"
"They do," said John, with emphasis.
Bougainville, for the time at least, was certainly the leader of the
regiment. It was an incident that John believed possible only in his own
country, or France, and he remembered once more the famous old saying of
Napoleon that every French peasant carried a marshal's baton in his
knapsack.
Now he recalled, too, that Napoleon had fought some of his greatest
defensive battles in the region they faced. Doubtless the mighty emperor
and his marshals had trod the very soil on which Bougainville and he now
stood. Surely the French must know it, and surely it would give them
superhuman courage for battle.
"I belong to the command of General Vaugirard," he said to Bougainville.
"I'm serving on his staff, but I was knocked off my motor cycle by the
rush of air from a shell. The cycle was ruined and I was unconscious
for a moment or two. When I revived, my general and his command were
gone."
"You'd better stay with me a while," said Bougainville. "We're going to
advance again soon. When night comes, if you're still alive, then you
can look for General Vaugirard. The fire of the artillery is increasing.
How the earth shakes!"
"So it does. I wish I knew what was happening."
"There comes one of those men in the air. He is going to drop down by
us. Maybe you can learn something from him."
John felt a sudden wild hope that it was Lannes, but his luck did not
hold good enough for it.
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