Page 569 - les-miserables

CHAPTER XI

A BAD GUIDE TO

NAPOLEON; A GOOD

GUIDE TO BULOW

The painful surprise of Napoleon is well known. Grouchy
hoped for, Blucher arriving. Death instead of life.
Fate has these turns; the throne of the world was expect-
ed; it was Saint Helena that was seen.
If the little shepherd who served as guide to Bulow,
Blucher’s lieutenant, had advised him to debouch from the
forest above Frischemont, instead of below Plancenoit, the
form of the nineteenth century might, perhaps, have been
different. Napoleon would have won the battle of Waterloo.
By any other route than that below Plancenoit, the Prussian
army would have come out upon a ravine impassable for ar-
tillery, and Bulow would not have arrived.
Now the Prussian general, Muffling, declares that one
hour’s delay, and Blucher would not have found Wellington
on his feet. ‘The battle was lost.’
It was time that Bulow should arrive, as will be seen. He

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