Let us turn back,--that is one of the story-teller's rights,--
and put ourselves once more in the year 1815, and even a little
earlier than the epoch when the action narrated in the first
part of this book took place. If it had not rained in the night
between the 17th and the 18th of June, 1815, the fate of Europe
would have been different. A few drops of water, more or less,
decided the downfall of Napoleon. All that Providence required
in order to make Waterloo the end of Austerlitz was a little
more rain, and a cloud traversing the sky out of season sufficed
to make a world crumble. The battle of Waterloo could not be
begun until half-past eleven o'clock, and that gave Blucher time
to come up. Why? Because the ground was wet. The artillery had
to wait until it became a little firmer before they could
manoeuvre. Napoleon was an artillery officer, and felt the
effects of this. The foundation of this wonderful captain was
the man who, in the report to the Directory on Aboukir, said:
Such a one of our balls ki