CHAPTER III

Mission of four commissioners to Charles X.--General Pajol--He is appointed commander of the Paris Volunteers--Charras offers to be his aide-de-camp--The map of Seine-et-Oise--The spies--The hirer of carriages--Rations of bread--D'Arpentigny--The taking of the artillery of Saint-Cyr--Halt at Cognières--M. Detours

May I now be permitted to lose my own poor little individuality in the vortex of the general movement that was urging thirty to forty thousand human beings with one common impulse towards Rambouillet.

Ever since the previous day, when, as we have stated, the lieutenant-general had received official information of the abdication of Charles X., he had tried to think of the best means of ridding himself as quickly as possible of that inconvenient neighbour. Now this is what he did. He decided that, in order to protect Charles X. from the outburst of public anger that would break out next day, he would send him four commissioners. These four were: Marshall Maison, Colonel Jacqueminot, M. de Schonen, whom they desired to win over, and Odilon Barrot, who needed no persuading, as he had been one of the most powerful upholders of the new power that had just arisen. There was a certain amount of interest attaching to Marshall Maison, because it was he who had been to Calais to meet Louis XVIII., and now he was getting ready to escort Charles X. back to Cherbourg. Moreover, by presenting themselves at Rambouillet, the four commissioners believed they were being summoned there by Charles X. They set off on 2 August at four o'clock in the afternoon; by nine o'clock they had reached the outposts. They passed through the Royal Army by the light of bivouac fires, and reached Rambouillet, but not without, however, catching sight of some eager glances and half-drawn swords. Luckily, the Duc d'Orléans conceived the idea of adding to their number M. de Coigny, whose name was connected with the ancient monarchy by traditions of glory, by the devotion of his father and his ancestors. The name of M. de Coigny protected them and procured their admission to the palace. Charles X. did not understand their presence at such an unusual hour and, to their request for an audience, sent word that the time for audiences was past, but that he offered them hospitality at the château de Rambouillet. Charles X. was, however, waiting for the answer of the Duc d'Orléans to the letter he had sent him that morning by M. de Latour-Foissac which the duke had taken from the hands of M. de Mortemart, although he would not consent to receive the messenger who had brought it. The hospitality of the château de Rambouillet! that was not what the four commissioners had come for; so they at once got back into their carriage and immediately returned to Paris. They returned more quickly than they had come, and re-entered the Palais-Royal at half-past twelve midnight. The future king was not as punctilious as the retiring one: he would receive at any hour, especially when the news was worth his while. The news the four commissioners brought compelled him to take a resolution there and then, without loss of time: Charles X. must be compelled to leave Rambouillet the very next day. To this end a great patriotic demonstration was essential, and Colonel Jacqueminot was commissioned to stir up such a demonstration. At daybreak, two or three hundred policemen were let loose in every quarter of Paris with orders to cry out--

"Charles X. is marching upon Paris!... To Rambouillet! To Rambouillet!"

They were also deputed to send forth all the drummers they knew of and to let these beat the _rappel._ And this was the cause of the infernal racket that had waked Paris.

The Government possessed one man at this crisis on whose courage they could rely: this was General Pajol. He was the true type of a soldier; courageous, honourable, open and loyal, quick in making decisions, persistent in determination. At some battle or other, when he was either colonel or major of a regiment, just in sight of the emperor, a shell pierced his horse's stomach and burst inside it. Pajol was sent flying fifteen feet into the air. Napoleon saw the strange ascension.

"By Jove!" he said, "if that beggar comes down, he must have a tough life!"

A fortnight afterwards, a superior officer came and presented himself before the emperor, limping slightly.

"Who are you?" asked Napoleon.

"I am the tough-lived beggar," replied Pajol.

And to this incident was due his rapid advance in an admirable military career, only interrupted by Waterloo.

Pajol belonged to the Opposition and was almost Republican in his views.

Three days before this, when the Chamber was laying the preliminary foundations of a new monarchy, Pajol, who saw the turn things were taking, was walking sadly along the rue de Chabrol, in company with Degousée, who himself deplored the direction in which the Revolution was turning, when, suddenly, Pajol stopped.

"You told me, a minute ago, that you led a company of devoted men in the attack on the Louvre?" he asked.

"No doubt of it."

"Well, could you still rely on those men?"

"I believe so."

"To the pitch of executing to the letter, and without any discussion, any order you might give them?"

"What sort of order?"

"Suppose it were to arrest the deputies?"

"Oh! I would not answer for them in that respect!"

"In that case, the Revolution has miscarried!..."

He went to his home, in the rue de la Ferme des Mathurins, to await the turn of events.

Events soon happened: they made him commander of the insurrection on the 3rd and they counted upon him to lead the democratic army, which he did. It was all one to him, so long as he was serving France. Charras had heard it cried in the streets that General Pajol was to be commander-in-chief of the expedition and he rushed off to the general's house. Let us begin by saying that he had been beforehand to the stables of Kausmann and had taken his best horse, over which he had had a dispute with a man who was a great judge of horses and had chosen it himself. The horse-fancier was Charles Ledru, who had left me in the rue Saint-Honoré, refusing the seat I offered him in my cab, to go and bestride the horse waiting for him at Kausmann's. Just as he entered the stables, Charras was leaving them at full gallop on the very horse he, Charles Ledru, had selected. He chose another, however, and rode after the first. Luckily, he found the second a good one, and accordingly, when he overtook Charras, he merely shook him by the hand. Charras, without any previous introduction, presented himself to General Pajol. That general, accustomed to taking all sorts of precautions during military expeditions, was having two enormous saddlebags taken down: one was full of hams, legs of mutton and fowls, and the other was filled with bread. At the fourth word Charras addressed to him, and at the first look he cast at him he said--

"Look here, I like you!"

"So much the better," said Charras.

"You appear to be a nice young dog!"

"Dogs are not allowed to take a share in things."

"Will you be my aide-de-camp?"

"Yes, indeed; that was what I came for!"

"Then it is settled"; and he held out his hand to the young man.

"Now," he replied, "will you have a bit of food?"

"I shall be delighted!... I am dying of hunger."

"Go into the dining-room, then.... Madame Pajol! Madame Pajol!"

The general's wife entered.

"Give this young fellow a good breakfast ... he has come to offer me his services as aide-de-camp; he little knows what work I shall cut out for him."

Charras sat down at the table, devoured his food by huge mouthfuls, drank like a fish and was ready to start in ten minutes' time.

"Come along now, _en route!_" said the general.

They went down into the courtyard, where three or four persons were waiting for them, leapt into their saddles and the general set off at a gallop, turning short round the corner of the stable-yard gate and making his horse change feet, like the perfect horseman he was. Charras was an excellent horseman himself and stood this first test victoriously. But the horse that was being ridden by another student of the École was pushed on to the footpath and fell down on the left hand. This happened outside a chemist's shop and both student and horse disappeared into the shop--breaking in the front as they fell. The accident was not thought worth wasting time over and the others went on their way without even turning their heads to look. When they reached the barrier at Passy, the general took command of the column. Our cab was one of the first, after the general's staff, which consisted of Jacqueminot, Charras, Charles Ledru, d'Higonnet, M. de Lagrange, Vernon and Bernadou. Vernon and Bernadou wore the uniform of students at the École. Charles Ledru was in the old uniform of the National Horse Guards, and wore a helmet; Higonnet wore the uniform of a pupil of the School of Cavalry at Saumur; and M. de Lagrange that of the Light Cavalry. General Exelmans appeared farther on, beyond the quai de Billy.

"Here I am, Pajol!" he said, breaking through the ranks to get to him.

"You are somewhat late ... but never mind," Pajol replied; "you can command the rearguard."

"Good!" was Exelmans' reply.

And he passed along to the rearguard, where he found the Rouennais, who had but just arrived.

Pajol pulled up his horse at Point-du-Jour.

"By Jove!" he exclaimed, "I bet...."

"What?" they inquired.

"That nobody here has a map of the department of Seine-et-Oise... Eh? Has anyone got a map of the department of Seine-et-Oise?"

Nobody replied.

"Shall I go and find one?" asked Charras.

"Where?"

"I don't know! Wherever I can!"

"But if you don't know where to look?"

"Oh! if one hunts, one always finds what one wants."

Charras started off at a gallop--he had a notion where to look. He went to the manufactory of Sèvres: it would surely be impossible not to find a map of Seine-et-Oise there. Nor was he mistaken: they had two. They were put at his disposal by my namesake, M. Dumas, the chemist, erewhile minister and present senator. Pajol received the two maps a quarter of a league outside Sèvres.

"Now, then, Jacqueminot," he said, "we must have bread, and plenty of it, too.... Go to Versailles and order ten thousand rations."

Jacqueminot started off.

"And we must also have spies," said Pajol. "Who will undertake to find me spies?"

"I will," said Charras.

"Ah! do you mean to undertake to find everything?"

"Why not?" said Charras. "I must make myself useful."

"Where will you find me these?"

"At Versailles."

"Do you know anybody there?"

"Not a soul ... but don't trouble on that account."

"I will go with you," said Bernadou.

"Come, then."

The two young men set off as fast as their horses could go. They reached the Hôtel de Ville of Versailles consumed with thirst. Somebody had conceived the notion of breaking open a dozen barrels of beer in the courtyard, in the full sunshine: they attempted to drink it, but found it like poison. A man in civilian dress was there, representing the mayor, sweating like an ox: for that matter, everybody, mayor, deputies, municipal councillors, were all melting with the heat.

"Look quick!" said Charras; "come, we want spies, horses and a carriage!"

"Excuse me?" asked the perspiring citizen.

"Are you deaf? I ask you for spies, horses and a carriage!"

"Where do you suppose I can find them?" replied the citizen, perspiring more and more.

"That is no concern of mine.... Find them--I must have them. That is all I have to say to you."

"But, all the same, monsieur, who may you be?"

"I am M. Charras, first aide-de-camp to General Pajol, who is commander-in-chief of the Expeditionary Army of the West."

Charras had invented this phrase on the spur of the moment, and, thinking it sufficiently high-sounding, had adopted it to impress the country town's folk.

"All I can do," he said, "is to give you the names of carriage proprietors."

"Give them me.... We shall discover the other things, for you do not seem to me to be very much up to matters yourself."

The man gave the addresses of two or three cab proprietors. They left the mansion-house, which was on the left as you enter the town, about three hundred yards before you come to the château, and they returned in the direction of Paris. A magnificent signboard was grilling in the noonday sun: it represented a coach drawn by four horses, with two saddle-horses held by grooms. This set Charras's mouth watering.

"Hullo there! Where is the proprietor?" he shouted.

"Here I am!" said an individual in a somewhat bad-tempered tone.

"I want a carriage with a couple of horses immediately."

"What for?"

"For the persons whom I shall put inside it."

"Who are they?"

"I don't know yet."

"I haven't any carriages."

"What! no carriages?"

"No."

"What about those in the yard?"

"They are engaged."

"Ah! very well."

Charras looked about him: there were over a hundred people already gathered round, and amongst these spectators were a dozen or so soldiers of the National Guard together with a sergeant.

"Sergeant," said Charras, "do me the kindness to lay hold of that gentleman."

Now a Frenchman is by nature prone to laying hands on people, especially if he wears the uniform of the National Guard. Sergeant Mercier, who refused to seize Manuel, was an exception to this rule and that was why such honours were paid him. The sergeant moved towards the carriage proprietor and seized him by the collar.

"Good!" said Charras; "presently we will see what is to be done with him."

"Really, monsieur," said the proprietor, "who are you?"

"I am M. Charras, first aide-de-camp to General Pajol, who is commander-in-chief of the Expeditionary Army of the West." "Why did you not say so before, monsieur? That quite alters matters."

"Shall I liberate him?" asked the sergeant.

"Not until he has given me a carriage and two horses.... Bernadou, go and choose a couple of good horses and a good carriage."

"All right!"

Bernadou, the sergeant and the proprietor disappeared beneath the large gateway and were lost to sight in the dim distance of the stableyard and the darkness of the stables themselves.

"And now," said Charras, "for two volunteers!"

"What for?" asked a score of voices.

"To go and examine the position of the royal army and to return and give us full particulars."

"Where?"

"Wherever we ... the staff ... and General Pajol may be; there will be no difficulty in discovering that."

"We will go," said two men.

Charras looked at them.

"I do not know who you are," he said; "who will be responsible for your good faith?"

"I," said a gentleman, who was equally unknown to him.

"Very good," continued Charras; "but you must know, messieurs, that you are patriots for us, but spies in regard to the royal army."

"Well?"

"And suppose you are caught...?"

"They will shoot us.... And then...?"

"Good! if you had begun by telling me that I should not have asked for a surety."

The carriage and horses were now brought out. Charras did not leave until he had seen the carriage and the two men safely started upon the road to Rambouillet. The head of the column now came in sight on the Paris road. In a few seconds Charras was beside Pajol.

"It is done, General," he said.

"What?"

"I have found spies."

"Where are they?"

"Gone."

"Really, my dear lad, you are worth your weight in gold!... Now you must go to the village of Cognières; we shall probably halt there."

"Where is it?"

"Here ... see...!"

The general showed the position of the village on the map, four leagues from Rambouillet.

"Good! What am I to do at Cognières?"

"You must tell the mayor I shall want ten thousand feeds of hay by this evening."

"Ten thousand feeds of hay? He will never be able to get so much!"

"What do you think we are to do, then? We have two or three thousand fiacres, twelve or fifteen hundred cabriolets, and tilburys and waggons and the devil knows what beside!"

"All right! don't despair: if we can't get hay, we will get something else...."

"What?" the general interrupted impatiently.

"Why, we will take the standing crops of oats!"

"Excellent!" exclaimed Pajol; "upon my word, you understand the art of war! What is your name?"

"Charras."

"I shall not forget it, be sure! Go! I shall feel as confident of my ten thousand feeds as though I had them here already."

"Oh! you may rely on them."

And again Charras set off. Meanwhile, we had arrived and were dispersing ourselves over Versailles. I, for my part, ran to the barracks of the Guards; I had an intimate friend there, in Grammont's company, a man of irreproachable bravery and, what I appreciated still more, he was marvellously clever. He was called d'Arpentigny. Young though he was, he had been a soldier under the Empire, and he wrote one of the most amazing books imaginable upon his captivity in Russia.

There was not a single Guard at the palace; everyone had followed the king to Rambouillet; they accompanied him as far as Cherbourg, as is known.

After a halt of half an hour, the order was given to resume our march. Just at starting, General Pajol learnt that there were two regiments stationed in Versailles. Would it be wise of him to leave them behind? Three parlementaires were sent and the two regiments gave themselves up without resistance; their arms were distributed among the men of the expedition and my seventeen soldiers got hold of three rifles. On arrival at Saint-Cyr, Degousée proposed seizing the artillery belonging to the École; he asked for volunteers and we offered ourselves, two hundred of us setting out to seize eight pieces of cannon. We harnessed ourselves to them to drag them out as far as the road, and messengers, sent out in all directions, brought back horses and traces.

The Expeditionary Army of the West now had artillery, but it lacked cartridges and bullets. At this moment, we were joined by Georges La Fayette and, as the command of the artillery was vacant, Pajol gave it to him. I never heard whether they succeeded in obtaining bullets and cartridges. When the Expeditionary Army reached the top of the hill of Saint-Cyr, they began to find the high road strewn with sabres, rifles, cartridge boxes and soldiers' caps. So demoralised was the retreat that the men had actually flung away their arms all along the route. Five more of my men thus found arms for themselves, thanks to these spars of the royal wreckage. We reached Cognières at about seven in the evening, harassed with fatigue and dying with hunger. We had, indeed, managed to pick up some scraps of bread and a few glasses of wine, at Versailles; but, as my scene-shifter said, there was only enough to stop a hollow tooth with. By the time we reached Cognières, there were a terrible number of hollow teeth: the horses had found their ten thousand rations of hay and oats, but the men had found nothing at all to eat. Yet Jacqueminot had scrupulously fulfilled his mission: they had promised him that, as soon as the new prefect arrived (and he was expected any moment), the bread should be hurried up. Every man among us set to work like the lion of Scripture, seeking whom he might devour. I had pitched our camp round a great stack of straw that stood on the right of the road and our flag was planted on the top of the stack by one of the scene-shifters, to serve as a guide-post. I had been singularly unlucky in my search, until, happily, I spied out the curé's house. I went inside and laid my wants and those of my troop before the worthy man. He gave me a fine loaf of bread, which must have weighed three or four pounds, and, as he had no bottles in the house, he filled with wine a bottle intended to hold milk. Whilst I was on my foraging expedition, two things were being attended to elsewhere: thirty of the peasants of Cognières, armed with swords and rifles picked up on the road, were placed as an advance-post, a quarter of a league from the village; and, with the three or four thousand fiacres, fifteen to eighteen hundred cabriolets, tilburys and waggons, etc., they built up a big line of barricades across the road stretching across the plain to left and right, covering the whole of the front of the camp and bending back on two sides upon the flanks. On my way, I had been buttonholed by a gentleman in black coat and trousers with a white waistcoat--the whole forming a pearl-grey picture. He had met the procession, was carried away by the whirlpool, had climbed up the back of a fiacre and been thus transported. He had no weapons of any sort, not even a penknife. I could see he was a very green hand at this sort of business. He had not had a bite to eat since the previous day and was clamouring for some sort of food. By trade, he was a broker and his name was Detours. I pointed our flag out to him and encouraged him to continue his hitherto unfruitful hunt a little longer, and then to join us at our stack, whether his hands were full or empty.

After a quarter of an hour's time, I saw him coming along with a piece of bread and half a leg of mutton. He had met Charras, who had taken pity on him and had put General Pajol's canteen at his disposal. He apologised for not bringing more. My men had, however, gone abroad among the neighbouring farms and had annexed a few fowls and eggs. We put all the provender together and supped as well as possible. But only we four or five hundred, perhaps, who had arrived first, got supper: the groans of hunger of those who came after us were audible all around. When the repast was done, I dug out a sort of vault under the stack, into which Delanoue and I got with sybaritic appreciation. The rest of our men strewed straw on the ground and camped in the open air. As for M. Detours, I do not know whether he lives in Paris or in the provinces, whether he be dead or alive, Bonapartist or Republican, for I have never seen him again. It is by a miracle that I happen to have remembered his name.