‘He frequently repeated, _God has given me the strength and the will to overcome all obstacles_. There was something supernatural ... and thenceforth endless questions were asked of those who were with him in the Egyptian expedition. At length, by dint of research, a part of the truth was discovered, which is as follows:-- ‘On the eve of the battle of the Pyramids, Buonaparte, at the council which was held in the morning, formally opposed the proposition to give battle. In the afternoon of that day, having gone, with some of the officers of his suite, to make a reconnaissance, and having approached one of the monuments of the pride of the Pharaohs,[35] he suddenly saw, coming out from it, a little man clothed in a long red robe, his head being adorned with a pointed cap of the same colour, after the manner of the priests of Isis, or the Chaldean sages, known under the name of Magi. He carried a little ring in his hand. ‘This mysterious man only said these words to him: “Approach, young man, and learn the high destinies to which you are called, if you wish to be prudent and wise.” ‘Immediately, Buonaparte, as if he had been drawn by a supernatural force, descended from his horse, and followed him into the interior of the pyramid, where he remained more than an hour. ‘The officers of his suite, at first, paid little attention to this _rencontre_, taking the red man to be one of those charlatans, with which the world abounds, to the detriment of science and real knowledge; they were even astonished that their general, to whom they accorded so much merit, lost precious time in interviewing a wretched cheat; but, when they saw Buonaparte come out, all radiant with joy, saying to them, “Friends, let us give battle; we shall conquer!” and when they saw, that in spite of the inferiority of their forces, they should gain the most complete victory, they could only think of _the red man_. Is he a God? Is he a Genius? That was what they asked. ‘Thenceforth the French, in Egypt, only marched from victory to victory, until the departure of Napoleon for France. ‘We believe that all the deeds with which _the red man_ has been credited are only fables which conjecturors have invented; but, at least, in him they discover the emblem of a good Genius, who pointed out to Buonaparte what he ought to do to assure at least the love and gratitude of the people. But an evil Genius, whom they suppose to have been clothed in green, appeared to him at St. Cloud, at the time of the 18th Brumaire, and gave him counsels, which prevailed, for the misfortune of the world, over those of _the red man_, and led him to his ruin.’ Balzac, in a delicious booklet,[36] in which an old soldier gives the history of his beloved Emperor, makes him say, ‘There is one thing which it would be unjust, if I did not tell you: In Egypt, in the Desert, near Syria, THE RED MAN appeared to him, in the mountain of Moses, to tell him, “All went well.”