I saw the Emperor that day, standing motionless near the bridge, and
never feeling the cold at all. Was that natural, do you think? He was
watching the destruction of his treasure, his friends, his old Egyptian
soldiers. It was the end of everything. Women, wagons, cannon--all were
being destroyed, demolished, ruined, wrecked! A few of the bravest
guarded the eagles; because the eagles, you understand, stood for
France, for you, for the civil and military honor that had to be kept
unstained and that was not to be humbled by the cold.
We hardly ever got warm except near the Emperor. When he was in danger,
we all ran to him--although we were so nearly frozen that we would not
have held out a hand to our dearest friend. They say that he used to
weep at night over his poor family of soldiers. Nobody but he and
Frenchmen could ever have pulled out of there. We did pull out, but it
was with loss--terrible loss. Our allies ate up all of our provisions,
and then began the treachery which the Red Man had foretold.
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