wounded man from the swords of the rabble, who by this time were drunk with blood. "If Louis XVI had only shown himself on horseback," he writes to Joseph that same evening, "the victory would have been his." But, alas! Louis never did the thing that was wisest to do. Eager as he was to get away, Napoleon had to linger on amidst the horrors of the September massacres till he gained permission to take his sister back to Corsica. Here the state of affairs seemed almost as desperate as in France, and no man could trust his neighbor. Napoleon now fought openly against Paoli, whom the execution of Louis XVI threw into the arms of England, and fierce battles and sieges were the consequence. Once he was imprisoned in a house, but he contrived to escape through a side window, and hurried back to Ajaccio. Here his arrest was ordered, but warned by his friends Napoleon hid himself all day in a grotto, in the garden of one of his Ramolino cousins. Still, as it was clear that Ajaccio was no longer safe for him, he got on board a boat and rejoined Joseph at Bastia.

F

It was only on June 11, after perils by land and perils by sea, that Napoleon set sail for Toulon. From Toulon he made his way to Nice, where a battery of artillery was quartered, and found that by great good luck the brother of his old general, Baron du Teil, was in command. In happier times he would most likely have been put under arrest at once, before being shot as a deserter; but, as in earlier days, the Republic was in need of every man it could get, and he was at once employed to inspect the defenses along the coast and to collect guns and ammunition. In all this, the

warfare he had carried on in Corsica stood him in good stead. It had taught him how to deal with men, and his eye had learned to discover the strong and weak points of a position, while his mind had grown rich in resource. As in the case of many of the greatest men, he had been trained for victory by defeat. It was at the siege of Toulon he gained the name at which for eleven years "the world grew pale." Revolted by the cruelties of the Convention in Paris, the town, like others in different parts of France, had

declared for Louis XVIII.

A friendly fleet of English and Spanish ships had cast anchor in the bay, and the French army that besieged the city was undisciplined and ill commanded.

All that it had in the way of artillery was in so bad a condition as to be useless, the powder and shot were exhausted, Dommartin, the artillery officer, was wounded, and there was no man to take his place.

"Send for young Bonaparte," said Salicetti, one of the commissioners of the Convention, who had known him elsewhere; and from that moment the tide began to turn. Messengers were dispatched at once to bring in horses from miles around, while an arsenal was built on one of the surrounding hills. Day and night the men kept at work, and before a week had passed fourteen big guns and four mortars were ready, and a large quantity of provisions stored up. Day and night the men labored, and day and night Bonaparte was to be found beside them, directing, encouraging, praising. When he could no longer stand, he wrapped himself in his cloak and lay down beside them, present to guide them in

any difficulty, to repair any blunder. And the representatives of the Convention noted it all, and one morning handed him his brevet of general of battalion. Armed with this authority, Napoleon's task became easier. He had aides-de-camp to send where he would, and forthwith one rode along the coast to bring up cannon from the army of Italy, and another set out for Lyons to gather horses and food. But whatever he did, his eyes were fixed on the key of the city the Fort Mulgrave which, it was plain to all, must be the first object of attack. Close underneath the fort a French battery was erected and manned-only to be swept clear by the guns from the English ships. Another set of volunteers slipped out from the ranks and fell dead beside their comrades. For the third time Bonaparte gave the word of command, but there was silence. "Call it the Battery of the Fearless," he said, and in an instant every man had sprung forward. The battery was never without its gunner till the fort was taken.

With the fall of Toulon we must bid farewell to Napoleon, whose youth was over and

You all

whose manhood was now begun. know the story, which ended at last in Waterloo, and there is no need to repeat it. "He was not a gentleman," is said by many. Well, perhaps he was not always a gentleman, but the hold he obtained on France, and particularly on the men who followed him, was true and deep and lasting, for it endures even to this day. Listen to a soldier standing in the Invalides, where his body was laid when it was brought from St. Helena, with his hat and his sword placed beside him.

66

Ah! c'est Lui! c'est son chapeau! c'est son épée!" he cries, the glorious memories of the past rushing over him, till he too feels that he has fought at Austerlitz and at Marengo.

And when they asked for rights, he made reply, "Ye have my glory." And so, drawing round them His ample purple, glorified and bound them

In an embrace that seemed identity.

"He ruled them like a tyrant." True. But none Were ruled like slaves.

Each felt Napoleon.

MRS. LANG. Abridged.

1 Ah! It is he! That is his hat! That is his sword!