his seat. And also he was pondering, perhaps, what he should do next. Presently he got his mouth partly free from the cravat.
‘“You can have my watch and my purse if you will let me go,” said he.
‘“Sir,” said I, “I am as honourable a man as you are yourself.”
‘“Who are you, then?”
‘“My name is of no importance.”
‘“What do you want with me?”
‘“It is a bet.”
‘“A bet? What d’you mean? Do you understand that I am on the Government service, and that you will see the inside of a jail for this?”
‘“That is the bet. That is the sport,” said I.
‘“You may find it poor sport before you finish,” he cried. “What is this insane bet of yours, then?”
‘“I have bet,” I answered, “that I will recite a chapter of the Koran to the first gentleman whom I should meet in the street.”
‘I do not know what made me think of it, save that my translation was always running in my head.
He clutched at the door-handle, and again I had to hurl him back into his seat.
‘“How long will it take?” he gasped.
‘“It depends on the chapter,” I answered.
‘“A short one, then, and let me go!”
‘“But is it fair?” I argued. “When I say a chapter I do not mean the shortest chapter, but rather one which should be of average length.”
‘“Help! help! help!” he squealed, and I was compelled again to adjust his cravat.
‘“A little patience,” said I, “and it will soon be over. I should like to recite the chapter which would be of most interest to yourself. You will confess that I am trying to make things as pleasant as I can for you?”
‘He slipped his mouth free again.
‘“Quick, then, quick!” he groaned.
‘“The Chapter of the Camel?” I suggested.
‘“Yes, yes.”
‘“Or that of the Fleet Stallion?”
‘“Yes, yes. Only proceed!”
‘We had passed the window and there was no candle. I settled down to recite the Chapter of the Stallion to him.
‘Perhaps you do not know your Koran very well, monsieur? Well, I knew it by heart then, as I know it by heart now. The style is a little exasperating for any one who is in a hurry. But, then, what would you have? The people in the East are never in a hurry, and it was written for them. I repeated it all with the dignity and solemnity which a sacred book demands, and the young Englishman he wriggled and groaned.
‘“When the horses, standing on three feet and placing the tip of their fourth foot upon the ground, were mustered in front of him in the evening, he said, “I have loved the love of earthly good above the remembrance of things on high, and have spent the time in viewing these horses. Bring the horses back to me.” And when they were brought back he began to cut off their legs and’−
‘It was at this moment that the young Englishman sprang at me. My God! how little can I remember of the next few minutes! He was a boxer, this shred of a man. He had been trained to strike. I tried to catch him by the hands. Pac, pac, he came upon my nose and upon my eye. I put down my head and thrust at him with it. Pac, he came from below. But ah! I was too much for him. I hurled myself upon him, and he had no place where he could escape from my weight. He fell flat upon the cushions, and I seated myself upon him with such conviction that the wind flew from him as from a burst bellows.
‘Then I searched to see what there was with which I could tie him. I drew the strings from my shoes, and with one I secured his wrists, and with another his ankles. Then I tied the cravat round his mouth again, so that he could only lie and glare at me. When I had done all this, and had stopped the bleeding of my own nose, I looked out of the coach, and ah, monsieur, the very first thing which caught my eyes was that candle, that dear little candle, glimmering in the window of the minister. Alone, with these two hands, I had retrieved the capitulation of an army and the loss of a province. Yes, monsieur, what Abercrombie and five thousand men had done upon the beach at Aboukir was undone by me, single-handed, in a hackney coach in Harley Street.
‘Well, I had no time to lose, for at any moment Monsieur Otto might be down. I shouted to my driver, gave him his second guinea, and allowed him to proceed to Watier’s. For myself, I sprang into our Embassy carriage, and a moment later the door of the minister opened. He had himself escorted Monsieur Otto downstairs, and now so deep was he in talk that he walked out bareheaded as far as the carriage. As he stood there by the open door, there came the rattle of wheels, and a man rushed down the pavement.
‘“A despatch of great importance for Milord Hawkesbury!” he cried.
‘I could see that it was not my messenger, but a second one. Milord Hawkesbury caught the paper from his hand, and read it by the light of the carriage lamp. His face, monsieur, was as white as this plate before he had finished.
‘“Monsieur Otto,” he cried, “we have signed this treaty upon a false understanding. Egypt is in our hands.”
‘“What!” cried Monsieur Otto. “Impossible!”
‘“It is certain. It fell to Abercrombie last month.”
‘“In that case,” said Monsieur Otto, “it is very fortunate that the treaty is signed.”
‘“Very fortunate for you, sir,” cried Milord Hawkesbury, and he turned back to the house.
‘Next day, monsieur, what they call the Bow Street runners were after me, but they could not run across salt water, and Alphonse Lacour was receiving the congratulations of Monsieur Talleyrand and the first Consul before ever his pursuers had got as far as Dover.’
THE EXPLOITS OF BRIGADIER GERARD
—
1814, and, as stated, 14 March, a month before Napoleon’s abdication and retirement to Elba. Despite facing several foreign armies on French soil, confidence among Napoleon’s soldiers was running high, having just scattered the Russians from Rheims with 6000 enemy casualties and less than 700 French. Napoleon had now to decide between three different routes to reach Paris.
The Duke of Tarentum, or Macdonald, as his old comrades prefer to call him, was, as I could perceive, in the vilest of tempers. His grim Scotch face was like one of those grotesque door-knockers which one sees in the Faubourg St Germain. We heard afterwards that the Emperor
