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"At Grandrengs," said Pièrre. "They call it in the dispatch the 'action of the Sambre, because Kleber came up there and Kleber being a great man, and Pièrre Canot a little one, you understand, the glory attaches to the place where the bullion epaulets are found just as the old King of Prussia used to say, 'Dieu est toujours a coté de gros bataillons."
"Of course," said he, "the dispatch said little about Pièrre Canot, but a great deal about Moreau, and Kleber, and the rest of them." While some were well satisfied that Pièrre had well established his merits as the conqueror of "Grandrengs," others quizzed him about the heroism of lying hid in a well, and owing all his glory to a skin of parchment.
"I see we'll never come to this same victory of Grandrengs, with all these turnings and twistings," muttered the artillery sergeant. "Thou art very near it now, comrade, if thou'lt listen," said Pièrre, as he wiped his mouth after a long draught of the vine-flask.
"Thou gain a battle!" shouted half-a-dozen, in derisive laughter. "What, Petit Pièrre gained the day at Grandrengs!" said the cannonier; "why, I was there myself, and never heard of that till now." "I can believe it well," replied Pièrre; "many a man's merits go unacknowledged: and Kleber got all the credit that belonged to Pièrre Canot."
"To be sure," said the little fellow, who, I now perceived, wore the dress of a "tambour;" "and is it a disgrace to be the first to face the enemy?" "And the first to turn his back to him, comrade," cried another. "Not always not always" said the little fellow, regardless of the laugh against him. "Had it been so, I had not gained the battle of Grandrengs on the Sambre."
"Let us hear about it, Pièrre, for even thy victory is unknown by name to us, poor devils of the army of Italy. How call'st thou the place?" "Grandrengs," said Pièrre, proudly. "It's a name will live as long, perhaps, as many of those high-sounding ones you have favored us with. Mayhap, thou hast heard of Cambray?" "Never!" said the hussar, shaking his head.
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