Jacob's ladder

Napoleon’s personal doctor, who had been called to examine Luis, studied carefully a full-size drawing of Jacob’s ladder, prepared by the emperor himself, and declared that the amulet could remain indefinitely in the boy’s stomach, because its shape and size made its going through the pylorus improbable. He did not believe that the presence of the object would produce any damage. Being full of holes, it would not block the way of the food; being made of gold, it would not react with the acids in the stomach.

Napoleon took it as a joke. Having decided to make Luis his human amulet, he brought him everywhere and made him sleep at the entrance of his pavilion, comparing himself with the Roman generals, Caesar or Brutus, whose personal slaves, as young as Luis, shared with them their tents during their campaigns. He even made the boy attend the councils where he discussed and decided the steps to follow in the new war which, although officially declared, had not yet reached the battlefield. Luis had the opportunity of making the acquaintance of the famous generals and marshals of the Napoleonic army.

Although Luis was apparently free to move, Napoleon did not trust him and had him watched. More than once, while the emperor was resting, a soldier had ordered him back while he was walking near the boundary of the campsite. At first he had mulled the possibility of escaping, but he was soon convinced that it would be impossible.

One night, during the dinner which Napoleon insisted in sharing with him, the emperor felt talkative and questioned Luis about his life. He was aware that Charles Houy was his tutor and that he had lived in Salamanca, but ignored many details and inquired about the town and its famous university. He also wanted to know how he had been able to escape Gérard so long and laughed, imagining the fury of the soldier at seeing his plans wrecked by a mere boy.

“You must be sixteen; seventeen, at most. Am I wrong?” asked Napoleon.

“You’ve guessed right,” answered Luis, who was always careful to omit honorific addresses, such as sire of majesty, for Charles had taught him to consider Napoleon as a usurper. The emperor, however, did not seem to care and allowed him to address him as an equal.

“Do you remember the date of your birth?”

“July 22nd, 1798.”

Napoleon’s forehead wrinkled, calculating.

“At that time we had the republican calendar, which I abolished in 1806. Let me see... that day was the fourth of Thermidor in the sixth year of the Republic. The battle of the Pyramids took place on the third. Heavens! You were born the same day when I found Jacob’s ladder!”

“True.”

“Did you know that?”

“Someone told me.”

“Philippe, I guess. So your fate and the amulet’s are linked! I am not surprised that you have ended in such an intimate union,” he added laughing. “In fact, I now have two amulets, rather than one. With such help, I must end this war successfully.”

“How did you get Jacob’s ladder?”

“After the battle, I visited the Pyramids with local guides. I had to do it, you know, from the top of those monuments forty centuries look at us. At least, that’s what I said before the battle against the mamelukes, in my pep talk to the troops. In fact, the Pyramids were not to be seen, they were below the horizon, but I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity of leaving such a phrase for History.”

“I remember it well...” he continued. “The battle was short, scarcely over one hour. The bey Murad fled to his manor house, near the Pyramids, and tried to escape with all his treasures. He had loaded them in sixty barges, but when he saw that he would be overtaken, he set them on fire. It was impressive. The sun was setting. The flaming barges on the river lighted the Great Pyramid in red against a red background, while far away the domes and minarets of Cairo were mirrored by the waters. That night I slept on one of the divans in Murad’s home. I didn’t even take off my uniform. I hadn’t slept in twenty hours.”

“The next day I went to see the Pyramids. I saw the treasure chamber in the big one, Keops’s pyramid, but there was nothing there, the thieves had taken it all, centuries before me. Just when we were coming out, I saw a golden glimmer reflected by the light of the torches at a crack in the wall, and went to see what had produced it. There I found Jacob’s ladder. Nobody saw me take it, save a French soldier in my retinue, whose gaze crossed mine. I don’t know his name, but I’d recognize him again. In fact, I saw him just before the battle of Borodino. This soldier must have betrayed me, told my secret to your tutor and helped him to steal my amulet. I was not carrying it on my person; it had been left in my tent. This won’t happen again. In the next battle, which will be decisive, you will stay near me and won’t leave me for an instant.”

“Why do you call it Jacob’s ladder?” asked Luis, who was extremely interested in Napoleon’s tale.

“It’s just a fancy name. If it has been hidden in the pyramid since it was built, it can have had nothing to do with Jacob, who lived over a millennium later.”

“But the existence of Jacob’s ladder is not a secret. Many people know it; Gérard, for instance, and Blatsov. I remember that Gérard mentioned it while they were speaking, although the Russian didn’t seem interested in the amulet, just in me.”

“Who is this Blatsov you are talking about?” asked Napoleon. “I’ve never heard about him.”

Luis told his flight from the inn at Ciudad Rodrigo and his persecution by the Russian. The emperor listened attentively, then shook his head and said:

“I don’t think Blatsov was looking for you, he just wanted the amulet; he must have known that you would have it. From what you say, this man seems to use almost supernatural information sources. It would be good to find out more about him.”

“You can ask Gérard, he seems to know him very well,” replied Luis, who shared Bonaparte’s opinion.

“That’s not possible at the moment; I have just sent Gérard to a new mission. When he comes back, I’ll talk to him and he will tell me everything he knows about Blatsov. By the way, tomorrow we are dismantling the camp and moving to the Low Countries, this new nation created by the Vienna Congress to stop me.” Napoleon’s voice was ironic. “Belgium is full of foreigners; there are more English and Prussians than Belgians. Go to bed, boy; tomorrow will be a hard day.”

Not just tomorrow. Several days in succession were really hard. The French army went in Belgium and advanced slowly toward Brussels, without finding resistance. On Friday June 16th, Napoleon divided his troops. One half, commanded by Maréchal Michel Ney, was sent to the North, where the Englishmen were arrayed in Quatre-Bras, to prevent their moving. The second part remained at the South under his personal command and fought the Prussian army near Ligny.

Before the beginning of the battle, Napoleon called Luis, let his hand rest on the boy’s shoulder, pointed at the South, where a group of houses could be seen around a tower, a windmill and a monastery, and said:

“That is Fleurus, a village which has been witness of two important battles won by France against a coalition of enemies. The first was over a century ago, against the Dutch, the German and your country fellows. The second was twenty-one years ago, against the Austrians and the Dutch. This time we are meeting the Englishmen and the Prussian, and will win again. You know, events always repeat three times!”

He was not wrong. The battle was favorable and the Prussians had to retire toward the West. Napoleon sent in their pursuit one third of his troops, commanded by Maréchal Emmanuel de Grouchy, while he took the remainder to Brussels, to engage the English army, which the Duke of Wellington had rallied on the tableland of Mont-Saint-Jean, a little to the South of Waterloo. Just three weeks after seeing Blatsov in this village, Luis was coming back at the head of a victorious army. This time he was not afraid of the man in black: Napoleon’s presence would prevent their meeting there.

On Saturday evening, the French and the English armies met. Wellington had occupied the highest ground, Napoleon the lowest, but in spite of his disadvantage he remained optimistic and trusted his luck. In the night, however, when it started to rain, Luis saw him walking nervously with his hands at his back, and wondered. When he awoke, a few hours later, it was no longer raining, but Napoleon remained in the same attitude. At first light, after eating a morsel, he put on his boots, clasped his sword to his waist, threw a long grey coat on top of his green uniform, got out of the tent, mounted a white horse with purple trappings decorated with eagles and a crown, ordered Luis to follow and rode to the hill of Rossomme, from where he was going to lead his army with the help of an eye-glass. His shape, clearly visible in the light of dawn, put trust in his men and fear in the heart of his enemies.

“I don’t know what to do,” he muttered, but Luis was so near that he heard. “The rain has made the ground soft. If I start the battle now, my cannon might get stuck in the mud, but if I wait until it gets dry, I run two risks: it may rain again, or the Englishmen might get reinforcements. Grouchy should have the Prussians cornered, but I’d like to finish this battle as soon as possible.”

It was a difficult decision, because the mobility of the artillery was the basic attack element of his armies. Suddenly, he raised his head, stared at Luis and called him nearer.

“Come here, boy! You are my amulet. Let me rest my hand on your shoulder.”

Luis obeyed, because he could not do otherwise, but did not like the role he was playing in this tragedy. For a long time, Napoleon looked over his head at the battlefield. Finally, he said:

“I have decided. We’ll attack now and risk getting our cannon stuck.”

Raising his hand, he gave the order for the first assault.

During the morning, the French launched four successive attacks on Wellington’s troops, near the edge of the tableland, and against two English outposts, the manor of Hougomont and the farm of La Haye-Sainte. At noon, Ney launched a coordinated attack of the cavalry and the infantry with the help of the artillery and seized the farm. An aide-de-camp was then sent to the emperor, requesting reinforcements to consolidate the advance with a final attack. Napoleon sent several battalions of the imperial guard and the troops commanded by the Comte de Lobau. Before Wellington could reorganize his defenses, the French launched the final assault. The Englishmen could not resist and yielded back. The French army invaded the tableland in triumph and pushed the enemy toward the West and the sea. It was one o’clock in the afternoon.

Just then they saw the first Prussian troops appearing on the East. They had been able to avoid Grouchy, but were arriving too late to reinforce Wellington. Napoleon detached a part of his army to repel them and turned to Luis, saying:

“You’ve given me luck, boy. My decision this morning was correct. If I had waited until the ground were dry, the Prussians would have arrived in time and the result of the fight might have been very different.”

Napoleon had won the battle of Waterloo.

Interlude in the second echelon

“Careful, friends! The bifurcation has just taken place.”

“We are ready. The experiment is really starting now.”

“We’ll see whose predictions are right.”

“How many theories have been formulated? Three? Four?”

“More; as many as histopredictors. This science is so young, that an established knowledge base is still missing.”

“This is getting very interesting.”

“Let’s keep watching.”