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Page 4
Yes, the Emperor Napoleon was sleeping, and his generals glided on tiptoe
out of the hall and discussed outside the measures which they must now
adopt on their own account to rescue the luckless fragment of the army from
the island of Lobau, and make arrangements for building new bridges.
Yes, the Emperor Napoleon was sleeping! He slept all through the night,
through the broad light of the next day--slept when his whole staff had
gone to Lobau--slept when bodies of his infuriated guards rushed into the
castle and, unheeding the emperor's presence, plundered the cellars and
storerooms[B]--slept when, in the afternoon of that day, his marshals and
generals returned to Castle Ebersdorf, in order at last to receive the
emperor's commands.
They would not, could not believe that the commander-in-chief was still
sleeping It seemed perfectly impossible that he, the illustrious
strong-brained C�sar, could permit himself to be subjugated by the common
petty need of human nature in these hours when every second's delay might
decide the destiny of many thousands. This sleep could be no natural one;
perhaps the emperor, exhausted by fatigue and mental excitement, had fallen
into a stupor; perhaps he was sleeping never to wake again. They must see
him, they must convince themselves. They called Roustan and asked him to
take them to the emperor's couch.
He did not refuse, he only entreated them to step lightly, to hold their
breath, in order not to wake the emperor; then gliding before them to the
room, he drew back the _porti�res_ of the chamber. The officers followed,
stealing along on tiptoe, and gazed curiously, anxiously, into the quiet,
curtained room. Yes, there on the low camp-bed, lay the emperor. He had not
even undressed, but lay as if on parade in full uniform, with his military
cloak flung lightly across his feet. He had sunk down in this attitude
twenty-two hours before, and still lay motionless and rigid.
But he was sleeping! It was not stupor, it was not death, it was only sleep
which held him captive. His breath came slowly, regularly; his face was
slightly flushed, his eyes were calmly closed. The emperor was sleeping!
His generals need feel no anxiety; they might return to the drawing-room
with relieved hearts. They did so, stealing noiselessly again through the
private office into the hall, whose door had been left ajar that the noise
might not rouse the sleeper.
Yet, once within the hall, they looked at each other with wondering eyes,
astonished faces.
He was really asleep; he could sleep.
He was untroubled, free from care. Yet if the Archduke Charles desired it,
the whole army was lost. He need only remain encamped with his troops on
the bank of the Danube to expose the entire force to hunger, to
destruction.
As they talked angrily, with gloomy faces, they again gazed at each other
with questioning eyes, and looked watchfully around the drawing-room. No
one was present except the group of marshals, generals and colonels. No
one could overhear them, no one could see how one, Colonel Oudet, raised
his right hand and made a few strange, mysterious gestures in the air.
Instantly every head bowed reverently, every voice whispered a single word:
"Master."
"My brothers," replied Colonel Oudet in a low tone, "important things are
being planned, and we must be ready to see them appear in tangible form at
any moment."
"We are prepared," murmured all who were present. "We await the commands of
our master."
"I have nothing more to say, except that you are to hold yourselves ready;
for the great hour of vengeance and deliverance is approaching. The great
Society of the Carbonari, whose devoted members you are--"
"Whose great and venerated head you are," replied General Massena, with a
low bow.
"The Society of the Carbonari," Colonel Oudet continued, without heeding
Massena's words, "the Society of the Carbonari watches its faithless
member, the renegade son of the Revolution, the Emperor Napoleon, and will
soon have an opportunity to avenge his perfidy. Keep your hands on your
swords and be watchful; strive to spread the spirit of our order more and
more through the army; initiate more and more soldiers into our league as
brothers; be mindful of the great object: we will free France from the
C�sarism forced upon her. Look around you in your circles and seek the
hand which will be ready to make the renegade son of the society vanish
from the world."
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