"I shall die here," he said. Then added moodily, "Away from them."
Sometimes I think of him lying open-eyed on his horseman's gear in the
low shed full of tools and scraps of iron--the anarchist slave of the
Maranon estate, waiting with resignation for that sleep which "fled"
from him, as he used to say, in such an unaccountable manner.
A MILITARY TALE
THE DUEL
I
Napoleon I., whose career had the quality of a duel against the whole
of Europe, disliked duelling between the officers of his army. The great
military emperor was not a swashbuckler, and had little respect for
tradition.
Nevertheless, a story of duelling, which became a legend in the army,
runs through the epic of imperial wars. To the surprise and admiration
of their fellows, two officers, like insane artists trying to gild
refined gold or paint the lily, pursued a private contest through the
years of universal carnage. They were officers of cavalry, and their
connection with the high-spirited but fanciful animal which carries men
into battle seems particularly appropriate.
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