I possessed a jacket made of nankeen, with trimmings of the same, and silver buttons--a fancy uniform which I had had made when I was on Bernadotte's staff; where it was the fashion to dress in this way for travelling in hot weather. This I determined to wear for the journey from Bayonne to Toulouse, as I was not with the regiment. So I put my uniform in my trunk and sent it to the coach, having engaged, and unluckily paid for, my place. It was to start at five in the morning, and I charged the waiter at my hotel to call me at four, which the scamp faithfully promised to do. So I went to sleep in perfect security; but he forgot me, and when I opened my eyes the sun was shining brightly into my room, and it was past eight. What a nuisance! I was petrified. However, after storming a good deal, swearing a little, and invoking curses on the head of the faithless waiter, I saw that I must make up my mind to do something. The coach only went every other day, which was inconvenient, to begin with; but it was not the worst; for though, as I had remained behind on duty, my fare had been found out of the regimental chest, I could not claim this a second time. I had been foolish enough to pay for the whole distance, so what if I booked afresh it would have to be out of my own pocket. Coach-fares were very dear then, and I had very little money. Moreover, what could I do for two days at Bayonne, when all my things were gone? So I settled to walk the distance. Starting straightway from the town, I trudged resolutely along the Toulouse road. I was lightly clad, and had nothing to carry but my sword, which I carried on my shoulder; so I did the first stage nimbly enough, and slept at Peyrehorade.

On the morrow--a day of ill-omen--I was to reach Orthez. I had already done half the distance when one of those fearful storms which one only sees in the South came on. Rain and hail fell in torrents and lashed my face. The high-road, never good, became a quagmire through which I had all conceivable difficulty in walking with spurs on my boots. A walnut-tree was struck by lightning close to me; but no matter, I went steadily on with the resolution of a Stoic. But behold, in the midst of the lightning and the tempest, I saw two mounted gendarmes approaching. You may imagine the figure I cut, after two hours' wading through the mud, with my nankeen pantaloons and jacket. The gendarmes belonged to the force at Peyrehorade, and were returning thither; but they seemed to have been breakfasting well at Orthez, for they struck me as being fairly drunk. The elder asked for my papers. I handed him my passport whereon I was described as sub-lieutenant in the 25th Mounted Chasseurs. 'You a sub-lieutenant!' cried the gendarme. 'You are too young to be an officer.' But read the personal description, and you will see it says that I am under twenty; besides, it is correct at all points.' 'That may be, but you have forged it, and the proof is that the uniform of the Chasseurs is green, and you have got a yellow jacket. You are a runaway conscript, and I arrest you.' 'Very good; but when we get to Orthez I shall have no difficulty in proving to your lieutenant that I am an officer and this passport was made out for me.' My arrest did not trouble me much until the elder gendarme declared that he had no intention of returning to Orthez, that his quarters were at Peyrehorade, and that I was going thither with him. I declared I was not going to do any such thing; that if I had had no papers he would have a right to require it, but that as I had produced a passport he had no business to make me go back, and that according to the regulations he ought to go with me to Orthez. The younger man, who was also less in liquor, said that I was right; whereupon a lively altercation arose between the two horsemen. They insulted each other freely, and presently, in the midst of the tremendous storm which was going on all the time, they drew their swords and fell on madly. As for me, being afraid that I might get wounded in this ridiculous combat, I got down into the immense ditch by the roadside, waded through, up to my waist in water, and clambered up into the neighbouring field, whence I had a good view of my lively friends foining away to the best of their power. Luckily, their cloaks, heavy with wet, hampered their arms, and their horses, frightened by the thunder, would not come near each other, so the combatants were only able to aim unsteady blows. At last the elder gendarme's horse fell, and the rider rolled into the ditch. Emerging, covered with mud, he found that his saddle was broken, and that he had no choice but to continue his journey on foot, which he did, announcing to his comrade that he must be responsible for the prisoner. Left alone with the more reasonable of the gendarmes, I pointed out to him that if I had had a guilty conscience it would have been easy for me to escape across-country, since I had between him and me a broad ditch full of water which his horse would certainly not be able to cross, but that, as he admitted that he had no right to make me retrace my steps, I was going to recross and come to him. So I resumed my journey escorted by the gendarme, who was quite sobered. We fell into conversation, and the man, understanding from the way in which I had surrendered when I might have easily escaped that I probably was what I said, would have let me go but for his responsibility to his comrade. Finally he became ready to do anything for me, and said that he would not take me to Orthez but would be satisfied with consulting the mayor of Puyoo as we passed through that place. I entered it as a malefactor; the inhabitants, all driven home by the storm, stood at windows and doors to see the criminal brought in by a gendarme. The mayor, a good, stout, sensible peasant, whom we found in his barn threshing his wheat, looked through my passport, and said at once to the gendarme, ' Set this young man at liberty at once. You had no right to arrest him, for an officer on a journey is identified by his papers and not by his clothes.' Could Solomon have given a better judgment ? Nor did the good peasant stop at that. He begged me to stay with him till the storm was over, and offered me refreshment. As we chatted he said that he had once seen a General Marbot at Orthez. I said it was my father, and described him. Thereat the good fellow, whose name was Bordenave, with redoubled civility, insisted on drying my clothes, and wanted me to stay the night. I declined with thanks, and resumed my way to Orthez, where I arrived at nightfall, tired out and with aching limbs.

Next morning I had hard work to get my boots on, so wet were they and so swollen my feet. Still, I dragged myself as far as Pau, and there, being quite done up, I had to halt for the rest of the day. I found no means of conveyance other than the mail; the places were dear, but I took one to Gimont. There I was received with open arms by Dorignac, the friend of my father, in whose house I had passed some months after leaving Sorèze. I rested some days with him and his family; then the coach bore me to Toulouse. My expenses had come to four times the cost of the place which the waiter's carelessness had lost me.

On reaching Toulouse I was going to set about finding a lodging, but the colonel told me that he had taken me a room in the house of an old doctor, a friend of his, named M. Merlhes. I shall never forget his name, for no one could have been kinder than were this venerable man and his numerous family. During the fortnight that I stayed with them I was treated rather as a child of the house than as a lodger.

The regiment was strong and well mounted; we exercised very often, and I took much interest in it, though I got occasional punishments over it from Major Blancheville. He was an excellent officer of long standing in the service, and from him I learnt to do my duty with precision, and in this respect I owe much to him. Before the Revolution he had been adjutant in the Lunéville gendarmes, and had a thorough knowledge of his profession. He took a great interest in such young officers as were capable of learning, and forced them, whether they would or not, to study their business. As for the others--the blockheads as he called them--he was contented to shrug his shoulders when they did not know their theory or blundered in their drill; but he never punished them for that. There were three of us sub-lieutenants whom he had distinguished; these were MM. Gavoille, Demonts, and myself. With us he never overlooked an inaccurate word of command, and would put us under arrest for the smallest faults. As he was very good-natured off duty, we ventured to ask him why he reserved his severity for us. He replied, 'Do you think I am such a fool as to waste my time in soaping a negro? MM. -------- and -------- are too old, and have not sufficient abilities for me to waste my time in completing their education. As for you, you have got all the necessary materials for success; you only want to work, and work you shall.' I never forgot this answer, which I turned to account when I was colonel. Old Blancheville undoubtedly had drawn the horoscope of the three sub-lieutenants correctly, for Gavoille became lieutenant-colonel, Demonts general of brigade, and I lieutenant-general.

When I came to Toulouse I exchanged the horse which I had bought in Spain for a beautiful Navarrese. The prefect having got up some races on the occasion of some festivity or other, Gavoille, who was devoted to races, had entered my horse. One day, when I was practising him on the training ground, the circle being small, he got puzzled by the sharpness of the curve, and, galloping straightforward with the speed of an arrow, he ran his chest against the sharp angle of a garden wall, and fell stone-dead. My comrades thought I was killed, or at least severely wounded; but, by a perfectly miraculous piece of luck, I had not the smallest scratch. When they picked me up, and I saw my poor horse lying motionless, I felt deep grief. I returned, very melancholy, to my quarters, seeing that I should be forced to remount myself, and for that purpose to ask my mother, who was by no means in affluence, for some more money. Count Defermon, a minister of state, and one of our trustees, had opposed the sale of our remaining property, because, foreseeing that when peace came land would increase in value, he thought, with reason, that we ought to hold on to it and gradually reduce our debts by strict economy. It was one of the greatest obligations that we owed to M. Defermon, who was one of my father's sincerest friends, and I have always retained a great reverence for his memory.

When my request for a new horse was brought before the trustees, General Bernadotte, who was one of them, burst out laughing, saying that it was an excellent trick, and the pretext very well chosen--in fact, giving them to understand that my request was what is nowadays called a 'plant.' But, luckily, my request was backed up by a certificate from my colonel, and M. Defermon added that he believed me incapable of trying to get money by a trick. He was quite right; for though I only had an allowance of 600 francs, while my pay was only 95 francs a month, with twelve francs in addition for lodging, I never was a son in debt--I always had a dread of it.

I bought a new horse--not as good as the Navarrese, but the general inspection, which the First Consul had re-established, was drawing near, and I was obliged to be mounted without delay; all the more that we were going to be inspected by the celebrated General Bourcier, who had a great reputation for severity. I was told off to go to receive him with a detachment of thirty men. He met me very kindly, and spoke of my father, whom he had known well, which did not prevent him from putting me under arrest the next day. You shall hear the reason; it is a good story.

One of our captains, named B--------, a fine young fellow, would have been one of the handsomest men in the army if his calves had been in keeping with the rest of his person; but he had legs like stilts, which had a very bad effect with the tight--so-called Hungarian--pantaloons worn at that time by the chasseurs. In order to meet this inconvenience, Captain B-------- had had some good-sized pads made in the shape of calves, which made his handsome figure complete. You shall see how these false calves cost me an arrest, though they were not the sole cause of it. It was prescribed by the regulations that the officers should have their horses' tails long, like those of the troopers. Our colonel, M. Moreau, was always admirably mounted, but all his horses had their tails docked, and, as he feared that General Bourcier, who was very strict in maintaining the regulations, would reprimand him for setting a bad example to his officers, he had caused, for the purposes of the inspection, false tails to be attached to all his horses. These were so marvellously well fitted that unless you knew you would have thought them natural. We went to the inspection, to which General Bourcier had invited General Suchet, inspector of infantry, as well as General Gudin, commanding the territorial division. They were accompanied by a numerous and brilliant staff; the business took a long time, the movements were nearly all carried out at a gallop, and ended with several charges at full speed. I was commanding a section in the centre, forming part of the squadron under M. B--------, near whom the colonel placed himself. They were, therefore, two paces in front of me, when the generals came forward to congratulate M. Moreau on the admirable style in which the manœuvres were carried out. But what did I see? The extreme rapidity of the movements which we had just made had deranged the symmetry of the additions which the captain and the colonel had made to their get-up. The false tail of the colonel's horse had become partly detached; the stump, composed of a plug of tow, was dragging almost on the ground, like a skein, while the false hair was up in the air, several feet higher, and spread out fan-shaped over the horse's croup, so that he seemed to have an enormous peacock's tail. As for M. B--------'s sham calves, under the pressure of the saddle flaps they had slipped forward without his perceiving it, and presented a round lump on his shin bones, which produced a most comical effect; the captain all the while sitting proudly upright on his horse, as who should say, 'Look at me! What a handsome man I am!' At twenty years old one has not much gravity; mine was overcome by the grotesque spectacle which had under my eyes, and, in spite of the imposing presence of three generals, I could not restrain myself from shouting wildly with laughter. I writhed on my saddle, I gnawed the sleeve of my jacket: it was no use; I laughed and laughed until my sides ached. Thereupon the inspector-general, not knowing the cause of my merriment, ordered me to fall out of the ranks and put myself under arrest. I obeyed, but, as I was obliged to pass between the horses of the colonel and of the captain, my eyes fell again, in spite of myself, on that infernal tail and also on the new-fashioned calves, and there I was again seized with an inextinguishable laugh which nothing could check. The generals must have thought that I had gone mad; but as soon as they had departed, the officers of the regiment, coming up to the colonel and Captain B--------, soon knew what was the matter, and laughed like me--but at least with less danger to themselves.

That evening Major Blancheville was at a party at Mme. Gudin's. General Bourcier, who happened to be there, having spoken of what he called my freak, M. Blancheville explained the cause of my irresistible fit of laughter. The generals, the ladies, and all the staff laughed till they cried at the story, and their gaiety redoubled at the entry of the handsome Captain B--------, who, having replaced his false calves in the right position, came to show himself off in this brilliant company, without suspecting that he was one of the causes of its merriment. General Bourcier realised that if he had not been able to refrain from bursting with laughter at the mere description of the picture which I had had under my eyes, it was natural that a young sub-lieutenant should have been unable to contain himself when he was the witness of so ridiculous a spectacle. He remitted my arrest, and sent to fetch me at once. As soon as I entered the room the inspector-general and all the assembly went off in an immense shout of laughter, in which my recollection of the morning made me take a full share; and the mirth became crazy when M. B--------, the only person who did not know the cause of it, was seen to go from one to the other, asking what it was all about, while everybody was looking at his calves.