The Illustrated & Complete Brigadier Gerard

At the head of the Grande Armee march the Hussars of Conflans-and leading them is Brigadier Gerard!

These are the adventures of Conan Doyle's incomparable French hero-the finest swordsman in the Light Cavalry-Etienne Gerard. Arranged for the first time in historical chronological order, his many enthusiasts can now properly appreciate his colourful career as he fights, loves and blunders his way through the Napoleonic epoch-from his earliest adventure as a young blade determined to reach his lady love despite the unwelcome attention of her fathers bull-through many campaigns and special missions-to the bloody field of Waterloo, the downfall of his beloved Emperor and beyond. This is the complete collection of these classic stories. What makes this edition exceptional is the inclusion of nearly 140 illustrations-mostly by the famed military artist William Barnes Wollen-which accurately portray the spirit of the stories and the uniforms and scenes of the events they portray. At last the modern reader can fully appreciate the Brigadier as he originally appeared in The Strand magazine. This unique volume will be a delight for fans of Conan Doyle and the Brigadier-and will be a perfect addition to the libraries of enthusiasts of the age of Napoleon in fiction and in history alike. Available now for collectors from Leonaur in soft back and a hardcover with dust-jacket, this book is destined to be treasured forever by those who own it.

Suchet's head-quarters at that time was the old palace of the
Doge Dandolo, which stands on the lagoon not far from the place
of San Marco. It was near the end of the winter, and I had
returned one night from the Theatre Goldini, when I found a note
from Lucia and a gondola waiting. She prayed me to come to her
at once as she was in trouble. To a Frenchman and a soldier
there was but one answer to such a note. In an instant I was in
the boat and the gondolier was pushing out into the dark lagoon.<br>I remember that as I took my seat in the boat I was struck by the
man's great size. He was not tall, but he was one of the
broadest men that I have ever seen in my life. But the
gondoliers of Venice are a strong breed, and powerful men are
common enough among them. The fellow took his place behind me
and began to row.<br>A good soldier in an enemy's country should everywhere and at all times be on the alert. It has been one of the rules of my life,
and if I have lived to wear grey hairs it is because I have
observed it. And yet upon that night I was as careless as a
foolish young recruit who fears lest he should be thought to be
afraid. My pistols I had left behind in my hurry. My sword was
at my belt, but it is not always the most convenient of weapons.
I lay back in my seat in the gondola, lulled by the gentle swish
of the water and the steady creaking of the oar. Our way lay
through a network of narrow canals with high houses towering on
either side and a thin slit of star-spangled sky above us. Here
and there, on the bridges which spanned the canal, there was the
dim glimmer of an oil lamp, and sometimes there came a gleam from
some niche where a candle burned before the image of a saint.
But save for this it was all black, and one could only see the
water by the white fringe which curled round the long black nose
of our boat. It was a place and a time for dreaming. I thought
of my own past life, of all the great deeds in which I had been
concerned, of the horses that I had handled, and of the women
that I had loved. Then I thought also of my dear mother, and I
fancied her joy when she heard the folk in the village talking
about the fame of her son. Of the Emperor also I thought, and of
France, the dear fatherland, the sunny France, mother of
beautiful daughters and of gallant sons. My heart glowed within
me as I thought of how we had brought her colours so many hundred
leagues beyond her borders. To her greatness I would dedicate my
life. I placed my hand upon my heart as I swore it, and at that
instant the gondolier fell upon me from behind.<br>When I say that he fell upon me I do not mean merely that heattacked me, but that he really did tumble upon me with all hisweight. The fellow stands behind you and above you as he rows,
so that you can neither see him nor can you in any way guard
against such an assault.<br>

One moment I had sat with my mind filled with sublime
resolutions, the next I was flattened out upon the bottom of the
boat, the breath dashed out of my body, and this monster pinning
me down. I felt the fierce pants of his hot breath upon the back
of my neck. In an instant he had torn away my sword, had slipped
a sack over my head, and had tied a rope firmly round the outside
of it.<br>

There I was at the bottom of the gondola as helpless as a trussed
fowl. I could not shout, I could not move; I was a mere bundle.
An instant later I heard once more the swishing of the water and
the creaking of the oar.<br>

This fellow had done his work and had resumed his journey as
quietly and unconcernedly as if he were accustomed to clap a sack
over a colonel of Hussars every day of the week.<br>

I cannot tell you the humiliation and also the fury which filled
my mind as I lay there like a helpless sheep being carried to the
butcher's. I, Etienne Gerard, the champion of the six brigades
of light cavalry and the first swordsman of the Grand Army, to be
overpowered by a single unarmed man in such a fashion! Yet I lay
quiet, for there is a time to resist and there is a time to save
one's strength. I had felt the fellow's grip upon my arms, and I
knew that I would be a child in his hands. I waited quietly,
therefore, with a heart which burned with rage, until my
opportunity should come.<br>

How long I lay there at the bottom of the boat I can not tell;
but it seemed to me to be a long time, and always there were the
hiss of the waters and the steady creaking of the oar. Several
times we turned corners, for I heard the long, sad cry which
these gondoliers give when they wish to warn their fellows that
they are coming. At last, after a considerable journey, I felt
the side of the boat scrape up against a landing-place. The
fellow knocked three times with his oar upon wood, and in answer
to his summons I heard the rasping of bars and the turning of
keys. A great door creaked back upon its hinges.