The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-06
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ed junction with the Emperor, but with the loss of nearly half of his coco men in 24 hours
 For the second if not the third time in the course of the pursuit, Kutusof had declined to take the chance of cutting off the retreat and capturing Napoleon. While the Emperor was advancing in the sum- mer, the Russian commander had been content to run before him, and now he was equally content to keep him on the run. Napoleon himself acknowledged his desperate straits by destroying his papers in preparation for his captivity But Kutusof flinfhed from meeting the lion at bay.
 Davout and Eugene having caught up with him at Krasnol, Napoleon pressed on without waiting for Ney. As he sped on- ward, he had small hope of ever again seeing the bravest of the brave" among his marshals. T have,' he sighed more than $So,0OO,O00 in the cellars of>the Tuil- leries. and l would gladly give them all Tor the ransom of Marshal Ney"
 The Bravest of the Brave
 But the marshal ransomed himself With his courage. As he marched over the forest clad hills that roll away rom the Dneiper, his band of 600O sol dlers and 1000 hangers on were stung by the Cossacks at every step. Sud- denly he ran squarely against 40 Rus sian guns in fog, and an officer came under a flag of truce to demand his surrender "A marshal of France can not surrender Ney had indignantly replied when, through some mischancc gun was fired from the lines behind which the Russians were gathered in overwhelming numbers. No doubt it was an unintentional violation of the flag Of truce. but the marshal quick " seized upon it and cried to the Of Icer, You are prisoner, sir.' Then out of the fog he hurled his little force upon the great masses of the foe. and painfully tore his way through the serried and flaming files that rose be- lore him like tangle of red-hot barbed wire.
 The survivors of that terrible half hour, having broken through and escaped to the cover of the woods, wandered there lost in the wilderness, until Ney dismounted by a creek, smashed the ice and observed the di. rection of the stream. 'It must flow to the Dneiper," he exclaimed. "and we will follow It." Thus he found his way in the dark to the banks of Dnei- per, which was filled with floating cakes of ice, but he wrapped himself in his cloak and lay down to sleep until. sn the course of the cold night
 
 to bear the weight of his horses.
 For two days and two nights more the decimated rear guard groped it's way like a wounded and hunted deer with the CossacK spearmen constantly stalking at its heels. The hangers on had all fallen away and there was not wagon or a cannon remaining when Ney heard the salvos of Prince Eugene's signal guns. He could reply with only faint vol1ey of musketry as he marched in the direction of the sound of the cannon. When, at last. he came up. Eugene ran to meet him and he fell in the arms of the viceroy. Only 300 haggard faces appeared in the wasted ranks of the column of 6O0C warriors who had left Smolensk four days before; only these 300 were iel, of the corps of 39,00O men with which Ney had entered upon the Russian cam paign. and in few days 200 more would rest in the snows.
 As Napoleon in hts flight approached the Beresina river with the moclSery ol his grand army. the sun. which nc