's the very best thingabout the lad; a spy would have had his whole lesson by heart.'
'You are right, sir,' cried I, catching at the words; 'I may know butlittle, and that little, perhaps, valueless and insignificant, but mytruth no man shall gainsay.'
The boldness of this speech from one wasted and miserable as I was, withtattered shoes and ragged clothes, caused a hearty laugh, in which, asmuch from policy as feeling, I joined myself.
'Come here, _mon cher_,' said an infantry colonel, as, walking to thedoor of the room, he drew his telescope from his pocket; 'you tell us ofa _coup de main_--on the Monte Faccio, is it not?'
'Yes,' replied I promptly, 'so I understand the name.'
'Well, have you ever seen the place?'
'Never.'
'Well, there it is yonder'; and he handed me his glass as he spoke. 'Yousee that large beetling cliff, with the olives at the foot? There, onthe summit, stands the Monte Faccio. The road--the pathway rather, and asteep one it is--leads up where you see those goats feeding, and crossesin front of the crag, directly beneath the fire of the batteries.There's not a spot on the whole ascent where three men could marchabreast; and wherever there is any shelter from fire, the guns of the"Sprona," that small fort to the right, take the whole position. What doyou think of your counsel now?'
'You forget, sir, it is not my counsel. I merely repeat what Ioverheard.'
'And do you mean to say, that the men who gave that advice were serious,or capable of adopting it themselves?'
'Most assuredly; they would never recommend to others what they feltunequal to themselves. I know these English well, and so much will I sayof them.'
'Bah!' cried he, with an insolent gesture of his hand, and turnedaway; and I could plainly see that my praises of the enemy were veryill-taken. In fact, my unlucky burst of generosity had done more todamage my credit than all the dangerous or impracticable features ofmy scheme. Every eye was turned to the bold precipice, and the sternfortress that crowned it, and all agreed that an attack must behopeless.
I saw, too late, the great fault I had committed, and that nothing couldbe more wanting in tact than to suggest to Frenchmen an enterprise whichEnglishmen deemed practicable, and which yet, to the former, seemedbeyond all reach of success. The insult was too palpable and too direct;but to retract was impossible, and I had now to sustain a propositionwhich gave offence on every side.
It was very mortifying to me to see how soon all my personal creditwas merged in this unhappy theory. No one thought more of my hazardousescape, the perils I encountered, or the sufferings I had undergone. Allthat was remembered of me was the affront I had offered to the nationalcourage, and the preference I had implied to English bravery.
Never did I pass a more tormenting day. New arrivals continuallyrefreshed the discussion, and always with the same results. And althoughsome were satisfied to convey their opinions by a shake of the head or adubious smile, others, more candid than civil, plainly intimated that ifI had nothing of more consequence to tell, I might as well have stayedwhere I was, and not added one more to a garrison so closely pressed byhunger. Very little more of such reasoning would have persuaded myselfof its truth, and I almost began to wish that I was once more back inthe 'sick bay' of the frigate.
Towards evening I was left alone. My host went down to the town onduty; and after the visit of a tailor, who came to try on me a staffuniform--a distinction, I afterwards learned, owing to the abundanceof this class of costume, and not to any claims I could prefer to therank--I was perfectly free to stroll about where I pleased unmolested,and, no small blessing, unquestioned.
On following along the walls for some distance, I came to a part wherea succession of deep ravines opened at the foot of the bastions,conducting by many a tortuous and rocky glen to the Apennines. Thesides of these gorges were dotted here and there with wild hollies andfig-trees, stunted and ill-thriven, as the nature of the soil mightimply. Still, for the sake of the few berries, or the sapless fruit theybore, the soldiers of the garrison were accustomed to creep out from theembrasures and descend the steep cliffs--a peril great enough initself, but terribly increased by the risk of exposure to the enemy'stirailleurs, as well as the consequences such indiscipline would bringdown on them.
So frequent, however, had been these infractions, that little footpathswere worn bare along the face of the cliff, traversing in many a zigzaga surface that seemed like a wall. It was almost incredible that menwould brave such peril for so little, but famine had rendered themindifferent to death; and although debility exhibited itself in everymotion and gesture, the men would stand unshrinking and undismayedbeneath the fire of a battery. At one spot, near the angle of a bastion,and where some shelter from the north winds protected the place, alittle clump of orange-trees stood; and towards these, though fullya mile off, many a foot-track led, showing how strong had been thetemptation in that quarter. To reach it, the precipice should betraversed, the gorge beneath and a considerable ascent of the oppositemountain accomplished; and yet all these dangers had been successfullyencountered, merely instigated by hunger!
High above this very spot, at a distance of perhaps eight hundred feet,stood the Monte Faccio--the large black and yellow banner of Austriafloating from its walls, as if amid the clouds. I could see the muzzlesof the great guns protruding from the embrasures; and I could even catchglances of a tall bearskin, as some soldier passed or repassed behindthe parapet, and I thought how terrible would be the attempt tostorm such a position. It was, indeed, true, that if I had the leastconception of the strength of the fort, I never should have daredto talk of a _coup de main_. Still I was in a manner pledged to thesuggestion. I had perilled my life for it, and few men do as much foran opinion; for this reason I resolved, come what would, to maintain myground, and hold fast to my conviction. I never could be called upon toplan the expedition, nor could it by any possibility be confided to myguidance; responsibility could not, therefore, attach to me. All thesewere strong arguments, at least quite strong enough to decide a waveringjudgment.
Meditating on these things, I strolled back t
o my quarters. As I enteredthe garden, I found that several officers were assembled, among whom wasColonel de Barre, the brother of the general of that name who afterwardsfell at the Borodino. He was _chef d'etat-major_ to Massena, and a mostdistinguished and brave soldier. Unlike the fashion of the day, whichmade the military man affect the rough coarseness of a savage, seasoninghis talk with oaths, and curses, and low expressions, De Barre hadsomething of the _petit-maitre_ in his address, which nothing short ofhis well-proved courage would have saved from ridicule. His voice waslow and soft, his smile perpetual; and although well bred enough to havebeen dignified and easy, a certain fidgety impulse to be pleasingmade him always appear affected and unnatural. Never was there sucha contrast to his chief; but indeed it was said, that to this verydisparity of temperament he owed all the influence he possessed overMassena's mind.
I might have been a general of division at the very least, to judge fromthe courteous deference of the salute with which he approached me--apoliteness the more striking, as all the others immediately fell back,to leave us to converse together. I was actually overcome with theflattering terms in which he addressed me on the subject of my escape.
'I could scarcely at first credit the story,' said he, 'but when theytold me that you were a "Ninth man," one of the old Tapageurs, I neverdoubted it more. You see what a bad character is, Monsieur de Tiernay!'It was the first time I had ever heard the prefix to my name, and Iown the sound was pleasurable. 'I served a few months with your corpsmyself, but I soon saw there was no chance of promotion among fellowsall more eager than myself for distinction. Well, sir, it is preciselyto this reputation I have yielded my credit, and to which GeneralMassena is kind enough to concede his own confidence. Your advice isabout to be acted on, Monsieur de Tiernay.'
'The _coup de main_----'
'A little lower, if you please, my dear sir. The expedition is to beconducted with every secrecy, even from the officers of every rankbelow a command. Have the goodness to walk along with me this way. If Iunderstand General Massena aright, your information conveys no details,nor any particular suggestions as to the attack.'
'None whatever, sir. It was the mere talk of a gunroom--the popularopinion among a set of young officers.'
'I understand,' said he, with a bow and a smile--'the suggestion ofa number of high-minded and daring soldiers, as to what they deemedpracticable.'
'Precisely, sir.'
'Neither could you collect from their conversation anything whichbore upon the number of the Austrian advance guard, or their state ofpreparation?'
'Nothing, sir. The opinion of the English was, I suspect, mainly foundedon the great superiority of our forces to the enemy's in all attacks ofthis kind.'
'Our _esprit "tapageur"_ eh?' said he, laughing, and pinching my armfamiliarly, and I joined in the laugh with pleasure. 'Well, Monsieur deTiernay, let us endeavour to sustain this good impression. The attemptis to be made to-night.'
'To-night!' exclaimed I, in amazement, for everything within the cityseemed tranquil and still.
'To-night, sir; and, by the kind favour of General Massena, I am to leadthe attack--the reserve, if we are ever to want it, being under his owncommand It is to be at your own option on which staff you will serve.'
'On yours, of course, sir,' cried I hastily. 'A man who stands unknownand unvouched for among his comrades, as I do, has but one way tovindicate his claim to credit--by partaking the peril he counsels.'
'There could be no doubt either of your judgment, or the sound reasonsfor it,' replied the colonel; 'the only question was, whether you mightbe unequal to the fatigue.'
'Trust me, sir, you'll not have to send me to the rear,' said I,laughing.
'Then you are extra on my staff, Monsieur de Tiernay.'
As we walked along, he proceeded to give me the details of ourexpedition, which was to be on a far stronger scale than I anticipated.Three battalions of infantry, with four light batteries, and as manysquadrons of dragoons, were to form the advance.
'We shall neither want the artillery nor cavalry, except to cover aretreat,' said he; 'I trust, if it come to that, there will not be manyof us to protect; but such are the general's orders, and we have but toobey them.'
With the great events of that night on my memory, it is strange thatI should retain so accurately in my mind the trivial and slightcircumstances, which are as fresh before me as if they had occurred butyesterday.
It was about eleven o'clock, of a dark but starry night, not a breath ofwind blowing, that, passing through a number of gloomy, narrow streets,I suddenly found myself in the courtyard of the Balbe Palace. A largemarble fountain was playing in the centre, around which several lampswere lighted; by these I could see that the place was crowded withofficers, some seated at tables drinking, some smoking, and otherslounging up and down in conversation. Huge loaves of black bread, andwicker-covered flasks of country wine, formed the entertainment;but even these, to judge from the zest of the guests, were no commondelicacies. At the foot of a little marble group, and before a smalltable, with a map on it, sat General Massena himself, in his greyovercoat, cutting his bread with a case-knife, while he talked away tohis staff.
'These maps are good for nothing, Bressi,' cried he. 'To look at them,you 'd say that every road was practicable for artillery, and everyriver passable, and you find afterwards that all these fine _chaussees_are bypaths, and the rivulets downright torrents. Who knows the Chiavariroad?'
'Giorgio knows it well, sir,' said the officer addressed, and who was ayoung Piedmontese from Massena's own village.
'Ah, Birbante!' cried the general, 'are you here again?' and he turnedlaughingly towards a little bandy-legged monster, of less than threefeet high, who, with a cap stuck jauntily on one side of his head, and awooden sword at his side, stepped forward with all the confidence of anequal.
'Ay, here I am,' said he, raising his hand to his cap, soldier fashion;'there was nothing else for it but this trade,' and he placed his handon the hilt of his wooden weapon. 'You cut down all the mulberries andleft us no silkworms; you burned all the olives, and left us no oil;you trampled down our maize crops and our vines. _Per Baccho!_ the onlything left was to turn brigand like yourself, and see what would come ofit.'
'Is he not cool to talk thus to a general at the head of his staff?'said Massena, with an assumed gravity.
'I knew you when you wore a different-looking epaulette than thatthere,' said Giorgio, 'and when you carried one of your father'smeal-sacks on your shoulder instead of all that bravery.'
'_Parbleu!_ so he did,' cried Massena, laughing heartily. 'Thatscoundrel was always about our mill, and, I believe, lived by thieving!'added he, pointing to the dwarf.
'Every one did a little that way in our village,' said the dwarf; 'butnone ever profited by his education like yourself.'
If the general and some of the younger officers seemed highly amused atthe fellow's impudence and effrontery, some of the others looked angryand indignant. A few were really well born, and could afford to smile atthese recognitions; but many who sprung from an origin even more humblethan the general's could not conceal their angry indignation at thescene.
'I see that these gentlemen are impatient of our vulgar recollections,'said Massena, with a sardonic grin; 'so now to business, Giorgio. Youknow the Chiavari road--what is't like?'
'Good enough to look at, but mined in four places.'
The general gave a significant glance at the staff, and bade him go on.
'The white-coats are strong in that quarter, and have eight guns to bearupon the road, where it passes beneath Monte Ratte.'
'Why, I was told that the pass was undefended!' cried Massenaangrily--'that a few skirmishers were all that could be seen near it.'
'All that could be seen!--so they are; but there are eighttwelve-pounder guns in the brushwood, with shot and shell enough to beseen, and felt too.'
Massena now turned to the officers near him, and conversed with themeagerly for some time. The debated point
I subsequently heard was howto make a feint attack on the Chiavari road, to mask the _coup de main_intended for the Monte Faccio. To give the false attack any colour ofreality, required a larger force and greater preparation than they couldafford, and this was now the great difficulty. At last it was resolvedthat this should be a mere demonstration, not to push far beyond thewalls, but, by all the semblance of a serious advance, to attract asmuch attention as possible from the enemy.
Another and a greater embarrassment lay in the fact, that the troopsintended for the _coup de main_ had no other exit than the gate whichled to Chiavari, so that the two lines of march would intersect andinterfere with each other. Could we even have passed out our tirailleursin advance, the support would easily follow; but the enemy would, ofcourse, notice the direction our advance would take, and our object beimmediately detected.
'Why not pass the skirmishers out by the embrasures, to the leftyonder,' said I; 'I see many a track where men have gone already.'
'It is steep as a wall,' cried one.
'And there's a breast of rock in front that no foot could scale.'
'You have at least a thousand feet of precipice above you, when youreach the glen, if ever you do reach it alive.'
'And this to be done in the darkness of a night!' Such were thediscouraging comments which rattled, quick as musketry, around me.
'The lieutenant's right, nevertheless,' said Giorgio. 'Half thevoltigeurs of the garrison know the path well already; and as todarkness--if there were a moon you dared not attempt it.'
'There's some truth in that,' observed an old major.
'Could you promise to guide them, Giorgio?' said Massena.
'Yes, every step of the way--up to the very walls of the fort.'
'There, then,' cried the general, 'one great difficulty is got overalready.*
'Not so fast, _generale mio_,' said the dwarf; 'I said I could, but Inever said that I would.'
'Not for a liberal present, Giorgio; not if I filled that leather pouchof yours with five-franc pieces, man?'
'I might not live to spend it, and I care little for my next of kin,'said the dwarf dryly.
'I don't think that we need his services, general,' said I; 'I sawthe place this evening, and however steep it seems from the walls,the descent is practicable enough--at least I am certain that ourtirailleurs, in the Black Forest, would never have hesitated about it.'
I little knew that when I uttered this speech I had sent a shot into thevery heart of the magazine, the ruling passion of Massena's mind beingan almost insane jealousy of Moreau's military fame--his famous campaignof Southern Germany, and his wonderful retreat upon the Rhine, beingregarded as achievements of the highest order.
'I've got some of those regiments you speak of in my brigade here, sir,'said he, addressing himself directly to me, and I must own that theirdiscipline reflects but little credit on the skill of so great anofficer as General Moreau; and as to light troops, I fancy Colonel deVallence yonder would scarcely feel it a flattery were you to tell himto take a lesson from them.'
'I have just been speaking to Colonel de Vallence, general,' saidColonel de Barre. 'He confirms everything Monsieur de Tiernay tells usof the practicable nature of these paths; his fellows have tracked themat all hours, and neither want guidance nor direction to go.'
'In that case I may as well offer my services,' said Giorgio, tighteninghis belt; 'but I must tell you that it is too late to begin to-night--wemust start immediately after nightfall. It will take from forty to fiftyminutes to descend the cliff, a good two hours to climb the ascent, sothat you 'll not have much time to spare before daybreak.'
Giorgio's opinion was backed by several others, and it was finallyresolved upon that the attempt should be made on the following evening.Meanwhile, the dwarf was committed to the safe custody of a sergeant,affectedly to look to his proper care and treatment, but really to guardagainst any imprudent revelations that he might make respecting theintended attack.