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diff --git a/13851-h/13851-h.htm b/13851-h/13851-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d401f3b --- /dev/null +++ b/13851-h/13851-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,28510 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Downfall, by Émile Zola</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +.no-break {page-break-before: avoid;} /* for epubs */ + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +p.footnote {font-size: 90%; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +sup { vertical-align: top; font-size: 0.6em; } + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13851 ***</div> + +<h1>The Downfall</h1> + +<h4>(LA DÉBÂCLE)<br /> +(The Smash-up)</h4> + +<h2 class="no-break">by Émile Zola</h2> + +<h3>Translated By E. P. Robins</h3> +<hr /> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#part01"><b>PART FIRST</b></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap01">I.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap02">II.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap03">III.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap04">IV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap05">V.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap06">VI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap07">VII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap08">VIII.</a><br /><br /></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#part02"><b>PART SECOND</b></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap09">I.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap10">II.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap11">III.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap12">IV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap13">V.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap14">VI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap15">VII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap16">VIII.</a><br /><br /></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#part03"><b>PART THIRD</b></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap17">I.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap18">II.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap19">III.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap20">IV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap21">V.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap22">VI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap23">VII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap24">VIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>THE DOWNFALL</h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="part01"></a>PART FIRST</h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap01"></a>I.</h2> + +<p> +In the middle of the broad, fertile plain that stretches away in the direction +of the Rhine, a mile and a quarter from Mülhausen, the camp was pitched. In the +fitful light of the overcast August day, beneath the lowering sky that was +filled with heavy drifting clouds, the long lines of squat white shelter-tents +seemed to cower closer to the ground, and the muskets, stacked at regular +intervals along the regimental fronts, made little spots of brightness, while +over all the sentries with loaded pieces kept watch and ward, motionless as +statues, straining their eyes to pierce the purplish mists that lay on the +horizon and showed where the mighty river ran. +</p> + +<p> +It was about five o’clock when they had come in from Belfort; it was now +eight, and the men had only just received their rations. There could be no +distribution of wood, however, the wagons having gone astray, and it had +therefore been impossible for them to make fires and warm their soup. They had +consequently been obliged to content themselves as best they might, washing +down their dry hard-tack with copious draughts of brandy, a proceeding that was +not calculated greatly to help their tired legs after their long march. Near +the canteen, however, behind the stacks of muskets, there were two soldiers +pertinaciously endeavoring to elicit a blaze from a small pile of green wood, +the trunks of some small trees that they had chopped down with their +sword-bayonets, and that were obstinately determined not to burn. The cloud of +thick, black smoke, rising slowly in the evening air, added to the general +cheerlessness of the scene. +</p> + +<p> +There were but twelve thousand men there, all of the 7th corps that the +general, Felix Douay, had with him at the time. The 1st division had been +ordered to Froeschwiller the day before; the 3d was still at Lyons, and it had +been decided to leave Belfort and hurry to the front with the 2d division, the +reserve artillery, and an incomplete division of cavalry. Fires had been seen +at Lorrach. The <i>sous-préfet</i> at Schelestadt had sent a telegram +announcing that the Prussians were preparing to pass the Rhine at Markolsheim. +The general did not like his unsupported position on the extreme right, where +he was cut off from communication with the other corps, and his movement in the +direction of the frontier had been accelerated by the intelligence he had +received the day before of the disastrous surprise at Wissembourg. Even if he +should not be called on to face the enemy on his own front, he felt that he was +likely at any moment to be ordered to march to the relief of the 1st corps. +There must be fighting going on, away down the river near Froeschwiller, on +that dark and threatening Saturday, that ominous 6th of August; there was +premonition of it in the sultry air, and the stray puffs of wind passed +shudderingly over the camp as if fraught with tidings of impending evil. And +for two days the division had believed that it was marching forth to battle; +the men had expected to find the Prussians in their front, at the termination +of their forced march from Belfort to Mülhausen. +</p> + +<p> +The day was drawing to an end, and from a remote corner of the camp the +rattling drums and the shrill bugles sounded retreat, the sound dying away +faintly in the distance on the still air of evening. Jean Macquart, who had +been securing the tent and driving the pegs home, rose to his feet. When it +began to be rumored that there was to be war he had left Rognes, the scene of +the bloody drama in which he had lost his wife, Françoise and the acres that +she brought him; he had re-enlisted at the age of thirty-nine, and been +assigned to the 106th of the line, of which they were at that time filling up +the <i>cadres</i>, with his old rank of corporal, and there were moments when +he could not help wondering how it ever came about that he, who after Solferino +had been so glad to quit the service and cease endangering his own and other +people’s lives, was again wearing the <i>capote</i> of the infantry man. +But what is a man to do, when he has neither trade nor calling, neither wife, +house, nor home, and his heart is heavy with mingled rage and sorrow? As well +go and have a shot at the enemy, if they come where they are not wanted. And he +remembered his old battle cry: Ah! <i>bon sang</i>! if he had no longer heart +for honest toil, he would go and defend her, his country, the old land of +France! +</p> + +<p> +When Jean was on his legs he cast a look about the camp, where the summons of +the drums and bugles, taken up by one command after another, produced a +momentary bustle, the conclusion of the business of the day. Some men were +running to take their places in the ranks, while others, already half asleep, +arose and stretched their stiff limbs with an air of exasperated weariness. He +stood waiting patiently for roll-call, with that cheerful imperturbability and +determination to make the best of everything that made him the good soldier +that he was. His comrades were accustomed to say of him that if he had only had +education he would have made his mark. He could just barely read and write, and +his aspirations did not rise even so high as to a sergeantcy. Once a peasant, +always a peasant. +</p> + +<p> +But he found something to interest him in the fire of green wood that was still +smoldering and sending up dense volumes of smoke, and he stepped up to speak to +the two men who were busying themselves over it, Loubet and Lapoulle, both +members of his squad. +</p> + +<p> +“Quit that! You are stifling the whole camp.” +</p> + +<p> +Loubet, a lean, active fellow and something of a wag, replied: +</p> + +<p> +“It will burn, corporal; I assure you it will—why don’t you +blow, you!” +</p> + +<p> +And by way of encouragement he bestowed a kick on Lapoulle, a colossus of a +man, who was on his knees puffing away with might and main, his cheeks +distended till they were like wine-skins, his face red and swollen, and his +eyes starting from their orbits and streaming with tears. Two other men of the +squad, Chouteau and Pache, the former stretched at length upon his back like a +man who appreciates the delight of idleness, and the latter engrossed in the +occupation of putting a patch on his trousers, laughed long and loud at the +ridiculous expression on the face of their comrade, the brutish Lapoulle. +</p> + +<p> +Jean did not interfere to check their merriment. Perhaps the time was at hand +when they would not have much occasion for laughter, and he, with all his +seriousness and his humdrum, literal way of taking things, did not consider +that it was part of his duty to be melancholy, preferring rather to close his +eyes or look the other way when his men were enjoying themselves. But his +attention was attracted to a second group not far away, another soldier of his +squad, Maurice Levasseur, who had been conversing earnestly for near an hour +with a civilian, a red-haired gentleman who was apparently about thirty-six +years old, with an intelligent, honest face, illuminated by a pair of big +protruding blue eyes, evidently the eyes of a near-sighted man. They had been +joined by an artilleryman, a quartermaster-sergeant from the reserves, a +knowing, self-satisfied-looking person with brown mustache and imperial, and +the three stood talking like old friends, unmindful of what was going on about +them. +</p> + +<p> +In the kindness of his heart, in order to save them a reprimand, if not +something worse, Jean stepped up to them and said: +</p> + +<p> +“You had better be going, sir. It is past retreat, and if the lieutenant +should see you—” Maurice did not permit him to conclude his +sentence: +</p> + +<p> +“Stay where you are, Weiss,” he said, and turning to the corporal, +curtly added: “This gentleman is my brother-in-law. He has a pass from +the colonel, who is acquainted with him.” +</p> + +<p> +What business had he to interfere with other people’s affairs, that +peasant whose hands were still reeking of the manure-heap? <i>He</i> was a +lawyer, had been admitted to the bar the preceding autumn, had enlisted as a +volunteer and been received into the 106th without the formality of passing +through the recruiting station, thanks to the favor of the colonel; it was true +that he had condescended to carry a musket, but from the very start he had been +conscious of a feeling of aversion and rebellion toward that ignorant clown +under whose command he was. +</p> + +<p> +“Very well,” Jean tranquilly replied; “don’t blame me +if your friend finds his way to the guardhouse.” +</p> + +<p> +Thereon he turned and went away, assured that Maurice had not been lying, for +the colonel, M. de Vineuil, with his commanding, high-bred manner and thick +white mustache bisecting his long yellow face, passed by just then and saluted +Weiss and the soldier with a smile. The colonel pursued his way at a good round +pace toward a farmhouse that was visible off to the right among the plum trees, +a few hundred feet away, where the staff had taken up their quarters for the +night. No one could say whether the general commanding the 7th corps was there +or not; he was in deep affliction on account of the death of his brother, slain +in the action at Wissembourg. The brigadier, however, Bourgain-Desfeuilles, in +whose command the 106th was, was certain to be there, brawling as loud as ever, +and trundling his fat body about on his short, pudgy legs, with his red nose +and rubicund face, vouchers for the good dinners he had eaten, and not likely +ever to become top-heavy by reason of excessive weight in his upper story. +There was a stir and movement about the farmhouse that seemed to be momentarily +increasing; couriers and orderlies were arriving and departing every minute; +they were awaiting there, with feverish anxiety of impatience, the belated +dispatches which should advise them of the result of the battle that everyone, +all that long August day, had felt to be imminent. Where had it been fought? +what had been the issue? As night closed in and darkness shrouded the scene, a +foreboding sense of calamity seemed to settle down upon the orchard, upon the +scattered stacks of grain about the stables, and spread, and envelop them in +waves of inky blackness. It was said, also, that a Prussian spy had been caught +roaming about the camp, and that he had been taken to the house to be examined +by the general. Perhaps Colonel de Vineuil had received a telegram of some +kind, that he was in such great haste. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime Maurice had resumed his conversation with his brother-in-law Weiss and +his cousin Honoré Fouchard, the quartermaster-sergeant. Retreat, commencing in +the remote distance, then gradually swelling in volume as it drew near with its +blare and rattle, reached them, passed them, and died away in the solemn +stillness of the twilight; they seemed to be quite unconscious of it. The young +man was grandson to a hero of the Grand Army, and had first seen the light at +Chêne-Populeux, where his father, not caring to tread the path of glory, had +held an ill-paid position as collector of taxes. His mother, a peasant, had +died in giving him birth, him and his twin sister Henriette, who at an early +age had become a second mother to him, and that he was now what he was, a +private in the ranks, was owing entirely to his own imprudence, the headlong +dissipation of a weak and enthusiastic nature, his money squandered and his +substance wasted on women, cards, the thousand follies of the all-devouring +minotaur, Paris, when he had concluded his law studies there and his relatives +had impoverished themselves to make a gentleman of him. His conduct had brought +his father to the grave; his sister, when he had stripped her of her little +all, had been so fortunate as to find a husband in that excellent young fellow +Weiss, who had long held the position of accountant in the great sugar refinery +at Chêne-Populeux, and was now foreman for M. Delaherche, one of the chief +cloth manufacturers of Sedan. And Maurice, always cheered and encouraged when +he saw a prospect of amendment in himself, and equally disheartened when his +good resolves failed him and he relapsed, generous and enthusiastic but without +steadiness of purpose, a weathercock that shifted with every varying breath of +impulse, now believed that experience had done its work and taught him the +error of his ways. He was a small, light-complexioned man, with a high, +well-developed forehead, small nose, and retreating chin, and a pair of +attractive gray eyes in a face that indicated intelligence; there were times +when his mind seemed to lack balance. +</p> + +<p> +Weiss, on the eve of the commencement of hostilities, had found that there were +family matters that made it necessary for him to visit Mülhausen, and had made +a hurried trip to that city. That he had been able to employ the good offices +of Colonel de Vineuil to afford him an opportunity of shaking hands with his +brother-in-law was owing to the circumstance that that officer was own uncle to +young Mme. Delaherche, a pretty young widow whom the cloth manufacturer had +married the year previous, and whom Maurice and Henriette, thanks to their +being neighbors, had known as a girl. In addition to the colonel, moreover, +Maurice had discovered that the captain of his company, Beaudoin, was an +acquaintance of Gilberte, Delaherche’s young wife; report even had it +that she and the captain had been on terms of intimacy in the days when she was +Mme. Maginot, living at Mézière, wife of M. Maginot, the timber inspector. +</p> + +<p> +“Give Henriette a good kiss for me, Weiss,” said the young man, who +loved his sister passionately. “Tell her that she shall have no reason to +complain of me, that I wish her to be proud of her brother.” +</p> + +<p> +Tears rose to his eyes at the remembrance of his misdeeds. The brother-in-law, +who was also deeply affected, ended the painful scene by turning to Honoré +Fouchard, the artilleryman. +</p> + +<p> +“The first time I am anywhere in the neighborhood,” he said, +“I will run up to Remilly and tell Uncle Fouchard that I saw you and that +you are well.” +</p> + +<p> +Uncle Fouchard, a peasant, who owned a bit of land and plied the trade of +itinerant butcher, serving his customers from a cart, was a brother of +Henriette’s and Maurice’s mother. He lived at Remilly, in a house +perched upon a high hill, about four miles from Sedan. +</p> + +<p> +“Good!” Honoré calmly answered; “the father don’t worry +his head a great deal on my account, but go there all the same if you feel +inclined.” +</p> + +<p> +At that moment there was a movement over in the direction of the farmhouse, and +they beheld the straggler, the man who had been arrested as a spy, come forth, +free, accompanied only by a single officer. He had likely had papers to show, +or had trumped up a story of some kind, for they were simply expelling him from +the camp. In the darkening twilight, and at the distance they were, they could +not make him out distinctly, only a big, square-shouldered fellow with a rough +shock of reddish hair. And yet Maurice gave vent to an exclamation of surprise. +</p> + +<p> +“Honoré! look there. If one wouldn’t swear he was the +Prussian—you know, Goliah!” +</p> + +<p> +The name made the artilleryman start as if he had been shot; he strained his +blazing eyes to follow the receding shape. Goliah Steinberg, the journeyman +butcher, the man who had set him and his father by the ears, who had stolen +from him his Silvine; the whole base, dirty, miserable story, from which he had +not yet ceased to suffer! He would have run after, would have caught him by the +throat and strangled him, but the man had already crossed the line of stacked +muskets, was moving off and vanishing in the darkness. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh!” he murmured, “Goliah! no, it can’t be he. He is +down yonder, fighting on the other side. If I ever come across +him—” +</p> + +<p> +He shook his fist with an air of menace at the dusky horizon, at the wide +empurpled stretch of eastern sky that stood for Prussia in his eyes. No one +spoke; they heard the strains of retreat again, but very distant now, away at +the extreme end of the camp, blended and lost among the hum of other +indistinguishable sounds. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Fichtre</i>!” exclaimed Honoré, “I shall have the +pleasure of sleeping on the soft side of a plank in the guard-house unless I +make haste back to roll-call. Good-night—adieu, everybody!” +</p> + +<p> +And grasping Weiss by both his hands and giving them a hearty squeeze, he +strode swiftly away toward the slight elevation where the guns of the reserves +were parked, without again mentioning his father’s name or sending any +word to Silvine, whose name lay at the end of his tongue. +</p> + +<p> +The minutes slipped away, and over toward the left, where the 2d brigade lay, a +bugle sounded. Another, near at hand, replied, and then a third, in the remote +distance, took up the strain. Presently there was a universal blaring, far and +near, throughout the camp, whereon Gaude, the bugler of the company, took up +his instrument. He was a tall, lank, beardless, melancholy youth, chary of his +words, saving his breath for his calls, which he gave conscientiously, with the +vigor of a young hurricane. +</p> + +<p> +Forthwith Sergeant Sapin, a ceremonious little man with large vague eyes, +stepped forward and began to call the roll. He rattled off the names in a thin, +piping voice, while the men, who had come up and ranged themselves in front of +him, responded in accents of varying pitch, from the deep rumble of the +violoncello to the shrill note of the piccolo. But there came a hitch in the +proceedings. +</p> + +<p> +“Lapoulle!” shouted the sergeant, calling the name a second time +with increased emphasis. +</p> + +<p> +There was no response, and Jean rushed off to the place where Private Lapoulle, +egged on by his comrades, was industriously trying to fan the refractory fuel +into a blaze; flat on his stomach before the pile of blackening, spluttering +wood, his face resembling an underdone beefsteak, the warrior was now +propelling dense clouds of smoke horizontally along the surface of the plain. +</p> + +<p> +“Thunder and ouns! Quit that, will you!” yelled Jean, “and +come and answer to your name.” +</p> + +<p> +Lapoulle rose to his feet with a dazed look on his face, then appeared to grasp +the situation and yelled: “Present!” in such stentorian tones that +Loubet, pretending to be upset by the concussion, sank to the ground in a +sitting posture. Pache had finished mending his trousers and answered in a +voice that was barely audible, that sounded more like the mumbling of a prayer. +Chouteau, not even troubling himself to rise, grunted his answer unconcernedly +and turned over on his side. +</p> + +<p> +Lieutenant Rochas, the officer of the guard, was meantime standing a few steps +away, motionlessly awaiting the conclusion of the ceremony. When Sergeant Sapin +had finished calling the roll and came up to report that all were present, the +officer, with a glance at Weiss, who was still conversing with Maurice, growled +from under his mustache: +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, and one over. What is that civilian doing here?” +</p> + +<p> +“He has the colonel’s pass, Lieutenant,” explained Jean, who +had heard the question. +</p> + +<p> +Rochas made no reply; he shrugged his shoulders disapprovingly and resumed his +round among the company streets while waiting for taps to sound. Jean, stiff +and sore after his day’s march, went and sat down a little way from +Maurice, whose murmured words fell indistinctly upon his unlistening ear, for +he, too, had vague, half formed reflections of his own that were stirring +sluggishly in the recesses of his muddy, torpid mind. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice was a believer in war in the abstract; he considered it one of the +necessary evils, essential to the very existence of nations. This was nothing +more than the logical sequence of his course in embracing those theories of +evolution which in those days exercised such a potent influence on our young +men of intelligence and education. Is not life itself an unending battle? Does +not all nature owe its being to a series of relentless conflicts, the survival +of the fittest, the maintenance and renewal of force by unceasing activity; is +not death a necessary condition to young and vigorous life? And he remembered +the sensation of gladness that had filled his heart when first the thought +occurred to him that he might expiate his errors by enlisting and defending his +country on the frontier. It might be that France of the plebiscite, while +giving itself over to the Emperor, had not desired war; he himself, only a week +previously, had declared it to be a culpable and idiotic measure. There were +long discussions concerning the right of a German prince to occupy the throne +of Spain; as the question gradually became more and more intricate and muddled +it seemed as if everyone must be wrong, no one right; so that it was impossible +to tell from which side the provocation came, and the only part of the entire +business that was clear to the eyes of all was the inevitable, the fatal law +which at a given moment hurls nation against nation. Then Paris was convulsed +from center to circumference; he remembered that burning summer’s night, +the tossing, struggling human tide that filled the boulevards, the bands of men +brandishing torches before the Hôtel de Ville, and yelling: “On to +Berlin! on to Berlin!” and he seemed to hear the strains of the +Marseillaise, sung by a beautiful, stately woman with the face of a queen, +wrapped in the folds of a flag, from her elevation on the box of a coach. Was +it all a lie, was it true that the heart of Paris had not beaten then? And +then, as was always the case with him, that condition of nervous excitation had +been succeeded by long hours of doubt and disgust; there were all the small +annoyances of the soldier’s life; his arrival at the barracks, his +examination by the adjutant, the fitting of his uniform by the gruff sergeant, +the malodorous bedroom with its fetid air and filthy floor, the horseplay and +coarse language of his new comrades, the merciless drill that stiffened his +limbs and benumbed his brain. In a week’s time, however, he had conquered +his first squeamishness, and from that time forth was comparatively contented +with his lot; and when the regiment was at last ordered forward to Belfort the +fever of enthusiasm had again taken possession of him. +</p> + +<p> +For the first few days after they took the field Maurice was convinced that +their success was absolutely certain. The Emperor’s plan appeared to him +perfectly clear: he would advance four hundred thousand men to the left bank of +the Rhine, pass the river before the Prussians had completed their +preparations, separate northern and southern Germany by a vigorous inroad, and +by means of a brilliant victory or two compel Austria and Italy to join hands +immediately with France. Had there not been a short-lived rumor that that 7th +corps of which his regiment formed a part was to be embarked at Brest and +landed in Denmark, where it would create a diversion that would serve to +neutralize one of the Prussian armies? They would be taken by surprise; the +arrogant nation would be overrun in every direction and crushed utterly within +a few brief weeks. It would be a military picnic, a holiday excursion from +Strasbourg to Berlin. While they were lying inactive at Belfort, however, his +former doubts and fears returned to him. To the 7th corps had been assigned the +duty of guarding the entrance to the Black Forest; it had reached its position +in a state of confusion that exceeded imagination, deficient in men, material, +everything. The 3d division was in Italy; the 2d cavalry brigade had been +halted at Lyons to check a threatened rising among the people there, and three +batteries had straggled off in some direction—where, no one could say. +Then their destitution in the way of stores and supplies was something +wonderful; the depots at Belfort, which were to have furnished everything, were +empty; not a sign of a tent, no mess-kettles, no flannel belts, no hospital +supplies, no farriers’ forges, not even a horse-shackle. The +quartermaster’s and medical departments were without trained assistants. +At the very last moment it was discovered that thirty thousand rifles were +practically useless owing to the absence of some small pin or other +interchangeable mechanism about the breech-blocks, and the officer who posted +off in hot haste to Paris succeeded with the greatest difficulty in securing +five thousand of the missing implements. Their inactivity, again, was another +matter that kept him on pins and needles; why did they idle away their time for +two weeks? why did they not advance? He saw clearly that each day of delay was +a mistake that could never be repaired, a chance of victory gone. And if the +plan of campaign that he had dreamed of was clear and precise, its manner of +execution was most lame and impotent, a fact of which he was to learn a great +deal more later on and of which he had then only a faint and glimmering +perception: the seven army corps dispersed along the extended frontier line +<i>en échelon</i>, from Metz to Bitche and from Bitche to Belfort; the many +regiments and squadrons that had been recruited up to only half-strength or +less, so that the four hundred and thirty thousand men on paper melted away to +two hundred and thirty thousand at the outside; the jealousies among the +generals, each of whom thought only of securing for himself a marshal’s +baton, and gave no care to supporting his neighbor; the frightful lack of +foresight, mobilization and concentration being carried on simultaneously in +order to gain time, a process that resulted in confusion worse confounded; a +system, in a word, of dry rot and slow paralysis, which, commencing with the +head, with the Emperor himself, shattered in health and lacking in promptness +of decision, could not fail ultimately to communicate itself to the whole army, +disorganizing it and annihilating its efficiency, leading it into disaster from +which it had not the means of extricating itself. And yet, over and above the +dull misery of that period of waiting, in the intuitive, shuddering perception +of what must infallibly happen, his certainty that they must be victors in the +end remained unimpaired. +</p> + +<p> +On the 3d of August the cheerful news had been given to the public of the +victory of Sarrebruck, fought and won the day before. It could scarcely be +called a great victory, but the columns of the newspapers teemed with +enthusiastic gush; the invasion of Germany was begun, it was the first step in +their glorious march to triumph, and the little Prince Imperial, who had coolly +stooped and picked up a bullet from the battlefield, then commenced to be +celebrated in legend. Two days later, however, when intelligence came of the +surprise and defeat at Wissembourg, every mouth was opened to emit a cry of +rage and distress. That five thousand men, caught in a trap, had faced +thirty-five thousand Prussians all one long summer day, that was not a +circumstance to daunt the courage of anyone; it simply called for vengeance. +Yes, the leaders had doubtless been culpably lacking in vigilance and were to +be censured for their want of foresight, but that would soon be mended; +MacMahon had sent for the 1st division of the 7th corps, the 1st corps would be +supported by the 5th, and the Prussians must be across the Rhine again by that +time, with the bayonets of our infantry at their backs to accelerate their +movement. And so, beneath the deep, dim vault of heaven, the thought of the +battle that must have raged that day, the feverish impatience with which the +tidings were awaited, the horrible feeling of suspense that pervaded the air +about them, spread from man to man and became each minute more tense and +unendurable. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice was just then saying to Weiss: +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! we have certainly given them a righteous good drubbing +to-day.” +</p> + +<p> +Weiss made no reply save to nod his head with an air of anxiety. His gaze was +directed toward the Rhine, on that Orient region where now the night had +settled down in earnest, like a wall of blackness, concealing strange forms and +shapes of mystery. The concluding strains of the bugles for roll-call had been +succeeded by a deep silence, which had descended upon the drowsy camp and was +only broken now and then by the steps and voices of some wakeful soldiers. A +light had been lit—it looked like a twinkling star—in the main room +of the farmhouse where the staff, which is supposed never to sleep, was +awaiting the telegrams that came in occasionally, though as yet they were +undecided. And the green wood fire, now finally left to itself, was still +emitting its funereal wreaths of dense black smoke, which drifted in the gentle +breeze over the unsleeping farmhouse, obscuring the early stars in the heavens +above. +</p> + +<p> +“A drubbing!” Weiss at last replied, “God grant it may be +so!” +</p> + +<p> +Jean, still seated a few steps away, pricked up his ears, while Lieutenant +Rochas, noticing that the wish was attended by a doubt, stopped to listen. +</p> + +<p> +“What!” Maurice rejoined, “have you not confidence? can you +believe that defeat is possible?” +</p> + +<p> +His brother-in-law silenced him with a gesture; his hands were trembling with +agitation, his kindly pleasant face was pale and bore an expression of deep +distress. +</p> + +<p> +“Defeat, ah! Heaven preserve us from that! You know that I was born in +this country; my grandfather and grandmother were murdered by the Cossacks in +1814, and whenever I think of invasion it makes me clench my fist and grit my +teeth; I could go through fire and flood, like a trooper, in my shirt sleeves! +Defeat—no, no! I cannot, I will not believe it possible.” +</p> + +<p> +He became calmer, allowing his arms to fall by his side in discouragement. +</p> + +<p> +“But my mind is not easy, do you see. I know Alsace; I was born there; I +am just off a business trip through the country, and we civilians have +opportunities of seeing many things that the generals persist in ignoring, +although they have them thrust beneath their very eyes. Ah, <i>we</i> wanted +war with Prussia as badly as anyone; for a long, long time we have been waiting +patiently for a chance to pay off old scores, but that did not prevent us from +being on neighborly terms with the people in Baden and Bavaria; every one of +us, almost, has friends or relatives across the Rhine. It was our belief that +they felt like us and would not be sorry to humble the intolerable insolence of +the Prussians. And now, after our long period of uncomplaining expectation, for +the past two weeks we have seen things going from bad to worse, and it vexes +and terrifies us. Since the declaration of war the enemy’s horse have +been suffered to come among us, terrorizing the villages, reconnoitering the +country, cutting the telegraph wires. Baden and Bavaria are rising; immense +bodies of troops are being concentrated in the Palatinate; information reaches +us from every quarter, from the great fairs and markets, that our frontier is +threatened, and when the citizens, the mayors of the communes, take the alarm +at last and hurry off to tell your officers what they know, those gentlemen +shrug their shoulders and reply: Those things spring from the imagination of +cowards; there is no enemy near here. And when there is not an hour to lose, +days and days are wasted. What are they waiting for? To give the whole German +nation time to concentrate on the other bank of the river?” +</p> + +<p> +His words were uttered in a low, mournful, voice, as if he were reciting to +himself a story that had long occupied his thoughts. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! Germany, I know her too well; and the terrible part of the business +is that you soldiers seem to know no more about her than you do about China. +You must remember my cousin Gunther, Maurice, the young man, who came to pay me +a flying visit at Sedan last spring. His mother is a sister of my mother, and +married a Berliner; the young man is a German out and out; he detests +everything French. He is a captain in the 5th Prussian corps. I accompanied him +to the railway station that night, and he said to me in his sharp, peremptory +way: ‘If France declares war on us, she will be soundly whipped!’ I +can hear his words ringing in my ears yet.” +</p> + +<p> +Forthwith, Lieutenant Rochas, who had managed to contain himself until then, +not without some difficulty, stepped forward in a towering rage. He was a tall, +lean individual of about fifty, with a long, weather-beaten, and wrinkled face; +his inordinately long nose, curved like the beak of a bird of prey, over a +strong but well-shaped mouth, concealed by a thick, bristling mustache that was +beginning to be touched with silver. And he shouted in a voice of thunder: +</p> + +<p> +“See here, you, sir! what yarns are those that you are retailing to +dishearten my men?” +</p> + +<p> +Jean did not interfere with his opinion, but he thought that the last speaker +was right, for he, too, while beginning to be conscious of the protracted +delay, and the general confusion in their affairs, had never had the slightest +doubt about that terrible thrashing they were certain to give the Prussians. +There could be no question about the matter, for was not that the reason of +their being there? +</p> + +<p> +“But I am not trying to dishearten anyone, Lieutenant,” Weiss +answered in astonishment. “Quite the reverse; I am desirous that others +should know what I know, because then they will be able to act with their eyes +open. Look here! that Germany of which we were speaking—” +</p> + +<p> +And he went on in his clear, demonstrative way to explain the reason of his +fears: how Prussia had increased her resources since Sadowa; how the national +movement had placed her at the head of the other German states, a mighty empire +in process of formation and rejuvenation, with the constant hope and desire for +unity as the incentive to their irresistible efforts; the system of compulsory +military service, which made them a nation of trained soldiers, provided with +the most effective arms of modern invention, with generals who were masters in +the art of strategy, proudly mindful still of the crushing defeat they had +administered to Austria; the intelligence, the moral force that resided in that +army, commanded as it was almost exclusively by young generals, who in turn +looked up to a commander-in-chief who seemed destined to revolutionize the art +of war, whose prudence and foresight were unparalleled, whose correctness of +judgment was a thing to wonder at. And in contrast to that picture of Germany +he pointed to France: the Empire sinking into senile decrepitude, sanctioned by +the plebiscite, but rotten at its foundation, destroying liberty, and therein +stifling every idea of patriotism, ready to give up the ghost as soon as it +should cease to satisfy the unworthy appetites to which it had given birth; +then there was the army, brave, it was true, as was to be expected from men of +their race, and covered with Crimean and Italian laurels, but vitiated by the +system that permitted men to purchase substitutes for a money consideration, +abandoned to the antiquated methods of African routine, too confident of +victory to keep abreast with the more perfect science of modern times; and, +finally, the generals, men for the most part not above mediocrity, consumed by +petty rivalries, some of them of an ignorance beyond all belief, and at their +head the Emperor, an ailing, vacillating man, deceiving himself and everyone +with whom he had dealings in that desperate venture on which they were +embarking, into which they were all rushing blindfold, with no preparation +worthy of the name, with the panic and confusion of a flock of sheep on its way +to the shambles. +</p> + +<p> +Rochas stood listening, open-mouthed, and with staring eyes; his terrible nose +dilated visibly. Then suddenly his lantern jaws parted to emit an obstreperous, +Homeric peal of laughter. +</p> + +<p> +“What are you giving us there, you? what do you mean by all that silly +lingo? Why, there is not the first word of sense in your whole +harangue—it is too idiotic to deserve an answer. Go and tell those things +to the recruits, but don’t tell them to me; no! not to me, who have seen +twenty-seven years of service.” +</p> + +<p> +And he gave himself a thump on the breast with his doubled fist. He was the son +of a master mason who had come from Limousin to Paris, where the son, not +taking kindly to the paternal handicraft, had enlisted at the age of eighteen. +He had been a soldier of fortune and had carried the knapsack, was corporal in +Africa, sergeant in the Crimea, and after Solferino had been made lieutenant, +having devoted fifteen years of laborious toil and heroic bravery to obtaining +that rank, and was so illiterate that he had no chance of ever getting his +captaincy. +</p> + +<p> +“You, sir, who think you know everything, let me tell you a thing you +don’t know. Yes, at Mazagran I was scarce nineteen years old, and there +were twenty-three of us, not a living soul more, and for more than four days we +held out against twelve thousand Arabs. Yes, indeed! for years and years, if +you had only been with us out there in Africa, sir, at Mascara, at Biskra, at +Dellys, after that in Grand Kabylia, after that again at Laghouat, you would +have seen those dirty niggers run like deer as soon as we showed our faces. And +at Sebastopol, sir, <i>fichtre</i>! you wouldn’t have said it was the +pleasantest place in the world. The wind blew fit to take a man’s hair +out by the roots, it was cold enough to freeze a brass monkey, and those +beggars kept us on a continual dance with their feints and sorties. Never mind; +we made them dance in the end; we danced them into the big hot frying pan, and +to quick music, too! And Solferino, you were not there, sir! then why do you +speak of it? Yes, at Solferino, where it was so hot, although I suppose more +rain fell there that day than you have seen in your whole life, at Solferino, +where we had our little brush with the Austrians, it would have warmed your +heart to see how they vanished before our bayonets, riding one another down in +their haste to get away from us, as if their coat tails were on fire!” +</p> + +<p> +He laughed the gay, ringing laugh of the daredevil French soldier; he seemed to +expand and dilate with satisfaction. It was the old story: the French trooper +going about the world with his girl on his arm and a glass of good wine in his +hand; thrones upset and kingdoms conquered in the singing of a merry song. +Given a corporal and four men, and great armies would bite the dust. His voice +suddenly sank to a low, rumbling bass: +</p> + +<p> +“What! whip France? We, whipped by those Prussian pigs, we!” He +came up to Weiss and grasped him violently by the lapel of his coat. His entire +long frame, lean as that of the immortal Knight Errant, seemed to breathe +defiance and unmitigated contempt for the foe, whoever he might be, regardless +of time, place, or any other circumstance. “Listen to what I tell you, +sir. If the Prussians dare to show their faces here, we will kick them home +again. You hear me? we will kick them from here to Berlin.” His bearing +and manner were superb; the serene tranquillity of the child, the candid +conviction of the innocent who knows nothing and fears nothing. +“<i>Parbleu</i>! it is so, because it is so, and that’s all there +is about it!” +</p> + +<p> +Weiss, stunned and almost convinced, made haste to declare that he wished for +nothing better. As for Maurice, who had prudently held his tongue, not +venturing to express an opinion in presence of his superior officer, he +concluded by joining in the other’s merriment; he warmed the cockles of +his heart, that devil of a man, whom he nevertheless considered rather stupid. +Jean, too, had nodded his approval at every one of the lieutenant’s +assertions. He had also been at Solferino, where it rained so hard. And that +showed what it was to have a tongue in one’s head and know how to use it. +If all the leaders had talked like that they would not be in such a mess, and +there would be camp-kettles and flannel belts in abundance. +</p> + +<p> +It was quite dark by this time, and Rochas continued to gesticulate and +brandish his long arms in the obscurity. His historical studies had been +confined to a stray volume of Napoleonic memoirs that had found its way to his +knapsack from a peddler’s wagon. His excitement refused to be pacified +and all his book-learning burst from his lips in a torrent of eloquence: +</p> + +<p> +“We flogged the Austrians at Castiglione, at Marengo, at Austerlitz, at +Wagram; we flogged the Prussians at Eylau, at Jena, at Lutzen; we flogged the +Russians at Friedland, at Smolensk and at the Moskowa; we flogged Spain and +England everywhere; all creation flogged, flogged, flogged, up and down, far +and near, at home and abroad, and now you tell me that it is we who are to take +the flogging! Why, pray tell me? How? Is the world coming to an end?” He +drew his tall form up higher still and raised his arm aloft, like the staff of +a battle-flag. “Look you, there has been a fight to-day, down yonder, and +we are waiting for the news. Well! I will tell you what the news is—I +will tell you, I! We have flogged the Prussians, flogged them until they +didn’t know whether they were a-foot or a-horseback, flogged them to +powder, so that they had to be swept up in small pieces!” +</p> + +<p> +At that moment there passed over the camp, beneath the somber heavens, a loud, +wailing cry. Was it the plaint of some nocturnal bird? Or was it a mysterious +voice, reaching them from some far-distant field of carnage, ominous of +disaster? The whole camp shuddered, lying there in the shadows, and the +strained, tense sensation of expectant anxiety that hung, miasma-like, in the +air became more strained, more feverish, as they waited for telegrams that +seemed as if they would never come. In the distance, at the farmhouse, the +candle that lighted the dreary watches of the staff burned up more brightly, +with an erect, unflickering flame, as if it had been of wax instead of tallow. +</p> + +<p> +But it was ten o’clock, and Gaude, rising to his feet from the ground +where he had been lost in the darkness, sounded taps, the first in all the +camp. Other bugles, far and near, took up the strain, and it passed away in the +distance with a dying, melancholy wail, as if the angel of slumber had already +brushed with his wings the weary men. And Weiss, who had lingered there so +late, embraced Maurice affectionately; courage, and hope! he would kiss +Henriette for her brother and would have many things to tell uncle Fouchard +when they met. Then, just as he was turning to go, a rumor began to circulate, +accompanied by the wildest excitement. A great victory had been won by Marshal +MacMahon, so the report ran; the Crown Prince of Prussia a prisoner, with +twenty-five thousand men, the enemy’s army repulsed and utterly +destroyed, its guns and baggage abandoned to the victors. +</p> + +<p> +“Didn’t I tell you so!” shouted Rochas, in his most +thundering voice. Then, running after Weiss, who, light of heart, was hastening +to get back to Mülhausen: “To Berlin, sir, and we’ll kick them +every step of the way!” +</p> + +<p> +A quarter of an hour later came another dispatch, announcing that the army had +been compelled to evacuate Woerth and was retreating. Ah, what a night was +that! Rochas, overpowered by sleep, wrapped his cloak about him, threw himself +down on the bare ground, as he had done many a time before. Maurice and Jean +sought the shelter of the tent, into which were crowded, a confused tangle of +arms and legs, Loubet, Chouteau, Pache, and Lapoulle, their heads resting on +their knapsacks. There was room for six, provided they were careful how they +disposed of their legs. Loubet, by way of diverting his comrades and making +them forget their hunger, had labored for some time to convince Lapoulle that +there was to be a ration of poultry issued the next morning, but they were too +sleepy to keep up the joke; they were snoring, and the Prussians might come, it +was all one to them. Jean lay for a moment without stirring, pressing close +against Maurice; notwithstanding his fatigue he was unable to sleep; he could +not help thinking of the things that gentleman had said, how all Germany was up +in arms and preparing to pour her devastating hordes across the Rhine; and he +felt that his tent-mate was not sleeping, either—was thinking of the same +things as he. Then the latter turned over impatiently and moved away, and the +other understood that his presence was not agreeable. There was a lack of +sympathy between the peasant and the man of culture, an enmity of caste and +education that amounted almost to physical aversion. The former, however, +experienced a sensation of shame and sadness at this condition of affairs; he +shrinkingly drew in his limbs so as to occupy as small a space as possible, +endeavoring to escape from the hostile scorn that he was vaguely conscious of +in his neighbor. But although the night wind without had blown up chill, the +crowded tent was so stifling hot and close that Maurice, in a fever of +exasperation, raised the flap, darted out, and went and stretched himself on +the ground a few steps away. That made Jean still more unhappy, and in his +half-sleeping, half-waking condition he had troubled dreams, made up of a +regretful feeling that no one cared for him, and a vague apprehension of +impending calamity of which he seemed to hear the steps approaching with +measured tread from the shadowy, mysterious depths of the unknown. +</p> + +<p> +Two hours passed, and all the camp lay lifeless, motionless under the +oppression of the deep, weird darkness, that was instinct with some dreadful +horror as yet without a name. Out of the sea of blackness came stifled sighs +and moans; from an invisible tent was heard something that sounded like the +groan of a dying man, the fitful dream of some tired soldier. Then there were +other sounds that to the strained ear lost their familiarity and became menaces +of approaching evil; the neighing of a charger, the clank of a sword, the +hurrying steps of some belated prowler. And all at once, off toward the +canteens, a great light flamed up. The entire front was brilliantly +illuminated; the long, regularly aligned array of stacks stood out against the +darkness, and the ruddy blaze, reflected from the burnished barrels of the +rifles, assumed the hue of new-shed blood; the erect, stern figures of the +sentries became visible in the fiery glow. Could it be the enemy, whose +presence the leaders had been talking of for the past two days, and on whose +trail they had come out from Belfort to Mülhausen? Then a shower of sparks rose +high in the air and the conflagration subsided. It was only the pile of green +wood that had been so long the object of Loubet’s and Lapoulle’s +care, and which, after having smoldered for many hours, had at last flashed up +like a fire of straw. +</p> + +<p> +Jean, alarmed by the vivid light, hastily left the tent and was near falling +over Maurice, who had raised himself on his elbow. The darkness seemed by +contrast more opaque than it had been before, and the two men lay stretched on +the bare ground, a few paces from each other. All that they could descry before +them in the dense shadows of the night was the window of the farm-house, +faintly illuminated by the dim candle, which shone with a sinister gleam, as if +it were doing duty by the bedside of a corpse. What time was it? two +o’clock, or three, perhaps. It was plain that the staff had not made +acquaintance with their beds that night. They could hear +Bourgain-Desfeuilles’ loud, disputatious voice; the general was furious +that his rest should be broken thus, and it required many cigars and toddies to +pacify him. More telegrams came in; things must be going badly; silhouettes of +couriers, faintly drawn against the uncertain sky line, could be descried, +galloping madly. There was the sound of scuffling steps, imprecations, a +smothered cry as of a man suddenly stricken down, followed by a blood-freezing +silence. What could it be? Was it the end? A breath, chill and icy as that from +the lips of death, had passed over the camp that lay lost in slumber and +agonized expectation. +</p> + +<p> +It was at that moment that Jean and Maurice recognized in the tall, thin, +spectral form that passed swiftly by, their colonel, de Vineuil. He was +accompanied by the regimental surgeon, Major Bouroche, a large man with a +leonine face They were conversing in broken, unfinished sentences, +whisperingly, such a conversation as we sometimes hear in dreams. +</p> + +<p> +“It came by the way of Basle. Our 1st division all cut to pieces. The +battle lasted twelve hours; the whole army is retreating—” +</p> + +<p> +The colonel’s specter halted and called by name another specter, which +came lightly forward; it was an elegant ghost, faultless in uniform and +equipment. +</p> + +<p> +“Is that you, Beaudoin?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Colonel.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! bad news, my friend, terrible news! MacMahon beaten at +Froeschwiller, Frossard beaten at Spickeren, and between them de Failly, held +in check where he could give no assistance. At Froeschwiller it was a single +corps against an entire army; they fought like heroes. It was a complete rout, +a panic, and now France lies open to their advance—” +</p> + +<p> +His tears choked further utterance, the words came from his lips +unintelligible, and the three shadows vanished, swallowed up in the obscurity. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice rose to his feet; a shudder ran through his frame. +</p> + +<p> +“Good God!” he stammeringly exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +And he could think of nothing else to say, while Jean, in whose bones the very +marrow seemed to be congealing, murmured in his resigned manner: +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, worse luck! The gentleman, that relative of yours, was right all the +same in saying that they are stronger than we.” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice was beside himself, could have strangled him. The Prussians stronger +than the French! The thought made his blood boil. The peasant calmly and +stubbornly added: +</p> + +<p> +“That don’t matter, mind you. A man don’t give up whipped at +the first knock-down he gets. We shall have to keep hammering away at them all +the same.” +</p> + +<p> +But a tall figure arose before them. They recognized Rochas, still wrapped in +his long mantle, whom the fugitive sounds about him, or it may have been the +intuition of disaster, had awakened from his uneasy slumber. He questioned +them, insisted on knowing all. When he was finally brought, with much +difficulty, to see how matters stood, stupor, immense and profound, filled his +boyish, inexpressive eyes. More than ten times in succession he repeated: +</p> + +<p> +“Beaten! How beaten? Why beaten?” +</p> + +<p> +And that was the calamity that had lain hidden in the blackness of that night +of agony. And now the pale dawn was appearing at the portals of the east, +heralding a day heavy with bitterest sorrow and striking white upon the silent +tents, in one of which began to be visible the ashy faces of Loubet and +Lapoulle, of Chouteau and of Pache, who were snoring still with wide-open +mouths. Forth from the thin mists that were slowly creeping upward from the +river off yonder in the distance came the new day, bringing with it mourning +and affliction. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap02"></a>II.</h2> + +<p> +About eight o’clock the sun dispersed the heavy clouds, and the broad, +fertile plain about Mülhausen lay basking in the warm, bright light of a +perfect August Sunday. From the camp, now awake and bustling with life, could +be heard the bells of the neighboring parishes, pealing merrily in the limpid +air. The cheerful Sunday following so close on ruin and defeat had its own +gayety, its sky was as serene as on a holiday. +</p> + +<p> +Gaude suddenly took his bugle and gave the call that announced the distribution +of rations, whereat Loubet appeared astonished. What was it? What did it mean? +Were they going to give out chickens, as he had promised Lapoulle the night +before? He had been born in the Halles, in the Rue de la Cossonerie, was the +unacknowledged son of a small huckster, had enlisted “for the money there +was in it,” as he said, after having been a sort of Jack-of-all-trades, +and was now the gourmand, the epicure of the company, continually nosing after +something good to eat. But he went off to see what was going on, while +Chouteau, the company artist, house-painter by trade at Belleville, something +of a dandy and a revolutionary republican, exasperated against the government +for having called him back to the colors after he had served his time, was +cruelly chaffing Pache, whom he had discovered on his knees, behind the tent, +preparing to say his prayers. There was a pious man for you! Couldn’t he +oblige him, Chouteau, by interceding with God to give him a hundred thousand +francs or some such small trifle? But Pache, an insignificant little fellow +with a head running up to a point, who had come to them from some hamlet in the +wilds of Picardy, received the other’s raillery with the uncomplaining +gentleness of a martyr. He was the butt of the squad, he and Lapoulle, the +colossal brute who had got his growth in the marshes of the Sologne, so utterly +ignorant of everything that on the day of his joining the regiment he had asked +his comrades to show him the King. And although the terrible tidings of the +disaster at Froeschwiller had been known throughout the camp since early +morning, the four men laughed, joked, and went about their usual tasks with the +indifference of so many machines. +</p> + +<p> +But there arose a murmur of pleased surprise. It was occasioned by Jean, the +corporal, coming back from the commissary’s, accompanied by Maurice, with +a load of firewood. So, they were giving out wood at last, the lack of which +the night before had deprived the men of their soup! Twelve hours behind time, +only! +</p> + +<p> +“Hurrah for the commissary!” shouted Chouteau. +</p> + +<p> +“Never mind, so long as it is here,” said Loubet. “Ah! +won’t I make you a bully <i>pot-au-feu</i>!” +</p> + +<p> +He was usually quite willing to take charge of the mess arrangements, and no +one was inclined to say him nay, for he cooked like an angel. On those +occasions, however, Lapoulle would be given the most extraordinary commissions +to execute. +</p> + +<p> +“Go and look after the champagne—Go out and buy some +truffles—” +</p> + +<p> +On that morning a queer conceit flashed across his mind, such a conceit as only +a Parisian <i>gamin</i> contemplating the mystification of a greenhorn is +capable of entertaining: +</p> + +<p> +“Look alive there, will you! Come, hand me the chicken.” +</p> + +<p> +“The chicken! what chicken, where?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, there on the ground at your feet, stupid; the chicken that I +promised you last night, and that the corporal has just brought in.” +</p> + +<p> +He pointed to a large, white, round stone, and Lapoulle, speechless with +wonder, finally picked it up and turned it about between his fingers. +</p> + +<p> +“A thousand thunders! Will you wash the chicken! More yet; wash its +claws, wash its neck! Don’t be afraid of the water, lazybones!” +</p> + +<p> +And for no reason at all except the joke of it, because the prospect of the +soup made him gay and sportive, he tossed the stone along with the meat into +the kettle filled with water. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s what will give the bouillon a flavor! Ah, you didn’t +know that, <i>sacrée andouille</i>! You shall have the pope’s nose; +you’ll see how tender it is.” +</p> + +<p> +The squad roared with laughter at sight of Lapoulle’s face, who swallowed +everything and was licking his chops in anticipation of the feast. That funny +dog, Loubet, he was the man to cure one of the dumps if anybody could! And when +the fire began to crackle in the sunlight, and the kettle commenced to hum and +bubble, they ranged themselves reverently about it in a circle with an +expression of cheerful satisfaction on their faces, watching the meat as it +danced up and down and sniffing the appetizing odor that it exhaled. They were +as hungry as a pack of wolves, and the prospect of a square meal made them +forgetful of all beside. They had had to take a thrashing, but that was no +reason why a man should not fill his stomach. Fires were blazing and pots were +boiling from one end of the camp to the other, and amid the silvery peals of +the bells that floated from Mülhausen steeples mirth and jollity reigned +supreme. +</p> + +<p> +But just as the clocks were on the point of striking nine a commotion arose and +spread among the men; officers came running up, and Lieutenant Rochas, to whom +Captain Beaudoin had come and communicated an order, passed along in front of +the tents of his platoon and gave the command: +</p> + +<p> +“Pack everything! Get yourselves ready to march!” +</p> + +<p> +“But the soup?” +</p> + +<p> +“You will have to wait for your soup until some other day; we are to +march at once.” +</p> + +<p> +Gaude’s bugle rang out in imperious accents. Then everywhere was +consternation; dumb, deep rage was depicted on every countenance. What, march +on an empty stomach! Could they not wait a little hour until the soup was +ready! The squad resolved that their bouillon should not go to waste, but it +was only so much hot water, and the uncooked meat was like leather to their +teeth. Chouteau growled and grumbled, almost mutinously. Jean had to exert all +his authority to make the men hasten their preparations. What was the great +urgency that made it necessary for them to hurry off like that? What good was +there in hazing people about in that style, without giving them time to regain +their strength? And Maurice shrugged his shoulders incredulously when someone +said in his hearing that they were about to march against the Prussians and +settle old scores with them. In less than fifteen minutes the tents were +struck, folded, and strapped upon the knapsacks, the stacks were broken, and +all that remained of the camp was the dying embers of the fires on the bare +ground. +</p> + +<p> +There were reasons, of importance that had induced General Douay’s +determination to retreat immediately. The despatch from the <i>sous-préfet</i> +at Schelestadt, now three days old, was confirmed; there were telegrams that +the fires of the Prussians, threatening Markolsheim, had again been seen, and +again, another telegram informed them that one of the enemy’s army corps +was crossing the Rhine at Huningue: the intelligence was definite and abundant; +cavalry and artillery had been sighted in force, infantry had been seen, +hastening from every direction to their point of concentration. Should they +wait an hour the enemy would surely be in their rear and retreat on Belfort +would be impossible. And now, in the shock consequent on defeat, after +Wissembourg and Froeschwiller, the general, feeling himself unsupported in his +exposed position at the front, had nothing left to do but fall back in haste, +and the more so that what news he had received that morning made the situation +look even worse than it had appeared the night before. +</p> + +<p> +The staff had gone on ahead at a sharp trot, spurring their horses in the fear +lest the Prussians might get into Altkirch before them. General +Bourgain-Desfeuilles, aware that he had a hard day’s work before him, had +prudently taken Mülhausen in his way, where he fortified himself with a copious +breakfast, denouncing in language more forcible than elegant such hurried +movements. And Mülhausen watched with sorrowful eyes the officers trooping +through her streets; as the news of the retreat spread the citizens streamed +out of their houses, deploring the sudden departure of the army for whose +coming they had prayed so earnestly: they were to be abandoned, then, and all +the costly merchandise that was stacked up in the railway station was to become +the spoil of the enemy; within a few hours their pretty city was to be in the +hands of foreigners? The inhabitants of the villages, too, and of isolated +houses, as the staff clattered along the country roads, planted themselves +before their doors with wonder and consternation depicted on their faces. What! +that army, that a short while before they had seen marching forth to battle, +was now retiring without having fired a shot? The leaders were gloomy, urged +their chargers forward and refused to answer questions, as if ruin and disaster +were galloping at their heels. It was true, then, that the Prussians had +annihilated the army and were streaming into France from every direction, like +the angry waves of a stream that had burst its barriers? And already to the +frightened peasants the air seemed filled with the muttering of distant +invasion, rising louder and more threatening at every instant, and already they +were beginning to forsake their little homes and huddle their poor belongings +into farm-carts; entire families might be seen fleeing in single file along the +roads that were choked with the retreating cavalry. +</p> + +<p> +In the hurry and confusion of the movement the 106th was brought to a halt at +the very first kilometer of their march, near the bridge over the canal of the +Rhone and Rhine. The order of march had been badly planned and still more badly +executed, so that the entire 2d division was collected there in a huddle, and +the way was so narrow, barely more than sixteen feet in width, that the passage +of the troops was obstructed. +</p> + +<p> +Two hours elapsed, and still the 106th stood there watching the seemingly +endless column that streamed along before their eyes. In the end the men, +standing at rest with ordered arms, began to become impatient. Jean’s +squad, whose position happened to be opposite a break in the line of poplars +where the sun had a fair chance at them, felt themselves particularly +aggrieved. +</p> + +<p> +“Guess we must be the rear-guard,” Loubet observed with +good-natured raillery. +</p> + +<p> +But Chouteau scolded: “They don’t value us at a brass farthing, and +that’s why they let us wait this way. We were here first; why +didn’t we take the road while it was empty?” +</p> + +<p> +And as they began to discern more clearly beyond the canal, across the wide +fertile plain, along the level roads lined with hop-poles and fields of +ripening grain, the movement of the troops retiring along the same way by which +they had advanced but yesterday, gibes and jeers rose on the air in a storm of +angry ridicule. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, we are taking the back track,” Chouteau continued. “I +wonder if that is the advance against the enemy that they have been dinning in +our ears of late! Strikes me as rather queer! No sooner do we get into camp +than we turn tail and make off, never even stopping to taste our soup.” +</p> + +<p> +The derisive laughter became louder, and Maurice, who was next to Chouteau in +the ranks, took sides with him. Why could they not have been allowed to cook +their soup and eat it in peace, since they had done nothing for the last two +hours but stand there in the road like so many sticks? Their hunger was making +itself felt again; they had a resentful recollection of the savory contents of +the kettle dumped out prematurely upon the ground, and they could see no +necessity for this headlong retrograde movement, which appeared to them idiotic +and cowardly. What chicken-livers they must be, those generals! +</p> + +<p> +But Lieutenant Rochas came along and blew up Sergeant Sapin for not keeping his +men in better order, and Captain Beaudoin, very prim and starchy, attracted by +the disturbance, appeared upon the scene. +</p> + +<p> +“Silence in the ranks!” +</p> + +<p> +Jean, an old soldier of the army of Italy who knew what discipline was, looked +in silent amazement at Maurice, who appeared to be amused by Chouteau’s +angry sneers; and he wondered how it was that a <i>monsieur</i>, a young man of +his acquirements, could listen approvingly to things—they might be true, +all the same—but that should not be blurted out in public. The army would +never accomplish much, that was certain, if the privates were to take to +criticizing the generals and giving their opinions. +</p> + +<p> +At last, after another hour’s waiting, the order was given for the 106th +to advance, but the bridge was still so encumbered by the rear of the division +that the greatest confusion prevailed. Several regiments became inextricably +mingled, and whole companies were swept away and compelled to cross whether +they would or no, while others, crowded off to the side of the road, had to +stand there and mark time; and by way of putting the finishing touch to the +muddle; a squadron of cavalry insisted on passing, pressing back into the +adjoining fields the stragglers that the infantry had scattered along the +roadside. At the end of an hour’s march the column had entirely lost its +formation and was dragging its slow length along, a mere disorderly rabble. +</p> + +<p> +Thus it happened that Jean found himself away at the rear, lost in a sunken +road, together with his squad, whom he had been unwilling to abandon. The 106th +had disappeared, nor was there a man or an officer of their company in sight. +About them were soldiers, singly or in little groups, from all the regiments, a +weary, foot-sore crew, knocked up at the beginning of the retreat, each man +straggling on at his own sweet will whithersoever the path that he was on might +chance to lead him. The sun beat down fiercely, the heat was stifling, and the +knapsack, loaded as it was with the tent and implements of every description, +made a terrible burden on the shoulders of the exhausted men. To many of them +the experience was an entirely new one, and the heavy great-coats they wore +seemed to them like vestments of lead. The first to set an example for the +others was a little pale faced soldier with watery eyes; he drew beside the +road and let his knapsack slide off into the ditch, heaving a deep sigh as he +did so, the long drawn breath of a dying man who feels himself coming back to +life. +</p> + +<p> +“There’s a man who knows what he is about,” muttered +Chouteau. +</p> + +<p> +He still continued to plod along, however, his back bending beneath its weary +burden, but when he saw two others relieve themselves as the first had done he +could stand it no longer. “Ah! <i>zut</i>!” he exclaimed, and with +a quick upward jerk of the shoulder sent his kit rolling down an embankment. +Fifty pounds at the end of his backbone, he had had enough of it, thank you! He +was no beast of burden to lug that load about. +</p> + +<p> +Almost at the same moment Loubet followed his lead and incited Lapoulle to do +the same. Pache, who had made the sign of the cross at every stone crucifix +they came to, unbuckled the straps and carefully deposited his load at the foot +of a low wall, as if fully intending to come back for it at some future time. +And when Jean turned his head for a look at his men he saw that every one of +them had dropped his burden except Maurice. +</p> + +<p> +“Take up your knapsacks unless you want to have me put under +arrest!” +</p> + +<p> +But the men, although they did not mutiny as yet, were silent and looked ugly; +they kept advancing along the narrow road, pushing the corporal before them. +</p> + +<p> +“Will you take up your knapsacks! if you don’t I will report +you.” +</p> + +<p> +It was as if Maurice had been lashed with a whip across the face. Report them! +that brute of a peasant would report those poor devils for easing their aching +shoulders! And looking Jean defiantly in the face, he, too, in an impulse of +blind rage, slipped the buckles and let his knapsack fall to the road. +</p> + +<p> +“Very well,” said the other in his quiet way, knowing that +resistance would be of no avail, “we will settle accounts +to-night.” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice’s feet hurt him abominably; the big, stiff shoes, to which he was +not accustomed, had chafed the flesh until the blood came. He was not strong; +his spinal column felt as if it were one long raw sore, although the knapsack +that had caused the suffering was no longer there, and the weight of his piece, +which he kept shifting from one shoulder to the other, seemed as if it would +drive all the breath from his body. Great as his physical distress was, +however, his moral agony was greater still, for he was in the depths of one of +those fits of despair to which he was subject. At Paris the sum of his +wrongdoing had been merely the foolish outbreaks of “the other +man,” as he put it, of his weak, boyish nature, capable of more serious +delinquency should he be subjected to temptation, but now, in this retreat that +was so like a rout, in which he was dragging himself along with weary steps +beneath a blazing sun, he felt all hope and courage vanishing from his heart, +he was but a beast in that belated, straggling herd that filled the roads and +fields. It was the reaction after the terrible disasters at Wissembourg and +Froeschwiller, the echo of the thunder-clap that had burst in the remote +distance, leagues and leagues away, rattling at the heels of those +panic-stricken men who were flying before they had ever seen an enemy. What was +there to hope for now? Was it not all ended? They were beaten; all that was +left them was to lie down and die. +</p> + +<p> +“It makes no difference,” shouted Loubet, with the <i>blague</i> of +a child of the Halles, “but this is not the Berlin road we are traveling, +all the same.” +</p> + +<p> +To Berlin! To Berlin! The cry rang in Maurice’s ears, the yell of the +swarming mob that filled the boulevards on that midsummer night of frenzied +madness when he had determined to enlist. The gentle breeze had become a +devastating hurricane; there had been a terrific explosion, and all the +sanguine temper of his nation had manifested itself in his absolute, +enthusiastic confidence, which had vanished utterly at the very first reverse, +before the unreasoning impulse of despair that was sweeping him away among +those vagrant soldiers, vanquished and dispersed before they had struck a +stroke. +</p> + +<p> +“This confounded blunderbuss must weigh a ton, I think,” Loubet +went on. “This is fine music to march by!” And alluding to the sum +he received as substitute: “I don’t care what people say, but +fifteen hundred ‘balls’ for a job like this is downright robbery. +Just think of the pipes he’ll smoke, sitting by his warm fire, the stingy +old miser in whose place I’m going to get my brains knocked out!” +</p> + +<p> +“As for me,” growled Chouteau, “I had finished my time. I was +going to cut the service, and they keep me for their beastly war. Ah! true as I +stand here, I must have been born to bad luck to have got myself into such a +mess. And now the officers are going to let the Prussians knock us about as +they please, and we’re dished and done for.” He had been swinging +his piece to and fro in his hand; in his discouragement he gave it a toss and +landed it on the other side of the hedge. “Eh! get you gone for a dirty +bit of old iron!” +</p> + +<p> +The musket made two revolutions in the air and fell into a furrow, where it +lay, long and motionless, reminding one somehow of a corpse. Others soon flew +to join it, and presently the field was filled with abandoned arms, lying in +long winrows, a sorrowful spectacle beneath the blazing sky. It was an epidemic +of madness, caused by the hunger that was gnawing at their stomach, the shoes +that galled their feet, their weary march, the unexpected defeat that had +brought the enemy galloping at their heels. There was nothing more to be +accomplished; their leaders were looking out for themselves, the commissariat +did not even feed them; nothing but weariness and worriment; better to leave +the whole business at once, before it was begun. And what then? why, the musket +might go and keep the knapsack company; in view of the work that was before +them they might at least as well keep their arms free. And all down the long +line of stragglers that stretched almost far as the eye could reach in the +smooth and fertile country the muskets flew through the air to the +accompaniment of jeers and laughter such as would have befitted the inmates of +a lunatic asylum out for a holiday. +</p> + +<p> +Loubet, before parting with his, gave it a twirl as a drum-major does his cane. +Lapoulle, observing what all his comrades were doing, must have supposed the +performance to be some recent innovation in the manual, and followed suit, +while Pache, in the confused idea of duty that he owed to his religious +education, refused to do as the rest were doing and was loaded with obloquy by +Chouteau, who called him a priest’s whelp. +</p> + +<p> +“Look at the sniveling papist! And all because his old peasant of a +mother used to make him swallow the holy wafer every Sunday in the village +church down there! Be off with you and go serve mass; a man who won’t +stick with his comrades when they are right is a poor-spirited cur.” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice toiled along dejectedly in silence, bowing his head beneath the blazing +sun. At every step he took he seemed to be advancing deeper into a horrid, +phantom-haunted nightmare; it was as if he saw a yawning, gaping gulf before +him toward which he was inevitably tending; it meant that he was suffering +himself to be degraded to the level of the miserable beings by whom he was +surrounded, that he was prostituting his talents and his position as a man of +education. +</p> + +<p> +“Hold!” he said abruptly to Chouteau, “what you say is right; +there is truth in it.” +</p> + +<p> +And already he had deposited his musket upon a pile of stones, when Jean, who +had tried without success to check the shameful proceedings of his men, saw +what he was doing and hurried toward him. +</p> + +<p> +“Take up your musket, at once! Do you hear me? take it up at once!” +</p> + +<p> +Jean’s face had flushed with sudden anger. Meekest and most pacific of +men, always prone to measures of conciliation, his eyes were now blazing with +wrath, his voice spoke with the thunders of authority. His men had never before +seen him in such a state, and they looked at one another in astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +“Take up your musket at once, or you will have me to deal with!” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice was quivering with anger; he let fall one single word, into which he +infused all the insult that he had at command: +</p> + +<p> +“Peasant!” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, that’s just it; I am a peasant, while you, you, are a +gentleman! And it is for that reason that you are a pig! Yes! a dirty pig! I +make no bones of telling you of it.” +</p> + +<p> +Yells and cat-calls arose all around him, but the corporal continued with +extraordinary force and dignity: +</p> + +<p> +“When a man has learning he shows it by his actions. If we are brutes and +peasants, you owe us the benefit of your example, since you know more than we +do. Take up your musket, or <i>Nom de Dieu!</i> I will have you shot the first +halt we make.” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice was daunted; he stooped and raised the weapon in his hand. Tears of +rage stood in his eyes. He reeled like a drunken man as he labored onward, +surrounded by his comrades, who now were jeering at him for having yielded. Ah, +that Jean! he felt that he should never cease to hate him, cut to the quick as +he had been by that bitter lesson, which he could not but acknowledge he had +deserved. And when Chouteau, marching at his side, growled: “When +corporals are that way, we just wait for a battle and blow a hole in +’em,” the landscape seemed red before his eyes, and he had a +distinct vision of himself blowing Jean’s brains out from behind a wall. +</p> + +<p> +But an incident occurred to divert their thoughts; Loubet noticed that while +the dispute was going on Pache had also abandoned his musket, laying it down +tenderly at the foot of an embankment. Why? What were the reasons that had made +him resist the example of his comrades in the first place, and what were the +reasons that influenced him now? He probably could not have told himself, nor +did he trouble his head about the matter, chuckling inwardly with silent +enjoyment, like a schoolboy who, having long been held up as a model for his +mates, commits his first offense. He strode along with a self-contented, rakish +air, swinging his arms; and still along the dusty, sunlit roads, between the +golden grain and the fields of hops that succeeded one another with tiresome +monotony, the human tide kept pouring onward; the stragglers, without arms or +knapsacks, were now but a shuffling, vagrant mob, a disorderly array of +vagabonds and beggars, at whose approach the frightened villagers barred their +doors. +</p> + +<p> +Something that happened just then capped the climax of Maurice’s misery. +A deep, rumbling noise had for some time been audible in the distance; it was +the artillery, that had been the last to leave the camp and whose leading guns +now wheeled into sight around a bend in the road, barely giving the footsore +infantrymen time to seek safety in the fields. It was an entire regiment of six +batteries, and came up in column, in splendid order, at a sharp trot, the +colonel riding on the flank at the center of the line, every officer at his +post. The guns went rattling, bounding by, accurately maintaining their +prescribed distances, each accompanied by its caisson, men and horses, +beautiful in the perfect symmetry of its arrangement; and in the 5th battery +Maurice recognized his cousin Honoré. A very smart and soldierly appearance the +quartermaster-sergeant presented on horseback in his position on the left hand +of the forward driver, a good-looking light-haired man, Adolphe by name, whose +mount was a sturdy chestnut, admirably matched with the mate that trotted at +his side, while in his proper place among the six men who were seated on the +chests of the gun and its caisson was the gunner, Louis, a small, dark man, +Adolphe’s comrade; they constituted a team, as it is called, in +accordance with the rule of the service that couples a mounted and an unmounted +man together. They all appeared bigger and taller to Maurice, somehow, than +when he first made their acquaintance at the camp, and the gun, to which four +horses were attached, followed by the caisson drawn by six, seemed to him as +bright and refulgent as a sun, tended and cherished as it was by its +attendants, men and animals, who closed around it protectingly as if it had +been a living sentient relative; and then, besides, the contemptuous look that +Honoré, astounded to behold him among that unarmed rabble, cast on the +stragglers, distressed him terribly. And now the tail end of the regiment was +passing, the <i>matériel</i> of the batteries, prolonges, forges, +forage-wagons, succeeded by the rag-tag, the spare men and horses, and then all +vanished in a cloud of dust at another turn in the road amid the gradually +decreasing clatter of hoofs and wheels. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Pardi</i>!” exclaimed Loubet, “it’s not such a +difficult matter to cut a dash when one travels with a coach and four!” +</p> + +<p> +The staff had found Altkirch free from the enemy; not a Prussian had shown his +face there yet. It had been the general’s wish, not knowing at what +moment they might fall upon his rear, that the retreat should be continued to +Dannemarie, and it was not until five o’clock that the heads of columns +reached that place. Tents were hardly pitched and fires lighted at eight, when +night closed in, so great was the confusion of the regiments, depleted by the +absence of the stragglers. The men were completely used up, were ready to drop +with fatigue and hunger. Up to eight o’clock soldiers, singly and in +squads, came trailing in, hunting for their commands; all that long train of +the halt, the lame, and the disaffected that we have seen scattered along the +roads. +</p> + +<p> +As soon as Jean discovered where his regiment lay he went in quest of +Lieutenant Rochas to make his report. He found him, together with Captain +Beaudoin, in earnest consultation with the colonel at the door of a small inn, +all of them anxiously waiting to see what tidings roll-call would give them as +to the whereabouts of their missing men. The moment the corporal opened his +mouth to address the lieutenant, Colonel Vineuil, who heard what the subject +was, called him up and compelled him to tell the whole story. On his long, +yellow face, where the intensely black eyes looked blacker still contrasted +with the thick snow-white hair and the long, drooping mustache, there was an +expression of patient, silent sorrow, and as the narrative proceeded, how the +miserable wretches deserted their colors, threw away arms and knapsacks, and +wandered off like vagabonds, grief and shame traced two new furrows on his +blanched cheeks. +</p> + +<p> +“Colonel,” exclaimed Captain Beaudoin, in his incisive voice, not +waiting for his superior to give an opinion, “it will best to shoot half +a dozen of those wretches.” +</p> + +<p> +And the lieutenant nodded his head approvingly. But the colonel’s +despondent look expressed his powerlessness. +</p> + +<p> +“There are too many of them. Nearly seven hundred! how are we to go to +work, whom are we to select? And then you don’t know it, but the general +is opposed. He wants to be a father to his men, says he never punished a +soldier all the time he was in Africa. No, no; we shall have to overlook it. I +can do nothing. It is dreadful.” +</p> + +<p> +The captain echoed: “Yes, it is dreadful. It means destruction for us +all.” +</p> + +<p> +Jean was walking off, having said all he had to say, when he heard Major +Bouroche, whom he had not seen where he was standing in the doorway of the inn, +growl in a smothered voice: “No more punishment, an end to discipline, +the army gone to the dogs! Before a week is over the scoundrels will be ripe +for kicking their officers out of camp, while if a few of them had been made an +example of on the spot it might have brought the remainder to their +senses.” +</p> + +<p> +No one was punished. Some officers of the rear-guard that was protecting the +trains had been thoughtful enough to collect the muskets and knapsacks +scattered along the road. They were almost all recovered, and by daybreak the +men were equipped again, the operation being conducted very quietly, as if to +hush the matter up as much as possible. Orders were given to break camp at five +o’clock, but reveille sounded at four and the retreat to Belfort was +hurriedly continued, for everyone was certain that the Prussians were only two +or three leagues away. Again there was nothing to eat but dry biscuit, and as a +consequence of their brief, disturbed rest and the lack of something to warm +their stomachs the men were weak as cats. Any attempt to enforce discipline on +the march that morning was again rendered nugatory by the manner of their +departure. +</p> + +<p> +The day was worse than its predecessor, inexpressibly gloomy and disheartening. +The aspect of the landscape had changed, they were now in a rolling country +where the roads they were always alternately climbing and descending were +bordered with woods of pine and hemlock, while the narrow gorges were golden +with tangled thickets of broom. But panic and terror lay heavy on the fair land +that slumbered there beneath the bright sun of August, and had been hourly +gathering strength since the preceeding day. A fresh dispatch, bidding the +mayors of communes warn the people that they would do well to hide their +valuables, had excited universal consternation. The enemy was at hand, then! +Would time be given them to make their escape? And to all it seemed that the +roar of invasion was ringing in their ears, coming nearer and nearer, the roar +of the rushing torrent that, starting from Mülhausen, had grown louder and more +ominous as it advanced, and to which every village that it encountered in its +course contributed its own alarm amid the sound of wailing and lamentation. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice stumbled along as best he might, like a man walking in a dream; his +feet were bleeding, his shoulders sore with the weight of gun and knapsack. He +had ceased to think, he advanced automatically into the vision of horrors that +lay before his eyes; he had ceased to be conscious even of the shuffling tramp +of the comrades around him, and the only thing that was not dim and unreal to +his sense was Jean, marching at his side and enduring the same fatigue and +horrible distress. It was lamentable to behold the villages they passed +through, a sight to make a man’s heart bleed with anguish. No sooner did +the inhabitants catch sight of the troops retreating in disorderly array, with +haggard faces and bloodshot eyes, than they bestirred themselves to hasten +their flight. They who had been so confident only a short half month ago, those +men and women of Alsace, who smiled when war was mentioned, certain that it +would be fought out in Germany! And now France was invaded, and it was among +them, above their abodes, in their fields, that the tempest was to burst, like +one of those dread cataclysms that lay waste a province in an hour when the +lightnings flash and the gates of heaven are opened! Carts were backed up +against doors and men tumbled their furniture into them in wild confusion, +careless of what they broke. From the upper windows the women threw out a last +mattress, or handed down the child’s cradle, that they had been near +forgetting, whereon baby would be tucked in securely and hoisted to the top of +the load, where he reposed serenely among a grove of legs of chairs and +upturned tables. At the back of another cart was the decrepit old grandfather +tied with cords to a wardrobe, and he was hauled away for all the world as if +he had been one of the family chattels. Then there were those who did not own a +vehicle, so they piled their household goods haphazard on a wheelbarrow, while +others carried an armful of clothing, and others still had thought only of +saving the clock, which they went off pressing to their bosom as if it had been +a darling child. They found they could not remove everything, and there were +chairs and tables, and bundles of linen too heavy to carry, lying abandoned in +the gutter, Some before leaving had carefully locked their dwellings, and the +houses had a deathlike appearance, with their barred doors and windows, but the +greater number, in their haste to get away and with the sorrowful conviction +that nothing would escape destruction, had left their poor abodes open, and the +yawning apertures displayed the nakedness of the dismantled rooms; and those +were the saddest to behold, with the horrible sadness of a city upon which some +great dread has fallen, depopulating it, those poor houses opened to the winds +of heaven, whence the very cats had fled as if forewarned of the impending +doom. At every village the pitiful spectacle became more heartrending, the +number of the fugitives was greater, as they clove their way through the ever +thickening press, with hands upraised, amid oaths and tears. +</p> + +<p> +But in the open country as they drew near Belfort, Maurice’s heart was +still more sorely wrung, for there the homeless fugitives were in greater +numbers and lined the borders of the road in an unbroken cortége. Ah! the +unhappy ones, who had believed that they were to find safety under the walls of +the fortifications! The father lashed the poor old nag, the mother followed +after, leading her crying children by the hand, and in this way entire +families, sinking beneath the weight of their burdens, were strung along the +white, blinding road in the fierce sunlight, where the tired little legs of the +smaller children were unable to keep up with the headlong flight. Many had +taken off their shoes and were going barefoot so as to get over the ground more +rapidly, and half-dressed mothers gave the breast to their crying babies as +they strode along. Affrighted faces turned for a look backward, trembling hands +were raised as if to shut out the horizon from their sight, while the gale of +panic tumbled their unkempt locks and sported with their ill-adjusted garments. +Others there were, farmers and their men, who pushed straight across the +fields, driving before them their flocks and herds, cows, oxen, sheep, horses, +that they had driven with sticks and cudgels from their stables; these were +seeking the shelter of the inaccessible forests, of the deep valleys and the +lofty hill-tops, their course marked by clouds of dust, as in the great +migrations of other days, when invaded nations made way before their barbarian +conquerors. They were going to live in tents, in some lonely nook among the +mountains, where the enemy would never venture to follow them; and the bleating +and bellowing of the animals and the trampling of their hoofs upon the rocks +grew fainter in the distance, and the golden nimbus that overhung them was lost +to sight among the thick pines, while down in the road beneath the tide of +vehicles and pedestrians was flowing still as strong as ever, blocking the +passage of the troops, and as they drew near Belfort the men had to be brought +to a halt again and again, so irresistible was the force of that torrent of +humanity. +</p> + +<p> +It was during one of those short halts that Maurice witnessed a scene that was +destined to remain indelibly impressed upon his memory. +</p> + +<p> +Standing by the road-side was a lonely house, the abode of some poor peasant, +whose lean acres extended up the mountainside in the rear. The man had been +unwilling to leave the little field that was his all and had remained, for to +go away would have been to him like parting with life. He could be seen within +the low-ceiled room, sitting stupidly on a bench, watching with dull, +lack-luster eyes the passing of the troops whose retreat would give his ripe +grain over to be the spoil of the enemy. Standing beside him was his wife, +still a young woman, holding in her arms a child, while another was hanging by +her skirts; all three were weeping bitterly. Suddenly the door was thrown open +with violence and in its enframement appeared the grandmother, a very old +woman, tall and lean of form, with bare, sinewy arms like knotted cords that +she raised above her head and shook with frantic gestures. Her gray, scanty +locks had escaped from her cap and were floating about her skinny face, and +such was her fury that the words she shouted choked her utterance and came from +her lips almost unintelligible. +</p> + +<p> +At first the soldiers had laughed. Wasn’t she a beauty, the old crazy +hag! Then words reached their ears; the old woman was screaming: +</p> + +<p> +“Scum! Robbers! Cowards! Cowards!” +</p> + +<p> +With a voice that rose shriller and more piercing still she kept lashing them +with her tongue, expectorating insult on them, and taunting them for dastards +with the full force of her lungs. And the laughter ceased, it seemed as if a +cold wind had blown over the ranks. The men hung their heads, looked any way +save that. +</p> + +<p> +“Cowards! Cowards! Cowards!” +</p> + +<p> +Then all at once her stature seemed to dilate; she drew herself up, tragic in +her leanness, in her poor old apology for a gown, and sweeping the heavens with +her long arm from west to east, with a gesture so broad that it seemed to fill +the dome: +</p> + +<p> +“Cowards, the Rhine is not there! The Rhine lies yonder! Cowards, +cowards!” +</p> + +<p> +They got under way again at last, and Maurice, whose look just then encountered +Jean’s, saw that the latter’s eyes were filled with tears, and it +did not alleviate his distress to think that those rough soldiers, compelled to +swallow an insult that they had done nothing to deserve, were shamed by it. He +was conscious of nothing save the intolerable aching in his poor head, and in +after days could never remember how the march of that day ended, prostrated as +he was by his terrible suffering, mental and physical. +</p> + +<p> +The 7th corps had spent the entire day in getting over the fourteen or fifteen +miles between Dannemarie and Belfort, and it was night again before the troops +got settled in their bivouacs under the walls of the town, in the very same +place whence they had started four days before to march against the enemy. +Notwithstanding the lateness of the hour and their spent condition, the men +insisted on lighting fires and making soup; it was the first time since their +departure that they had had an opportunity to put warm food into their +stomachs, and seated about the cheerful blaze in the cool air of evening they +were dipping their noses in the porringers and grunting inarticulately in token +of satisfaction when news came in that burst upon the camp like a thunderbolt, +dumfoundering everyone. Two telegrams had just been received: the Prussians had +not crossed the Rhine at Markolsheim, and there was not a single Prussian at +Huningue. The passage of the Rhine at Markolsheim and the bridge of boats +constructed under the electric light had existed merely in imagination, were an +unexplained, inexplicable nightmare of the préfet at Schelestadt; and as for +the army corps that had menaced Huningue, that famous corps of the Black +Forest, that had made so much talk, it was but an insignificant detachment of +Wurtemburgers, a couple of battalions of infantry and a squadron of cavalry, +which had maneuvered with such address, marching and countermarching, appearing +in one place and then suddenly popping up in another at a distance, as to gain +for themselves the reputation of being thirty or forty thousand strong. And to +think that that morning they had been near blowing up the viaduct at +Dannemarie! Twenty leagues of fertile country had been depopulated by the most +idiotic of panics, and at the recollection of what they had seen during their +lamentable day’s march, the inhabitants flying in consternation to the +mountains, driving their cattle before them; the press of vehicles, laden with +household effects, streaming cityward and surrounded by bands of weeping women +and children, the soldiers waxed wroth and gave way to bitter, sneering +denunciation of their leaders. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! it is too ridiculous too talk about!” sputtered Loubet, not +stopping to empty his mouth, brandishing his spoon. “They take us out to +fight the enemy, and there’s not a soul to fight with! Twelve leagues +there and twelve leagues back, and not so much as a mouse in front of us! All +that for nothing, just for the fun of being scared to death!” +</p> + +<p> +Chouteau, who was noisily absorbing the last drops in his porringer, bellowed +his opinion of the generals, without mentioning names: +</p> + +<p> +“The pigs! what miserable boobies they are, <i>hein</i>! A pretty pack of +dunghill-cocks the government has given us as commanders! Wonder what they +would do if they had an army actually before them, if they show the white +feather this way when there’s not a Prussian in sight, +<i>hein</i>!—Ah no, not any of it in mine, thank you; soldiers +don’t obey such pigeon-livered gentlemen.” +</p> + +<p> +Someone had thrown another armful of wood on the fire for the pleasurable +sensation of comfort there was in the bright, dancing flame, and Lapoulle, who +was engaged in the luxurious occupation of toasting his shins, suddenly went +off into an imbecile fit of laughter without in the least understanding what it +was about, whereon Jean, who had thus far turned a deaf ear to their talk, +thought it time to interfere, which he did by saying in a fatherly way: +</p> + +<p> +“You had better hold your tongue, you fellows! It might be the worse for +you if anyone should hear you.” +</p> + +<p> +He himself, in his untutored, common-sense way of viewing things, was +exasperated by the stupid incompetency of their commanders, but then discipline +must be maintained, and as Chouteau still kept up a low muttering he cut him +short: +</p> + +<p> +“Be silent, I say! Here is the lieutenant: address yourself to him if you +have anything to say.” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice had listened in silence to the conversation from his place a little to +one side. Ah, truly, the end was near! Scarcely had they made a beginning, and +all was over. That lack of discipline, that seditious spirit among the men at +the very first reverse, had already made the army a demoralized, disintegrated +rabble that would melt away at the first indication of catastrophe. There they +were, under the walls of Belfort, without having sighted a Prussian, and they +were whipped. +</p> + +<p> +The succeeding days were a period of monotony, full of uncertainty and anxious +forebodings. To keep his troops occupied General Douay set them to work on the +defenses of the place, which were in a state of incompleteness; there was great +throwing up of earth and cutting through rock. And not the first item of news! +Where was MacMahon’s army? What was going on at Metz? The wildest rumors +were current, and the Parisian journals, by their system of printing news only +to contradict it the next day, kept the country in an agony of suspense. Twice, +it was said, the general had written and asked for instructions, and had not +even received an answer. On the 12th of August, however, the 7th corps was +augmented by the 3d division, which landed from Italy, but there were still +only two divisions for duty, for the 1st had participated in the defeat at +Froeschwiller, had been swept away in the general rout, and as yet no one had +learned where it had been stranded by the current. After a week of this +abandonment, of this entire separation from the rest of France, a telegram came +bringing them the order to march. The news was well received, for anything was +preferable to the prison life they were leading in Belfort. And while they were +getting themselves in readiness conjecture and surmise were the order of the +day, for no one as yet knew what their destination was to be, some saying that +they were to be sent to the defense of Strasbourg, while others spoke with +confidence of a bold dash into the Black Forest that was to sever the Prussian +line of communication. +</p> + +<p> +Early the next morning the 106th was bundled into cattle-cars and started off +among the first. The car that contained Jean’s squad was particularly +crowded, so much so that Loubet declared there was not even room in it to +sneeze. It was a load of humanity, sent off to the war just as a load of sacks +would have been dispatched to the mill, crowded in so as to get the greatest +number into the smallest space, and as rations had been given out in the usual +hurried, slovenly manner and the men had received in brandy what they should +have received in food, the consequence was that they were all roaring drunk, +with a drunkenness that vented itself in obscene songs, varied by shrieks and +yells. The heavy train rolled slowly onward; pipes were alight and men could no +longer see one another through the dense clouds of smoke; the heat and odor +that emanated from that mass of perspiring human flesh were unendurable, while +from the jolting, dingy van came volleys of shouts and laughter that drowned +the monotonous rattle of the wheels and were lost amid the silence of the +deserted fields. And it was not until they reached Langres that the troops +learned that they were being carried back to Paris. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, <i>nom de Dieu!</i>” exclaimed Chouteau, who already, by +virtue of his oratorical ability, was the acknowledged sovereign of his corner, +“they will station us at Charentonneau, sure, to keep old Bismarck out of +the Tuileries.” +</p> + +<p> +The others laughed loud and long, considering the joke a very good one, though +no one could say why. The most trivial incidents of the journey, however, +served to elicit a storm of yells, cat-calls, and laughter: a group of peasants +standing beside the roadway, or the anxious faces of the people who hung about +the way-stations in the hope of picking up some bits of news from the passing +trains, epitomizing on a small scale the breathless, shuddering alarm that +pervaded all France in the presence of invasion. And so it happened that as the +train thundered by, a fleeting vision of pandemonium, all that the good +burghers obtained in the way of intelligence was the salutations of that cargo +of food for powder as it hurried onward to its destination, fast as steam could +carry it. At a station where they stopped, however, three well-dressed ladies, +wealthy bourgeoises of the town, who distributed cups of bouillon among the +men, were received with great respect. Some of the soldiers shed tears, and +kissed their hands as they thanked them. +</p> + +<p> +But as soon as they were under way again the filthy songs and the wild shouts +began afresh, and so it went on until, a little while after leaving Chaumont, +they met another train that was conveying some batteries of artillery to Metz. +The locomotives slowed down and the soldiers in the two trains fraternized with +a frightful uproar. The artillerymen were also apparently very drunk; they +stood up in their seats, and thrusting hands and arms out of the car-windows, +gave this cry with a vehemence that silenced every other sound: +</p> + +<p> +“To the slaughter! to the slaughter! to the slaughter!” +</p> + +<p> +It was as if a cold wind, a blast from the charnel-house, had swept through the +car. Amid the sudden silence that descended on them Loubet’s irreverent +voice was heard, shouting: +</p> + +<p> +“Not very cheerful companions, those fellows!” +</p> + +<p> +“But they are right,” rejoined Chouteau, as if addressing some +pot-house assemblage; “it is a beastly thing to send a lot of brave boys +to have their brains blown out for a dirty little quarrel about which they +don’t know the first word.” +</p> + +<p> +And much more in the same strain. He was the type of the Belleville agitator, a +lazy, dissipated mechanic, perverting his fellow workmen, constantly spouting +the ill-digested odds and ends of political harangues that he had heard, +belching forth in the same breath the loftiest sentiments and the most asinine +revolutionary clap-trap. He knew it all, and tried to inoculate his comrades +with his ideas, especially Lapoulle, of whom he had promised to make a lad of +spirit. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t you see, old man, it’s all perfectly simple. If +Badinguet and Bismarck have a quarrel, let ’em go to work with their +fists and fight it out and not involve in their row some hundreds of thousands +of men who don’t even know one another by sight and have not the +slightest desire to fight.” +</p> + +<p> +The whole car laughed and applauded, and Lapoulle, who did not know who +Badinguet<a href="#fn1" name="fnref1" id="fnref1"><sup>[1]</sup></a> was, and +could not have told whether it was a king or an emperor in whose cause he was +fighting, repeated like the gigantic baby that he was: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn1" id="fn1"></a> <a href="#fnref1">[1]</a> +Napoleon III. +</p> + +<p> +“Of course, let ’em fight it out, and take a drink together +afterward.” +</p> + +<p> +But Chouteau had turned to Pache, whom he now proceeded to take in hand. +</p> + +<p> +“You are in the same boat, you, who pretend to believe in the good God. +He has forbidden men to fight, your good God has. Why, then, are you here, you +great simpleton?” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Dame</i>!” Pache doubtfully replied, “it is not for any +pleasure of mine that I am here—but the gendarmes—” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, indeed, the gendarmes! let the gendarmes go milk the +ducks!—say, do you know what we would do, all of us, if we had the least +bit of spirit? I’ll tell you; just the minute that they land us from the +cars we’d skip; yes, we’d go straight home, and leave that pig of a +Badinguet and his gang of two-for-a-penny generals to settle accounts with +their beastly Prussians as best they may!” +</p> + +<p> +There was a storm of bravos; the leaven of perversion was doing its work and it +was Chouteau’s hour of triumph, airing his muddled theories and ringing +the changes on the Republic, the Rights of Man, the rottenness of the Empire, +which must be destroyed, and the treason of their commanders, who, as it had +been proved, had sold themselves to the enemy at the rate of a million a piece. +<i>He</i> was a revolutionist, he boldly declared; the others could not even +say that they were republicans, did not know what their opinions were, in fact, +except Loubet, the concocter of stews and hashes, and <i>he</i> had an opinion, +for he had been for soup, first, last, and always; but they all, carried away +by his eloquence, shouted none the less lustily against the Emperor, their +officers, the whole d——d shop, which they would leave the first +chance they got, see if they wouldn’t! And Chouteau, while fanning the +flame of their discontent, kept an eye on Maurice, the fine gentleman, who +appeared interested and whom he was proud to have for a companion; so that, by +way of inflaming <i>his</i> passions also, it occurred to him to make an attack +on Jean, who had thus far been tranquilly watching the proceedings out of his +half-closed eyes, unmoved among the general uproar. If there was any remnant of +resentment in the bosom of the volunteer since the time when the corporal had +inflicted such a bitter humiliation on him by forcing him to resume his +abandoned musket, now was a fine chance to set the two men by the ears. +</p> + +<p> +“I know some folks who talk of shooting us,” Chouteau continued, +with an ugly look at Jean; “dirty, miserable skunks, who treat us worse +than beasts, and, when a man’s back is broken with the weight of his +knapsack and Brownbess, <i>aïe</i>! <i>aïe</i>! object to his planting them in +the fields to see if a new crop will grow from them. What do you suppose they +would say, comrades, <i>hein</i>! now that we are masters, if we should pitch +them all out upon the track, and teach them better manners? That’s the +way to do, <i>hein</i>! We’ll show ’em that we won’t be +bothered any longer with their mangy wars. Down with Badinguet’s +bed-bugs! Death to the curs who want to make us fight!” +</p> + +<p> +Jean’s face was aflame with the crimson tide that never failed to rush to +his cheeks in his infrequent fits of anger. He rose, wedged in though as he was +between his neighbors as firmly as in a vise, and his blazing eyes and doubled +fists had such a look of business about them that the other quailed. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Tonnerre de Dieu!</i> will you be silent, pig! For hours I have sat +here without saying anything, because we have no longer any leaders, and I +could not even send you to the guard-house. Yes, there’s no doubt of it, +it would be a good thing to shoot such men as you and rid the regiment of the +vermin. But see here, as there’s no longer any discipline, I will attend +to your case myself. There’s no corporal here now, but a hard-fisted +fellow who is tired of listening to your jaw, and he’ll see if he +can’t make you keep your potato-trap shut. Ah! you d——d +coward! You won’t fight yourself and you want to keep others from +fighting! Repeat your words once and I’ll knock your head off!” +</p> + +<p> +By this time the whole car, won over by Jean’s manly attitude, had +deserted Chouteau, who cowered back in his seat as if not anxious to face his +opponent’s big fists. +</p> + +<p> +“And I care no more for Badinguet than I do for you, do you understand? I +despise politics, whether they are republican or imperial, and now, as in the +past, when I used to cultivate my little farm, there is but one thing that I +wish for, and that is the happiness of all, peace and good-order, freedom for +every man to attend to his affairs. No one denies that war is a terrible +business, but that is no reason why a man should not be treated to the sight of +a firing-party when he comes trying to dishearten people who already have +enough to do to keep their courage up. Good Heavens, friends, how it makes a +man’s pulses leap to be told that the Prussians are in the land and that +he is to go help drive them out!” +</p> + +<p> +Then, with the customary fickleness of a mob, the soldiers applauded the +corporal, who again announced his determination to thrash the first man of his +squad who should declare non-combatant principles. Bravo, the corporal! they +would soon settle old Bismarck’s hash! And, in the midst of the wild +ovation of which he was the object, Jean, who had recovered his self-control, +turned politely to Maurice and addressed him as if he had not been one of his +men: +</p> + +<p> +“Monsieur, you cannot have anything in common with those poltroons. Come, +we haven’t had a chance at them yet; we are the boys who will give them a +good basting yet, those Prussians!” +</p> + +<p> +It seemed to Maurice at that moment as if a ray of cheering sunshine had +penetrated his heart. He was humiliated, vexed with himself. What! that man was +nothing more than an uneducated rustic! And he remembered the fierce hatred +that had burned in his bosom the day he was compelled to pick up the musket +that he had thrown away in a moment of madness. But he also remembered his +emotion at seeing the two big tears that stood in the corporal’s eyes +when the old grandmother, her gray hairs streaming in the wind, had so bitterly +reproached them and pointed to the Rhine that lay beneath the horizon in the +distance. Was it the brotherhood of fatigue and suffering endured in common +that had served thus to dissipate his wrathful feelings? He was Bonapartist by +birth, and had never thought of the Republic except in a speculative, dreamy +way; his feeling toward the Emperor, personally, too, inclined to friendliness, +and he was favorable to the war, the very condition of national existence, the +great regenerative school of nationalities. Hope, all at once, with one of +those fitful impulses of the imagination, that were common in his temperament, +revived in him, while the enthusiastic ardor that had impelled him to enlist +one night again surged through his veins and swelled his heart with confidence +of victory. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, of course, Corporal,” he gayly replied, “we shall give +them a basting!” +</p> + +<p> +And still the car kept rolling onward with its load of human freight, filled +with reeking smoke of pipes and emanations of the crowded men, belching its +ribald songs and drunken shouts among the expectant throngs of the stations +through which it passed, among the rows of white-faced peasants who lined the +iron-way. On the 20th of August they were at the Pantin Station in Paris, and +that same evening boarded another train which landed them next day at Rheims +<i>en route</i> for the camp at Châlons. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap03"></a>III.</h2> + +<p> +Maurice was greatly surprised when the 106th, leaving the cars at Rheims, +received orders to go into camp there. So they were not to go to Châlons, then, +and unite with the army there? And when, two hours later, his regiment had +stacked muskets a league or so from the city over in the direction of +Courcelles, in the broad plain that lies along the canal between the Aisne and +Marne, his astonishment was greater still to learn that the entire army of +Châlons had been falling back all that morning and was about to bivouac at that +place. From one extremity of the horizon to the other, as far as Saint Thierry +and Menvillette, even beyond the Laon road, the tents were going up, and when +it should be night the fires of four army-corps would be blazing there. It was +evident that the plan now was to go and take a position under the walls of +Paris and there await the Prussians; and it was fortunate that that plan had +received the approbation of the government, for was it not the wisest thing +they could do? +</p> + +<p> +Maurice devoted the afternoon of the 21st to strolling about the camp in search +of news. The greatest freedom prevailed; discipline appeared to have been +relaxed still further, the men went and came at their own sweet will. He found +no obstacle in the way of his return to the city, where he desired to cash a +money-order for a hundred francs that his sister Henriette had sent him. While +in a café he heard a sergeant telling of the disaffection that existed in the +eighteen battalions of the garde mobile of the Seine, which had just been sent +back to Paris; the 6th battalion had been near killing their officers. Not a +day passed at the camp that the generals were not insulted, and since +Froeschwiller the soldiers had ceased to give Marshal MacMahon the military +salute. The café resounded with the sound of voices in excited conversation; a +violent dispute arose between two sedate burghers in respect to the number of +men that MacMahon would have at his disposal. One of them made the wild +assertion that there would be three hundred thousand; the other, who seemed to +be more at home upon the subject, stated the strength of the four corps: the +12th, which had just been made complete at the camp with great difficulty with +the assistance of provisional regiments and a division of infanterie de marine; +the 1st, which had been coming straggling in in fragments ever since the 14th +of the month and of which they were doing what they could to perfect the +organization; the 5th, defeated before it had ever fought a battle, swept away +and broken up in the general panic, and finally, the 7th, then landing from the +cars, demoralized like all the rest and minus its 1st division, of which it had +just recovered the remains at Rheims; in all, one hundred and twenty thousand +at the outside, including the cavalry, Bonnemain’s and +Margueritte’s divisions. When the sergeant took a hand in the quarrel, +however, speaking of the army in terms of the utmost contempt, characterizing +it as a ruffianly rabble, with no <i>esprit de corps</i>, with nothing to keep +it together,—a pack of greenhorns with idiots to conduct them, to the +slaughter,—the two bourgeois began to be uneasy, and fearing there might +be trouble brewing, made themselves scarce. +</p> + +<p> +When outside upon the street Maurice hailed a newsboy and purchased a copy of +every paper he could lay hands on, stuffing some in his pockets and reading +others as he walked along under the stately trees that line the pleasant +avenues of the old city. Where could the German armies be? It seemed as if +obscurity had suddenly swallowed them up. Two were over Metz way, of course: +the first, the one commanded by General von Steinmetz, observing the place; the +second, that of Prince Frederick Charles, aiming to ascend the right bank of +the Moselle in order to cut Bazaine off from Paris. But the third army, that of +the Crown Prince of Prussia, the army that had been victorious at Wissembourg +and Froeschwiller and had driven our 1st and 5th corps, where was it now, where +was it to be located amid the tangled mess of contradictory advices? Was it +still in camp at Nancy, or was it true that it had arrived before Châlons, and +was that the reason why we had abandoned our camp there in such hot haste, +burning our stores, clothing, forage, provisions, everything—property of +which the value to the nation was beyond compute? And when the different plans +with which our generals were credited came to be taken into consideration, then +there was more confusion, a fresh set of contradictory hypotheses to be +encountered. Maurice had until now been cut off in a measure from the outside +world, and now for the first time learned what had been the course of events in +Paris; the blasting effect of defeat upon a populace that had been confident of +victory, the terrible commotions in the streets, the convoking of the Chambers, +the fall of the liberal ministry that had effected the plebiscite, the +abrogation of the Emperor’s rank as General of the Army and the transfer +of the supreme command to Marshal Bazaine. The Emperor had been present at the +camp of Châlons since the 16th, and all the newspapers were filled with a grand +council that had been held on the 17th, at which Prince Napoleon and some of +the generals were present, but none of them were agreed upon the decisions that +had been arrived at outside of the resultant facts, which were that General +Trochu had been appointed governor of Paris and Marshal MacMahon given the +command of the army of Châlons, and the inference from this was that the +Emperor was to be shorn of all his authority. Consternation, irresolution, +conflicting plans that were laid aside and replaced by fresh ones hour by hour; +these were the things that everybody felt were in the air. And ever and always +the question: Where were the German armies? Who were in the right, those who +asserted that Bazaine had no force worth mentioning in front of him and was +free to make his retreat through the towns of the north whenever he chose to do +so, or those who declared that he was already besieged in Metz? There was a +constantly recurring rumor of a series of engagements that had raged during an +entire week, from the 14th until the 20th, but it failed to receive +confirmation. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice’s legs ached with fatigue; he went and sat down upon a bench. +Around him the life of the city seemed to be going on as usual; there were +nursemaids seated in the shade of the handsome trees watching the sports of +their little charges, small property owners strolled leisurely about the walks +enjoying their daily constitutional. He had taken up his papers again, when his +eyes lighted on an article that had escaped his notice, the +“leader” in a rabid republican sheet; then everything was made +clear to him. The paper stated that at the council of the 17th at the camp of +Châlons the retreat of the army on Paris had been fully decided on, and that +General Trochu’s appointment to the command of the city had no other +object than to facilitate the Emperor’s return; but those resolutions, +the journal went on to say, were rendered unavailing by the attitude of the +Empress-regent and the new ministry. It was the Empress’s opinion that +the Emperor’s return would certainly produce a revolution; she was +reported to have said: “He will never reach the Tuileries alive.” +Starting with these premises she insisted with the utmost urgency that the army +should advance, at every risk, whatever might be the cost of human life, and +effect a junction with the army of Metz, in which course she was supported +moreover by General de Palikao, the Minister of War, who had a plan of his own +for reaching Bazaine by a rapid and victorious march. And Maurice, letting his +paper fall from his hand, his eyes bent on space, believed that he now had the +key to the entire mystery; the two conflicting plans, MacMahon’s +hesitation to undertake that dangerous flank movement with the unreliable army +at his command, the impatient orders that came to him from Paris, each more +tart and imperative than its predecessor, urging him on to that mad, desperate +enterprise. Then, as the central figure in that tragic conflict, the vision of +the Emperor suddenly rose distinctly before his inner eyes, deprived of his +imperial authority, which he had committed to the hands of the Empress-regent, +stripped of his military command, which he had conferred on Marshal Bazaine; a +nullity, the vague and unsubstantial shadow of an emperor, a nameless, +cumbersome nonentity whom no one knew what to do with, whom Paris rejected and +who had ceased to have a position in the army, for he had pledged himself to +issue no further orders. +</p> + +<p> +The next morning, however, after a rainy night through which he slept outside +his tent on the bare ground, wrapped in his rubber blanket, Maurice was cheered +by the tidings that the retreat on Paris had finally carried the day. Another +council had been held during the night, it was said, at which M. Rouher, the +former vice-Emperor, had been present; he had been sent by the Empress to +accelerate the movement toward Verdun, and it would seem that the marshal had +succeeded in convincing him of the rashness of such an undertaking. Were there +unfavorable tidings from Bazaine? no one could say for certain. But the absence +of news was itself a circumstance of evil omen, and all among the most +influential of the generals had cast their vote for the march on Paris, for +which they would be the relieving army. And Maurice, happy in the conviction +that the retrograde movement would commence not later than the morrow, since +the orders for it were said to be already issued, thought he would gratify a +boyish longing that had been troubling him for some time past, to give the +go-by for one day to soldier’s fare, to wit and eat his breakfast off a +cloth, with the accompaniment of plate, knife and fork, carafe, and a bottle of +good wine, things of which it seemed to him that he had been deprived for +months and months. He had money in his pocket, so off he started with quickened +pulse, as if going out for a lark, to search for a place of entertainment. +</p> + +<p> +It was just at the entrance of the village of Courcelles, across the canal, +that he found the breakfast for which his mouth was watering. He had been told +the day before that the Emperor had taken up his quarters in one of the houses +of the village, and having gone to stroll there out of curiosity, now +remembered to have seen at the junction of the two roads this little inn with +its arbor, the trellises of which were loaded with big clusters of ripe, +golden, luscious grapes. There was an array of green-painted tables set out in +the shade of the luxuriant vine, while through the open door of the vast +kitchen he had caught glimpses of the antique clock, the colored prints pasted +on the walls, and the comfortable landlady watching the revolving spit. It was +cheerful, smiling, hospitable; a regular type of the good old-fashioned French +hostelry. +</p> + +<p> +A pretty, white-necked waitress came up and asked him with a great display of +flashing teeth: +</p> + +<p> +“Will monsieur have breakfast?” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course I will! Give me some eggs, a cutlet, and cheese. And a bottle +of white wine!” +</p> + +<p> +She turned to go; he called her back. “Tell me, is it not in one of those +houses that the Emperor has his quarters?” +</p> + +<p> +“There, monsieur, in that one right before you. Only you can’t see +it, for it is concealed by the high wall with the overhanging trees.” +</p> + +<p> +He loosed his belt so as to be more at ease in his capote, and entering the +arbor, chose his table, on which the sunlight, finding its way here and there +through the green canopy above, danced in little golden spangles. And +constantly his thoughts kept returning to that high wall behind which was the +Emperor. A most mysterious house it was, indeed, shrinking from the public +gaze, even its slated roof invisible. Its entrance was on the other side, upon +the village street, a narrow winding street between dead-walls, without a shop, +without even a window to enliven it. The small garden in the rear, among the +sparse dwellings that environed it, was like an island of dense verdure. And +across the road he noticed a spacious courtyard, surrounded by sheds and +stables, crowded with a countless train of carriages and baggage-wagons, among +which men and horses, coming and going, kept up an unceasing bustle. +</p> + +<p> +“Are those all for the service of the Emperor?” he inquired, +meaning to say something humorous to the girl, who was laying a snow-white +cloth upon the table. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, for the Emperor himself, and no one else!” she pleasantly +replied, glad of a chance to show her white teeth once more; and then she went +on to enumerate the suite from information that she had probably received from +the stablemen, who had been coming to the inn to drink since the preceding day; +there were the staff, comprising twenty-five officers, the sixty cent-gardes +and the half-troop of guides for escort duty, the six gendarmes of the +provost-guard; then the household, seventy-three persons in all, chamberlains, +attendants for the table and the bedroom, cooks and scullions; then four +saddle-horses and two carriages for the Emperor’s personal use, ten +horses for the equerries, eight for the grooms and outriders, not mentioning +forty-seven post-horses; then a <i>char à banc</i> and twelve baggage wagons, +two of which, appropriated to the cooks, had particularly excited her +admiration by reason of the number and variety of the utensils they contained, +all in the most splendid order. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, sir, you never saw such stew-pans! they shone like silver. And all +sorts of dishes, and jars and jugs, and lots of things of which it would puzzle +me to tell the use! And a cellar of wine, claret, burgundy, and +champagne—yes! enough to supply a wedding feast.” +</p> + +<p> +The unusual luxury of the snowy table-cloth and the white wine sparkling in his +glass sharpened Maurice’s appetite; he devoured his two poached eggs with +a zest that made him fear he was developing epicurean tastes. When he turned to +the left and looked out through the entrance of the leafy arbor he had before +him the spacious plain, covered with long rows of tents: a busy, populous city +that had risen like an exhalation from the stubble-fields between Rheims city +and the canal. A few clumps of stunted trees, three wind-mills lifting their +skeleton arms in the air, were all there was to relieve the monotony of the +gray waste, but above the huddled roofs of Rheims, lost in the sea of foliage +of the tall chestnut-trees, the huge bulk of the cathedral with its slender +spires was profiled against the blue sky, looming colossal, notwithstanding the +distance, beside the modest houses. Memories of school and boyhood’s days +came over him, the tasks he had learned and recited: all about the <i>sacre</i> +of our kings, the <i>sainte ampoule</i>, Clovis, Jeanne d’Arc, all the +long list of glories of old France. +</p> + +<p> +Then Maurice’s thoughts reverted again to that unassuming bourgeoise +house, so mysterious in its solitude, and its imperial occupant; and directing +his eyes upon the high, yellow wall he was surprised to read, scrawled there in +great, awkward letters, the legend: <i>Vive Napoléon!</i> among the meaningless +obscenities traced by schoolboys. Winter’s storms and summer’s sun +had half effaced the lettering; evidently the inscription was very ancient. How +strange, to see upon that wall that old heroic battle-cry, which probably had +been placed there in honor of the uncle, not of the nephew! It brought all his +childhood back to him, and Maurice was again a boy, scarcely out of his +mother’s arms, down there in distant Chêne-Populeux, listening to the +stories of his grandfather, a veteran of the Grand Army. His mother was dead, +his father, in the inglorious days that followed the collapse of the empire, +had been compelled to accept a humble position as collector, and there the +grandfather lived, with nothing to support him save his scanty pension, in the +poor home of the small public functionary, his sole comfort to fight his +battles o’er again for the benefit of his two little twin grandchildren, +the boy and the girl, a pair of golden-haired youngsters to whom he was in some +sense a mother. He would place Maurice on his right knee and Henriette on his +left, and then for hours on end the narrative would run on in Homeric strain. +</p> + +<p> +But small attention was paid to dates; his story was of the dire shock of +conflicting nations, and was not to be hampered by the minute exactitude of the +historian. Successively or together English, Austrians, Prussians, Russians +appeared upon the scene, according to the then prevailing condition of the +ever-changing alliances, and it was not always an easy matter to tell why one +nation received a beating in preference to another, but beaten they all were in +the end, inevitably beaten from the very commencement, in a whirlwind of genius +and heroic daring that swept great armies like chaff from off the earth. There +was Marengo, the classic battle of the plain, with the consummate generalship +of its broad plan and the faultless retreat of the battalions by squares, +silent and impassive under the enemy’s terrible fire; the battle, famous +in story, lost at three o’clock and won at six, where the eight hundred +grenadiers of the Consular Guard withstood the onset of the entire Austrian +cavalry, where Desaix arrived to change impending defeat to glorious victory +and die. There was Austerlitz, with its sun of glory shining forth from amid +the wintry sky, Austerlitz, commencing with the capture of the plateau of +Pratzen and ending with the frightful catastrophe on the frozen lake, where an +entire Russian corps, men, guns, horses, went crashing through the ice, while +Napoleon, who in his divine omniscience had foreseen it all, of course, +directed his artillery to play upon the struggling mass. There was Jena, where +so many of Prussia’s bravest found a grave; at first the red flames of +musketry flashing through the October mists, and Ney’s impatience, near +spoiling all until Augereau comes wheeling into line and saves him; the fierce +charge that tore the enemy’s center in twain, and finally panic, the +headlong rout of their boasted cavalry, whom our hussars mow down like ripened +grain, strewing the romantic glen with a harvest of men and horses. And Eylau, +cruel Eylau, bloodiest battle of them all, where the maimed corpses cumbered +the earth in piles; Eylau, whose new-fallen snow was stained with blood, the +burial-place of heroes; Eylau, in whose name reverberates still the thunder of +the charge of Murat’s eighty squadrons, piercing the Russian lines in +every direction, heaping the ground so thick with dead that Napoleon himself +could not refrain from tears. Then Friedland, the trap into which the Russians +again allowed themselves to be decoyed like a flock of brainless sparrows, the +masterpiece of the Emperor’s consummate strategy; our left held back as +in a leash, motionless, without a sign of life, while Ney was carrying the +city, street by street, and destroying the bridges, then the left hurled like a +thunderbolt on the enemy’s right, driving it into the river and +annihilating it in that <i>cul-de-sac</i>; the slaughter so great that at ten +o’clock at night the bloody work was not completed, most wonderful of all +the successes of the great imperial epic. And Wagram, where it was the aim of +the Austrians to cut us off from the Danube; they keep strengthening their left +in order to overwhelm Masséna, who is wounded and issues his orders from an +open carriage, and Napoleon, like a malicious Titan, lets them go on unchecked; +then all at once a hundred guns vomit their terrible fire upon their weakened +center, driving it backward more than a league, and their left, terror-stricken +to find itself unsupported, gives way before the again victorious Masséna, +sweeping away before it the remainder of the army, as when a broken dike lets +loose its torrents upon the fields. And finally the Moskowa, where the bright +sun of Austerlitz shone for the last time; where the contending hosts were +mingled in confused <i>mêlée</i> amid deeds of the most desperate daring: +mamelons carried under an unceasing fire of musketry, redoubts stormed with the +naked steel, every inch of ground fought over again and again; such determined +resistance on the part of the Russian Guards that our final victory was only +assured by Murat’s mad charges, the concentrated fire of our three +hundred pieces of artillery, and the valor of Ney, who was the hero of that +most obstinate of conflicts. And be the battle what it might, ever our flags +floated proudly on the evening air, and as the bivouac fires were lighted on +the conquered field out rang the old battle-cry: <i>Vive Napoléon!</i> France, +carrying her invincible Eagles from end to end of Europe, seemed everywhere at +home, having but to raise her finger to make her will respected by the nations, +mistress of a world that in vain conspired to crush her and upon which she set +her foot. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice was contentedly finishing his cutlet, cheered not so much by the wine +that sparkled in his glass as by the glorious memories that were teeming in his +brain, when his glance encountered two ragged, dust-stained soldiers, less like +soldiers than weary tramps just off the road; they were asking the attendant +for information as to the position of the regiments that were encamped along +the canal. He hailed them. +</p> + +<p> +“Hallo there, comrades, this way! You are 7th corps men, aren’t +you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Right you are, sir; 1st division—at least I am, more by token that +I was at Froeschwiller, where it was warm enough, I can tell you. The comrade, +here, belongs in the 1st corps; he was at Wissembourg, another beastly +hole.” +</p> + +<p> +They told their story, how they had been swept away in the general panic, had +crawled into a ditch half-dead with fatigue and hunger, each of them slightly +wounded, and since then had been dragging themselves along in the rear of the +army, compelled to lie over in towns when the fever-fits came on, until at last +they had reached the camp and were on the lookout to find their regiments. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice, who had a piece of Gruyère before him, noticed the hungry eyes fixed +on his plate. +</p> + +<p> +“Hi there, mademoiselle! bring some more cheese, will you—and bread +and wine. You will join me, won’t you, comrades? It is my treat. +Here’s to your good health!” +</p> + +<p> +They drew their chairs up to the table, only too delighted with the invitation. +Their entertainer watched them as they attacked the food, and a thrill of pity +ran through him as he beheld their sorry plight, dirty, ragged, arms gone, +their sole attire a pair of red trousers and the capote, kept in place by bits +of twine and so patched and pieced with shreds of vari-colored cloth that one +would have taken them for men who had been looting some battle-field and were +wearing the spoil they had gathered there. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! <i>foutre</i>, yes!” continued the taller of the two as he +plied his jaws, “it was no laughing matter there! You ought to have seen +it,—tell him how it was, Coutard.” +</p> + +<p> +And the little man told his story with many gestures, describing figures on the +air with his bread. +</p> + +<p> +“I was washing my shirt, you see, while the rest of them were making +soup. Just try and picture to yourself a miserable hole, a regular trap, all +surrounded by dense woods that gave those Prussian pigs a chance to crawl up to +us before we ever suspected they were there. So, then, about seven +o’clock the shells begin to come tumbling about our ears. <i>Nom de +Dieu!</i> but it was lively work! we jumped for our shooting-irons, and up to +eleven o’clock it looked as if we were going to polish ’em off in +fine style. But you must know that there were only five thousand of us, and the +beggars kept coming, coming as if there was no end to them. I was posted on a +little hill, behind a bush, and I could see them debouching in front, to right, +to left, like rows of black ants swarming from their hill, and when you thought +there were none left there were always plenty more. There’s no use +mincing matters, we all thought that our leaders must be first-class +nincompoops to thrust us into such a hornet’s nest, with no support at +hand, and leave us to be crushed there without coming to our assistance. And +then our General, Douay,<a href="#fn2" name="fnref2" id="fnref2"><sup>[2]</sup></a> +poor devil! neither a fool nor a coward, that man,—a bullet comes along +and lays him on his back. That ended it; no one left to command us! No matter, +though, we kept on fighting all the same; but they were too many for us, we had +to fall back at last. We held the railway station for a long time, and then we +fought behind a wall, and the uproar was enough to wake the dead. And then, +when the city was taken, I don’t exactly remember how it came about, but +we were upon a mountain, the Geissberg, I think they call it, and there we +intrenched ourselves in a sort of castle, and how we did give it to the pigs! +they jumped about the rocks like kids, and it was fun to pick ’em off and +see ’em tumble on their nose. But what would you have? they kept coming, +coming, all the time, ten men to our one, and all the artillery they could wish +for. Courage is a very good thing in its place, but sometimes it gets a man +into difficulties, and so, at last, when it got too hot to stand it any longer, +we cut and run. But regarded as nincompoops, our officers were a decided +success; don’t you think so, Picot?” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn2" id="fn2"></a> <a href="#fnref2">[2]</a> +This was Abel Douay—not to be confounded with his brother, Félix, who +commanded the 7th corps.—T<small>R</small>. +</p> + +<p> +There was a brief interval of silence. Picot tossed off a glass of the white +wine and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. +</p> + +<p> +“Of course,” said he. “It was just the same at Froeschwiller; +the general who would give battle under such circumstances is a fit subject for +a lunatic asylum. That’s what my captain said, and he’s a little +man who knows what he is talking about. The truth of the matter is that no one +knew anything; we were only forty thousand strong, and we were surprised by a +whole army of those pigs. And no one was expecting to fight that day; battle +was joined by degrees, one portion after another of our troops became engaged, +against the wishes of our commanders, as it seems. Of course, I didn’t +see the whole of the affair, but what I do know is that the dance lasted by +fits and starts all day long; a body would think it was ended; not a bit of it! +away would go the music more furiously than ever. The commencement was at +Woerth, a pretty little village with a funny clock-tower that looks like a big +stove, owing to the earthenware tiles they have stuck all over it. I’ll +be hanged if I know why we let go our hold of it that morning, for we broke all +our teeth and nails trying to get it back again in the afternoon, without +succeeding. Oh, my children, if I were to tell you of the slaughter there, the +throats that were cut and the brains knocked out, you would refuse to believe +me! The next place where we had trouble was around a village with the +jaw-breaking name of Elsasshausen. We got a peppering from a lot of guns that +banged away at us at their ease from the top of a blasted hill that we had also +abandoned that morning, why, no one has ever been able to tell. And there it +was that with these very eyes of mine I saw the famous charge of the +cuirassiers. Ah, how gallantly they rode to their death, poor fellows! A shame +it was, I say, to let men and horses charge over ground like that, covered with +brush and furze, cut up by ditches. And on top of it all, <i>nom de Dieu!</i> +what good could they accomplish? But it was very <i>chic</i> all the same; it +was a beautiful sight to see. The next thing for us to do, shouldn’t you +suppose so? was to go and sit down somewhere and try to get our wind again. +They had set fire to the village and it was burning like tinder, and the whole +gang of Bavarian, Wurtemburgian and Prussian pigs, more than a hundred and +twenty thousand of them there were, as we found out afterward, had got around +into our rear and on our flanks. But there was to be no rest for us then, for +just at that time the fiddles began to play again a livelier tune than ever +around Froeschwiller. For there’s no use talking, fellows, MacMahon may +be a blockhead but he is a brave man; you ought to have seen him on his big +horse, with the shells bursting all about him! The best thing to do would have +been to give leg-bail at the beginning, for it is no disgrace to a general to +refuse to fight an army of superior numbers, but he, once we had gone in, was +bound to see the thing through to the end. And see it through he did! why, I +tell you that the men down in Froeschwiller were no longer human beings; they +were ravening wolves devouring one another. For near two hours the gutters ran +red with blood. All the same, however, we had to knuckle under in the end. And +to think that after it was all over they should come and tell us that we had +whipped the Bavarians over on our left! By the piper that played before Moses, +if we had only had a hundred and twenty thousand men, if <i>we</i> had had +guns, and leaders with a little pluck!” +</p> + +<p> +Loud and angry were the denunciations of Coutard and Picot in their ragged, +dusty uniforms as they cut themselves huge slices of bread and bolted bits of +cheese, evoking their bitter memories there in the shade of the pretty trellis, +where the sun played hide and seek among the purple and gold of the clusters of +ripening grapes. They had come now to the horrible flight that succeeded the +defeat; the broken, demoralized, famishing regiments flying through the fields, +the highroads blocked with men, horses, wagons, guns, in inextricable +confusion; all the wreck and ruin of a beaten army that pressed on, on, on, +with the chill breath of panic on their backs. As they had not had wit enough +to fall back while there was time and take post among the passes of the Vosges, +where ten thousand men would have sufficed to hold in check a hundred thousand, +they should at least have blown up the bridges and destroyed the tunnels; but +the generals had lost their heads, and both sides were so dazed, each was so +ignorant of the other’s movements, that for a time each of them was +feeling to ascertain the position of its opponent, MacMahon hurrying off toward +Luneville, while the Crown Prince of Prussia was looking for him in the +direction of the Vosges. On the 7th the remnant of the 1st corps passed through +Saverne, like a swollen stream that carries away upon its muddy bosom all with +which it comes in contact. On the 8th, at Sarrebourg, the 5th corps came +tumbling in upon the 1st, like one mad mountain torrent pouring its waters into +another. The 5th was also flying, defeated without having fought a battle, +sweeping away with it its commander, poor General de Failly, almost crazy with +the thought that to his inactivity was imputed the responsibility of the +defeat, when the fault all rested in the Marshal’s having failed to send +him orders. The mad flight continued on the 9th and 10th, a stampede in which +no one turned to look behind him. On the 11th, in order to turn Nancy, which a +mistaken rumor had reported to be occupied by the enemy, they made their way in +a pouring rainstorm to Bayon; the 12th they camped at Haroue, the 13th at +Vicherey, and on the 14th were at Neufchâteau, where at last they struck the +railroad, and for three days the work went on of loading the weary men into the +cars that were to take them to Châlons. Twenty-four hours after the last train +rolled out of the station the Prussians entered the town. “Ah, the cursed +luck!” said Picot in conclusion; “how we had to ply our legs! And +we who should by rights have been in hospital!” +</p> + +<p> +Coutard emptied what was left in the bottle into his own and his +comrade’s glass. “Yes, we got on our pins, somehow, and are running +yet. Bah! it is the best thing for us, after all, since it gives us a chance to +drink the health of those who were not knocked over.” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice saw through it all. The sledge hammer blow of Froeschwiller, following +so close on the heels of the idiotic surprise at Wissembourg, was the lightning +flash whose baleful light disclosed to him the entire naked, terrible truth. We +were taken unprepared; we had neither guns, nor men, nor generals, while our +despised foe was an innumerable host, provided with all modern appliances and +faultless in discipline and leadership. The three German armies had burst apart +the weak line of our seven corps, scattered between Metz and Strasbourg, like +three powerful wedges. We were doomed to fight our battle out unaided; nothing +could be hoped for now from Austria and Italy, for all the Emperor’s +plans were disconcerted by the tardiness of our operations and the incapacity +of the commanders. Fate, even, seemed to be working against us, heaping all +sorts of obstacles and ill-timed accidents in our path and favoring the secret +plan of the Prussians, which was to divide our armies, throwing one portion +back on Metz, where it would be cut off from France, while they, having first +destroyed the other fragment, should be marching on Paris. It was as plain now +as a problem in mathematics that our defeat would be owing to causes that were +patent to everyone; it was bravery without intelligent guidance pitted against +numbers and cold science. Men might discuss the question as they would in after +days; happen what might, defeat was certain in spite of everything, as certain +and inexorable as the laws of nature that rule our planet. +</p> + +<p> +In the midst of his uncheerful revery, Maurice’s eyes suddenly lighted on +the legend scrawled on the wall before him—<i>Vive Napoléon!</i> and a +sensation of intolerable distress seemed to pierce his heart like a red hot +iron. Could it be true, then, that France, whose victories were the theme of +song and story everywhere, the great nation whose drums had sounded throughout +the length and breadth of Europe, had been thrown in the dust at the first +onset by an insignificant race, despised of everyone? Fifty years had sufficed +to compass it; the world had changed, and defeat most fearful had overtaken +those who had been deemed invincible. He remembered the words that had been +uttered by Weiss his brother-in-law, during that evening of anxiety when they +were at Mülhausen. Yes, he alone of them had been clear of vision, had +penetrated the hidden causes that had long been slowly sapping our strength, +had felt the freshening gale of youth and progress under the impulse of which +Germany was being wafted onward to prosperity and power. Was not the old +warlike age dying and a new one coming to the front? Woe to that one among the +nations which halted in its onward march! the victory is to those who are with +the advance-guard, to those who are clear of head and strong of body, to the +most powerful. +</p> + +<p> +But just then there came from the smoke-blackened kitchen, where the walls were +bright with the colored prints of Epinal, a sound of voices and the squalling +of a girl who submits, not unwillingly, to be tousled. It was Lieutenant +Rochas, availing himself of his privilege as a conquering hero, to catch and +kiss the pretty waitress. He came out into the arbor, where he ordered a cup of +coffee to be served him, and as he had heard the concluding words of +Picot’s narrative, proceeded to take a hand in the conversation: +</p> + +<p> +“Bah! my children, those things that you are speaking of don’t +amount to anything. It is only the beginning of the dance; you will see the fun +commence in earnest presently. <i>Pardi</i>! up to the present time they have +been five to our one, but things are going to take a change now; just put that +in your pipe and smoke it. We are three hundred thousand strong here, and every +move we make, which nobody can see through, is made with the intention of +bringing the Prussians down on us, while Bazaine, who has got his eye on them, +will take them in their rear. And then we’ll smash ’em, +<i>crac</i>! just as I smash this fly!” +</p> + +<p> +Bringing his hands together with a sounding clap he caught and crushed a fly on +the wing, and he laughed loud and cheerily, believing with all his simple soul +in the feasibility of a plan that seemed so simple, steadfast in his faith in +the invincibility of French courage. He good-naturedly informed the two +soldiers of the exact position of their regiments, then lit a cigar and seated +himself contentedly before his <i>demitasse</i>. +</p> + +<p> +“The pleasure was all mine, comrades!” Maurice replied to Coutard +and Picot, who, as they were leaving, thanked him for the cheese and wine. +</p> + +<p> +He had also called for a cup of coffee and sat watching the Lieutenant, whose +hopefulness had communicated itself to him, a little surprised, however, to +hear him enumerate their strength at three hundred thousand men, when it was +not more than a hundred thousand, and at his happy-go-lucky way of crushing the +Prussians between the two armies of Châlons and Metz. But then he, too, felt +such need of some comforting illusion! Why should he not continue to hope when +all those glorious memories of the past that he had evoked were still ringing +in his ears? The old inn was so bright and cheerful, with its trellis hung with +the purple grapes of France, ripening in the golden sunlight! And again his +confidence gained a momentary ascendancy over the gloomy despair that the late +events had engendered in him. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice’s eyes had rested for a moment on an officer of chasseurs +d’Afrique who, with his orderly, had disappeared at a sharp trot around +the corner of the silent house where the Emperor was quartered, and when the +orderly came back alone and stopped with his two horses before the inn door he +gave utterance to an exclamation of surprise: +</p> + +<p> +“Prosper! Why, I supposed you were at Metz!” +</p> + +<p> +It was a young man of Remilly, a simple farm-laborer, whom he had known as a +boy in the days when he used to go and spend his vacations with his uncle +Fouchard. He had been drawn, and when the war broke out had been three years in +Africa; he cut quite a dashing figure in his sky-blue jacket, his wide red +trousers with blue stripes and red woolen belt, with his sun-dried face and +strong, sinewy limbs that indicated great strength and activity. +</p> + +<p> +“Hallo! it’s Monsieur Maurice! I’m glad to see you!” +</p> + +<p> +He took things very easily, however, conducting the steaming horses to the +stable, and to his own, more particularly, giving a paternal attention. It was +no doubt his affection for the noble animal, contracted when he was a boy and +rode him to the plow, that had made him select the cavalry arm of the service. +</p> + +<p> +“We’ve just come in from Monthois, more than ten leagues at a +stretch,” he said when he came back, “and Poulet will be wanting +his breakfast.” +</p> + +<p> +Poulet was the horse. He declined to eat anything himself; would only accept a +cup of coffee. He had to wait for his officer, who had to wait for the Emperor; +he might be five minutes, and then again he might be two hours, so his officer +had told him to put the horses in the stable. And as Maurice, whose curiosity +was aroused, showed some disposition to pump him, his face became as vacant as +a blank page. +</p> + +<p> +“Can’t say. An errand of some sort—papers to be +delivered.” +</p> + +<p> +But Rochas looked at the chasseur with an eye of tenderness, for the uniform +awakened old memories of Africa. +</p> + +<p> +“Eh! my lad, where were you stationed out there?” +</p> + +<p> +“At Medeah, Lieutenant.” +</p> + +<p> +Ah, Medeah! And drawing their chairs closer together they started a +conversation, regardless of difference in rank. The life of the desert had +become a second nature, for Prosper, where the trumpet was continually calling +them to arms, where a large portion of their time was spent on horseback, +riding out to battle as they would to the chase, to some grand battue of Arabs. +There was just one soup-basin for every six men, or tribe, as it was called, +and each tribe was a family by itself, one of its members attending to the +cooking, another washing their linen, the others pitching the tent, caring for +the horses, and cleaning the arms. By day they scoured the country beneath a +sun like a ball of blazing copper, loaded down with the burden of their arms +and utensils; at night they built great fires to drive away the mosquitoes and +sat around them, singing the songs of France. Often it happened that in the +luminous darkness of the night, thick set with stars, they had to rise and +restore peace among their four-footed friends, who, in the balmy softness of +the air, had set to biting and kicking one another, uprooting their pickets and +neighing and snorting furiously. Then there was the delicious coffee, their +greatest, indeed their only, luxury, which they ground by the primitive +appliances of a carbine-butt and a porringer, and afterward strained through a +red woolen sash. But their life was not one of unalloyed enjoyment; there were +dark days, also, when they were far from the abodes of civilized man with the +enemy before them. No more fires, then; no singing, no good times. There were +times when hunger, thirst and want of sleep caused them horrible suffering, but +no matter; they loved that daring, adventurous life, that war of skirmishes, so +propitious for the display of personal bravery and as interesting as a fairy +tale, enlivened by the <i>razzias</i>, which were only public plundering on a +larger scale, and by marauding, or the private peculations of the +chicken-thieves, which afforded many an amusing story that made even the +generals laugh. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” said Prosper, with a more serious face, “it’s +different here; the fighting is done in quite another way.” +</p> + +<p> +And in reply to a question asked by Maurice, he told the story of their landing +at Toulon and the long and wearisome march to Luneville. It was there that they +first received news of Wissembourg and Froeschwiller. After that his account +was less clear, for he got the names of towns mixed, Nancy and Saint-Mihiel, +Saint-Mihiel and Metz. There must have been heavy fighting on the 14th, for the +sky was all on fire, but all he saw of it was four uhlans behind a hedge. On +the 16th there was another engagement; they could hear the artillery going as +early as six o’clock in the morning, and he had been told that on the +18th they started the dance again, more lively than ever. But the chasseurs +were not in it that time, for at Gravelotte on the 16th, as they were standing +drawn up along a road waiting to wheel into column, the Emperor, who passed +that way in a victoria, took them to act as his escort to Verdun. And a pretty +little jaunt it was, twenty-six miles at a hard gallop, with the fear of being +cut off by the Prussians at any moment! +</p> + +<p> +“And what of Bazaine?” asked Rochas. +</p> + +<p> +“Bazaine? they say that he is mightily well pleased that the Emperor lets +him alone.” +</p> + +<p> +But the Lieutenant wanted to know if Bazaine was coming to join them, whereon +Prosper made a gesture expressive of uncertainty; what did any one know? Ever +since the 16th their time had been spent in marching and countermarching in the +rain, out on reconnoissance and grand-guard duty, and they had not seen a sign +of an enemy. Now they were part of the army of Châlons. His regiment, together +with two regiments of chasseurs de France and one of hussars, formed one of the +divisions of the cavalry of reserve, the first division, commanded by General +Margueritte, of whom he spoke with most enthusiastic warmth. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, the <i>bougre</i>! the enemy will catch a Tartar in him! But +what’s the good talking? the only use they can find for us is to send us +pottering about in the mud.” +</p> + +<p> +There was silence for a moment, then Maurice gave some brief news of Remilly +and uncle Fouchard, and Prosper expressed his regret that he could not go and +shake hands with Honoré, the quartermaster-sergeant, whose battery was +stationed more than a league away, on the other side of the Laon road. But the +chasseur pricked up his ears at hearing the whinnying of a horse and rose and +went out to make sure that Poulet was not in want of anything. It was the hour +sacred to coffee and <i>pousse-café</i>, and it was not long before the little +hostelry was full to overflowing with officers and men of every arm of the +service. There was not a vacant table, and the bright uniforms shone +resplendent against the green background of leaves checkered with spots of +sunshine. Major Bouroche had just come in and taken a seat beside Rochas, when +Jean presented himself with an order. +</p> + +<p> +“Lieutenant, the captain desires me to say that he wishes to see you at +three o’clock on company business.” +</p> + +<p> +Rochas signified by a nod of the head that he had heard, and Jean did not go +away at once, but stood smiling at Maurice, who was lighting a cigarette. Ever +since the occurrence in the railway car there had been a sort of tacit truce +between the two men; they seemed to be reciprocally studying each other, with +an increasing interest and attraction. But just then Prosper came back, a +little out of temper. +</p> + +<p> +“I mean to have something to eat unless my officer comes out of that +shanty pretty quick. The Emperor is just as likely as not to stay away until +dark, confound it all.” +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me,” said Maurice, his curiosity again getting the better of +him, “isn’t it possible that the news you are bringing may be from +Bazaine?” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps so. There was a good deal of talk about him down there at +Monthois.” +</p> + +<p> +At that moment there was a stir outside in the street, and Jean, who was +standing by one of the doors of the arbor, turned and said: +</p> + +<p> +“The Emperor!” +</p> + +<p> +Immediately everyone was on his feet. Along the broad, white road, with its +rows of poplars on either side, came a troop of cent-gardes, spick and span in +their brilliant uniforms, their cuirasses blazing in the sunlight, and +immediately behind them rode the Emperor, accompanied by his staff, in a wide +open space, followed by a second troop of cent-gardes. +</p> + +<p> +There was a general uncovering of heads, and here and there a hurrah was heard; +and the Emperor raised his head as he passed; his face looked drawn, the eyes +were dim and watery. He had the dazed appearance of one suddenly aroused from +slumber, smiled faintly at sight of the cheerful inn, and saluted. From behind +them Maurice and Jean distinctly heard old Bouroche growl, having first +surveyed the sovereign with his practiced eye: +</p> + +<p> +“There’s no mistake about it, that man is in a bad way.” Then +he succinctly completed his diagnosis: “His jig is up!” +</p> + +<p> +Jean shook his head and thought in his limited, common sense way: “It is +a confounded shame to let a man like that have command of the army!” And +ten minutes later, when Maurice, comforted by his good breakfast, shook hands +with Prosper and strolled away to smoke more cigarettes, he carried with him +the picture of the Emperor, seated on his easy-gaited horse, so pale, so +gentle, the man of thought, the dreamer, wanting in energy when the moment for +action came. He was reputed to be good-hearted, capable, swayed by generous and +noble thoughts, a silent man of strong and tenacious will; he was very brave, +too, scorning danger with the scorn of the fatalist for whom destiny has no +fears; but in critical moments a fatal lethargy seemed to overcome him; he +appeared to become paralyzed in presence of results, and powerless thereafter +to struggle against Fortune should she prove adverse. And Maurice asked himself +if his were not a special physiological condition, aggravated by suffering; if +the indecision and increasing incapacity that the Emperor had displayed ever +since the opening of the campaign were not to be attributed to his manifest +illness. That would explain everything: a minute bit of foreign substance in a +man’s system, and empires totter. +</p> + +<p> +The camp that evening was all astir with activity; officers were bustling about +with orders and arranging for the start the following morning at five +o’clock. Maurice experienced a shock of surprise and alarm to learn that +once again all their plans were changed, that they were not to fall back on +Paris, but proceed to Verdun and effect a junction with Bazaine. There was a +report that dispatches had come in during the day from the marshal announcing +that he was retreating, and the young man’s thoughts reverted to the +officer of chasseurs and his rapid ride from Monthois; perhaps he had been the +bearer of a copy of the dispatch. So, then, the opinions of the Empress-regent +and the Council of Ministers had prevailed with the vacillating MacMahon, in +their dread to see the Emperor return to Paris and their inflexible +determination to push the army forward in one supreme attempt to save the +dynasty; and the poor Emperor, that wretched man for whom there was no place in +all his vast empire, was to be bundled to and fro among the baggage of his army +like some worthless, worn-out piece of furniture, condemned to the irony of +dragging behind him in his suite his imperial household, cent-gardes, horses, +carriages, cooks, silver stew-pans and cases of champagne, trailing his +flaunting mantle, embroidered with the Napoleonic bees, through the blood and +mire of the highways of his retreat. +</p> + +<p> +At midnight Maurice was not asleep; he was feverishly wakeful, and his gloomy +reflections kept him tossing and tumbling on his pallet. He finally arose and +went outside, where he found comfort and refreshment in the cool night air. The +sky was overspread with clouds, the darkness was intense; along the front of +the line the expiring watch-fires gleamed with a red and sullen light at +distant intervals, and in the deathlike, boding silence could be heard the +long-drawn breathing of the hundred thousand men who slumbered there. Then +Maurice became more tranquil, and there descended on him a sentiment of +brotherhood, full of compassionate kindness for all those slumbering +fellow-creatures, of whom thousands would soon be sleeping the sleep of death. +Brave fellows! True, many of them were thieves and drunkards, but think of what +they had suffered and the excuse there was for them in the universal +demoralization! The glorious veterans of Solferino and Sebastopol were but a +handful, incorporated in the ranks of the newly raised troops, too few in +number to make their example felt. The four corps that had been got together +and equipped so hurriedly, devoid of every element of cohesion, were the +forlorn hope, the expiatory band that their rulers were sending to the +sacrifice in the endeavor to avert the wrath of destiny. They would bear their +cross to the bitter end, atoning with their life’s blood for the faults +of others, glorious amid disaster and defeat. +</p> + +<p> +And then it was that Maurice, there in the darkness that was instinct with +life, became conscious that a great duty lay before him. He ceased to beguile +himself with the illusive prospect of great victories to be gained; the march +to Verdun was a march to death, and he so accepted it, since it was their lot +to die, with brave and cheerful resignation. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap04"></a>IV.</h2> + +<p> +On Tuesday, the 23d of August, at six o’clock in the morning, camp was +broken, and as a stream that has momentarily expanded into a lake resumes its +course again, the hundred and odd thousand men of the army of Châlons put +themselves in motion and soon were pouring onward in a resistless torrent; and +notwithstanding the rumors that had been current since the preceding day, it +was a great surprise to most to see that instead of continuing their retrograde +movement they were leaving Paris behind them and turning their faces toward the +unknown regions of the East. +</p> + +<p> +At five o’clock in the morning the 7th corps was still unsupplied with +cartridges. For two days the artillerymen had been working like beavers to +unload the <i>matériel</i>, horses, and stores that had been streaming from +Metz into the overcrowded station, and it was only at the very last moment that +some cars of cartridges were discovered among the tangled trains, and that a +detail which included Jean among its numbers was enabled to bring back two +hundred and forty thousand on carts that they had hurriedly requisitioned. Jean +distributed the regulation number, one hundred cartridges to a man, among his +squad, just as Gaude, the company bugler, sounded the order to march. +</p> + +<p> +The 106th was not to pass through Rheims, their orders being to turn the city +and debouch into the Châlons road farther on, but on this occasion there was +the usual failure to regulate the order and time of marching, so that, the four +corps having commenced to move at the same moment, they collided when they came +out upon the roads that they were to traverse in common and the result was +inextricable confusion. Cavalry and artillery were constantly cutting in among +the infantry and bringing them to a halt; whole brigades were compelled to +leave the road and stand at ordered arms in the plowed fields for more than an +hour, waiting until the way should be cleared. And to make matters worse, they +had hardly left the camp when a terrible storm broke over them, the rain +pelting down in torrents, drenching the men completely and adding intolerably +to the weight of knapsacks and great-coats. Just as the rain began to hold up, +however, the 106th saw a chance to go forward, while some zouaves in an +adjoining field, who were forced to wait yet for a while, amused themselves by +pelting one another with balls of moist earth, and the consequent condition of +their uniforms afforded them much merriment. +</p> + +<p> +The sun suddenly came shining out again in the clear sky, the warm, bright sun +of an August morning, and with it came returning gayety; the men were steaming +like a wash of linen hung out to dry in the open air: the moisture evaporated +from their clothing in little more time than it takes to tell it, and when they +were warm and dry again, like dogs who shake the water from them when they +emerge from a pond, they chaffed one another good-naturedly on their bedraggled +appearance and the splashes of mud on their red trousers. Wherever two roads +intersected another halt was necessitated; the last one was in a little village +just beyond the walls of the city, in front of a small saloon that seemed to be +doing a thriving business. Thereon it occurred to Maurice to treat the squad to +a drink, by way of wishing them all good luck. +</p> + +<p> +“Corporal, will you allow me—” +</p> + +<p> +Jean, after hesitating a moment, accepted a “pony” of brandy for +himself. Loubet and Chouteau were of the party (the latter had been watchful +and submissive since that day when the corporal had evinced a disposition to +use his heavy fists), and also Pache and Lapoulle, a couple of very decent +fellows when there was no one to set them a bad example. +</p> + +<p> +“Your good health, corporal!” said Chouteau in a respectful, +whining tone. +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you; here’s hoping that you may bring back your head and all +your legs and arms!” Jean politely replied, while the others laughed +approvingly. +</p> + +<p> +But the column was about to move; Captain Beaudoin came up with a scandalized +look on his face and a reproof at the tip of his tongue, while Lieutenant +Rochas, more indulgent to the small weaknesses of his men, turned his head so +as not to see what was going on. And now they were stepping out at a good round +pace along the Châlons road, which stretched before them for many a long +league, bordered with trees on either side, undeviatingly straight, like a +never-ending ribbon unrolled between the fields of yellow stubble that were +dotted here and there with tall stacks and wooden windmills brandishing their +lean arms. More to the north were rows of telegraph poles, indicating the +position of other roads, on which they could distinguish the black, crawling +lines of other marching regiments. In many places the troops had left the +highway and were moving in deep columns across the open plain. To the left and +front a cavalry brigade was seen, jogging along at an easy trot in a blaze of +sunshine. The entire wide horizon, usually so silent and deserted, was alive +and populous with those streams of men, pressing onward, onward, in long drawn, +black array, like the innumerable throng of insects from some gigantic +ant-hill. +</p> + +<p> +About nine o’clock the regiment left the Châlons road and wheeled to the +left into another that led to Suippe, which, like the first, extended, straight +as an arrow’s flight, far as the eye could see. The men marched at the +route-step in two straggling files along either side of the road, thus leaving +the central space free for the officers, and Maurice could not help noticing +their anxious, care-worn air, in striking contrast with the jollity and +good-humor of the soldiers, who were happy as children to be on the move once +more. As the squad was near the head of the column he could even distinguish +the Colonel, M. de Vineuil, in the distance, and was impressed by the grave +earnestness of his manner, and his tall, rigid form, swaying in cadence to the +motion of his charger. The band had been sent back to the rear, to keep company +with the regimental wagons; it played but once during that entire campaign. +Then came the ambulances and engineer’s train attached to the division, +and succeeding that the corps train, an interminable procession of forage +wagons, closed vans for stores, carts for baggage, and vehicles of every known +description, occupying a space of road nearly four miles in length, and which, +at the infrequent curves in the highway, they could see winding behind them +like the tail of some great serpent. And last of all, at the extreme rear of +the column, came the herds, “rations on the hoof,” a surging, +bleating, bellowing mass of sheep and oxen, urged on by blows and raising +clouds of dust, reminding one of the old warlike peoples of the East and their +migrations. +</p> + +<p> +Lapoulle meantime would every now and then give a hitch of his shoulders in an +attempt to shift the weight of his knapsack when it began to be too heavy. The +others, alleging that he was the strongest, were accustomed to make him carry +the various utensils that were common to the squad, including the big kettle +and the water-pail; on this occasion they had even saddled him with the company +shovel, assuring him that it was a badge of honor. So far was he from +complaining that he was now laughing at a song with which Loubet, the tenor of +the squad, was trying to beguile the tedium of the way. Loubet had made himself +quite famous by reason of his knapsack, in which was to be found a little of +everything: linen, an extra pair of shoes, haberdashery, chocolate, brushes, a +plate and cup, to say nothing of his regular rations of biscuit and coffee, and +although the all-devouring receptacle also contained his cartridges, and his +blankets were rolled on top of it, together with the shelter-tent and stakes, +the load nevertheless appeared light, such an excellent system he had of +packing his trunk, as he himself expressed it. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s a beastly country, all the same!” Chouteau kept +repeating from time to time, casting a look of intense disgust over the dreary +plains of “lousy Champagne.” +</p> + +<p> +Broad expanses of chalky ground of a dirty white lay before and around them, +and seemed to have no end. Not a farmhouse to be seen anywhere, not a living +being; nothing but flocks of crows, forming small spots of blackness on the +immensity of the gray waste. On the left, far away in the distance, the low +hills that bounded the horizon in that direction were crowned by woods of +somber pines, while on the right an unbroken wall of trees indicated the course +of the river Vesle. But over there behind the hills they had seen for the last +hour a dense smoke was rising, the heavy clouds of which obscured the sky and +told of a dreadful conflagration raging at no great distance. +</p> + +<p> +“What is burning over there?” was the question that was on the lips +of everyone. +</p> + +<p> +The answer was quickly given and ran through the column from front to rear. The +camp of Châlons had been fired, it was said, by order of the Emperor, to keep +the immense collection of stores there from falling into the hands of the +Prussians, and for the last two days it had been going up in flame and smoke. +The cavalry of the rear-guard had been instructed to apply the torch to two +immense warehouses, filled with tents, tent-poles, mattresses, clothing, shoes, +blankets, mess utensils, supplies of every kind sufficient for the equipment of +a hundred thousand men. Stacks of forage also had been lighted, and were +blazing like huge beacon-fires, and an oppressive silence settled down upon the +army as it pursued its march across the wide, solitary plain at sight of that +dusky, eddying column that rose from behind the distant hills, filling the +heavens with desolation. All that was to be heard in the bright sunlight was +the measured tramp of many feet upon the hollow ground, while involuntarily the +eyes of all were turned on that livid cloud whose baleful shadows rested on +their march for many a league. +</p> + +<p> +Their spirits rose again when they made their midday halt in a field of +stubble, where the men could seat themselves on their unslung knapsacks and +refresh themselves with a bite. The large square biscuits could only be eaten +by crumbling them in the soup, but the little round ones were quite a delicacy, +light and appetizing; the only trouble was that they left an intolerable thirst +behind them. Pache sang a hymn, being invited thereto, the squad joining in the +chorus. Jean smiled good-naturedly without attempting to check them in their +amusement, while Maurice, at sight of the universal cheerfulness and the good +order with which their first day’s march was conducted, felt a revival of +confidence. The remainder of the allotted task of the day was performed with +the same light-hearted alacrity, although the last five miles tried their +endurance. They had abandoned the high road, leaving the village of Prosnes to +their right, in order to avail themselves of a short cut across a sandy heath +diversified by an occasional thin pine wood, and the entire division, with its +interminable train at its heels, turned and twisted in and out among the trees, +sinking ankle deep in the yielding sand at every step. It seemed as if the +cheerless waste would never end; all that they met was a flock of very lean +sheep, guarded by a big black dog. +</p> + +<p> +It was about four o’clock when at last the 106th halted for the night at +Dontrien, a small village on the banks of the Suippe. The little stream winds +among some pretty groves of trees; the old church stands in the middle of the +graveyard, which is shaded in its entire extent by a magnificent chestnut. The +regiment pitched its tents on the left bank, in a meadow that sloped gently +down to the margin of the river. The officers said that all the four corps +would bivouac that evening on the line of the Suippe between Auberive and +Hentregiville, occupying the intervening villages of Dontrien, Betheniville and +Pont-Faverger, making a line of battle nearly five leagues long. +</p> + +<p> +Gaude immediately gave the call for “distribution,” and Jean had to +run for it, for the corporal was steward-in-chief, and it behooved him to be on +the lookout to protect his men’s interests. He had taken Lapoulle with +him, and in a quarter of an hour they returned with some ribs of beef and a +bundle of firewood. In the short space of time succeeding their arrival three +steers of the herd that followed the column had been knocked in the head under +a great oak-tree, skinned, and cut up. Lapoulle had to return for bread, which +the villagers of Dontrien had been baking all that afternoon in their ovens. +There was really no lack of anything on that first day, setting aside wine and +tobacco, with which the troops were to be obliged to dispense during the +remainder of the campaign. +</p> + +<p> +Upon Jean’s return he found Chouteau engaged in raising the tent, +assisted by Pache; he looked at them for a moment with the critical eye of an +old soldier who had no great opinion of their abilities. +</p> + +<p> +“It will do very well if the weather is fine to-night,” he said at +last, “but if it should come on to blow we would like enough wake up and +find ourselves in the river. Let me show you.” +</p> + +<p> +And he was about to send Maurice with the large pail for water, but the young +man had sat down on the ground, taken off his shoe, and was examining his right +foot. +</p> + +<p> +“Hallo, there! what’s the matter with you?” +</p> + +<p> +“My shoe has chafed my foot and raised a blister. My other shoes were +worn out, and when we were at Rheims I bought these, like a big fool, because +they were a good fit. I should have selected gunboats.” +</p> + +<p> +Jean kneeled and took the foot in his hand, turning it over as carefully as if +it had been a little child’s, with a disapproving shake of his head. +</p> + +<p> +“You must be careful; it is no laughing matter, a thing like that. A +soldier without the use of his feet is of no good to himself or anyone else. +When we were in Italy my captain used always to say that it is the men’s +legs that win battles.” +</p> + +<p> +He bade Pache go for the water, no very hard task, as the river was but a few +yards away, and Loubet, having in the meantime dug a shallow trench and lit his +fire, was enabled to commence operations on his <i>pot-au-feu</i>, which he did +by putting on the big kettle full of water and plunging into it the meat that +he had previously corded together with a bit of twine, <i>secundum artem</i>. +Then it was solid comfort for them to watch the boiling of the soup; the whole +squad, their chores done up and their day’s labor ended, stretched +themselves on the grass around the fire in a family group, full of tender +anxiety for the simmering meat, while Loubet occasionally stirred the pot with +a gravity fitted to the importance of his position. Like children and savages, +their sole instinct was to eat and sleep, careless of the morrow, while +advancing to face unknown risks and dangers. +</p> + +<p> +But Maurice had unpacked his knapsack and come across a newspaper that he had +bought at Rheims, and Chouteau asked: +</p> + +<p> +“Is there anything about the Prussians in it? Read us the news!” +</p> + +<p> +They were a happy family under Jean’s mild despotism. Maurice +good-naturedly read such news as he thought might interest them, while Pache, +the seamstress of the company, mended his greatcoat for him and Lapoulle +cleaned his musket. The first item was a splendid victory won by Bazaine, who +had driven an entire Prussian corps into the quarries of Jaumont, and the +trumped-up tale was told with an abundance of dramatic detail, how men and +horses went over the precipice and were crushed on the rocks beneath out of all +semblance of humanity, so that there was not one whole corpse found for burial. +Then there were minute details of the pitiable condition of the German armies +ever since they had invaded France: the ill-fed, poorly equipped soldiers were +actually falling from inanition and dying by the roadside of horrible diseases. +Another article told how the king of Prussia had the diarrhea, and how Bismarck +had broken his leg in jumping from the window of an inn where a party of +zouaves had just missed capturing him. Capital news! Lapoulle laughed over it +as if he would split his sides, while Chouteau and the others, without +expressing the faintest doubt, chuckled at the idea that soon they would be +picking up Prussians as boys pick up sparrows in a field after a hail-storm. +But they laughed loudest at old Bismarck’s accident; oh! the zouaves and +the turcos, they were the boys for one’s money! It was said that the +Germans were in an ecstasy of fear and rage, declaring that it was unworthy of +a nation that claimed to be civilized to employ such heathen savages in its +armies. Although they had been decimated at Froeschwiller, the foreign troops +seemed to have a good deal of life left in them. +</p> + +<p> +It was just striking six from the steeple of the little church of Dontrien when +Loubet shouted: +</p> + +<p> +“Come to supper!” +</p> + +<p> +The squad lost no time in seating themselves in a circle. At the very last +moment Loubet had succeeded in getting some vegetables from a peasant who lived +hard by. That made the crowning glory of the feast: a soup perfumed with +carrots and onions, that went down the throat soft as velvet—what could +they have desired more? The spoons rattled merrily in the little wooden bowls. +Then it devolved on Jean, who always served the portions, to distribute the +beef, and it behooved him that day to do it with the strictest impartiality, +for hungry eyes were watching him and there would have been a growl had anyone +received a larger piece than his neighbors. They concluded by licking the +porringers, and were smeared with soup up to their eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, <i>nom de Dieu!</i>” Chouteau declared when he had finished, +throwing himself flat on his back; “I would rather take that than a +beating, any day!” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice, too, whose foot pained him less now that he could give it a little +rest, was conscious of that sensation of well-being that is the result of a +full stomach. He was beginning to take more kindly to his rough companions, and +to bring himself down nearer to their level under the pressure of the physical +necessities of their life in common. That night he slept the same deep sleep as +did his five tent-mates; they all huddled close together, finding the sensation +of animal warmth not disagreeable in the heavy dew that fell. It is necessary +to state that Lapoulle, at the instigation of Loubet, had gone to a stack not +far away and feloniously appropriated a quantity of straw, in which our six +gentlemen snored as if it had been a bed of down. And from Auberive to +Hentregiville, along the pleasant banks of the Suippe as it meandered +sluggishly between its willows, the fires of those hundred thousand sleeping +men illuminated the starlit night for fifteen miles, like a long array of +twinkling stars. +</p> + +<p> +At sunrise they made coffee, pulverizing the berries in a wooden bowl with a +musket-butt, throwing the powder into boiling water, and settling it with a +drop of cold water. The luminary rose that morning in a bank of purple and +gold, affording a spectacle of royal magnificence, but Maurice had no eye for +such displays, and Jean, with the weather-wisdom of a peasant, cast an anxious +glance at the red disk, which presaged rain; and it was for that reason that, +the surplus of bread baked the day before having been distributed and the squad +having received three loaves, he reproved severely Loubet and Pache for making +them fast on the outside of their knapsacks; but the tents were folded and the +knapsacks packed, and so no one paid any attention to him. Six o’clock +was sounding from all the bells of the village when the army put itself in +motion and stoutly resumed its advance in the bright hopefulness of the dawn of +the new day. +</p> + +<p> +The 106th, in order to reach the road that leads from Rheims to Vouziers, +struck into a cross-road, and for more than an hour their way was an ascending +one. Below them, toward the north, Betheniville was visible among the trees, +where the Emperor was reported to have slept, and when they reached the +Vouziers road the level country of the preceding day again presented itself to +their gaze and the lean fields of “lousy Champagne” stretched +before them in wearisome monotony. They now had the Arne, an insignificant +stream, flowing on their left, while to the right the treeless, naked country +stretched far as the eye could see in an apparently interminable horizon. They +passed through a village or two: Saint-Clement, with its single winding street +bordered by a double row of houses, Saint-Pierre, a little town of miserly rich +men who had barricaded their doors and windows. The long halt occurred about +ten o’clock, near another village, Saint-Etienne, where the men were +highly delighted to find tobacco once more. The 7th corps had been cut up into +several columns, and the 106th headed one of these columns, having behind it +only a battalion of chasseurs and the reserve artillery. Maurice turned his +head at every bend in the road to catch a glimpse of the long train that had so +excited his interest the day before, but in vain; the herds had gone off in +some other direction, and all he could see was the guns, looming inordinately +large upon those level plains, like monster insects of somber mien. +</p> + +<p> +After leaving Saint-Etienne, however, there was a change for the worse, and the +road from bad became abominable, rising by an easy ascent between great sterile +fields in which the only signs of vegetation were the everlasting pine woods +with their dark verdure, forming a dismal contrast with the gray-white soil. It +was the most forlorn spot they had seen yet. The ill-paved road, washed by the +recent rains, was a lake of mud, of tenacious, slippery gray clay, which held +the men’s feet like so much pitch. It was wearisome work; the troops were +exhausted and could not get forward, and as if things were not bad enough +already, the rain suddenly began to come down most violently. The guns were +mired and had to be left in the road. +</p> + +<p> +Chouteau, who had been given the squad’s rice to carry, fatigued and +exasperated with his heavy load, watched for an opportunity when no one was +looking and dropped the package. But Loubet had seen him. +</p> + +<p> +“See here, that’s no way! you ought not to do that. The comrades +will be hungry by and by.” +</p> + +<p> +“Let be!” replied Chouteau. “There is plenty of rice; they +will give us more at the end of the march.” +</p> + +<p> +And Loubet, who had the bacon, convinced by such cogent reasoning, dropped his +load in turn. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice was suffering more and more with his foot, of which the heel was badly +inflamed. He limped along in such a pitiable state that Jean’s sympathy +was aroused. +</p> + +<p> +“Does it hurt? is it no better, eh?” And as the men were halted +just then for a breathing spell, he gave him a bit of good advice. “Take +off your shoe and go barefoot; the cool earth will ease the pain.” +</p> + +<p> +And in that way Maurice found that he could keep up with his comrades with some +degree of comfort; he experienced a sentiment of deep gratitude. It was a piece +of great good luck that their squad had a corporal like him, a man who had seen +service and knew all the tricks of the trade: he was an uncultivated peasant, +of course, but a good fellow all the same. +</p> + +<p> +It was late when they reached their place of bivouac at Contreuve, after +marching a long time on the Châlons and Vouziers road and descending by a steep +path into the valley of the Semide, up which they came through a stretch of +narrow meadows. The landscape had undergone a change; they were now in the +Ardennes, and from the lofty hills above the village where the engineers had +staked off the ground for the 7th corps’ camp, the valley of the Aisne +was dimly visible in the distance, veiled in the pale mists of the passing +shower. +</p> + +<p> +Six o’clock came and there had been no distribution of rations, whereon +Jean, in order to keep occupied, apprehensive also of the consequences that +might result from the high wind that was springing up, determined to attend in +person to the setting up of the tent. He showed his men how it should be done, +selecting a bit of ground that sloped away a little to one side, setting the +pegs at the proper angle, and digging a little trench around the whole to carry +off the water. Maurice was excused from the usual nightly drudgery on account +of his sore foot, and was an interested witness of the intelligence and +handiness of the big young fellow whose general appearance was so stolid and +ungainly. He was completely knocked up with fatigue, but the confidence that +they were now advancing with a definite end in view served to sustain him. They +had had a hard time of it since they left Rheims, making nearly forty miles in +two days’ marching; if they could maintain the pace and if they kept +straight on in the direction they were pursuing, there could be no doubt that +they would destroy the second German army and effect a junction with Bazaine +before the third, the Crown Prince of Prussia’s, which was said to be at +Vitry-le Francois, could get up to Verdun. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, come now! I wonder if they are going to let us starve!” was +Chouteau’s remark when, at seven o’clock, there was still no sign +of rations. +</p> + +<p> +By way of taking time by the forelock, Jean had instructed Loubet to light the +fire and put on the pot, and, as there was no issue of firewood, he had been +compelled to be blind to the slight irregularity of the proceeding when that +individual remedied the omission by tearing the palings from an adjacent fence. +When he suggested knocking up a dish of bacon and rice, however, the truth had +to come out, and he was informed that the rice and bacon were lying in the mud +of the Saint-Etienne road. Chouteau lied with the greatest effrontery declaring +that the package must have slipped from his shoulders without his noticing it. +</p> + +<p> +“You are a couple of pigs!” Jean shouted angrily, “to throw +away good victuals, when there are so many poor devils going with an empty +stomach!” +</p> + +<p> +It was the same with the three loaves that had been fastened outside the +knapsacks; they had not listened to his warning, and the consequence was that +the rain had soaked the bread and reduced it to paste. +</p> + +<p> +“A pretty pickle we are in!” he continued. “We had food in +plenty, and now here we are, without a crumb! Ah! you are a pair of dirty +pigs!” +</p> + +<p> +At that moment the first sergeant’s call was heard, and Sergeant Sapin, +returning presently with his usual doleful air, informed the men that it would +be impossible to distribute rations that evening, and that they would have to +content themselves with what eatables they had on their persons. It was +reported that the trains had been delayed by the bad weather, and as to the +herds, they must have straggled off as a result of conflicting orders. +Subsequently it became known that on that day the 5th and 12th corps had got up +to Rethel, where the headquarters of the army were established, and the +inhabitants of the neighboring villages, possessed with a mad desire to see the +Emperor, had inaugurated a hegira toward that town, taking with them everything +in the way of provisions; so that when the 7th corps came up they found +themselves in a land of nakedness: no bread, no meat, no people, even. To add +to their distress a misconception of orders had caused the supplies of the +commissary department to be directed on Chêne-Populeux. This was a state of +affairs that during the entire campaign formed the despair of the wretched +commissaries, who had to endure the abuse and execrations of the whole army, +while their sole fault lay in being punctual at rendezvous at which the troops +failed to appear. +</p> + +<p> +“It serves you right, you dirty pigs!” continued Jean in his wrath, +“and you don’t deserve the trouble that I am going to have in +finding you something to eat, for I suppose it is my duty not to let you +starve, all the same.” And he started off to see what he could find, as +every good corporal does under such circumstances, taking with him Pache, who +was a favorite on account of his quiet manner, although he considered him +rather too priest-ridden. +</p> + +<p> +But Loubet’s attention had just been attracted to a little farmhouse, one +of the last dwellings in Contreuve, some two or three hundred yards away, where +there seemed to him to be promise of good results. He called Chouteau and +Lapoulle to him and said: +</p> + +<p> +“Come along, and let’s see what we can do. I’ve a notion +there’s grub to be had over that way.” +</p> + +<p> +So Maurice was left to keep up the fire and watch the kettle, in which the +water was beginning to boil. He had seated himself on his blanket and taken off +his shoe in order to give his blister a chance to heal. It amused him to look +about the camp and watch the behavior of the different squads now that there +was to be no issue of rations; the deduction that he arrived at was that some +of them were in a chronic state of destitution, while others reveled in +continual abundance, and that these conditions were ascribable to the greater +or less degree of tact and foresight of the corporal and his men. Amid the +confusion that reigned about the stacks and tents he remarked some squads who +had not been able even to start a fire, others of which the men had abandoned +hope and lain themselves resignedly down for the night, while others again were +ravenously devouring, no one knew what, something good, no doubt. Another thing +that impressed him was the good order that prevailed in the artillery, which +had its camp above him, on the hillside. The setting sun peeped out from a rift +in the clouds and his rays were reflected from the burnished guns, from which +the men had cleansed the coat of mud that they had picked up along the road. +</p> + +<p> +In the meantime General Bourgain-Desfeuilles, commanding the brigade, had found +quarters suited to his taste in the little farmhouse toward which the designs +of Loubet and his companions were directed. He had discovered something that +had the semblance of a bed and was seated at table with a roasted chicken and +an omelette before him; consequently he was in the best of humors, and as +Colonel de Vineuil happened in just then on regimental business, had invited +him to dine. They were enjoying their repast, therefore, waited on by a tall, +light-haired individual who had been in the farmer’s service only three +days and claimed to be an Alsatian, one of those who had been forced to leave +their country after the disaster of Froeschwiller. The general did not seem to +think it necessary to use any restraint in presence of the man, commenting +freely on the movements of the army, and finally, forgetful of the fact that he +was not an inhabitant of the country, began to question him about localities +and distances. His questions displayed such utter ignorance of the country that +the colonel, who had once lived at Mézières, was astounded; he gave such +information as he had at command, which elicited from the chief the +exclamation: +</p> + +<p> +“It is just like our idiotic government! How can they expect us to fight +in a country of which we know nothing?” +</p> + +<p> +The colonel’s face assumed a look of vague consternation. He knew that +immediately upon the declaration of war maps of Germany had been distributed +among the officers, while it was quite certain that not one of them had a map +of France. He was amazed and confounded by what he had seen and heard since the +opening of the campaign. His unquestioned bravery was his distinctive trait; he +was a somewhat weak and not very brilliant commander, which caused him to be +more loved than respected in his regiment. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s too bad that a man can’t eat his dinner in +peace!” the general suddenly blurted out. “What does all that +uproar mean? Go and see what the matter is, you Alsatian fellow!” +</p> + +<p> +But the farmer anticipated him by appearing at the door, sobbing and +gesticulating like a crazy man. They were robbing him, the zouaves and +chasseurs were plundering his house. As he was the only one in the village who +had anything to sell he had foolishly allowed himself to be persuaded to open +shop. At first he had sold his eggs and chickens, his rabbits, and potatoes, +without exacting an extortionate profit, pocketing his money and delivering the +merchandise; then the customers had streamed in in a constantly increasing +throng, jostling and worrying the old man, finally crowding him aside and +taking all he had without pretense of payment. And thus it was throughout the +war; if many peasants concealed their property and even denied a drink of water +to the thirsty soldier, it was because of their fear of the irresistible +inroads of that ocean of men, who swept everything clean before them, thrusting +the wretched owners from their houses and beggaring them. +</p> + +<p> +“Eh! will you hold your tongue, old man!” shouted the general in +disgust. “Those rascals ought to be shot at the rate of a dozen a day. +What is one to do?” And to avoid taking the measures that the case +demanded he gave orders to close the door, while the colonel explained to him +that there had been no issue of rations and the men were hungry. +</p> + +<p> +While these things were going on within the house Loubet outside had discovered +a field of potatoes; he and Lapoulle scaled the fence and were digging the +precious tubers with their hands and stuffing their pockets with them when +Chouteau, who in the pursuit of knowledge was looking over a low wall, gave a +shrill whistle that called them hurriedly to his side. They uttered an +exclamation of wonder and delight; there was a flock of geese, ten fat, +splendid geese, pompously waddling about a small yard. A council of war was +held forthwith, and it was decided that Lapoulle should storm the place and +make prisoners of the garrison. The conflict was a bloody one; the venerable +gander on which the soldier laid his predaceous hands had nearly deprived him +of his nose with its bill, hard and sharp as a tailor’s shears. Then he +caught it by the neck and tried to choke it, but the bird tore his trousers +with its strong claws and pummeled him about the body with its great wings. He +finally ended the battle by braining it with his fist, and it had not ceased to +struggle when he leaped the wall, hotly pursued by the remainder of the flock, +pecking viciously at his legs. +</p> + +<p> +When they got back to camp, with the unfortunate gander and the potatoes hidden +in a bag, they found that Jean and Pache had also been successful in their +expedition, and had enriched the common larder with four loaves of fresh bread +and a cheese that they had purchased from a worthy old woman. +</p> + +<p> +“The water is boiling and we will make some coffee,” said the +corporal. “Here are bread and cheese; it will be a regular feast!” +</p> + +<p> +He could not help laughing, however, when he looked down and saw the goose +lying at his feet. He raised it, examining and hefting it with the judgment of +an expert. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! upon my word, a fine bird! it must weigh twenty pounds.” +</p> + +<p> +“We were out walking and met the bird,” Loubet explained in an +unctuously sanctimonious voice, “and it insisted on making our +acquaintance.” +</p> + +<p> +Jean made no reply, but his manner showed that he wished to hear nothing more +of the matter. Men must live, and then why in the name of common sense should +not those poor fellows, who had almost forgotten how poultry tasted, have a +treat once in a way! +</p> + +<p> +Loubet had already kindled the fire into a roaring blaze; Pache and Lapoulle +set to work to pluck the goose; Chouteau, who had run off to the artillerymen +and begged a bit of twine, came back and stretched it between two bayonets; the +bird was suspended in front of the hot fire and Maurice was given a cleaning +rod and enjoined to keep it turning. The big tin basin was set beneath to catch +the gravy. It was a triumph of culinary art; the whole regiment, attracted by +the savory odor, came and formed a circle about the fire and licked their +chops. And what a feast it was! roast goose, boiled potatoes, bread, cheese, +and coffee! When Jean had dissected the bird the squad applied itself +vigorously to the task before it; there was no talk of portions, every man ate +as much as he was capable of holding. They even sent a plate full over to the +artillerymen who had furnished the cord. +</p> + +<p> +The officers of the regiment that evening were a very hungry set of men, for +owing to some mistake the canteen wagon was among the missing, gone off to look +after the corps train, maybe. If the men were inconvenienced when there was no +issue of ration they scarcely ever failed to find something to eat in the end; +they helped one another out; the men of the different squads “chipped +in” their resources, each contributing his mite, while the officer, with +no one to look to save himself, was in a fair way of starving as soon as he had +not the canteen to fall back on. So there was a sneer on Chouteau’s face, +buried in the carcass of the goose, as he saw Captain Beaudoin go by with his +prim, supercilious air, for he had heard that officer summoning down +imprecations on the driver of the missing wagon; and he gave him an evil look +out of the corner of his eye. +</p> + +<p> +“Just look at him! See, his nose twitches like a rabbit’s. He would +give a dollar for the pope’s nose.” +</p> + +<p> +They all made merry at the expense of the captain, who was too callow and too +harsh to be a favorite with his men; they called him a <i>pète-sec</i>. He +seemed on the point of taking the squad in hand for the scandal they were +creating with their goose dinner, but thought better of the matter, ashamed, +probably, to show his hunger, and walked off, holding his head very erect, as +if he had seen nothing. +</p> + +<p> +As for Lieutenant Rochas, who was also conscious of a terribly empty sensation +in his epigastric region, he put on a brave face and laughed good-naturedly as +he passed the thrice-lucky squad. His men adored him, in the first place +because he was at sword’s points with the captain, that little +whipper-snapper from Saint-Cyr, and also because he had once carried a musket +like themselves. He was not always easy to get along with, however, and there +were times when they would have given a good deal could they have cuffed him +for his brutality. +</p> + +<p> +Jean glanced inquiringly at his comrades, and their mute reply being +propitious, arose and beckoned to Rochas to follow him behind the tent. +</p> + +<p> +“See here, Lieutenant, I hope you won’t be offended, but if it is +agreeable to you—” +</p> + +<p> +And he handed him half a loaf of bread and a wooden bowl in which there were a +second joint of the bird and six big mealy potatoes. +</p> + +<p> +That night again the six men required no rocking; they digested their dinner +while sleeping the sleep of the just. They had reason to thank the corporal for +the scientific way in which he had set up their tent, for they were not even +conscious of a small hurricane that blew up about two o’clock, +accompanied by a sharp down-pour of rain; some of the tents were blown down, +and the men, wakened out of their sound slumber, were drenched and had to +scamper in the pitchy darkness, while theirs stood firm and they were warm and +dry, thanks to the ingenious device of the trench. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice awoke at daylight, and as they were not to march until eight +o’clock it occurred to him to walk out to the artillery camp on the hill +and say how do you do to his cousin Honoré. His foot was less painful after his +good night’s rest. His wonder and admiration were again excited by the +neatness and perfect order that prevailed throughout the encampment, the six +guns of a battery aligned with mathematical precision and accompanied by their +caissons, prolonges, forage-wagons, and forges. A short way off, lined up to +their rope, stood the horses, whinnying impatiently and turning their muzzles +to the rising sun. He had no difficulty in finding Honoré’s tent, thanks +to the regulation which assigns to the men of each piece a separate street, so +that a single glance at a camp suffices to show the number of guns. +</p> + +<p> +When Maurice reached his destination the artillerymen were already stirring and +about to drink their coffee, and a quarrel had arisen between Adolphe, the +forward driver, and Louis, the gunner, his mate. For the entire three years +that they had been “married,” in accordance with the custom which +couples a driver with a gunner, they had lived happily together, with the one +exception of meal-times. Louis, an intelligent man and the better informed of +the two, did not grumble at the airs of superiority that are affected by every +mounted over every unmounted man: he pitched the tent, made the soup, and did +the chores, while Adolphe groomed his horses with the pride of a reigning +potentate. When the former, a little black, lean man, afflicted with an +enormous appetite, rose in arms against the exactions of the latter, a big, +burly fellow with huge blonde mustaches, who insisted on being waited on like a +lord, then the fun began. The subject matter of the dispute on the present +morning was that Louis, who had made the coffee, accused Adolphe of having +drunk it all. It required some diplomacy to reconcile them. +</p> + +<p> +Not a morning passed that Honoré failed to go and look after his piece, seeing +to it that it was carefully dried and cleansed from the night dew, as if it had +been a favorite animal that he was fearful might take cold, and there it was +that Maurice found him, exercising his paternal supervision in the crisp +morning air. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, it’s you! I knew that the 106th was somewhere in the vicinity; +I got a letter from Remilly yesterday and was intending to start out and hunt +you up. Let’s go and have a glass of white wine.” +</p> + +<p> +For the sake of privacy he conducted his cousin to the little farmhouse that +the soldiers had looted the day before, where the old peasant, undeterred by +his losses and allured by the prospect of turning an honest penny, had tapped a +cask of wine and set up a kind of public bar. He had extemporized a counter +from a board rested on two empty barrels before the door of his house, and over +it he dealt out his stock in trade at four sous a glass, assisted by the +strapping young Alsatian whom he had taken into his service three days before. +</p> + +<p> +As Honoré was touching glasses with Maurice his eyes lighted on this man. He +gazed at him a moment as if stupefied, then let slip a terrible oath. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Tonnerre de Dieu!</i> Goliah!” +</p> + +<p> +And he darted forward and would have caught him by the throat, but the peasant, +foreseeing in his action a repetition of his yesterday’s experience, +jumped quickly within the house and locked the door behind him. For a moment +confusion reigned about the premises; soldiers came rushing up to see what was +going on, while the quartermaster-sergeant shouted at the top of his voice: +</p> + +<p> +“Open the door, open the door, you confounded idiot! It is a spy, I tell +you, a Prussian spy!” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice doubted no longer; there was no room for mistake now; the Alsatian was +certainly the man whom he had seen arrested at the camp of Mülhausen and +released because there was not evidence enough to hold him, and that man was +Goliah, old Fouchard’s quondam assistant on his farm at Remilly. When +finally the peasant opened his door the house was searched from top to bottom, +but to no purpose; the bird had flown, the gawky Alsatian, the tow-headed, +simple-faced lout whom General Bourgain-Desfeuilles had questioned the day +before at dinner without learning anything and before whom, in the innocence of +his heart, he had disclosed things that would have better been kept secret. It +was evident enough that the scamp had made his escape by a back window which +was found open, but the hunt that was immediately started throughout the +village and its environs had no results; the fellow, big as he was, had +vanished as utterly as a smoke-wreath dissolves upon the air. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice thought it best to take Honoré away, lest in his distracted state he +might reveal to the spectators unpleasant family secrets which they had no +concern to know. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Tonnerre de Dieu!</i>” he cried again, “it would have +done me such good to strangle him!—The letter that I was speaking of +revived all my old hatred for him.” +</p> + +<p> +And the two of them sat down upon the ground against a stack of rye a little +way from the house, and he handed the letter to his cousin. +</p> + +<p> +It was the old story: the course of Honoré Fouchard’s and Silvine +Morange’s love had not run smooth. She, a pretty, meek-eyed, brown-haired +girl, had in early childhood lost her mother, an operative in one of the +factories of Raucourt, and Doctor Dalichamp, her godfather, a worthy man who +was greatly addicted to adopting the wretched little beings whom he ushered +into the world, had conceived the idea of placing her in Father +Fouchard’s family as small maid of all work. True it was that the old +boor was a terrible skinflint and a harsh, stern taskmaster; he had gone into +the butchering business from sordid love of lucre, and his cart was to be seen +daily, rain or shine, on the roads of twenty communes; but if the child was +willing to work she would have a home and a protector, perhaps some small +prospect in the future. At all events she would be spared the contamination of +the factory. And naturally enough it came to pass that in old Fouchard’s +household the son and heir and the little maid of all work fell in love with +each other. Honoré was then just turned sixteen and she was twelve, and when +she was sixteen and he twenty there was a drawing for the army; Honoré, to his +great delight, secured a lucky number and determined to marry. Nothing had ever +passed between them, thanks to the unusual delicacy that was inherent in the +lad’s tranquil, thoughtful nature, more than an occasional hug and a +furtive kiss in the barn. But when he spoke of the marriage to his father, the +old man, who had the stubbornness of the mule, angrily told him that his son +might kill him, but never, never would he consent, and continued to keep the +girl about the house, not worrying about the matter, expecting it would soon +blow over. For two years longer the young folks kept on adoring and desiring +each other, and never the least breath of scandal sullied their names. Then one +day there was a frightful quarrel between the two men, after which the young +man, feeling he could no longer endure his father’s tyranny, enlisted and +was packed off to Africa, while the butcher still retained the servant-maid, +because she was useful to him. Soon after that a terrible thing happened: +Silvine, who had sworn that she would be true to her lover and await his +return, was detected one day, two short weeks after his departure, in the +company of a laborer who had been working on the farm for some months past, +that Goliah Steinberg, the Prussian, as he was called; a tall, simple young +fellow with short, light hair, wearing a perpetual smile on his broad, pink +face, who had made himself Honoré’s chum. Had Father Fouchard +traitorously incited the man to take advantage of the girl? or had Silvine, +sick at heart and prostrated by the sorrow of parting with her lover, yielded +in a moment of unconsciousness? She could not tell herself; was dazed, and saw +herself driven by the necessity of her situation to a marriage with Goliah. He, +for his part, always with the everlasting smile on his face, made no objection, +only insisted on deferring the ceremony until the child should be born. When +that event occurred he suddenly disappeared; it was rumored, subsequently that +he had found work on another farm, over Beaumont way. These things had happened +three years before the breaking out of the war, and now everyone was convinced +that that artless, simple Goliah, who had such a way of ingratiating himself +with the girls, was none else than one of those Prussian spies who filled our +eastern provinces. When Honoré learned the tidings over in Africa he was three +months in hospital, as if the fierce sun of that country had smitten him on the +neck with one of his fiery javelins, and never thereafter did he apply for +leave of absence to return to his country for fear lest he might again set eyes +on Silvine and her child. +</p> + +<p> +The artilleryman’s hands shook with agitation as Maurice perused the +letter. It was from Silvine, the first, the only one that she had ever written +him. What had been her guiding impulse, that silent, submissive woman, whose +handsome black eyes at times manifested a startling fixedness of purpose in the +midst of her never-ending slavery? She simply said that she knew he was with +the army, and though she might never see him again, she could not endure the +thought that he might die and believe that she had ceased to love him. She +loved him still, had never loved another; and this she repeated again and again +through four closely written pages, in words of unvarying import, without the +slightest word of excuse for herself, without even attempting to explain what +had happened. There was no mention of the child, nothing but an infinitely +mournful and tender farewell. +</p> + +<p> +The letter produced a profound impression upon Maurice, to whom his cousin had +once imparted the whole story. He raised his eyes and saw that Honoré was +weeping; he embraced him like a brother. +</p> + +<p> +“My poor Honoré.” +</p> + +<p> +But the sergeant quickly got the better of his emotion. He carefully restored +the letter to its place over his heart and rebuttoned his jacket. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, those are things that a man does not forget. Ah! the scoundrel, if +I could but have laid hands on him! But we shall see.” +</p> + +<p> +The bugles were sounding the signal to prepare for breaking camp, and each had +to hurry away to rejoin his command. The preparations for departure dragged, +however, and the troops had to stand waiting in heavy marching order until +nearly nine o’clock. A feeling of hesitancy seemed to have taken +possession of their leaders; there was not the resolute alacrity of the first +two days, when the 7th corps had accomplished forty miles in two marches. +Strange and alarming news, moreover, had been circulating through the camp +since morning, that the three other corps were marching northward, the 1st at +Juniville, the 5th and 12th at Rethel, and this deviation from their route was +accounted for on the ground of the necessities of the commissariat. Montmedy +had ceased to be their objective, then? why were they thus idling away their +time again? What was most alarming of all was that the Prussians could not now +be far away, for the officers had cautioned their men not to fall behind the +column, as all stragglers were liable to be picked up by the enemy’s +light cavalry. It was the 25th of August, and Maurice, when he subsequently +recalled to mind Goliah’s disappearance, was certain that the man had +been instrumental in affording the German staff exact information as to the +movements of the army of Châlons, and thus producing the change of front of +their third army. The succeeding morning the Crown Prince of Prussia left +Revigny and the great maneuver was initiated, that gigantic movement by the +flank, surrounding and enmeshing us by a series of forced marches conducted in +the most admirable order through Champagne and the Ardennes. While the French +were stumbling aimlessly about the country, oscillating uncertainly between one +place and another, the Prussians were making their twenty miles a day and more, +gradually contracting their immense circle of beaters upon the band of men whom +they held within their toils, and driving their prey onward toward the forests +of the frontier. +</p> + +<p> +A start was finally made, and the result of the day’s movement showed +that the army was pivoting on its left; the 7th corps only traversed the two +short leagues between Contreuve and Vouziers, while the 5th and 12th corps did +not stir from Rethel, and the 1st went no farther than Attigny. Between +Contreuve and the valley of the Aisne the country became level again and was +more bare than ever; as they drew near to Vouziers the road wound among +desolate hills and naked gray fields, without a tree, without a house, as +gloomy and forbidding as a desert, and the day’s march, short as it was, +was accomplished with such fatigue and distress that it seemed interminably +long. Soon after midday, however, the 1st and 3d divisions had passed through +the city and encamped in the meadows on the farther bank of the Aisne, while a +brigade of the second, which included the 106th, had remained upon the left +bank, bivouacking among the waste lands of which the low foot-hills overlooked +the valley, observing from their position the Monthois road, which skirts the +stream and by which the enemy was expected to make his appearance. +</p> + +<p> +And Maurice was dumfoundered to behold advancing along that Monthois road +Margueritte’s entire division, the body of cavalry to which had been +assigned the duty of supporting the 7th corps and watching the left flank of +the army. The report was that it was on its way to Chêne-Populeux. Why was the +left wing, where alone they were threatened by the enemy, stripped in that +manner? What sense was there in summoning in upon the center, where they could +be of no earthly use, those two thousand horsemen, who should have been +dispersed upon our flank, leagues away, as videttes to observe the enemy? And +what made matters worse was that they caused the greatest confusion among the +columns of the 7th corps, cutting in upon their line of march and producing an +inextricable jam of horses, guns, and men. A squadron of chasseurs +d’Afrique were halted for near two hours at the gate of Vouziers, and by +the merest chance Maurice stumbled on Prosper, who had ridden his horse down to +the bank of a neighboring pond to let him drink, and the two men were enabled +to exchange a few words. The chasseur appeared stunned, dazed, knew nothing and +had seen nothing since they left Rheims; yes, though, he had: he had seen two +uhlans more; oh! but they were will o’ the wisps, phantoms, they were, +that appeared and vanished, and no one could tell whence they came nor whither +they went. Their fame had spread, and stories of them were already rife +throughout the country, such, for instance, as that of four uhlans galloping +into a town with drawn revolvers and taking possession of it, when the corps to +which they belonged was a dozen miles away. They were everywhere, preceding the +columns like a buzzing, stinging swarm of bees, a living curtain, behind which +the infantry could mask their movements and march and countermarch as securely +as if they were at home upon parade. And Maurice’s heart sank in his +bosom as he looked at the road, crowded with chasseurs and hussars which our +leaders put to such poor use. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, then, <i>au revoir</i>,” said he, shaking Prosper by the +hand; “perhaps they will find something for you to do down yonder, after +all.” +</p> + +<p> +But the chasseur appeared disgusted with the task assigned him. He sadly +stroked Poulet’s neck and answered: +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, what’s the use talking! they kill our horses and let us rot in +idleness. It is sickening.” +</p> + +<p> +When Maurice took off his shoe that evening to have a look at his foot, which +was aching and throbbing feverishly, the skin came with it; the blood spurted +forth and he uttered a cry of pain. Jean was standing by, and exhibited much +pity and concern. +</p> + +<p> +“Look here, that is becoming serious; you are going to lie right down and +not attempt to move. That foot of yours must be attended to. Let me see +it.” +</p> + +<p> +He knelt down, washed the sore with his own hands and bound it up with some +clean linen that he took from his knapsack. He displayed the gentleness of a +woman and the deftness of a surgeon, whose big fingers can be so pliant when +necessity requires it. +</p> + +<p> +A great wave of tenderness swept over Maurice, his eyes were dimmed with tears, +the familiar <i>thou</i> rose from his heart to his lips with an irresistible +impulse of affection, as if in that peasant whom he once had hated and +abhorred, whom only yesterday he had despised, he had discovered a long lost +brother. +</p> + +<p> +“Thou art a good fellow, thou! Thanks, good friend.” +</p> + +<p> +And Jean, too, looking very happy, dropped into the second person singular, +with his tranquil smile. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, my little one, wilt thou have a cigarette? I have some tobacco +left.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap05"></a>V.</h2> + +<p> +On the morning of the following day, the 26th, Maurice arose with stiffened +limbs and an aching back, the result of his night under the tent. He was not +accustomed yet to sleeping on the bare ground; orders had been given before the +men turned in that they were not to remove their shoes, and during the night +the sergeants had gone the rounds, feeling in the darkness to see if all were +properly shod and gaitered, so that his foot was much inflamed and very +painful. In addition to his other troubles he had imprudently stretched his +legs outside the canvas to relieve their cramped feeling and taken cold in +them. +</p> + +<p> +Jean said as soon as he set eyes on him: +</p> + +<p> +“If we are to do any marching to-day, my lad, you had better see the +surgeon and get him to give you a place in one of the wagons.” +</p> + +<p> +But no one seemed to know what were the plans for the day, and the most +conflicting reports prevailed. It appeared for a moment as if they were about +to resume their march; the tents were struck and the entire corps took the road +and passed through Vouziers, leaving on the right bank of the Aisne only one +brigade of the second division, apparently to continue the observation of the +Monthois road; but all at once, as soon as they had put the town behind them +and were on the left bank of the stream, they halted and stacked muskets in the +fields and meadows that skirt the Grand-Pré road on either hand, and the +departure of the 4th hussars, who just then moved off on that road at a sharp +trot, afforded fresh food for conjecture. +</p> + +<p> +“If we are to remain here I shall stay with you,” declared Maurice, +who was not attracted by the prospect of riding in an ambulance. +</p> + +<p> +It soon became known that they were to occupy their present camp until General +Douay could obtain definite information as to the movements of the enemy. The +general had been harassed by an intense and constantly increasing anxiety since +the day before, when he had seen Margueritte’s division moving toward +Chêne, for he knew that his flank was uncovered, that there was not a man to +watch the passes of the Argonne, and that he was liable to be attacked at any +moment. Therefore he had sent out the 4th hussars to reconnoiter the country as +far as the defiles of Grand-Pré and Croix-aux-Bois, with strict orders not to +return without intelligence. +</p> + +<p> +There had been an issue of bread, meat, and forage the day before, thanks to +the efficient mayor of Vouziers, and about ten o’clock that morning +permission had been granted the men to make soup, in the fear that they might +not soon again have so good an opportunity, when another movement of troops, +the departure of Bordas’ brigade over the road taken by the hussars, set +all tongues wagging afresh. What! were they going to march again? were they not +to be given a chance to eat their breakfast in peace, now that the kettle was +on the fire? But the officers explained that Bordas’ brigade had only +been sent to occupy Buzancy, a few kilometers from there. There were others, +indeed, who asserted that the hussars had encountered a strong force of the +enemy’s cavalry and that the brigade had been dispatched to help them out +of their difficulty. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice enjoyed a few hours of delicious repose. He had thrown himself on the +ground in a field half way up the hill where the regiment had halted, and in a +drowsy state between sleeping and waking was contemplating the verdant valley +of the Aisne, the smiling meadows dotted with clumps of trees, among which the +little stream wound lazily. Before him and closing the valley in that direction +lay Vouziers, an amphitheater of roofs rising one above another and overtopped +by the church with its slender spire and dome-crowned tower. Below him, near +the bridge, smoke was curling upward from the tall chimneys of the tanneries, +while farther away a great mill displayed its flour-whitened buildings among +the fresh verdure of the growths that lined the waterside. The little town that +lay there, bounding his horizon, hidden among the stately trees, appeared to +him to possess a gentle charm; it brought him memories of boyhood, of the +journeys that he had made to Vouziers in other days, when he had lived at +Chêne, the village where he was born. For an hour he was oblivious of the outer +world. +</p> + +<p> +The soup had long since been made and eaten and everyone was waiting to see +what would happen next, when, about half-past two o’clock, the smoldering +excitement began to gain strength, and soon pervaded the entire camp. Hurried +orders came to abandon the meadows, and the troops ascended a line of hills +between two villages, Chestres and Falaise, some two or three miles apart, and +took position there. Already the engineers were at work digging rifle-pits and +throwing up epaulments; while over to the left the artillery had occupied the +summit of a rounded eminence. The rumor spread that General Bordas had sent in +a courier to announce that he had encountered the enemy in force at Grand-Pré +and had been compelled to fall back on Buzancy, which gave cause to apprehend +that he might soon be cut off from retreat on Vouziers. For these reasons, the +commander of the 7th corps, believing an attack to be imminent, had placed his +men in position to sustain the first onset until the remainder of the army +should have time to come to his assistance, and had started off one of his +aides-de-camp with a letter to the marshal, apprising him of the danger, and +asking him for re-enforcements. Fearing for the safety of the subsistence +train, which had come up with the corps during the night and was again dragging +its interminable length in the rear, he summarily sent it to the right about +and directed it to make the best of its way to Chagny. Things were beginning to +look like fight. +</p> + +<p> +“So, it looks like business this time—eh, Lieutenant?” +Maurice ventured to ask Rochas. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, thank goodness,” replied the Lieutenant, his long arms going +like windmills. “Wait a little; you’ll find it warm enough!” +</p> + +<p> +The soldiers were all delighted; the animation in the camp was still more +pronounced. A feverish impatience had taken possession of the men, now that +they were actually in line of battle between Chestres and Falaise. At last they +were to have a sight of those Prussians who, if the newspapers were to be +believed, were knocked up by their long marches, decimated by sickness, +starving, and in rags, and every man’s heart beat high with the prospect +of annihilating them at a single blow. +</p> + +<p> +“We are lucky to come across them again,” said Jean. +“They’ve been playing hide-and-seek about long enough since they +slipped through our fingers after their battle down yonder on the frontier. But +are these the same troops that whipped MacMahon, I wonder?” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice could not answer his question with any degree of certainty. It seemed +to him hardly probable, in view of what he had read in the newspapers at +Rheims, that the third army, commanded by the Crown Prince of Prussia, could be +at Vouziers, when, only two days before, it was just on the point of going into +camp at Vitry-le-Francois. There had been some talk of a fourth army, under the +Prince of Saxony, which was to operate on the line of the Meuse; this was +doubtless the one that was now before them, although their promptitude in +occupying Grand-Pré was a matter of surprise, considering the distances. But +what put the finishing touch to the confusion of his ideas was his stupefaction +to hear General Bourgain-Desfeuilles ask a countryman if the Meuse did not flow +past Buzancy, and if the bridges there were strong. The general announced, +moreover, in the confidence of his sublime ignorance, that a column of one +hundred thousand men was on the way from Grand-Pré to attack them, while +another, of sixty thousand, was coming up by the way of Sainte-Menehould. +</p> + +<p> +“How’s your foot, Maurice?” asked Jean. +</p> + +<p> +“It don’t hurt now,” the other laughingly replied. “If +there is to be a fight, I think it will be quite well.” +</p> + +<p> +It was true; his nervous excitement was so great that he was hardly conscious +of the ground on which he trod. To think that in the whole campaign he had not +yet burned powder! He had gone forth to the frontier, he had endured the agony +of that terrible night of expectation before Mülhausen, and had not seen a +Prussian, had not fired a shot; then he had retreated with the rest to Belfort, +to Rheims, had now been marching five days trying to find the enemy, and his +useless <i>chassepot</i> was as clean as the day it left the shop, without the +least smell of smoke on it. He felt an aching desire to discharge his piece +once, if no more, to relieve the tension of his nerves. Since the day, near six +weeks ago, when he had enlisted in a fit of enthusiasm, supposing that he would +surely have to face the foe in a day or two, all that he had done had been to +tramp up and down the country on his poor, sore feet—the feet of a man +who had lived in luxury, far from the battle-field; and so, among all those +impatient watchers, there was none who watched more impatiently than he the +Grand-Pré road, extending straight away to a seemingly infinite distance +between two rows of handsome trees. Beneath him was unrolled the panorama of +the valley; the Aisne was, like a silver ribbon, flowing between its willows +and poplars, and ever his gaze returned, solicited by an irresistible +attraction, to that road down yonder that stretched away, far as the eye could +see, to the horizon. +</p> + +<p> +About four o’clock the 4th hussars returned, having made a wide circuit +in the country round about, and stories, which grew as they were repeated, +began to circulate of conflicts with uhlans, tending to confirm the confident +belief which everyone had that an attack was imminent. Two hours later a +courier came galloping in, breathless with terror, to announce that General +Bordas had positive information that the enemy were on the Vouziers road, and +dared not leave Grand-Pré. It was evident that that could not be true, since +the courier had just passed over the road unharmed, but no one could tell at +what moment it might be the case, and General Dumont, commanding the division, +set out at once with his remaining brigade to bring off his other brigade that +was in difficulty. The sun went down behind Vouziers and the roofs of the town +were sharply profiled in black against a great red cloud. For a long time the +brigade was visible as it receded between the double row of trees, until +finally it was swallowed up in the gathering darkness. +</p> + +<p> +Colonel de Vineuil came to look after his regiment’s position for the +night. He was surprised not to find Captain Beaudoin at his post, and as that +officer just then chanced to come in from Vouziers, where he alleged in excuse +for his absence that he had been breakfasting with the Baronne de Ladicourt, he +received a sharp reprimand, which he digested in silence, with the rigid manner +of a martinet conscious of being in the wrong. +</p> + +<p> +“My children,” said the Colonel, as he passed along the line of +men, “we shall probably be attacked to-night, or if not, then by +day-break to-morrow morning at the latest. Be prepared, and remember that the +106th has never retreated before the enemy.” +</p> + +<p> +The little speech was received with loud hurrahs; everyone, in the prevailing +suspense and discouragement, preferred to “take the wipe of the +dish-clout” and have done with it. Rifles were examined to see that they +were in good order, belts were refilled with cartridges. As they had eaten +their soup that morning, the men were obliged to content themselves with +biscuits and coffee. An order was promulgated that there was to be no sleeping. +The grand-guards were out nearly a mile to the front, and a chain of sentinels +at frequent intervals extended down to the Aisne. The officers were seated in +little groups about the camp-fires, and beside a low wall at the left of the +road the fitful blaze occasionally flared up and rescued from the darkness the +gold embroideries and bedizened uniforms of the Commander-in-Chief and his +staff, flitting to and fro like phantoms, watching the road and listening for +the tramp of horses in the mortal anxiety they were in as to the fate of the +third division. +</p> + +<p> +It was about one o’clock in the morning when it came Maurice’s turn +to take his post as sentry at the edge of an orchard of plum-trees, between the +road and the river. The night was black as ink, and as soon as his comrades +left him and he found himself alone in the deep silence of the sleeping fields +he was conscious of a sensation of fear creeping over him, a feeling of abject +terror such as he had never known before and which he trembled with rage and +shame at his inability to conquer. He turned his head to cheer himself by a +sight of the camp-fires, but they were hidden from him by a wood; there was +naught behind him but an unfathomable sea of blackness; all that he could +discern was a few distant lights still dimly burning in Vouziers, where the +inhabitants, doubtless forewarned and trembling at the thought of the impending +combat, were keeping anxious vigil. His terror was increased, if that were +possible, on bringing his piece to his shoulder to find that he could not even +distinguish the sights on it. Then commenced a period of suspense that tried +his nerves most cruelly; every faculty of his being was strained and +concentrated in the one sense of hearing; sounds so faint as to be +imperceptible reverberated in his ears like the crash of thunder; the plash of +a distant waterfall, the rustling of a leaf, the movement of an insect in the +grass, were like the booming of artillery. Was that the tramp of cavalry, the +deep rumbling of gun-carriages driven at speed, that he heard down there to the +right? And there on his left, what was that? was it not the sound of stealthy +whispers, stifled voices, a party creeping up to surprise him under cover of +the darkness? Three times he was on the point of giving the alarm by firing his +piece. The fear that he might be mistaken and incur the ridicule of his +comrades served to intensify his distress. He had kneeled upon the ground, +supporting his left shoulder against a tree; it seemed to him that he had been +occupying that position for hours, that they had forgotten him there, that the +army had moved away without him. Then suddenly, at once, his fear left him; +upon the road, that he knew was not two hundred yards away, he distinctly heard +the cadenced tramp of marching men. Immediately it flashed across his mind as a +certainty that they were the troops from Grand-Pré, whose coming had been +awaited with such anxiety—General Dumont bringing in Bordas’ +brigade. At that same moment the corporal of the guard came along with the +relief; he had been on post a little less than the customary hour. +</p> + +<p> +He had been right; it was the 3d division returning to camp. Everyone felt a +sensation of deep relief. Increased precautions were taken, nevertheless, for +what fresh intelligence they received tended to confirm what they supposed they +already knew of the enemy’s approach. A few uhlans, forbidding looking +fellows in their long black cloaks, were brought in as prisoners, but they were +uncommunicative, and so daylight came at last, the pale, ghastly light of a +rainy morning, bringing with it no alleviation of their terrible suspense. No +one had dared to close an eye during that long night. About seven o’clock +Lieutenant Rochas affirmed that MacMahon was coming up with the whole army. The +truth of the matter was that General Douay, in reply to his dispatch of the +preceding day announcing that a battle at Vouziers was inevitable, had received +a letter from the marshal enjoining him to hold the position until +re-enforcements could reach him; the forward movement had been arrested; the +1st corps was being directed on Terron, the 5th on Buzancy, while the 12th was +to remain at Chêne and constitute our second line. Then the suspense became +more breathless still; it was to be no mere skirmish that the peaceful valley +of the Aisne was to witness that day, but a great battle, in which would +participate the entire army, that was even now turning its back upon the Meuse +and marching southward; and there was no making of soup, the men had to content +themselves with coffee and hard-tack, for everyone was saying, without +troubling himself to ask why, that the “wipe of the dish-clout” was +set down for midday. An aide-de-camp had been dispatched to the marshal to urge +him to hurry forward their supports, as intelligence received from every +quarter made it more and more certain that the two Prussian armies were close +at hand, and three hours later still another officer galloped off like mad +toward Chêne, where general headquarters were located, with a request for +instructions, for consternation had risen to a higher pitch then ever with the +receipt of fresh tidings from the <i>maire</i> of a country commune, who told +of having seen a hundred thousand men at Grand-Pré, while another hundred +thousand were advancing by way of Buzancy. +</p> + +<p> +Midday came, and not a sign of the Prussians. At one o’clock, at two, it +was the same, and a reaction of lassitude and doubt began to prevail among the +troops. Derisive jeers were heard at the expense of the generals: perhaps they +had seen their shadow on the wall; they should be presented with a pair of +spectacles. A pretty set of humbugs they were, to have caused all that trouble +for nothing! A fellow who passed for a wit among his comrades shouted: +</p> + +<p> +“It is like it was down there at Mülhausen, eh?” +</p> + +<p> +The words recalled to Maurice’s mind a flood of bitter memories. He +thought of that idiotic flight, that panic that had swept away the 7th corps +when there was not a German visible, nor within ten leagues of where they were, +and now he had a distinct certainty that they were to have a renewal of that +experience. It was plain that if twenty-four hours had elapsed since the +skirmish at Grand-Pré and they had not been attacked, the reason was that the +4th hussars had merely struck up against a reconnoitering body of cavalry; the +main body of the Prussians must be far away, probably a day’s march or +two. Then the thought suddenly struck him of the time they had wasted, and it +terrified him; in three days they had only accomplished the distance from +Contreuve to Vouziers, a scant two leagues. On the 25th the other corps, +alleging scarcity of supplies, had diverted their course to the north, while +now, on the 27th, here they were coming southward again to fight a battle with +an invisible enemy. Bordas’ brigade had followed the 4th hussars into the +abandoned passes of the Argonne, and was supposed to have got itself into +trouble; the division had gone to its assistance, and that had been succeeded +by the corps, and that by the entire army, and all those movements had amounted +to nothing. Maurice trembled as he reflected how pricelessly valuable was every +hour, every minute, in that mad project of joining forces with Bazaine, a +project that could be carried to a successful issue only by an officer of +genius, with seasoned troops under him, who should press forward to his end +with the resistless energy of a whirlwind, crushing every obstacle that lay in +his path. +</p> + +<p> +“It is all up with us!” said he, as the whole truth flashed through +his mind, to Jean, who had given way to despair. Then as the corporal, failing +to catch his meaning, looked at him wonderingly, he went on in an undertone, +for his friend’s ear alone, to speak of their commanders: +</p> + +<p> +“They mean well, but they have no sense, that’s certain—and +no luck! They know nothing; they foresee nothing; they have neither plans nor +ideas, nor happy intuitions. <i>Allons</i>! everything is against us; it is all +up!” +</p> + +<p> +And by slow degrees that same feeling of discouragement that Maurice had +arrived at by a process of reasoning settled down upon the denser intellects of +the troops who lay there inactive, anxiously awaiting to see what the end would +be. Distrust, as a result of their truer perception of the position they were +in, was obscurely burrowing in those darkened minds, and there was no man so +ignorant as not to feel a sense of injury at the ignorance and irresolution of +their leaders, although he might not have been able to express in distinct +terms the causes of his exasperation. In the name of Heaven, what were they +doing there, since the Prussians had not shown themselves? either let them +fight and have it over with, or else go off to some place where they could get +some sleep; they had had enough of that kind of work. Since the departure of +the second aide-de-camp, who had been dispatched in quest of orders, this +feeling of unrest had been increasing momentarily; men collected in groups, +talking loudly and discussing the situation pro and con, and the general +inquietude communicating itself to the officers, they knew not what answer to +make to those of their men who ventured to question them. They ought to be +marching, it would not answer to dawdle thus; and so, when it became known +about five o’clock that the aide-de-camp had returned and that they were +to retreat, there was a sigh of relief throughout the camp and every heart was +lighter. +</p> + +<p> +It seemed that the wiser counsel was to prevail, then, after all! The Emperor +and MacMahon had never looked with favor on the movement toward Montmedy, and +now, alarmed to learn that they were again out-marched and out-maneuvered, and +that they were to have the army of the Prince of Saxony as well as that of the +Crown Prince to contend with, they had renounced the hazardous scheme of +uniting their forces with Bazaine, and would retreat through the northern +strongholds with a view to falling back ultimately on Paris. The 7th +corps’ destination would be Chagny, by way of Chêne, while the 5th corps +would be directed on Poix, and the 1st and 12th on Vendresse. But why, since +they were about to fall back, had they advanced to the line of the Aisne? Why +all that waste of time and labor, when it would have been so easy and so +rational to move straight from Rheims and occupy the strong positions in the +valley of the Marne? Was there no guiding mind, no military talent, no common +sense? But there should be no more questioning; all should be forgiven, in the +universal joy at the adoption of that eminently wise counsel, which was the +only means at their command of extricating themselves from the hornets’ +nest into which they had rushed so imprudently. All, officers and men, felt +that they would be the stronger for the retrograde movement, that under the +walls of Paris they would be invincible, and that there it was that the +Prussians would sustain their inevitable defeat. But Vouziers must be evacuated +before daybreak, and they must be well on the road to Chêne before the enemy +should learn of the movement, and forthwith the camp presented a scene of the +greatest animation: trumpets sounding, officers hastening to and fro with +orders, while the baggage and quartermaster’s trains, in order not to +encumber the rear-guard, were sent forward in advance. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice was delighted. As he was endeavoring to explain to Jean the rationale +of the impending movement, however, a cry of pain escaped him; his excitement +had subsided, and he was again conscious of his foot, aching and burning as if +it had been a ball of red-hot metal. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s the matter? is it hurting you again?” the corporal +asked sympathizingly. And with his calm and sensible resourcefulness he said: +“See here, little one, you told me yesterday that you have acquaintances +in the town, yonder. You ought to get permission from the major and find some +one to drive you over to Chêne, where you could have a good night’s rest +in a comfortable bed. We can pick you up as we go by to-morrow if you are fit +to march. What do you say to that, <i>hein</i>?” +</p> + +<p> +In Falaise, the village near which the camp was pitched, Maurice had come +across a small farmer, an old friend of his father’s, who was about to +drive his daughter over to Chêne to visit an aunt in that town, and the horse +was even then standing waiting, hitched to a light carriole. The prospect was +far from encouraging, however, when he broached the subject to Major Bouroche. +</p> + +<p> +“I have a sore foot, monsieur the doctor—” +</p> + +<p> +Bouroche, with a savage shake of his big head with its leonine mane, turned on +him with a roar: +</p> + +<p> +“I am not monsieur the doctor; who taught you manners?” +</p> + +<p> +And when Maurice, taken all aback, made a stammering attempt to excuse himself, +he continued: +</p> + +<p> +“Address me as major, do you hear, you great oaf!” +</p> + +<p> +He must have seen that he had not one of the common herd to deal with and felt +a little ashamed of himself; he carried it off with a display of more +roughness. +</p> + +<p> +“All a cock-and-bull story, that sore foot of yours!—Yes, yes; you +may go. Go in a carriage, go in a balloon, if you choose. We have too many of +you malingerers in the army!” +</p> + +<p> +When Jean assisted Maurice into the carriole the latter turned to thank him, +whereon the two men fell into each other’s arms and embraced as if they +were never to meet again. Who could tell, amid the confusion and disorder of +the retreat, with those bloody Prussians on their track? Maurice could not tell +how it was that there was already such a tender affection between him and the +young man, and twice he turned to wave him a farewell. As he left the camp they +were preparing to light great fires in order to mislead the enemy when they +should steal away, in deepest silence, before the dawn of day. +</p> + +<p> +As they jogged along the farmer bewailed the terrible times through which they +were passing. He had lacked the courage to remain at Falaise, and already was +regretting that he had left it, declaring that if the Prussians burned his +house it would ruin him. His daughter, a tall, pale young woman, wept +copiously. But Maurice was like a dead man for want of sleep, and had no ears +for the farmer’s lamentations; he slumbered peacefully, soothed by the +easy motion of the vehicle, which the little horse trundled over the ground at +such a good round pace that it took them less than an hour and a half to +accomplish the four leagues between Vouziers and Chêne. It was not quite seven +o’clock and scarcely beginning to be dark when the young man rubbed his +eyes and alighted in a rather dazed condition on the public square, near the +bridge over the canal, in front of the modest house where he was born and had +passed twenty years of his life. He got down there in obedience to an +involuntary impulse, although the house had been sold eighteen months before to +a veterinary surgeon, and in reply to the farmer’s questions said that he +knew quite well where he was going, adding that he was a thousand times obliged +to him for his kindness. +</p> + +<p> +He continued to stand stock-still, however, beside the well in the middle of +the little triangular <i>place</i>; he was as if stunned; his memory was a +blank. Where had he intended to go? and suddenly his wits returned to him and +he remembered that it was to the notary’s, whose house was next door to +his father’s, and whose mother, Madame Desvallières, an aged and most +excellent lady, had petted him when he was an urchin on account of their being +neighbors. But he hardly recognized Chêne in the midst of the hurly-burly and +confusion into which the little town, ordinarily so dead, was thrown by the +presence of an army corps encamped at its gates and filling its quiet streets +with officers, couriers, soldiers, and camp-followers and stragglers of every +description. The canal was there as of old, passing through the town from end +to end and bisecting the market-place in the center into two equal-sized +triangles connected by a narrow stone bridge; and there, on the other bank, was +the old market with its moss-grown roofs, and the Rue Berond leading away to +the left and the Sedan road to the right, but filling the Rue de Vouziers in +front of him and extending as far as the Hôtel de Ville was such a compact, +swarming, buzzing crowd that he was obliged to raise his eyes and take a look +over the roof of the notary’s house at the slate-covered bell tower in +order to assure himself that that was the quiet spot where he had played +hop-scotch when he was a youngster. There seemed to be an effort making to +clear the square; some men were roughly crowding back the throng of idlers and +gazers, and looking more closely he was surprised to see, parked like the guns +of a battery, a collection of vans, baggage-wagons, and carriages open and +closed; a miscellaneous assortment of traps that he had certainly set eyes on +before. +</p> + +<p> +It was daylight still; the sun had just sunk in the canal at the point where it +vanished in the horizon and the long, straight stretch of water was like a sea +of blood, and Maurice was trying to make up his mind what to do when a woman +who stood near stared at him a moment and then exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“Why goodness gracious, is it possible! Are you the Levasseur boy?” +</p> + +<p> +And thereon he recognized Madame Combette, the wife of the druggist, whose shop +was on the market-place. As he was trying to explain to her that he was going +to ask good Madame Desvallières to give him a bed for the night she excitedly +hurried him away. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no; come to our house. I will tell you why—” When they +were in the shop and she had cautiously closed the door she continued: +“You could not know, my dear boy, that the Emperor is at the +Desvallières. His officers took possession of the house in his name and the +family are not any too well pleased with the great honor done them, I can tell +you. To think that the poor old mother, a woman more than seventy, was +compelled to give up her room and go up and occupy a servant’s bed in the +garret! Look, there, on the place. All that you see there is the +Emperor’s; those are his trunks, don’t you see!” +</p> + +<p> +And then Maurice remembered; they were the imperial carriages and +baggage-wagons, the entire magnificent train that he had seen at Rheims. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! my dear boy, if you could but have seen the stuff they took from +them, the silver plate, and the bottles of wine, and the baskets of good +things, and the beautiful linen, and everything! I can’t help wondering +where they find room for such heaps of things, for the house is not a large +one. Look, look! see what a fire they have lighted in the kitchen!” +</p> + +<p> +He looked over at the small white, two-storied house that stood at the corner +of the market-place and the Rue de Vouziers, a comfortable, unassuming house of +bourgeois aspect; how well he remembered it, inside and out, with its central +hall and four rooms on each floor; why, it was as if he had just left it! There +were lights in the corner room on the first floor overlooking the square; the +apothecary’s wife informed him that it was the bedroom of the Emperor. +But the chief center of activity seemed, as she had said, to be the kitchen, +the window of which opened on the Rue de Vouziers. In all their lives the good +people of Chêne had witnessed no such spectacle, and the street before the +house was filled with a gaping crowd, constantly coming and going, who stared +with all their eyes at the range on which was cooking the dinner of an Emperor. +To obtain a breath of air the cooks had thrown open the window to its full +extent. They were three in number, in jackets of resplendent whiteness, +superintending the roasting of chickens impaled on a huge spit, stirring the +gravies and sauces in copper vessels that shone like gold. And the oldest +inhabitant, evoking in memory all the civic banquets that he had beheld at the +Silver Lion, could truthfully declare that never at any one time had he seen so +much wood burning and so much food cooking. +</p> + +<p> +Combette, a bustling, wizened little man, came in from the street in a great +state of excitement from all that he had seen and heard. His position as +deputy-mayor gave him facilities for knowing what was going on. It was about +half-past three o’clock when MacMahon had telegraphed Bazaine that the +Crown Prince of Prussia was approaching Châlons, thus necessitating the +withdrawal of the army to the places along the Belgian frontier, and further +dispatches were also in preparation for the Minister of War, advising him of +the projected movement and explaining the terrible dangers of their position. +It was uncertain whether or not the dispatch for Bazaine would get through, for +communication with Metz had seemed to be interrupted for the past few days, but +the second dispatch was another and more serious matter; and lowering his voice +almost to a whisper the apothecary repeated the words that he had heard uttered +by an officer of rank: “If they get wind of this in Paris, our goose is +cooked!” Everyone was aware of the unrelenting persistency with which the +Empress and the Council of Ministers urged the advance of the army. Moreover, +the confusion went on increasing from hour to hour, the most conflicting +advices were continually coming in as to the whereabouts of the German forces. +Could it be possible that the Crown Prince was at Châlons? What, then, were the +troops that the 7th corps had encountered among the passes of the Argonne? +</p> + +<p> +“They have no information at staff headquarters,” continued the +little druggist, raising his arms above his head with a despairing gesture. +“Ah, what a mess we are in! But all will be well if the army retreats +to-morrow.” Then, dropping public for private matters, the kind-hearted +man said: “Look here, my young friend, I am going to see what I can do +for that foot of yours; then we’ll give you some dinner and put you to +bed in my apprentice’s little room, who has cleared out.” +</p> + +<p> +But Maurice was tormented by such an itching desire for further intelligence +that he could neither eat nor sleep until he had carried into execution his +original design of paying a visit to his old friend, Madame Desvallières, over +the way. He was surprised that he was not halted at the door, which, in the +universal confusion, had been left wide open, without so much as a sentry to +guard it. People were going out and coming in incessantly, military men and +officers of the household, and the roar from the blazing kitchen seemed to rise +and pervade the whole house. There was no light in the passage and on the +staircase, however, and he had to grope his way up as best he might. On +reaching the first floor he paused for a few seconds, his heart beating +violently, before the door of the apartment that he knew contained the Emperor, +but not a sound was to be heard in the room; the stillness that reigned there +was as of death. Mounting the last flight he presented himself at the door of +the servant’s room to which Madame Desvallières had been consigned; the +old lady was at first terrified at sight of him. When she recognized him +presently she said: +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, my poor child, what a sad meeting is this! I would cheerfully have +surrendered my house to the Emperor, but the people he has about him have no +sense of decency. They lay hands on everything, without so much as saying, +‘By your leave,’ and I am afraid they will burn the house down with +their great fires! He, poor man, looks like a corpse, and such sadness in his +face—” +</p> + +<p> +And when the young man took leave of her with a few murmured words of comfort +she went with him to the door, and leaning over the banister: +“Look!” she softly said, “you can see him from where you are. +Ah! we are all undone. Adieu, my child!” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice remained planted like a statue on one of the steps of the dark +staircase. Craning his neck and directing his glance through the glazed +fanlight over the door of the apartment, he beheld a sight that was never to +fade from his memory. +</p> + +<p> +In the bare and cheerless room, the conventional bourgeois +“parlor,” was the Emperor, seated at a table on which his plate was +laid, lighted at either end by wax candles in great silver candelabra. Silent +in the background stood two aides-de-camp with folded arms. The wine in the +glass was untasted, the bread untouched, a breast of chicken was cooling on the +plate. The Emperor did not stir; he sat staring down at the cloth with those +dim, lusterless, watery eyes that the young man remembered to have seen before +at Rheims; but he appeared more weary than then, and when, evidently at the +cost of a great effort, he had raised a couple of mouthfuls to his lips, he +impatiently pushed the remainder of the food from him with his hand. That was +his dinner. His pale face was blanched with an expression of suffering endured +in silence. +</p> + +<p> +As Maurice was passing the dining room on the floor beneath, the door was +suddenly thrown open, and through the glow of candles and the steam of smoking +joints he caught a glimpse of a table of equerries, chamberlains, and +aides-de-camp, engaged in devouring the Emperor’s game and poultry and +drinking his champagne, amid a great hubbub of conversation. Now that the +marshal’s dispatch had been sent off, all these people were delighted to +know that the retreat was assured. In a week they would be at Paris and could +sleep between clean sheets. +</p> + +<p> +Then, for the first time, Maurice suddenly became conscious of the terrible +fatigue that was oppressing him like a physical burden; there was no longer +room for doubt, the whole army was about to fall back, and the best thing for +him to do was to get some sleep while waiting for the 7th corps to pass. He +made his way back across the square to the house of his friend Combette, where, +like one in a dream, he ate some dinner, after which he was mistily conscious +of someone dressing his foot and then conducting him upstairs to a bedroom. And +then all was blackness and utter annihilation; he slept a dreamless, unstirring +sleep. But after an uncertain length of time—hours, days, centuries, he +knew not—he gave a start and sat bolt upright in bed in the surrounding +darkness. Where was he? What was that continuous rolling sound, like the +rattling of thunder, that had aroused him from his slumber? His recollection +suddenly returned to him; he ran to the window to see what was going on. In the +obscurity of the street beneath, where the night was usually so peaceful, the +artillery was passing, horses, men, and guns, in interminable array, with a +roar and clatter that made the lifeless houses quake and tremble. The abrupt +vision filled him with unreasoning alarm. What time might it be? The great bell +in the Hôtel de Ville struck four. He was endeavoring to allay his uneasiness +by assuring himself that it was simply the initial movement in the retreat that +had been ordered the day previous, when, raising his eyes, he beheld a sight +that gave him fresh cause for inquietude: there was a light still in the corner +window of the notary’s house opposite, and the shadow of the Emperor, +drawn in dark profile on the curtain, appeared and disappeared at regularly +spaced intervals. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice hastily slipped on his trousers preparatory to going down to the +street, but just then Combette appeared at the door with a bed-candle in his +hand, gesticulating wildly. +</p> + +<p> +“I saw you from the square as I was coming home from the <i>Mairie</i>, +and I came up to tell you the news. They have been keeping me out of my bed all +this time; would you believe it, for more than two hours the mayor and I have +been busy attending to fresh requisitions. Yes, everything is upset again; +there has been another change of plans. Ah! he knew what he was about, that +officer did, who wanted to keep the folks in Paris from getting wind of +matters!” +</p> + +<p> +He went on for a long time in broken, disjointed phrases, and when he had +finished the young man, speechless, brokenhearted, saw it all. About midnight +the Emperor had received a dispatch from the Minister of War in reply to the +one that had been sent by the marshal. Its exact terms were not known, but an +aide-de-camp at the Hôtel de Ville had stated openly that the Empress and the +Council declared there would be a revolution in Paris should the Emperor +retrace his steps and abandon Bazaine. The dispatch, which evinced the utmost +ignorance as to the position of the German armies and the resources of the army +of Châlons, advised, or rather ordered, an immediate forward movement, +regardless of all considerations, in spite of everything, with a heat and fury +that seemed incredible. +</p> + +<p> +“The Emperor sent for the marshal,” added the apothecary, +“and they were closeted together for near an hour; of course I am not in +position to say what passed between them, but I am told by all the officers +that there is to be no more retreating, and the advance to the Meuse is to be +resumed at once. We have been requisitioning all the ovens in the city for the +1st corps, which will come up to-morrow morning and take the place of the 12th, +whose artillery you see at this moment starting for la Besace. The matter is +decided for good this time; you will smell powder before you are much +older.” +</p> + +<p> +He ceased. He also was gazing at the lighted window over in the notary’s +house. Then he went on in a low voice, as if talking to himself, with an +expression on his face of reflective curiosity: +</p> + +<p> +“I wonder what they had to say to each other? It strikes one as a rather +peculiar proceeding, all the same, to run away from a threatened danger at six +in the evening, and at midnight, when nothing has occurred to alter the +situation, to rush headlong into the very self-same danger.” +</p> + +<p> +Below them in the street Maurice still heard the gun-carriages rumbling and +rattling over the stones of the little sleeping city, that ceaseless tramp of +horse and man, that uninterrupted tide of humanity, pouring onward toward the +Meuse, toward the unknown, terrible fate that the morrow had in store for them. +And still upon the mean, cheap curtains of that bourgeois dwelling he beheld +the shadow of the Emperor passing and repassing at regular intervals, the +restless activity of the sick man, to whom his cares made sleep impossible, +whose sole repose was motion, in whose ears was ever ringing that tramp of +horses and men whom he was suffering to be sent forward to their death. A few +brief hours, then, had sufficed; the slaughter was decided on; it was to be. +What, indeed, could they have found to say to each other, that Emperor and that +marshal, conscious, both of them, of the inevitable disaster that lay before +them? Assured as they were at night of defeat, from their knowledge of the +wretched condition the army would be in when the time should come for it to +meet the enemy, how, knowing as they did that the peril was hourly becoming +greater, could they have changed their mind in the morning? Certain it was that +General de Palikao’s plan of a swift, bold dash on Montmedy, which seemed +hazardous on the 23d and was, perhaps, still not impracticable on the 25th, if +conducted with veteran troops and a leader of ability, would on the 27th be an +act of sheer madness amid the divided counsels of the chiefs and the increasing +demoralization of the troops. This they both well knew; why, then, did they +obey those merciless drivers who were flogging them onward in their +irresolution? why did they hearken to those furious passions that were spurring +them forward? The marshal’s, it might be said, was the temperament of the +soldier, whose duty is limited to obedience to his instructions, great in its +abnegation; while the Emperor, who had ceased entirely to issue orders, was +waiting on destiny. They were called on to surrender their lives and the life +of the army; they surrendered them. It was the accomplishment of a crime, the +black, abominable night that witnessed the murder of a nation, for thenceforth +the army rested in the shadow of death; a hundred thousand men and more were +sent forward to inevitable destruction. +</p> + +<p> +While pursuing this train of thought Maurice was watching the shadow that still +kept appearing and vanishing on the muslin of good Madame Desvallières’ +curtain, as if it felt the lash of the pitiless voice that came to it from +Paris. Had the Empress that night desired the death of the father in order that +the son might reign? March! forward ever! with no look backward, through mud, +through rain, to bitter death, that the final game of the agonizing empire may +be played out, even to the last card. March! march! die a hero’s death on +the piled corpses of your people, let the whole world gaze in awe-struck +admiration, for the honor and glory of your name! And doubtless the Emperor was +marching to his death. Below, the fires in the kitchen flamed and flashed no +longer; equerries, aides-de-camp and chamberlains were slumbering, the whole +house was wrapped in darkness, while ever the lone shade went and came +unceasingly, accepting with resignation the sacrifice that was to be, amid the +deafening uproar of the 12th corps, that was defiling still through the black +night. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice suddenly reflected that, if the advance was to be resumed, the 7th +corps would not pass through Chêne, and he beheld himself left behind, +separated from his regiment, a deserter from his post. His foot no longer +pained him; his friend’s dressing and a few hours of complete rest had +allayed the inflammation. Combette gave him a pair of easy shoes of his own +that were comfortable to his feet, and as soon as he had them on he wanted to +be off, hoping that he might yet be able to overtake the 106th somewhere on the +road between Chêne and Vouziers. The apothecary labored vainly to dissuade him, +and had almost made up his mind to put his horse in the gig and drive him over +in person, trusting to fortune to befriend him in finding the regiment, when +Fernand, the apprentice, appeared, alleging as an excuse for his absence that +he had been to see his sister. The youth was a tall, tallow-faced individual, +who looked as if he had not the spirit of a mouse; the horse was quickly +hitched to the carriage and he drove off with Maurice. It was not yet five +o’clock; the rain was pouring in torrents from a sky of inky blackness, +and the dim carriage-lamps faintly illuminated the road and cast little fitful +gleams of light across the streaming fields on either side, over which came +mysterious sounds that made them pull up from time to time in the belief that +the army was at hand. +</p> + +<p> +Jean, meantime, down there before Vouziers, had not been slumbering. Maurice +had explained to him how the retreat was to be salvation to them all, and he +was keeping watch, holding his men together and waiting for the order to move, +which might come at any minute. About two o’clock, in the intense +darkness that was dotted here and there by the red glow of the watch-fires, a +great trampling of horses resounded through the camp; it was the advance-guard +of cavalry moving off toward Balay and Quatre-Champs so as to observe the roads +from Boult-aux-Bois and Croix-aux-Bois; then an hour later the infantry and +artillery also put themselves in motion, abandoning at last the positions of +Chestre and Falaise that they had defended so persistently for two long days +against an enemy who never showed himself. The sky had become overcast, the +darkness was profound, and one by one the regiments marched out in deepest +silence, an array of phantoms stealing away into the bosom of the night. Every +heart beat joyfully, however, as if they were escaping from some treacherous +pitfall; already in imagination the troops beheld themselves under the walls of +Paris, where their revenge was awaiting them. +</p> + +<p> +Jean looked out into the thick blackness. The road was bordered with trees on +either hand and, as far as he could see, appeared to lie between wide meadows. +Presently the country became rougher; there was a succession of sharp rises and +descents, and just as they were entering a village which he supposed to be +Balay, two straggling rows of houses bordering the road, the dense cloud that +had obscured the heavens burst in a deluge of rain. The men had received so +many duckings within the past few days that they took this one without a +murmur, bowing their heads and plodding patiently onward; but when they had +left Balay behind them and were crossing a wide extent of level ground near +Quatre-Champs a violent wind began to rise. Beyond Quatre-Champs, when they had +fought their way upward to the wide plateau that extends in a dreary stretch of +waste land as far as Noirval, the wind increased to a hurricane and the driving +rain stung their faces. There it was that the order, proceeding from the head +of the column and re-echoed down the line, brought the regiments one after +another to a halt, and the entire 7th corps, thirty-odd thousand men, found +itself once more reunited in the mud and rain of the gray dawn. What was the +matter? Why were they halted there? An uneasy feeling was already beginning to +pervade the ranks; it was asserted in some quarters that there had been a +change of orders. The men had been brought to ordered arms and forbidden to +leave the ranks or sit down. At times the wind swept over the elevated plateau +with such violence that they had to press closely to one another to keep from +being carried off their feet. The rain blinded them and trickled in ice-cold +streams beneath their collars down their backs. And two hours passed, a period +of waiting that seemed as if it would never end, for what purpose no one could +say, in an agony of expectancy that chilled the hearts of all. +</p> + +<p> +As the daylight increased Jean made an attempt to discern where they were. +Someone had shown him where the Chêne road lay off to the northwest, passing +over a hill beyond Quatre-Champs. Why had they turned to the right instead of +to the left? Another object of interest to him was the general and his staff, +who had established themselves at the Converserie, a farm on the edge of the +plateau. There seemed to be a heated discussion going on; officers were going +and coming and the conversation was carried on with much gesticulation. What +could they be waiting for? nothing was coming that way. The plateau formed a +sort of amphitheater, broad expanses of stubble that were commanded to the +north and east by wooded heights; to the south were thick woods, while to the +west an opening afforded a glimpse of the valley of the Aisne with the little +white houses of Vouziers. Below the Converserie rose the slated steeple of +Quatre-Champs church, looming dimly through the furious storm, which seemed as +if it would sweep away bodily the few poor moss-grown cottages of the village. +As Jean’s glance wandered down the ascending road he became conscious of +a doctor’s gig coming up at a sharp trot along the stony road, that was +now the bed of a rapid torrent. +</p> + +<p> +It was Maurice, who, at a turn in the road, from the hill that lay beyond the +valley, had finally discerned the 7th corps. For two hours he had been +wandering about the country, thanks to the stupidity of a peasant who had +misdirected him and the sullen ill-will of his driver, whom fear of the +Prussians had almost deprived of his wits. As soon as he reached the farmhouse +he leaped from the gig and had no further trouble in finding the regiment. +</p> + +<p> +Jean addressed him in amazement: +</p> + +<p> +“What, is it you? What is the meaning of this? I thought you were to wait +until we came along.” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice’s tone and manner told of his rage and sorrow. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, yes! we are no longer going in that direction; it is down yonder we +are to go, to get ourselves knocked in the head, all of us!” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well,” said the other presently, with a very white face. +“We will die together, at all events.” +</p> + +<p> +The two men met, as they had parted, with an embrace. In the drenching rain +that still beat down as pitilessly as ever, the humble private resumed his +place in the ranks, while the corporal, in his streaming garments, never +murmured as he gave him the example of what a soldier should be. +</p> + +<p> +And now the tidings became more definite and spread among the men; they were no +longer retreating on Paris; the advance to the Meuse was again the order of the +day. An aide-de-camp had brought to the 7th corps instructions from the marshal +to go and encamp at Nonart; the 5th was to take the direction of Beauclair, +where it would be the right wing of the army, while the 1st was to move up to +Chêne and relieve the 12th, then on the march to la Besace on the extreme left. +And the reason why more than thirty thousand men had been kept waiting there at +ordered arms, for nearly three hours in the midst of a blinding storm, was that +General Douay, in the deplorable confusion incident on this new change of +front, was alarmed for the safety of the train that had been sent forward the +day before toward Chagny; the delay was necessary to give the several divisions +time to close up. In the confusion of all these conflicting movements it was +said that the 12th corps train had blocked the road at Chêne, thus cutting off +that of the 7th. On the other hand, an important part of the <i>matériel</i>, +all the forges of the artillery, had mistaken their road and strayed off in the +direction of Terron; they were now trying to find their way back by the +Vouziers road, where they were certain to fall into the hands of the Germans. +Never was there such utter confusion, never was anxiety so intense. +</p> + +<p> +A feeling of bitterest discouragement took possession of the troops. Many of +them in their despair would have preferred to seat themselves on their +knapsacks, in the midst of that sodden, wind-swept plain, and wait for death to +come to them. They reviled their leaders and loaded them with insult: ah! +famous leaders, they; brainless boobies, undoing at night what they had done in +the morning, idling and loafing when there was no enemy in sight, and taking to +their heels as soon as he showed his face! Each minute added to the +demoralization that was already rife, making of that army a rabble, without +faith or hope, without discipline, a herd that their chiefs were conducting to +the shambles by ways of which they themselves were ignorant. Down in the +direction of Vouziers the sound of musketry was heard; shots were being +exchanged between the rear-guard of the 7th corps and the German skirmishers; +and now every eye was turned upon the valley of the Aisne, where volumes of +dense black smoke were whirling upward toward the sky from which the clouds had +suddenly been swept away; they all knew it was the village of Falaise burning, +fired by the uhlans. Every man felt his blood boil in his veins; so the +Prussians were there at last; they had sat and waited two days for them to come +up, and then had turned and fled. The most ignorant among the men had felt +their cheeks tingle for very shame as, in their dull way, they recognized the +idiocy that had prompted that enormous blunder, that imbecile delay, that trap +into which they had walked blindfolded; the light cavalry of the IVth army +feinting in front of Bordas’ brigade and halting and neutralizing, one by +one, the several corps of the army of Châlons, solely to give the Crown Prince +time to hasten up with the IIId army. And now, thanks to the marshal’s +complete and astounding ignorance as to the identity of the troops he had +before him, the junction was accomplished, and the 5th and 7th corps were to be +roughly handled, with the constant menace of disaster overshadowing them. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice’s eyes were bent on the horizon, where it was reddened with the +flames of burning Falaise. They had one consolation, however: the train that +had been believed to be lost came crawling along out of the Chêne road. Without +delay the 2d division put itself in motion and struck out across the forest for +Boult-aux-Bois; the 3d took post on the heights of Belleville to the left in +order to keep an eye to the communications, while the 1st remained at +Quatre-Champs to wait for the coming up of the train and guard its countless +wagons. Just then the rain began to come down again with increased violence, +and as the 106th moved off the plateau, resuming the march that should have +never been, toward the Meuse, toward the unknown, Maurice thought he beheld +again his vision of the night: the shadow of the Emperor, incessantly appearing +and vanishing, so sad, so pitiful a sight, on the white curtain of good old +Madame Desvallières. Ah! that doomed army, that army of despair, that was being +driven forward to inevitable destruction for the salvation of a dynasty! March, +march, onward ever, with no look behind, through mud, through rain, to the +bitter end! +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap06"></a>VI.</h2> + +<p> +“Thunder!” Chouteau ejaculated the following morning when he awoke, +chilled and with aching bones, under the tent, “I wouldn’t mind +having a bouillon with plenty of meat in it.” +</p> + +<p> +At Boult-aux-Bois, where they were now encamped, the only ration issued to the +men the night before had been an extremely slender one of potatoes; the +commissariat was daily more and more distracted and disorganized by the +everlasting marches and countermarches, never reaching the designated points of +rendezvous in time to meet the troops. As for the herds, no one had the +faintest idea where they might be upon the crowded roads, and famine was +staring the army in the face. +</p> + +<p> +Loubet stretched himself and plaintively replied: +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, <i>fichtre</i>, yes!—No more roast goose for us now.” +</p> + +<p> +The squad was out of sorts and sulky. Men couldn’t be expected to be +lively on an empty stomach. And then there was the rain that poured down +incessantly, and the mud in which they had to make their beds. +</p> + +<p> +Observing Pache make the sign of the cross after mumbling his morning prayer, +Chouteau captiously growled: +</p> + +<p> +“Ask that good God of yours, if he is good for anything, to send us down +a couple of sausages and a mug of beer apiece.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, if we only had a good big loaf of bread!” sighed Lapoulle, +whose ravenous appetite made hunger a more grievous affliction to him than to +the others. +</p> + +<p> +But Lieutenant Rochas, passing by just then, made them be silent. It was +scandalous, never to think of anything but their stomachs! When <i>he</i> was +hungry he tightened up the buckle of his trousers. Now that things were +becoming decidedly squally and the popping of rifles was to be heard +occasionally in the distance, he had recovered all his old serene confidence: +it was all plain enough, now; the Prussians were there—well, all they had +to do was, go out and lick ’em. And he gave a significant shrug of the +shoulders, standing behind Captain Beaudoin, the <i>very</i> young man, as he +called him, with his pale face and pursed up lips, whom the loss of his baggage +had afflicted so grievously that he had even ceased to fume and scold. A man +might get along without eating, at a pinch, but that he could not change his +linen was a circumstance productive of sorrow and anger. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice awoke to a sensation of despondency and physical discomfort. Thanks to +his easy shoes the inflammation in his foot had gone down, but the drenching he +had received the day before, from the effects of which his greatcoat seemed to +weigh a ton, had left him with a distinct and separate ache in every bone of +his body. When he was sent to the spring to get water for the coffee he took a +survey of the plain on the edge of which Boult-aux-Bois is situated: forests +rise to the west and north, and there is a hill crowned by the hamlet of +Belleville, while, over to the east, Buzancy way, there is a broad, level +expanse, stretching far as the eye can see, with an occasional shallow +depression concealing a small cluster of cottages. Was it from that direction +that they were to expect the enemy? As he was returning from the stream with +his bucket filled with water, the father of a family of wretched peasants +hailed him from the door of his hovel, and asked him if the soldiers were this +time going to stay and defend them. In the confusion of conflicting orders the +5th corps had already traversed the region no less than three times. The sound +of cannonading had reached them the day before from the direction of Bar; the +Prussians could not be more than a couple of leagues away. And when Maurice +made answer to the poor folks that doubtless the 7th corps would also be called +away after a time, their tears flowed afresh. Then they were to be abandoned to +the enemy, and the soldiers had not come there to fight, whom they saw +constantly vanishing and reappearing, always on the run? +</p> + +<p> +“Those who like theirs sweet,” observed Loubet, as he poured the +coffee, “have only to stick their thumb in it and wait for it to +melt.” +</p> + +<p> +Not a man of them smiled. It was too bad, all the same, to have to drink their +coffee without sugar; and then, too, if they only had some biscuit! Most of +them had devoured what eatables they had in their knapsacks, to the very last +crumb, to while away their time of waiting, the day before, on the plateau of +Quatre-Champs. Among them, however, the members of the squad managed to collect +a dozen potatoes, which they shared equally. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice, who began to feel a twinging sensation in his stomach, uttered a +regretful cry: +</p> + +<p> +“If I had known of this I would have bought some bread at Chêne.” +</p> + +<p> +Jean listened in silence. He had had a dispute with Chouteau that morning, who, +on being ordered to go for firewood, had insolently refused, alleging that it +was not his turn. Now that everything was so rapidly going to the dogs, +insubordination among the men had increased to such a point that those in +authority no longer ventured to reprimand them, and Jean, with his sober good +sense and pacific disposition, saw that if he would preserve his influence with +his squad he must keep the corporal in the background as far as possible. For +this reason he was hail-fellow-well-met with his men, who could not fail to see +what a treasure they had in a man of his experience, for if those committed to +his care did not always have all they wanted to eat, they had, at all events, +not suffered from hunger, as had been the case with so many others. But he was +touched by the sight of Maurice’s suffering. He saw that he was losing +strength, and looked at him anxiously, asking himself how that delicate young +man would ever manage to sustain the privations of that horrible campaign. +</p> + +<p> +When Jean heard Maurice bewail the lack of bread he arose quietly, went to his +knapsack, and, returning, slipped a biscuit into the other’s hand. +</p> + +<p> +“Here! don’t let the others see it; I have not enough to go +round.” +</p> + +<p> +“But what will you do?” asked the young man, deeply affected. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, don’t be alarmed about me—I have two left.” +</p> + +<p> +It was true; he had carefully put aside three biscuits, in case there should be +a fight, knowing that men are often hungry on the battlefield. And then, +besides, he had just eaten a potato; that would be sufficient for him. Perhaps +something would turn up later on. +</p> + +<p> +About ten o’clock the 7th corps made a fresh start. The marshal’s +first intention had been to direct it by way of Buzancy upon Stenay, where it +would have passed the Meuse, but the Prussians, outmarching the army of +Châlons, were already in Stenay, and were even reported to be at Buzancy. +Crowded back in this manner to the northward, the 7th corps had received orders +to move to la Besace, some twelve or fifteen miles from Boult-aux-Bois, whence, +on the next day, they would proceed to pass the Meuse at Mouzon. The start was +made in a very sulky humor; the men, with empty stomachs and bodies unrefreshed +by repose, unnerved, mentally and physically, by the experience of the past few +days, vented their dissatisfaction by growling and grumbling, while the +officers, without a spark of their usual cheerful gayety, with a vague sense of +impending disaster awaiting them at the end of their march, taxed the +dilatoriness of their chiefs, and reproached them for not going to the +assistance of the 5th corps at Buzancy, where the sound of artillery-firing had +been heard. That corps, too, was on the retreat, making its way toward Nonart, +while the 12th was even then leaving la Besace for Mouzon and the 1st was +directing its course toward Raucourt. It was like nothing so much as the +passage of a drove of panic-stricken cattle, with the dogs worrying them and +snapping at their heels—a wild stampede toward the Meuse. +</p> + +<p> +When, in the outstreaming torrent of the three divisions that striped the plain +with columns of marching men, the 106th left Boult-aux-Bois in the rear of the +cavalry and artillery, the sky was again overspread with a pall of dull leaden +clouds that further lowered the spirits of the soldiers. Its route was along +the Buzancy highway, planted on either side with rows of magnificent poplars. +When they reached Germond, a village where there was a steaming manure-heap +before every one of the doors that lined the two sides of the straggling +street, the sobbing women came to their thresholds with their little children +in their arms, and held them out to the passing troops, as if begging the men +to take them with them. There was not a mouthful of bread to be had in all the +hamlet, nor even a potato, After that, the regiment, instead of keeping +straight on toward Buzancy, turned to the left and made for Authe, and when the +men turned their eyes across the plain and beheld upon the hilltop Belleville, +through which they had passed the day before, the fact that they were retracing +their steps was impressed more vividly on their consciousness. +</p> + +<p> +“Heavens and earth!” growled Chouteau, “do they take us for +tops?” +</p> + +<p> +And Loubet chimed in: +</p> + +<p> +“Those cheap-John generals of ours are all at sea again! They must think +that men’s legs are cheap.” +</p> + +<p> +The anger and disgust were general. It was not right to make men suffer like +that, just for the fun of walking them up and down the country. They were +advancing in column across the naked plain in two files occupying the sides of +the road, leaving a free central space in which the officers could move to and +fro and keep an eye on their men, but it was not the same now as it had been in +Champagne after they left Rheims, a march of song and jollity, when they +tramped along gayly and the knapsack was like a feather to their shoulders, in +the belief that soon they would come up with the Prussians and give them a +sound drubbing; now they were dragging themselves wearily forward in angry +silence, cursing the musket that galled their shoulder and the equipments that +seemed to weigh them to the ground, their faith in their leaders gone, and +possessed by such bitterness of despair that they only went forward as does a +file of manacled galley-slaves, in terror of the lash. The wretched army had +begun to ascend its Calvary. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice, however, within the last few minutes had made a discovery that +interested him greatly. To their left was a range of hills that rose one above +another as they receded from the road, and from the skirt of a little wood, far +up on the mountain-side, he had seen a horseman emerge. Then another appeared, +and then still another. There they stood, all three of them, without sign of +life, apparently no larger than a man’s hand and looking like delicately +fashioned toys. He thought they were probably part of a detachment of our +hussars out on a reconnoissance, when all at once he was surprised to behold +little points of light flashing from their shoulders, doubtless the reflection +of the sunlight from epaulets of brass. +</p> + +<p> +“Look there!” he said, nudging Jean, who was marching at his side. +“Uhlans!” +</p> + +<p> +The corporal stared with all his eyes. “They, uhlans!” +</p> + +<p> +They were indeed uhlans, the first Prussians that the 106th had set eyes on. +They had been in the field nearly six weeks now, and in all that time not only +had they never smelt powder, but had never even seen an enemy. The news spread +through the ranks, and every head was turned to look at them. Not such +bad-looking fellows, those uhlans, after all. +</p> + +<p> +“One of them looks like a jolly little fat fellow,” Loubet +remarked. +</p> + +<p> +But presently an entire squadron came out and showed itself on a plateau to the +left of the little wood, and at sight of the threatening demonstration the +column halted. An officer came riding up with orders, and the 106th moved off a +little and took position on the bank of a small stream behind a clump of trees. +The artillery had come hurrying back from the front on a gallop and taken +possession of a low, rounded hill. For near two hours they remained there thus +in line of battle without the occurrence of anything further; the body of +hostile cavalry remained motionless in the distance, and finally, concluding +that they were only wasting time that was valuable, the officers set the column +moving again. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah well,” Jean murmured regretfully, “we are not booked for +it this time.” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice, too, had felt his finger-tips tingling with the desire to have just +one shot. He kept harping on the theme of the mistake they had made the day +before in not going to the support of the 5th corps. If the Prussians had not +made their attack yet, it must be because their infantry had not got up in +sufficient strength, whence it was evident that their display of cavalry in the +distance was made with no other end than to harass us and check the advance of +our corps. We had again fallen into the trap set for us, and thenceforth the +regiment was constantly greeted with the sight of uhlans popping up on its left +flank wherever the ground was favorable for them, tracking it like +sleuthhounds, disappearing behind a farmhouse only to reappear at the corner of +a wood. +</p> + +<p> +It eventually produced a disheartening effect on the troops to see that cordon +closing in on them in the distance and enveloping them as in the meshes of some +gigantic, invisible net. Even Pache and Lapoulle had an opinion on the subject. +</p> + +<p> +“It is beginning to be tiresome!” they said. “It would be a +comfort to send them our compliments in the shape of a musket-ball!” +</p> + +<p> +But they kept toiling wearily onward on their tired feet, that seemed to them +as if they were of lead. In the distress and suffering of that day’s +march there was ever present to all the undefined sensation of the proximity of +the enemy, drawing in on them from every quarter, just as we are conscious of +the coming storm before we have seen a cloud on the horizon. Instructions were +given the rear-guard to use severe measures, if necessary, to keep the column +well closed up; but there was not much straggling, aware as everyone was that +the Prussians were close in our rear, and ready to snap up every unfortunate +that they could lay hands on. Their infantry was coming up with the rapidity of +the whirlwind, making its twenty-five miles a day, while the French regiments, +in their demoralized condition, seemed in comparison to be marking time. +</p> + +<p> +At Authe the weather cleared, and Maurice, taking his bearings by the position +of the sun, noticed that instead of bearing off toward Chêne, which lay three +good leagues from where they were, they had turned and were moving directly +eastward. It was two o’clock; the men, after shivering in the rain for +two days, were now suffering from the intense heat. The road ascended, with +long sweeping curves, through a region of utter desolation: not a house, not a +living being, the only relief to the dreariness of the waste lands an +occasional little somber wood; and the oppressive silence communicated itself +to the men, who toiled onward with drooping heads, bathed in perspiration. At +last Saint-Pierremont appeared before them, a few empty houses on a small +elevation. They did not pass through the village. Maurice observed that here +they made a sudden wheel to the left, resuming their northern course, toward la +Besace. He now understood the route that had been adopted in their attempt to +reach Mouzon ahead of the Prussians; but would they succeed, with such weary, +demoralized troops? At Saint-Pierremont the three uhlans had shown themselves +again, at a turn in the road leading to Buzancy, and just as the rear-guard was +leaving the village a battery was unmasked and a few shells came tumbling among +them, without doing any injury, however. No response was attempted, and the +march was continued with constantly increasing effort. +</p> + +<p> +From Saint-Pierremont to la Besace the distance is three good leagues, and when +Maurice imparted that information to Jean the latter made a gesture of +discouragement: the men would never be able to accomplish it; they showed it by +their shortness of breath, by their haggard faces. The road continued to +ascend, between gently sloping hills on either side that were gradually drawing +closer together. The condition of the men necessitated a halt, but the only +effect of their brief repose was to increase the stiffness of their benumbed +limbs, and when the order was given to march the state of affairs was worse +than it had been before; the regiments made no progress, men were everywhere +falling in the ranks. Jean, noticing Maurice’s pallid face and glassy +eyes, infringed on what was his usual custom and conversed, endeavoring by his +volubility to divert the other’s attention and keep him awake as he moved +automatically forward, unconscious of his actions. +</p> + +<p> +“Your sister lives in Sedan, you say; perhaps we shall be there before +long.” +</p> + +<p> +“What, at Sedan? Never! You must be crazy; it don’t lie in our +way.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is your sister young?” +</p> + +<p> +“Just my age; you know I told you we are twins.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is she like you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, she is fair-haired, too; and oh! such pretty curling hair! She is a +mite of a woman, with a little thin face, not one of your noisy, flashy +hoydens, ah, no!—Dear Henriette!” +</p> + +<p> +“You love her very dearly!” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes—” +</p> + +<p> +There was silence between them after that, and Jean, glancing at Maurice, saw +that his eyes were closing and he was about to fall. +</p> + +<p> +“Hallo there, old fellow! Come, confound it all, brace up! Let me take +your gun a moment; that will give you a chance to rest. They can’t have +the cruelty to make us march any further to-day! we shall leave half our men by +the roadside.” +</p> + +<p> +At that moment he caught sight of Osches lying straight ahead of them, its few +poor hovels climbing in straggling fashion up the hillside, and the yellow +church, embowered in trees, looking down on them from its perch upon the +summit. +</p> + +<p> +“There’s where we shall rest, for certain.” +</p> + +<p> +He had guessed aright; General Douay saw the exhausted condition of the troops, +and was convinced that it would be useless to attempt to reach la Besace that +day. What particularly influenced his determination, however, was the arrival +of the train, that ill-starred train that had been trailing in his rear since +they left Rheims, and of which the nine long miles of vehicles and animals had +so terribly impeded his movements. He had given instructions from Quatre-Champs +to direct it straight on Saint-Pierremont, and it was not until Osches that the +teams came up with the corps, in such a state of exhaustion that the horses +refused to stir. It was now five o’clock; the general, not liking the +prospect of attempting the pass of Stonne at that late hour, determined to take +the responsibility of abridging the task assigned them by the marshal. The +corps was halted and proceeded to encamp; the train below in the meadows, +guarded by a division, while the artillery took position on the hills to the +rear, and the brigade detailed to act as rear-guard on the morrow rested on a +height facing Saint-Pierremont. The other division, which included +Bourgain-Desfeuilles’ brigade, bivouacked on a wide plateau, bordered by +an oak wood, behind the church. There was such confusion in locating the bodies +of troops that it was dark before the 106th could move into its position at the +edge of the wood. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Zut</i>!” said Chouteau in a furious rage, “no eating for +me; I want to sleep!” +</p> + +<p> +And that was the cry of all; they were overcome with fatigue. Many of them +lacked strength and courage to erect their tents, but dropping where they +stood, at once fell fast asleep on the bare ground. In order to eat, moreover, +rations would have been necessary, and the commissary wagons, which were +waiting for the 7th corps to come to them at la Besace, could not well be at +Osches at the same time. In the universal relaxation of order and system even +the customary corporal’s call was omitted: it was everyone for himself. +There were to be no more issues of rations from that time forth; the soldiers +were to subsist on the provisions they were supposed to carry in their +knapsacks, and that evening the sacks were empty; few indeed were those who +could muster a crust of bread or some crumbs of the abundance in which they had +been living at Vouziers of late. There was coffee, and those who were not too +tired made and drank it without sugar. +</p> + +<p> +When Jean thought to make a division of his wealth by eating one of his +biscuits himself and giving the other to Maurice, he discovered that the latter +was sound asleep. He thought at first he would awake him, but changed his mind +and stoically replaced the biscuits in his sack, concealing them with as much +caution as if they had been bags of gold; he could get along with coffee, like +the rest of the boys. He had insisted on having the tent put up, and they were +all stretched on the ground beneath its shelter when Loubet returned from a +foraging expedition, bringing in some carrots that he had found in a +neighboring field. As there was no fire to cook them by they munched them raw, +but the vegetables only served to aggravate their hunger, and they made Pache +ill. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no; let him sleep,” said Jean to Chouteau, who was shaking +Maurice to wake him and give him his share. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah,” Lapoulle broke in, “we shall be at Angouleme to-morrow, +and then we’ll have some bread. I had a cousin in the army once, who was +stationed at Angouleme. Nice garrison, that.” +</p> + +<p> +They all looked surprised, and Chouteau exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“Angouleme—what are you talking about! Just listen to the bloody +fool, saying he is at Angouleme!” +</p> + +<p> +It was impossible to extract any explanation from Lapoulle. He had insisted +that morning that the uhlans that they sighted were some of Bazaine’s +troops. +</p> + +<p> +Then darkness descended on the camp, black as ink, silent as death. +Notwithstanding the coolness of the night air the men had not been permitted to +make fires; the Prussians were known to be only a few miles away, and it would +not do to put them on the alert; orders even were transmitted in a hushed +voice. The officers had notified their men before retiring that the start would +be made at about four in the morning, in order that they might have all the +rest possible, and all had hastened to turn in and were sleeping greedily, +forgetful of their troubles. Above the scattered camps the deep respiration of +all those slumbering crowds, rising upon the stillness of the night, was like +the long-drawn breathing of old Mother Earth. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly a shot rang out in the darkness and aroused the sleepers. It was about +three o’clock, and the obscurity was profound. Immediately everyone was +on foot, the alarm spread through the camp; it was supposed the Prussians were +attacking. It was only Loubet who, unable to sleep longer, had taken it in his +head to make a foray into the oak-wood, which he thought gave promise of +rabbits: what a jolly good lark it would be if he could bring in a pair of nice +rabbits for the comrades’ breakfast! But as he was looking about for a +favorable place in which to conceal himself, he heard the sound of voices and +the snapping of dry branches under heavy footsteps; men were coming toward him; +he took alarm and discharged his piece, believing the Prussians were at hand. +Maurice, Jean, and others came running up in haste, when a hoarse voice made +itself heard: +</p> + +<p> +“For God’s sake, don’t shoot!” +</p> + +<p> +And there at the edge of the wood stood a tall, lanky man, whose thick, +bristling beard they could just distinguish in the darkness. He wore a gray +blouse, confined at the waist by a red belt, and carried a musket slung by a +strap over his shoulder. He hurriedly explained that he was French, a sergeant +of francs-tireurs, and had come with two of his men from the wood of Dieulet, +bringing important information for the general. +</p> + +<p> +“Hallo there, Cabasse! Ducat!” he shouted, turning his head, +“hallo! you infernal poltroons, come here!” +</p> + +<p> +The men were evidently badly scared, but they came forward. Ducat, short and +fat, with a pale face and scanty hair; Cabasse short and lean, with a black +face and a long nose not much thicker than a knife-blade. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime Maurice had stepped up and taken a closer look at the sergeant; he +finally asked him: +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me, are you not Guillaume Sambuc, of Remilly?” +</p> + +<p> +And when the man hesitatingly answered in the affirmative Maurice recoiled a +step or two, for this Sambuc had the reputation of being a particularly hard +case, the worthy son of a family of woodcutters who had all gone to the bad, +the drunken father being found one night lying by the roadside with his throat +cut, the mother and daughter, who lived by begging and stealing, having +disappeared, most likely, in the seclusion of some penitentiary. He, Guillaume, +did a little in the poaching and smuggling lines, and only one of that litter +of wolves’ whelps had grown up to be an honest man, and that was Prosper, +the hussar, who had gone to work on a farm before he was conscripted, because +he hated the life of the forest. +</p> + +<p> +“I saw your brother at Vouziers,” Maurice continued; “he is +well.” +</p> + +<p> +Sambuc made no reply. To end the situation he said: +</p> + +<p> +“Take me to the general. Tell him that the francs-tireurs of the wood of +Dieulet have something important to say to him.” +</p> + +<p> +On the way back to the camp Maurice reflected on those free companies that had +excited such great expectations at the time of their formation, and had since +been the object of such bitter denunciation throughout the country. Their +professed purpose was to wage a sort of guerilla warfare, lying in ambush +behind hedges, harassing the enemy, picking off his sentinels, holding the +woods, from which not a Prussian was to emerge alive; while the truth of the +matter was that they had made themselves the terror of the peasantry, whom they +failed utterly to protect and whose fields they devastated. Every +ne’er-do-well who hated the restraints of the regular service made haste +to join their ranks, well pleased with the chance that exempted him from +discipline and enabled him to lead the life of a tramp, tippling in pothouses +and sleeping by the roadside at his own sweet will. Some of the companies were +recruited from the very worst material imaginable. +</p> + +<p> +“Hallo there, Cabasse! Ducat!” Sambuc was constantly repeating, +turning to his henchmen at every step he took, “Come along, will you, you +snails!” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice was as little charmed with the two men as with their leader. Cabasse, +the little lean fellow, was a native of Toulon, had served as waiter in a café +at Marseilles, had failed at Sedan as a broker in southern produce, and finally +had brought up in a police-court, where it came near going hard with him, in +connection with a robbery of which the details were suppressed. Ducat, the +little fat man, quondam <i>huissier</i> at Blainville, where he had been forced +to sell out his business on account of a malodorous woman scrape, had recently +been brought face to face with the court of assizes for an indiscretion of a +similar nature at Raucourt, where he was accountant in a factory. The latter +quoted Latin in his conversation, while the other could scarcely read, but the +two were well mated, as unprepossessing a pair as one could expect to meet in a +summer’s day. +</p> + +<p> +The camp was already astir; Jean and Maurice took the francs-tireurs to Captain +Beaudoin, who conducted them to the quarters of Colonel Vineuil. The colonel +attempted to question them, but Sambuc, intrenching himself in his dignity, +refused to speak to anyone except the general. Now Bourgain-Desfeuilles had +taken up his quarters that night with the curé of Osches, and just then +appeared, rubbing his eyes, in the doorway of the parsonage; he was in a +horribly bad humor at his slumbers having been thus prematurely cut short, and +the prospect that he saw before him of another day of famine and fatigue; hence +his reception of the men who were brought before him was not exactly lamblike. +Who were they? Whence did they come? What did they want? Ah, some of those +francs-tireurs gentlemen—eh! Same thing as skulkers and riff-raff! +</p> + +<p> +“General,” Sambuc replied, without allowing himself to be +disconcerted, “we and our comrades are stationed in the woods of +Dieulet—” +</p> + +<p> +“The woods of Dieulet—where’s that?” +</p> + +<p> +“Between Stenay and Mouzon, General.” +</p> + +<p> +“What do I know of your Stenay and Mouzon? Do you expect me to be +familiar with all these strange names?” +</p> + +<p> +The colonel was distressed by his chief’s display of ignorance; he +hastily interfered to remind him that Stenay and Mouzon were on the Meuse, and +that, as the Germans had occupied the former of those towns, the army was about +to attempt the passage of the river at the other, which was situated more to +the northward. +</p> + +<p> +“So you see, General,” Sambuc continued, “we’ve come to +tell you that the woods of Dieulet are alive with Prussians. There was an +engagement yesterday as the 5th corps was leaving Bois-les-Dames, somewhere +about Nonart—” +</p> + +<p> +“What, yesterday? There was fighting yesterday?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, General, the 5th corps was engaged as it was falling back; it must +have been at Beaumont last night. So, while some of us hurried off to report to +it the movements of the enemy, we thought it best to come and let you know how +matters stood, so that you might go to its assistance, for it will certainly +have sixty thousand men to deal with in the morning.” +</p> + +<p> +General Bourgain-Desfeuilles gave a contemptuous shrug of his shoulders. +</p> + +<p> +“Sixty thousand men! Why the devil don’t you call it a hundred +thousand at once? You were dreaming, young man; your fright has made you see +double. It is impossible there should be sixty thousand Germans so near us +without our knowing it.” +</p> + +<p> +And so he went on. It was to no purpose that Sambuc appealed to Ducat and +Cabasse to confirm his statement. +</p> + +<p> +“We saw the guns,” the Provençal declared; “and those chaps +must be crazy to take them through the forest, where the rains of the past few +days have left the roads in such a state that they sink in the mud up to the +hubs.” +</p> + +<p> +“They have someone to guide them, for certain,” said the +ex-bailiff. +</p> + +<p> +Since leaving Vouziers the general had stoutly refused to attach any further +credit to reports of the junction of the two German armies which, as he said, +they had been trying to stuff down his throat. He did not even consider it +worth his while to send the francs-tireurs before his corps commander, to whom +the partisans supposed, all along, that they were talking; if they should +attempt to listen to all the yarns that were brought them by tramps and +peasants, they would have their hands full and be driven from pillar to post +without ever advancing a step. He directed the three men to remain with the +column, however, since they were acquainted with the country. +</p> + +<p> +“They are good fellows, all the same,” Jean said to Maurice, as +they were returning to fold the tent, “to have tramped three leagues +across lots to let us know.” +</p> + +<p> +The young man agreed with him and commended their action, knowing as he did the +country, and deeply alarmed to hear that the Prussians were in Dieulet forest +and moving on Sommanthe and Beaumont. He had flung himself down by the +roadside, exhausted before the march had commenced, with a sorrowing heart and +an empty stomach, at the dawning of that day which he felt was to be so +disastrous for them all. Distressed to see him looking so pale, the corporal +affectionately asked him: +</p> + +<p> +“Are you feeling so badly still? What is it? Does your foot pain +you?” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice shook his head. His foot had ceased to trouble him, thanks to the big +shoes. +</p> + +<p> +“Then you are hungry.” And Jean, seeing that he did not answer, +took from his knapsack one of the two remaining biscuits, and with a falsehood +for which he may be forgiven: “Here, take it; I kept your share for you. +I ate mine a while ago.” +</p> + +<p> +Day was breaking when the 7th corps marched out of Osches en route for Mouzon +by way of la Besace, where they should have bivouacked. The train, cause of so +many woes, had been sent on ahead, guarded by the first division, and if its +own wagons, well horsed as for the most part they were, got over the ground at +a satisfactory pace, the requisitioned vehicles, most of them empty, delayed +the troops and produced sad confusion among the hills of the defile of Stonne. +After leaving the hamlet of la Berlière the road rises more sharply between +wooded hills on either side. Finally, about eight o’clock, the two +remaining divisions got under way, when Marshal MacMahon came galloping up, +vexed to find there those troops that he supposed had left la Besace that +morning, with only a short march between them and Mouzon; his comment to +General Douay on the subject was expressed in warm language. It was determined +that the first division and the train should be allowed to proceed on their way +to Mouzon, but that the two other divisions, that they might not be further +retarded by this cumbrous advance-guard, should move by the way of Raucourt and +Autrecourt so as to pass the Meuse at Villers. The movement to the north was +dictated by the marshal’s intense anxiety to place the river between his +army and the enemy; cost what it might, they must be on the right bank that +night. The rear-guard had not yet left Osches when a Prussian battery, +recommencing the performance of the previous day, began to play on them from a +distant eminence, over in the direction of Saint-Pierremont. They made the +mistake of firing a few shots in reply; then the last of the troops filed out +of the town. +</p> + +<p> +Until nearly eleven o’clock the 106th slowly pursued its way along the +road which zigzags through the pass of Stonne between high hills. On the left +hand the precipitous summits rear their heads, devoid of vegetation, while to +the right the gentler slopes are clad with woods down to the roadside. The sun +had come out again, and the heat was intense down in the inclosed valley, where +an oppressive solitude prevailed. After leaving la Berlière, which lies at the +foot of a lofty and desolate mountain surmounted by a Calvary, there is not a +house to be seen, not a human being, not an animal grazing in the meadows. And +the men, the day before so faint with hunger, so spent with fatigue, who since +that time had had no food to restore, no slumber, to speak of, to refresh them, +were now dragging themselves listlessly along, disheartened, filled with sullen +anger. +</p> + +<p> +Soon after that, just as the men had been halted for a short rest along the +roadside, the roar of artillery was heard away at their right; judging from the +distinctness of the detonations the firing could not be more than two leagues +distant. Upon the troops, weary with waiting, tired of retreating, the effect +was magical; in the twinkling of an eye everyone was on his feet, eager, in a +quiver of excitement, no longer mindful of his hunger and fatigue: why did they +not advance? They preferred to fight, to die, rather than keep on flying thus, +no one knew why or whither. +</p> + +<p> +General Bourgain-Desfeuilles, accompanied by Colonel de Vineuil, had climbed a +hill on the right to reconnoiter the country. They were visible up there in a +little clearing between two belts of wood, scanning the surrounding hills with +their field-glasses, when all at once they dispatched an aide-de-camp to the +column, with instructions to send up to them the francs-tireurs if they were +still there. A few men, Jean and Maurice among them, accompanied the latter, in +case there should be need of messengers. +</p> + +<p> +“A beastly country this, with its everlasting hills and woods!” the +general shouted, as soon as he caught sight of Sambuc. “You hear the +music—where is it? where is the fighting going on?” +</p> + +<p> +Sambuc, with Ducat and Cabasse close at his heels, listened a moment before he +answered, casting his eye over the wide horizon, and Maurice, standing beside +him and gazing out over the panorama of valley and forest that lay beneath him, +was struck with admiration. It was like a boundless sea, whose gigantic waves +had been arrested by some mighty force. In the foreground the somber verdure of +the woods made splashes of sober color on the yellow of the fields, while in +the brilliant sunlight the distant hills were bathed in purplish vapors. And +while nothing was to be seen, not even the tiniest smoke-wreath floating on the +cloudless sky, the cannon were thundering away in the distance, like the +muttering of a rising storm. +</p> + +<p> +“Here is Sommanthe, to the right,” Sambuc said at last, pointing to +a high hill crowned by a wood. “Yoncq lies off yonder to the left. The +fighting is at Beaumont, General.” +</p> + +<p> +“Either at Varniforet or Beaumont,” Ducat observed. +</p> + +<p> +The general muttered below his breath: “Beaumont, Beaumont—a man +can never tell where he is in this d——d country.” Then +raising his voice: “And how far may this Beaumont be from here?” +</p> + +<p> +“A little more than six miles, if you take the road from Chêne to Stenay, +which runs up the valley yonder.” +</p> + +<p> +There was no cessation of the firing, which seemed to be advancing from west to +east with a continuous succession of reports like peals of thunder. Sambuc +added: +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Bigre</i>! it’s getting warm. It is just what I expected; you +know what I told you this morning, General; it is certainly the batteries that +we saw in the wood of Dieulet. By this time the whole army that came up through +Buzancy and Beauclair is at work mauling the 5th corps.” +</p> + +<p> +There was silence among them, while the battle raging in the distance growled +more furiously than ever, and Maurice had to set tight his teeth to keep +himself from speaking his mind aloud. Why did they not hasten whither the guns +were calling them, without such waste of words? He had never known what it was +to be excited thus; every discharge found an echo in his bosom and inspired him +with a fierce longing to be present at the conflict, to put an end to it. Were +they to pass by that battle, so near almost that they could stretch forth their +arm and touch it with their hand, and never expend a cartridge? It must be to +decide a wager that some one had made, that since the beginning of the campaign +they were dragged about the country thus, always flying before the enemy! At +Vouziers they had heard the musketry of the rear-guard, at Osches the German +guns had played a moment on their retreating backs; and now they were to run +for it again, they were not to be allowed to advance at double-quick to the +succor of comrades in distress! Maurice looked at Jean, who was also very pale, +his eyes shining with a bright, feverish light. Every heart leaped in every +bosom at the loud summons of the artillery. +</p> + +<p> +While they were waiting a general, attended by his staff, was seen ascending +the narrow path that wound up the hill. It was Douay, their corps-commander, +who came hastening up, with anxiety depicted on his countenance, and when he +had questioned the francs-tireurs he gave utterance to an exclamation of +despair. But what could he have done, even had he learned their tidings that +morning? The marshal’s orders were explicit: they must be across the +Meuse that night, cost what it might. And then again, how was he to collect his +scattered troops, strung out along the road to Raucourt, and direct then on +Beaumont? Could they arrive in time to be of use? The 5th corps must be in full +retreat on Mouzon by that time, as was indicated by the sound of the firing, +which was receding more and more to the eastward, as a deadly hurricane moves +off after having accomplished its disastrous work. With a fierce gesture, +expressive of his sense of impotency, General Douay outstretched his arms +toward the wide horizon of hill and dale, of woods and fields, and the order +went forth to proceed with the march to Raucourt. +</p> + +<p> +Ah, what a march was that through that dismal pass of Stonne, with the lofty +summits o’erhanging them on either side, while through the woods on their +right came the incessant volleying of the artillery. Colonel de Vineuil rode at +the head of his regiment, bracing himself firmly in his saddle, his face set +and very pale, his eyes winking like those of one trying not to weep. Captain +Beaudoin strode along in silence, gnawing his mustache, while Lieutenant Rochas +let slip an occasional imprecation, invoking ruin and destruction on himself +and everyone besides. Even the most cowardly among the men, those who had the +least stomach for fighting, were shamed and angered by their continuous +retreat; they felt the bitter humiliation of turning their backs while those +beasts of Prussians were murdering their comrades over yonder. +</p> + +<p> +After emerging from the pass the road, from a tortuous path among the hills, +increased in width and led through a broad stretch of level country, dotted +here and there with small woods. The 106th was now a portion of the rear-guard, +and at every moment since leaving Osches had been expecting to feel the +enemy’s attack, for the Prussians were following the column step by step, +never letting it escape their vigilant eyes, waiting, doubtless, for a +favorable opportunity to fall on its rear. Their cavalry were on the alert to +take advantage of any bit of ground that promised them an opportunity of +getting in on our flank; several squadrons of Prussian Guards were seen +advancing from behind a wood, but they gave up their purpose upon a +demonstration made by a regiment of our hussars, who came up at a gallop, +sweeping the road. Thanks to the breathing-spell afforded them by this +circumstance the retreat went on in sufficiently good order, and Raucourt was +not far away, when a spectacle greeted their eyes that filled them with +consternation and completely demoralized the troops. Upon coming to a +cross-road they suddenly caught sight of a hurrying, straggling, flying throng, +wounded officers, soldiers without arms and without organization, runaway teams +from the train, all—men and animals—mingled in wildest confusion, +wild with panic. It was the wreck of one of the brigades of the 1st division, +which had been sent that morning to escort the train to Mouzon; there had been +an unfortunate misconception of orders, and this brigade and a portion of the +wagons had taken a wrong road and reached Varniforet, near Beaumont, at the +very time when the 5th corps was being driven back in disorder. Taken unawares, +overborne by the flank attack of an enemy superior in numbers, they had fled; +and bleeding, with haggard faces, crazed with fear, were now returning to +spread consternation among their comrades; it was as if they had been wafted +thither on the breath of the battle that had been raging incessantly since +noon. +</p> + +<p> +Alarm and anxiety possessed everyone, from highest to lowest, as the column +poured through Raucourt in wild stampede. Should they turn to the left, toward +Autrecourt, and attempt to pass the Meuse at Villers, as had been previously +decided? The general hesitated, fearing to encounter difficulties in crossing +there, even if the bridge were not already in possession of the Prussians; he +finally decided to keep straight on through the defile of Harancourt and thus +reach Remilly before nightfall. First Mouzon, then Villers, and last Remilly; +they were still pressing on northward, with the tramp of the uhlans on the road +behind them. There remained scant four miles for them to accomplish, but it was +five o’clock, and the men were sinking with fatigue. They had been under +arms since daybreak, twelve hours had been consumed in advancing three short +leagues; they were harassed and fatigued as much by their constant halts and +the stress of their emotions as by the actual toil of the march. For the last +two nights they had had scarce any sleep; their hunger had been unappeased +since they left Vouziers. In Raucourt the distress was terrible; men fell in +the ranks from sheer inanition. +</p> + +<p> +The little town is rich, with its numerous factories, its handsome thoroughfare +lined with two rows of well-built houses, and its pretty church and +<i>mairie</i>; but the night before Marshal MacMahon and the Emperor had passed +that way with their respective staffs and all the imperial household, and +during the whole of the present morning the entire 1st corps had been streaming +like a torrent through the main street. The resources of the place had not been +adequate to meet the requirements of these hosts; the shelves of the bakers and +grocers were empty, and even the houses of the bourgeois had been swept clean +of provisions; there was no bread, no wine, no sugar, nothing capable of +allaying hunger or thirst. Ladies had been seen to station themselves before +their doors and deal out glasses of wine and cups of bouillon until cask and +kettle alike were drained of their last drop. And so there was an end, and +when, about three o’clock, the first regiments of the 7th corps began to +appear the scene was a pitiful one; the broad street was filled from curb to +curb with weary, dust-stained men, dying with hunger, and there was not a +mouthful of food to give them. Many of them stopped, knocking at doors and +extending their hands beseechingly toward windows, begging for a morsel of +bread, and women were seen to cry and sob as they motioned that they could not +help them, that they had nothing left. +</p> + +<p> +At the corner of the Rue Dix-Potiers Maurice had an attack of dizziness and +reeled as if about to fall. To Jean, who came hastening up, he said: +</p> + +<p> +“No, leave me; it is all up with me. I may as well die here!” +</p> + +<p> +He had sunk down upon a door-step. The corporal spoke in a rough tone of +displeasure assumed for the occasion: +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Nom de Dieu!</i> why don’t you try to behave like a soldier! Do +you want the Prussians to catch you? Come, get up!” +</p> + +<p> +Then, as the young man, lividly pale, his eyes tight-closed, almost +unconscious, made no reply, he let slip another oath, but in another key this +time, in a tone of infinite gentleness and pity: +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Nom de Dieu!</i> <i>Nom de Dieu!</i>” +</p> + +<p> +And running to a drinking-fountain near by, he filled his basin with water and +hurried back to bathe his friend’s face. Then, without further attempt at +concealment, he took from his sack the last remaining biscuit that he had +guarded with such jealous caution, and commenced crumbling it into small bits +that he introduced between the other’s teeth. The famishing man opened +his eyes and ate greedily. +</p> + +<p> +“But you,” he asked, suddenly recollecting himself, “how +comes it that you did not eat it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I!” said Jean. “I’m tough, I can wait. A good +drink of Adam’s ale, and I shall be all right.” +</p> + +<p> +He went and filled his basin again at the fountain, emptied it at a single +draught, and came back smacking his lips in token of satisfaction with his +feast. He, too, was cadaverously pale, and so faint with hunger that his hands +were trembling like a leaf. +</p> + +<p> +“Come, get up, and let’s be going. We must be getting back to the +comrades, little one.” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice leaned on his arm and suffered himself to be helped along as if he had +been a child; never had woman’s arm about him so warmed his heart. In +that extremity of distress, with death staring him in the face, it afforded him +a deliciously cheering sense of comfort to know that someone loved and cared +for him, and the reflection that that heart, which was so entirely his, was the +heart of a simple-minded peasant, whose aspirations scarcely rose above the +satisfaction of his daily wants, for whom he had recently experienced a feeling +of repugnance, served to add to his gratitude a sensation of ineffable joy. Was +it not the brotherhood that had prevailed in the world in its earlier days, the +friendship that had existed before caste and culture were; that friendship +which unites two men and makes them one in their common need of assistance, in +the presence of Nature, the common enemy? He felt the tie of humanity uniting +him and Jean, and was proud to know that the latter, his comforter and savior, +was stronger than he; while to Jean, who did not analyze his sensations, it +afforded unalloyed pleasure to be the instrument of protecting, in his friend, +that cultivation and intelligence which, in himself, were only rudimentary. +Since the death of his wife, who had been snatched away from him by a frightful +catastrophe, he had believed that his heart was dead, he had sworn to have +nothing more to do with those creatures, who, even when they are not wicked and +depraved, are cause of so much suffering to man. And thus, to both of them +their friendship was a comfort and relief. There was no need of any +demonstrative display of affection; they understood each other; there was close +community of sympathy between them, and, notwithstanding their apparent +external dissimilarity, the bond of pity and common suffering made them as one +during their terrible march that day to Remilly. +</p> + +<p> +As the French rear-guard left Raucourt by one end of the town the Germans came +in at the other, and forthwith two of their batteries commenced firing from the +position they had taken on the heights to the left; the 106th, retreating along +the road that follows the course of the Emmane, was directly in the line of +fire. A shell cut down a poplar on the bank of the stream; another came and +buried itself in the soft ground close to Captain Beaudoin, but did not burst. +From there on to Harancourt, however, the walls of the pass kept approaching +nearer and nearer, and the troops were crowded together in a narrow gorge +commanded on either side by hills covered with trees. A handful of Prussians in +ambush on those heights might have caused incalculable disaster. With the +cannon thundering in their rear and the menace of a possible attack on either +flank, the men’s uneasiness increased with every step they took, and they +were in haste to get out of such a dangerous neighborhood; hence they summoned +up their reserved strength, and those soldiers who, but now in Raucourt, had +scarce been able to drag themselves along, now, with the peril that lay behind +them as an incentive, struck out at a good round pace. The very horses seemed +to be conscious that the loss of a minute might cost them dear. And the impetus +thus given continued; all was going well, the head of the column must have +reached Remilly, when, all at once, their progress was arrested. +</p> + +<p> +“Heavens and earth!” said Chouteau, “are they going to leave +us here in the road?” +</p> + +<p> +The regiment had not yet reached Harancourt, and the shells were still tumbling +about them; while the men were marking time, awaiting the word to go ahead +again, one burst, on the right of the column, without injuring anyone, +fortunately. Five minutes passed, that seemed to them long as an eternity, and +still they did not move; there was some obstacle on ahead that barred their way +as effectually as if a strong wall had been built across the road. The colonel, +standing up in his stirrups, peered nervously to the front, for he saw that it +would require but little to create a panic among his men. +</p> + +<p> +“We are betrayed; everybody can see it,” shouted Chouteau. +</p> + +<p> +Murmurs of reproach arose on every side, the sullen muttering of their +discontent exasperated by their fears. Yes, yes! they had been brought there to +be sold, to be delivered over to the Prussians. In the baleful fatality that +pursued them, and among all the blunders of their leaders, those dense +intelligences were unable to account for such an uninterrupted succession of +disasters on any other ground than that of treachery. +</p> + +<p> +“We are betrayed! we are betrayed!” the men wildly repeated. +</p> + +<p> +Then Loubet’s fertile intellect evolved an idea: “It is like enough +that that pig of an Emperor has sat himself down in the road, with his baggage, +on purpose to keep us here.” +</p> + +<p> +The idle fancy was received as true, and immediately spread up and down the +line; everyone declared that the imperial household had blocked the road and +was responsible for the stoppage. There was a universal chorus of execration, +of opprobrious epithets, an unchaining of the hatred and hostility that were +inspired by the insolence of the Emperor’s attendants, who took +possession of the towns where they stopped at night as if they owned them, +unpacking their luxuries, their costly wines and plate of gold and silver, +before the eyes of the poor soldiers who were destitute of everything, filling +the kitchens with the steam of savory viands while they, poor devils, had +nothing for it but to tighten the belt of their trousers. Ah! that wretched +Emperor, that miserable man, deposed from his throne and stripped of his +command, a stranger in his own empire; whom they were conveying up and down the +country along with the other baggage, like some piece of useless furniture, +whose doom it was ever to drag behind him the irony of his imperial state: +cent-gardes, horses, carriages, cooks, and vans, sweeping, as it were, the +blood and mire from the roads of his defeat with the magnificence of his court +mantle, embroidered with the heraldic bees! +</p> + +<p> +In rapid succession, one after the other, two more shells fell; Lieutenant +Rochas had his <i>kepi</i> carried away by a fragment. The men huddled closer +together and began to crowd forward, the movement gathering strength as it ran +from rear to front. Inarticulate cries were heard, Lapoulle shouted furiously +to go ahead. A minute longer and there would have been a horrible catastrophe, +and many men must have been crushed to death in the mad struggle to escape from +the funnel-like gorge. +</p> + +<p> +The colonel—he was very pale—turned and spoke to the soldiers: +</p> + +<p> +“My children, my children, be a little patient. I have sent to see what +is the matter—it will only be a moment—” +</p> + +<p> +But they did not advance, and the seconds seemed like centuries. Jean, quite +cool and collected, resumed his hold of Maurice’s hand, and whispered to +him that, in case their comrades began to shove, they two could leave the road, +climb the hill on the left, and make their way to the stream. He looked about +to see where the francs-tireurs were, thinking he might gain some information +from them regarding the roads, but was told they had vanished while the column +was passing through Raucourt. Just then the march was resumed, and almost +immediately a bend in the road took them out of range of the German batteries. +Later in the day it was ascertained that it was four cuirassier regiments of +Bonnemain’s division who, in the disorder of that ill-starred retreat, +had thus blocked the road of the 7th corps and delayed the march. +</p> + +<p> +It was nearly dark when the 106th passed through Angecourt. The wooded hills +continued on the right, but to the left the country was more level, and a +valley was visible in the distance, veiled in bluish mists. At last, just as +the shades of night were descending, they stood on the heights of Remilly and +beheld a ribbon of pale silver unrolling its length upon a broad expanse of +verdant plain. It was the Meuse, that Meuse they had so longed to see, and +where it seemed as if victory awaited them. +</p> + +<p> +Pointing to some lights in the distance that were beginning to twinkle cheerily +among the trees, down in that fertile valley that lay there so peaceful in the +mellow twilight, Maurice said to Jean, with the glad content of a man +revisiting a country that he knows and loves: +</p> + +<p> +“Look! over that way—that is Sedan!” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap07"></a>VII.</h2> + +<p> +Remilly is built on a hill that rises from the left bank of the Meuse, +presenting the appearance of an amphitheater; the one village street that +meanders circuitously down the sharp descent was thronged with men, horses, and +vehicles in dire confusion. Half-way up the hill, in front of the church, some +drivers had managed to interlock the wheels of their guns, and all the oaths +and blows of the artillerymen were unavailing to get them forward. Further +down, near the woolen mill, where the Emmane tumbles noisily over the dam, the +road was choked with a long line of stranded baggage wagons, while close at +hand, at the inn of the Maltese Cross, a constantly increasing crowd of angry +soldiers pushed and struggled, and could not obtain so much as a glass of wine. +</p> + +<p> +All this mad hurly-burly was going on at the southern end of the village, which +is here separated from the Meuse by a little grove of trees, and where the +engineers had that morning stretched a bridge of boats across the river. There +was a ferry to the right; the ferryman’s house stood by itself, white and +staring, amid a rank growth of weeds. Great fires had been built on either +bank, which, being replenished from time to time, glared ruddily in the +darkness and made the stream and both its shores as light as day. They served +to show the immense multitude of men massed there, awaiting a chance to cross, +while the footway only permitted the passage of two men abreast, and over the +bridge proper the cavalry and artillery were obliged to proceed at a walk, so +that the crossing promised to be a protracted operation. It was said that the +troops still on the left bank comprised a brigade of the 1st corps, an +ammunition train, and the four regiments of cuirassiers belonging to +Bonnemain’s division, while coming up in hot haste behind them was the +7th corps, over thirty thousand strong, possessed with the belief that the +enemy was at their heels and pushing on with feverish eagerness to gain the +security of the other shore. +</p> + +<p> +For a while despair reigned. What! they had been marching since morning with +nothing to eat, they had summoned up all their energies to escape that deadly +trap at Harancourt pass, only in the end to be landed in that slough of +despond, with an insurmountable wall staring them in the face! It would be +hours, perhaps, before it became the last comer’s turn to cross, and +everyone knew that even if the Prussians should not be enterprising enough to +continue their pursuit in the darkness they would be there with the first +glimpse of daylight. Orders came for them to stack muskets, however, and they +made their camp on the great range of bare hills which slope downward to the +meadows of the Meuse, with the Mouzon road running at their base. To their rear +and occupying the level plateau on top of the range the guns of the reserve +artillery were arranged in battery, pointed so as to sweep the entrance of the +pass should there be necessity for it. And thus commenced another period of +agonized, grumbling suspense. +</p> + +<p> +When finally the preparations were all completed the 106th found themselves +posted in a field of stubble above the road, in a position that commanded a +view of the broad plain. The men had parted regretfully with their arms, +casting timorous looks behind them that showed they were apprehensive of a +night attack. Their faces were stern and set, and silence reigned, only broken +from time to time by some sullen murmur of angry complaint. It was nearly nine +o’clock, they had been there two hours, and yet many of them, +notwithstanding their terrible fatigue, could not sleep; stretched on the bare +ground, they would start and bend their ears to catch the faintest sound that +rose in the distance. They had ceased to fight their torturing hunger; they +would eat over yonder, on the other bank, when they had passed the river; they +would eat grass if nothing else was to be found. The crowd at the bridge, +however, seemed to increase rather than diminish; the officers that General +Douay had stationed there came back to him every few minutes, always bringing +the same unwelcome report, that it would be hours and hours before any relief +could be expected. Finally the general determined to go down to the bridge in +person, and the men saw him on the bank, bestirring himself and others and +hurrying the passage of the troops. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice, seated with Jean against a wall, pointed to the north, as he had done +before. “There is Sedan in the distance. And look! Bazeilles is over +yonder—and then comes Douzy, and then Carignan, more to the right. We +shall concentrate at Carignan, I feel sure we shall. Ah! there is plenty of +room, as you would see if it were daylight!” +</p> + +<p> +And his sweeping gesture embraced the entire valley that lay beneath them, +enfolded in shadow. There was sufficient light remaining in the sky that they +could distinguish the pale gleam of the river where it ran its course among the +dusky meadows. The scattered trees made clumps of denser shade, especially a +row of poplars to the left, whose tops were profiled on the horizon like the +fantastic ornaments on some old castle gateway. And in the background, behind +Sedan, dotted with countless little points of brilliant light, the shadows had +mustered, denser and darker, as if all the forests of the Ardennes had +collected the inky blackness of their secular oaks and cast it there. +</p> + +<p> +Jean’s gaze came back to the bridge of boats beneath them. +</p> + +<p> +“Look there! everything is against us. We shall never get across.” +</p> + +<p> +The fires upon both banks blazed up more brightly just then, and their light +was so intense that the whole fearful scene was pictured on the darkness with +vivid distinctness. The boats on which the longitudinal girders rested, owing +to the weight of the cavalry and artillery that had been crossing +uninterruptedly since morning, had settled to such an extent that the floor of +the bridge was covered with water. The cuirassiers were passing at the time, +two abreast, in a long unbroken file, emerging from the obscurity of the hither +shore to be swallowed up in the shadows of the other, and nothing was to be +seen of the bridge; they appeared to be marching on the bosom of the ruddy +stream, that flashed and danced in the flickering firelight. The horses snorted +and hung back, manifesting every indication of terror as they felt the unstable +pathway yielding beneath their feet, and the cuirassiers, standing erect in +their stirrups and clutching at the reins, poured onward in a steady, unceasing +stream, wrapped in their great white mantles, their helmets flashing in the red +light of the flames. One might have taken them for some spectral band of +knights, with locks of fire, going forth to do battle with the powers of +darkness. +</p> + +<p> +Jean’s suffering wrested from him a deep-toned exclamation: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! I am hungry!” +</p> + +<p> +On every side, meantime, the men, notwithstanding the complainings of their +empty stomachs, had thrown themselves down to sleep. Their fatigue was so great +that it finally got the better of their fears and struck them down upon the +bare earth, where they lay on their back, with open mouth and arms +outstretched, like logs beneath the moonless sky. The bustle of the camp was +stilled, and all along the naked range, from end to end, there reigned a +silence as of death. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! I am hungry; I am so hungry that I could eat dirt!” +</p> + +<p> +Jean, patient as he was and inured to hardship, could not restrain the cry; he +had eaten nothing in thirty-six hours, and it was torn from him by sheer stress +of physical suffering. Then Maurice, knowing that two or three hours at all +events must elapse before their regiment could move to pass the stream, said: +</p> + +<p> +“See here, I have an uncle not far from here—you know, Uncle +Fouchard, of whom you have heard me speak. His house is five or six hundred +yards from here; I didn’t like the idea, but as you are so +hungry—The deuce! the old man can’t refuse us bread!” +</p> + +<p> +His comrade made no objection and they went off together. Father +Fouchard’s little farm was situated just at the mouth of Harancourt pass, +near the plateau where the artillery was posted. The house was a low structure, +surrounded by quite an imposing cluster of dependencies; a barn, a stable, and +cow-sheds, while across the road was a disused carriage-house which the old +peasant had converted into an abattoir, where he slaughtered with his own hands +the cattle which he afterward carried about the country in his wagon to his +customers. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice was surprised as he approached the house to see no light. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, the old miser! he has locked and barred everything tight and fast. +Like as not he won’t let us in.” +</p> + +<p> +But something that he saw brought him to a standstill. Before the house a dozen +soldiers were moving to and fro, hungry plunderers, doubtless, on the prowl in +quest of something to eat. First they had called, then had knocked, and now, +seeing that the place was dark and deserted, they were hammering at the door +with the butts of their muskets in an attempt to force it open. A growling +chorus of encouragement greeted them from the outsiders of the circle. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Nom de Dieu!</i> go ahead! smash it in, since there is no one at +home!” +</p> + +<p> +All at once the shutter of a window in the garret was thrown back and a tall +old man presented himself, bare-headed, wearing the peasant’s blouse, +with a candle in one hand and a gun in the other. Beneath the thick shock of +bristling white hair was a square face, deeply seamed and wrinkled, with a +strong nose, large, pale eyes, and stubborn chin. +</p> + +<p> +“You must be robbers, to smash things as you are doing!” he shouted +in an angry tone. “What do you want?” +</p> + +<p> +The soldiers, taken by surprise, drew back a little way. +</p> + +<p> +“We are perishing with hunger; we want something to eat.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have nothing, not a crust. Do you suppose that I keep victuals in my +house to fill a hundred thousand mouths? Others were here before you; yes, +General Ducrot’s men were here this morning, I tell you, and they cleaned +me out of everything.” +</p> + +<p> +The soldiers came forward again, one by one. +</p> + +<p> +“Let us in, all the same; we can rest ourselves, and you can hunt up +something—” +</p> + +<p> +And they were commencing to hammer at the door again, when the old fellow, +placing his candle on the window-sill, raised his gun to his shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +“As true as that candle stands there, I’ll put a hole in the first +man that touches that door!” +</p> + +<p> +The prospect looked favorable for a row. Oaths and imprecations resounded, and +one of the men was heard to shout that they would settle matters with the pig +of a peasant, who was like all the rest of them and would throw his bread in +the river rather than give a mouthful to a starving soldier. The light of the +candle glinted on the barrels of the chassepots as they were brought to an aim; +the angry men were about to shoot him where he stood, while he, headstrong and +violent, would not yield an inch. +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing, nothing! Not a crust! I tell you they cleaned me out!” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice rushed in in affright, followed by Jean. +</p> + +<p> +“Comrades, comrades—” +</p> + +<p> +He knocked up the soldiers’ guns, and raising his eyes, said +entreatingly: +</p> + +<p> +“Come, be reasonable. Don’t you know me? It is I.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who, I?” +</p> + +<p> +“Maurice Levasseur, your nephew.” +</p> + +<p> +Father Fouchard took up his candle. He recognized his nephew, beyond a doubt, +but was firm in his resolve not to give so much as a glass of water. +</p> + +<p> +“How can I tell whether you are my nephew or not in this infernal +darkness? Clear out, everyone of you, or I will fire!” +</p> + +<p> +And amid an uproar of execration, and threats to bring him down and burn the +shanty, he still had nothing to say but: “Clear out, or I’ll +fire!” which he repeated more than twenty times. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly a loud clear voice was heard rising above the din: +</p> + +<p> +“But not on me, father?” +</p> + +<p> +The others stood aside, and in the flickering light of the candle a man +appeared, wearing the chevrons of a quartermaster-sergeant. It was Honoré, +whose battery was a short two hundred yards from there and who had been +struggling for the last two hours against an irresistible longing to come and +knock at that door. He had sworn never to set foot in that house again, and in +all his four years of army life had not exchanged a single letter with that +father whom he now addressed so curtly. The marauders had drawn apart and were +conversing excitedly among themselves; what, the old man’s son, and a +“non-com.”! it wouldn’t answer; better go and try their luck +elsewhere! So they slunk away and vanished in the darkness. +</p> + +<p> +When Fouchard saw that he had nothing more to fear he said in a +matter-of-course way, as if he had seen his son only the day before: +</p> + +<p> +“It’s you—All right, I’ll come down.” +</p> + +<p> +His descent was a matter of time. He could be heard inside the house opening +locked doors and carefully fastening them again, the maneuvers of a man +determined to leave nothing at loose ends. At last the door was opened, but +only for a few inches, and the strong grasp that held it would let it go no +further. +</p> + +<p> +“Come in, <i>thou</i>! and no one besides!” +</p> + +<p> +He could not turn away his nephew, however, notwithstanding his manifest +repugnance. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, thou too!” +</p> + +<p> +He shut the door flat in Jean’s face, in spite of Maurice’s +entreaties. But he was obdurate. No, no! he wouldn’t have it; he had no +use for strangers and robbers in his house, to smash and destroy his furniture! +Finally Honoré shoved their comrade inside the door by main strength and the +old man had to make the best of it, grumbling and growling vindictively. He had +carried his gun with him all this time. When at last he had ushered the three +men into the common sitting-room and had stood his gun in a corner and placed +the candle on the table, he sank into a mulish silence. +</p> + +<p> +“Say, father, we are perishing with hunger. You will let us have a little +bread and cheese, won’t you?” +</p> + +<p> +He made a pretense of not hearing and did not answer, turning his head at every +instant toward the window as if listening for some other band that might be +coming to lay siege to his house. +</p> + +<p> +“Uncle, Jean has been a brother to me; he deprived himself of food to +give it to me. And we have seen such suffering together!” +</p> + +<p> +He turned and looked about the room to assure himself that nothing was missing, +not giving the three soldiers so much as a glance, and at last, still without a +word spoken, appeared to come to a decision. He suddenly arose, took the candle +and went out, leaving them in darkness and carefully closing and locking the +door behind him in order that no one might follow him. They could hear his +footsteps on the stairs that led to the cellar. There was another long period +of waiting, and when he returned, again locking and bolting everything after +him, he placed upon the table a big loaf of bread and a cheese, amid a silence +which, once his anger had blown over, was merely the result of cautious +cunning, for no one can ever tell what may come of too much talking. The three +men threw themselves ravenously upon the food, and the only sound to be heard +in the room was the fierce grinding of their jaws. +</p> + +<p> +Honoré rose, and going to the sideboard brought back a pitcher of water. +</p> + +<p> +“I think you might have given us some wine, father.” +</p> + +<p> +Whereupon Fouchard, now master of himself and no longer fearing that this anger +might lead him into unguarded speech, once more found his tongue. +</p> + +<p> +“Wine! I haven’t any, not a drop! The others, those fellows of +Ducrot’s, ate and drank all I had, robbed me of everything!” +</p> + +<p> +He was lying, and try to conceal it as he might the shifty expression in his +great light eyes showed it. For the past two days he had been driving away his +cattle, as well those reserved for work on the farm as those he had purchased +to slaughter, and hiding them, no one knew where, in the depths of some wood or +in some abandoned quarry, and he had devoted hours to burying all his household +stores, wine, bread, and things of the least value, even to the flour and salt, +so that anyone might have ransacked his cupboards and been none the richer for +it. He had refused to sell anything to the first soldiers who came along; no +one knew, he might be able to do better later on; and the patient, sly old +curmudgeon indulged himself with vague dreams of wealth. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice, who was first to satisfy his appetite, commenced to talk. +</p> + +<p> +“Have you seen my sister Henriette lately?” +</p> + +<p> +The old man was pacing up and down the room, casting an occasional glance at +Jean, who was bolting huge mouthfuls of bread; after apparently giving the +subject long consideration he deliberately answered: +</p> + +<p> +“Henriette, yes, I saw her last month when I was in Sedan. But I saw +Weiss, her husband, this morning. He was with Monsieur Delaherche, his boss, +who had come over in his carriage to see the soldiers at Mouzon—which is +the same as saying that they were out for a good time.” +</p> + +<p> +An expression of intense scorn flitted over the old peasant’s +impenetrable face. +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps they saw more of the army than they wanted to, and didn’t +have such a very good time after all, for ever since three o’clock the +roads have been impassable on account of the crowds of flying soldiers.” +</p> + +<p> +In the same unmoved voice, as if the matter were one of perfect indifference to +him, he gave them some tidings of the defeat of the 5th corps, that had been +surprised at Beaumont while the men were making their soup and chased by the +Bavarians all the way to Mouzon. Some fugitives who had passed through Remilly, +mad with terror, had told him that they had been betrayed once more and that de +Failly had sold them to Bismarck. Maurice’s thoughts reverted to the +aimless, blundering movements of the last two days, to Marshal MacMahon +hurrying on their retreat and insisting on getting them across the Meuse at +every cost, after wasting so many precious hours in incomprehensible delays. It +was too late. Doubtless the marshal, who had stormed so on finding the 7th +corps still at Osches when he supposed it to be at la Besace, had felt assured +that the 5th corps was safe in camp at Mouzon when, lingering in Beaumont, it +had come to grief there. But what could they expect from troops so poorly +officered, demoralized by suspense and incessant retreat, dying with hunger and +fatigue? +</p> + +<p> +Fouchard had finally come and planted himself behind Jean’s chair, +watching with astonishment the inroads he was making on the bread and cheese. +In a coldly sarcastic tone he asked: +</p> + +<p> +“Are you beginning to feel better, <i>hein</i>?” +</p> + +<p> +The corporal raised his head and replied with the same peasant-like directness: +</p> + +<p> +“Just beginning, thank you!” +</p> + +<p> +Honoré, notwithstanding his hunger, had ceased from eating whenever it seemed +to him that he heard a noise about the house. If he had struggled long, and +finally been false to his oath never to set foot in that house again, the +reason was that he could no longer withstand his craving desire to see Silvine. +The letter that he had received from her at Rheims lay on his bosom, next his +skin, that letter, so tenderly passionate, in which she told him that she loved +him still, that she should never love anyone save him, despite the cruel past, +despite Goliah and little Charlot, that man’s child. He was thinking of +naught save her, was wondering why he had not seen her yet, all the time +watching himself that he might not let his father see his anxiety. At last his +passion became too strong for him, however, and he asked in a tone as natural +as he could command: +</p> + +<p> +“Is not Silvine with you any longer?” +</p> + +<p> +Fouchard gave his son a glance out of the corner of his eye, chuckling +internally. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he expectorated and was silent, so that the artillery man had presently to +broach the subject again. +</p> + +<p> +“She has gone to bed, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no.” +</p> + +<p> +Finally the old fellow condescended to explain that he, too, had been taking an +outing that morning, had driven over to Raucourt market in his wagon and taken +his little servant with him. He saw no reason, because a lot of soldiers +happened to pass that way, why folks should cease to eat meat or why a man +should not attend to his business, so he had taken a sheep and a quarter of +beef over there, as it was his custom to do every Tuesday, and had just +disposed of the last of his stock-in-trade when up came the 7th corps and he +found himself in the middle of a terrible hubbub. Everyone was running, +pushing, and crowding. Then he became alarmed lest they should take his horse +and wagon from him, and drove off, leaving his servant, who was just then +making some purchases in the town. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, Silvine will come back all right,” he concluded in his +tranquil voice. “She must have taken shelter with Doctor Dalichamp, her +godfather. You would think to look at her that she wouldn’t dare to say +boo to a goose, but she is a girl of courage, all the same. Yes, yes; she has +lots of good qualities, Silvine has.” +</p> + +<p> +Was it an attempt on his part to be jocose? or did he wish to explain why it +was he kept her in his service, that girl who had caused dissension between +father and son, whose child by the Prussian was in the house? He again gave his +boy that sidelong look and laughed his voiceless laugh. +</p> + +<p> +“Little Charlot is asleep there in his room; she surely won’t be +long away, now.” +</p> + +<p> +Honoré, with quivering lips, looked so intently at his father that the old man +began to pace the floor again. <i>Mon Dieu!</i> yes, the child was there; +doubtless he would have to look on him. A painful silence filled the room, +while he mechanically cut himself more bread and began to eat again. Jean also +continued his operations in that line, without finding it necessary to say a +word. Maurice contemplated the furniture, the old sideboard, the antique clock, +and reflected on the long summer days that he had spent at Remilly in bygone +times with his sister Henriette. The minutes slipped away, the clock struck +eleven. +</p> + +<p> +“The devil!” he murmured, “it will never do to let the +regiment go off without us!” +</p> + +<p> +He stepped to the window and opened it, Fouchard making no objection. Beneath +lay the valley, a great bowl filled to the brim with blackness; presently, +however, when his eyes became more accustomed to the obscurity, he had no +difficulty in distinguishing the bridge, illuminated by the fires on the two +banks. The cuirassiers were passing still, like phantoms in their long white +cloaks, while their steeds trod upon the bosom of the stream and a chill wind +of terror breathed on them from behind; and so the spectral train moved on, +apparently interminable, in an endless, slow-moving vision of unsubstantial +forms. Toward the right, over the bare hills where the slumbering army lay, +there brooded a stillness and repose like death. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah well!” said Maurice with a gesture of disappointment, +“’twill be to-morrow morning.” +</p> + +<p> +He had left the window open, and Father Fouchard, seizing his gun, straddled +the sill and stepped outside, as lightly as a young man. For a time they could +hear his tramp upon the road, as regular as that of a sentry pacing his beat, +but presently it ceased and the only sound that reached their ears was the +distant clamor on the crowded bridge; it must be that he had seated himself by +the wayside, where he could watch for approaching danger and at slightest sign +leap to defend his property. +</p> + +<p> +Honoré’s anxiety meantime was momentarily increasing; his eyes were fixed +constantly on the clock. It was less than four miles from Raucourt to Remilly, +an easy hour’s walk for a woman as young and strong as Silvine. Why had +she not returned in all that time since the old man lost sight of her in the +confusion? He thought of the disorder of a retreating army corps, spreading +over the country and blocking the roads; some accident must certainly have +happened, and he pictured her in distress, wandering among the lonely fields, +trampled under foot by the horsemen. +</p> + +<p> +But suddenly the three men rose to their feet, moved by a common impulse. There +was a sound of rapid steps coming up the road and the old man was heard to cock +his weapon. +</p> + +<p> +“Who goes there?” he shouted. “Is it you, Silvine?” +</p> + +<p> +There was no reply. He repeated his question, threatening to fire. Then a +laboring, breathless voice managed to articulate: +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes, Father Fouchard; it is I.” And she quickly asked: +“And Charlot?” +</p> + +<p> +“He is abed and asleep.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is well! Thanks.” +</p> + +<p> +There was no longer cause for her to hasten; she gave utterance to a deep-drawn +sigh, as if to rid herself of her burden of fatigue and distress. +</p> + +<p> +“Go in by the window,” said Fouchard. “There is company in +there.” +</p> + +<p> +She was greatly agitated when, leaping lightly into the room, she beheld the +three men. In the uncertain candle-light she gave the impression of being very +dark, with thick black hair and a pair of large, fine, lustrous eyes, the chief +adornment of a small oval face, strong by reason of its tranquil resignation. +The sudden meeting with Honoré had sent all the blood rushing from her heart to +her cheeks; and yet she was hardly surprised to find him there; he had been in +her thoughts all the way home from Raucourt. +</p> + +<p> +He, trembling with agitation, his heart in his throat, spoke with affected +calmness: +</p> + +<p> +“Good-evening, Silvine.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good-evening, Honoré.” +</p> + +<p> +Then, to keep from breaking down and bursting into tears, she turned away, and +recognizing Maurice, gave him a smile. Jean’s presence was embarrassing +to her. She felt as if she were choking somehow, and removed the <i>foulard</i> +that she wore about her neck. +</p> + +<p> +Honoré continued, dropping the friendly <i>thou</i> of other days: +</p> + +<p> +“We were anxious about you, Silvine, on account of the Prussians being so +near at hand.” +</p> + +<p> +All at once her face became very pale and showed great distress; raising her +hand to her eyes as if to shut out some atrocious vision, and directing an +involuntary glance toward the room where Charlot was slumbering, she murmured: +</p> + +<p> +“The Prussians—Oh! yes, yes, I saw them.” +</p> + +<p> +Sinking wearily upon a chair she told how, when the 7th corps came into +Raucourt, she had fled for shelter to the house of her godfather, Doctor +Dalichamp, hoping that Father Fouchard would think to come and take her up +before he left the town. The main street was filled with a surging throng, so +dense that not even a dog could have squeezed his way through it, and up to +four o’clock she had felt no particular alarm, tranquilly employed in +scraping lint in company with some of the ladies of the place; for the doctor, +with the thought that they might be called on to care for some of the wounded, +should there be a battle over in the direction of Metz and Verdun, had been +busying himself for the last two weeks with improvising a hospital in the great +hall of the <i>mairie</i>. Some people who dropped in remarked that they might +find use for their hospital sooner than they expected, and sure enough, a +little after midday, the roar of artillery had reached their ears from over +Beaumont way. But that was not near enough to cause anxiety and no one was +alarmed, when, all at once, just as the last of the French troops were filing +out of Raucourt, a shell, with a frightful crash, came tearing through the roof +of a neighboring house. Two others followed in quick succession; it was a +German battery shelling the rear-guard of the 7th corps. Some of the wounded +from Beaumont had already been brought in to the <i>mairie</i>, where it was +feared that the enemy’s projectiles would finish them as they lay on +their mattresses waiting for the doctor to come and operate on them. The men +were crazed with fear, and would have risen and gone down into the cellars, +notwithstanding their mangled limbs, which extorted from them shrieks of agony. +</p> + +<p> +“And then,” continued Silvine, “I don’t know how it +happened, but all at once the uproar was succeeded by a deathlike stillness. I +had gone upstairs and was looking from a window that commanded a view of the +street and fields. There was not a soul in sight, not a ‘red-leg’ +to be seen anywhere, when I heard the tramp, tramp of heavy footsteps, and then +a voice shouted something that I could not understand and all the muskets came +to the ground together with a great crash. And I looked down into the street +below, and there was a crowd of small, dirty-looking men in black, with ugly, +big faces and wearing helmets like those our firemen wear. Someone told me they +were Bavarians. Then I raised my eyes again and saw, oh! thousands and +thousands of them, streaming in by the roads, across the fields, through the +woods, in serried, never-ending columns. In the twinkling of an eye the ground +was black with them, a black swarm, a swarm of black locusts, coming thicker +and thicker, so that, in no time at all, the earth was hid from sight.” +</p> + +<p> +She shivered and repeated her former gesture, veiling her vision from some +atrocious spectacle. +</p> + +<p> +“And the things that occurred afterward would exceed belief. It seems +those men had been marching three days, and on top of that had fought at +Beaumont like tigers; hence they were perishing with hunger, their eyes were +starting from their sockets, they were beside themselves. The officers made no +effort to restrain them; they broke into shops and private houses, smashing +doors and windows, demolishing furniture, searching for something to eat and +drink, no matter what, bolting whatever they could lay their hands on. I saw +one in the shop of Monsieur Simonin, the grocer, ladling molasses from a cask +with his helmet. Others were chewing strips of raw bacon, others again had +filled their mouths with flour. They were told that our troops had been passing +through the town for the last two days and there was nothing left, but here and +there they found some trifling store that had been hid away, not sufficient to +feed so many hungry mouths, and that made them think the folks were lying to +them, and they went on to smash things more furiously than ever. In less than +an hour, there was not a butcher’s, grocer’s, or baker’s shop +in the city left ungutted; even the private houses were entered, their cellars +emptied, and their closets pillaged. At the doctor’s—did you ever +hear of such a thing? I caught one big fellow devouring the soap. But the +cellar was the place where they did most mischief; we could hear them from +upstairs smashing the bottles and yelling like demons, and they drew the +spigots of the casks, so that the place was flooded with wine; when they came +out their hands were red with the good wine they had spilled. And to show what +happens, men when they make such brutes of themselves: a soldier found a large +bottle of laudanum and drank it all down, in spite of Monsieur +Dalichamp’s efforts to prevent him. The poor wretch was in horrible agony +when I came away; he must be dead by this time.” +</p> + +<p> +A great shudder ran through her, and she put her hand to her eyes to shut out +the horrid sight. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no! I cannot bear it; I saw too much!” +</p> + +<p> +Father Fouchard had crossed the road and stationed himself at the open window +where he could hear, and the tale of pillage made him uneasy; he had been told +that the Prussians paid for all they took; were they going to start out as +robbers at that late day? Maurice and Jean, too, were deeply interested in +those details about an enemy whom the girl had seen, and whom they had not +succeeded in setting eyes on in their whole month’s campaigning, while +Honoré, pensive and with dry, parched lips, was conscious only of the sound of +<i>her</i> voice; he could think of nothing save her and the misfortune that +had parted them. +</p> + +<p> +Just then the door of the adjoining room was opened, and little Charlot +appeared. He had heard his mother’s voice, and came trotting into the +apartment in his nightgown to give her a kiss. He was a chubby, pink little +urchin, large and strong for his age, with a thatch of curling, straw-colored +hair and big blue eyes. Silvine shivered at his sudden appearance, as if the +sight of him had recalled to her mind the image of someone else that affected +her disagreeably. Did she no longer recognize him, then, her darling child, +that she looked at him thus, as if he were some evocation of that horrid +nightmare! She burst into tears. +</p> + +<p> +“My poor, poor child!” she exclaimed, and clasped him wildly to her +breast, while Honoré, ghastly pale, noted how strikingly like the little one +was to Goliah; the same broad, pink face, the true Teutonic type, in all the +health and strength of rosy, smiling childhood. The son of the Prussian, <i>the +Prussian</i>, as the pothouse wits of Remilly had styled him! And the French +mother, who sat there, pressing him to her bosom, her heart still bleeding with +the recollection of the cruel sights she had witnessed that day! +</p> + +<p> +“My poor child, be good; come with me back to bed. Say good-night, my +poor child.” +</p> + +<p> +She vanished, bearing him away. When she returned from the adjoining room she +was no longer weeping; her face wore its customary expression of calm and +courageous resignation. +</p> + +<p> +It was Honoré who, with a trembling voice, started the conversation again. +</p> + +<p> +“And what did the Prussians do then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, yes; the Prussians. Well, they plundered right and left, destroying +everything, eating and drinking all they could lay hands on. They stole linen +as well, napkins and sheets, and even curtains, tearing them in strips to make +bandages for their feet. I saw some whose feet were one raw lump of flesh, so +long and hard had been their march. One little group I saw, seated at the edge +of the gutter before the doctor’s house, who had taken off their shoes +and were bandaging themselves with handsome chemises, trimmed with lace, +stolen, doubtless, from pretty Madame Lefevre, the manufacturer’s wife. +The pillage went on until night. The houses had no doors or windows left, and +one passing in the street could look within and see the wrecked furniture, a +scene of destruction that would have aroused the anger of a saint. For my part, +I was almost wild, and could remain there no longer. They tried in vain to keep +me, telling me that the roads were blocked, that I would certainly be killed; I +started, and as soon as I was out of Raucourt, struck off to the right and took +to the fields. Carts, loaded with wounded French and Prussians, were coming in +from Beaumont. Two passed quite close to me in the darkness; I could hear the +shrieks and groans, and I ran, oh! how I ran, across fields, through woods, I +could not begin to tell you where, except that I made a wide circuit over +toward Villers. +</p> + +<p> +“Twice I thought I heard soldiers coming and hid, but the only person I +met was another woman, a fugitive like myself. She was from Beaumont, she said, +and she told me things too horrible to repeat. After that we ran harder than +ever. And at last I am here, so wretched, oh! so wretched with what I have +seen!” +</p> + +<p> +Her tears flowed again in such abundance as to choke her utterance. The horrors +of the day kept rising to her memory and would not down; she related the story +that the woman of Beaumont had told her. That person lived in the main street +of the village, where she had witnessed the passage of all the German artillery +after nightfall. The column was accompanied on either side of the road by a +file of soldiers bearing torches of pitch-pine, which illuminated the scene +with the red glare of a great conflagration, and between the flaring, smoking +lights the impetuous torrent of horses, guns, and men tore onward at a mad +gallop. Their feet were winged with the tireless speed of victory as they +rushed on in devilish pursuit of the French, to overtake them in some last +ditch and crush them, annihilate them there. They stopped for nothing; on, on +they went, heedless of what lay in their way. Horses fell; their traces were +immediately cut, and they were left to be ground and torn by the pitiless +wheels until they were a shapeless, bleeding mass. Human beings, prisoners and +wounded men, who attempted to cross the road, were ruthlessly borne down and +shared their fate. Although the men were dying with hunger the fierce hurricane +poured on unchecked; was a loaf thrown to the drivers, they caught it flying; +the torch-bearers passed slices of meat to them on the end of their bayonets, +and then, with the same steel that had served that purpose, goaded their +maddened horses on to further effort. And the night grew old, and still the +artillery was passing, with the mad roar of a tempest let loose upon the land, +amid the frantic cheering of the men. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice’s fatigue was too much for him, and notwithstanding the interest +with which he listened to Silvine’s narrative, after the substantial meal +he had eaten he let his head decline upon the table on his crossed arms. +Jean’s resistance lasted a little longer, but presently he too was +overcome and fell dead asleep at the other end of the table. Father Fouchard +had gone and taken his position in the road again; Honoré was alone with +Silvine, who was seated, motionless, before the still open window. +</p> + +<p> +The artilleryman rose, and drawing his chair to the window, stationed himself +there beside her. The deep peacefulness of the night was instinct with the +breathing of the multitude that lay lost in slumber there, but on it now rose +other and louder sounds; the straining and creaking of the bridge, the hollow +rumble of wheels; the artillery was crossing on the half-submerged structure. +Horses reared and plunged in terror at sight of the swift-running stream, the +wheel of a caisson ran over the guard-rail; immediately a hundred strong arms +seized the encumbrance and hurled the heavy vehicle to the bottom of the river +that it might not obstruct the passage. And as the young man watched the slow, +toilsome retreat along the opposite bank, a movement that had commenced the day +before and certainly would not be ended by the coming dawn, he could not help +thinking of that other artillery that had gone storming through Beaumont, +bearing down all before it, crushing men and horses in its path that it might +not be delayed the fraction of a second. +</p> + +<p> +Honoré drew his chair nearer to Silvine, and in the shuddering darkness, alive +with all those sounds of menace, gently whispered: +</p> + +<p> +“You are unhappy?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! yes; so unhappy!” +</p> + +<p> +She was conscious of the subject on which he was about to speak, and her head +sank sorrowfully on her bosom. +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me, how did it happen? I wish to know.” +</p> + +<p> +But she could not find words to answer him. +</p> + +<p> +“Did he take advantage of you, or was it with your consent?” +</p> + +<p> +Then she stammered, in a voice that was barely audible: +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Mon Dieu!</i> I do not know; I swear to you, I do not know, more than +a babe unborn. I will not lie to you—I cannot! No, I have no excuse to +offer; I cannot say he beat me. You had left me, I was beside myself, and it +happened, how, I cannot, no, I cannot tell!” +</p> + +<p> +Sobs choked her utterance, and he, ashy pale and with a great lump rising in +his throat, waited silently for a moment. The thought that she was unwilling to +tell him a lie, however, was an assuagement to his rage and grief; he went on +to question her further, anxious to know the many things, that as yet he had +been unable to understand. +</p> + +<p> +“My father has kept you here, it seems?” +</p> + +<p> +She replied with her resigned, courageous air, without raising her eyes: +</p> + +<p> +“I work hard for him, it does not cost much to keep me, and as there is +now another mouth to feed he has taken advantage of it to reduce my wages. He +knows well enough that now, when he orders, there is nothing left for me but to +obey.” +</p> + +<p> +“But why do you stay with him?” +</p> + +<p> +The question surprised her so that she looked him in the face. +</p> + +<p> +“Where would you have me go? Here my little one and I have at least a +home and enough to keep us from starving.” +</p> + +<p> +They were silent again, both intently reading in the other’s eyes, while +up the shadowy valley the sounds of the sleeping camp came faintly to their +ears, and the dull rumble of wheels upon the bridge of boats went on +unceasingly. There was a shriek, the loud, despairing cry of man or beast in +mortal peril, that passed, unspeakably mournful, through the dark night. +</p> + +<p> +“Listen, Silvine,” Honoré slowly and feelingly went on; “you +sent me a letter that afforded me great pleasure. I should have never come back +here, but that letter—I have been reading it again this +evening—speaks of things that could not have been expressed more +delicately—” +</p> + +<p> +She had turned pale when first she heard the subject mentioned. Perhaps he was +angry that she had dared to write to him, like one devoid of shame; then, as +his meaning became more clear, her face reddened with delight. +</p> + +<p> +“I know you to be truthful, and knowing it, I believe what you wrote in +that letter—yes, I believe it now implicitly. You were right in supposing +that, if I were to die in battle without seeing you again, it would be a great +sorrow to me to leave this world with the thought that you no longer loved me. +And therefore, since you love me still, since I am your first and only +love—” His tongue became thick, his emotion was so deep that +expression failed him. “Listen, Silvine; if those beasts of Prussians let +me live, you shall yet be mine, yes, as soon as I have served my time out we +will be married.” +</p> + +<p> +She rose and stood erect upon her feet, gave a cry of joy, and threw herself +upon the young man’s bosom. She could not speak a word; every drop of +blood in her veins was in her cheeks. He seated himself upon the chair and drew +her down upon his lap. +</p> + +<p> +“I have thought the matter over carefully; it was to say what I have said +that I came here this evening. Should my father refuse us his consent, the +earth is large; we will go away. And your little one, no one shall harm him, +<i>mon Dieu!</i> More will come along, and among them all I shall not know him +from the others.” +</p> + +<p> +She was forgiven, fully and entirely. Such happiness seemed too great to be +true; she resisted, murmuring: +</p> + +<p> +“No, it cannot be; it is too much; perhaps you might repent your +generosity some day. But how good it is of you, Honoré, and how I love +you!” +</p> + +<p> +He silenced her with a kiss upon the lips, and strength was wanting her longer +to put aside the great, the unhoped-for good fortune that had come to her; a +life of happiness where she had looked forward to one of loneliness and sorrow! +With an involuntary, irresistible impulse she threw her arms about him, kissing +him again and again, straining him to her bosom with all her woman’s +strength, as a treasure that was lost and found again, that was hers, hers +alone, that thenceforth no one was ever to take from her. He was hers once +more, he whom she had lost, and she would die rather than let anyone deprive +her of him. +</p> + +<p> +At that moment confused sounds reached their ears; the sleeping camp was +awaking amid a tumult that rose and filled the dark vault of heaven. Hoarse +voices were shouting orders, bugles were sounding, drums beating, and from the +naked fields shadowy forms were seen emerging in indistinguishable masses, a +surging, billowing sea whose waves were already streaming downward to the road +beneath. The fires on the banks of the stream were dying down; all that could +be seen there was masses of men moving confusedly to and fro; it was not even +possible to tell if the movement across the river was still in progress. Never +had the shades of night veiled such depths of distress, such abject misery of +terror. +</p> + +<p> +Father Fouchard came to the window and shouted that the troops were moving. +Jean and Maurice awoke, stiff and shivering, and got on their feet. Honoré took +Silvine’s hands in his and gave them a swift parting clasp. +</p> + +<p> +“It is a promise. Wait for me.” +</p> + +<p> +She could find no word to say in answer, but all her soul went out to him in +one long, last look, as he leaped from the window and hurried away to find his +battery. +</p> + +<p> +“Good-by, father!” +</p> + +<p> +“Good-by, my boy!” +</p> + +<p> +And that was all; peasant and soldier parted as they had met, without +embracing, like a father and son whose existence was of little import to each +other. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice and Jean also left the farmhouse, and descended the steep hill on a +run. When they reached the bottom the 106th was nowhere to be found; the +regiments had all moved off. They made inquiries, running this way and that, +and were directed first one way and then another. At last, when they had near +lost their wits in the fearful confusion, they stumbled on their company, under +the command of Lieutenant Rochas; as for the regiment and Captain Beaudoin, no +one could say where they were. And Maurice was astounded when he noticed for +the first time that that mob of men, guns, and horses was leaving Remilly and +taking the Sedan road that lay on the left bank. Something was wrong again; the +passage of the Meuse was abandoned, they were in full retreat to the north! +</p> + +<p> +An officer of chasseurs, who was standing near, spoke up in a loud voice: +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Nom de Dieu!</i> the time for us to make the movement was the 28th, +when we were at Chêne!” +</p> + +<p> +Others were more explicit in their information; fresh news had been received. +About two o’clock in the morning one of Marshal MacMahon’s aides +had come riding up to say to General Douay that the whole army was ordered to +retreat immediately on Sedan, without loss of a minute’s time. The +disaster of the 5th corps at Beaumont had involved the three other corps. The +general, who was at that time down at the bridge of boats superintending +operations, was in despair that only a portion of his 3d division had so far +crossed the stream; it would soon be day, and they were liable to be attacked +at any moment. He therefore sent instructions to the several organizations of +his command to make at once for Sedan, each independently of the others, by the +most direct roads, while he himself, leaving orders to burn the bridge of +boats, took the road on the left bank with his 2d division and the artillery, +and the 3d division pursued that on the right bank; the 1st, that had felt the +enemy’s claws at Beaumont, was flying in disorder across the country, no +one knew where. Of the 7th corps, that had not seen a battle, all that remained +were those scattered, incoherent fragments, lost among lanes and by-roads, +running away in the darkness. +</p> + +<p> +It was not yet three o’clock, and the night was as black as ever. +Maurice, although he knew the country, could not make out where they were in +the noisy, surging throng that filled the road from ditch to ditch, pouring +onward like a brawling mountain stream. Interspersed among the regiments were +many fugitives from the rout at Beaumont, in ragged uniforms, begrimed with +blood and dirt, who inoculated the others with their own terror. Down the wide +valley, from the wooded hills across the stream, came one universal, +all-pervading uproar, the scurrying tramp of other hosts in swift retreat; the +1st corps, coming from Carignan and Douzy, the 12th flying from Mouzon with the +shattered remnants of the 5th, moved like puppets and driven onward, all of +them, by that one same, inexorable, irresistible pressure that since the 28th +had been urging the army northward and driving it into the trap where it was to +meet its doom. +</p> + +<p> +Day broke as Maurice’s company was passing through Pont Maugis, and then +he recognized their locality, the hills of Liry to the left, the Meuse running +beside the road on the right. Bazeilles and Balan presented an inexpressibly +funereal aspect, looming among the exhalations of the meadows in the chill, wan +light of dawn, while against the somber background of her great forests Sedan +was profiled in livid outlines, indistinct as the creation of some hideous +nightmare. When they had left Wadelincourt behind them and were come at last to +the Torcy gate, the governor long refused them admission; he only yielded, +after a protracted conference, upon their threat to storm the place. It was +five o’clock when at last the 7th corps, weary, cold, and hungry, entered +Sedan. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap08"></a>VIII.</h2> + +<p> +In the crush on the Place de Torcy that ensued upon the entrance of the troops +into the city Jean became separated from Maurice, and all his attempts to find +him again among the surging crowd were fruitless. It was a piece of extreme +ill-luck, for he had accepted the young man’s invitation to go with him +to his sister’s, where there would be rest and food for them, and even +the luxury of a comfortable bed. The confusion was so great—the regiments +disintegrated, no discipline, and no officers to enforce it—that the men +were free to do pretty much as they pleased. There was plenty of time to look +about them and hunt up their commands; they would have a few hours of sleep +first. +</p> + +<p> +Jean in his bewilderment found himself on the viaduct of Torcy, overlooking the +broad meadows which, by the governor’s orders, had been flooded with +water from the river. Then, passing through another archway and crossing the +Pont de Meuse, he entered the old, rampart-girt city, where, among the tall and +crowded houses and the damp, narrow streets, it seemed to him that night was +descending again, notwithstanding the increasing daylight. He could not so much +as remember the name of Maurice’s brother-in-law; he only knew that his +sister’s name was Henriette. The outlook was not encouraging; all that +kept him awake was the automatic movement of walking; he felt that he should +drop were he to stop. The indistinct ringing in his ears was the same that is +experienced by one drowning; he was only conscious of the ceaseless onpouring +of the stream of men and animals that carried him along with it on its current. +He had partaken of food at Remilly, sleep was now his great necessity; and the +same was true of the shadowy bands that he saw flitting past him in those +strange, fantastic streets. At every moment a man would sink upon the sidewalk +or tumble into a doorway, and there would remain, as if struck by death. +</p> + +<p> +Raising his eyes, Jean read upon a signboard: Avenue de la Sous-Prefecture. At +the end of the street was a monument standing in a public garden, and at the +corner of the avenue he beheld a horseman, a chasseur d’Afrique, whose +face seemed familiar to him. Was it not Prosper, the young man from Remilly, +whom he had seen in Maurice’s company at Vouziers? Perhaps he had been +sent in with dispatches. He had dismounted, and his skeleton of a horse, so +weak that he could scarcely stand, was trying to satisfy his hunger by gnawing +at the tail-board of an army wagon that was drawn up against the curb. There +had been no forage for the animals for the last two days, and they were +literally dying of starvation. The big strong teeth rasped pitifully on the +woodwork of the wagon, while the soldier stood by and wept as he watched the +poor brute. +</p> + +<p> +Jean was moving away when it occurred to him that the trooper might be able to +give him the address of Maurice’s sister. He returned, but the other was +gone, and it would have been useless to attempt to find him in that dense +throng. He was utterly disheartened, and wandering aimlessly from street to +street at last found himself again before the Sous-Prefecture, whence he +struggled onward to the Place Turenne. Here he was comforted for an instant by +catching sight of Lieutenant Rochas, standing in front of the Hôtel de Ville +with a few men of his company, at the foot of the statue he had seen before; if +he could not find his friend he could at all events rejoin the regiment and +have a tent to sleep under. Nothing had been seen of Captain Beaudoin; +doubtless he had been swept away in the press and landed in some place far +away, while the lieutenant was endeavoring to collect his scattered men and +fruitlessly inquiring of everyone he met where division headquarters were. As +he advanced into the city, however, his numbers, instead of increasing, +dwindled. One man, with the gestures of a lunatic, entered an inn and was seen +no more. Three others were halted in front of a grocer’s shop by a party +of zouaves who had obtained possession of a small cask of brandy; one was +already lying senseless in the gutter, while the other two tried to get away, +but were too stupid and dazed to move. Loubet and Chouteau had nudged each +other with the elbow and disappeared down a blind alley in pursuit of a fat +woman with a loaf of bread, so that all who remained with the lieutenant were +Pache and Lapoulle, with some ten or a dozen more. +</p> + +<p> +Rochas was standing by the base of the bronze statue of Turenne, making heroic +efforts to keep his eyes open. When he recognized Jean he murmured: +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, is it you, corporal? Where are your men?” +</p> + +<p> +Jean, by a gesture expressive in its vagueness, intimated that he did not know, +but Pache, pointing to Lapoulle, answered with tears in his eyes: +</p> + +<p> +“Here we are; there are none left but us two. The merciful Lord have pity +on our sufferings; it is too hard!” +</p> + +<p> +The other, the colossus with the colossal appetite, looked hungrily at +Jean’s hands, as if to reproach them for being always empty in those +days. Perhaps, in his half-sleeping state, he had dreamed that Jean was away at +the commissary’s for rations. +</p> + +<p> +“D——n the luck!” he grumbled, “we’ll have +to tighten up our belts another hole!” +</p> + +<p> +Gaude, the bugler, was leaning against the iron railing, waiting for the +lieutenant’s order to sound the assembly; sleep came to him so suddenly +that he slid from his position and within a second was lying flat on his back, +unconscious. One by one they all succumbed to the drowsy influence and snored +in concert, except Sergeant Sapin alone, who, with his little pinched nose in +his small pale face, stood staring with distended eyes at the horizon of that +strange city, as if trying to read his destiny there. +</p> + +<p> +Lieutenant Rochas meantime had yielded to an irresistible impulse and seated +himself on the ground. He attempted to give an order. +</p> + +<p> +“Corporal, you will—you will—” +</p> + +<p> +And that was as far as he could proceed, for fatigue sealed his lips, and like +the rest he suddenly sank down and was lost in slumber. +</p> + +<p> +Jean, not caring to share his comrades’ fate and pillow his head on the +hard stones, moved away; he was bent on finding a bed in which to sleep. At a +window of the Hotel of the Golden Cross, on the opposite side of the square, he +caught a glimpse of General Bourgain-Desfeuilles, already half-undressed and on +the point of tasting the luxury of clean white sheets. Why should he be more +self-denying than the rest of them? he asked himself; why should he suffer +longer? And just then a name came to his recollection that caused him a thrill +of delight, the name of the manufacturer in whose employment Maurice’s +brother-in-law was. M. Delaherche! yes, that was it. He accosted an old man who +happened to be passing. +</p> + +<p> +“Can you tell me where M. Delaherche lives?” +</p> + +<p> +“In the Rue Maqua, near the corner of the Rue au Beurre; you can’t +mistake it; it is a big house, with statues in the garden.” +</p> + +<p> +The old man turned away, but presently came running back. “I see you +belong to the 106th. If it is your regiment you are looking for, it left the +city by the Château, down there. I just met the colonel, Monsieur de Vineuil; I +used to know him when he lived at Mézières.” +</p> + +<p> +But Jean went his way, with an angry gesture of impatience. No, no! no sleeping +on the hard ground for him, now that he was certain of finding Maurice. And yet +he could not help feeling a twinge of remorse as he thought of the dignified +old colonel, who stood fatigue so manfully in spite of his years, sharing the +sufferings of his men, with no more luxurious shelter than his tent. He strode +across the Grande Rue with rapid steps and soon was in the midst of the tumult +and uproar of the city; there he hailed a small boy, who conducted him to the +Rue Maqua. +</p> + +<p> +There it was that in the last century a grand-uncle of the present Delaherche +had built the monumental structure that had remained in the family a hundred +and sixty years. There is more than one cloth factory in Sedan that dates back +to the early years of Louis XV.; enormous piles, they are, covering as much +ground as the Louvre, and with stately facades of royal magnificence. The one +in the Rue Maqua was three stories high, and its tall windows were adorned with +carvings of severe simplicity, while the palatial courtyard in the center was +filled with grand old trees, gigantic elms that were coeval with the building +itself. In it three generations of Delaherches had amassed comfortable fortunes +for themselves. The father of Charles, the proprietor in our time, had +inherited the property from a cousin who had died without being blessed with +children, so that it was now a younger branch that was in possession. The +affairs of the house had prospered under the father’s control, but he was +something of a blade and a roisterer, and his wife’s existence with him +was not one of unmixed happiness; the consequence of which was that the lady, +when she became a widow, not caring to see a repetition by the son of the +performances of the father, made haste to find a wife for him in the person of +a simple-minded and exceedingly devout young woman, and subsequently kept him +tied to her apron string until he had attained the mature age of fifty and +over. But no one in this transitory world can tell what time has in store for +him; when the devout young person’s time came to leave this life +Delaherche, who had known none of the joys of youth, fell head over ears in +love with a young widow of Charleville, pretty Madame Maginot, who had been the +subject of some gossip in her day, and in the autumn preceding the events +recorded in this history had married her, in spite of all his mother’s +prayers and tears. It is proper to add that Sedan, which is very straitlaced in +its notions of propriety, has always been inclined to frown on Charleville, the +city of laughter and levity. And then again the marriage would never have been +effected but for the fact that Gilberte’s uncle was Colonel de Vineuil, +who it was supposed would soon be made a general. This relationship and the +idea that he had married into army circles was to the cloth manufacturer a +source of great delight. +</p> + +<p> +That morning Delaherche, when he learned that the army was to pass through +Mouzon, had invited Weiss, his accountant, to accompany him on that carriage +ride of which we have heard Father Fouchard speak to Maurice. Tall and stout, +with a florid complexion, prominent nose and thick lips, he was of a cheerful, +sanguine temperament and had all the French bourgeois’ boyish love for a +handsome display of troops. Having ascertained from the apothecary at Mouzon +that the Emperor was at Baybel, a farm in the vicinity, he had driven up there; +had seen the monarch, and even had been near speaking to him, an adventure of +such thrilling interest that he had talked of it incessantly ever since his +return. But what a terrible return that had been, over roads choked with the +panic-stricken fugitives from Beaumont! twenty times their cabriolet was near +being overturned into the ditch. Obstacle after obstacle they had encountered, +and it was night before the two men reached home. The element of the tragic and +unforeseen there was in the whole business, that army that Delaherche had +driven out to pass in review and which had brought him home with it, whether he +would or no, in the mad gallop of its retreat, made him repeat again and again +during their long drive: +</p> + +<p> +“I supposed it was moving on Verdun and would have given anything rather +than miss seeing it. Ah well! I have seen it now, and I am afraid we shall see +more of it in Sedan than we desire.” +</p> + +<p> +The following morning he was awakened at five o’clock by the hubbub, like +the roar of water escaping from a broken dam, made by the 7th corps as it +streamed through the city; he dressed in haste and went out, and almost the +first person he set eyes on in the Place Turenne was Captain Beaudoin. When +pretty Madame Maginot was living at Charleville the year before the captain had +been one of her best friends, and Gilberte had introduced him to her husband +before they were married. Rumor had it that the captain had abdicated his +position as first favorite and made way for the cloth merchant from motives of +delicacy, not caring to stand in the way of the great good fortune that seemed +coming to his fair friend. +</p> + +<p> +“Hallo, is that you?” exclaimed Delaherche. “Good Heavens, +what a state you’re in!” +</p> + +<p> +It was but too true; the dandified Beaudoin, usually so trim and spruce, +presented a sorry spectacle that morning in his soiled uniform and with his +grimy face and hands. Greatly to his disgust he had had a party of Turcos for +traveling companions, and could not explain how he had become separated from +his company. Like all the others he was ready to drop with fatigue and hunger, +but that was not what most afflicted him; he had not been able to change his +linen since leaving Rheims, and was inconsolable. +</p> + +<p> +“Just think of it!” he wailed, “those idiots, those +scoundrels, lost my baggage at Vouziers. If I ever catch them I will break +every bone in their body! And now I haven’t a thing, not a handkerchief, +not a pair of socks! Upon my word, it is enough to make one mad!” +</p> + +<p> +Delaherche was for taking him home to his house forthwith, but he resisted. No, +no; he was no longer a human being, he would not frighten people out of their +wits. The manufacturer had to make solemn oath that neither his wife nor his +mother had risen yet; and besides he should have soap, water, linen, everything +he needed. +</p> + +<p> +It was seven o’clock when Captain Beaudoin, having done what he could +with the means at his disposal to improve his appearance, and comforted by the +sensation of wearing under his uniform a clean shirt of his host’s, made +his appearance in the spacious, high-ceiled dining room with its somber +wainscoting. The elder Madame Delaherche was already there, for she was always +on foot at daybreak, notwithstanding she was seventy-eight years old. Her hair +was snowy white; in her long, lean face was a nose almost preternaturally thin +and sharp and a mouth that had long since forgotten how to laugh. She rose, and +with stately politeness invited the captain to be seated before one of the cups +of <i>café au lait</i> that stood on the table. +</p> + +<p> +“But, perhaps, sir, you would prefer meat and wine after the fatigue to +which you have been subjected?” +</p> + +<p> +He declined the offer, however. “A thousand thanks, madame; a little +milk, with bread and butter, will be best for me.” +</p> + +<p> +At that moment a door was smartly opened and Gilberte entered the room with +outstretched hand. Delaherche must have told her who was there, for her +ordinary hour of rising was ten o’clock. She was tall, lithe of form and +well-proportioned, with an abundance of handsome black hair, a pair of handsome +black eyes, and a very rosy, wholesome complexion withal; she had a laughing, +rather free and easy way with her, and it did not seem possible she could ever +look angry. Her peignoir of beige, embroidered with red silk, was evidently of +Parisian manufacture. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Captain,” she rapidly said, shaking hands with the young man, +“how nice of you to stop and see us, away up in this out-of-the-world +place!” But she was the first to see that she had “put her foot in +it” and laugh at her own blunder. “Oh, what a stupid thing I am! I +might know you would rather be somewhere else than at Sedan, under the +circumstances. But I am very glad to see you once more.” +</p> + +<p> +She showed it; her face was bright and animated, while Madame Delaherche, who +could not have failed to hear something of the gossip that had been current +among the scandalmongers of Charleville, watched the pair closely with her +puritanical air. The captain was very reserved in his behavior, however, +manifesting nothing more than a pleasant recollection of hospitalities +previously received in the house where he was visiting. +</p> + +<p> +They had no more than sat down at table than Delaherche, burning to relieve +himself of the subject that filled his mind, commenced to relate his +experiences of the day before. +</p> + +<p> +“You know I saw the Emperor at Baybel.” +</p> + +<p> +He was fairly started and nothing could stop him. He began by describing the +farmhouse, a large structure with an interior court, surrounded by an iron +railing, and situated on a gentle eminence overlooking Mouzon, to the left of +the Carignan road. Then he came back to the 12th corps, whom he had visited in +their camp among the vines on the hillsides; splendid troops they were, with +their equipments brightly shining in the sunlight, and the sight of them had +caused his heart to beat with patriotic ardor. +</p> + +<p> +“And there I was, sir, when the Emperor, who had alighted to breakfast +and rest himself a bit, came out of the farmhouse. He wore a general’s +uniform and carried an overcoat across his arm, although the sun was very hot. +He was followed by a servant bearing a camp stool. He did not look to me like a +well man; ah no, far from it; his stooping form, the sallowness of his +complexion, the feebleness of his movements, all indicated him to be in a very +bad way. I was not surprised, for the druggist at Mouzon, when he recommended +me to drive on to Baybel, told me that an aide-de-camp had just been in his +shop to get some medicine—you understand what I mean, medicine +for—” The presence of his wife and mother prevented him from +alluding more explicitly to the nature of the Emperor’s complaint, which +was an obstinate diarrhea that he had contracted at Chêne and which compelled +him to make those frequent halts at houses along the road. “Well, then, +the attendant opened the camp stool and placed it in the shade of a clump of +trees at the edge of a field of wheat, and the Emperor sat down on it. Sitting +there in a limp, dejected attitude, perfectly still, he looked for all the +world like a small shopkeeper taking a sun bath for his rheumatism. His dull +eyes wandered over the wide horizon, the Meuse coursing through the valley at +his feet, before him the range of wooded heights whose summits recede and are +lost in the distance, on the left the waving tree-tops of Dieulet forest, on +the right the verdure-clad eminence of Sommanthe. He was surrounded by his +military family, aides and officers of rank, and a colonel of dragoons, who had +already applied to me for information about the country, had just motioned me +not to go away, when all at once—” Delaherche rose from his chair, +for he had reached the point where the dramatic interest of his story +culminated and it became necessary to re-enforce words by gestures. “All +at once there is a succession of sharp reports and right in front of us, over +the wood of Dieulet, shells are seen circling through the air. It produced on +me no more effect than a display of fireworks in broad daylight, sir, upon my +word it didn’t! The people about the Emperor, of course, showed a good +deal of agitation and uneasiness. The colonel of dragoons comes running up +again to ask if I can give them an idea whence the firing proceeds. I answer +him off-hand: ‘It is at Beaumont; there is not the slightest doubt about +it.’ He returns to the Emperor, on whose knees an aide-de-camp was +unfolding a map. The Emperor was evidently of opinion that the fighting was not +at Beaumont, for he sent the colonel back to me a third time. But I +couldn’t well do otherwise than stick to what I had said before, could I, +now? the more that the shells kept flying through the air, nearer and nearer, +following the line of the Mouzon road. And then, sir, as sure as I see you +standing there, I saw the Emperor turn his pale face toward me. Yes sir, he +looked at me a moment with those dim eyes of his, that were filled with an +expression of melancholy and distrust. And then his face declined upon his map +again and he made no further movement.” +</p> + +<p> +Delaherche, although he was an ardent Bonapartist at the time of the +plebiscite, had admitted after our early defeats that the government was +responsible for some mistakes, but he stood up for the dynasty, compassionating +and excusing Napoleon III., deceived and betrayed as he was by everyone. It was +his firm opinion that the men at whose door should be laid the responsibility +for all our disasters were none other than those Republican deputies of the +opposition who had stood in the way of voting the necessary men and money. +</p> + +<p> +“And did the Emperor return to the farmhouse?” asked Captain +Beaudoin. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s more than I can say, my dear sir; I left him sitting on his +stool. It was midday, the battle was drawing nearer, and it occurred to me that +it was time to be thinking of my own return. All that I can tell you besides is +that a general to whom I pointed out the position of Carignan in the distance, +in the plain to our rear, appeared greatly surprised to learn that the Belgian +frontier lay in that direction and was only a few miles away. Ah, that the poor +Emperor should have to rely on such servants!” +</p> + +<p> +Gilberte, all smiles, was giving her attention to the captain and keeping him +supplied with buttered toast, as much at ease as she had ever been in bygone +days when she received him in her salon during her widowhood. She insisted that +he should accept a bed with them, but he declined, and it was agreed that he +should rest for an hour or two on a sofa in Delaherche’s study before +going out to find his regiment. As he was taking the sugar bowl from the young +woman’s hands old Madame Delaherche, who had kept her eye on them, +distinctly saw him squeeze her fingers, and the old lady’s suspicions +were confirmed. At that moment a servant came to the door. +</p> + +<p> +“Monsieur, there is a soldier outside who wants to know the address of +Monsieur Weiss.” +</p> + +<p> +There was nothing “stuck-up” about Delaherche, people said; he was +fond of popularity and was always delighted to have a chat with those of an +inferior station. +</p> + +<p> +“He wants Weiss’s address! that’s odd. Bring the soldier in +here.” +</p> + +<p> +Jean entered the room in such an exhausted state that he reeled as if he had +been drunk. He started at seeing his captain seated at the table with two +ladies, and involuntarily withdrew the hand that he had extended toward a chair +in order to steady himself; he replied briefly to the questions of the +manufacturer, who played his part of the soldier’s friend with great +cordiality. In a few words he explained his relation toward Maurice and the +reason why he was looking for him. +</p> + +<p> +“He is a corporal in my company,” the captain finally said by way +of cutting short the conversation, and inaugurated a series of questions on his +own account to learn what had become of the regiment. As Jean went on to tell +that the colonel had been seen crossing the city to reach his camp at the head +of what few men were left him, Gilberte again thoughtlessly spoke up, with the +vivacity of a woman whose beauty is supposed to atone for her indiscretion: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! he is my uncle; why does he not come and breakfast with us? We could +fix up a room for him here. Can’t we send someone for him?” +</p> + +<p> +But the old lady discouraged the project with an authority there was no +disputing. The good old bourgeois blood of the frontier towns flowed in her +veins; her austerely patriotic sentiments were almost those of a man. She broke +the stern silence that she had preserved during the meal by saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Never mind Monsieur de Vineuil; he is doing his duty.” +</p> + +<p> +Her short speech was productive of embarrassment among the party. Delaherche +conducted the captain to his study, where he saw him safely bestowed upon the +sofa; Gilberte moved lightly off about her business, no more disconcerted by +her rebuff than is the bird that shakes its wings in gay defiance of the +shower; while the handmaid to whom Jean had been intrusted led him by a very +labyrinth of passages and staircases through the various departments of the +factory. +</p> + +<p> +The Weiss family lived in the Rue des Voyards, but their house, which was +Delaherche’s property, communicated with the great structure in the Rue +Maqua. The Rue des Voyards was at that time one of the most squalid streets in +Sedan, being nothing more than a damp, narrow lane, its normal darkness +intensified by the proximity of the ramparts, which ran parallel to it. The +roofs of the tall houses almost met, the dark passages were like the mouths of +caverns, and more particularly so at that end where rose the high college +walls. Weiss, however, with free quarters and free fuel on his third floor, +found the location a convenient one on account of its nearness to his office, +to which he could descend in slippers without having to go around by the +street. His life had been a happy one since his marriage with Henriette, so +long the object of his hopes and wishes since first he came to know her at +Chêne, filling her dead mother’s place when only six years old and +keeping the house for her father, the tax-collector; while he, entering the big +refinery almost on the footing of a laborer, was picking up an education as +best he could, and fitting himself for the accountant’s position which +was the reward of his unremitting toil. And even when he had attained to that +measure of success his dream was not to be realized; not until the father had +been removed by death, not until the brother at Paris had been guilty of those +excesses: that brother Maurice to whom his twin sister had in some sort made +herself a servant, to whom she had sacrificed her little all to make him a +gentleman—not until then was Henriette to be his wife. She had never been +aught more than a little drudge at home; she could barely read and write; she +had sold house, furniture, all she had, to pay the young man’s debts, +when good, kind Weiss came to her with the offer of his savings, together with +his heart and his two strong arms; and she had accepted him with grateful +tears, bringing him in return for his devotion a steadfast, virtuous affection, +replete with tender esteem, if not the stormier ardors of a passionate love. +Fortune had smiled on them; Delaherche had spoken of giving Weiss an interest +in the business, and when children should come to bless their union their +felicity would be complete. +</p> + +<p> +“Look out!” the servant said to Jean; “the stairs are +steep.” +</p> + +<p> +He was stumbling upward as well as the intense darkness of the place would let +him, when suddenly a door above was thrown open, a broad belt of light streamed +out across the landing, and he heard a soft voice saying: +</p> + +<p> +“It is he.” +</p> + +<p> +“Madame Weiss,” cried the servant, “here is a soldier who has +been inquiring for you.” +</p> + +<p> +There came the sound of a low, pleased laugh, and the same soft voice replied: +</p> + +<p> +“Good! good! I know who it is.” Then to the corporal, who was +hesitating, rather diffidently, on the landing: “Come in, Monsieur Jean. +Maurice has been here nearly two hours, and we have been wondering what +detained you.” +</p> + +<p> +Then, in the pale sunlight that filled the room, he saw how like she was to +Maurice, with that wonderful resemblance that often makes twins so like each +other as to be indistinguishable. She was smaller and slighter than he, +however; more fragile in appearance, with a rather large mouth and delicately +molded features, surmounted by an opulence of the most beautiful hair +imaginable, of the golden yellow of ripened grain. The feature where she least +resembled him was her gray eyes, great calm, brave orbs, instinct with the +spirit of the grandfather, the hero of the Grand Army. She used few words, was +noiseless in her movements, and was so gentle, so cheerful, so helpfully active +that where she passed her presence seemed to linger in the air, like a fragrant +caress. +</p> + +<p> +“Come this way, Monsieur Jean,” she said. “Everything will +soon be ready for you.” +</p> + +<p> +He stammered something inarticulately, for his emotion was such that he could +find no word of thanks. In addition to that his eyes were closing he beheld her +through the irresistible drowsiness that was settling on him as a sea-fog +drifts in and settles on the land, in which she seemed floating in a vague, +unreal way, as if her feet no longer touched the earth. Could it be that it was +all a delightful apparition, that friendly young woman who smiled on him with +such sweet simplicity? He fancied for a moment that she had touched his hand +and that he had felt the pressure of hers, cool and firm, loyal as the clasp of +an old tried friend. +</p> + +<p> +That was the last moment in which Jean was distinctly conscious of what was +going on about him. They were in the dining room; bread and meat were set out +on the table, but for the life of him he could not have raised a morsel to his +lips. A man was there, seated on a chair. Presently he knew it was Weiss, whom +he had seen at Mülhausen, but he had no idea what the man was saying with such +a sober, sorrowful air, with slow and emphatic gestures. Maurice was already +sound asleep, with the tranquillity of death resting on his face, on a bed that +had been improvised for him beside the stove, and Henriette was busying herself +about a sofa on which a mattress had been thrown; she brought in a bolster, +pillow and coverings; with nimble, dexterous hands she spread the white sheets, +snowy white, dazzling in their whiteness. +</p> + +<p> +Ah! those clean, white sheets, so long coveted, so ardently desired; Jean had +eyes for naught save them. For six weeks he had not had his clothes off, had +not slept in a bed. He was as impatient as a child waiting for some promised +treat, or a lover expectant of his mistress’s coming; the time seemed +long, terribly long to him, until he could plunge into those cool, white depths +and lose himself there. Quickly, as soon as he was alone, he removed his shoes +and tossed his uniform across a chair, then, with a deep sigh of satisfaction, +threw himself on the bed. He opened his eyes a little way for a last look about +him before his final plunge into unconsciousness, and in the pale morning light +that streamed in through the lofty window beheld a repetition of his former +pleasant vision, only fainter, more aerial; a vision of Henriette entering the +room on tiptoe, and placing on the table at his side a water-jug and glass that +had been forgotten before. She seemed to linger there a moment, looking at the +sleeping pair, him and her brother, with her tranquil, ineffably tender smile +upon her lips, then faded into air, and he, between his white sheets, was as if +he were not. +</p> + +<p> +Hours—or was it years? slipped by; Jean and Maurice were like dead men, +without a dream, without consciousness of the life that was within them. +Whether it was ten years or ten minutes, time had stood still for them; the +overtaxed body had risen against its oppressor and annihilated their every +faculty. They awoke simultaneously with a great start and looked at each other +inquiringly; where were they? what had happened? how long had they slept? The +same pale light was entering through the tall window. They felt as if they had +been racked; joints stiffer, limbs wearier, mouth more hot and dry than when +they had lain down; they could not have slept more than an hour, fortunately. +It did not surprise them to see Weiss sitting where they had seen him before, +in the same dejected attitude, apparently waiting for them to awake. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Fichtre</i>!” exclaimed Jean, “we must get up and report +ourselves to the first sergeant before noon.” +</p> + +<p> +He uttered a smothered cry of pain as he jumped to the floor and began to +dress. +</p> + +<p> +“Before noon!” said Weiss. “Are you aware that it is seven +o’clock in the evening? You have slept about twelve hours.” +</p> + +<p> +Great heavens, seven o’clock! They were thunderstruck. Jean, who by that +time was completely dressed, would have run for it, but Maurice, still in bed, +found he no longer had control of his legs; how were they ever to find their +comrades? would not the army have marched away? They took Weiss to task for +having let them sleep so long. But the accountant shook his head sorrowfully +and said: +</p> + +<p> +“You have done just as well to remain in bed, for all that has been +accomplished.” +</p> + +<p> +All that day, from early morning, he had been scouring Sedan and its environs +in quest of news, and was just come in, discouraged with the inactivity of the +troops and the inexplicable delay that had lost them the whole of that precious +day, the 31st. The sole excuse was that the men were worn out and rest was an +absolute necessity for them, but granting that, he could not see why the +retreat should not have been continued after giving them a few hours of repose. +</p> + +<p> +“I do not pretend to be a judge of such matters,” he continued, +“but I have a feeling, so strong as to be almost a conviction, that the +army is very badly situated at Sedan. The 12th corps is at Bazeilles, where +there was a little fighting this morning; the 1st is strung out along the +Givonne between la Moncelle and Holly, while the 7th is encamped on the plateau +of Floing, and the 5th, what is left of it, is crowded together under the +ramparts of the city, on the side of the Château. And that is what alarms me, +to see them all concentrated thus about the city, waiting for the coming of the +Prussians. If I were in command I would retreat on Mézières, and lose no time +about it, either. I know the country; it is the only line of retreat that is +open to us, and if we take any other course we shall be driven into Belgium. +Come here! let me show you something.” +</p> + +<p> +He took Jean by the hand and led him to the window. +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me what you see over yonder on the crest of the hills.” +</p> + +<p> +Looking from the window over the ramparts, over the adjacent buildings, their +view embraced the valley of the Meuse to the southward of Sedan. There was the +river, winding through broad meadows; there, to the left, was Remilly in the +background, Pont Maugis and Wadelincourt before them and Frenois to the right; +and shutting in the landscape the ranges of verdant hills, Liry first, then la +Marfée and la Croix Piau, with their dense forests. A deep tranquillity, a +crystalline clearness reigned over the wide prospect that lay there in the +mellow light of the declining day. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you see that moving line of black upon the hilltops, that procession +of small black ants?” +</p> + +<p> +Jean stared in amazement, while Maurice, kneeling on his bed, craned his neck +to see. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes!” they cried. “There is a line, there is another, +and another, and another! They are everywhere.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” continued Weiss, “those are Prussians. I have been +watching them since morning, and they have been coming, coming, as if there +were no end to them! You may be sure of one thing: if our troops are waiting +for them, they have no intention of disappointing us. And not I alone, but +every soul in the city saw them; it is only the generals who persist in being +blind. I was talking with a general officer a little while ago; he shrugged his +shoulders and told me that Marshal MacMahon was absolutely certain that he had +not over seventy thousand men in his front. God grant he may be right! But look +and see for yourselves; the ground is hid by them! they keep coming, ever +coming, the black swarm!” +</p> + +<p> +At this juncture Maurice threw himself back in his bed and gave way to a +violent fit of sobbing. Henriette came in, a smile on her face. She hastened to +him in alarm. +</p> + +<p> +“What is it?” +</p> + +<p> +But he pushed her away. “No, no! leave me, have nothing more to do with +me; I have never been anything but a burden to you. When I think that you were +making yourself a drudge, a slave, while I was attending college—oh! to +what miserable use have I turned that education! And I was near bringing +dishonor on our name; I shudder to think where I might be now, had you not +beggared yourself to pay for my extravagance and folly.” +</p> + +<p> +Her smile came back to her face, together with her serenity. +</p> + +<p> +“Is that all? Your sleep don’t seem to have done you good, my poor +friend. But since that is all gone and past, forget it! Are you not doing your +duty now, like a good Frenchman? I am very proud of you, I assure you, now that +you are a soldier.” +</p> + +<p> +She had turned toward Jean, as if to ask him to come to her assistance, and he +looked at her with some surprise that she appeared to him less beautiful than +yesterday; she was paler, thinner, now that the glamour was no longer in his +drowsy eyes. The one striking point that remained unchanged was her resemblance +to her brother, and yet the difference in their two natures was never more +strongly marked than at that moment; he, weak and nervous as a woman, swayed by +the impulse of the hour, displaying in his person all the fitful and emotional +temperament of his nation, vibrating from one moment to another between the +loftiest enthusiasm and the most abject despair; she, the patient, indomitable +housewife, such an inconsiderable little creature in her resignation and +self-effacement, meeting adversity with a brave face and eyes full of +inexpugnable courage and resolution, fashioned from the stuff of which heroes +are made. +</p> + +<p> +“Proud of me!” cried Maurice. “Ah! truly, you have great +reason to be. For a month and more now we have been flying, like the cowards +that we are!” +</p> + +<p> +“What of it? we are not the only ones,” said Jean with his +practical common sense; “we do what we are told to do.” +</p> + +<p> +But the young man broke out more furiously than ever: “I have had enough +of it, I tell you! Our imbecile leaders, our continual defeats, our brave +soldiers led like sheep to the slaughter—is it not enough, seeing all +these things, to make one weep tears of blood? We are here now in Sedan, caught +in a trap from which there is no escape; you can see the Prussians closing in +on us from every quarter, and certain destruction is staring us in the face; +there is no hope, the end is come. No! I shall remain where I am; I may as well +be shot as a deserter. Jean, do you go, and leave me here. No! I won’t go +back there; I will stay here.” +</p> + +<p> +He sank upon the pillow in a renewed outpour of tears. It was an utter +breakdown of the nervous system, sweeping everything before it, one of those +sudden lapses into hopelessness to which he was so subject, in which he +despised himself and all the world. His sister, knowing as she did the best way +of treating such crises, kept an unruffled face. +</p> + +<p> +“That would not be a nice thing to do, dear Maurice—desert your +post in the hour of danger.” +</p> + +<p> +He rose impetuously to a sitting posture: “Then give me my musket! I will +go and blow my brains out; that will be the shortest way of ending it.” +Then, pointing with outstretched arm to Weiss, where he sat silent and +motionless, he said: “There! that is the only sensible man I have seen; +yes, he is the only one who saw things as they were. You remember what he said +to me, Jean, at Mülhausen, a month ago?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is true,” the corporal assented; “the gentleman said we +should be beaten.” +</p> + +<p> +And the scene rose again before their mind’s eye, that night of anxious +vigil, the agonized suspense, the prescience of the disaster at Froeschwiller +hanging in the sultry heavy air, while the Alsatian told his prophetic fears; +Germany in readiness, with the best of arms and the best of leaders, rising to +a man in a grand outburst of patriotism; France dazed, a century behind the +age, debauched, and a prey to intestine disorder, having neither commanders, +men, nor arms to enable her to cope with her powerful adversary. How quickly +the horrible prediction had proved itself true! +</p> + +<p> +Weiss raised his trembling hands. Profound sorrow was depicted on his kind, +honest face, with its red hair and beard and its great prominent blue eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” he murmured, “I take no credit to myself for being +right. I don’t claim to be wiser than others, but it was all so clear, +when one only knew the true condition of affairs! But if we are to be beaten we +shall first have the pleasure of killing some of those Prussians of perdition. +There is that comfort for us; I believe that many of us are to leave their +bones there, and I hope there will be plenty of Prussians to keep them company; +I would like to see the ground down there in the valley heaped with dead +Prussians!” He arose and pointed down the valley of the Meuse. Fire +flashed from his myopic eyes, which had exempted him from service with the +army. “A thousand thunders! I would fight, yes, I would, if they would +have me. I don’t know whether it is seeing them assume the airs of +masters in my country—in this country where once the Cossacks did such +mischief; but whenever I think of their being here, of their entering our +houses, I am seized with an uncontrollable desire to cut a dozen of their +throats. Ah! if it were not for my eyes, if they would take me, I would +go!” Then, after a moment’s silence: “And besides; who can +tell?” +</p> + +<p> +It was the hope that sprang eternal, even in the breast of the least confident, +of the possibility of victory, and Maurice, ashamed by this time of his tears, +listened and caught at the pleasing speculation. Was it not true that only the +day before there had been a rumor that Bazaine was at Verdun? Truly, it was +time that Fortune should work a miracle for that France whose glories she had +so long protected. Henriette, with an imperceptible smile on her lips, silently +left the room, and was not the least bit surprised when she returned to find +her brother up and dressed, and ready to go back to his duty. She insisted, +however, that he and Jean should take some nourishment first. They seated +themselves at the table, but the morsels choked them; their stomachs, weakened +by their heavy slumber, revolted at the food. Like a prudent old campaigner +Jean cut a loaf in two halves and placed one in Maurice’s sack, the other +in his own. It was growing dark, it behooved them to be going. Henriette, who +was standing at the window watching the Prussian troops incessantly defiling on +distant la Marfée, the swarming legions of black ants that were gradually being +swallowed up in the gathering shadows, involuntarily murmured: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, war! what a dreadful thing it is!” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice, seeing an opportunity to retort her sermon to him, immediately took +her up: +</p> + +<p> +“How is this, little sister? you are anxious to have people fight, and +you speak disrespectfully of war!” +</p> + +<p> +She turned and faced him, valiantly as ever: “It is true; I abhor it, +because it is an abomination and an injustice. It may be simply because I am a +woman, but the thought of such butchery sickens me. Why cannot nations adjust +their differences without shedding blood?” +</p> + +<p> +Jean, the good fellow, seconded her with a nod of the head, and nothing to him, +too, seemed easier—to him, the unlettered man—than to come together +and settle matters after a fair, honest talk; but Maurice, mindful of his +scientific theories, reflected on the necessity of war—war, which is +itself existence, the universal law. Was it not poor, pitiful man who conceived +the idea of justice and peace, while impassive nature revels in continual +slaughter? +</p> + +<p> +“That is all very fine!” he cried. “Yes, centuries hence, if +it shall come to pass that then all the nations shall be merged in one; +centuries hence man may look forward to the coming of that golden age; and even +in that case would not the end of war be the end of humanity? I was a fool but +now; we must go and fight, since it is nature’s law.” He smiled and +repeated his brother-in-law’s expression: “And besides, who can +tell?” +</p> + +<p> +He saw things now through the mirage of his vivid self-delusion, they came to +his vision distorted through the lens of his diseased nervous sensibility. +</p> + +<p> +“By the way,” he continued cheerfully, “what do you hear of +our cousin Gunther? You know we have not seen a German yet, so you can’t +look to me to give you any foreign news.” +</p> + +<p> +The question was addressed to his brother-in-law, who had relapsed into a +thoughtful silence and answered by a motion of his hand, expressive of his +ignorance. +</p> + +<p> +“Cousin Gunther?” said Henriette, “Why, he belongs to the Vth +corps and is with the Crown Prince’s army; I read it in one of the +newspapers, I don’t remember which. Is that army in this +neighborhood?” +</p> + +<p> +Weiss repeated his gesture, which was imitated by the two soldiers, who could +not be supposed to know what enemies were in front of them when their generals +did not know. Rising to his feet, the master of the house at last made use of +articulate speech. +</p> + +<p> +“Come along; I will go with you. I learned this afternoon where the +106th’s camp is situated.” He told his wife that she need not +expect to see him again that night, as he would sleep at Bazeilles, where they +had recently bought and furnished a little place to serve them as a residence +during the hot months. It was near a dyehouse that belonged to M. Delaherche. +The accountant’s mind was ill at ease in relation to certain stores that +he had placed in the cellar—a cask of wine and a couple of sacks of +potatoes; the house would certainly be visited by marauders if it was left +unprotected, he said, while by occupying it that night he would doubtless save +it from pillage. His wife watched him closely while he was speaking. +</p> + +<p> +“You need not be alarmed,” he added, with a smile; “I harbor +no darker design than the protection of our property, and I pledge my word that +if the village is attacked, or if there is any appearance of danger, I will +come home at once.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, then, go,” she said. “But remember, if you are not +back in good season you will see me out there looking for you.” +</p> + +<p> +Henriette went with them to the door, where she embraced Maurice tenderly and +gave Jean a warm clasp of the hand. +</p> + +<p> +“I intrust my brother to your care once more. He has told me of your +kindness to him, and I love you for it.” +</p> + +<p> +He was too flustered to do more than return the pressure of the small, firm +hand. His first impression returned to him again, and he beheld Henriette in +the light in which she had first appeared to him, with her bright hair of the +hue of ripe golden grain, so alert, so sunny, so unselfish, that her presence +seemed to pervade the air like a caress. +</p> + +<p> +Once they were outside they found the same gloomy and forbidding Sedan that had +greeted their eyes that morning. Twilight with its shadows had invaded the +narrow streets, sidewalk and carriage-way alike were filled with a confused, +surging throng. Most of the shops were closed, the houses seemed to be dead or +sleeping, while out of doors the crowd was so dense that men trod on one +another. With some little difficulty, however, they succeeded in reaching the +Place de l’Hôtel de Ville, where they encountered M. Delaherche, intent +on picking up the latest news and seeing what was to be seen. He at once came +up and greeted them, apparently delighted to meet Maurice, to whom he said that +he had just returned from accompanying Captain Beaudoin over to Floing, where +the regiment was posted, and he became, if that were possible, even more +gracious than ever upon learning that Weiss proposed to pass the night at +Bazeilles, where he himself, he declared, had just been telling the captain +that he intended to take a bed, in order to see how things were looking at the +dyehouse. +</p> + +<p> +“We’ll go together and be company for each other, Weiss. But first +let’s go as far as the Sous-Prefecture; we may be able to catch a glimpse +of the Emperor.” +</p> + +<p> +Ever since he had been so near having the famous conversation with him at +Baybel his mind had been full of Napoleon III.; he was not satisfied until he +had induced the two soldiers to accompany him. The Place de la Sous-Prefecture +was comparatively empty; a few men were standing about in groups, engaged in +whispered conversation, while occasionally an officer hurried by, haggard and +careworn. The bright hues of the foliage were beginning to fade and grow dim in +the melancholy, thick-gathering shades of night; the hoarse murmur of the Meuse +was heard as its current poured onward beneath the houses to the right. Among +the whisperers it was related how the Emperor—who with the greatest +difficulty had been prevailed on to leave Carignan the night before about +eleven o’clock—when entreated to push on to Mézières had refused +point-blank to abandon the post of danger and take a step that would prove so +demoralizing to the troops. Others asserted that he was no longer in the city, +that he had fled, leaving behind him a dummy emperor, one of his officers +dressed in his uniform, a man whose startling resemblance to his imperial +master had often puzzled the army. Others again declared, and called upon their +honor to substantiate their story, that they had seen the army wagons +containing the imperial treasure, one hundred millions, all in brand-new +twenty-franc pieces, drive into the courtyard of the Prefecture. This convoy +was, in fact, neither more nor less than the vehicles for the personal use of +the Emperor and his suite, the <i>char à banc</i>, the two <i>caleches</i>, the +twelve baggage and supply wagons, which had almost excited a riot in the +villages through which they had passed—Courcelles, le Chêne, Raucourt; +assuming in men’s imagination the dimensions of a huge train that had +blocked the road and arrested the march of armies, and which now, shorn of +their glory, execrated by all, had come in shame and disgrace to hide +themselves among the sous-prefect’s lilac bushes. +</p> + +<p> +While Delaherche was raising himself on tiptoe and trying to peer through the +windows of the <i>rez-de-chaussée</i>, an old woman at his side, some poor +day-worker of the neighborhood, with shapeless form and hands calloused and +distorted by many years of toil, was mumbling between her teeth: +</p> + +<p> +“An emperor—I should like to see one once—just once—so +I could say I had seen him.” +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly Delaherche exclaimed, seizing Maurice by the arm: +</p> + +<p> +“See, there he is! at the window, to the left. I had a good view of him +yesterday; I can’t be mistaken. There, he has just raised the curtain; +see, that pale face, close to the glass.” +</p> + +<p> +The old woman had overheard him and stood staring with wide-open mouth and +eyes, for there, full in the window, was an apparition that resembled a corpse +more than a living being; its eyes were lifeless, its features distorted; even +the mustache had assumed a ghastly whiteness in that final agony. The old woman +was dumfounded; forthwith she turned her back and marched off with a look of +supreme contempt. +</p> + +<p> +“That thing an emperor! a likely story.” +</p> + +<p> +A zouave was standing near, one of those fugitive soldiers who were in no haste +to rejoin their commands. Brandishing his chassepot and expectorating threats +and maledictions, he said to his companion: +</p> + +<p> +“Wait! see me put a bullet in his head!” +</p> + +<p> +Delaherche remonstrated angrily, but by that time the Emperor had disappeared. +The hoarse murmur of the Meuse continued uninterruptedly; a wailing lament, +inexpressibly mournful, seemed to pass above them through the air, where the +darkness was gathering intensity. Other sounds rose in the distance, like the +hollow muttering of the rising storm; were they the “March! march!” +that terrible order from Paris that had driven that ill-starred man onward day +by day, dragging behind him along the roads of his defeat the irony of his +imperial escort, until now he was brought face to face with the ruin he had +foreseen and come forth to meet? What multitudes of brave men were to lay down +their lives for his mistakes, and how complete the wreck, in all his being, of +that sick man, that sentimental dreamer, awaiting in gloomy silence the +fulfillment of his destiny! +</p> + +<p> +Weiss and Delaherche accompanied the two soldiers to the plateau of Floing, +where the 7th corps camps were. +</p> + +<p> +“Adieu!” said Maurice as he embraced his brother-in-law. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no; not adieu, the deuce! <i>Au revoir</i>!” the manufacturer +gayly cried. +</p> + +<p> +Jean’s instinct led him at once to their regiment, the tents of which +were pitched behind the cemetery, where the ground of the plateau begins to +fall away. It was nearly dark, but there was sufficient light yet remaining in +the sky to enable them to distinguish the black huddle of roofs above the city, +and further in the distance Balan and Bazeilles, lying in the broad meadows +that stretch away to the range of hills between Remilly and Frenois, while to +the right was the dusky wood of la Garenne, and to the left the broad bosom of +the Meuse had the dull gleam of frosted silver in the dying daylight. Maurice +surveyed the broad landscape that was momentarily fading in the descending +shadows. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, here is the corporal!” said Chouteau. “I wonder if he +has been looking after our rations!” +</p> + +<p> +The camp was astir with life and bustle. All day the men had been coming in, +singly and in little groups, and the crowd and confusion were such that the +officers made no pretense of punishing or even reprimanding them; they accepted +thankfully those who were so kind as to return and asked no questions. Captain +Beaudoin had made his appearance only a short time before, and it was about two +o’clock when Lieutenant Rochas had brought in his collection of +stragglers, about one-third of the company strength. Now the ranks were nearly +full once more. Some of the men were drunk, others had not been able to secure +even a morsel of bread and were sinking from inanition; again there had been no +distribution of rations. Loubet, however, had discovered some cabbages in a +neighboring garden, and cooked them after a fashion, but there was no salt or +lard; the empty stomachs continued to assert their claims. +</p> + +<p> +“Come, now, corporal, you are a knowing old file,” Chouteau +tauntingly continued, “what have you got for us? Oh, it’s not for +myself I care; Loubet and I had a good breakfast; a lady gave it us. You were +not at distribution, then?” +</p> + +<p> +Jean beheld a circle of expectant eyes bent on him; the squad had been waiting +for him with anxiety, Pache and Lapoulle in particular, luckless dogs, who had +found nothing they could appropriate; they all relied on him, who, as they +expressed it, could get bread out of a stone. And the corporal’s +conscience smote him for having abandoned his men; he took pity on them and +divided among them half the bread that he had in his sack. +</p> + +<p> +“Name o’ God! Name o’ God!” grunted Lapoulle as he +contentedly munched the dry bread; it was all he could find to say; while Pache +repeated a <i>Pater</i> and an <i>Ave</i> under his breath to make sure that +Heaven should not forget to send him his breakfast in the morning. +</p> + +<p> +Gaude, the bugler, with his darkly mysterious air, as of a man who has had +troubles of which he does not care to speak, sounded the call for evening +muster with a glorious fanfare; but there was no necessity for sounding taps +that night, the camp was immediately enveloped in profound silence. And when he +had verified the names and seen that none of his half-section were missing, +Sergeant Sapin, with his thin, sickly face and his pinched nose, softly said: +</p> + +<p> +“There will be one less to-morrow night.” +</p> + +<p> +Then, as he saw Jean looking at him inquiringly, he added with calm conviction, +his eyes bent upon the blackness of the night, as if reading there the destiny +that he predicted: +</p> + +<p> +“It will be mine; I shall be killed to-morrow.” +</p> + +<p> +It was nine o’clock, with promise of a chilly, uncomfortable night, for a +dense mist had risen from the surface of the river, so that the stars were no +longer visible. Maurice shivered, where he lay with Jean beneath a hedge, and +said they would do better to go and seek the shelter of the tent; the rest they +had taken that day had left them wakeful, their joints seemed stiffer and their +bones sorer than before; neither could sleep. They envied Lieutenant Rochas, +who, stretched on the damp ground and wrapped in his blanket, was snoring like +a trooper, not far away. For a long time after that they watched with interest +the feeble light of a candle that was burning in a large tent where the colonel +and some officers were in consultation. All that evening M. de Vineuil had +manifested great uneasiness that he had received no instructions to guide him +in the morning. He felt that his regiment was too much “in the +air,” too much advanced, although it had already fallen back from the +exposed position that it had occupied earlier in the day. Nothing had been seen +of General Bourgain-Desfeuilles, who was said to be ill in bed at the Hotel of +the Golden Cross, and the colonel decided to send one of his officers to advise +him of the danger of their new position in the too extended line of the 7th +corps, which had to cover the long stretch from the bend in the Meuse to the +wood of la Garenne. There could be no doubt that the enemy would attack with +the first glimpse of daylight; only for seven or eight hours now would that +deep tranquillity remain unbroken. And shortly after the dim light in the +colonel’s tent was extinguished Maurice was amazed to see Captain +Beaudoin glide by, keeping close to the hedge, with furtive steps, and vanish +in the direction of Sedan. +</p> + +<p> +The darkness settled down on them, denser and denser; the chill mists rose from +the stream and enshrouded everything in a dank, noisome fog. +</p> + +<p> +“Are you asleep, Jean?” +</p> + +<p> +Jean was asleep, and Maurice was alone. He could not endure the thought of +going to the tent where Lapoulle and the rest of them were slumbering; he heard +their snoring, responsive to Rochas’ strains, and envied them. If our +great captains sleep soundly the night before a battle, it is like enough for +the reason that their fatigue will not let them do otherwise. He was conscious +of no sound save the equal, deep-drawn breathing of that slumbering multitude, +rising from the darkening camp like the gentle respiration of some huge +monster; beyond that all was void. He only knew that the 5th corps was close at +hand, encamped beneath the rampart, that the 1st’s line extended from the +wood of la Garenne to la Moncelle, while the 12th was posted on the other side +of the city, at Bazeilles; and all were sleeping; the whole length of that long +line, from the nearest tent to the most remote, for miles and miles, that low, +faint murmur ascended in rhythmic unison from the dark, mysterious bosom of the +night. Then outside this circle lay another region, the realm of the unknown, +whence also sounds came intermittently to his ears, so vague, so distant, that +he scarcely knew whether they were not the throbbings of his own excited +pulses; the indistinct trot of cavalry plashing over the low ground, the dull +rumble of gun and caisson along the roads, and, still more marked, the heavy +tramp of marching men; the gathering on the heights above of that black swarm, +engaged in strengthening the meshes of their net, from which night itself had +not served to divert them. And below, there by the river’s side, was +there not the flash of lights suddenly extinguished, was not that the sound of +hoarse voices shouting orders, adding to the dread suspense of that long night +of terror while waiting for the coming of the dawn? +</p> + +<p> +Maurice put forth his hand and felt for Jean’s; at last he slumbered, +comforted by the sense of human companionship. From a steeple in Sedan came the +deep tones of a bell, slowly, mournfully, tolling the hour; then all was blank +and void. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="part02"></a>PART SECOND</h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap09"></a>I.</h2> + +<p> +Weiss, in the obscurity of his little room at Bazeilles, was aroused by a +commotion that caused him to leap from his bed. It was the roar of artillery. +Groping about in the darkness he found and lit a candle to enable him to +consult his watch: it was four o’clock, just beginning to be light. He +adjusted his double eyeglass upon his nose and looked out into the main street +of the village, the road that leads to Douzy, but it was filled with a thick +cloud of something that resembled dust, which made it impossible to distinguish +anything. He passed into the other room, the windows of which commanded a view +of the Meuse and the intervening meadows, and saw that the cause of his +obstructed vision was the morning mist arising from the river. In the distance, +behind the veil of fog, the guns were barking more fiercely across the stream. +All at once a French battery, close at hand, opened in reply, with such a +tremendous crash that the walls of the little house were shaken. +</p> + +<p> +Weiss’s house was situated near the middle of the village, on the right +of the road and not far from the Place de l’Église. Its front, standing +back a little from the street, displayed a single story with three windows, +surmounted by an attic; in the rear was a garden of some extent that sloped +gently downward toward the meadows and commanded a wide panoramic view of the +encircling hills, from Remilly to Frenois. Weiss, with the sense of +responsibility of his new proprietorship strong upon him, had spent the night +in burying his provisions in the cellar and protecting his furniture, as far as +possible, against shot and shell by applying mattresses to the windows, so that +it was nearly two o’clock before he got to bed. His blood boiled at the +idea that the Prussians might come and plunder the house, for which he had +toiled so long and which had as yet afforded him so little enjoyment. +</p> + +<p> +He heard a voice summoning him from the street. +</p> + +<p> +“I say, Weiss, are you awake?” +</p> + +<p> +He descended and found it was Delaherche, who had passed the night at his +dyehouse, a large brick structure, next door to the accountant’s abode. +The operatives had all fled, taking to the woods and making for the Belgian +frontier, and there was no one left to guard the property but the woman +concierge, Françoise Quittard by name, the widow of a mason; and she also, +beside herself with terror, would have gone with the others had it not been for +her ten-year-old boy Charles, who was so ill with typhoid fever that he could +not be moved. +</p> + +<p> +“I say,” Delaherche continued, “do you hear that? It is a +promising beginning. Our best course is to get back to Sedan as soon as +possible.” +</p> + +<p> +Weiss’s promise to his wife, that he would leave Bazeilles at the first +sign of danger, had been given in perfect good faith, and he had fully intended +to keep it; but as yet there was only an artillery duel at long range, and the +aim could not be accurate enough to do much damage in the uncertain, misty +light of early morning. +</p> + +<p> +“Wait a bit, confound it!” he replied. “There is no +hurry.” +</p> + +<p> +Delaherche, too, was curious to see what would happen; his curiosity made him +valiant. He had been so interested in the preparations for defending the place +that he had not slept a wink. General Lebrun, commanding the 12th corps, had +received notice that he would be attacked at daybreak, and had kept his men +occupied during the night in strengthening the defenses of Bazeilles, which he +had instructions to hold in spite of everything. Barricades had been thrown up +across the Douzy road, and all the smaller streets; small parties of soldiers +had been thrown into the houses by way of garrison; every narrow lane, every +garden had become a fortress, and since three o’clock the troops, +awakened from their slumbers without beat of drum or call of bugle in the inky +blackness, had been at their posts, their chassepots freshly greased and +cartridge boxes filled with the obligatory ninety rounds of ammunition. It +followed that when the enemy opened their fire no one was taken unprepared, and +the French batteries, posted to the rear between Balan and Bazeilles, +immediately commenced to answer, rather with the idea of showing they were +awake than for any other purpose, for in the dense fog that enveloped +everything the practice was of the wildest. +</p> + +<p> +“The dyehouse will be well defended,” said Delaherche. “I +have a whole section in it. Come and see.” +</p> + +<p> +It was true; forty and odd men of the infanterie de marine had been posted +there under the command of a lieutenant, a tall, light-haired young fellow, +scarcely more than a boy, but with an expression of energy and determination on +his face. His men had already taken full possession of the building, some of +them being engaged in loopholing the shutters of the ground-floor windows that +commanded the street, while others, in the courtyard that overlooked the +meadows in the rear, were breaching the wall for musketry. It was in this +courtyard that Delaherche and Weiss found the young officer, straining his eyes +to discover what was hidden behind the impenetrable mist. +</p> + +<p> +“Confound this fog!” he murmured. “We can’t fight when +we don’t know where the enemy is.” Presently he asked, with no +apparent change of voice or manner: “What day of the week is this?” +</p> + +<p> +“Thursday,” Weiss replied. +</p> + +<p> +“Thursday, that’s so. Hanged if I don’t think the world might +come to an end and we not know it!” +</p> + +<p> +But just at that moment the uninterrupted roar of the artillery was diversified +by a brisk rattle of musketry proceeding from the edge of the meadows, at a +distance of two or three hundred yards. And at the same time there was a +transformation, as rapid and startling, almost, as the stage effect in a fairy +spectacle: the sun rose, the exhalations of the Meuse were whirled away like +bits of finest, filmiest gauze, and the blue sky was revealed, in serene +limpidity, undimmed by a single cloud. It was the exquisite morning of a +faultless summer day. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” exclaimed Delaherche, “they are crossing the railway +bridge. See, they are making their way along the track. How stupid of us not to +have blown up the bridge!” +</p> + +<p> +The officer’s face bore an expression of dumb rage. The mines had been +prepared and charged, he averred, but they had fought four hours the day before +to regain possession of the bridge and then had forgot to touch them off. +</p> + +<p> +“It is just our luck,” he curtly said. +</p> + +<p> +Weiss was silent, watching the course of events and endeavoring to form some +idea of the true state of affairs. The position of the French in Bazeilles was +a very strong one. The village commanded the meadows, and was bisected by the +Douzy road, which, turning sharp to the left, passed under the walls of the +Château, while another road, the one that led to the railway bridge, bent +around to the right and forked at the Place de l’Église. There was no +cover for any force advancing by these two approaches; the Germans would be +obliged to traverse the meadows and the wide, bare level that lay between the +outskirts of the village and the Meuse and the railway. Their prudence in +avoiding unnecessary risks was notorious, hence it seemed improbable that the +real attack would come from that quarter. They kept coming across the bridge, +however, in deep masses, and that notwithstanding the slaughter that a battery +of mitrailleuses, posted at the edge of the village, effected in their ranks, +and all at once those who had crossed rushed forward in open order, under cover +of the straggling willows, the columns were re-formed and began to advance. It +was from there that the musketry fire, which was growing hotter, had proceeded. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, those are Bavarians,” Weiss remarked. “I recognize them +by the braid on their helmets.” +</p> + +<p> +But there were other columns, moving to the right and partially concealed by +the railway embankment, whose object, it seemed to him, was to gain the cover +of some trees in the distance, whence they might descend and take Bazeilles in +flank and rear. Should they succeed in effecting a lodgment in the park of +Montivilliers, the village might become untenable. This was no more than a +vague, half-formed idea, that flitted through his mind for a moment and faded +as rapidly as it had come; the attack in front was becoming more determined, +and his every faculty was concentrated on the struggle that was assuming, with +every moment, larger dimensions. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly he turned his head and looked away to the north, over the city of +Sedan, where the heights of Floing were visible in the distance. A battery had +just commenced firing from that quarter; the smoke rose in the bright sunshine +in little curls and wreaths, and the reports came to his ears very distinctly. +It was in the neighborhood of five o’clock. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, well,” he murmured, “they are all going to have a hand +in the business, it seems.” +</p> + +<p> +The lieutenant of marines, who had turned his eyes in the same direction, spoke +up confidently: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! Bazeilles is the key of the position. This is the spot where the +battle will be won or lost.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you think so?” Weiss exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +“There is not the slightest doubt of it. It is certainly the +marshal’s opinion, for he was here last night and told us that we must +hold the village if it cost the life of every man of us.” +</p> + +<p> +Weiss slowly shook his head, and swept the horizon with a glance; then in a +low, faltering voice, as if speaking to himself, he said: +</p> + +<p> +“No—no! I am sure that is a mistake. I fear the danger lies in +another quarter—where, or what it is, I dare not say—” +</p> + +<p> +He said no more. He simply opened wide his arms, like the jaws of a vise, then, +turning to the north, brought his hands together, as if the vise had closed +suddenly upon some object there. +</p> + +<p> +This was the fear that had filled his mind for the last twenty-four hours, for +he was thoroughly acquainted with the country and had watched narrowly every +movement of the troops during the previous day, and now, again, while the broad +valley before him lay basking in the radiant sunlight, his gaze reverted to the +hills of the left bank, where, for the space of all one day and all one night, +his eyes had beheld the black swarm of the Prussian hosts moving steadily +onward to some appointed end. A battery had opened fire from Remilly, over to +the left, but the one from which the shells were now beginning to reach the +French position was posted at Pont-Maugis, on the river bank. He adjusted his +binocle by folding the glasses over, the one upon the other, to lengthen its +range and enable him to discern what was hidden among the recesses of the +wooded slopes, but could distinguish nothing save the white smoke-wreaths that +rose momentarily on the tranquil air and floated lazily away over the crests. +That human torrent that he had seen so lately streaming over those hills, where +was it now—where were massed those innumerable hosts? At last, at the +corner of a pine wood, above Noyers and Frenois, he succeeded in making out a +little cluster of mounted men in uniform—some general, doubtless, and his +staff. And off there to the west the Meuse curved in a great loop, and in that +direction lay their sole line of retreat on Mézières, a narrow road that +traversed the pass of Saint-Albert, between that loop and the dark forest of +Ardennes. While reconnoitering the day before he had met a general officer who, +he afterward learned, was Ducrot, commanding the 1st corps, on a by-road in the +valley of Givonne, and had made bold to call his attention to the importance of +that, their only line of retreat. If the army did not retire at once by that +road while it was still open to them, if it waited until the Prussians should +have crossed the Meuse at Donchery and come up in force to occupy the pass, it +would be hemmed in and driven back on the Belgian frontier. As early even as +the evening of that day the movement would have been too late. It was asserted +that the uhlans had possession of the bridge, another bridge that had not been +destroyed, for the reason, this time, that some one had neglected to provide +the necessary powder. And Weiss sorrowfully acknowledged to himself that the +human torrent, the invading horde, could now be nowhere else than on the plain +of Donchery, invisible to him, pressing onward to occupy Saint-Albert pass, +pushing forward its advanced guards to Saint-Menges and Floing, whither, the +day previous, he had conducted Jean and Maurice. In the brilliant sunshine the +steeple of Floing church appeared like a slender needle of dazzling whiteness. +</p> + +<p> +And off to the eastward the other arm of the powerful vise was slowly closing +in on them. Casting his eyes to the north, where there was a stretch of level +ground between the plateaus of Illy and of Floing, he could make out the line +of battle of the 7th corps, feebly supported by the 5th, which was posted in +reserve under the ramparts of the city; but he could not discern what was +occurring to the east, along the valley of the Givonne, where the 1st corps was +stationed, its line stretching from the wood of la Garenne to Daigny village. +Now, however, the guns were beginning to thunder in that direction also; the +conflict seemed to be raging in Chevalier’s wood, in front of Daigny. His +uneasiness was owing to reports that had been brought in by peasants the day +previous, that the Prussian advance had reached Francheval, so that the +movement which was being conducted at the west, by way of Donchery, was also in +process of execution at the east, by way of Francheval, and the two jaws of the +vise would come together up there at the north, near the Calvary of Illy, +unless the two-fold flanking movement could be promptly checked. He knew +nothing of tactics or strategy, had nothing but his common sense to guide him; +but he looked with fear and trembling on that great triangle that had the Meuse +for one of its sides, and for the other two the 7th and 1st corps on the north +and east respectively, while the extreme angle at the south was occupied by the +12th at Bazeilles—all the three corps facing outward on the periphery of +a semicircle, awaiting the appearance of an enemy who was to deliver his attack +at some one point, where or when no one could say, but who, instead, fell on +them from every direction at once. And at the very center of all, as at the +bottom of a pit, lay the city of Sedan, her ramparts furnished with antiquated +guns, destitute of ammunition and provisions. +</p> + +<p> +“Understand,” said Weiss, with a repetition of his previous +gesture, extending his arms and bringing his hands slowly together, “that +is how it will be unless your generals keep their eyes open. The movement at +Bazeilles is only a feint—” +</p> + +<p> +But his explanation was confused and unintelligible to the lieutenant, who knew +nothing of the country, and the young man shrugged his shoulders with an +expression of impatience and disdain for the bourgeois in spectacles and frock +coat who presumed to set his opinion against the marshal’s. Irritated to +hear Weiss reiterate his view that the attack on Bazeilles was intended only to +mask other and more important movements, he finally shouted: +</p> + +<p> +“Hold your tongue, will you! We shall drive them all into the Meuse, +those Bavarian friends of yours, and that is all they will get by their +precious feint.” +</p> + +<p> +While they were talking the enemy’s skirmishers seemed to have come up +closer; every now and then their bullets were heard thudding against the +dyehouse wall, and our men, kneeling behind the low parapet of the courtyard, +were beginning to reply. Every second the report of a chassepot rang out, sharp +and clear, upon the air. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, of course! drive them into the Meuse, by all means,” muttered +Weiss, “and while we are about it we might as well ride them down and +regain possession of the Carignan road.” Then addressing himself to +Delaherche, who had stationed himself behind the pump where he might be out of +the way of the bullets: “All the same, it would have been their wisest +course to make tracks last night for Mézières, and if I were in their place I +would much rather be there than here. As it is, however, they have got to show +fight, since retreat is out of the question now.” +</p> + +<p> +“Are you coming?” asked Delaherche, who, notwithstanding his eager +curiosity, was beginning to look pale in the face. “We shall be unable to +get into the city if we remain here longer.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, in one minute I will be with you.” +</p> + +<p> +In spite of the danger that attended the movement he raised himself on tiptoe, +possessed by an irresistible desire to see how things were shaping. On the +right lay the meadows that had been flooded by order of the governor for the +protection of the city, now a broad lake stretching from Torcy to Balan, its +unruffled bosom glimmering in the morning sunlight with a delicate azure +luster. The water did not extend as far as Bazeilles, however, and the +Prussians had worked their way forward across the fields, availing themselves +of the shelter of every ditch, of every little shrub and tree. They were now +distant some five hundred yards, and Weiss was impressed by the caution with +which they moved, the dogged resolution and patience with which they advanced, +gaining ground inch by inch and exposing themselves as little as possible. They +had a powerful artillery fire, moreover, to sustain them; the pure, cool air +was vocal with the shrieking of shells. Raising his eyes he saw that the +Pont-Maugis battery was not the only one that was playing on Bazeilles; two +others, posted half way up the hill of Liry, had opened fire, and their +projectiles not only reached the village, but swept the naked plain of la +Moncelle beyond, where the reserves of the 12th corps were, and even the wooded +slopes of Daigny, held by a division of the 1st corps, were not beyond their +range. There was not a summit, moreover, on the left bank of the stream that +was not tipped with flame. The guns seemed to spring spontaneously from the +soil, like some noxious growth; it was a zone of fire that grew hotter and +fiercer every moment; there were batteries at Noyers shelling Balan, batteries +at Wadelincourt shelling Sedan, and at Frenois, down under la Marfée, there was +a battery whose guns, heavier than the rest, sent their missiles hurtling over +the city to burst among the troops of the 7th corps on the plateau of Floing. +Those hills that he had always loved so well, that he had supposed were planted +there solely to delight the eye, encircling with their verdurous slopes the +pretty, peaceful valley that lay beneath, were now become a gigantic, frowning +fortress, vomiting ruin and destruction on the feeble defenses of Sedan, and +Weiss looked on them with terror and detestation. Why had steps not been taken +to defend them the day before, if their leaders had suspected this, or why, +rather, had they insisted on holding the position? +</p> + +<p> +A sound of falling plaster caused him to raise his head; a shot had grazed his +house, the front of which was visible to him above the party wall. It angered +him excessively, and he growled: +</p> + +<p> +“Are they going to knock it about my ears, the brigands!” +</p> + +<p> +Then close behind him there was a little dull, strange sound that he had never +heard before, and turning quickly he saw a soldier, shot through the heart, in +the act of falling backward. There was a brief convulsive movement of the legs; +the youthful, tranquil expression of the face remained, stamped there +unalterably by the hand of death. It was the first casualty, and the accountant +was startled by the crash of the musket falling and rebounding from the stone +pavement of the courtyard. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, I have seen enough, I am going,” stammered Delaherche. +“Come, if you are coming; if not, I shall go without you.” +</p> + +<p> +The lieutenant, whom their presence made uneasy, spoke up: +</p> + +<p> +“It will certainly be best for you to go, gentlemen. The enemy may +attempt to carry the place at any moment.” +</p> + +<p> +Then at last, casting a parting glance at the meadows, where the Bavarians were +still gaining ground, Weiss gave in and followed Delaherche, but when they had +gained the street he insisted upon going to see if the fastening of his door +was secure, and when he came back to his companion there was a fresh spectacle, +which brought them both to a halt. +</p> + +<p> +At the end of the street, some three hundred yards from where they stood, a +strong Bavarian column had debouched from the Douzy road and was charging up +the Place de l’Église. The square was held by a regiment of sailor-boys, +who appeared to slacken their fire for a moment as if with the intention of +drawing their assailants on; then, when the close-massed column was directly +opposite their front, a most surprising maneuver was swiftly executed: the men +abandoned their formation, some of them stepping from the ranks and flattening +themselves against the house fronts, others casting themselves prone upon the +ground, and down the vacant space thus suddenly formed the mitrailleuses that +had been placed in battery at the farther end poured a perfect hailstorm of +bullets. The column disappeared as if it had been swept bodily from off the +face of the earth. The recumbent men sprang to their feet with a bound and +charged the scattered Bavarians with the bayonet, driving them and making the +rout complete. Twice the maneuver was repeated, each time with the same +success. Two women, unwilling to abandon their home, a small house at the +corner of an intersecting lane, were sitting at their window; they laughed +approvingly and clapped their hands, apparently glad to have an opportunity to +behold such a spectacle. +</p> + +<p> +“There, confound it!” Weiss suddenly said, “I forgot to lock +the cellar door! I must go back. Wait for me; I won’t be a minute.” +</p> + +<p> +There was no indication that the enemy contemplated a renewal of their attack, +and Delaherche, whose curiosity was reviving after the shock it had sustained, +was less eager to get away. He had halted in front of his dyehouse and was +conversing with the concierge, who had come for a moment to the door of the +room she occupied in the <i>rez-de-chaussée</i>. +</p> + +<p> +“My poor Françoise, you had better come along with us. A lone woman among +such dreadful sights—I can’t bear to think of it!” +</p> + +<p> +She raised her trembling hands. “Ah, sir, I would have gone when the +others went, indeed I would, if it had not been for my poor sick boy. Come in, +sir, and look at him.” +</p> + +<p> +He did not enter, but glanced into the apartment from the threshold, and shook +his head sorrowfully at sight of the little fellow in his clean, white bed, his +face exhibiting the scarlet hue of the disease, and his glassy, burning eyes +bent wistfully on his mother. +</p> + +<p> +“But why can’t you take him with you?” he urged. “I +will find quarters for you in Sedan. Wrap him up warmly in a blanket, and come +along with us.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, no, sir, I cannot. The doctor told me it would kill him. If only his +poor father were alive! but we two are all that are left, and we must live for +each other. And then, perhaps the Prussians will be merciful; perhaps they +won’t harm a lone woman and a sick boy.” +</p> + +<p> +Just then Weiss reappeared, having secured his premises to his satisfaction. +“There, I think it will trouble them some to get in now. Come on! And it +is not going to be a very pleasant journey, either; keep close to the houses, +unless you want to come to grief.” +</p> + +<p> +There were indications, indeed, that the enemy were making ready for another +assault. The infantry fire was spluttering away more furiously than ever, and +the screaming of the shells was incessant. Two had already fallen in the street +a hundred yards away, and a third had imbedded itself, without bursting, in the +soft ground of the adjacent garden. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, here is Françoise,” continued the accountant. “I must +have a look at your little Charles. Come, come, you have no cause for alarm; he +will be all right in a couple of days. Keep your courage up, and the first +thing you do go inside, and don’t put your nose outside the door.” +And the two men at last started to go. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Au revoir</i>, Françoise.” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Au revoir</i>, sirs.” +</p> + +<p> +And as they spoke, there came an appalling crash. It was a shell, which, having +first wrecked the chimney of Weiss’s house, fell upon the sidewalk, where +it exploded with such terrific force as to break every window in the vicinity. +At first it was impossible to distinguish anything in the dense cloud of dust +and smoke that rose in the air, but presently this drifted away, disclosing the +ruined facade of the dyehouse, and there, stretched across the threshold, +Françoise, a corpse, horribly torn and mangled, her skull crushed in, a fearful +spectacle. +</p> + +<p> +Weiss sprang to her side. Language failed him; he could only express his +feelings by oaths and imprecations. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Nom de Dieu!</i> <i>Nom de Dieu!</i>” +</p> + +<p> +Yes, she was dead. He had stooped to feel her pulse, and as he arose he saw +before him the scarlet face of little Charles, who had raised himself in bed to +look at his mother. He spoke no word, he uttered no cry; he gazed with blazing, +tearless eyes, distended as if they would start from their sockets, upon the +shapeless mass that was strange, unknown to him; and nothing more. +</p> + +<p> +Weiss found words at last: “<i>Nom de Dieu!</i> they have taken to +killing women!” +</p> + +<p> +He had risen to his feet; he shook his fist at the Bavarians, whose +braid-trimmed helmets were commencing to appear again in the direction of the +church. The chimney, in falling, had crushed a great hole in the roof of his +house, and the sight of the havoc made him furious. +</p> + +<p> +“Dirty loafers! You murder women, you have destroyed my house. No, no! I +will not go now, I cannot; I shall stay here.” +</p> + +<p> +He darted away and came running back with the dead soldier’s rifle and +ammunition. He was accustomed to carry a pair of spectacles on his person for +use on occasions of emergency, when he wished to see with great distinctness, +but did not wear them habitually out of respect for the wishes of his young +wife. He now impatiently tore off his double eyeglass and substituted the +spectacles, and the big, burly bourgeois, his overcoat flapping about his legs, +his honest, kindly, round face ablaze with wrath, who would have been +ridiculous had he not been so superbly heroic, proceeded to open fire, +peppering away at the Bavarians at the bottom of the street. It was in his +blood, he said; he had been hankering for something of the kind ever since the +days of his boyhood, down there in Alsace, when he had been told all those +tales of 1814. “Ah! you dirty loafers! you dirty loafers!” And he +kept firing away with such eagerness that, finally, the barrel of his musket +became so hot it burned his fingers. +</p> + +<p> +The assault was made with great vigor and determination. There was no longer +any sound of musketry in the direction of the meadows. The Bavarians had gained +possession of a narrow stream, fringed with willows and poplars, and were +making preparations for storming the houses, or rather fortresses, in the Place +de l’Église. Their skirmishers had fallen back with the same caution that +characterized their advance, and the wide grassy plain, dotted here and there +with a black form where some poor fellow had laid down his life, lay spread in +the mellow, slumbrous sunshine like a great cloth of gold. The lieutenant, +knowing that the street was now to be the scene of action, had evacuated the +courtyard of the dyehouse, leaving there only one man as guard. He rapidly +posted his men along the sidewalk with instructions, should the enemy carry the +position, to withdraw into the building, barricade the first floor, and defend +themselves there as long as they had a cartridge left. The men fired at will, +lying prone upon the ground, and sheltering themselves as best they might +behind posts and every little projection of the walls, and the storm of lead, +interspersed with tongues of flame and puffs of smoke, that tore through that +broad, deserted, sunny avenue was like a downpour of hail beaten level by the +fierce blast of winter. A woman was seen to cross the roadway, running with +wild, uncertain steps, and she escaped uninjured. Next, an old man, a peasant, +in his blouse, who would not be satisfied until he saw his worthless nag +stabled, received a bullet square in his forehead, and the violence of the +impact was such that it hurled him into the middle of the street. A shell had +gone crashing through the roof of the church; two others fell and set fire to +houses, which burned with a pale flame in the intense daylight, with a loud +snapping and crackling of their timbers. And that poor woman, who lay crushed +and bleeding in the doorway of the house where her sick boy was, that old man +with a bullet in his brain, all that work of ruin and devastation, maddened the +few inhabitants who had chosen to end their days in their native village rather +than seek safety in Belgium. Other bourgeois, and workingmen as well, the +neatly attired citizen alongside the man in overalls, had possessed themselves +of the weapons of dead soldiers, and were in the street defending their +firesides or firing vengefully from the windows. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” suddenly said Weiss, “the scoundrels have got around to +our rear. I saw them sneaking along the railroad track. Hark! don’t you +hear them off there to the left?” +</p> + +<p> +The heavy fire of musketry that was now audible behind the park of +Montivilliers, the trees of which overhung the road, made it evident that +something of importance was occurring in that direction. Should the enemy gain +possession of the park Bazeilles would be at their mercy, but the briskness of +the firing was in itself proof that the general commanding the 12th corps had +anticipated the movement and that the position was adequately defended. +</p> + +<p> +“Look out, there, you blockhead!” exclaimed the lieutenant, +violently forcing Weiss up against the wall; “do you want to get yourself +blown to pieces?” +</p> + +<p> +He could not help laughing a little at the queer figure of the big gentleman in +spectacles, but his bravery had inspired him with a very genuine feeling of +respect, so, when his practiced ear detected a shell coming their way, he had +acted the part of a friend and placed the civilian in a safer position. The +missile landed some ten paces from where they were and exploded, covering them +both with earth and debris. The citizen kept his feet and received not so much +as a scratch, while the officer had both legs broken. +</p> + +<p> +“It is well!” was all he said; “they have sent me my +reckoning!” +</p> + +<p> +He caused his men to take him across the sidewalk and place him with his back +to the wall, near where the dead woman lay, stretched across her doorstep. His +boyish face had lost nothing of its energy and determination. +</p> + +<p> +“It don’t matter, my children; listen to what I say. Don’t +fire too hurriedly; take your time. When the time comes for you to charge, I +will tell you.” +</p> + +<p> +And he continued to command them still, with head erect, watchful of the +movements of the distant enemy. Another house was burning, directly across the +street. The crash and rattle of musketry, the roar of bursting shells, rent the +air, thick with dust and sulphurous smoke. Men dropped at the corner of every +lane and alley; corpses scattered here and there upon the pavement, singly or +in little groups, made splotches of dark color, hideously splashed with red. +And over the doomed village a frightful uproar rose and swelled, the vindictive +shouts of thousands, devoting to destruction a few hundred brave men, resolute +to die. +</p> + +<p> +Then Delaherche, who all this time had been frantically shouting to Weiss +without intermission, addressed him one last appeal: +</p> + +<p> +“You won’t come? Very well! then I shall leave you to your fate. +Adieu!” +</p> + +<p> +It was seven o’clock, and he had delayed his departure too long. So long +as the houses were there to afford him shelter he took advantage of every +doorway, of every bit of projecting wall, shrinking at every volley into +cavities that were ridiculously small in comparison with his bulk. He turned +and twisted in and out with the sinuous dexterity of the serpent; he would +never have supposed that there was so much of his youthful agility left in him. +When he reached the end of the village, however, and had to make his way for a +space of some three hundred yards along the deserted, empty road, swept by the +batteries on Liry hill, although the perspiration was streaming from his face +and body, he shivered and his teeth chattered. For a minute or so he advanced +cautiously along the bed of a dry ditch, bent almost double, then, suddenly +forsaking the protecting shelter, burst into the open and ran for it with might +and main, wildly, aimlessly, his ears ringing with detonations that sounded to +him like thunder-claps. His eyes burned like coals of fire; it seemed to him +that he was wrapt in flame. It was an eternity of torture. Then he suddenly +caught sight of a little house to his left, and he rushed for the friendly +refuge, gained it, with a sensation as if an immense load had been lifted from +his breast. The place was tenanted, there were men and horses there. At first +he could distinguish nothing. What he beheld subsequently filled him with +amazement. +</p> + +<p> +Was not that the Emperor, attended by his brilliant staff? He hesitated, +although for the last two days he had been boasting of his acquaintance with +him, then stood staring, open-mouthed. It was indeed Napoleon III.; he appeared +larger, somehow, and more imposing on horseback, and his mustache was so +stiffly waxed, there was such a brilliant color on his cheeks, that Delaherche +saw at once he had been “made up” and painted like an actor. He had +had recourse to cosmetics to conceal from his army the ravages that anxiety and +illness had wrought in his countenance, the ghastly pallor of his face, his +pinched nose, his dull, sunken eyes, and having been notified at five +o’clock that there was fighting at Bazeilles, had come forth to see, +sadly and silently, like a phantom with rouged cheeks. +</p> + +<p> +There was a brick-kiln near by, behind which there was safety from the rain of +bullets that kept pattering incessantly on its other front and the shells that +burst at every second on the road. The mounted group had halted. +</p> + +<p> +“Sire,” someone murmured, “you are in danger—” +</p> + +<p> +But the Emperor turned and motioned to his staff to take refuge in the narrow +road that skirted the kiln, where men and horses would be sheltered from the +fire. +</p> + +<p> +“Really, Sire, this is madness. Sire, we entreat you—” +</p> + +<p> +His only answer was to repeat his gesture; probably he thought that the +appearance of a group of brilliant uniforms on that deserted road would draw +the fire of the batteries on the left bank. Entirely unattended he rode forward +into the midst of the storm of shot and shell, calmly, unhurriedly, with his +unvarying air of resigned indifference, the air of one who goes to meet his +appointed fate. Could it be that he heard behind him the implacable voice that +was urging him onward, that voice from Paris: “March! march! die the +hero’s death on the piled corpses of thy countrymen, let the whole world +look on in awe-struck admiration, so that thy son may reign!”—could +that be what he heard? He rode forward, controlling his charger to a slow walk. +For the space of a hundred yards he thus rode forward, then halted, awaiting +the death he had come there to seek. The bullets sang in concert with a music +like the fierce autumnal blast; a shell burst in front of him and covered him +with earth. He maintained his attitude of patient waiting. His steed, with +distended eyes and quivering frame, instinctively recoiled before the grim +presence who was so close at hand and yet refused to smite horse or rider. At +last the trying experience came to an end, and the Emperor, with his stoic +fatalism, understanding that his time was not yet come, tranquilly retraced his +steps, as if his only object had been to reconnoiter the position of the German +batteries. +</p> + +<p> +“What courage, Sire! We beseech you, do not expose yourself +further—” +</p> + +<p> +But, unmindful of their solicitations, he beckoned to his staff to follow him, +not offering at present to consult their safety more than he did his own, and +turned his horse’s head toward la Moncelle, quitting the road and taking +the abandoned fields of la Ripaille. A captain was mortally wounded, two horses +were killed. As he passed along the line of the 12th corps, appearing and +vanishing like a specter, the men eyed him with curiosity, but did not cheer. +</p> + +<p> +To all these events had Delaherche been witness, and now he trembled at the +thought that he, too, as soon as he should have left the brick works, would +have to run the gauntlet of those terrible projectiles. He lingered, listening +to the conversation of some dismounted officers who had remained there. +</p> + +<p> +“I tell you he was killed on the spot; cut in two by a shell.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are wrong, I saw him carried off the field. His wound was not +severe; a splinter struck him on the hip.” +</p> + +<p> +“What time was it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, about an hour ago—say half-past six. It was up there around +la Moncelle, in a sunken road.” +</p> + +<p> +“I know he is dead.” +</p> + +<p> +“But I tell you he is not! He even sat his horse for a moment after he +was hit, then he fainted and they carried him into a cottage to attend to his +wound.” +</p> + +<p> +“And then returned to Sedan?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly; he is in Sedan now.” +</p> + +<p> +Of whom could they be speaking? Delaherche quickly learned that it was of +Marshal MacMahon, who had been wounded while paying a visit of inspection to +his advanced posts. The marshal wounded! it was “just our luck,” as +the lieutenant of marines had put it. He was reflecting on what the +consequences of the mishap were likely to be when an <i>estafette</i> dashed by +at top speed, shouting to a comrade, whom he recognized: +</p> + +<p> +“General Ducrot is made commander-in-chief! The army is ordered to +concentrate at Illy in order to retreat on Mézières!” +</p> + +<p> +The courier was already far away, galloping into Bazeilles under the constantly +increasing fire, when Delaherche, startled by the strange tidings that came to +him in such quick succession and not relishing the prospect of being involved +in the confusion of the retreating troops, plucked up courage and started on a +run for Balan, whence he regained Sedan without much difficulty. +</p> + +<p> +The <i>estafette</i> tore through Bazeilles on a gallop, disseminating the +news, hunting up the commanders to give them their instructions, and as he sped +swiftly on the intelligence spread among the troops: Marshal MacMahon wounded, +General Ducrot in command, the army falling back on Illy! +</p> + +<p> +“What is that they are saying?” cried Weiss, whose face by this +time was grimy with powder. “Retreat on Mézières at this late hour! but +it is absurd, they will never get through!” +</p> + +<p> +And his conscience pricked him, he repented bitterly having given that counsel +the day before to that very general who was now invested with the supreme +command. Yes, certainly, that was yesterday the best, the only plan, to +retreat, without loss of a minute’s time, by the Saint-Albert pass, but +now the way could be no longer open to them, the black swarms of Prussians had +certainly anticipated them and were on the plain of Donchery. There were two +courses left for them to pursue, both desperate; and the most promising, as +well as the bravest, of them was to drive the Bavarians into the Meuse, and cut +their way through and regain possession of the Carignan road. +</p> + +<p> +Weiss, whose spectacles were constantly slipping down upon his nose, adjusted +them nervously and proceeded to explain matters to the lieutenant, who was +still seated against the wall with his two stumps of legs, very pale and slowly +bleeding to death. +</p> + +<p> +“Lieutenant, I assure you I am right. Tell your men to stand their +ground. You can see for yourself that we are doing well. One more effort like +the last, and we shall drive them into the river.” +</p> + +<p> +It was true that the Bavarians’ second attack had been repulsed. The +mitrailleuses had again swept the Place de l’Église, the heaps of corpses +in the square resembled barricades, and our troops, emerging from every cross +street, had driven the enemy at the point of the bayonet through the meadows +toward the river in headlong flight, which might easily have been converted +into a general rout had there been fresh troops to support the sailor-boys, who +had suffered severely and were by this time much distressed. And in +Montivilliers Park, again, the firing did not seem to advance, which was a sign +that in that quarter, also, reinforcements, could they have been had, would +have cleared the wood. +</p> + +<p> +“Order your men to charge them with the bayonet, lieutenant.” +</p> + +<p> +The waxen pallor of death was on the poor boy-officer’s face; yet he had +strength to murmur in feeble accents: +</p> + +<p> +“You hear, my children; give them the bayonet!” +</p> + +<p> +It was his last utterance; his spirit passed, his ingenuous, resolute face and +his wide open eyes still turned on the battle. The flies already were beginning +to buzz about Françoise’s head and settle there, while lying on his bed +little Charles, in an access of delirium, was calling on his mother in pitiful, +beseeching tones to give him something to quench his thirst. +</p> + +<p> +“Mother, mother, awake; get up—I am thirsty, I am so +thirsty.” +</p> + +<p> +But the instructions of the new chief were imperative, and the officers, vexed +and grieved to see the successes they had achieved thus rendered nugatory, had +nothing for it but to give orders for the retreat. It was plain that the +commander-in-chief, possessed by a haunting dread of the enemy’s turning +movement, was determined to sacrifice everything in order to escape from the +toils. The Place de l’Église was evacuated, the troops fell back from +street to street; soon the broad avenue was emptied of its defenders. Women +shrieked and sobbed, men swore and shook their fists at the retiring troops, +furious to see themselves abandoned thus. Many shut themselves in their houses, +resolved to die in their defense. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, <i>I</i> am not going to give up the ship!” shouted Weiss, +beside himself with rage. “No! I will leave my skin here first. Let them +come on! let them come and smash my furniture and drink my wine!” +</p> + +<p> +Wrath filled his mind to the exclusion of all else, a wild, fierce desire to +fight, to kill, at the thought that the hated foreigner should enter his house, +sit in his chair, drink from his glass. It wrought a change in all his nature; +everything that went to make up his daily life—wife, business, the +methodical prudence of the small bourgeois—seemed suddenly to become +unstable and drift away from him. And he shut himself up in his house and +barricaded it, he paced the empty apartments with the restless impatience of a +caged wild beast, going from room to room to make sure that all the doors and +windows were securely fastened. He counted his cartridges and found he had +forty left, then, as he was about to give a final look to the meadows to see +whether any attack was to be apprehended from that quarter, the sight of the +hills on the left bank arrested his attention for a moment. The smoke-wreaths +indicated distinctly the position of the Prussian batteries, and at the corner +of a little wood on la Marfée, over the powerful battery at Frenois, he again +beheld the group of uniforms, more numerous than before, and so distinct in the +bright sunlight that by supplementing his spectacles with his binocle he could +make out the gold of their epaulettes and helmets. +</p> + +<p> +“You dirty scoundrels, you dirty scoundrels!” he twice repeated, +extending his clenched fist in impotent menace. +</p> + +<p> +Those who were up there on la Marfée were King William and his staff. As early +as seven o’clock he had ridden up from Vendresse, where he had had +quarters for the night, and now was up there on the heights, out of reach of +danger, while at his feet lay the valley of the Meuse and the vast panorama of +the field of battle. Far as the eye could reach, from north to south, the +bird’s-eye view extended, and standing on the summit of the hill, as from +his throne in some colossal opera box, the monarch surveyed the scene. +</p> + +<p> +In the central foreground of the picture, and standing out in bold relief +against the venerable forests of the Ardennes, that stretched away on either +hand from right to left, filling the northern horizon like a curtain of dark +verdure, was the city of Sedan, with the geometrical lines and angles of its +fortifications, protected on the south and west by the flooded meadows and the +river. In Bazeilles houses were already burning, and the dark cloud of war hung +heavy over the pretty village. Turning his eyes eastward he might discover, +holding the line between la Moncelle and Givonne, some regiments of the 12th +and 1st corps, looking like diminutive insects at that distance and lost to +sight at intervals in the dip of the narrow valley in which the hamlets lay +concealed; and beyond that valley rose the further slope, an uninhabited, +uncultivated heath, of which the pale tints made the dark green of +Chevalier’s Wood look black by contrast. To the north the 7th corps was +more distinctly visible in its position on the plateau of Floing, a broad belt +of sere, dun fields, that sloped downward from the little wood of la Garenne to +the verdant border of the stream. Further still were Floing, Saint-Menges, +Fleigneux, Illy, small villages that lay nestled in the hollows of that +billowing region where the landscape was a succession of hill and dale. And +there, too, to the left was the great bend of the Meuse, where the sluggish +stream, shimmering like molten silver in the bright sunlight, swept lazily in a +great horseshoe around the peninsula of Iges and barred the road to Mézières, +leaving between its further bank and the impassable forest but one single +gateway, the defile of Saint-Albert. +</p> + +<p> +It was in that triangular space that the hundred thousand men and five hundred +guns of the French army had now been crowded and brought to bay, and when His +Prussian Majesty condescended to turn his gaze still further to the westward he +might perceive another plain, the plain of Donchery, a succession of bare +fields stretching away toward Briancourt, Marancourt, and Vrigne-aux-Bois, a +desolate expanse of gray waste beneath the clear blue sky; and did he turn him +to the east, he again had before his eyes, facing the lines in which the French +were so closely hemmed, a vast level stretch of country in which were numerous +villages, first Douzy and Carignan, then more to the north Rubecourt, +Pourru-aux-Bois, Francheval, Villers-Cernay, and last of all, near the +frontier, Chapelle. All about him, far as he could see, the land was his; he +could direct the movements of the quarter of a million of men and the eight +hundred guns that constituted his army, could master at a glance every detail +of the operations of his invading host. Even then the XIth corps was pressing +forward toward Saint-Menges, while the Vth was at Vrigne-aux-Bois, and the +Wurtemburg division was near Donchery, awaiting orders. This was what he beheld +to the west, and if, turning to the east, he found his view obstructed in that +quarter by tree-clad hills, he could picture to himself what was passing, for +he had seen the XIIth corps entering the wood of Chevalier, he knew that by +that time the Guards were at Villers-Cernay. There were the two arms of the +gigantic vise, the army of the Crown Prince of Prussia on the left, the Saxon +Prince’s army on the right, slowly, irresistibly closing on each other, +while the two Bavarian corps were hammering away at Bazeilles. +</p> + +<p> +Underneath the King’s position the long line of batteries, stretching +with hardly an interval from Remilly to Frenois, kept up an unintermittent +fire, pouring their shells into Daigny and la Moncelle, sending them hurtling +over Sedan city to sweep the northern plateaus. It was barely eight +o’clock, and with eyes fixed on the gigantic board he directed the +movements of the game, awaiting the inevitable end, calmly controlling the +black cloud of men that beneath him swept, an array of pigmies, athwart the +smiling landscape. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap10"></a>II.</h2> + +<p> +In the dense fog up on the plateau of Floing Gaude, the bugler, sounded +reveille at peep of day with all the lung-power he was possessed of, but the +inspiring strain died away and was lost in the damp, heavy air, and the men, +who had not had courage even to erect their tents and had thrown themselves, +wrapped in their blankets, upon the muddy ground, did not awake or stir, but +lay like corpses, their ashen features set and rigid in the slumber of utter +exhaustion. To arouse them from their trance-like sleep they had to be shaken, +one by one, and, with ghastly faces and haggard eyes, they rose to their feet, +like beings summoned, against their will, back from another world. It was Jean +who awoke Maurice. +</p> + +<p> +“What is it? Where are we!” asked the younger man. He looked +affrightedly around him, and beheld only that gray waste, in which were +floating the unsubstantial forms of his comrades. Objects twenty yards away +were undistinguishable; his knowledge of the country availed him not; he could +not even have indicated in which direction lay Sedan. Just then, however, the +boom of cannon, somewhere in the distance, fell upon his ear. “Ah! I +remember; the battle is for to-day; they are fighting. So much the better; +there will be an end to our suspense!” +</p> + +<p> +He heard other voices around him expressing the same idea. There was a feeling +of stern satisfaction that at last their long nightmare was to be dispelled, +that at last they were to have a sight of those Prussians whom they had come +out to look for, and before whom they had been retreating so many weary days; +that they were to be given a chance to try a shot at them, and lighten the load +of cartridges that had been tugging at their belts so long, with never an +opportunity to burn a single one of them. Everyone felt that, this time, the +battle would not, could not be avoided. +</p> + +<p> +But the guns began to thunder more loudly down at Bazeilles, and Jean bent his +ear to listen. +</p> + +<p> +“Where is the firing?” +</p> + +<p> +“Faith,” replied Maurice, “it seems to me to be over toward +the Meuse; but I’ll be hanged if I know where we are.” +</p> + +<p> +“Look here, youngster,” said the corporal, “you are going to +stick close by me to-day, for unless a man has his wits about him, don’t +you see, he is likely to get in trouble. Now, I have been there before, and can +keep an eye out for both of us.” +</p> + +<p> +The others of the squad, meantime, were growling angrily because they had +nothing with which to warm their stomachs. There was no possibility of kindling +fires without dry wood in such weather as prevailed then, and so, at the very +moment when they were about to go into battle, the inner man put in his claim +for recognition, and would not be denied. Hunger is not conducive to heroism; +to those poor fellows eating was the great, the momentous question of life; how +lovingly they watched the boiling pot on those red-letter days when the soup +was rich and thick; how like children or savages they were in their wrath when +rations were not forthcoming! +</p> + +<p> +“No eat, no fight!” declared Chouteau. “I’ll be blowed +if I am going to risk my skin to-day!” +</p> + +<p> +The radical was cropping out again in the great hulking house-painter, the +orator of Belleville, the pothouse politician, who drowned what few correct +ideas he picked up here and there in a nauseous mixture of ineffable folly and +falsehood. +</p> + +<p> +“Besides,” he went on, “what good was there in making fools +of us as they have been doing all along, telling us that the Prussians were +dying of hunger and disease, that they had not so much as a shirt to their +back, and were tramping along the highways like ragged, filthy paupers!” +</p> + +<p> +Loubet laughed the laugh of the Parisian gamin, who has experienced the various +vicissitudes of life in the Halles. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, that’s all in my eye! it is we fellows who have been catching +it right along; we are the poor devils whose leaky brogans and tattered toggery +would make folks throw us a copper. And then those great victories about which +they made such a fuss! What precious liars they must be, to tell us that old +Bismarck had been made prisoner and that a German army had been driven over a +quarry and dashed to pieces! Oh yes, they fooled us in great shape.” +</p> + +<p> +Pache and Lapoulle, who were standing near, shook their heads and clenched +their fists ominously. There were others, also, who made no attempt to conceal +their anger, for the course of the newspapers in constantly printing bogus news +had had most disastrous results; all confidence was destroyed, men had ceased +to believe anything or anybody. And so it was that in the soldiers, children of +a larger growth, their bright dreams of other days had now been supplanted by +exaggerated anticipations of misfortune. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Pardi</i>!” continued Chouteau, “the thing is accounted +for easily enough, since our rulers have been selling us to the enemy right +from the beginning. You all know that it is so.” +</p> + +<p> +Lapoulle’s rustic simplicity revolted at the idea. +</p> + +<p> +“For shame! what wicked people they must be!” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sold, as Judas sold his master,” murmured Pache, mindful of +his studies in sacred history. +</p> + +<p> +It was Chouteau’s hour of triumph. “<i>Mon Dieu!</i> it is as plain +as the nose on your face. MacMahon got three millions and each of the other +generals got a million, as the price of bringing us up here. The bargain was +made at Paris last spring, and last night they sent up a rocket as a signal to +let Bismarck know that everything was fixed and he might come and take +us.” +</p> + +<p> +The story was so inanely stupid that Maurice was disgusted. There had been a +time when Chouteau, thanks to his facundity of the faubourg, had interested and +almost convinced him, but now he had come to detest that apostle of falsehood, +that snake in the grass, who calumniated honest effort of every kind in order +to sicken others of it. +</p> + +<p> +“Why do you talk such nonsense?” he exclaimed. “You know very +well there is no truth in it.” +</p> + +<p> +“What, not true? Do you mean to say it is not true that we are betrayed? +Ah, come, my aristocratic friend, perhaps you are one of them, perhaps you +belong to the d—d band of dirty traitors?” He came forward +threateningly. “If you are you have only to say so, my fine gentleman, +for we will attend to your case right here, and won’t wait for your +friend Bismarck, either.” +</p> + +<p> +The others were also beginning to growl and show their teeth, and Jean thought +it time that he should interfere. +</p> + +<p> +“Silence there! I will report the first man who says another word!” +</p> + +<p> +But Chouteau sneered and jeered at him; what did he care whether he reported +him or not! He was not going to fight unless he chose, and they need not try to +ride him rough-shod, because he had cartridges in his box for other people +beside the Prussians. They were going into action now, and what discipline had +been maintained by fear would be at an end: what could they do to him, anyway? +he would just skip as soon as he thought he had enough of it. And he was +profane and obscene, egging the men on against the corporal, who had been +allowing them to starve. Yes, it was his fault that the squad had had nothing +to eat in the last three days, while their neighbors had soup and fresh meat in +plenty, but “monsieur” had to go off to town with the +“aristo” and enjoy himself with the girls. People had spotted +’em, over in Sedan. +</p> + +<p> +“You stole the money belonging to the squad; deny it if you dare, you +<i>bougre</i> of a belly-god!” +</p> + +<p> +Things were beginning to assume an ugly complexion; Lapoulle was doubling his +big fists in a way that looked like business, and Pache, with the pangs of +hunger gnawing at his vitals, laid aside his natural douceness and insisted on +an explanation. The only reasonable one among them was Loubet, who gave one of +his pawky laughs and suggested that, being Frenchmen, they might as well dine +off the Prussians as eat one another. For his part, he took no stock in +fighting, either with fists or firearms, and alluding to the few hundred francs +that he had earned as substitute, added: +</p> + +<p> +“And so, that was all they thought my hide was worth! Well, I am not +going to give them more than their money’s worth.” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice and Jean were in a towering rage at the idotic onslaught, talking +loudly and repelling Chouteau’s insinuations, when out from the fog came +a stentorian voice, bellowing: +</p> + +<p> +“What’s this? what’s this? Show me the rascals who dare +quarrel in the company street!” +</p> + +<p> +And Lieutenant Rochas appeared upon the scene, in his old <i>kepi</i>, whence +the rain had washed all the color, and his great coat, minus many of its +buttons, evincing in all his lean, shambling person the extreme of poverty and +distress. Notwithstanding his forlorn aspect, however, his sparkling eye and +bristling mustache showed that his old time confidence had suffered no +impairment. +</p> + +<p> +Jean spoke up, scarce able to restrain himself. “Lieutenant, it is these +men, who persist in saying that we are betrayed. Yes, they dare to assert that +our generals have sold us—” +</p> + +<p> +The idea of treason did not appear so extremely unnatural to Rochas’s +thick understanding, for it served to explain those reverses that he could not +account for otherwise. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, suppose they are sold, is it any of their business? What concern +is it of theirs? The Prussians are there all the same, aren’t they? and +we are going to give them one of the old-fashioned hidings, such as they +won’t forget in one while.” Down below them in the thick sea of fog +the guns at Bazeilles were still pounding away, and he extended his arms with a +broad, sweeping gesture: “<i>Hein</i>! this is the time that we’ve +got them! We’ll see them back home, and kick them every step of the +way!” +</p> + +<p> +All the trials and troubles of the past were to him as if they had not been, +now that his ears were gladdened by the roar of the guns: the delays and +conflicting orders of the chiefs, the demoralization of the troops, the +stampede at Beaumont, the distress of the recent forced retreat on +Sedan—all were forgotten. Now that they were about to fight at last, was +not victory certain? He had learned nothing and forgotten nothing; his +blustering, boastful contempt of the enemy, his entire ignorance of the new +arts and appliances of war, his rooted conviction that an old soldier of +Africa, Italy, and the Crimea could by no possibility be beaten, had suffered +no change. It was really a little too comical that a man at his age should take +the back track and begin at the beginning again! +</p> + +<p> +All at once his lantern jaws parted and gave utterance to a loud laugh. He was +visited by one of those impulses of good-fellowship that made his men swear by +him, despite the roughness of the jobations that he frequently bestowed on +them. +</p> + +<p> +“Look here, my children, in place of quarreling it will be a great deal +better to take a good nip all around. Come, I’m going to treat, and you +shall drink my health.” +</p> + +<p> +From the capacious pocket of his capote he extracted a bottle of brandy, +adding, with his all-conquering air, that it was the gift of a lady. (He had +been seen the day before, seated at the table of a tavern in Floing and holding +the waitress on his lap, evidently on the best of terms with her.) The soldiers +laughed and winked at one another, holding out their porringers, into which he +gayly poured the golden liquor. +</p> + +<p> +“Drink to your sweethearts, my children, if you have any and don’t +forget to drink to the glory of France. Them’s my sentiments, so <i>vive +la joie</i>!” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s right, Lieutenant. Here’s to your health, and +everybody else’s!” +</p> + +<p> +They all drank, and their hearts were warmed and peace reigned once more. The +“nip” had much of comfort in it, in the chill morning, just as they +were going into action, and Maurice felt it tingling in his veins, giving him +cheer and a sort of what is known colloquially as “Dutch courage.” +Why should they not whip the Prussians? Have not battles their surprises? has +not history embalmed many an instance of the fickleness of fortune? That mighty +man of war, the lieutenant, added that Bazaine was on the way to join them, +would be with them before the day was over: oh, the information was positive; +he had it from an aid to one of the generals; and although, in speaking of the +route the marshal was to come by, he pointed to the frontier of Belgium, +Maurice yielded to one of those spasmodic attacks of hopefulness of his, +without which life to him would not have been worth living. Might it not be +that the day of reckoning was at hand? +</p> + +<p> +“Why don’t we move, Lieutenant?” he made bold to ask. +“What are we waiting for?” +</p> + +<p> +Rochas made a gesture, which the other interpreted to mean that no orders had +been received. Presently he asked: +</p> + +<p> +“Has anybody seen the captain?” +</p> + +<p> +No one answered. Jean remembered perfectly having seen him making for Sedan the +night before, but to the soldier who knows what is good for himself, his +officers are always invisible when they are not on duty. He held his tongue, +therefore, until happening to turn his head, he caught sight of a shadowy form +flitting along the hedge. +</p> + +<p> +“Here he is,” said he. +</p> + +<p> +It was Captain Beaudoin in the flesh. They were all surprised by the nattiness +of his appearance, his resplendent shoes, his well-brushed uniform, affording +such a striking contrast to the lieutenant’s pitiful state. And there was +a finicking completeness, moreover, about his toilet, greater than the male +being is accustomed to bestow upon himself, in his scrupulously white hands and +his carefully curled mustache, and a faint perfume of Persian lilac, which had +the effect of reminding one in some mysterious way of the dressing room of a +young and pretty woman. +</p> + +<p> +“Hallo!” said Loubet, with a sneer, “the captain has +recovered his baggage!” +</p> + +<p> +But no one laughed, for they all knew him to be a man with whom it was not well +to joke. He was stiff and consequential with his men, and was detested +accordingly; a <i>pète-sec</i>, to use Rochas’s expression. He had seemed +to regard the early reverses of the campaign as personal affronts, and the +disaster that all had prognosticated was to him an unpardonable crime. He was a +strong Bonapartist by conviction; his prospects for promotion were of the +brightest; he had several important salons looking after his interests; +naturally, he did not take kindly to the changed condition of affairs that +promised to make his cake dough. He was said to have a remarkably fine tenor +voice, which had helped him no little in his advancement. He was not devoid of +intelligence, though perfectly ignorant as regarded everything connected with +his profession; eager to please, and very brave, when there was occasion for +being so, without superfluous rashness. +</p> + +<p> +“What a nasty fog!” was all he said, pleased to have found his +company at last, for which he had been searching for more than half an hour. +</p> + +<p> +At the same time their orders came, and the battalion moved forward. They had +to proceed with caution, feeling their way, for the exhalations continued to +rise from the stream and were now so dense that they were precipitated in a +fine, drizzling rain. A vision rose before Maurice’s eyes that impressed +him deeply; it was Colonel de Vineuil, who loomed suddenly from out the mist, +sitting his horse, erect and motionless, at the intersection of two +roads—the man appearing of preternatural size, and so pale and rigid that +he might have served a sculptor as a study for a statue of despair; the steed +shivering in the raw, chill air of morning, his dilated nostrils turned in the +direction of the distant firing. Some ten paces to their rear were the +regimental colors, which the sous-lieutenant whose duty it was to bear them had +thus early taken from their case and proudly raised aloft, and as the driving, +vaporous rack eddied and swirled about them, they shone like a radiant vision +of glory emblazoned on the heavens, soon to fade and vanish from the sight. +Water was dripping from the gilded eagle, and the tattered, shot-riddled +tri-color, on which were embroidered the names of former victories, was stained +and its bright hues dimmed by the smoke of many a battlefield; the sole bit of +brilliant color in all the faded splendor was the enameled cross of honor that +was attached to the <i>cravate</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Another billow of vapor came scurrying up from the river, enshrouding in its +fleecy depths colonel, standard, and all, and the battalion passed on, +whitherward no one could tell. First their route had conducted them over +descending ground, now they were climbing a hill. On reaching the summit the +command, halt! started at the front and ran down the column; the men were +cautioned not to leave the ranks, arms were ordered, and there they remained, +the heavy knapsacks forming a grievous burden to weary shoulders. It was +evident that they were on a plateau, but to discern localities was out of the +question; twenty paces was the extreme range of vision. It was now seven +o’clock; the sound of firing reached them more distinctly, other +batteries were apparently opening on Sedan from the opposite bank. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! I,” said Sergeant Sapin with a start, addressing Jean and +Maurice, “I shall be killed to-day.” +</p> + +<p> +It was the first time he had opened his lips that morning; an expression of +dreamy melancholy had rested on his thin face, with its big, handsome eyes and +thin, pinched nose. +</p> + +<p> +“What an idea!” Jean exclaimed; “who can tell what is going +to happen him? Every bullet has its billet, they say, but you stand no worse +chance than the rest of us.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, but me—I am as good as dead now. I tell you I shall be killed +to-day.” +</p> + +<p> +The near files turned and looked at him curiously, asking him if he had had a +dream. No, he had dreamed nothing, but he felt it; it was there. +</p> + +<p> +“And it is a pity, all the same, because I was to be married when I got +my discharge.” +</p> + +<p> +A vague expression came into his eyes again; his past life rose before him. He +was the son of a small retail grocer at Lyons, and had been petted and spoiled +by his mother up to the time of her death; then rejecting the proffer of his +father, with whom he did not hit it off well, to assist in purchasing his +discharge, he had remained with the army, weary and disgusted with life and +with his surroundings. Coming home on furlough, however, he fell in love with a +cousin and they became engaged; their intention was to open a little shop on +the small capital which she would bring him, and then existence once more +became desirable. He had received an elementary education; could read, write, +and cipher. For the past year he had lived only in anticipation of this happy +future. +</p> + +<p> +He shivered, and gave himself a shake to dispel his revery, repeating with his +tranquil air: +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, it is too bad; I shall be killed to-day.” +</p> + +<p> +No one spoke; the uncertainty and suspense continued. They knew not whether the +enemy was on their front or in their rear. Strange sounds came to their ears +from time to time from out the depths of the mysterious fog: the rumble of +wheels, the deadened tramp of moving masses, the distant clatter of +horses’ hoofs; it was the evolutions of troops, hidden from view behind +the misty curtain, the batteries, battalions, and squadrons of the 7th corps +taking up their positions in line of battle. Now, however, it began to look as +if the fog was about to lift; it parted here and there and fragments floated +lightly off, like strips of gauze torn from a veil, and bits of sky appeared, +not transparently blue, as on a bright summer’s day, but opaque and of +the hue of burnished steel, like the cheerless bosom of some deep, sullen +mountain tarn. It was in one of those brighter moments when the sun was +endeavoring to struggle forth that the regiments of chasseurs d’Afrique, +constituting part of Margueritte’s division, came riding by, giving the +impression of a band of spectral horsemen. They sat very stiff and erect in the +saddle, with their short cavalry jackets, broad red sashes and smart little +<i>kepis</i>, accurate in distance and alignment and managing admirably their +lean, wiry mounts, which were almost invisible under the heterogeneous +collection of tools and camp equipage that they had to carry. Squadron after +squadron they swept by in long array, to be swallowed in the gloom from which +they had just emerged, vanishing as if dissolved by the fine rain. The truth +was, probably, that they were in the way, and their leaders, not knowing what +use to put them to, had packed them off the field, as had often been the case +since the opening of the campaign. They had scarcely ever been employed on +scouting or reconnoitering duty, and as soon as there was prospect of a fight +were trotted about for shelter from valley to valley, useless objects, but too +costly to be endangered. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice thought of Prosper as he watched them. “That fellow, yonder, +looks like him,” he said, under his breath. “I wonder if it is +he?” +</p> + +<p> +“Of whom are you speaking?” asked Jean. +</p> + +<p> +“Of that young man of Remilly, whose brother we met at Osches, you +remember.” +</p> + +<p> +Behind the chasseurs, when they had all passed, came a general officer and his +staff dashing down the descending road, and Maurice recognized the general of +their brigade, Bourgain-Desfeuilles, shouting and gesticulating wildly. He had +torn himself reluctantly from his comfortable quarters at the Hotel of the +Golden Cross, and it was evident from the horrible temper he was in that the +condition of affairs that morning was not satisfactory to him. In a tone of +voice so loud that everyone could hear he roared: +</p> + +<p> +“In the devil’s name, what stream is that off yonder, the Meuse or +the Moselle?” +</p> + +<p> +The fog dispersed at last, this time in earnest. As at Bazeilles the effect was +theatrical; the curtain rolled slowly upward to the flies, disclosing the +setting of the stage. From a sky of transparent blue the sun poured down a +flood of bright, golden light, and Maurice was no longer at a loss to recognize +their position. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” he said to Jean, “we are on the plateau de +l’Algérie. That village that you see across the valley, directly in our +front, is Floing, and that more distant one is Saint-Menges, and that one, more +distant still, a little to the right, is Fleigneux. Then those scrubby trees on +the horizon, away in the background, are the forest of the Ardennes, and there +lies the frontier—” +</p> + +<p> +He went on to explain their position, naming each locality and pointing to it +with outstretched hand. The plateau de l’Algérie was a belt of reddish +ground, something less than two miles in length, sloping gently downward from +the wood of la Garenne toward the Meuse, from which it was separated by the +meadows. On it the line of the 7th corps had been established by General Douay, +who felt that his numbers were not sufficient to defend so extended a position +and properly maintain his touch with the 1st corps, which was posted at right +angles with his line, occupying the valley of la Givonne, from the wood of la +Garenne to Daigny. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, isn’t it grand, isn’t it magnificent!” +</p> + +<p> +And Maurice, revolving on his heel, made with his hand a sweeping gesture that +embraced the entire horizon. From their position on the plateau the whole wide +field of battle lay stretched before them to the south and west: Sedan, almost +at their feet, whose citadel they could see overtopping the roofs, then Balan +and Bazeilles, dimly seen through the dun smoke-clouds that hung heavily in the +motionless air, and further in the distance the hills of the left bank, Liry, +la Marfée, la Croix-Piau. It was away toward the west, however, in the +direction of Donchery, that the prospect was most extensive. There the Meuse +curved horseshoe-wise, encircling the peninsula of Iges with a ribbon of pale +silver, and at the northern extremity of the loop was distinctly visible the +narrow road of the Saint-Albert pass, winding between the river bank and a +beetling, overhanging hill that was crowned with the little wood of Seugnon, an +offshoot of the forest of la Falizette. At the summit of the hill, at the +<i>carrefour</i> of la Maison-Rouge, the road from Donchery to Vrigne-aux-Bois +debouched into the Mézières pike. +</p> + +<p> +“See, that is the road by which we might retreat on Mézières.” +</p> + +<p> +Even as he spoke the first gun was fired from Saint-Menges. The fog still hung +over the bottom-lands in shreds and patches, and through it they dimly descried +a shadowy body of men moving through the Saint-Albert defile. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, they are there,” continued Maurice, instinctively lowering his +voice. “Too late, too late; they have intercepted us!” +</p> + +<p> +It was not eight o’clock. The guns, which were thundering more fiercely +than ever in the direction of Bazeilles, now also began to make themselves +heard at the eastward, in the valley of la Givonne, which was hid from view; it +was the army of the Crown Prince of Saxony, debouching from the Chevalier wood +and attacking the 1st corps, in front of Daigny village; and now that the XIth +Prussian corps, moving on Floing, had opened fire on General Douay’s +troops, the investment was complete at every point of the great periphery of +several leagues’ extent, and the action was general all along the line. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice suddenly perceived the enormity of their blunder in not retreating on +Mézières during the night; but as yet the consequences were not clear to him; +he could not foresee all the disaster that was to result from that fatal error +of judgment. Moved by some indefinable instinct of danger, he looked with +apprehension on the adjacent heights that commanded the plateau de +l’Algérie. If time had not been allowed them to make good their retreat, +why had they not backed up against the frontier and occupied those heights of +Illy and Saint-Menges, whence, if they could not maintain their position, they +would at least have been free to cross over into Belgium? There were two points +that appeared to him especially threatening, the <i>mamelon</i> of Hattoy, to +the north of Floing on the left, and the Calvary of Illy, a stone cross with a +linden tree on either side, the highest bit of ground in the surrounding +country, to the right. General Douay was keenly alive to the importance of +these eminences, and the day before had sent two battalions to occupy Hattoy; +but the men, feeling that they were “in the air” and too remote +from support, had fallen back early that morning. It was understood that the +left wing of the 1st corps was to take care of the Calvary of Illy. The wide +expanse of naked country between Sedan and the Ardennes forest was intersected +by deep ravines, and the key of the position was manifestly there, in the +shadow of that cross and the two lindens, whence their guns might sweep the +fields in every direction for a long distance. +</p> + +<p> +Two more cannon shots rang out, quickly succeeded by a salvo; they detected the +bluish smoke rising from the underbrush of a low hill to the left of +Saint-Menges. +</p> + +<p> +“Our turn is coming now,” said Jean. +</p> + +<p> +Nothing more startling occurred just then, however. The men, still preserving +their formation and standing at ordered arms, found something to occupy their +attention in the fine appearance made by the 2d division, posted in front of +Floing, with their left refused and facing the Meuse, so as to guard against a +possible attack from that quarter. The ground to the east, as far as the wood +of la Garenne, beneath Illy village, was held by the 3d division, while the +1st, which had lost heavily at Beaumont, formed a second line. All night long +the engineers had been busy with pick and shovel, and even after the Prussians +had opened fire they were still digging away at their shelter trenches and +throwing up epaulments. +</p> + +<p> +Then a sharp rattle of musketry, quickly silenced, however, was heard +proceeding from a point beneath Floing, and Captain Beaudoin received orders to +move his company three hundred yards to the rear. Their new position was in a +great field of cabbages, upon reaching which the captain made his men lie down. +The sun had not yet drunk up the moisture that had descended on the vegetables +in the darkness, and every fold and crease of the thick, golden-green leaves +was filled with trembling drops, as pellucid and luminous as brilliants of the +fairest water. +</p> + +<p> +“Sight for four hundred yards,” the captain ordered. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice rested the barrel of his musket on a cabbage that reared its head +conveniently before him, but it was impossible to see anything in his recumbent +position: only the blurred surface of the fields traversed by his level glance, +diversified by an occasional tree or shrub. Giving Jean, who was beside him, a +nudge with his elbow, he asked what they were to do there. The corporal, whose +experience in such matters was greater, pointed to an elevation not far away, +where a battery was just taking its position; it was evident that they had been +placed there to support that battery, should there be need of their services. +Maurice, wondering whether Honoré and his guns were not of the party, raised +his head to look, but the reserve artillery was at the rear, in the shelter of +a little grove of trees. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Nom de Dieu!</i>” yelled Rochas, “will you lie +down!” +</p> + +<p> +And Maurice had barely more than complied with this intimation when a shell +passed screaming over him. From that time forth there seemed to be no end to +them. The enemy’s gunners were slow in obtaining the range, their first +projectiles passing over and landing well to the rear of the battery, which was +now opening in reply. Many of their shells, too, fell upon the soft ground, in +which they buried themselves without exploding, and for a time there was a +great display of rather heavy wit at the expense of those bloody sauerkraut +eaters. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, well!” said Loubet, “their fireworks are a +fizzle!” +</p> + +<p> +“They ought to take them in out of the rain,” sneered Chouteau. +</p> + +<p> +Even Rochas thought it necessary to say something. “Didn’t I tell +you that the dunderheads don’t know enough even to point a gun?” +</p> + +<p> +But they were less inclined to laugh when a shell burst only ten yards from +them and sent a shower of earth flying over the company; Loubet affected to +make light of it by ordering his comrades to get out their brushes from the +knapsacks, but Chouteau suddenly became very pale and had not a word to say. He +had never been under fire, nor had Pache and Lapoulle, nor any member of the +squad, in fact, except Jean. Over eyes that had suddenly lost their brightness +lids flickered tremulously; voices had an unnatural, muffled sound, as if +arrested by some obstruction in the throat. Maurice, who was sufficiently +master of himself as yet, endeavored to diagnose his symptoms; he could not be +afraid, for he was not conscious that he was in danger; he only felt a slight +sensation of discomfort in the epigastric region, and his head seemed strangely +light and empty; ideas and images came and went independent of his will. His +recollection of the brave show made by the troops of the 2d division made him +hopeful, almost to buoyancy; victory appeared certain to him if only they might +be allowed to go at the enemy with the bayonet. +</p> + +<p> +“Listen!” he murmured, “how the flies buzz; the place is full +of them.” Thrice he had heard something that sounded like the humming of +a swarm of bees. +</p> + +<p> +“That was not a fly,” Jean said, with a laugh. “It was a +bullet.” +</p> + +<p> +Again and again the hum of those invisible wings made itself heard. The men +craned their necks and looked about them with eager interest; their curiosity +was uncontrollable—would not allow them to remain quiet. +</p> + +<p> +“See here,” Loubet said mysteriously to Lapoulle, with a view to +raise a laugh at the expense of his simple-minded comrade, “when you see +a bullet coming toward you you must raise your forefinger before your +nose—like that; it divides the air, and the bullet will go by to the +right or left.” +</p> + +<p> +“But I can’t see them,” said Lapoulle. +</p> + +<p> +A loud guffaw burst from those near. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, crickey! he says he can’t see them! Open your garret windows, +stupid! See! there’s one—see! there’s another. Didn’t +you see that one? It was of the most beautiful green.” +</p> + +<p> +And Lapoulle rolled his eyes and stared, placing his finger before his nose, +while Pache fingered the scapular he wore and wished it was large enough to +shield his entire person. +</p> + +<p> +Rochas, who had remained on his feet, spoke up and said jocosely: +</p> + +<p> +“Children, there is no objection to your ducking to the shells when you +see them coming. As for the bullets, it is useless; they are too +numerous!” +</p> + +<p> +At that very instant a soldier in the front rank was struck on the head by a +fragment of an exploding shell. There was no outcry; simply a spurt of blood +and brain, and all was over. +</p> + +<p> +“Poor devil!” tranquilly said Sergeant Sapin, who was quite cool +and exceedingly pale. “Next!” +</p> + +<p> +But the uproar had by this time become so deafening that the men could no +longer hear one another’s voice; Maurice’s nerves, in particular, +suffered from the infernal <i>charivari</i>. The neighboring battery was +banging away as fast as the gunners could load the pieces; the continuous roar +seemed to shake the ground, and the mitrailleuses were even more intolerable +with their rasping, grating, grunting noise. Were they to remain forever +reclining there among the cabbages? There was nothing to be seen, nothing to be +learned; no one had any idea how the battle was going. And <i>was</i> it a +battle, after all—a genuine affair? All that Maurice could make out, +projecting his eyes along the level surface of the fields, was the rounded, +wood-clad summit of Hattoy in the remote distance, and still unoccupied. +Neither was there a Prussian to be seen anywhere on the horizon; the only +evidence of life were the faint, blue smoke-wreaths that rose and floated an +instant in the sunlight. Chancing to turn his head, he was greatly surprised to +behold at the bottom of a deep, sheltered valley, surrounded by precipitous +heights, a peasant calmly tilling his little field, driving the plow through +the furrow with the assistance of a big white horse. Why should he lose a day? +The corn would keep growing, let them fight as they would, and folks must live. +</p> + +<p> +Unable longer to control his impatience, the young man jumped to his feet. He +had a fleeting vision of the batteries of Saint-Menges, crowned with tawny +vapors and spewing shot and shell upon them; he had also time to see, what he +had seen before and had not forgotten, the road from Saint-Albert’s pass +black with minute moving objects—the swarming hordes of the invader. Then +Jean seized him by the legs and pulled him violently to his place again. +</p> + +<p> +“Are you crazy? Do you want to leave your bones here?” +</p> + +<p> +And Rochas chimed in: +</p> + +<p> +“Lie down, will you! What am I to do with such d——d rascals, +who get themselves killed without orders!” +</p> + +<p> +“But you don’t lie down, lieutenant,” said Maurice. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s a different thing. I have to know what is going on.” +</p> + +<p> +Captain Beaudoin, too, kept his legs like a man, but never opened his lips to +say an encouraging word to his men, having nothing in common with them. He +appeared nervous and unable to remain long in one place, striding up and down +the field, impatiently awaiting orders. +</p> + +<p> +No orders came, nothing occurred to relieve their suspense. Maurice’s +knapsack was causing him horrible suffering; it seemed to be crushing his back +and chest in that recumbent position, so painful when maintained for any length +of time. The men had been cautioned against throwing away their sacks unless in +case of actual necessity, and he kept turning over, first on his right side, +then on the left, to ease himself a moment of his burden by resting it on the +ground. The shells continued to fall around them, but the German gunners did +not succeed in getting the exact range; no one was killed after the poor fellow +who lay there on his stomach with his skull fractured. +</p> + +<p> +“Say, is this thing to last all day?” Maurice finally asked Jean, +in sheer desperation. +</p> + +<p> +“Like enough. At Solferino they put us in a field of carrots, and there +we stayed five mortal hours with our noses to the ground.” Then he added, +like the sensible fellow he was: “Why do you grumble? we are not so badly +off here. You will have an opportunity to distinguish yourself before the day +is over. Let everyone have his chance, don’t you see; if we should all be +killed at the beginning there would be none left for the end.” +</p> + +<p> +“Look,” Maurice abruptly broke in, “look at that smoke over +Hattoy. They have taken Hattoy; we shall have plenty of music to dance to +now!” +</p> + +<p> +For a moment his burning curiosity, which he was conscious was now for the +first time beginning to be dashed with personal fear, had sufficient to occupy +it; his gaze was riveted on the rounded summit of the <i>mamelon</i>, the only +elevation that was within his range of vision, dominating the broad expanse of +plain that lay level with his eye. Hattoy was too far distant to permit him to +distinguish the gunners of the batteries that the Prussians had posted there; +he could see nothing at all, in fact, save the smoke that at each discharge +rose above a thin belt of woods that served to mask the guns. The enemy’s +occupation of the position, of which General Douay had been forced to abandon +the defense, was, as Maurice had instinctively felt, an event of the gravest +importance and destined to result in the most disastrous consequences; its +possessors would have entire command of all the surrounding plateau. This was +quickly seen to be the case, for the batteries that opened on the second +division of the 7th corps did fearful execution. They had now perfected their +range, and the French battery, near which Beaudoin’s company was +stationed, had two men killed in quick succession. A quartermaster’s man +in the company had his left heel carried away by a splinter and began to howl +most dismally, as if visited by a sudden attack of madness. +</p> + +<p> +“Shut up, you great calf!” said Rochas. “What do you mean by +yelling like that for a little scratch!” +</p> + +<p> +The man suddenly ceased his outcries and subsided into a stupid silence, +nursing his foot in his hand. +</p> + +<p> +And still the tremendous artillery duel raged, and the death-dealing missiles +went screaming over the recumbent ranks of the regiments that lay there on the +sullen, sweltering plain, where no thing of life was to be seen beneath the +blazing sun. The crashing thunder, the destroying hurricane, were masters in +that solitude, and many long hours would pass before the end. But even thus +early in the day the Germans had demonstrated the superiority of their +artillery; their percussion shells had an enormous range, and exploded, with +hardly an exception, on reaching their destination, while the French time-fuse +shells, with a much shorter range, burst for the most part in the air and were +wasted. And there was nothing left for the poor fellows exposed to that +murderous fire save to hug the ground and make themselves as small as possible; +they were even denied the privilege of firing in reply, which would have kept +their mind occupied and given them a measure of relief; but upon whom or what +were they to direct their rifles? since there was not a living soul to be seen +upon the entire horizon! +</p> + +<p> +“Are we never to have a shot at them? I would give a dollar for just one +chance!” said Maurice, in a frenzy of impatience. “It is disgusting +to have them blazing away at us like this and not be allowed to answer.” +</p> + +<p> +“Be patient; the time will come,” Jean imperturbably replied. +</p> + +<p> +Their attention was attracted by the sound of mounted men approaching on their +left, and turning their heads they beheld General Douay, who, accompanied by +his staff, had come galloping up to see how his troops were behaving under the +terrible fire from Hattoy. He appeared well pleased with what he saw and was in +the act of making some suggestions to the officers grouped around him, when, +emerging from a sunken road, General Bourgain-Desfeuilles also rode up. This +officer, though he owed his advancement to “influence” was wedded +to the antiquated African routine and had learned nothing by experience, sat +his horse with great composure under the storm of projectiles. He was shouting +to the men and gesticulating wildly, after the manner of Rochas: “They +are coming, they will be here right away, and then we’ll let them have +the bayonet!” when he caught sight of General Douay and drew up to his +side. +</p> + +<p> +“Is it true that the marshal is wounded, general?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“It is but too true, unfortunately. I received a note from Ducrot only a +few minutes ago, in which he advises me of the fact, and also notifies me that, +by the marshal’s appointment, he is in command of the army.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! so it is Ducrot who is to have his place! And what are the orders +now?” +</p> + +<p> +The general shook his head sorrowfully. He had felt that the army was doomed, +and for the last twenty-four hours had been strenuously recommending the +occupation of Illy and Saint-Menges in order to keep a way of retreat open on +Mézières. +</p> + +<p> +“Ducrot will carry out the plan we talked of yesterday: the whole army is +to be concentrated on the plateau of Illy.” +</p> + +<p> +And he repeated his previous gesture, as if to say it was too late. +</p> + +<p> +His words were partly inaudible in the roar of the artillery, but Maurice +caught their significance clearly enough, and it left him dumfounded by +astonishment and alarm. What! Marshal MacMahon wounded since early that +morning, General Ducrot commanding in his place for the last two hours, the +entire army retreating to the northward of Sedan—and all these important +events kept from the poor devils of soldiers who were squandering their +life’s blood! and all their destinies, dependent on the life of a single +man, were to be intrusted to the direction of fresh and untried hands! He had a +distinct consciousness of the fate that was in reserve for the army of Châlons, +deprived of its commander, destitute of any guiding principle of action, +dragged purposelessly in this direction and in that, while the Germans went +straight and swift to their preconcerted end with mechanical precision and +directness. +</p> + +<p> +Bourgain-Desfeuilles had wheeled his horse and was moving away, when General +Douay, to whom a grimy, dust-stained hussar had galloped up with another +dispatch, excitedly summoned him back. +</p> + +<p> +“General! General!” +</p> + +<p> +His voice rang out so loud and clear, with such an accent of surprise, that it +drowned the uproar of the guns. +</p> + +<p> +“General, Ducrot is no longer in command; de Wimpffen is chief. You know +he reached here yesterday, just in the very thick of the disaster at Beaumont, +to relieve de Failly at the head of the 5th corps—and he writes me that +he has written instructions from the Minister of War assigning him to the +command of the army in case the post should become vacant. And there is to be +no more retreating; the orders now are to reoccupy our old positions, and +defend them to the last.” +</p> + +<p> +General Bourgain-Desfeuilles drank in the tidings, his eyes bulging with +astonishment. “<i>Nom de Dieu!</i>” he at last succeeded in +ejaculating, “one would like to know—But it is no business of mine, +anyhow.” And off he galloped, not allowing himself to be greatly agitated +by this unexpected turn of affairs, for he had gone into the war solely in the +hope of seeing his name raised a grade higher in the army list, and it was his +great desire to behold the end of the beastly campaign as soon as possible, +since it was productive of so little satisfaction to anyone. +</p> + +<p> +Then there was an explosion of derision and contempt among the men of +Beaudoin’s company. Maurice said nothing, but he shared the opinion of +Chouteau and Loubet, who chaffed and blackguarded everyone without mercy. +“See-saw, up and down, move as I pull the string! A fine gang they were, +those generals! they understood one another; they were not going to pull all +the blankets off the bed! What was a poor devil of a soldier to do when he had +such leaders put over him? Three commanders in two hours’ time, three +great numskulls, none of whom knew what was the right thing to do, and all of +them giving different orders! Demoralized, were they? Good Heavens, it was +enough to demoralize God Almighty himself, and all His angels!” And the +inevitable accusation of treason was again made to do duty; Ducrot and de +Wimpffen wanted to get three millions apiece out of Bismarck, as MacMahon had +done. +</p> + +<p> +Alone in advance of his staff General Douay sat on his horse a long time, his +gaze bent on the distant positions of the enemy and in his eyes an expression +of infinite melancholy. He made a minute and protracted observation of Hattoy, +the shells from which came tumbling almost at his very feet; then, giving a +glance at the plateau of Illy, called up an officer to carry an order to the +brigade of the 5th corps that he had borrowed the day previous from General de +Wimpffen, and which served to connect his right with the left of General +Ducrot. He was distinctly heard to say these words: +</p> + +<p> +“If the Prussians should once get possession of the Calvary it would be +impossible for us to hold this position an hour; we should be driven into +Sedan.” +</p> + +<p> +He rode off and was lost to view, together with his escort, at the entrance of +the sunken road, and the German fire became hotter than before. They had +doubtless observed the presence of the group of mounted officers; but now the +shells, which hitherto had come from the front, began to fall upon them +laterally, from the left; the batteries at Frenois, together with one which the +enemy had carried across the river and posted on the peninsula of Iges, had +established, in connection with the guns on Hattoy, an enfilading fire which +swept the plateau de l’Algérie in its entire length and breadth. The +position of the company now became most lamentable; the men, with death in +front of them and on their flank, knew not which way to turn or which of the +menacing perils to guard themselves against. In rapid succession three men were +killed outright and two severely wounded. +</p> + +<p> +It was then that Sergeant Sapin met the death that he had predicted for +himself. He had turned his head, and caught sight of the approaching missile +when it was too late for him to avoid it. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, here it is!” was all he said. +</p> + +<p> +There was no terror in the thin face, with its big handsome eyes; it was only +pale; very pale and inexpressibly mournful. The wound was in the abdomen. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! do not leave me here,” he pleaded; “take me to the +ambulance, I beseech you. Take me to the rear.” +</p> + +<p> +Rochas endeavored to silence him, and it was on his brutal lips to say that it +was useless to imperil two comrades’ lives for one whose wound was so +evidently mortal, when his better nature made its influence felt and he +murmured: +</p> + +<p> +“Be patient for a little, my poor boy, and the litter-bearers will come +and get you.” +</p> + +<p> +But the wretched man, whose tears were now flowing, kept crying, as one +distraught that his dream of happiness was vanishing with his trickling +life-blood: +</p> + +<p> +“Take me away, take me away—” +</p> + +<p> +Finally Captain Beaudoin, whose already unstrung nerves were further irritated +by his pitiful cries, called for two volunteers to carry him to a little piece +of woods a short way off where a flying ambulance had been established. +Chouteau and Loubet jumped to their feet simultaneously, anticipating the +others, seized the sergeant, one of them by the shoulders, the other by the +legs, and bore him away on a run. They had gone but a little way, however, when +they felt the body becoming rigid in the final convulsion; he was dying. +</p> + +<p> +“I say, he’s dead,” exclaimed Loubet. “Let’s +leave him here.” +</p> + +<p> +But Chouteau, without relaxing his speed, angrily replied: +</p> + +<p> +“Go ahead, you booby, will you! Do you take me for a fool, to leave him +here and have them call us back!” +</p> + +<p> +They pursued their course with the corpse until they came to the little wood, +threw it down at the foot of a tree, and went their way. That was the last that +was seen of them until nightfall. +</p> + +<p> +The battery beside them had been strengthened by three additional guns; the +cannonade on either side went on with increased fury, and in the hideous uproar +terror—a wild, unreasoning terror—filled Maurice’s soul. It +was his first experience of the sensation; he had not until now felt that cold +sweat trickling down his back, that terrible sinking at the pit of the stomach, +that unconquerable desire to get on his feet and run, yelling and screaming, +from the field. It was nothing more than the strain from which his nervous, +high-strung temperament was suffering from reflex action; but Jean, who was +observing him narrowly, detected the incipient crisis in the wandering, vacant +eyes, and seizing him with his strong hand, held him down firmly at his side. +The corporal lectured him paternally in a whisper, not mincing his words, but +employing good, vigorous language to restore him to a sense of self-respect, +for he knew by experience that a man in panic is not to be coaxed out of his +cowardice. There were others also who were showing the white feather, among +them Pache, who was whimpering involuntarily, in the low, soft voice of a +little baby, his eyes suffused with tears. Lapoulle’s stomach betrayed +him and he was very ill; and there were many others who also found relief in +vomiting, amid their comrade’s loud jeers and laughter, which helped to +restore their courage to them all. +</p> + +<p> +“My God!” ejaculated Maurice, ghastly pale, his teeth chattering. +“My God!” +</p> + +<p> +Jean shook him roughly. “You infernal coward, are you going to be sick +like those fellows over yonder? Behave yourself, or I’ll box your +ears.” +</p> + +<p> +He was trying to put heart into his friend by gruff but friendly speeches like +the above, when they suddenly beheld a dozen dark forms emerging from a little +wood upon their front and about four hundred yards away. Their spiked helmets +announced them to be Prussians; the first Prussians they had had within reach +of their rifles since the opening of the campaign. This first squad was +succeeded by others, and in front of their position the little dust clouds that +rose where the French shells struck were distinctly visible. It was all very +vivid and clear-cut in the transparent air of morning; the Germans, outlined +against the dark forest, presented the toy-like appearance of those miniature +soldiers of lead that are the delight of children; then, as the enemy’s +shells began to drop in their vicinity with uncomfortable frequency, they +withdrew and were lost to sight within the wood whence they had come. +</p> + +<p> +But Beaudoin’s company had seen them there once, and to their eyes they +were there still; the chassepots seemed to go off of their own accord. Maurice +was the first man to discharge his piece; Jean, Pache, Lapoulle and the others +all followed suit. There had been no order given to commence firing, and the +captain made an attempt to check it, but desisted upon Rochas’s +representation that it was absolutely necessary as a measure of relief for the +men’s pent-up feelings. So, then, they were at liberty to shoot at last, +they could use up those cartridges that they had been lugging around with them +for the last month, without ever burning a single one! The effect on Maurice in +particular was electrical; the noise he made had the effect of dispelling his +fear and blunting the keenness of his sensations. The little wood had resumed +its former deserted aspect; not a leaf stirred, no more Prussians showed +themselves; and still they kept on blazing away as madly as ever at the +immovable trees. +</p> + +<p> +Raising his eyes presently Maurice was startled to see Colonel de Vineuil +sitting his big horse at no great distance, man and steed impassive and +motionless as if carved from stone, patient were they under the leaden hail, +with face turned toward the enemy. The entire regiment was now collected in +that vicinity, the other companies being posted in the adjacent fields; the +musketry fire seemed to be drawing nearer. The young man also beheld the +regimental colors a little to the rear, borne aloft by the sturdy arm of the +standard-bearer, but it was no longer the phantom flag that he had seen that +morning, shrouded in mist and fog; the golden eagle flashed and blazed in the +fierce sunlight, and the tri-colored silk, despite the rents and stains of many +a battle, flaunted its bright hues defiantly to the breeze. Waving in the +breath of the cannon, floating proudly against the blue of heaven, it shone +like an emblem of victory. +</p> + +<p> +And why, now that the day of battle had arrived, should not victory perch upon +that banner? With that reflection Maurice and his companions kept on +industriously wasting their powder on the distant wood, producing havoc there +among the leaves and twigs. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap11"></a>III.</h2> + +<p> +Sleep did not visit Henriette’s eyes that night. She knew her husband to +be a prudent man, but the thought that he was in Bazeilles, so near the German +lines, was cause to her of deep anxiety. She tried to soothe her apprehensions +by reminding herself that she had his solemn promise to return at the first +appearance of danger; it availed not, and at every instant she detected herself +listening to catch the sound of his footstep on the stair. At ten +o’clock, as she was about to go to bed, she opened her window, and +resting her elbows on the sill, gazed out into the night. +</p> + +<p> +The darkness was intense; looking downward, she could scarce discern the +pavement of the Rue des Voyards, a narrow, obscure passage, overhung by old +frowning mansions. Further on, in the direction of the college, a smoky street +lamp burned dimly. A nitrous exhalation rose from the street; the squall of a +vagrant cat; the heavy step of a belated soldier. From the city at her back +came strange and alarming sounds: the patter of hurrying feet, an ominous, +incessant rumbling, a muffled murmur without a name that chilled her blood. Her +heart beat loudly in her bosom as she bent her ear to listen, and still she +heard not the familiar echo of her husband’s step at the turning of the +street below. +</p> + +<p> +Hours passed, and now distant lights that began to twinkle in the open fields +beyond the ramparts excited afresh her apprehensions. It was so dark that it +cost her an effort of memory to recall localities. She knew that the broad +expanse that lay beneath her, reflecting a dim light, was the flooded meadows, +and that flame that blazed up and was suddenly extinguished, surely it must be +on la Marfée. But never, to her certain knowledge, had there been +farmer’s house or peasant’s cottage on those heights; what, then, +was the meaning of that light? And then on every hand, at Pont-Maugis, Noyers, +Frenois, other fires arose, coruscating fitfully for an instant and giving +mysterious indication of the presence of the swarming host that lay hidden in +the bosom of the night. Yet more: there were strange sounds and voices in the +air, subdued murmurings such as she had never heard before, and that made her +start in terror; the stifled hum of marching men, the neighing and snorting of +steeds, the clash of arms, hoarse words of command, given in guttural accents; +an evil dream of a demoniac crew, a witch’s sabbat, in the depths of +those unholy shades. Suddenly a single cannon-shot rang out, ear-rending, +adding fresh terror to the dead silence that succeeded it. It froze her very +marrow; what could it mean? A signal, doubtless, telling of the successful +completion of some movement, announcing that everything was ready, down there, +and that now the sun might rise. +</p> + +<p> +It was about two o’clock when Henriette, forgetting even to close her +window, at last threw herself, fully dressed, upon her bed. Her anxiety and +fatigue had stupefied her and benumbed her faculties. What could ail her, thus +to shiver and burn alternately, she who was always so calm and self-reliant, +moving with so light a step that those about her were unconscious of her +existence? Finally she sank into a fitful, broken slumber that brought with it +no repose, in which was present still that persistent sensation of impending +evil that filled the dusky heavens. All at once, arousing her from her +unrefreshing stupor, the firing commenced again, faint and muffled in the +distance, not a single shot this time, but peal after peal following one +another in quick succession. Trembling, she sat upright in bed. The firing +continued. Where was she? The place seemed strange to her; she could not +distinguish the objects in her chamber, which appeared to be filled with dense +clouds of smoke. Then she remembered: the fog must have rolled in from the +near-by river and entered the room through the window. Without, the distant +firing was growing fiercer. She leaped from her bed and ran to the casement to +listen. +</p> + +<p> +Four o’clock was striking from a steeple in Sedan, and day was breaking, +tingeing the purplish mists with a sickly, sinister light. It was impossible to +discern objects; even the college buildings, distant but a few yards, were +undistinguishable. Where could the firing be, <i>mon Dieu</i>! Her first +thought was for her brother Maurice; for the reports were so indistinct that +they seemed to her to come from the north, above the city; then, listening more +attentively, her doubt became certainty; the cannonading was there, before her, +and she trembled for her husband. It was surely at Bazeilles. For a little +time, however, she suffered herself to be cheered by a ray of hope, for there +were moments when the reports seemed to come from the right. Perhaps the +fighting was at Donchery, where she knew that the French had not succeeded in +blowing up the bridge. Then she lapsed into a condition of most horrible +uncertainty; it seemed to be now at Donchery, now at Bazeilles; which, it was +impossible to decide, there was such a ringing, buzzing sensation in her head. +At last the feeling of suspense became so acute that she felt she could not +endure it longer; she <i>must</i> know; every nerve in her body was quivering +with the ungovernable desire, so she threw a shawl over her shoulders and left +the house in quest of news. +</p> + +<p> +When she had descended and was in the street Henriette hesitated a brief +moment, for the little light that was in the east had not yet crept downward +along the weather-blackened house-fronts to the roadway, and in the old city, +shrouded in opaque fog, the darkness still reigned impenetrable. In the +tap-room of a low pot-house in the Rue au Beurre, dimly lighted by a tallow +candle, she saw two drunken Turcos and a woman. It was not until she turned +into the Rue Maqua that she encountered any signs of life: soldiers slinking +furtively along the sidewalk and hugging the walls, deserters probably, on the +lookout for a place in which to hide; a stalwart trooper with despatches, +searching for his captain and knocking thunderously at every door; a group of +fat burghers, trembling with fear lest they had tarried there too long, and +preparing to crowd themselves into one small carriole if so be they might yet +reach Bouillon, in Belgium, whither half the population of Sedan had emigrated +within the last two days. She instinctively turned her steps toward the +Sous-Prefecture, where she might depend on receiving information, and her +desire to avoid meeting acquaintances determined her to take a short cut +through lanes and by-ways. On reaching the Rue du Four and the Rue des +Laboureurs, however, she found an obstacle in her way; the place had been +pre-empted by the ordnance department, and guns, caissons, forges were there in +interminable array, having apparently been parked away in that remote corner +the day before and then forgotten there. There was not so much as a sentry to +guard them. It sent a chill to her heart to see all that artillery lying there +silent and ineffective, sleeping its neglected sleep in the concealment of +those deserted alleys. She was compelled to retrace her steps, therefore, which +she did by passing through the Place du Collège to the Grande-Rue, where in +front of the Hotel de l’Europe she saw a group of orderlies holding the +chargers of some general officers, whose high-pitched voices were audible from +the brilliantly lighted dining room. On the Place du Rivage and the Place +Turenne the crowd was even greater still, composed of anxious groups of +citizens, with women and children interspersed among the struggling, +terror-stricken throng, hurrying in every direction; and there she saw a +general emerge from the Hotel of the Golden Cross, swearing like a pirate, and +spur his horse off up the street at a mad gallop, careless whom he might +overturn. For a moment she seemed about to enter the Hôtel de Ville, then +changed her mind, and taking the Rue du Pont-de-Meuse, pushed on to the +Sous-Prefecture. +</p> + +<p> +Never had Sedan appeared to her in a light so tragically sinister as now, when +she beheld it in the livid, forbidding light of early dawn, enveloped in its +shroud of fog. The houses were lifeless and silent as tombs; many of them had +been empty and abandoned for the last two days, others the terrified owners had +closely locked and barred. Shuddering, the city awoke to the cares and +occupations of the new day; the morning was fraught with chill misery in those +streets, still half deserted, peopled only by a few frightened pedestrians and +those hurrying fugitives, the remnant of the exodus of previous days. Soon the +sun would rise and send down its cheerful light upon the scene; soon the city, +overwhelmed in the swift-rising tide of disaster, would be crowded as it had +never been before. It was half-past five o’clock; the roar of the cannon, +caught and deadened among the tall dingy houses, sounded more faintly in her +ears. +</p> + +<p> +At the Sous-Prefecture Henriette had some acquaintance with the +concierge’s daughter, Rose by name, a pretty little blonde of refined +appearance who was employed in Delaherche’s factory. She made her way at +once to the lodge; the mother was not there, but Rose received her with her +usual amiability. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! dear lady, we are so tired we can scarcely stand; mamma has gone to +lie down and rest a while. Just think! all night long people have been coming +and going, and we have not been able to get a wink of sleep.” +</p> + +<p> +And burning to tell all the wonderful sights that she had been witness to since +the preceding day, she did not wait to be questioned, but ran on volubly with +her narrative. +</p> + +<p> +“As for the marshal, he slept very well, but that poor Emperor! you +can’t think what suffering he has to endure! Yesterday evening, do you +know, I had gone upstairs to help give out the linen, and as I entered the +apartment that adjoins his dressing-room I heard groans, oh, <i>such</i> +groans! just like someone dying. I thought a moment and knew it must be the +Emperor, and I was so frightened I couldn’t move; I just stood and +trembled. It seems he has some terrible complaint that makes him cry out that +way. When there are people around he holds in, but as soon as he is alone it is +too much for him, and he groans and shrieks in a way to make your hair stand on +end.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you know where the fighting is this morning?” asked Henriette, +desiring to check her loquacity. +</p> + +<p> +Rose dismissed the question with a wave of her little hand and went on with her +narrative. +</p> + +<p> +“That made me curious to know more, you see, and I went upstairs four or +five times during the night and listened, and every time it was just the same; +I don’t believe he was quiet an instant all night long, or got a +minute’s sleep. Oh! what a terrible thing it is to suffer like that with +all he has to worry him! for everything is upside down; it is all a most +dreadful mess. Upon my word, I believe those generals are out of their senses; +such ghostly faces and frightened eyes! And people coming all the time, and +doors banging and some men scolding and others crying, and the whole place like +a sailor’s boarding-house; officers drinking from bottles and going to +bed in their boots! The Emperor is the best of the whole lot, and the one who +gives least trouble, in the corner where he conceals himself and his +suffering!” Then, in reply to Henriette’s reiterated question: +“The fighting? there has been fighting at Bazeilles this morning. A +mounted officer brought word of it to the marshal, who went immediately to +notify the Emperor. The marshal has been gone ten minutes, and I +shouldn’t wonder if the Emperor intends to follow him, for they are +dressing him upstairs. I just now saw them combing him and plastering his face +with all sorts of cosmetics.” +</p> + +<p> +But Henriette, having finally learned what she desired to know, rose to go. +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you, Rose. I am in somewhat of a hurry this morning.” +</p> + +<p> +The young girl went with her to the street door, and took leave of her with a +courteous: +</p> + +<p> +“Glad to have been of service to you, Madame Weiss. I know that anything +said to you will go no further.” +</p> + +<p> +Henriette hurried back to her house in the Rue des Voyards. She felt quite +certain that her husband would have returned, and even reflected that he would +be alarmed at not finding her there, and hastened her steps in consequence. As +she drew near the house she raised her eyes in the expectation of seeing him at +the window watching for her, but the window, wide open as she had left it when +she went out, was vacant, and when she had run up the stairs and given a rapid +glance through her three rooms, it was with a sinking heart that she saw they +were untenanted save for the chill fog and continuous roar of the cannonade. +The distant firing was still going on. She went and stood for a moment at the +window; although the encircling wall of vapor was not less dense than it had +been before, she seemed to have a clearer apprehension, now that she had +received oral information, of the details of the conflict raging at Bazeilles, +the grinding sound of the mitrailleuses, the crashing volleys of the French +batteries answering the German batteries in the distance. The reports seemed to +be drawing nearer to the city, the battle to be waxing fiercer and fiercer with +every moment. +</p> + +<p> +Why did not Weiss return? He had pledged himself so faithfully not to outstay +the first attack! And Henriette began to be seriously alarmed, depicting to +herself the various obstacles that might have detained him: perhaps he had not +been able to leave the village, perhaps the roads were blocked or rendered +impassable by the projectiles. It might even be that something had happened +him, but she put the thought aside and would not dwell on it, preferring to +view things on their brighter side and finding in hope her safest mainstay and +reliance. For an instant she harbored the design of starting out and trying to +find her husband, but there were considerations that seemed to render that +course inadvisable: supposing him to have started on his return, what would +become of her should she miss him on the way? and what would be his anxiety +should he come in and find her absent? Her guiding principle in all her +thoughts and actions was her gentle, affectionate devotedness, and she saw +nothing strange or out of the way in a visit to Bazeilles under such +extraordinary circumstances, accustomed as she was, like an affectionate little +woman, to perform her duty in silence and do the thing that she deemed best for +their common interest. Where her husband was, there was her place; that was all +there was about it. +</p> + +<p> +She gave a sudden start and left the window, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Monsieur Delaherche, how could I forget—” +</p> + +<p> +It had just come to her recollection that the cloth manufacturer had also +passed the night at Bazeilles, and if he had returned would be able to give her +the intelligence she wanted. She ran swiftly down the stairs again. In place of +taking the more roundabout way by the Rue des Voyards, she crossed the little +courtyard of her house and entered the passage that conducted to the huge +structure that fronted on the Rue Maqua. As she came out into the great central +garden, paved with flagstones now and retaining of its pristine glories only a +few venerable trees, magnificent century-old elms, she was astonished to see a +sentry mounting guard at the door of a carriage-house; then it occurred to her +that she had been told the day before that the camp chests of the 7th corps had +been deposited there for safe keeping, and it produced a strange impression on +her mind that all the gold, millions, it was said to amount to, should be lying +in that shed while the men for whom it was destined were being killed not far +away. As she was about to ascend the private staircase, however, that conducted +to the apartment of Gilberte, young Madame Delaherche, she experienced another +surprise in an encounter that startled her so that she retraced her steps a +little way, doubtful whether it would not be better to abandon her intention, +and go home again. An officer, a captain, had crossed her path, as noiselessly +as a phantom and vanishing as swiftly, and yet she had had time to recognize +him, having seen him in the past at Gilberte’s house in Charleville, in +the days when she was still Madame Maginot. She stepped back a few steps in the +courtyard and raised her eyes to the two tall windows of the bedroom, the +blinds of which were closed, then dismissed her scruples and entered. +</p> + +<p> +Upon reaching the first floor, availing herself of that privilege of old +acquaintanceship by virtue of which one woman often drops in upon another for +an unceremonious early morning chat, she was about to knock at the door of the +dressing-room, but apparently someone had left the room hastily and failed to +secure the door, so that it was standing ajar, and all she had to do was give +it a push to find herself in the dressing room, whence she passed into the +bedroom. From the lofty ceiling of the latter apartment depended voluminous +curtains of red velvet, protecting the large double bed. The warm, moist air +was fragrant with a faint perfume of Persian lilac, and there was no sound to +break the silence save a gentle, regular respiration, scarcely audible. +</p> + +<p> +“Gilberte!” said Henriette, very softly. +</p> + +<p> +The young woman was sleeping peacefully, and the dim light that entered the +room between the red curtains of the high windows displayed her exquisitely +rounded head resting upon a naked arm and her profusion of beautiful hair +straying in disorder over the pillow. Her lips were parted in a smile. +</p> + +<p> +“Gilberte!” +</p> + +<p> +She slightly moved and stretched her arms, without opening her eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes; good-by. Oh! please—” Then, raising her head and +recognizing Henriette: “What, is it you! How late is it?” +</p> + +<p> +When she learned that it had not yet struck six she seemed disconcerted, +assuming a sportive air to hide her embarrassment, saying it was unfair to come +waking people up at such an hour. Then, to her friend, questioning her about +her husband, she made answer: +</p> + +<p> +“Why, he has not returned; I don’t look for him much before nine +o’clock. What makes you so eager to see him at this hour of the +morning?” +</p> + +<p> +Henriette’s voice had a trace of sternness in it as she answered, seeing +the other so smiling, so dull of comprehension in her happy waking. +</p> + +<p> +“I tell you there has been fighting all the morning at Bazeilles, and I +am anxious about my husband.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, my dear,” exclaimed Gilberte, “I assure you there is not +the slightest reason for your feeling so. My husband is so prudent that he +would have been home long ago had there been any danger. Until you see him back +here you may rest easy, take my word for it.” +</p> + +<p> +Henriette was struck by the justness of the argument; Delaherche, it was true, +was distinctly not a man to expose himself uselessly. She was reassured, and +went and drew the curtains and threw back the blinds; the tawny light from +without, where the sun was beginning to pierce the fog with his golden +javelins, streamed in a bright flood into the apartment. One of the windows was +part way open, and in the soft air of the spacious bedroom, but now so close +and stuffy, the two women could hear the sound of the guns. Gilberte, half +recumbent, her elbow resting on the pillow, gazed out upon the sky with her +lustrous, vacant eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“So, then, they are fighting,” she murmured. Her chemise had +slipped downward, exposing a rosy, rounded shoulder, half hidden beneath the +wandering raven tresses, and her person exhaled a subtle, penetrating odor, the +odor of love. “They are fighting, so early in the morning, <i>mon +Dieu!</i> It would be ridiculous if it were not for the horror of it.” +</p> + +<p> +But Henriette, in looking about the room, had caught sight of a pair of +gauntlets, the gloves of a man, lying forgotten on a small table, and she +started perceptibly. Gilberte blushed deeply, and extending her arms with a +conscious, caressing movement, drew her friend to her and rested her head upon +her bosom. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” she almost whispered, “I saw that you noticed it. +Darling, you must not judge me too severely. He is an old friend; I told you +all about it at Charleville, long ago, you remember.” Her voice sank +lower still; there was something that sounded very like a laugh of satisfaction +in her tender tones. “He pleaded so with me yesterday that I would see +him just once more. Just think, this morning he is in action; he may be dead by +this. How could I refuse him?” It was all so heroic and so charming, the +contrast was so delicious between war’s stern reality and tender +sentiment; thoughtless as a linnet, she smiled again, notwithstanding her +confusion. Never could she have found it in her heart to drive him from her +door, when circumstances all were propitious for the interview. “Do you +condemn me?” +</p> + +<p> +Henriette had listened to her confidences with a very grave face. Such things +surprised her, for she could not understand them; it must be that she was +constituted differently from other women. Her heart that morning was with her +husband, her brother, down there where the battle was raging. How was it +possible that anyone could sleep so peacefully and be so gay and cheerful when +the loved ones were in peril? +</p> + +<p> +“But think of your husband, my dear, and of that poor young man as well. +Does not your heart yearn to be with them? You do not reflect that their +lifeless forms may be brought in and laid before your eyes at any +moment.” +</p> + +<p> +Gilberte raised her adorable bare arm before her face to shield her vision from +the frightful picture. +</p> + +<p> +“O Heaven! what is that you say? It is cruel of you to destroy all the +pleasure of my morning in this way. No, no; I won’t think of such things. +They are too mournful.” +</p> + +<p> +Henriette could not refrain from smiling in spite of her anxiety. She was +thinking of the days of their girlhood, and how Gilberte’s father, +Captain de Vineuil, an old naval officer who had been made collector of customs +at Charleville when his wounds had incapacitated him for active service, +hearing his daughter cough and fearing for her the fate of his young wife, who +had been snatched from his arms by that terrible disease, consumption, had sent +her to live at a farm-house near Chêne-Populeux. The little maid was not nine +years old, and already she was a consummate actress—a perfect type of the +village coquette, queening it over her playmates, tricked out in what old +finery she could lay hands on, adorning herself with bracelets and tiaras made +from the silver paper wrappings of the chocolate. She had not changed a bit +when, later, at the age of twenty, she married Maginot, the inspector of woods +and forests. Mézières, a dark, gloomy town, surrounded by ramparts, was not to +her taste, and she continued to live at Charleville, where the gay, generous +life, enlivened by many festivities, suited her better. Her father was dead, +and with a husband whom, by reason of his inferior social position, her friends +and acquaintances treated with scant courtesy, she was absolutely mistress of +her own actions. She did not escape the censure of the stern moralists who +inhabit our provincial cities, and in those days was credited with many lovers; +but of the gay throng of officers who, thanks to her father’s old +connection and her kinship to Colonel de Vineuil, disported themselves in her +drawing-room, Captain Beaudoin was the only one who had really produced an +impression. She was light and frivolous—nothing more—adoring +pleasure and living entirely in the present, without the least trace of +perverse inclination; and if she accepted the captain’s attentions, it is +pretty certain that she did it out of good-nature and love of admiration. +</p> + +<p> +“You did very wrong to see him again,” Henriette finally said, in +her matter-of-fact way. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! my dear, since I could not possibly do otherwise, and it was only +for just that once. You know very well I would die rather than deceive my new +husband.” +</p> + +<p> +She spoke with much feeling, and seemed distressed to see her friend shake her +head disapprovingly. They dropped the subject, and clasped each other in an +affectionate embrace, notwithstanding their diametrically different natures. +Each could hear the beating of the other’s heart, and they might have +understood the tongues those organs spoke—one, the slave of pleasure, +wasting and squandering all that was best in herself; the other, with the mute +heroism of a lofty soul, devoting herself to a single ennobling affection. +</p> + +<p> +“But hark! how the cannon are roaring,” Gilberte presently +exclaimed. “I must make haste and dress.” +</p> + +<p> +The reports sounded more distinctly in the silent room now that their +conversation had ceased. Leaving her bed, the young woman accepted the +assistance of her friend, not caring to summon her maid, and rapidly made her +toilet for the day, in order that she might be ready to go downstairs should +she be needed there. As she was completing the arrangement of her hair there +was a knock at the door, and, recognizing the voice of the elder Madame +Delaherche, she hastened to admit her. +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly, dear mother, you may come in.” +</p> + +<p> +With the thoughtlessness that was part of her nature, she allowed the old lady +to enter without having first removed the gauntlets from the table. It was in +vain that Henriette darted forward to seize them and throw them behind a chair. +Madame Delaherche stood glaring for some seconds at the spot where they had +been with an expression on her face as if she were slowly suffocating. Then her +glance wandered involuntarily from object to object in the room, stopping +finally at the great red-curtained bed, the coverings thrown back in disorder. +</p> + +<p> +“I see that Madame Weiss has disturbed your slumbers. Then you were able +to sleep, daughter?” +</p> + +<p> +It was plain that she had had another purpose in coming there than to make that +speech. Ah, that marriage that her son had insisted on contracting, contrary to +her wish, at the mature age of fifty, after twenty years of joyless married +life with a shrewish, bony wife; he, who had always until then deferred so to +her will, now swayed only by his passion for this gay young widow, lighter than +thistle-down! She had promised herself to keep watch over the present, and +there was the past coming back to plague her. But ought she to speak? Her life +in the household was one of silent reproach and protest; she kept herself +almost constantly imprisoned in her chamber, devoting herself rigidly to the +observances of her austere religion. Now, however, the wrong was so flagrant +that she resolved to speak to her son. +</p> + +<p> +Gilberte blushingly replied, without an excessive manifestation of +embarrassment, however: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, yes, I had a few hours of refreshing sleep. You know that Jules has +not returned—” +</p> + +<p> +Madame Delaherche interrupted her with a grave nod of her head. Ever since the +artillery had commenced to roar she had been watching eagerly for her +son’s return, but she was a Spartan mother, and concealed her gnawing +anxiety under a cloak of brave silence. And then she remembered what was the +object of her visit there. +</p> + +<p> +“Your uncle, the colonel, has sent the regimental surgeon with a note in +pencil, to ask if we will allow them to establish a hospital here. He knows +that we have abundance of space in the factory, and I have already authorized +the gentlemen to make use of the courtyard and the big drying-room. But you +should go down in person—” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, at once, at once!” exclaimed Henriette, hastening toward the +door. “We will do what we can to help.” +</p> + +<p> +Gilberte also displayed much enthusiasm for her new occupation as nurse; she +barely took the time to throw a lace scarf over her head, and the three women +went downstairs. When they reached the bottom and stood in the spacious +vestibule, looking out through the main entrance, of which the leaves had been +thrown wide back, they beheld a crowd collected in the street before the house. +A low-hung carriage was advancing slowly along the roadway, a sort of carriole, +drawn by a single horse, which a lieutenant of zouaves was leading by the +bridle. They took it to be a wounded man that they were bringing to them, the +first of their patients. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes! This is the place; this way!” +</p> + +<p> +But they were quickly undeceived. The sufferer recumbent in the carriole was +Marshal MacMahon, severely wounded in the hip, who, his hurt having been +provisionally cared for in the cottage of a gardener, was now being taken to +the Sous-Prefecture. He was bareheaded and partially divested of his clothing, +and the gold embroidery on his uniform was tarnished with dust and blood. He +spoke no word, but had raised his head from the pillow where it lay and was +looking about him with a sorrowful expression, and perceiving the three women +where they stood, wide eyed with horror, their joined hands resting on their +bosom, in presence of that great calamity, the whole army stricken in the +person of its chief at the very beginning of the conflict, he slightly bowed +his head, with a faint, paternal smile. A few of those about him removed their +hats; others, who had no time for such idle ceremony, were circulating the +report of General Ducrot’s appointment to the command of the army. It was +half-past seven o’clock. +</p> + +<p> +“And what of the Emperor?” Henriette inquired of a bookseller, who +was standing at his door. +</p> + +<p> +“He left the city near an hour ago,” replied the neighbor. “I +was standing by and saw him pass out at the Balan gate. There is a rumor that +his head was taken off by a cannon ball.” +</p> + +<p> +But this made the grocer across the street furious. “Hold your +tongue,” he shouted, “it is an infernal lie! None but the brave +will leave their bones there to-day!” +</p> + +<p> +When near the Place du Collège the marshal’s carriole was lost to sight +in the gathering crowd, among whose numbers the most strange and contradictory +reports from the field of battle were now beginning to circulate. The fog was +clearing; the streets were bright with sunshine. +</p> + +<p> +A hail, in no gentle terms, was heard proceeding from the courtyard: “Now +then, ladies, here is where you are wanted, not outside!” +</p> + +<p> +They all three hastened inside and found themselves in presence of Major +Bouroche, who had thrown his uniform coat upon the floor, in a corner of the +room, and donned a great white apron. Above the broad expanse of, as yet, +unspotted white, his blazing, leonine eyes and enormous head, with shock of +harsh, bristling hair, seemed to exhale energy and determination. So terrible +did he appear to them that the women were his most humble servants from the +very start, obedient to his every sign, treading on one another to anticipate +his wishes. +</p> + +<p> +“There is nothing here that is needed. Get me some linen; try and see if +you can’t find some more mattresses; show my men where the pump +is—” +</p> + +<p> +And they ran as if their life was at stake to do his bidding; were so active +that they seemed to be ubiquitous. +</p> + +<p> +The factory was admirably adapted for a hospital. The drying-room was a +particularly noticeable feature, a vast apartment with numerous and lofty +windows for light and ventilation, where they could put in a hundred beds and +yet have room to spare, and at one side was a shed that seemed to have been +built there especially for the convenience of the operators: three long tables +had been brought in, the pump was close at hand, and a small grass-plot +adjacent might serve as ante-chamber for the patients while awaiting their +turn. And the handsome old elms, with their deliciously cool shade, roofed the +spot in most agreeably. +</p> + +<p> +Bouroche had considered it would be best to establish himself in Sedan at the +commencement, foreseeing the dreadful slaughter and the inevitable panic that +would sooner or later drive the troops to the shelter of the ramparts. All that +he had deemed it necessary to leave with the regiment was two flying ambulances +and some “first aids,” that were to send him in the casualties as +rapidly as possible after applying the primary dressings. The details of +litter-bearers were all out there, whose duty it was to pick up the wounded +under fire, and with them were the ambulance wagons and <i>fourgons</i> of the +medical train. The two assistant-surgeons and three hospital stewards whom he +had retained, leaving two assistants on the field, would doubtless be +sufficient to perform what operations were necessary. He had also a corps of +dressers under him. But he was not gentle in manner and language, for all he +did was done impulsively, zealously, with all his heart and soul. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Tonnerre de Dieu!</i> how do you suppose we are going to distinguish +the cases from one another when they begin to come in presently? Take a piece +of charcoal and number each bed with a big figure on the wall overhead, and +place those mattresses closer together, do you hear? We can strew some straw on +the floor in that corner if it becomes necessary.” +</p> + +<p> +The guns were barking, preparing his work for him; he knew that at any moment +now the first carriage might drive up and discharge its load of maimed and +bleeding flesh, and he hastened to get all in readiness in the great, bare +room. Outside in the shed the preparations were of another nature: the chests +were opened and their contents arranged in order on a table, packages of lint, +bandages, compresses, rollers, splints for fractured limbs, while on another +table, alongside a great jar of cerate and a bottle of chloroform, were the +surgical cases with their blood-curdling array of glittering instruments, +probes, forceps, bistouries, scalpels, scissors, saws, an arsenal of implements +of every imaginable shape adapted to pierce, cut, slice, rend, crush. But there +was a deficient supply of basins. +</p> + +<p> +“You must have pails, pots, jars about the house—something that +will hold water. We can’t work besmeared with blood all day, that’s +certain. And sponges, try to get me some sponges.” +</p> + +<p> +Madame Delaherche hurried away and returned, followed by three women bearing a +supply of the desired vessels. Gilberte, standing by the table where the +instruments were laid out, summoned Henriette to her side by a look and pointed +to them with a little shudder. They grasped each other’s hand and stood +for a moment without speaking, but their mute clasp was eloquent of the solemn +feeling of terror and pity that filled both their souls. And yet there was a +difference, for one retained, even in her distress, the involuntary smile of +her bright youth, while in the eyes of the other, pale as death, was the grave +earnestness of the heart which, one love lost, can never love again. +</p> + +<p> +“How terrible it must be, dear, to have an arm or leg cut off!” +</p> + +<p> +“Poor fellows!” +</p> + +<p> +Bouroche had just finished placing a mattress on each of the three tables, +covering them carefully with oil-cloth, when the sound of horses’ hoofs +was heard outside and the first ambulance wagon rolled into the court. There +were ten men in it, seated on the lateral benches, only slightly wounded; two +or three of them carrying their arm in a sling, but the majority hurt about the +head. They alighted with but little assistance, and the inspection of their +cases commenced forthwith. +</p> + +<p> +One of them, scarcely more than a boy, had been shot through the shoulder, and +as Henriette was tenderly assisting him to draw off his greatcoat, an operation +that elicited cries of pain, she took notice of the number of his regiment. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, you belong to the 106th! Are you in Captain Beaudoin’s +company?” +</p> + +<p> +No, he belonged to Captain Bonnaud’s company, but for all that he was +well acquainted with Corporal Macquart and felt pretty certain that his squad +had not been under fire as yet. The tidings, meager as they were, sufficed to +remove a great load from the young woman’s heart: her brother was alive +and well; if now her husband would only return, as she was expecting every +moment he would do, her mind would be quite at rest. +</p> + +<p> +At that moment, just as Henriette raised her head to listen to the cannonade, +which was then roaring with increased viciousness, she was thunderstruck to see +Delaherche standing only a few steps away in the middle of a group of men, to +whom he was telling the story of the frightful dangers he had encountered in +getting from Bazeilles to Sedan. How did he happen to be there? She had not +seen him come in. She darted toward him. +</p> + +<p> +“Is not my husband with you?” +</p> + +<p> +But Delaherche, who was just then replying to the fond questions of his wife +and mother, was in no haste to answer. +</p> + +<p> +“Wait, wait a moment.” And resuming his narrative: “Twenty +times between Bazeilles and Balan I just missed being killed. It was a storm, a +regular hurricane, of shot and shell! And I saw the Emperor, too. Oh! but he is +a brave man!—And after leaving Balan I ran—” +</p> + +<p> +Henriette shook him by the arm. +</p> + +<p> +“My husband?” +</p> + +<p> +“Weiss? why, he stayed behind there, Weiss did.” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean, behind there?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, yes; he picked up the musket of a dead soldier, and is fighting +away with the best of them.” +</p> + +<p> +“He is fighting, you say?—and why?” +</p> + +<p> +“He must be out of his head, I think. He would not come with me, and of +course I had to leave him.” +</p> + +<p> +Henriette gazed at him fixedly, with wide-dilated eyes. For a moment no one +spoke; then in a calm voice she declared her resolution. +</p> + +<p> +“It is well; I will go to him.” +</p> + +<p> +What, she, go to him? But it was impossible, it was preposterous! Delaherche +had more to say of his hurricane of shot and shell. Gilberte seized her by the +wrists to detain her, while Madame Delaherche used all her persuasive powers to +convince her of the folly of the mad undertaking. In the same gentle, +determined tone she repeated: +</p> + +<p> +“It is useless; I will go to him.” +</p> + +<p> +She would only wait to adjust upon her head the lace scarf that Gilberte had +been wearing and which the latter insisted she should accept. In the hope that +his offer might cause her to abandon her resolve Delaherche declared that he +would go with her at least as far as the Balan gate, but just then he caught +sight of the sentry, who, in all the turmoil and confusion of the time, had +been pacing uninterruptedly up and down before the building that contained the +treasure chests of the 7th corps, and suddenly he remembered, was alarmed, went +to give a look and assure himself that the millions were there still. In the +meantime Henriette had reached the portico and was about to pass out into the +street. +</p> + +<p> +“Wait for me, won’t you? Upon my word, you are as mad as your +husband!” +</p> + +<p> +Another ambulance had driven up, moreover, and they had to wait to let it pass +in. It was smaller than the other, having but two wheels, and the two men whom +it contained, both severely wounded, rested on stretchers placed upon the +floor. The first one whom the attendants took out, using the most tender +precaution, had one hand broken and his side torn by a splinter of shell; he +was a mass of bleeding flesh. The second had his left leg shattered; and +Bouroche, giving orders to extend the latter on one of the oil-cloth-covered +mattresses, proceeded forthwith to operate on him, surrounded by the staring, +pushing crowd of dressers and assistants. Madame Delaherche and Gilberte were +seated near the grass-plot, employed in rolling bandages. +</p> + +<p> +In the street outside Delaherche had caught up with Henriette. +</p> + +<p> +“Come, my dear Madame Weiss, abandon this foolhardy undertaking. How can +you expect to find Weiss in all that confusion? Most likely he is no longer +there by this time; he is probably making his way home through the fields. I +assure you that Bazeilles is inaccessible.” +</p> + +<p> +But she did not even listen to him, only increasing her speed, and had now +entered the Rue de Menil, her shortest way to the Balan gate. It was nearly +nine o’clock, and Sedan no longer wore the forbidding, funereal aspect of +the morning, when it awoke to grope and shudder amid the despair and gloom of +its black fog. The shadows of the houses were sharply defined upon the pavement +in the bright sunlight, the streets were filled with an excited, anxious +throng, through which orderlies and staff officers were constantly pushing +their way at a gallop. The chief centers of attraction were the straggling +soldiers who, even at this early hour of the day, had begun to stream into the +city, minus arms and equipments, some of them slightly wounded, others in an +extreme condition of nervous excitation, shouting and gesticulating like +lunatics. And yet the place would have had very much its every-day aspect, had +it not been for the tight-closed shutters of the shops, the lifeless +house-fronts, where not a blind was open. Then there was the cannonade, that +never-ceasing cannonade, beneath which earth and rocks, walls and foundations, +even to the very slates upon the roofs, shook and trembled. +</p> + +<p> +What between the damage that his reputation as a man of bravery and politeness +would inevitably suffer should he desert Henriette in her time of trouble, and +his disinclination to again face the iron hail on the Bazeilles road, +Delaherche was certainly in a very unpleasant predicament. Just as they reached +the Balan gate a bevy of mounted officers, returning to the city, suddenly came +riding up, and they were parted. There was a dense crowd of people around the +gate, waiting for news. It was all in vain that he ran this way and that, +looking for the young woman in the throng; she must have been beyond the walls +by that time, speeding along the road, and pocketing his gallantry for use on +some future occasion, he said to himself aloud: +</p> + +<p> +“Very well, so much the worse for her; it was too idiotic.” +</p> + +<p> +Then the manufacturer strolled about the city, bourgeois-like desirous to lose +no portion of the spectacle, and at the same time tormented by a constantly +increasing feeling of anxiety. How was it all to end? and would not the city +suffer heavily should the army be defeated? The questions were hard ones to +answer; he could not give a satisfactory solution to the conundrum when so much +depended on circumstances, but none the less he was beginning to feel very +uneasy for his factory and house in the Rue Maqua, whence he had already taken +the precaution to remove his securities and valuables and bury them in a place +of safety. He dropped in at the Hôtel de Ville, found the Municipal Council +sitting in permanent session, and loitered away a couple of hours there without +hearing any fresh news, unless that affairs outside the walls were beginning to +look very threatening. The army, under the pushing and hauling process, pushed +back to the rear by General Ducrot during the hour and a half while the command +was in his hands, hauled forward to the front again by de Wimpffen, his +successor, knew not where to yield obedience, and the entire lack of plan and +competent leadership, the incomprehensible vacillation, the abandonment of +positions only to retake them again at terrible cost of life, all these things +could not fail to end in ruin and disaster. +</p> + +<p> +From there Delaherche pushed forward to the Sous-Prefecture to ascertain +whether the Emperor had returned yet from the field of battle. The only tidings +he gleaned here were of Marshal MacMahon, who was said to be resting +comfortably, his wound, which was not dangerous, having been dressed by a +surgeon. About eleven o’clock, however, as he was again going the rounds, +his progress was arrested for a moment in the Grande-Rue, opposite the Hotel de +l’Europe, by a sorry cavalcade of dust-stained horsemen, whose jaded nags +were moving at a walk, and at their head he recognized the Emperor, who was +returning after having spent four hours on the battle-field. It was plain that +death would have nothing to do with him. The big drops of anguish had washed +the rouge from off those painted cheeks, the waxed mustache had lost its +stiffness and drooped over the mouth, and in that ashen face, in those dim +eyes, was the stupor of one in his last agony. One of the officers alighted in +front of the hotel and proceeded to give some friends, who were collected +there, an account of their route, from la Moncelle to Givonne, up the entire +length of the little valley among the soldiers of the 1st corps, who had +already been pressed back by the Saxons across the little stream to the right +bank; and they had returned by the sunken road of the Fond de Givonne, which +was even then in such an encumbered condition that had the Emperor desired to +make his way to the front again he would have found the greatest difficulty in +doing so. Besides, what would it have availed? +</p> + +<p> +As Delaherche was drinking in these particulars with greedy ears a loud +explosion shook the quarter. It was a shell, which had demolished a chimney in +the Rue Sainte-Barbe, near the citadel. There was a general rush and scramble; +men swore and women shrieked. He had flattened himself against the wall, when +another explosion broke the windows in a house not far away. The consequences +would be dreadful if they should shell Sedan; he made his way back to the Rue +Maqua on a keen run, and was seized by such an imperious desire to learn the +truth that he did not pause below stairs, but hurried to the roof, where there +was a terrace that commanded a view of the city and its environs. +</p> + +<p> +A glance of the situation served to reassure him; the German fire was not +directed against the city; the batteries at Frenois and la Marfée were shelling +the Plateau de l’Algérie over the roofs of the houses, and now that his +alarm had subsided he could even watch with a certain degree of admiration the +flight of the projectiles as they sailed over Sedan in a wide, majestic curve, +leaving behind them a faint trail of smoke upon the air, like gigantic birds, +invisible to mortal eye and to be traced only by the gray plumage shed by their +pinions. At first it seemed to him quite evident that what damage had been done +so far was the result of random practice by the Prussian gunners: they were not +bombarding the city yet; then, upon further consideration, he was of opinion +that their firing was intended as a response to the ineffectual fire of the few +guns mounted on the fortifications of the place. Turning to the north he looked +down from his position upon the extended and complex system of defenses of the +citadel, the frowning curtains black with age, the green expanses of the turfed +glacis, the stern bastions that reared their heads at geometrically accurate +angles, prominent among them the three cyclopean salients, the Ecossais, the +Grand Jardin, and la Rochette, while further to the west, in extension of the +line, were Fort Nassau and Fort Palatinat, above the faubourg of Menil. The +sight produced in him a melancholy impression of immensity and futility. Of +what avail were they now against the powerful modern guns with their immense +range? Besides, the works were not manned; cannon, ammunition, men were +wanting. Some three weeks previously the governor had invited the citizens to +organize and form a National Guard, and these volunteers were now doing duty as +gunners; and thus it was that there were three guns in service at Palatinat, +while at the Porte de Paris there may have been a half dozen. As they had only +seven or eight rounds to each gun, however, the men husbanded their ammunition, +limiting themselves to a shot every half hour, and that only as a sort of salve +to their self-respect, for none of their missiles reached the enemy; all were +lost in the meadows opposite them. Hence the enemy’s batteries, +disdainful of such small game, contemptuously pitched a shell at them from time +to time, out of charity, as it were. +</p> + +<p> +Those batteries over across the river were objects of great interest to +Delaherche. He was eagerly scanning the heights of la Marfée with his naked +eye, when all at once he thought of the spy-glass with which he sometimes +amused himself by watching the doings of his neighbors from the terrace. He ran +downstairs and got it, returned and placed it in position, and as he was slowly +sweeping the horizon and trees, fields, houses came within his range of vision, +he lighted on that group of uniforms, at the angle of a pine wood, over the +main battery at Frenois, of which Weiss had caught a glimpse from Bazeilles. To +him, however, thanks to the excellence of his glass, it would have been no +difficult matter to count the number of officers of the staff, so distinctly he +made them out. Some of them were reclining carelessly on the grass, others were +conversing in little groups, and in front of them all stood a solitary figure, +a spare, well-proportioned man to appearances, in an unostentatious uniform, +who yet asserted in some indefinable way his masterhood. It was the Prussian +King, scarce half finger high, one of those miniature leaden toys that afford +children such delight. Although he was not certain of this identity until later +on the manufacturer found himself, by reason of some inexplicable attraction, +constantly returning to that diminutive puppet, whose face, scarce larger than +a pin’s head, was but a pale point against the immense blue sky. +</p> + +<p> +It was not midday yet, and since nine o’clock the master had been +watching the movements, inexorable as fate, of his armies. Onward, ever onward, +they swept, by roads traced for them in advance, completing the circle, slowly +but surely closing in and enveloping Sedan in their living wall of men and +guns. The army on his left, that had come up across the level plain of +Donchery, was debouching still from the pass of Saint-Albert and, leaving +Saint-Menges in its rear, was beginning to show its heads of columns at +Fleigneux; and, in the rear of the XIth corps, then sharply engaged with +General Douay’s force, he could discern the Vth corps, availing itself of +the shelter of the woods and advancing stealthily on Illy, while battery upon +battery came wheeling into position, an ever-lengthening line of thundering +guns, until the horizon was an unbroken ring of fire. On the right the army was +now in undisputed possession of the valley of the Givonne; the XIIth corps had +taken la Moncelle, the Guards had forced the passage of the stream at Daigny, +compelling General Ducrot to seek the protection of the wood of la Garenne, and +were pushing up the right bank, likewise in full march upon the plateau of +Illy. Their task was almost done; one effort more, and up there at the north, +among those barren fields, on the very verge of the dark forests of the +Ardennes, the Crown Prince of Prussia would join hands with the Crown Prince of +Saxony. To the south of Sedan the village of Bazeilles was lost to sight in the +dense smoke of its burning houses, in the clouds of dun vapor that rose above +the furious conflict. +</p> + +<p> +And tranquilly, ever since the morning, the King had been watching and waiting. +An hour yet, two hours, it might be three, it mattered not; it was only a +question of time. Wheel and pinion, cog and lever, were working in harmony, the +great engine of destruction was in motion, and soon would have run its course. +In the center of the immense horizon, beneath the deep vault of sunlit sky, the +bounds of the battlefield were ever becoming narrower, the black swarms were +converging, closing in on doomed Sedan. There were fiery reflexions in the +windows of the city; to the left, in the direction of the Faubourg de la +Cassine, it seemed as if a house was burning. And outside the circle of flame +and smoke, in the fields no longer trodden by armed men, over by Donchery, over +by Carignan, peace, warm and luminous, lay upon the land; the bright waters of +the Meuse, the lusty trees rejoicing in their strength, the broad, verdant +meadows, the fertile, well-kept farms, all rested peacefully beneath the fervid +noonday sun. +</p> + +<p> +Turning to his staff, the King briefly called for information upon some point. +It was the royal will to direct each move on the gigantic chessboard; to hold +in the hollow of his hand the hosts who looked to him for guidance. At his +left, a flock of swallows, affrighted by the noise of the cannonade, rose high +in air, wheeled, and vanished in the south. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap12"></a>IV.</h2> + +<p> +Between the city and Balan, Henriette got over the ground at a good, round +pace. It was not yet nine o’clock; the broad footpath, bordered by +gardens and pretty cottages, was as yet comparatively free, although as she +approached the village it began to be more and more obstructed by flying +citizens and moving troops. When she saw a great surge of the human tide +advancing on her she hugged the walls and house-fronts, and by dint of address +and perseverance slipped through, somehow. The fold of black lace that half +concealed her fair hair and small, pale face, the sober gown that enveloped her +slight form, made her an inconspicuous object among the throng; she went her +way unnoticed by the by-passers, and nothing retarded her light, silent steps. +</p> + +<p> +At Balan, however, she found the road blocked by a regiment of infanterie de +marine. It was a compact mass of men, drawn up under the tall trees that +concealed them from the enemy’s observation, awaiting orders. She raised +herself on tiptoe, and could not see the end; still, she made herself as small +as she could and attempted to worm her way through. The men shoved her with +their elbows, and the butts of their muskets made acquaintance with her ribs; +when she had advanced a dozen paces there was a chorus of shouts and angry +protests. A captain turned on her and roughly cried: +</p> + +<p> +“Hi, there, you woman! are you crazy? Where are you going?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am going to Bazeilles.” +</p> + +<p> +“What, to Bazeilles?” +</p> + +<p> +There was a shout of laughter. The soldiers pointed at her with their fingers; +she was the object of their witticisms. The captain, also, greatly amused by +the incident, had to have his joke. +</p> + +<p> +“You should take us along with you, my little dear, if you are going to +Bazeilles. We were there a short while ago, and I am in hope that we shall go +back there, but I can tell you that the temperature of the place is none too +cool.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am going to Bazeilles to look for my husband,” Henriette +declared, in her gentle voice, while her blue eyes shone with undiminished +resolution. +</p> + +<p> +The laughter ceased; an old sergeant extricated her from the crowd that had +collected around her, and forced her to retrace her steps. +</p> + +<p> +“My poor child, you see it is impossible to get through. Bazeilles is no +place for you. You will find your husband by and by. Come, listen to +reason!” +</p> + +<p> +She had to obey, and stood aside beneath the trees, raising herself on her toes +at every moment to peer before her, firm in her resolve to continue her journey +as soon as she should be allowed to pass. She learned the condition of affairs +from the conversation that went on around her. Some officers were criticising +with great acerbity the order for the abandonment of Bazeilles, which had +occurred at a quarter-past eight, at the time when General Ducrot, taking over +the command from the marshal, had considered it best to concentrate the troops +on the plateau of Illy. What made matters worse was, that the valley of the +Givonne having fallen into the hands of the Germans through the premature +retirement of the 1st corps, the 12th corps, which was even then sustaining a +vigorous attack in front, was overlapped on its left flank. Now that General de +Wimpffen had relieved General Ducrot, it seemed that the original plan was to +be carried out. Orders had been received to retake Bazeilles at every cost, and +drive the Bavarians into the Meuse. And so, in the ranks of that regiment that +had been halted there in full retreat at the entrance of the village and +ordered to resume the offensive, there was much bitter feeling, and angry words +were rife. Was ever such stupidity heard of? to make them abandon a position, +and immediately tell them to turn round and retake it from the enemy! They were +willing enough to risk their life in the cause, but no one cared to throw it +away for nothing! +</p> + +<p> +A body of mounted men dashed up the street and General de Wimpffen appeared +among them, and raising himself erect on his stirrups, with flashing eyes, he +shouted, in ringing tones: +</p> + +<p> +“Friends, we cannot retreat; it would be ruin to us all. And if we do +have to retreat, it shall be on Carignan, and not on Mézières. But we shall be +victorious! You beat the enemy this morning; you will beat them again!” +</p> + +<p> +He galloped off on a road that conducted to la Moncelle. It was said that there +had been a violent altercation between him and General Ducrot, each upholding +his own plan, and decrying the plan of the other—one asserting that +retreat by way of Mézières had been impracticable all that morning; the other +predicting that, unless they fell back on Illy, the army would be surrounded +before night. And there was a great deal of bitter recrimination, each taxing +the other with ignorance of the country and of the situation of the troops. The +pity of it was that both were right. +</p> + +<p> +But Henriette, meantime, had made an encounter that caused her to forget her +project for a moment. In some poor outcasts; stranded by the wayside, she had +recognized a family of honest weavers from Bazeilles, father, mother, and three +little girls, of whom the largest was only nine years old. They were utterly +disheartened and forlorn, and so weary and footsore that they could go no +further, and had thrown themselves down at the foot of a wall. +</p> + +<p> +“Alas! dear lady,” the wife and mother said to Henriette, “we +have lost our all. Our house—you know where our house stood on the Place +de l’Église—well, a shell came and burned it. Why we and the +children did not stay and share its fate I do not know—” +</p> + +<p> +At these words the three little ones began to cry and sob afresh, while the +mother, in distracted language, gave further details of the catastrophe. +</p> + +<p> +“The loom, I saw it burn like seasoned kindling wood, and the bed, the +chairs and tables, they blazed like so much straw. And even the +clock—yes, the poor old clock that I tried to save and could not.” +</p> + +<p> +“My God! my God!” the man exclaimed, his eyes swimming with tears, +“what is to become of us?” +</p> + +<p> +Henriette endeavored to comfort them, but it was in a voice that quavered +strangely. +</p> + +<p> +“You have been preserved to each other, you are safe and unharmed; your +three little girls are left you. What reason have you to complain?” +</p> + +<p> +Then she proceeded to question them to learn how matters stood in Bazeilles, +whether they had seen her husband, in what state they had left her house, but +in their half-dazed condition they gave conflicting answers. No, they had not +seen M. Weiss. One of the little girls, however, declared that she had seen +him, and that he was lying on the ground with a great hole in his head, whereon +the father gave her a box on the ear, bidding her hold her tongue and not tell +such lies to the lady. As for the house, they could say with certainty that it +was intact at the time of their flight; they even remembered to have observed, +as they passed it, that the doors and windows were tightly secured, as if it +was quite deserted. At that time, moreover, the only foothold that the +Bavarians had secured for themselves was in the Place de l’Église, and to +carry the village they would have to fight for it, street by street, house by +house. They must have been gaining ground since then, though; all Bazeilles was +in flames by that time, like enough, and not a wall left standing, thanks to +the fierceness of the assailants and the resolution of the defenders. And so +the poor creatures went on, with trembling, affrighted gestures, evoking the +horrid sights their eyes had seen and telling their dreadful tale of slaughter +and conflagration and corpses lying in heaps upon the ground. +</p> + +<p> +“But my husband?” Henriette asked again. +</p> + +<p> +They made no answer, only continued to cover their face with their hands and +sob. Her cruel anxiety, as she stood there erect, with no outward sign of +weakness, was only evinced by a slight quivering of the lips. What was she to +believe? Vainly she told herself the child was mistaken; her mental vision +pictured her husband lying there dead before her in the street with a bullet +wound in the head. Again, that house, so securely locked and bolted, was +another source of alarm; why was it so? was he no longer in it? The conviction +that he was dead sent an icy chill to her heart; but perhaps he was only +wounded, perhaps he was breathing still; and so sudden and imperious was the +need she felt of flying to his side that she would again have attempted to +force her passage through the troops had not the bugles just then sounded the +order for them to advance. +</p> + +<p> +The regiment was largely composed of raw, half-drilled recruits from Toulon, +Brest, and Rochefort, men who had never fired a shot, but all that morning they +had fought with a bravery and firmness that would not have disgraced veteran +troops. They had not shown much aptitude for marching on the road from Rheims +to Mouzon, weighted as they were with their unaccustomed burdens, but when they +came to face the enemy their discipline and sense of duty made themselves felt, +and notwithstanding the righteous anger that was in their hearts, the bugle had +but to sound and they returned to brave the fire and encounter the foe. Three +several times they had been promised a division to support them; it never came. +They felt that they were deserted, sacrificed; it was the offering of their +life that was demanded of them by those who, having first made them evacuate +the place, were now sending them back into the fiery furnace of Bazeilles. And +they knew it, and they gave their life, freely, without a murmur, closing up +their ranks and leaving the shelter of the trees to meet afresh the storm of +shell and bullets. +</p> + +<p> +Henriette gave a deep sigh of relief; at last they were about to move! She +followed them, with the hope that she might enter the village unperceived in +their rear, prepared to run with them should they take the double-quick. But +they had scarcely begun to move when they came to a halt again. The projectiles +were now falling thick and fast; to regain possession of Bazeilles it would be +necessary to dispute every inch of the road, occupying the cross-streets, the +houses and gardens on either side of the way. A brisk fire of musketry +proceeded from the head of the column, the advance was irregular, by fits and +starts, every petty obstacle entailed a delay of many minutes. She felt that +she would never attain her end by remaining there at the rear of the column, +waiting for it to fight its way through, and with prompt decision she bent her +course to the right and took a path that led downward between two hedges to the +meadows. +</p> + +<p> +Henriette’s plan now was to reach Bazeilles by those broad levels that +border the Meuse. She was not very clear about it in her mind, however, and +continued to hasten onward in obedience to that blind instinct which had +originally imparted to her its impulse. She had not gone far before she found +herself standing and gazing in dismay at a miniature ocean which barred her +further progress in that direction. It was the inundated fields, the low-lying +lands that a measure of defense had converted into a lake, which had escaped +her memory. For a single moment she thought of turning back; then, at the risk +of leaving her shoes behind, she pushed on, hugging the bank, through the water +that covered the grass and rose above her ankles. For a hundred yards her way, +though difficult, was not impracticable; then she encountered a garden-wall +directly in her front; the ground fell off sharply, and where the wall +terminated the water was six feet deep. Her path was closed effectually; she +clenched her little fists and had to summon up all her resolution to keep from +bursting into tears. When the first shock of disappointment had passed over she +made her way along the enclosure and found a narrow lane that pursued a +tortuous course among the scattered houses. She believed that now her troubles +were at an end, for she was acquainted with that labyrinth, that tangled maze +of passages, which, to one who had the key to them, ended at the village. +</p> + +<p> +But the missiles seemed to be falling there even more thickly than elsewhere. +Henriette stopped short in her tracks and all the blood in her body seemed to +flow back upon her heart at a frightful detonation, so close that she could +feel the wind upon her cheek. A shell had exploded directly before her and only +a few yards away. She turned her head and scrutinized for a moment the heights +of the left bank, above which the smoke from the German batteries was curling +upward; she saw what she must do, and when she started on her way again it was +with eyes fixed on the horizon, watching for the shells in order to avoid them. +There was method in the rash daring of her proceeding, and all the brave +tranquillity that the prudent little housewife had at her command. She was not +going to be killed if she could help it; she wished to find her husband and +bring him back with her, that they might yet have many days of happy life +together. The projectiles still came tumbling frequently as ever; she sped +along behind walls, made a cover of boundary stones, availed herself of every +slight depression. But presently she came to an open space, a bit of +unprotected road where splinters and fragments of exploded shells lay thick, +and she was watching behind a shed for a chance to make a dash when she +perceived, emerging from a sort of cleft in the ground in front of her, a human +head and two bright eyes that peered about inquisitively. It was a little, +bare-footed, ten-year-old boy, dressed in a shirt and ragged trousers, an +embryonic tramp, who was watching the battle with huge delight. At every report +his small black beady eyes would snap and sparkle, and he jubilantly shouted: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh my! aint it bully!—Look out, there comes another one! +don’t stir! Boom! that was a rouser!—Don’t stir! don’t +stir!” +</p> + +<p> +And each time there came a shell he dived to the bottom of his hole, then +reappeared, showing his dirty, elfish face, until it was time to duck again. +</p> + +<p> +Henriette now noticed that the projectiles all came from Liry, while the +batteries at Pont-Maugis and Noyers were confining their attention to Balan. At +each discharge she could see the smoke distinctly, immediately afterward she +heard the scream of the shell, succeeded by the explosion. Just then the +gunners afforded them a brief respite; the bluish haze above the heights +drifted slowly away upon the wind. +</p> + +<p> +“They’ve stopped to take a drink, you can go your money on +it,” said the urchin. “Quick, quick, give me your hand! Now’s +the time to skip!” +</p> + +<p> +He took her by the hand and dragged her along with him, and in this way they +crossed the open together, side by side, running for dear life, with head and +shoulders down. When they were safely ensconced behind a stack that opportunely +offered its protection at the end of their course and turned to look behind +them, they beheld another shell come rushing through the air and alight upon +the shed at the very spot they had occupied so lately. The crash was fearful; +the shed was knocked to splinters. The little ragamuffin considered that a +capital joke, and fairly danced with glee. +</p> + +<p> +“Bravo, hit ’em agin! that’s the way to do it!—But it +was time for us to skip, though, wasn’t it?” +</p> + +<p> +But again Henriette struck up against insurmountable obstacles in the shape of +hedges and garden-walls, that offered absolutely no outlet. Her irrepressible +companion, still wearing his broad grin and remarking that where there was a +will there was a way, climbed to the coping of a wall and assisted her to scale +it. On reaching the further side they found themselves in a kitchen garden +among beds of peas and string-beans and surrounded by fences on every side; +their sole exit was through the little cottage of the gardener. The boy led the +way, swinging his arms and whistling unconcernedly, with an expression on his +face of most profound indifference. He pushed open a door that admitted him to +a bedroom, from which he passed on into another room, where there was an old +woman, apparently the only living being upon the premises. She was standing by +a table, in a sort of dazed stupor; she looked at the two strangers who thus +unceremoniously made a highway of her dwelling, but addressed them no word, nor +did they speak a word to her. They vanished as quickly as they had appeared, +emerging by the exit opposite their entrance upon an alley that they followed +for a moment. After that there were other difficulties to be surmounted, and +thus they went on for more than half a mile, scaling walls, struggling through +hedges, availing themselves of every short cut that offered, it might be the +door of a stable or the window of a cottage, as the exigencies of the case +demanded. Dogs howled mournfully; they had a narrow escape from being run down +by a cow that was plunging along, wild with terror. It seemed as if they must +be approaching the village, however; there was an odor of burning wood in the +air, and momentarily volumes of reddish smoke, like veils of finest gauze +floating in the wind, passed athwart the sun and obscured his light. +</p> + +<p> +All at once the urchin came to a halt and planted himself in front of +Henriette. +</p> + +<p> +“I say, lady, tell us where you’re going, will you?” +</p> + +<p> +“You can see very well where I am going; to Bazeilles.” +</p> + +<p> +He gave a low whistle of astonishment, following it up with the shrill laugh of +the careless vagabond to whom nothing is sacred, who is not particular upon +whom or what he launches his irreverent gibes. +</p> + +<p> +“To Bazeilles—oh, no, I guess not; I don’t think my business +lies that way—I have another engagement. Bye-bye, ta-ta!” +</p> + +<p> +He turned on his heel and was off like a shot, and she was none the wiser as to +whence he came or whither he went. She had found him in a hole, she had lost +sight of him at the corner of a wall, and never was she to set eyes on him +again. +</p> + +<p> +When she was alone again Henriette experienced a strange sensation of fear. He +had been no protection to her, that scrubby urchin, but his chatter had been a +distraction; he had kept her spirits up by his way of making game of +everything, as if it was all one huge raree show. Now she was beginning to +tremble, her strength was failing her, she, who by nature was so courageous. +The shells no longer fell around her: the Germans had ceased firing on +Bazeilles, probably to avoid killing their own men, who were now masters of the +village; but within the last few minutes she had heard the whistling of +bullets, that peculiar sound like the buzzing of a bluebottle fly, that she +recognized by having heard it described. There was such a raging, roaring +clamor rising to the heavens in the distance, the confused uproar of other +sounds was so violent, that in it she failed to distinguish the report of +musketry. As she was turning the corner of a house there was a deadened thud +close at her ear, succeeded by the sound of falling plaster, which brought her +to a sudden halt; it was a bullet that had struck the facade. She was pale as +death, and asked herself if her courage would be sufficient to carry her +through to the end; and before she had time to frame an answer, she received +what seemed to her a blow from a hammer upon her forehead, and sank, stunned, +upon her knees. It was a spent ball that had ricocheted and struck her a little +above the left eyebrow with sufficient force to raise an ugly contusion. When +she came to, raising her hands to her forehead, she withdrew them covered with +blood. But the pressure of her fingers had assured her that the bone beneath +was uninjured, and she said aloud, encouraging herself by the sound of her own +voice: +</p> + +<p> +“It is nothing, it is nothing. Come, I am not afraid; no, no! I am not +afraid.” +</p> + +<p> +And it was the truth; she arose, and from that time walked amid the storm of +bullets with absolute indifference, like one whose soul is parted from his +body, who reasons not, who gives his life. She marched straight onward, with +head erect, no longer seeking to shelter herself, and if she struck out at a +swifter pace it was only that she might reach her appointed end more quickly. +The death-dealing missiles pattered on the road before and behind her; twenty +times they were near taking her life; she never noticed them. At last she was +at Bazeilles, and struck diagonally across a field of lucerne in order to +regain the road, the main street that traversed the village. Just as she turned +into it she cast her eyes to the right, and there, some two hundred paces from +her, beheld her house in a blaze. The flames were invisible against the bright +sunlight; the roof had already fallen in in part, the windows were belching +dense clouds of black smoke. She could restrain herself no longer, and ran with +all her strength. +</p> + +<p> +Ever since eight o’clock Weiss, abandoned by the retiring troops, had +been a self-made prisoner there. His return to Sedan had become an +impossibility, for the Bavarians, immediately upon the withdrawal of the +French, had swarmed down from the park of Montivilliers and occupied the road. +He was alone and defenseless, save for his musket and what few cartridges were +left him, when he beheld before his door a little band of soldiers, ten in +number, abandoned, like himself, and parted from their comrades, looking about +them for a place where they might defend themselves and sell their lives +dearly. He ran downstairs to admit them, and thenceforth the house had a +garrison, a lieutenant, corporal and eight men, all bitterly inflamed against +the enemy, and resolved never to surrender. +</p> + +<p> +“What, Laurent, you here!” he exclaimed, surprised to recognize +among the soldiers a tall, lean young man, who held in his hand a musket, +doubtless taken from some corpse. +</p> + +<p> +Laurent was dressed in jacket and trousers of blue cloth; he was helper to a +gardener of the neighborhood, and had lately lost his mother and his wife, both +of whom had been carried off by the same insidious fever. +</p> + +<p> +“And why shouldn’t I be?” he replied. “All I have is my +skin, and I’m willing to give that. And then I am not such a bad shot, +you know, and it will be just fun for me to blaze away at those rascals and +knock one of ’em over every time.” +</p> + +<p> +The lieutenant and the corporal had already begun to make an inspection of the +premises. There was nothing to be done on the ground floor; all they did was to +push the furniture against the door and windows in such a way as to form as +secure a barricade as possible. After attending to that they proceeded to +arrange a plan for the defense of the three small rooms of the first floor and +the open attic, making no change, however, in the measures that had been +already taken by Weiss, the protection of the windows by mattresses, the +loopholes cut here and there in the slats of the blinds. As the lieutenant was +leaning from the window to take a survey of their surroundings, he heard the +wailing cry of a child. +</p> + +<p> +“What is that?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +Weiss looked from the window, and, in the adjoining dyehouse, beheld the little +sick boy, Charles, his scarlet face resting on the white pillow, imploringly +begging his mother to bring him a drink: his mother, who lay dead across the +threshold, beyond hearing or answering. With a sorrowful expression he replied: +</p> + +<p> +“It is a poor little child next door, there, crying for his mother, who +was killed by a Prussian shell.” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Tonnerre de Dieu!</i>” muttered Laurent, “how are they +ever going to pay for all these things!” +</p> + +<p> +As yet only a few random shots had struck the front of the house. Weiss and the +lieutenant, accompanied by the corporal and two men, had ascended to the attic, +where they were in better position to observe the road, of which they had an +oblique view as far as the Place de l’Église. The square was now occupied +by the Bavarians, but any further advance was attended by difficulties that +made them very circumspect. A handful of French soldiers, posted at the mouth +of a narrow lane, held them in check for nearly a quarter of an hour, with a +fire so rapid and continuous that the dead bodies lay in piles. The next +obstacle they encountered was a house on the opposite corner, which also +detained them some time before they could get possession of it. At one time a +woman, with a musket in her hands, was seen through the smoke, firing from one +of the windows. It was the abode of a baker, and a few soldiers were there in +addition to the regular occupants; and when the house was finally carried there +was a hoarse shout: “No quarter!” a surging, struggling, +vociferating throng poured from the door and rolled across the street to the +dead-wall opposite, and in the raging torrent were seen the woman’s +skirt, the jacket of a man, the white hairs of the grandfather; then came the +crash of a volley of musketry, and the wall was splashed with blood from base +to coping. This was a point on which the Germans were inexorable; everyone +caught with arms in his hands and not belonging to some uniformed organization +was shot without the formality of a trial, as having violated the law of +nations. They were enraged at the obstinate resistance offered them by the +village, and the frightful loss they had sustained during the five hours’ +conflict provoked them to the most atrocious reprisals. The gutters ran red +with blood, the piled dead in the streets formed barricades, some of the more +open places were charnel-houses, from whose depths rose the death-rattle of men +in their last agony. And in every house that they had to carry by assault in +this way men were seen distributing wisps of lighted straw, others ran to and +fro with blazing torches, others smeared the walls and furniture with +petroleum; soon whole streets were burning, Bazeilles was in flames. +</p> + +<p> +And now Weiss’s was the only house in the central portion of the village +that still continued to hold out, preserving its air of menace, like some stern +citadel determined not to yield. +</p> + +<p> +“Look out! here they come!” shouted the lieutenant. +</p> + +<p> +A simultaneous discharge from the attic and the first floor laid low three of +the Bavarians, who had come forward hugging the walls. The remainder of the +body fell back and posted themselves under cover wherever the street offered +facilities, and the siege of the house began; the bullets pelted on the front +like rattling hail. For nearly ten minutes the fusillade continued without +cessation, damaging the stucco, but not doing much mischief otherwise, until +one of the men whom the lieutenant had taken with him to the garret was so +imprudent as to show himself at a window, when a bullet struck him square in +the forehead, killing him instantly. It was plain that whoever exposed himself +would do so at peril of his life. +</p> + +<p> +“Doggone it! there’s one gone!” growled the lieutenant. +“Be careful, will you; there’s not enough of us that we can afford +to let ourselves be killed for the fun of it!” +</p> + +<p> +He had taken a musket and was firing away like the rest of them from behind the +protection of a shutter, at the same time watching and encouraging his men. It +was Laurent, the gardener’s helper, however, who more than all the others +excited his wonder and admiration. Kneeling on the floor, with his chassepot +peering out of the narrow aperture of a loophole, he never fired until +absolutely certain of his aim; he even told in advance where he intended +hitting his living target. +</p> + +<p> +“That little officer in blue that you see down there, in the +heart.—That other fellow, the tall, lean one, between the eyes.—I +don’t like the looks of that fat man with the red beard; I think +I’ll let him have it in the stomach.” +</p> + +<p> +And each time his man went down as if struck by lightning, hit in the very spot +he had mentioned, and he continued to fire at intervals, coolly, without haste, +there being no necessity for hurrying himself, as he remarked, since it would +require too long a time to kill them all in that way. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! if I had but my eyes!” Weiss impatiently exclaimed. He had +broken his spectacles a while before, to his great sorrow. He had his double +eye-glass still, but the perspiration was rolling down his face in such streams +that it was impossible to keep it on his nose. His usual calm collectedness was +entirely lost in his over-mastering passion; and thus, between his defective +vision and his agitated nerves, many of his shots were wasted. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t hurry so, it is only throwing away powder,” said +Laurent. “Do you see that man who has lost his helmet, over yonder by the +grocer’s shop? Well, now draw a bead on him,—carefully, don’t +hurry. That’s first-rate! you have broken his paw for him and made him +dance a jig in his own blood.” +</p> + +<p> +Weiss, rather pale in the face, gave a look at the result of his marksmanship. +</p> + +<p> +“Put him out of his misery,” he said. +</p> + +<p> +“What, waste a cartridge! Not, much. Better save it for another of +’em.” +</p> + +<p> +The besiegers could not have failed to notice the remarkable practice of the +invisible sharpshooter in the attic. Whoever of them showed himself in the open +was certain to remain there. They therefore brought up re-enforcements and +placed them in position, with instructions to maintain an unremitting fire upon +the roof of the building. It was not long before the attic became untenable; +the slates were perforated as if they had been tissue paper, the bullets found +their way to every nook and corner, buzzing and humming as if the room had been +invaded by a swarm of angry bees. Death stared them all in the face if they +remained there longer. +</p> + +<p> +“We will go downstairs,” said the lieutenant. “We can hold +the first floor for awhile yet.” But as he was making for the ladder a +bullet struck him in the groin and he fell. “Too late, doggone it!” +</p> + +<p> +Weiss and Laurent, aided by the remaining soldiers, carried him below, +notwithstanding his vehement protests; he told them not to waste their time on +him, his time had come; he might as well die upstairs as down. He was still +able to be of service to them, however, when they had laid him on a bed in a +room of the first floor, by advising them what was best to do. +</p> + +<p> +“Fire into the mass,” he said; “don’t stop to take aim. +They are too cowardly to risk an advance unless they see your fire begin to +slacken.” +</p> + +<p> +And so the siege of the little house went on as if it was to last for eternity. +Twenty times it seemed as if it must be swept away bodily by the storm of iron +that beat upon it, and each time, as the smoke drifted away, it was seen amid +the sulphurous blasts, torn, pierced, mangled, but erect and menacing, spitting +fire and lead with undiminished venom from each one of its orifices. The +assailants, furious that they should be detained for such length of time and +lose so many men before such a hovel, yelled and fired wildly in the distance, +but had not courage to attempt to carry the lower floor by a rush. +</p> + +<p> +“Look out!” shouted the corporal, “there is a shutter about +to fall!” +</p> + +<p> +The concentrated fire had torn one of the inside blinds from its hinges, but +Weiss darted forward and pushed a wardrobe before the window, and Laurent was +enabled to continue his operations under cover. One of the soldiers was lying +at his feet with his jaw broken, losing blood freely. Another received a bullet +in his chest, and dragged himself over to the wall, where he lay gasping in +protracted agony, while convulsive movements shook his frame at intervals. They +were but eight, now, all told, not counting the lieutenant, who, too weak to +speak, his back supported by the headboard of the bed, continued to give his +directions by signs. As had been the case with the attic, the three rooms of +the first floor were beginning to be untenable, for the mangled mattresses no +longer afforded protection against the missiles; at every instant the plaster +fell in sheets from the walls and ceiling, and the furniture was in process of +demolition: the sides of the wardrobe yawned as if they had been cloven by an +ax. And worse still, the ammunition was nearly exhausted. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s too bad!” grumbled Laurent; “just when everything +was going so beautifully!” +</p> + +<p> +But suddenly Weiss was struck with an idea. +</p> + +<p> +“Wait!” +</p> + +<p> +He had thought of the dead soldier up in the garret above, and climbed up the +ladder to search for the cartridges he must have about him. A wide space of the +roof had been crushed in; he saw the blue sky, a patch of bright, wholesome +light that made him start. Not wishing to be killed, he crawled over the floor +on his hands and knees, then, when he had the cartridges in his possession, +some thirty of them, he made haste down again as fast his legs could carry him. +</p> + +<p> +Downstairs, as he was sharing his newly acquired treasure with the +gardener’s lad, a soldier uttered a piercing cry and sank to his knees. +They were but seven; and presently they were but six, a bullet having entered +the corporal’s head at the eye and lodged in the brain. +</p> + +<p> +From that time on, Weiss had no distinct consciousness of what was going on +around him; he and the five others continued to blaze away like lunatics, +expending their cartridges, with not the faintest idea in their heads that +there could be such a thing as surrender. In the three small rooms the floor +was strewn with fragments of the broken furniture. Ingress and egress were +barred by the corpses that lay before the doors; in one corner a wounded man +kept up a pitiful wail that was frightful to hear. Every inch of the floor was +slippery with blood; a thin stream of blood from the attic was crawling lazily +down the stairs. And the air was scarce respirable, an air thick and hot with +sulphurous fumes, heavy with smoke, filled with an acrid, nauseating dust; a +darkness dense as that of night, through which darted the red flame-tongues of +the musketry. +</p> + +<p> +“By God’s thunder!” cried Weiss, “they are bringing up +artillery!” +</p> + +<p> +It was true. Despairing of ever reducing that handful of madmen, who had +consumed so much of their time, the Bavarians had run up a gun to the corner of +the Place de l’Église, and were putting it into position; perhaps they +would be allowed to pass when they should have knocked the house to pieces with +their solid shot. And the honor there was to them in the proceeding, the gun +trained on them down there in the square, excited the bitter merriment of the +besieged; the utmost intensity of scorn was in their gibes. Ah! the cowardly +<i>bougres</i>, with their artillery! Kneeling in his old place still, Laurent +carefully adjusted his aim and each time picked off a gunner, so that the +service of the piece became impossible, and it was five or six minutes before +they fired their first shot. It ranged high, moreover, and only clipped away a +bit of the roof. +</p> + +<p> +But the end was now at hand. It was all in vain that they searched the dead +men’s belts; there was not a single cartridge left. With vacillating +steps and haggard faces the six groped around the room, seeking what heavy +objects they might find to hurl from the windows upon their enemies. One of +them showed himself at the casement, vociferating insults, and shaking his +fist; instantly he was pierced by a dozen bullets; and there remained but five. +What were they to do? go down and endeavor to make their escape by way of the +garden and the meadows? The question was never answered, for at that moment a +tumult arose below, a furious mob came tumbling up the stairs: it was the +Bavarians, who had at last thought of turning the position by breaking down the +back door and entering the house by that way. For a brief moment a terrible +hand-to-hand conflict raged in the small rooms among the dead bodies and the +debris of the furniture. One of the soldiers had his chest transfixed by a +bayonet thrust, the two others were made prisoners, while the attitude of the +lieutenant, who had given up the ghost, was that of one about to give an order, +his mouth open, his arm raised aloft. +</p> + +<p> +While these things were occurring an officer, a big, flaxen-haired man, +carrying a revolver in his hand, whose bloodshot eyes seemed bursting from +their sockets, had caught sight of Weiss and Laurent, both in their civilian +attire; he roared at them in French: +</p> + +<p> +“Who are you, you fellows? and what are you doing here?” +</p> + +<p> +Then, glancing at their faces, black with powder-stains, he saw how matters +stood, he heaped insult and abuse on them in guttural German, in a voice that +shook with anger. Already he had raised his revolver and was about to send a +bullet into their heads, when the soldiers of his command rushed in, seized +Laurent and Weiss, and hustled them out to the staircase. The two men were +borne along like straws upon a mill-race amidst that seething human torrent, +under whose pressure they were hurled from out the door and sent staggering, +stumbling across the street to the opposite wall amid a chorus of execration +that drowned the sound of their officers’ voices. Then, for a space of +two or three minutes, while the big fair-haired officer was endeavoring to +extricate them in order to proceed with their execution, an opportunity was +afforded them to raise themselves erect and look about them. +</p> + +<p> +Other houses had taken fire; Bazeilles was now a roaring, blazing furnace. +Flames had begun to appear at the tall windows of the church and were creeping +upward toward the roof. Some soldiers who were driving a venerable lady from +her home had compelled her to furnish the matches with which to fire her own +beds and curtains. Lighted by blazing brands and fed by petroleum in floods, +fires were rising and spreading in every quarter; it was no longer civilized +warfare, but a conflict of savages, maddened by the long protracted strife, +wreaking vengeance for their dead, their heaps of dead, upon whom they trod at +every step they took. Yelling, shouting bands traversed the streets amid the +scurrying smoke and falling cinders, swelling the hideous uproar into which +entered sounds of every kind: shrieks, groans, the rattle of musketry, the +crash of falling walls. Men could scarce see one another; great livid clouds +drifted athwart the sun and obscured his light, bearing with them an +intolerable stench of soot and blood, heavy with the abominations of the +slaughter. In every quarter the work of death and destruction still went on: +the human brute unchained, the imbecile wrath, the mad fury, of man devouring +his brother man. +</p> + +<p> +And Weiss beheld his house burn before his eyes. Some soldiers had applied the +torch, others fed the flame by throwing upon it the fragments of the wrecked +furniture. The <i>rez-de-chaussée</i> was quickly in a blaze, the smoke poured +in dense black volumes from the wounds in the front and roof. But now the +dyehouse adjoining was also on fire, and horrible to relate, the voice of +little Charles, lying on his bed delirious with fever, could be heard through +the crackling of the flames, beseeching his mother to bring him a draught of +water, while the skirts of the wretched woman who, with her disfigured face, +lay across the door-sill, were even then beginning to kindle. +</p> + +<p> +“Mamma, mamma, I am thirsty! Mamma, bring me a drink of +water—” +</p> + +<p> +The weak, faint voice was drowned in the roar of the conflagration; the +cheering of the victors rose on the air in the distance. +</p> + +<p> +But rising above all other sounds, dominating the universal clamor, a terrible +cry was heard. It was Henriette, who had reached the place at last, and now +beheld her husband, backed up against the wall, facing a platoon of men who +were loading their muskets. +</p> + +<p> +She flew to him and threw her arms about his neck. +</p> + +<p> +“My God! what is it! They cannot be going to kill you!” +</p> + +<p> +Weiss looked at her with stupid, unseeing eyes. She! his wife, so long the +object of his desire, so fondly idolized! A great shudder passed through his +frame and he awoke to consciousness of his situation. What had he done? why had +he remained there, firing at the enemy, instead of returning to her side, as he +had promised he would do? It all flashed upon him now, as the darkness is +illuminated by the lightning’s glare: he had wrecked their happiness, +they were to be parted, forever parted. Then he noticed the blood upon her +forehead. +</p> + +<p> +“Are you hurt?” he asked. “You were mad to come—” +</p> + +<p> +She interrupted him with an impatient gesture. +</p> + +<p> +“Never mind me; it is a mere scratch. But you, you! why are you here? +They shall not kill you; I will not suffer it!” +</p> + +<p> +The officer, who was endeavoring to clear the road in order to give the firing +party the requisite room, came up on hearing the sound of voices, and beholding +a woman with her arms about the neck of one of his prisoners, exclaimed loudly +in French: +</p> + +<p> +“Come, come, none of this nonsense here! Whence come you? What is your +business here?” +</p> + +<p> +“Give me my husband.” +</p> + +<p> +“What, is he your husband, that man? His sentence is pronounced; the law +must take its course.” +</p> + +<p> +“Give me my husband.” +</p> + +<p> +“Come, be rational. Stand aside; we do not wish to harm you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Give me my husband.” +</p> + +<p> +Perceiving the futility of arguing with her, the officer was about to give +orders to remove her forcibly from the doomed man’s arms when Laurent, +who until then had maintained an impassive silence, ventured to interfere. +</p> + +<p> +“See here, Captain, I am the man who killed so many of your men; go ahead +and shoot me—that will be all right, especially as I have neither chick +nor child in all the world. But this gentleman’s case is different; he is +a married man, don’t you see. Come, now, let him go; then you can settle +my business as soon as you choose.” +</p> + +<p> +Beside himself with anger, the captain screamed: +</p> + +<p> +“What is all this lingo? Are you trying to make game of me? Come, step +out here, some one of you fellows, and take away this woman!” +</p> + +<p> +He had to repeat his order in German, whereon a soldier came forward from the +ranks, a short stocky Bavarian, with an enormous head surrounded by a bristling +forest of red hair and beard, beneath which all that was to be seen were a pair +of big blue eyes and a massive nose. He was besmeared with blood, a hideous +spectacle, like nothing so much as some fierce, hairy denizen of the woods, +emerging from his cavern and licking his chops, still red with the gore of the +victims whose bones he has been crunching. +</p> + +<p> +With a heart-rending cry Henriette repeated: +</p> + +<p> +“Give me my husband, or let me die with him.” +</p> + +<p> +This seemed to cause the cup of the officer’s exasperation to overrun; he +thumped himself violently on the chest, declaring that he was no executioner, +that he would rather die than harm a hair of an innocent head. There was +nothing against her; he would cut off his right hand rather than do her an +injury. And then he repeated his order that she be taken away. +</p> + +<p> +As the Bavarian came up to carry out his instructions Henriette tightened her +clasp on Weiss’s neck, throwing all her strength into her frantic +embrace. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, my love! Keep me with you, I beseech you; let me die with +you—” +</p> + +<p> +Big tears were rolling down his cheeks as, without answering, he endeavored to +loosen the convulsive clasp of the fingers of the poor creature he loved so +dearly. +</p> + +<p> +“You love me no longer, then, that you wish to die without me. Hold me, +keep me, do not let them take me. They will weary at last, and will kill us +together.” +</p> + +<p> +He had loosened one of the little hands, and carried it to his lips and kissed +it, working all the while to make the other release its hold. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no, it shall not be! I will not leave thy bosom; they shall pierce +my heart before reaching thine. I will not survive—” +</p> + +<p> +But at last, after a long struggle, he held both the hands in his. Then he +broke the silence that he had maintained until then, uttering one single word: +</p> + +<p> +“Farewell, dear wife.” +</p> + +<p> +And with his own hands he placed her in the arms of the Bavarian, who carried +her away. She shrieked and struggled, while the soldier, probably with intent +to soothe her, kept pouring in her ear an uninterrupted stream of words in +unmelodious German. And, having freed her head, looking over the shoulder of +the man, she beheld the end. +</p> + +<p> +It lasted not five seconds. Weiss, whose eye-glass had slipped from its +position in the agitation of their parting, quickly replaced it upon his nose, +as if desirous to look death in the face. He stepped back and placed himself +against the wall, and the face of the self-contained, strong young man, as he +stood there in his tattered coat, was sublimely beautiful in its expression of +tranquil courage. Laurent, who stood beside him, had thrust his hands deep down +into his pockets. The cold cruelty of the proceeding disgusted him; it seemed +to him that they could not be far removed from savagery who could thus +slaughter men before the eyes of their wives. He drew himself up, looked them +square in the face, and in a tone of deepest contempt expectorated: +</p> + +<p> +“Dirty pigs!” +</p> + +<p> +The officer raised his sword; the signal was succeeded by a crashing volley, +and the two men sank to the ground, an inert mass, the gardener’s lad +upon his face, the other, the accountant, upon his side, lengthwise of the +wall. The frame of the latter, before he expired, contracted in a supreme +convulsion, the eyelids quivered, the mouth opened as if he was about to speak. +The officer came up and stirred him with his foot, to make sure that he was +really dead. +</p> + +<p> +Henriette had seen the whole: the fading eyes that sought her in death, the +last struggle of the strong man in agony, the brutal boot spurning the corpse. +And while the Bavarian still held her in his arms, conveying her further and +further from the object of her love, she uttered no cry; she set her teeth, in +silent fury, into what was nearest: a human hand, it chanced to be. The soldier +gave vent to a howl of anguish and dashed her to the ground; raising his +uninjured fist above her head he was on the point of braining her. And for a +moment their faces were in contact; she experienced a feeling of intensest +loathing for the monster, and that blood-stained hair and beard, those blue +eyes, dilated and brimming with hate and rage, were destined to remain forever +indelibly imprinted on her memory. +</p> + +<p> +In after days Henriette could never account distinctly to herself for the time +immediately succeeding these events. She had but one desire: to return to the +spot where her loved one had died, take possession of his remains, and watch +and weep over them; but, as in an evil dream, obstacles of every sort arose +before her and barred the way. First a heavy infantry fire broke out afresh, +and there was great activity among the German troops who were holding +Bazeilles; it was due to the arrival of the infanterie de marine and other +regiments that had been despatched from Balan to regain possession of the +village, and the battle commenced to rage again with the utmost fury. The young +woman, in company with a band of terrified citizens, was swept away to the left +into a dark alley. The result of the conflict could not remain long doubtful, +however; it was too late to reconquer the abandoned positions. For near half an +hour the infantry struggled against superior numbers and faced death with +splendid bravery, but the enemy’s strength was constantly increasing, +their re-enforcements were pouring in from every direction, the roads, the +meadows, the park of Montivilliers; no force at our command could have +dislodged them from the position, so dearly bought, where they had left +thousands of their bravest. Destruction and devastation now had done their +work; the place was a shambles, disgraceful to humanity, where mangled forms +lay scattered among smoking ruins, and poor Bazeilles, having drained the +bitter cup, went up at last in smoke and flame. +</p> + +<p> +Henriette turned and gave one last look at her little house, whose floors fell +in even as she gazed, sending myriads of little sparks whirling gayly upward on +the air. And there, before her, prone at the wall’s foot, she saw her +husband’s corpse, and in her despair and grief would fain have returned +to him, but just then another crowd came up and surged around her, the bugles +were sounding the signal to retire, she was borne away, she knew not how, among +the retreating troops. Her faculty of self-guidance left her; she was as a bit +of flotsam swept onward by the eddying human tide that streamed along the way. +And that was all she could remember until she became herself again and found +she was at Balan, among strangers, her head reclined upon a table in a kitchen, +weeping. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap13"></a>V.</h2> + +<p> +It was nearly ten o’clock up on the Plateau de l’Algérie, and still +the men of Beaudoin’s company were resting supine, among the cabbages, in +the field whence they had not budged since early morning. The cross fire from +the batteries on Hattoy and the peninsula of Iges was hotter than ever; it had +just killed two more of their number, and there were no orders for them to +advance. Were they to stay there and be shelled all day, without a chance to +see anything of the fighting? +</p> + +<p> +They were even denied the relief of discharging their chassepots. Captain +Beaudoin had at last put his foot down and stopped the firing, that senseless +fusillade against the little wood in front of them, which seemed entirely +deserted by the Prussians. The heat was stifling; it seemed to them that they +should roast, stretched there on the ground under the blazing sky. +</p> + +<p> +Jean was alarmed, on turning to look at Maurice, to see that he had declined +his head and was lying, with closed eyes, apparently inanimate, his cheek +against the bare earth. He was very pale, there was no sign of life in his +face. +</p> + +<p> +“Hallo there! what’s the matter?” +</p> + +<p> +But Maurice was only sleeping. The mental strain, conjointly with his fatigue, +had been too much for him, in spite of the dangers that menaced them at every +moment. He awoke with a start and stared about him, and the peace that slumber +had left in his wide-dilated eyes was immediately supplanted by a look of +startled affright as it dawned on him where he was. He had not the remotest +idea how long he had slept; all he knew was that the state from which he had +been recalled to the horrors of the battlefield was one of blessed oblivion and +tranquillity. +</p> + +<p> +“Hallo! that’s funny; I must have been asleep!” he murmured. +“Ah! it has done me good.” +</p> + +<p> +It was true that he suffered less from that pressure about his temples and at +his heart, that horrible constriction that seems as if it would crush +one’s bones. He chaffed Lapoulle, who had manifested much uneasiness +since the disappearance of Chouteau and Loubet and spoke of going to look for +them. A capital idea! so he might get away and hide behind a tree, and smoke a +pipe! Pache thought that the surgeons had detained them at the ambulance, where +there was a scarcity of sick-bearers. That was a job that he had no great fancy +for, to go around under fire and collect the wounded! And haunted by a +lingering superstition of the country where he was born, he added that it was +unlucky to touch a corpse; it brought death. +</p> + +<p> +“Shut up, confound you!” roared Lieutenant Rochas. “Who is +going to die?” +</p> + +<p> +Colonel de Vineuil, sitting his tall horse, turned his head and gave a smile, +the first that had been seen on his face that morning. Then he resumed his +statue-like attitude, waiting for orders as impassively as ever under the +tumbling shells. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice’s attention was attracted to the sick-bearers, whose movements he +watched with interest as they searched for wounded men among the depressions of +the ground. At the end of a sunken road, and protected by a low ridge not far +from their position, a flying ambulance of first aid had been established, and +its emissaries had begun to explore the plateau. A tent was quickly erected, +while from the hospital van the attendants extracted the necessary supplies; +compresses, bandages, linen, and the few indispensable instruments required for +the hasty dressings they gave before dispatching the patients to Sedan, which +they did as rapidly as they could secure wagons, the supply of which was +limited. There was an assistant surgeon in charge, with two subordinates of +inferior rank under him. In all the army none showed more gallantry and +received less acknowledgment than the litter-bearers. They could be seen all +over the field in their gray uniform, with the distinctive red badge on their +cap and on their arm, courageously risking their lives and unhurriedly pushing +forward through the thickest of the fire to the spots where men had been seen +to fall. At times they would creep on hands and knees: would always take +advantage of a hedge or ditch, or any shelter that was afforded by the +conformation of the ground, never exposing themselves unnecessarily out of +bravado. When at last they reached the fallen men their painful task commenced, +which was made more difficult and protracted by the fact that many of the +subjects had fainted, and it was hard to tell whether they were alive or dead. +Some lay face downward with their mouths in a pool of blood, in danger of +suffocating, others had bitten the ground until their throats were choked with +dry earth, others, where a shell had fallen among a group, were a confused, +intertwined heap of mangled limbs and crushed trunks. With infinite care and +patience the bearers would go through the tangled mass, separating the living +from the dead, arranging their limbs and raising the head to give them air, +cleansing the face as well as they could with the means at their command. Each +of them carried a bucket of cool water, which he had to use very savingly. And +Maurice could see them thus engaged, often for minutes at a time, kneeling by +some man whom they were trying to resuscitate, waiting for him to show some +sign of life. +</p> + +<p> +He watched one of them, some fifty yards away to the left, working over the +wound of a little soldier from the sleeve of whose tunic a thin stream of blood +was trickling, drop by drop. The man of the red cross discovered the source of +the hemorrhage and finally checked it by compressing the artery. In urgent +cases, like that of the little soldier, they rendered these partial attentions, +locating fractures, bandaging and immobilizing the limbs so as to reduce the +danger of transportation. And the transportation, even, was an affair that +called for a great deal of judgment and ingenuity; they assisted those who +could walk, and carried others, either in their arms, like little children, or +pickaback when the nature of the hurt allowed it; at other times they united in +groups of two, three, or four, according to the requirements of the case, and +made a chair by joining their hands, or carried the patient off by his legs and +shoulders in a recumbent posture. In addition to the stretchers provided by the +medical department there were all sorts of temporary makeshifts, such as the +stretchers improvised from knapsack straps and a couple of muskets. And in +every direction on the unsheltered, shell-swept plain they could be seen, +singly or in groups, hastening with their dismal loads to the rear, their heads +bowed and picking their steps, an admirable spectacle of prudent heroism. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice saw a pair on his right, a thin, puny little fellow lugging a burly +sergeant, with both legs broken, suspended from his neck; the sight reminded +the young man of an ant, toiling under a burden many times larger than itself; +and even as he watched them a shell burst directly in their path and they were +lost to view. When the smoke cleared away the sergeant was seen lying on his +back, having received no further injury, while the bearer lay beside him, +disemboweled. And another came up, another toiling ant, who, when he had turned +his dead comrade on his back and examined him, took the sergeant up and made +off with his load. +</p> + +<p> +It gave Maurice a chance to read Lapoulle a lesson. +</p> + +<p> +“I say, if you like the business, why don’t you go and give that +man a lift!” +</p> + +<p> +For some little time the batteries at Saint-Menges had been thundering as if +determined to surpass all previous efforts, and Captain Beaudoin, who was still +tramping nervously up and down before his company line, at last stepped up to +the colonel. It was a pity, he said, to waste the men’s morale in that +way and keep their minds on the stretch for hours and hours. +</p> + +<p> +“I can’t help it; I have no orders,” the colonel stoically +replied. +</p> + +<p> +They had another glimpse of General Douay as he flew by at a gallop, followed +by his staff. He had just had an interview with General de Wimpffen, who had +ridden up to entreat him to hold his ground, which he thought he could promise +to do, but only so long as the Calvary of Illy, on his right, held out; Illy +once taken, he would be responsible for nothing; their defeat would be +inevitable. General de Wimpffen averred that the 1st corps would look out for +the position at Illy, and indeed a regiment of zouaves was presently seen to +occupy the Calvary, so that General Douay, his anxiety being relieved on that +score, sent Dumont’s division to the assistance of the 12th corps, which +was then being hard pushed. Scarcely fifteen minutes later, however, as he was +returning from the left, whither he had ridden to see how affairs were looking, +he was surprised, raising his eyes to the Calvary, to see it was unoccupied; +there was not a zouave to be seen there, they had abandoned the plateau that +was no longer tenable by reason of the terrific fire from the batteries at +Fleigneux. With a despairing presentiment of impending disaster he was spurring +as fast as he could to the right, when he encountered Dumont’s division, +flying in disorder, broken and tangled in inextricable confusion with the +debris of the 1st corps. The latter, which, after its retrograde movement, had +never been able to regain possession of the posts it had occupied in the +morning, leaving Daigny in the hands of the XIIth Saxon corps and Givonne to +the Prussian Guards, had been compelled to retreat in a northerly direction +across the wood of Garenne, harassed by the batteries that the enemy had posted +on every summit from one end of the valley to the other. The terrible circle of +fire and flame was contracting; a portion of the Guards had continued their +march on Illy, moving from east to west and turning the eminences, while from +west to east, in the rear of the XIth corps, now masters of Saint-Menges, the +Vth, moving steadily onward, had passed Fleigneux and with insolent temerity +was constantly pushing its batteries more and more to the front, and so +contemptuous were they of the ignorance and impotence of the French that they +did not even wait for the infantry to come up to support their guns. It was +midday; the entire horizon was aflame, concentrating its destructive fire on +the 7th and 1st corps. +</p> + +<p> +Then General Douay, while the German artillery was thus preparing the way for +the decisive movement that should make them masters of the Calvary, resolved to +make one last desperate attempt to regain possession of the hill. He dispatched +his orders, and throwing himself in person among the fugitives of +Dumont’s division, succeeded in forming a column which he sent forward to +the plateau. It held its ground for a few minutes, but the bullets whistled so +thick, the naked, treeless fields were swept by such a tornado of shot and +shell, that it was not long before the panic broke out afresh, sweeping the men +adown the slopes, rolling them up as straws are whirled before the wind. And +the general, unwilling to abandon his project, ordered up other regiments. +</p> + +<p> +A staff officer galloped by, shouting to Colonel de Vineuil as he passed an +order that was lost in the universal uproar. Hearing, the colonel was erect in +his stirrups in an instant, his face aglow with the gladness of battle, and +pointing to the Calvary with a grand movement of his sword: +</p> + +<p> +“Our turn has come at last, boys!” he shouted. +“Forward!” +</p> + +<p> +A thrill of enthusiasm ran through the ranks at the brief address, and the +regiment put itself in motion. Beaudoin’s company was among the first to +get on its feet, which it did to the accompaniment of much good-natured chaff, +the men declaring they were so rusty they could not move; the gravel must have +penetrated their joints. The fire was so hot, however, that by the time they +had advanced a few feet they were glad to avail themselves of the protection of +a shelter trench that lay in their path, along which they crept in an +undignified posture, bent almost double. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, young fellow, look out for yourself!” Jean said to Maurice; +“we’re in for it. Don’t let ’em see so much as the end +of your nose, for if you do they will surely snip it off, and keep a sharp +lookout for your legs and arms unless you have more than you care to keep. +Those who come out of this with a whole skin will be lucky.” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice did not hear him very distinctly; the words were lost in the +all-pervading clamor that buzzed and hummed in the young man’s ears. He +could not have told now whether he was afraid or not; he went forward because +the others did, borne along with them in their headlong rush, without distinct +volition of his own; his sole desire was to have the affair ended as soon as +possible. So true was it that he was a mere drop in the on-pouring torrent that +when the leading files came to the end of the trench and began to waver at the +prospect of climbing the exposed slope that lay before them, he immediately +felt himself seized by a sensation of panic, and was ready to turn and fly. It +was simply an uncontrollable instinct, a revolt of the muscles, obedient to +every passing breath. +</p> + +<p> +Some of the men had already faced about when the colonel came hurrying up. +</p> + +<p> +“Steady there, my children. You won’t cause me this great sorrow; +you won’t behave like cowards. Remember, the 106th has never turned its +back upon the enemy; will you be the first to disgrace our flag?” +</p> + +<p> +And he spurred his charger across the path of the fugitives, addressing them +individually, speaking to them, of their country, in a voice that trembled with +emotion. +</p> + +<p> +Lieutenant Rochas was so moved by his words that he gave way to an ungovernable +fit of anger, raising his sword and belaboring the men with the flat as if it +had been a club. +</p> + +<p> +“You dirty loafers, I’ll see whether you will go up there or not! +I’ll kick you up! About face! and I’ll break the jaw of the first +man that refuses to obey!” +</p> + +<p> +But such an extreme measure as kicking a regiment into action was repugnant to +the colonel. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no, lieutenant; they will follow me. Won’t you, my children? +You won’t let your old colonel fight it out alone with the Prussians! Up +there lies the way; forward!” +</p> + +<p> +He turned his horse and left the trench, and they did all follow, to a man, for +he would have been considered the lowest of the low who could have abandoned +their leader after that brave, kind speech. He was the only one, however, who, +while crossing the open fields, erect on his tall horse, was cool and +unconcerned; the men scattered, advancing in open order and availing themselves +of every shelter afforded by the ground. The land sloped upward; there were +fully five hundred yards of stubble and beet fields between them and the +Calvary, and in place of the correctly aligned columns that the spectator sees +advancing when a charge is ordered in field maneuvers, all that was to be seen +was a loose array of men with rounded backs, singly or in small groups, hugging +the ground, now crawling warily a little way on hands and knees, now dashing +forward for the next cover, like huge insects fighting their way upward to the +crest by dint of agility and address. The enemy’s batteries seemed to +have become aware of the movement; their fire was so rapid that the reports of +the guns were blended in one continuous roar. Five men were killed, a +lieutenant was cut in two. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice and Jean had considered themselves fortunate that their way led along a +hedge behind which they could push forward unseen, but the man immediately in +front of them was shot through the temples and fell back dead in their arms; +they had to cast him down at one side. By this time, however, the casualties +had ceased to excite attention; they were too numerous. A man went by, uttering +frightful shrieks and pressing his hands upon his protruding entrails; they +beheld a horse dragging himself along with both thighs broken, and these +anguishing sights, these horrors of the battlefield, affected them no longer. +They were suffering from the intolerable heat, the noonday sun that beat upon +their backs and burned like hot coals. +</p> + +<p> +“How thirsty I am!” Maurice murmured. “My throat is like an +ash barrel. Don’t you notice that smell of something scorching, a smell +like burning woolen?” +</p> + +<p> +Jean nodded. “It was just the same at Solferino; perhaps it is the smell +that always goes with war. But hold, I have a little brandy left; we’ll +have a sup.” +</p> + +<p> +And they paused behind the hedge a moment and raised the flask to their lips, +but the brandy, instead of relieving their thirst, burned their stomach. It +irritated them, that nasty taste of burnt rags in their mouths. Moreover they +perceived that their strength was commencing to fail for want of sustenance and +would have liked to take a bite from the half loaf that Maurice had in his +knapsack, but it would not do to stop and breakfast there under fire, and then +they had to keep up with their comrades. There was a steady stream of men +coming up behind them along the hedge who pressed them forward, and so, +doggedly bending their backs to the task before them, they resumed their +course. Presently they made their final rush and reached the crest. They were +on the plateau, at the very foot of the Calvary, the old weather-beaten cross +that stood between two stunted lindens. +</p> + +<p> +“Good for our side!” exclaimed Jean; “here we are! But the +next thing is to remain here!” +</p> + +<p> +He was right; it was not the pleasantest place in the world to be in, as +Lapoulle remarked in a doleful tone that excited the laughter of the company. +They all lay down again, in a field of stubble, and for all that three men were +killed in quick succession. It was pandemonium let loose up there on the +heights; the projectiles from Saint-Menges, Fleigneux, and Givonne fell in such +numbers that the ground fairly seemed to smoke, as it does at times under a +heavy shower of rain. It was clear that the position could not be maintained +unless artillery was dispatched at once to the support of the troops who had +been sent on such a hopeless undertaking. General Douay, it was said, had given +instructions to bring up two batteries of the reserve artillery, and the men +were every moment turning their heads, watching anxiously for the guns that did +not come. +</p> + +<p> +“It is absurd, ridiculous!” declared Beaudoin, who was again +fidgeting up and down before the company. “Who ever heard of placing a +regiment in the air like this and giving it no support!” Then, observing +a slight depression on their left, he turned to Rochas: “Don’t you +think, Lieutenant, that the company would be safer there?” +</p> + +<p> +Rochas stood stock still and shrugged his shoulders. “It is six of one +and half a dozen of the other, Captain. My opinion is that we will do better to +stay where we are.” +</p> + +<p> +Then the captain, whose principles were opposed to swearing, forgot himself. +</p> + +<p> +“But, good God! there won’t a man of us escape! We can’t +allow the men to be murdered like this!” +</p> + +<p> +And he determined to investigate for himself the advantages of the position he +had mentioned, but had scarcely taken ten steps when he was lost to sight in +the smoke of an exploding shell; a splinter of the projectile had fractured his +right leg. He fell upon his back, emitting a shrill cry of alarm, like a +woman’s. +</p> + +<p> +“He might have known as much,” Rochas muttered. +“There’s no use his making such a fuss over it; when the dose is +fixed for one, he has to take it.” +</p> + +<p> +Some members of the company had risen to their feet on seeing their captain +fall, and as he continued to call lustily for assistance, Jean finally ran to +him, immediately followed by Maurice. +</p> + +<p> +“Friends, friends, for Heaven’s sake do not leave me here; carry me +to the ambulance!” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Dame</i>, Captain, I don’t know that we shall be able to get so +far, but we can try.” +</p> + +<p> +As they were discussing how they could best take hold to raise him they +perceived, behind the hedge that had sheltered them on their way up, two +stretcher-bearers who seemed to be waiting for something to do, and finally, +after protracted signaling, induced them to draw near. All would be well if +they could only get the wounded man to the ambulance without accident, but the +way was long and the iron hail more pitiless than ever. +</p> + +<p> +The bearers had tightly bandaged the injured limb in order to keep the bones in +position and were about to bear the captain off the field on what children call +a “chair,” formed by joining their hands and slipping an arm of the +patient over each of their necks, when Colonel de Vineuil, who had heard of the +accident, came up, spurring his horse. He manifested much emotion, for he had +known the young man ever since his graduation from Saint-Cyr. +</p> + +<p> +“Cheer up, my poor boy; have courage. You are in no danger; the doctors +will save your leg.” +</p> + +<p> +The captain’s face wore an expression of resignation, as if he had +summoned up all his courage to bear his misfortune manfully. +</p> + +<p> +“No, my dear Colonel; I feel it is all up with me, and I would rather +have it so. The only thing that distresses me is the waiting for the inevitable +end.” +</p> + +<p> +The bearers carried him away, and were fortunate enough to reach the hedge in +safety, behind which they trotted swiftly away with their burden. The +colonel’s eyes followed them anxiously, and when he saw them reach the +clump of trees where the ambulance was stationed a look of deep relief rose to +his face. +</p> + +<p> +“But you, Colonel,” Maurice suddenly exclaimed, “you are +wounded too!” +</p> + +<p> +He had perceived blood dripping from the colonel’s left boot. A +projectile of some description had carried away the heel of the foot-covering +and forced the steel shank into the flesh. +</p> + +<p> +M. de Vineuil bent over his saddle and glanced unconcernedly at the member, in +which the sensation at that time must have been far from pleasurable. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes,” he replied, “it is a little remembrance that I +received a while ago. A mere scratch, that don’t prevent me from sitting +my horse—” And he added, as he turned to resume his position to the +rear of his regiment: “As long as a man can stick on his horse he’s +all right.” +</p> + +<p> +At last the two batteries of reserve artillery came up. Their arrival was an +immense relief to the anxiously expectant men, as if the guns were to be a +rampart of protection to them and at the same time demolish the hostile +batteries that were thundering against them from every side. And then, too, it +was in itself an exhilarating spectacle to see the magnificent order they +preserved as they came dashing up, each gun followed by its caisson, the +drivers seated on the near horse and holding the off horse by the bridle, the +cannoneers bolt upright on the chests, the chiefs of detachment riding in their +proper position on the flank. Distances were preserved as accurately as if they +were on parade, and all the time they were tearing across the fields at +headlong speed, with the roar and crash of a hurricane. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice, who had lain down again, arose and said to Jean in great excitement: +</p> + +<p> +“Look! over there on the left, that is Honoré’s battery. I can +recognize the men.” +</p> + +<p> +Jean gave him a back-handed blow that brought him down to his recumbent +position. +</p> + +<p> +“Lie down, will you! and make believe dead!” +</p> + +<p> +But they were both deeply interested in watching the maneuvers of the battery, +and never once removed their eyes from it; it cheered their heart to witness +the cool and intrepid activity of those men, who, they hoped, might yet bring +victory to them. +</p> + +<p> +The battery had wheeled into position on a bare summit to the left, where it +brought up all standing; then, quick as a flash, the cannoneers leaped from the +chests and unhooked the limbers, and the drivers, leaving the gun in position, +drove fifteen yards to the rear, where they wheeled again so as to bring team +and limber face to the enemy and there remained, motionless as statues. In less +time than it takes to tell it the guns were in place, with the proper intervals +between them, distributed into three sections of two guns each, each section +commanded by a lieutenant, and over the whole a captain, a long maypole of a +man, who made a terribly conspicuous landmark on the plateau. And this captain, +having first made a brief calculation, was heard to shout: +</p> + +<p> +“Sight for sixteen hundred yards!” +</p> + +<p> +Their fire was to be directed upon a Prussian battery, screened by some bushes, +to the left of Fleigneux, the shells from which were rendering the position of +the Calvary untenable. +</p> + +<p> +“Honoré’s piece, you see,” Maurice began again, whose +excitement was such that he could not keep still, “Honoré’s piece +is in the center section. There he is now, bending over to speak to the gunner; +you remember Louis, the gunner, don’t you? the little fellow with whom we +had a drink at Vouziers? And that fellow in the rear, who sits so straight on +his handsome chestnut, is Adolphe, the driver—” +</p> + +<p> +First came the gun with its chief and six cannoneers, then the limber with its +four horses ridden by two men, beyond that the caisson with its six horses and +three drivers, still further to the rear were the <i>prolonge</i>, forge, and +battery wagon; and this array of men, horses and <i>matériel</i> extended to +the rear in a straight unbroken line of more than a hundred yards in length; to +say nothing of the spare caisson and the men and beasts who were to fill the +places of those removed by casualties, who were stationed at one side, as much +as possible out of the enemy’s line of fire. +</p> + +<p> +And now Honoré was attending to the loading of his gun. The two men whose duty +it was to fetch the cartridge and the projectile returned from the caisson, +where the corporal and the artificer were stationed; two other cannoneers, +standing at the muzzle of the piece, slipped into the bore the cartridge, a +charge of powder in an envelope of serge, and gently drove it home with the +rammer, then in like manner introduced the shell, the studs of which creaked +faintly in the spirals of the rifling. When the primer was inserted in the vent +and all was in readiness, Honoré thought he would like to point the gun himself +for the first shot, and throwing himself in a semi-recumbent posture on the +trail, working with one hand the screw that regulated the elevation, with the +other he signaled continually to the gunner, who, standing behind him, moved +the piece by imperceptible degrees to right or left with the assistance of the +lever. +</p> + +<p> +“That ought to be about right,” he said as he arose. +</p> + +<p> +The captain came up, and stooping until his long body was bent almost double, +verified the elevation. At each gun stood the assistant gunner, waiting to pull +the lanyard that should ignite the fulminate by means of a serrated wire. And +the orders were given in succession, deliberately, by number: +</p> + +<p> +“Number one, Fire! Number two, Fire!” +</p> + +<p> +Six reports were heard, the guns recoiled, and while they were being brought +back to position the chiefs of detachment observed the effect of the shots and +found that the range was short. They made the necessary correction and the +evolution was repeated, in exactly the same manner as before; and it was that +cool precision, that mechanical routine of duty, without agitation and without +haste, that did so much to maintain the <i>morale</i> of the men. They were a +little family, united by the tie of a common occupation, grouped around the +gun, which they loved and reverenced as if it had been a living thing; it was +the object of all their care and attention, to it all else was subservient, +men, horses, caisson, everything. Thence also arose the spirit of unity and +cohesion that animated the battery at large, making all its members work +together for the common glory and the common good, like a well-regulated +household. +</p> + +<p> +The 106th had cheered lustily at the completion of the first round; they were +going to make those bloody Prussian guns shut their mouths at last! but their +elation was succeeded by dismay when it was seen that the projectiles fell +short, many of them bursting in the air and never reaching the bushes that +served to mask the enemy’s artillery. +</p> + +<p> +“Honoré,” Maurice continued, “says that all the other pieces +are popguns and that his old girl is the only one that is good for anything. +Ah, his old girl! He talks as if she were his wife and there were not another +like her in the world! Just notice how jealously he watches her and makes the +men clean her off! I suppose he is afraid she will overheat herself and take +cold!” +</p> + +<p> +He continued rattling on in this pleasant vein to Jean, both of them cheered +and encouraged by the cool bravery with which the artillerymen served their +guns; but the Prussian batteries, after firing three rounds, had now got the +range, which, too long at the beginning, they had at last ciphered down to such +a fine point that their shells were landed invariably among the French pieces, +while the latter, notwithstanding the efforts that were made to increase their +range, still continued to place their projectiles short of the enemy’s +position. One of Honoré’s cannoneers was killed while loading the piece; +the others pushed the body out of their way, and the service went on with the +same methodical precision, with neither more nor less haste. In the midst of +the projectiles that fell and burst continually the same unvarying rhythmical +movements went on uninterruptedly about the gun; the cartridge and shell were +introduced, the gun was pointed, the lanyard pulled, the carriage brought back +to place; and all with such undeviating regularity that the men might have been +taken for automatons, devoid of sight and hearing. +</p> + +<p> +What impressed Maurice, however, more than anything else, was the attitude of +the drivers, sitting straight and stiff in their saddles fifteen yards to the +rear, face to the enemy. There was Adolphe, the broad-chested, with his big +blond mustache across his rubicund face; and who shall tell the amount of +courage a man must have to enable him to sit without winking and watch the +shells coming toward him, and he not allowed even to twirl his thumbs by way of +diversion! The men who served the guns had something to occupy their minds, +while the drivers, condemned to immobility, had death constantly before their +eyes, and plenty of leisure to speculate on probabilities. They were made to +face the battlefield because, had they turned their backs to it, the coward +that so often lurks at the bottom of man’s nature might have got the +better of them and swept away man and beast. It is the unseen danger that makes +dastards of us; that which we can see we brave. The army has no more gallant +set of men in its ranks than the drivers in their obscure position. +</p> + +<p> +Another man had been killed, two horses of a caisson had been disemboweled, and +the enemy kept up such a murderous fire that there was a prospect of the entire +battery being knocked to pieces should they persist in holding that position +longer. It was time to take some step to baffle that tremendous fire, +notwithstanding the danger there was in moving, and the captain unhesitatingly +gave orders to bring up the limbers. +</p> + +<p> +The risky maneuver was executed with lightning speed; the drivers came up at a +gallop, wheeled their limber into position in rear of the gun, when the +cannoneers raised the trail of the piece and hooked on. The movement, however, +collecting as it did, momentarily, men and horses on the battery front in +something of a huddle, created a certain degree of confusion, of which the +enemy took advantage by increasing the rapidity of their fire; three more men +dropped. The teams darted away at breakneck speed, describing an arc of a +circle among the fields, and the battery took up its new position some fifty or +sixty yards more to the right, on a gentle eminence that was situated on the +other flank of the 106th. The pieces were unlimbered, the drivers resumed their +station at the rear, face to the enemy, and the firing was reopened; and so +little time was lost between leaving their old post and taking up the new that +the earth had barely ceased to tremble under the concussion. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice uttered a cry of dismay, when, after three attempts, the Prussians had +again got their range; the first shell landed squarely on Honoré’s gun. +The artilleryman rushed forward, and with a trembling hand felt to ascertain +what damage had been done his pet; a great wedge had been chipped from the +bronze muzzle. But it was not disabled, and the work went on as before, after +they had removed from beneath the wheels the body of another cannoneer, with +whose blood the entire carriage was besplashed. +</p> + +<p> +“It was not little Louis; I am glad of that,” said Maurice, +continuing to think aloud. “There he is now, pointing his gun; he must be +wounded, though, for he is only using his left arm. Ah, he is a brave lad, is +little Louis; and how well he and Adolphe get on together, in spite of their +little tiffs, only provided the gunner, the man who serves on foot, shows a +proper amount of respect for the driver, the man who rides a horse, +notwithstanding that the latter is by far the more ignorant of the two. Now +that they are under fire, though, Louis is as good a man as +Adolphe—” +</p> + +<p> +Jean, who had been watching events in silence, gave utterance to a distressful +cry: +</p> + +<p> +“They will have to give it up! No troops in the world could stand such a +fire.” +</p> + +<p> +Within the space of five minutes the second position had become as untenable as +was the first; the projectiles kept falling with the same persistency, the same +deadly precision. A shell dismounted a gun, fracturing the chase, killing a +lieutenant and two men. Not one of the enemy’s shots failed to reach, and +at each discharge they secured a still greater accuracy of range, so that if +the battery should remain there another five minutes they would not have a gun +or a man left. The crushing fire threatened to wipe them all out of existence. +</p> + +<p> +Again the captain’s ringing voice was heard ordering up the limbers. The +drivers dashed up at a gallop and wheeled their teams into place to allow the +cannoneers to hook on the guns, but before Adolphe had time to get up Louis was +struck by a fragment of shell that tore open his throat and broke his jaw; he +fell across the trail of the carriage just as he was on the point of raising +it. Adolphe was there instantly, and beholding his prostrate comrade weltering +in his blood, jumped from his horse and was about to raise him to his saddle +and bear him away. And at that moment, just as the battery was exposed flank to +the enemy in the act of wheeling, offering a fair target, a crashing discharge +came, and Adolphe reeled and fell to the ground, his chest crushed in, with +arms wide extended. In his supreme convulsion he seized his comrade about the +body, and thus they lay, locked in each other’s arms in a last embrace, +“married” even in death. +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding the slaughtered horses and the confusion that that +death-dealing discharge had caused among the men, the battery had rattled up +the slope of a hillock and taken post a few yards from the spot where Jean and +Maurice were lying. For the third time the guns were unlimbered, the drivers +retired to the rear and faced the enemy, and the cannoneers, with a gallantry +that nothing could daunt, at once reopened fire. +</p> + +<p> +“It is as if the end of all things were at hand!” said Maurice, the +sound of whose voice was lost in the uproar. +</p> + +<p> +It seemed indeed as if heaven and earth were confounded in that hideous din. +Great rocks were cleft asunder, the sun was hid from sight at times in clouds +of sulphurous vapor. When the cataclysm was at its height the horses stood with +drooping heads, trembling, dazed with terror. The captain’s tall form was +everywhere upon the eminence; suddenly he was seen no more; a shell had cut him +clean in two, and he sank, as a ship’s mast that is snapped off at the +base. +</p> + +<p> +But it was about Honoré’s gun, even more than the others, that the +conflict raged, with cool efficiency and obstinate determination. The +non-commissioned officer found it necessary to forget his chevrons for the time +being and lend a hand in working the piece, for he had now but three cannoneers +left; he pointed the gun and pulled the lanyard, while the others brought +ammunition from the caisson, loaded, and handled the rammer and the sponge. He +had sent for men and horses from the battery reserves that were kept to supply +the places of those removed by casualties, but they were slow in coming, and in +the meantime the survivors must do the work of the dead. It was a great +discouragement to all that their projectiles ranged short and burst almost +without exception in the air, inflicting no injury on the powerful batteries of +the foe, the fire of which was so efficient. And suddenly Honoré let slip an +oath that was heard above the thunder of the battle; ill-luck, ill-luck, +nothing but ill-luck! the right wheel of his piece was smashed! <i>Tonnerre de +Dieu!</i> what a state she was in, the poor darling! stretched on her side with +a broken paw, her nose buried in the ground, crippled and good for nothing! The +sight brought big tears to his eyes, he laid his trembling hand upon the +breech, as if the ardor of his love might avail to warm his dear mistress back +to life. And the best gun of them all, the only one that had been able to drop +a few shells among the enemy! Then suddenly he conceived a daring project, +nothing less than to repair the injury there and then, under that terrible +fire. Assisted by one of his men he ran back to the caisson and secured the +spare wheel that was attached to the rear axle, and then commenced the most +dangerous operation that can be executed on a battlefield. Fortunately the +extra men and horses that he had sent for came up just then, and he had two +cannoneers to lend him a hand. +</p> + +<p> +For the third time, however, the strength of the battery was so reduced as +practically to disable it. To push their heroic daring further would be +madness; the order was given to abandon the position definitely. +</p> + +<p> +“Make haste, comrades!” Honoré exclaimed. “Even if she is fit +for no further service we’ll carry her off; those fellows shan’t +have her!” +</p> + +<p> +To save the gun, even as men risk their life to save the flag; that was his +idea. And he had not ceased to speak when he was stricken down as by a +thunderbolt, his right arm torn from its socket, his left flank laid open. He +had fallen upon his gun he loved so well, and lay there as if stretched on a +bed of honor, with head erect, his unmutilated face turned toward the enemy, +and bearing an expression of proud defiance that made him beautiful in death. +From his torn jacket a letter had fallen to the ground and lay in the pool of +blood that dribbled slowly from above. +</p> + +<p> +The only lieutenant left alive shouted the order: “Bring up the +limbers!” +</p> + +<p> +A caisson had exploded with a roar that rent the skies. They were obliged to +take the horses from another caisson in order to save a gun of which the team +had been killed. And when, for the last time, the drivers had brought up their +smoking horses and the guns had been limbered up, the whole battery flew away +at a gallop and never stopped until they reached the edge of the wood of la +Garenne, nearly twelve hundred yards away. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice had seen the whole. He shivered with horror, and murmured mechanically, +in a faint voice: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! poor fellow, poor fellow!” +</p> + +<p> +In addition to this feeling of mental distress he had a horrible sensation of +physical suffering, as if something was gnawing at his vitals. It was the +animal portion of his nature asserting itself; he was at the end of his +endurance, was ready to sink with hunger. His perceptions were dimmed, he was +not even conscious of the dangerous position the regiment was in now it no +longer was protected by the battery. It was more than likely that the enemy +would not long delay to attack the plateau in force. +</p> + +<p> +“Look here,” he said to Jean, “I <i>must</i> eat—if I +am to be killed for it the next minute, I must eat.” +</p> + +<p> +He opened his knapsack and, taking out the bread with shaking hands, set his +teeth in it voraciously. The bullets were whistling above their heads, two +shells exploded only a few yards away, but all was as naught to him in +comparison with his craving hunger. +</p> + +<p> +“Will you have some, Jean?” +</p> + +<p> +The corporal was watching him with hungry eyes and a stupid expression on his +face; his stomach was also twinging him. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I don’t care if I do; this suffering is more than I can +stand.” +</p> + +<p> +They divided the loaf between them and each devoured his portion gluttonously, +unmindful of what was going on about them so long as a crumb remained. And it +was at that time that they saw their colonel for the last time, sitting his big +horse, with his blood-stained boot. The regiment was surrounded on every side; +already some of the companies had left the field. Then, unable longer to +restrain their flight, with tears standing in his eyes and raising his sword +above his head: +</p> + +<p> +“My children,” cried M. de Vineuil, “I commend you to the +protection of God, who thus far has spared us all!” +</p> + +<p> +He rode off down the hill, surrounded by a swarm of fugitives, and vanished +from their sight. +</p> + +<p> +Then, they knew not how, Maurice and Jean found themselves once more behind the +hedge, with the remnant of their company. Some forty men at the outside were +all that remained, with Lieutenant Rochas as their commander, and the +regimental standard was with them; the subaltern who carried it had furled the +silk about the staff in order to try to save it. They made their way along the +hedge, as far as it extended, to a cluster of small trees upon a hillside, +where Rochas made them halt and reopen fire. The men, dispersed in skirmishing +order and sufficiently protected, could hold their ground, the more that an +important cavalry movement was in preparation on their right and regiments of +infantry were being brought up to support it. +</p> + +<p> +It was at that moment that Maurice comprehended the full scope of that mighty, +irresistible turning movement that was now drawing near completion. That +morning he had watched the Prussians debouching by the Saint-Albert pass and +had seen their advanced guard pushed forward, first to Saint-Menges, then to +Fleigneux, and now, behind the wood of la Garenne, he could hear the thunder of +the artillery of the Guard, could behold other German uniforms arriving on the +scene over the hills of Givonne. Yet a few moments, it might be, and the circle +would be complete; the Guard would join hands with the Vth corps, surrounding +the French army with a living wall, girdling them about with a belt of flaming +artillery. It was with the resolve to make one supreme, desperate effort, to +try to hew a passage through that advancing wall, that General +Margueritte’s division of the reserve cavalry was massing behind a +protecting crest preparatory to charging. They were about to charge into the +jaws of death, with no possibility of achieving any useful result, solely for +the glory of France and the French army. And Maurice, whose thoughts turned to +Prosper, was a witness of the terrible spectacle. +</p> + +<p> +What between the messages that were given him to carry and their answers, +Prosper had been kept busy since daybreak spurring up and down the plateau of +Illy. The cavalrymen had been awakened at peep of dawn, man by man, without +sound of trumpet, and to make their morning coffee had devised the ingenious +expedient of screening their fires with a greatcoat so as not to attract the +attention of the enemy. Then there came a period when they were left entirely +to themselves, with nothing to occupy them; they seemed to be forgotten by +their commanders. They could hear the sound of the cannonading, could descry +the puffs of smoke, could see the distant movements of the infantry, but were +utterly ignorant of the battle, its importance, and its results. Prosper, as +far as he was concerned, was suffering from want of sleep. The cumulative +fatigue induced by many nights of broken rest, the invincible somnolency caused +by the easy gait of his mount, made life a burden. He dreamed dreams and saw +visions; now he was sleeping comfortably in a bed between clean sheets, now +snoring on the bare ground among sharpened flints. For minutes at a time he +would actually be sound asleep in his saddle, a lifeless clod, his +steed’s intelligence answering for both. Under such circumstances +comrades had often tumbled from their seats upon the road. They were so fagged +that when they slept the trumpets no longer awakened them; the only way to +rouse them from their lethargy and get them on their feet was to kick them +soundly. +</p> + +<p> +“But what are they going to do, what are they going to do with us?” +Prosper kept saying to himself. It was the only thing he could think of to keep +himself awake. +</p> + +<p> +For six hours the cannon had been thundering. As they climbed a hill two +comrades, riding at his side, had been struck down by a shell, and as they rode +onward seven or eight others had bit the dust, pierced by rifle-balls that came +no one could say whence. It was becoming tiresome, that slow parade, as useless +as it was dangerous, up and down the battlefield. At last—it was about +one o’clock—he learned that it had been decided they were to be +killed off in a somewhat more decent manner. Margueritte’s entire +division, comprising three regiments of chasseurs d’Afrique, one of +chasseurs de France, and one of hussars, had been drawn in and posted in a +shallow valley a little to the south of the Calvary of Illy. The trumpets had +sounded: “Dismount!” and then the officers’ command ran down +the line to tighten girths and look to packs. +</p> + +<p> +Prosper alighted, stretched his cramped limbs, and gave Zephyr a friendly pat +upon the neck. Poor Zephyr! he felt the degradation of the ignominious, +heartbreaking service they were subjected to almost as keenly as his master; +and not only that, but he had to carry a small arsenal of stores and implements +of various kinds: the holsters stuffed with his master’s linen and +underclothing and the greatcoat rolled above, the stable suit, blouse, and +overalls, and the sack containing brushes, currycomb, and other articles of +equine toilet behind the saddle, the haversack with rations slung at his side, +to say nothing of such trifles as side-lines and picket-pins, the watering +bucket and the wooden basin. The cavalryman’s tender heart was stirred by +a feeling of compassion, as he tightened up the girth and looked to see that +everything was secure in its place. +</p> + +<p> +It was a trying moment. Prosper was no more a coward than the next man, but his +mouth was intolerably dry and hot; he lit a cigarette in the hope that it would +relieve the unpleasant sensation. When about to charge no man can assert with +any degree of certainty that he will ride back again. The suspense lasted some +five or six minutes; it was said that General Margueritte had ridden forward to +reconnoiter the ground over which they were to charge; they were awaiting his +return. The five regiments had been formed in three columns, each column having +a depth of seven squadrons; enough to afford an ample meal to the hostile guns. +</p> + +<p> +Presently the trumpets rang out: “To horse!” and this was succeeded +almost immediately by the shrill summons: “Draw sabers!” +</p> + +<p> +The colonel of each regiment had previously ridden out and taken his proper +position, twenty-five yards to the front, the captains were all at their posts +at the head of their squadrons. Then there was another period of anxious +waiting, amid a silence heavy as that of death. Not a sound, not a breath, +there, beneath the blazing sun; nothing, save the beating of those brave +hearts. One order more, the supreme, the decisive one, and that mass, now so +inert and motionless, would become a resistless tornado, sweeping all before +it. +</p> + +<p> +At that juncture, however, an officer appeared coming over the crest of the +hill in front, wounded, and preserving his seat in the saddle only by the +assistance of a man on either side. No one recognized him at first, but +presently a deep, ominous murmur began to run from squadron to squadron, which +quickly swelled into a furious uproar. It was General Margueritte, who had +received a wound from which he died a few days later; a musket-ball had passed +through both cheeks, carrying away a portion of the tongue and palate. He was +incapable of speech, but waved his arm in the direction of the enemy. The fury +of his men knew no bounds; their cries rose louder still upon the air. +</p> + +<p> +“It is our general! Avenge him, avenge him!” +</p> + +<p> +Then the colonel of the first regiment, raising aloft his saber, shouted in a +voice of thunder: +</p> + +<p> +“Charge!” +</p> + +<p> +The trumpets sounded, the column broke into a trot and was away. Prosper was in +the leading squadron, but almost at the extreme right of the right wing, a +position of less danger than the center, upon which the enemy always naturally +concentrate their hottest fire. When they had topped the summit of the Calvary +and began to descend the slope beyond that led downward into the broad plain he +had a distinct view, some two-thirds of a mile away, of the Prussian squares +that were to be the object of their attack. Beside that vision all the rest was +dim and confused before his eyes; he moved onward as one in a dream, with a +strange ringing in his ears, a sensation of voidness in his mind that left him +incapable of framing an idea. He was a part of the great engine that tore +along, controlled by a superior will. The command ran along the line: +“Keep touch of knees! Keep touch of knees!” in order to keep the +men closed up and give their ranks the resistance and rigidity of a wall of +granite, and as their trot became swifter and swifter and finally broke into a +mad gallop, the chasseurs d’Afrique gave their wild Arab cry that excited +their wiry steeds to the verge of frenzy. Onward they tore, faster and faster +still, until their gallop was a race of unchained demons, their shouts the +shrieks of souls in mortal agony; onward they plunged amid a storm of bullets +that rattled on casque and breastplate, on buckle and scabbard, with a sound +like hail; into the bosom of that hailstorm flashed that thunderbolt beneath +which the earth shook and trembled, leaving behind it, as it passed, an odor of +burned woolen and the exhalations of wild beasts. +</p> + +<p> +At five hundred yards the line wavered an instant, then swirled and broke in a +frightful eddy that brought Prosper to the ground. He clutched Zephyr by the +mane and succeeded in recovering his seat. The center had given way, riddled, +almost annihilated as it was by the musketry fire, while the two wings had +wheeled and ridden back a little way to renew their formation. It was the +foreseen, foredoomed destruction of the leading squadron. Disabled horses +covered the ground, some quiet in death, but many struggling violently in their +strong agony; and everywhere dismounted riders could be seen, running as fast +as their short legs would let them, to capture themselves another mount. Many +horses that had lost their master came galloping back to the squadron and took +their place in line of their own accord, to rush with their comrades back into +the fire again, as if there was some strange attraction for them in the smell +of gunpowder. The charge was resumed; the second squadron went forward, like +the first, at a constantly accelerated rate of speed, the men bending upon +their horses’ neck, holding the saber along the thigh, ready for use upon +the enemy. Two hundred yards more were gained this time, amid the thunderous, +deafening uproar, but again the center broke under the storm of bullets; men +and horses went down in heaps, and the piled corpses made an insurmountable +barrier for those who followed. Thus was the second squadron in its turn mown +down, annihilated, leaving its task to be accomplished by those who came after. +</p> + +<p> +When for the third time the men were called upon to charge and responded with +invincible heroism, Prosper found that his companions were principally hussars +and chasseurs de France. Regiments and squadrons, as organizations, had ceased +to exist; their constituent elements were drops in the mighty wave that +alternately broke and reared its crest again, to swallow up all that lay in its +destructive path. He had long since lost distinct consciousness of what was +going on around him, and suffered his movements to be guided by his mount, +faithful Zephyr, who had received a wound in the ear that seemed to madden him. +He was now in the center, where all about him horses were rearing, pawing the +air, and falling backward; men were dismounted as if torn from their saddle by +the blast of a tornado, while others, shot through some vital part, retained +their seat and rode onward in the ranks with vacant, sightless eyes. And +looking back over the additional two hundred yards that this effort had won for +them, they could see the field of yellow stubble strewn thick with dead and +dying. Some there were who had fallen headlong from their saddle and buried +their face in the soft earth. Others had alighted on their back and were +staring up into the sun with terror-stricken eyes that seemed bursting from +their sockets. There was a handsome black horse, an officer’s charger, +that had been disemboweled, and was making frantic efforts to rise, his fore +feet entangled in his entrails. Beneath the fire, that became constantly more +murderous as they drew nearer, the survivors in the wings wheeled their horses +and fell back to concentrate their strength for a fresh onset. +</p> + +<p> +Finally it was the fourth squadron, which, on the fourth attempt, reached the +Prussian lines. Prosper made play with his saber, hacking away at helmets and +dark uniforms as well as he could distinguish them, for all was dim before him, +as in a dense mist. Blood flowed in torrents; Zephyr’s mouth was smeared +with it, and to account for it he said to himself that the good horse must have +been using his teeth on the Prussians. The clamor around him became so great +that he could not hear his own voice, although his throat seemed splitting from +the yells that issued from it. But behind the first Prussian line there was +another, and then another, and then another still. Their gallant efforts went +for nothing; those dense masses of men were like a tangled jungle that closed +around the horses and riders who entered it and buried them in its rank +growths. They might hew down those who were within reach of their sabers; +others stood ready to take their place, the last squadrons were lost and +swallowed up in their vast numbers. The firing, at point-blank range, was so +furious that the men’s clothing was ignited. Nothing could stand before +it, all went down; and the work that it left unfinished was completed by +bayonet and musket butt. Of the brave men who rode into action that day +two-thirds remained upon the battlefield, and the sole end achieved by that mad +charge was to add another glorious page to history. And then Zephyr, struck by +a musket-ball full in the chest, dropped in a heap, crushing beneath him +Prosper’s right thigh; and the pain was so acute that the young man +fainted. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice and Jean, who had watched the gallant effort with burning interest, +uttered an exclamation of rage. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Tonnerre de Dieu!</i> what bravery wasted!” +</p> + +<p> +And they resumed their firing from among the trees of the low hill where they +were deployed in skirmishing order. Rochas himself had picked up an abandoned +musket and was blazing away with the rest. But the plateau of Illy was lost to +them by this time beyond hope of recovery; the Prussians were pouring in upon +it from every quarter. It was somewhere in the neighborhood of two +o’clock, and their great movement was accomplished; the Vth corps and the +Guards had effected their junction, the investment of the French army was +complete. +</p> + +<p> +Jean was suddenly brought to the ground. +</p> + +<p> +“I am done for,” he murmured. +</p> + +<p> +He had received what seemed to him like a smart blow of a hammer on the crown +of his head, and his <i>kepi</i> lay behind him with a great furrow plowed +through its top. At first he thought that the bullet had certainly penetrated +the skull and laid bare the brain; his dread of finding a yawning orifice there +was so great that for some seconds he dared not raise his hand to ascertain the +truth. When finally he ventured, his fingers, on withdrawing them, were red +with an abundant flow of blood, and the pain was so intense that he fainted. +</p> + +<p> +Just then Rochas gave the order to fall back. The Prussians had crept up on +them and were only two or three hundred yards away; they were in danger of +being captured. +</p> + +<p> +“Be cool, don’t hurry; face about and give ’em another shot. +Rally behind that low wall that you see down there.” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice was in despair; he knew not what to do. +</p> + +<p> +“We are not going to leave our corporal behind, are we, +lieutenant?” +</p> + +<p> +“What are we to do? he has turned up his toes.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no! he is breathing still. Take him along!” +</p> + +<p> +Rochas shrugged his shoulders as if to say they could not bother themselves for +every man that dropped. A wounded man is esteemed of little value on the +battlefield. Then Maurice addressed his supplications to Lapoulle and Pache. +</p> + +<p> +“Come, give me a helping hand. I am not strong enough to carry him +unassisted.” +</p> + +<p> +They were deaf to his entreaties; all they could hear was the voice that urged +them to seek safety for themselves. The Prussians were now not more than a +hundred yards from them; already they were on their hands and knees, crawling +as fast as they could go toward the wall. +</p> + +<p> +And Maurice, weeping tears of rage, thus left alone with his unconscious +companion, raised him in his arms and endeavored to lug him away, but he found +his puny strength unequal to the task, exhausted as he was by fatigue and the +emotions of the day. At the first step he took he reeled and fell with his +burden. If only he could catch sight of a stretcher-bearer! He strained his +eyes, thought he had discovered one among the crowd of fugitives, and made +frantic gestures of appeal; no one came, they were left behind, alone. +Summoning up his strength with a determined effort of the will he seized Jean +once more and succeeded in advancing some thirty paces, when a shell burst near +them and he thought that all was ended, that he, too, was to die on the body of +his comrade. +</p> + +<p> +Slowly, cautiously, Maurice picked himself up. He felt his body, arms, and +legs; nothing, not a scratch. Why should he not look out for himself and fly, +alone? There was time left still; a few bounds would take him to the wall and +he would be saved. His horrible sensation of fear returned and made him +frantic. He was collecting his energies to break away and run, when a feeling +stronger than death intervened and vanquished the base impulse. What, abandon +Jean! he could not do it. It would be like mutilating his own being; the +brotherly affection that had bourgeoned and grown between him and that rustic +had struck its roots down into his life, too deep to be slain like that. The +feeling went back to the earliest days, was perhaps as old as the world itself; +it was as if there were but they two upon earth, of whom one could not forsake +the other without forsaking himself, and being doomed thenceforth to an +eternity of solitude. Molded of the same clay, quickened by the same spirit, +duty imperiously commanded to save himself in saving his brother. +</p> + +<p> +Had it not been for the crust of bread he ate an hour before under the Prussian +shells Maurice could never have done what he did; <i>how</i> he did it he could +never in subsequent days remember. He must have hoisted Jean upon his shoulders +and crawled through the brush and brambles, falling a dozen times only to pick +himself up and go on again, stumbling at every rut, at every pebble. His +indomitable will sustained him, his dogged resolution would have enabled him to +bear a mountain on his back. Behind the low wall he found Rochas and the few +men that were left of the squad, firing away as stoutly as ever and defending +the flag, which the subaltern held beneath his arm. It had not occurred to +anyone to designate lines of retreat for the several army corps in case the day +should go against them; owing to this want of foresight every general was at +liberty to act as seemed to him best, and at this stage of the conflict they +all found themselves being crowded back upon Sedan under the steady, unrelaxing +pressure of the German armies. The second division of the 7th corps fell back +in comparatively good order, while the remnants of the other divisions, mingled +with the debris of the 1st corps, were already streaming into the city in +terrible disorder, a roaring torrent of rage and fright that bore all, men and +beasts, before it. +</p> + +<p> +But to Maurice, at that moment, was granted the satisfaction of seeing Jean +unclose his eyes, and as he was running to a stream that flowed near by, for +water with which to bathe his friend’s face, he was surprised, looking +down on his right into a sheltered valley that lay between rugged slopes, to +behold the same peasant whom he had seen that morning, still leisurely driving +the plow through the furrow with the assistance of his big white horse. Why +should he lose a day? Men might fight, but none the less the corn would keep on +growing; and folks must live. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap14"></a>VI.</h2> + +<p> +Up on his lofty terrace, whither he had betaken himself to watch how affairs +were shaping, Delaherche at last became impatient and was seized with an +uncontrollable desire for news. He could see that the enemy’s shells were +passing over the city and that the few projectiles which had fallen on the +houses in the vicinity were only responses, made at long intervals, to the +irregular and harmless fire from Fort Palatinat, but he could discern nothing +of the battle, and his agitation was rising to fever heat; he experienced an +imperious longing for intelligence, which was constantly stimulated by the +reflection that his life and fortune would be in danger should the army be +defeated. He found it impossible to remain there longer, and went downstairs, +leaving behind him the telescope on its tripod, turned on the German batteries. +</p> + +<p> +When he had descended, however, he lingered a moment, detained by the aspect of +the central garden of the factory. It was near one o’clock, and the +ambulance was crowded with wounded men; the wagons kept driving up to the +entrance in an unbroken stream. The regular ambulance wagons of the medical +department, two-wheeled and four-wheeled, were too few in number to meet the +demand, and vehicles of every description from the artillery and other trains, +<i>prolonges</i>, provision vans, everything on wheels that could be picked up +on the battlefield, came rolling up with their ghastly loads; and later in the +day even carrioles and market-gardeners’ carts were pressed into the +service and harnessed to horses that were found straying along the roads. Into +these motley conveyances were huddled the men collected from the flying +ambulances, where their hurts had received such hasty attention as could be +afforded. It was a sight to move the most callous to behold the unloading of +those poor wretches, some with a greenish pallor on their face, others suffused +with the purple hue that denotes congestion; many were in a state of coma, +others uttered piercing cries of anguish; some there were who, in their +semi-conscious condition, yielded themselves to the arms of the attendants with +a look of deepest terror in their eyes, while a few, the minute a hand was laid +on them, died of the consequent shock. They continued to arrive in such numbers +that soon every bed in the vast apartment would have its occupant, and Major +Bouroche had given orders to make use of the straw that had been spread thickly +upon the floor at one end. He and his assistants had thus far been able to +attend to all the cases with reasonable promptness; he had requested Mme. +Delaherche to furnish him with another table, with mattress and oilcloth cover, +for the shed where he had established his operating room. The assistant would +thrust a napkin saturated with chloroform to the patient’s nostrils, the +keen knife flashed in the air, there was the faint rasping of the saw, barely +audible, the blood spurted in short, sharp jets that were checked immediately. +As soon as one subject had been operated on another was brought in, and they +followed one another in such quick succession that there was barely time to +pass a sponge over the protecting oilcloth. At the extremity of the grass plot, +screened from sight by a clump of lilac bushes, they had set up a kind of +morgue whither they carried the bodies of the dead, which were removed from the +beds without a moment’s delay in order to make room for the living, and +this receptacle also served to receive the amputated legs, and arms, whatever +debris of flesh and bone remained upon the table. +</p> + +<p> +Mme. Delaherche and Gilberte, seated at the foot of one of the great trees, +found it hard work to keep pace with the demand for bandages. Bouroche, who +happened to be passing, his face very red, his apron white no longer, threw a +bundle of linen to Delaherche and shouted: +</p> + +<p> +“Here! be doing something; make yourself useful!” +</p> + +<p> +But the manufacturer objected. “Oh! excuse me; I must go and try to pick +up some news. One can’t tell whether his neck is safe or not.” +Then, touching his lips to his wife’s hair: “My poor Gilberte, to +think that a shell may burn us out of house and home at any moment! It is +horrible.” +</p> + +<p> +She was very pale; she raised her head and glanced about her, shuddering as she +did so. Then, involuntarily, her unextinguishable smile returned to her lips. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, horrible, indeed! and all those poor men that they are cutting and +carving. I don’t see how it is that I stay here without fainting.” +</p> + +<p> +Mme. Delaherche had watched her son as he kissed the young woman’s hair. +She made a movement as if to part them, thinking of that other man who must +have kissed those tresses so short a time ago; then her old hands trembled, she +murmured beneath her breath: +</p> + +<p> +“What suffering all about us, <i>mon Dieu!</i> It makes one forget his +own.” +</p> + +<p> +Delaherche left them, with the assurance that he would be away no longer than +was necessary to ascertain the true condition of affairs. In the Rue Maqua he +was surprised to observe the crowds of soldiers that were streaming into the +city, without arms and in torn, dust-stained uniforms. It was in vain, however, +that he endeavored to slake his thirst for news by questioning them; some +answered with vacant, stupid looks that they knew nothing, while others told +long rambling stories, with the maniacal gestures and whirling words of one +bereft of reason. He therefore mechanically turned his steps again toward the +Sous Prefecture as the likeliest quarter in which to look for information. As +he was passing along the Place du Collège two guns, probably all that remained +of some battery, came dashing up to the curb on a gallop, and were abandoned +there. When at last he turned into the Grande Rue he had further evidence that +the advanced guards of the fugitives were beginning to take possession, of the +city; three dismounted hussars had seated themselves in a doorway and were +sharing a loaf of bread; two others were walking their mounts up and down, +leading them by the bridle, not knowing where to look for stabling for them; +officers were hurrying to and fro distractedly, seemingly without any distinct +purpose. On the Place Turenne a lieutenant counseled him not to loiter +unnecessarily, for the shells had an unpleasant way of dropping there every now +and then; indeed, a splinter had just demolished the railing about the statue +of the great commander who overran the Palatinate. And as if to emphasize the +officer’s advice, while he was making fast time down the Rue de la Sous +Prefecture he saw two projectiles explode, with a terrible crash, on the Pont +de Meuse. +</p> + +<p> +He was standing in front of the janitor’s lodge, debating with himself +whether it would be best to send in his card and try to interview one of the +aides-de-camp, when he heard a girlish voice calling him by name. +</p> + +<p> +“M. Delaherche! Come in here, quick; it is not safe out there.” +</p> + +<p> +It was Rose, his little operative, whose existence he had quite forgotten. She +might be a useful ally in assisting him to gain access to headquarters; he +entered the lodge and accepted her invitation to be seated. +</p> + +<p> +“Just think, mamma is down sick with the worry and confusion; she +can’t leave her bed, so, you see, I have to attend to everything, for +papa is with the National Guards up in the citadel. A little while ago the +Emperor left the building—I suppose he wanted to let people see he is not +a coward—and succeeded in getting as far as the bridge down at the end of +the street. A shell alighted right in front of him; one of his equerries had +his horse killed under him. And then he came back—he couldn’t do +anything else, could he, now?” +</p> + +<p> +“You must have heard some talk of how the battle is going. What do they +say, those gentlemen upstairs?” +</p> + +<p> +She looked at him in surprise. Her pretty face was bright and smiling, with its +fluffy golden hair and the clear, childish eyes of one who bestirred herself +among her multifarious duties, in the midst of all those horrors, which she did +not well understand. +</p> + +<p> +“No, I know nothing. About midday I sent up a letter for Marshal +MacMahon, but it could not be given him right away, because the Emperor was in +the room. They were together nearly an hour, the Marshal lying on his bed, the +Emperor close beside him seated on a chair. That much I know for certain, +because I saw them when the door was opened.” +</p> + +<p> +“And then, what did they say to each other?” +</p> + +<p> +She looked at him again, and could not help laughing. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, I don’t know; how could you expect me to? There’s not a +living soul knows what they said to each other.” +</p> + +<p> +She was right; he made an apologetic gesture in recognition of the stupidity of +his question. But the thought of that fateful conversation haunted him; the +interest there was in it for him who could have heard it! What decision had +they arrived at? +</p> + +<p> +“And now,” Rose added, “the Emperor is back in his cabinet +again, where he is having a conference with two generals who have just come in +from the battlefield.” She checked herself, casting a glance at the main +entrance of the building. “See! there is one of them, now—and there +comes the other.” +</p> + +<p> +He hurried from the room, and in the two generals recognized Ducrot and Douay, +whose horses were standing before the door. He watched them climb into their +saddles and gallop away. They had hastened into the city, each independently of +the other, after the plateau of Illy had been captured by the enemy, to notify +the Emperor that the battle was lost. They placed the entire situation +distinctly before him; the army and Sedan were even then surrounded on every +side; the result could not help but be disastrous. +</p> + +<p> +For some minutes the Emperor continued silently to pace the floor of his +cabinet, with the feeble, uncertain step of an invalid. There was none with him +save an aide-de-camp, who stood by the door, erect and mute. And ever, to and +fro, from the window to the fireplace, from the fireplace to the window, the +sovereign tramped wearily, the inscrutable face now drawn and twitching +spasmodically with a nervous tic. The back was bent, the shoulders bowed, as if +the weight of his falling empire pressed on them more heavily, and the lifeless +eyes, veiled by their heavy lids, told of the anguish of the fatalist who has +played his last card against destiny and lost. Each time, however, that his +walk brought him to the half-open window he gave a start and lingered there a +second. And during one of those brief stoppages he faltered with trembling +lips: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! those guns, those guns, that have been going since the +morning!” +</p> + +<p> +The thunder of the batteries on la Marfée and at Frenois seemed, indeed, to +resound with more terrific violence there than elsewhere. It was one +continuous, uninterrupted crash, that shook the windows, nay, the very walls +themselves; an incessant uproar that exasperated the nerves by its persistency. +And he could not banish the reflection from his mind that, as the struggle was +now hopeless, further resistance would be criminal. What would avail more +bloodshed, more maiming and mangling; why add more corpses to the dead that +were already piled high upon that bloody field? They were vanquished, it was +all ended; then why not stop the slaughter? The abomination of desolation +raised its voice to heaven: let it cease. +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor, again before the window, trembled and raised his hands to his +ears, as if to shut out those reproachful voices. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, those guns, those guns! Will they never be silent!” +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps the dreadful thought of his responsibilities arose before him, with the +vision of all those thousands of bleeding forms with which his errors had +cumbered the earth; perhaps, again, it was but the compassionate impulse of the +tender-hearted dreamer, of the well-meaning man whose mind was stocked with +humanitarian theories. At the moment when he beheld utter ruin staring him in +the face, in that frightful whirlwind of destruction that broke him like a reed +and scattered his fortunes in the dust, he could yet find tears for others. +Almost crazed at the thought of the slaughter that was mercilessly going on so +near him, he felt he had not strength to endure it longer; each report of that +accursed cannonade seemed to pierce his heart and intensified a thousandfold +his own private suffering. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, those guns, those guns! they must be silenced at once, at +once!” +</p> + +<p> +And that monarch who no longer had a throne, for he had delegated all his +functions to the Empress regent, that chief without an army, since he had +turned over the supreme command to Marshal Bazaine, now felt that he must once +more take the reins in his hand and be the master. Since they left Châlons he +had kept himself in the background, had issued no orders, content to be a +nameless nullity without recognized position, a cumbrous burden carried about +from place to place among the baggage of his troops, and it was only in their +hour of defeat that the Emperor reasserted itself in him; the one order that he +was yet to give, out of the pity of his sorrowing heart, was to raise the white +flag on the citadel to request an armistice. +</p> + +<p> +“Those guns, oh! those guns! Take a sheet, someone, a tablecloth, it +matters not what! only hasten, hasten, and see that it is done!” +</p> + +<p> +The aide-de-camp hurried from the room, and with unsteady steps the Emperor +continued to pace his beat, back and forth, between the window and the +fireplace, while still the batteries kept thundering, shaking the house from +garret to foundation. +</p> + +<p> +Delaherche was still chatting with Rose in the room below when a +non-commissioned officer of the guard came running in and interrupted them. +</p> + +<p> +“Mademoiselle, the house is in confusion, I cannot find a servant. Can +you let me have something from your linen closet, a white cloth of some +kind?” +</p> + +<p> +“Will a napkin answer?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no, it would not be large enough. Half of a sheet, say.” +</p> + +<p> +Rose, eager to oblige, was already fumbling in her closet. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t think I have any half-sheets. No, I don’t see +anything that looks as if it would serve your purpose. Oh, here is something; +could you use a tablecloth?” +</p> + +<p> +“A tablecloth! just the thing. Nothing could be better.” And he +added as he left the room: “It is to be used as a flag of truce, and +hoisted on the citadel to let the enemy know we want to stop the fighting. Much +obliged, mademoiselle.” +</p> + +<p> +Delaherche gave a little involuntary start of delight; they were to have a +respite at last, then! Then he thought it might be unpatriotic to be joyful at +such a time, and put on a long face again; but none the less his heart was very +glad and he contemplated with much interest a colonel and captain, followed by +the sergeant, as they hurriedly left the Sous-Prefecture. The colonel had the +tablecloth, rolled in a bundle, beneath his arm. He thought he should like to +follow them, and took leave of Rose, who was very proud that her napery was to +be put to such use. It was then just striking two o’clock. +</p> + +<p> +In front of the Hôtel de Ville Delaherche was jostled by a disorderly mob of +half-crazed soldiers who were pushing their way down from the Faubourg de la +Cassine; he lost sight of the colonel, and abandoned his design of going to +witness the raising of the white flag. He certainly would not be allowed to +enter the citadel, and then again he had heard it reported that shells were +falling on the college, and a new terror filled his mind; his factory might +have been burned since he left it. All his feverish agitation returned to him +and he started off on a run; the rapid motion was a relief to him. But the +streets were blocked by groups of men, at every crossing he was delayed by some +new obstacle. It was only when he reached the Rue Maqua and beheld the +monumental facade of his house intact, no smoke or sign of fire about it, that +his anxiety was allayed, and he heaved a deep sigh of satisfaction. He entered, +and from the doorway shouted to his mother and wife: +</p> + +<p> +“It is all right! they are hoisting the white flag; the cannonade +won’t last much longer.” +</p> + +<p> +He said nothing more, for the appearance presented by the ambulance was truly +horrifying. +</p> + +<p> +In the vast drying-room, the wide door of which was standing open, not only was +every bed occupied, but there was no more room upon the litter that had been +shaken down on the floor at the end of the apartment. They were commencing to +strew straw in the spaces between the beds, the wounded were crowded together +so closely that they were in contact. Already there were more than two hundred +patients there, and more were arriving constantly; through the lofty windows +the pitiless white daylight streamed in upon that aggregation of suffering +humanity. Now and then an unguarded movement elicited an involuntary cry of +anguish. The death-rattle rose on the warm, damp air. Down the room a low, +mournful wail, almost a lullaby, went on and ceased not. And all about was +silence, intense, profound, the stolid resignation of despair, the solemn +stillness of the death-chamber, broken only by the tread and whispers of the +attendants. Rents in tattered, shell-torn uniforms disclosed gaping wounds, +some of which had received a hasty dressing on the battlefield, while others +were still raw and bleeding. There were feet, still incased in their coarse +shoes, crushed into a mass like jelly; from knees and elbows, that were as if +they had been smashed by a hammer, depended inert limbs. There were broken +hands, and fingers almost severed, ready to drop, retained only by a strip of +skin. Most numerous among the casualties were the fractures; the poor arms and +legs, red and swollen, throbbed intolerably and were heavy as lead. But the +most dangerous hurts were those in the abdomen, chest, and head. There were +yawning fissures that laid open the entire flank, the knotted viscera were +drawn into great hard lumps beneath the tight-drawn skin, while as the effect +of certain wounds the patient frothed at the mouth and writhed like an +epileptic. Here and there were cases where the lungs had been penetrated, the +puncture now so minute as to permit no escape of blood, again a wide, deep +orifice through which the red tide of life escaped in torrents; and the +internal hemorrhages, those that were hid from sight, were the most terrible in +their effects, prostrating their victim like a flash, making him black in the +face and delirious. And finally the head, more than any other portion of the +frame, gave evidence of hard treatment; a broken jaw, the mouth a pulp of teeth +and bleeding tongue, an eye torn from its socket and exposed upon the cheek, a +cloven skull that showed the palpitating brain beneath. Those in whose case the +bullet had touched the brain or spinal marrow were already as dead men, sunk in +the lethargy of coma, while the fractures and other less serious cases tossed +restlessly on their pallets and beseechingly called for water to quench their +thirst. +</p> + +<p> +Leaving the large room and passing out into the courtyard, the shed where the +operations were going on presented another scene of horror. In the rush and +hurry that had continued unabated since morning it was impossible to operate on +every case that was brought in, so their attention had been confined to those +urgent cases that imperatively demanded it. Whenever Bouroche’s rapid +judgment told him that amputation was necessary, he proceeded at once to +perform it. In the same way he lost not a moment’s time in probing the +wound and extracting the projectile whenever it had lodged in some locality +where it might do further mischief, as in the muscles of the neck, the region +of the arm pit, the thigh joint, the ligaments of the knee and elbow. Severed +arteries, too, had to be tied without delay. Other wounds were merely dressed +by one of the hospital stewards under his direction and left to await +developments. He had already with his own hand performed four amputations, the +only rest that he allowed himself being to attend to some minor cases in the +intervals between them, and was beginning to feel fatigue. There were but two +tables, his own and another, presided over by one of his assistants; a sheet +had been hung between them, to isolate the patients from each other. Although +the sponge was kept constantly at work the tables were always red, and the +buckets that were emptied over a bed of daisies a few steps away, the clear +water in which a single tumbler of blood sufficed to redden, seemed to be +buckets of unmixed blood, torrents of blood, inundating the gentle flowers of +the parterre. Although the room was thoroughly ventilated a nauseating smell +arose from the tables and their horrid burdens, mingled with the sweetly +insipid odor of chloroform. +</p> + +<p> +Delaherche, naturally a soft-hearted man, was in a quiver of compassionate +emotion at the spectacle that lay before his eyes, when his attention was +attracted by a landau that drove up to the door. It was a private carriage, but +doubtless the ambulance attendants had found none other ready to their hand and +had crowded their patients into it. There were eight of them, sitting on one +another’s knees, and as the last man alighted the manufacturer recognized +Captain Beaudoin, and gave utterance to a cry of terror and surprise. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, my poor friend! Wait, I will call my mother and my wife.” +</p> + +<p> +They came running up, leaving the bandages to be rolled by servants. The +attendants had already raised the captain and brought him into the room, and +were about to lay him down upon a pile of straw when Delaherche noticed, lying +on a bed, a soldier whose ashy face and staring eyes exhibited no sign of life. +</p> + +<p> +“Look, is he not dead, that man?” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s so!” replied the attendant. “He may as well +make room for someone else!” +</p> + +<p> +He and one of his mates took the body by the arms and legs and carried it off +to the morgue that had been extemporized behind the lilac bushes. A dozen +corpses were already there in a row, stiff and stark, some drawn out to their +full length as if in an attempt to rid themselves of the agony that racked +them, others curled and twisted in every attitude of suffering. Some seemed to +have left the world with a sneer on their faces, their eyes retroverted till +naught was visible but the whites, the grinning lips parted over the glistening +teeth, while in others, with faces unspeakably sorrowful, big tears still stood +on the cheeks. One, a mere boy, short and slight, half whose face had been shot +away by a cannon-ball, had his two hands clasped convulsively above his heart, +and in them a woman’s photograph, one of those pale, blurred pictures +that are made in the quarters of the poor, bedabbled with his blood. And at the +feet of the dead had been thrown in a promiscuous pile the amputated arms and +legs, the refuse of the knife and saw of the operating table, just as the +butcher sweeps into a corner of his shop the offal, the worthless odds and ends +of flesh and bone. +</p> + +<p> +Gilberte shuddered as she looked on Captain Beaudoin. Good God! how pale he +was, stretched out on his mattress, his face so white beneath the encrusting +grime! And the thought that but a few short hours before he had held her in his +arms, radiant in all his manly strength and beauty, sent a chill of terror to +her heart. She kneeled beside him. +</p> + +<p> +“What a terrible misfortune, my friend! But it won’t amount to +anything, will it?” And she drew her handkerchief from her pocket and +began mechanically to wipe his face, for she could not bear to look at it thus +soiled with powder, sweat, and clay. It seemed to her, too, that she would be +helping him by cleansing him a little. “Will it? it is only your leg that +is hurt; it won’t amount to anything.” +</p> + +<p> +The captain made an effort to rouse himself from his semi-conscious state, and +opened his eyes. He recognized his friends and greeted them with a faint smile. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, it is only the leg. I was not even aware of being hit; I thought I +had made a misstep and fallen—” He spoke with great difficulty. +“Oh! I am so thirsty!” +</p> + +<p> +Mme. Delaherche, who was standing at the other side of the mattress, looking +down compassionately on the young man, hastily left the room. She returned with +a glass and a carafe of water into which a little cognac had been poured, and +when the captain had greedily swallowed the contents of the glass, she +distributed what remained in the carafe among the occupants of the adjacent +beds, who begged with trembling outstretched hands and tearful voices for a +drop. A zouave, for whom there was none left, sobbed like a child in his +disappointment. +</p> + +<p> +Delaherche was meantime trying to gain the major’s ear to see if he could +not prevail on him to take up the captain’s case out of its regular turn. +Bouroche came into the room just then, with his blood-stained apron and +lion’s mane hanging in confusion about his perspiring face, and the men +raised their heads as he passed and endeavored to stop him, all clamoring at +once for recognition and immediate attention: “This way, major! +It’s my turn, major!” Faltering words of entreaty went up to him, +trembling hands clutched at his garments, but he, wrapped up in the work that +lay before him and puffing with his laborious exertions, continued to plan and +calculate and listened to none of them. He communed with himself aloud, +counting them over with his finger and classifying them, assigning them their +numbers; this one first, then that one, then that other fellow; one, two, +three; the jaw, the arm, then the thigh; while the assistant who accompanied +him on his round made himself all ears in his effort to memorize his +directions. +</p> + +<p> +“Major,” said Delaherche, plucking him by the sleeve, “there +is an officer over here, Captain Beaudoin—” +</p> + +<p> +Bouroche interrupted him. “What, Beaudoin here! Ah, the poor +devil!” And he crossed over at once to the side of the wounded man. A +single glance, however, must have sufficed to show him that the case was a bad +one, for he added in the same breath, without even stooping to examine the +injured member: “Good! I will have them bring him to me at once, just as +soon as I am through with the operation that is now in hand.” +</p> + +<p> +And he went back to the shed, followed by Delaherche, who would not lose sight +of him for fear lest he might forget his promise. +</p> + +<p> +The business that lay before him now was the rescision of a shoulder-joint in +accordance with Lisfranc’s method, which surgeons never fail to speak of +as a “very pretty” operation, something neat and expeditious, +barely occupying forty seconds in the performance. The patient was subjected to +the influence of chloroform, while an assistant grasped the shoulder with both +hands, the fingers under the armpit, the thumbs on top. Bouroche, brandishing +the long, keen knife, cried: “Raise him!” seized the deltoid with +his left hand and with a swift movement of the right cut through the flesh of +the arm and severed the muscle; then, with a deft rearward cut, he +disarticulated the joint at a single stroke, and presto! the arm fell on the +table, taken off in three motions. The assistant slipped his thumbs over the +brachial artery in such manner as to close it. “Let him down!” +Bouroche could not restrain a little pleased laugh as he proceeded to secure +the artery, for he had done it in thirty-five seconds. All that was left to do +now was to bring a flap of skin down over the wound and stitch it, in +appearance something like a flat epaulette. It was not only +“pretty,” but exciting, on account of the danger, for a man will +pump all the blood out of his body in two minutes through the brachial, to say +nothing of the risk there is in bringing a patient to a sitting posture when +under the influence of anaesthetics. +</p> + +<p> +Delaherche was white as a ghost; a thrill of horror ran down his back. He would +have turned and fled, but time was not given him; the arm was already off. The +soldier was a new recruit, a sturdy peasant lad; on emerging from his state of +coma he beheld a hospital attendant carrying away the amputated limb to conceal +it behind the lilacs. Giving a quick downward glance at his shoulder, he saw +the bleeding stump and knew what had been done, whereon he became furiously +angry. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, <i>nom de Dieu!</i> what have you been doing to me? It is a +shame!” +</p> + +<p> +Bouroche was too done up to make him an immediate answer, but presently, in his +fatherly way: +</p> + +<p> +“I acted for the best; I didn’t want to see you kick the bucket, my +boy. Besides, I asked you, and you told me to go ahead.” +</p> + +<p> +“I told you to go ahead! I did? How could I know what I was +saying!” His anger subsided and he began to weep scalding tears. +“What is going to become of me now?” +</p> + +<p> +They carried him away and laid him on the straw, and gave the table and its +covering a thorough cleansing; and the buckets of blood-red water that they +threw out across the grass plot gave to the pale daisies a still deeper hue of +crimson. +</p> + +<p> +When Delaherche had in some degree recovered his equanimity he was astonished +to notice that the bombardment was still going on. Why had it not been +silenced? Rose’s tablecloth must have been hoisted over the citadel by +that time, and yet it seemed as if the fire of the Prussian batteries was more +rapid and furious than ever. The uproar was such that one could not hear his +own voice; the sustained vibration tried the stoutest nerves. On both operators +and patients the effect could not but be most unfavorable of those incessant +detonations that seemed to penetrate the inmost recesses of one’s being. +The entire hospital was in a state of feverish alarm and apprehension. +</p> + +<p> +“I supposed it was all over; what can they mean by keeping it up?” +exclaimed Delaherche, who was nervously listening, expecting each shot would be +the last. +</p> + +<p> +Returning to Bouroche to remind him of his promise and conduct him to the +captain, he was astonished to find him seated on a bundle of straw before two +pails of iced water, into which he had plunged both his arms, bared to the +shoulder. The major, weary and disheartened, overwhelmed by a sensation of +deepest melancholy and dejection, had reached one of those terrible moments +when the practitioner becomes conscious of his own impotency; he had exhausted +his strength, physical and moral, and taken this means to restore it. And yet +he was not a weakling; he was steady of hand and firm of heart; but the +inexorable question had presented itself to him: “What is the use?” +The feeling that he could accomplish so little, that so much must be left +undone, had suddenly paralyzed him. What was the use? since Death, in spite of +his utmost effort, would always be victorious. Two attendants came in, bearing +Captain Beaudoin on a stretcher. +</p> + +<p> +“Major,” Delaherche ventured to say, “here is the +captain.” +</p> + +<p> +Bouroche opened his eyes, withdrew his arms from their cold bath, shook and +dried them on the straw. Then, rising to his feet: +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, yes; the next one—Well, well, the day’s work is not yet +done.” And he shook the tawny locks upon his lion’s head, +rejuvenated and refreshed, restored to himself once more by the invincible +habit of duty and the stern discipline of his profession. +</p> + +<p> +“Good! just above the right ankle,” said Bouroche, with unusual +garrulity, intended to quiet the nerves of the patient. “You displayed +wisdom in selecting the location of your wound; one is not much the worse for a +hurt in that quarter. Now we’ll just take a little look at it.” +</p> + +<p> +But Beaudoin’s persistently lethargic condition evidently alarmed him. He +inspected the contrivance that had been applied by the field attendant to check +the flow of blood, which was simply a cord passed around the leg outside the +trousers and twisted tight with the assistance of a bayonet sheath, with a +growling request to be informed what infernal ignoramus had done that. Then +suddenly he saw how matters were and was silent; while they were bringing him +in from the field in the overcrowded landau the improvised tourniquet had +become loosened and slipped down, thus giving rise to an extensive hemorrhage. +He relieved his feelings by storming at the hospital steward who was assisting +him. +</p> + +<p> +“You confounded snail, cut! Are you going to keep me here all day?” +</p> + +<p> +The attendant cut away the trousers and drawers, then the shoe and sock, +disclosing to view the leg and foot in their pale nudity, stained with blood. +Just over the ankle was a frightful laceration, into which the splinter of the +bursting shell had driven a piece of the red cloth of the trousers. The muscle +protruded from the lips of the gaping orifice, a roll of whitish, mangled +tissue. +</p> + +<p> +Gilberte had to support herself against one of the uprights of the shed. Ah! +that flesh, that poor flesh that was so white; now all torn and maimed and +bleeding! Despite the horror and terror of the sight she could not turn away +her eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“Confound it!” Bouroche exclaimed, “they have made a nice +mess here!” +</p> + +<p> +He felt the foot and found it cold; the pulse, if any, was so feeble as to be +undistinguishable. His face was very grave, and he pursed his lips in a way +that was habitual with him when he had a more than usually serious case to deal +with. +</p> + +<p> +“Confound it,” he repeated, “I don’t like the looks of +that foot!” +</p> + +<p> +The captain, whom his anxiety had finally aroused from his semi-somnolent +state, asked: +</p> + +<p> +“What were you saying, major?” +</p> + +<p> +Bouroche’s tactics, whenever an amputation became necessary, were never +to appeal directly to the patient for the customary authorization. He preferred +to have the patient accede to it voluntarily. +</p> + +<p> +“I was saying that I don’t like the looks of that foot,” he +murmured, as if thinking aloud. “I am afraid we shan’t be able to +save it.” +</p> + +<p> +In a tone of alarm Beaudoin rejoined: “Come, major, there is no use +beating about the bush. What is your opinion?” +</p> + +<p> +“My opinion is that you are a brave man, captain, and that you are going +to let me do what the necessity of the case demands.” +</p> + +<p> +To Captain Beaudoin it seemed as if a sort of reddish vapor arose before his +eyes through which he saw things obscurely. He understood. But notwithstanding +the intolerable fear that appeared to be clutching at his throat, he replied, +unaffectedly and bravely: +</p> + +<p> +“Do as you think best, major.” +</p> + +<p> +The preparations did not consume much time. The assistant had saturated a cloth +with chloroform and was holding it in readiness; it was at once applied to the +patient’s nostrils. Then, just at the moment that the brief struggle set +in that precedes anaesthesia, two attendants raised the captain and placed him +on the mattress upon his back, in such a position that the legs should be free; +one of them retained his grasp on the left limb, holding it flexed, while an +assistant, seizing the right, clasped it tightly with both his hands in the +region of the groin in order to compress the arteries. +</p> + +<p> +Gilberte, when she saw Bouroche approach the victim with the glittering steel, +could endure no more. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, don’t! oh, don’t! it is too horrible!” +</p> + +<p> +And she would have fallen had it not been that Mme. Delaherche put forth her +arm to sustain her. +</p> + +<p> +“But why do you stay here?” +</p> + +<p> +Both the women remained, however. They averted their eyes, not wishing to see +the rest; motionless and trembling they stood locked in each other’s +arms, notwithstanding the little love there was between them. +</p> + +<p> +At no time during the day had the artillery thundered more loudly than now. It +was three o’clock, and Delaherche declared angrily that he gave it +up—he could not understand it. There could be no doubt about it now, the +Prussian batteries, instead of slackening their fire, were extending it. Why? +What had happened? It was as if all the forces of the nether regions had been +unchained; the earth shook, the heavens were on fire. The ring of +flame-belching mouths of bronze that encircled Sedan, the eight hundred guns of +the German armies, that were served with such activity and raised such an +uproar, were expending their thunders on the adjacent fields; had that +concentric fire been focused upon the city, had the batteries on those +commanding heights once begun to play upon Sedan, it would have been reduced to +ashes and pulverized into dust in less than fifteen minutes. But now the +projectiles were again commencing to fall upon the houses, the crash that told +of ruin and destruction was heard more frequently. One exploded in the Rue des +Voyards, another grazed the tall chimney of the factory, and the bricks and +mortar came tumbling to the ground directly in front of the shed where the +surgeons were at work. Bouroche looked up and grumbled: +</p> + +<p> +“Are they trying to finish our wounded for us? Really, this racket is +intolerable.” +</p> + +<p> +In the meantime an attendant had seized the captain’s leg, and the major, +with a swift circular motion of his hand, made an incision in the skin below +the knee and some two inches below the spot where he intended to saw the bone; +then, still employing the same thin-bladed knife, that he did not change in +order to get on more rapidly, he loosened the skin on the superior side of the +incision and turned it back, much as one would peel an orange. But just as he +was on the point of dividing the muscles a hospital steward came up and +whispered in his ear: +</p> + +<p> +“Number two has just slipped his cable.” +</p> + +<p> +The major did not hear, owing to the fearful uproar. +</p> + +<p> +“Speak up, can’t you! My ear drums are broken with their +d——-d cannon.” +</p> + +<p> +“Number two has just slipped his cable.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who is that, number two?” +</p> + +<p> +“The arm, you know.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, very good! Well, then, you can bring me number three, the +jaw.” +</p> + +<p> +And with wonderful dexterity, never changing his position, he cut through the +muscles clean down to the bone with a single motion of his wrist. He laid bare +the tibia and fibula, introduced between them an implement to keep them in +position, drew the saw across them once, and they were sundered. And the foot +remained in the hands of the attendant who was holding it. +</p> + +<p> +The flow of blood had been small, thanks to the pressure maintained by the +assistant higher up the leg, at the thigh. The ligature of the three arteries +was quickly accomplished, but the major shook his head, and when the assistant +had removed his fingers he examined the stump, murmuring, certain that the +patient could not hear as yet: +</p> + +<p> +“It looks bad; there’s no blood coming from the arterioles.” +</p> + +<p> +And he completed his diagnosis of the case by an expressive gesture: Another +poor fellow who was soon to answer the great roll-call! while on his perspiring +face was again seen that expression of weariness and utter dejection, that +hopeless, unanswerable: “What is the use?” since out of every ten +cases that they assumed the terrible responsibility of operating on they did +not succeed in saving four. He wiped his forehead, and set to work to draw down +the flap of skin and put in the three sutures that were to hold it in place. +</p> + +<p> +Delaherche having told Gilberte that the operation was completed, she turned +her gaze once more upon the table; she caught a glimpse of the captain’s +foot, however, as the attendant was carrying it away to the place behind the +lilacs. The charnel house there continued to receive fresh occupants; two more +corpses had recently been brought in and added to the ghastly array, one with +blackened lips still parted wide as if rending the air with shrieks of anguish, +the other, his form so contorted and contracted in the convulsions of the last +agony that he was like a stunted, malformed boy. Unfortunately, there was +beginning to be a scarcity of room in the little secluded corner, and the human +debris had commenced to overflow and invade the adjacent alley. The attendant +hesitated a moment, in doubt what to do with the captain’s foot, then +finally concluded to throw it on the general pile. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, captain, that’s over with,” the major said to Beaudoin +when he regained consciousness. “You’ll be all right now.” +</p> + +<p> +But the captain did not show the cheeriness that follows a successful +operation. He opened his eyes and made an attempt to raise himself, then fell +back on his pillow, murmuring wearily, in a faint voice: +</p> + +<p> +“Thanks, major. I’m glad it’s over.” +</p> + +<p> +He was conscious of the pain, however, when the alcohol of the dressing touched +the raw flesh. He flinched a little, complaining that they were burning him. +And just as they were bringing up the stretcher preparatory to carrying him +back into the other room the factory was shaken to its foundations by a most +terrific explosion; a shell had burst directly in the rear of the shed, in the +small courtyard where the pump was situated. The glass in the windows was +shattered into fragments, and a dense cloud of smoke came pouring into the +ambulance. The wounded men, stricken with panic terror, arose from their bed of +straw; all were clamoring with affright; all wished to fly at once. +</p> + +<p> +Delaherche rushed from the building in consternation to see what damage had +been done. Did they mean to burn his house down over his head? What did it all +mean? Why did they open fire again when the Emperor had ordered that it should +cease? +</p> + +<p> +“Thunder and lightning! Stir yourselves, will you!” Bouroche +shouted to his staff, who were standing about with pallid faces, transfixed by +terror. “Wash off the table; go and bring me in number three!” +</p> + +<p> +They cleansed the table; and once more the crimson contents of the buckets were +hurled across the grass plot upon the bed of daisies, which was now a sodden, +blood-soaked mat of flowers and verdure. And Bouroche, to relieve the tedium +until the attendants should bring him “number three,” applied +himself to probing for a musket-ball, which, having first broken the +patient’s lower jaw, had lodged in the root of the tongue. The blood +flowed freely and collected on his fingers in glutinous masses. +</p> + +<p> +Captain Beaudoin was again resting on his mattress in the large room. Gilberte +and Mme. Delaherche had followed the stretcher when he was carried from the +operating table, and even Delaherche, notwithstanding his anxiety, came in for +a moment’s chat. +</p> + +<p> +“Lie here and rest a few minutes, Captain. We will have a room prepared +for you, and you shall be our guest.” +</p> + +<p> +But the wounded man shook off his lethargy and for a moment had command of his +faculties. +</p> + +<p> +“No, it is not worth while; I feel that I am going to die.” +</p> + +<p> +And he looked at them with wide eyes, filled with the horror of death. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, Captain! why do you talk like that?” murmured Gilberte, with a +shiver, while she forced a smile to her lips. “You will be quite well a +month hence.” +</p> + +<p> +He shook his head mournfully, and in the room was conscious of no presence save +hers; on all his face was expressed his unutterable yearning for life, his +bitter, almost craven regret that he was to be snatched away so young, leaving +so many joys behind untasted. +</p> + +<p> +“I am going to die, I am going to die. Oh! ’tis +horrible—” +</p> + +<p> +Then suddenly he became conscious of his torn, soiled uniform and the grime +upon his hands, and it made him feel uncomfortable to be in the company of +women in such a state. It shamed him to show such weakness, and his desire to +look and be the gentleman to the last restored to him his manhood. When he +spoke again it was in a tone almost of cheerfulness. +</p> + +<p> +“If I have got to die, though, I would rather it should be with clean +hands. I should count it a great kindness, madame, if you would moisten a +napkin and let me have it.” +</p> + +<p> +Gilberte sped away and quickly returned with the napkin, with which she herself +cleansed the hands of the dying man. Thenceforth, desirous of quitting the +scene with dignity, he displayed much firmness. Delaherche did what he could to +cheer him, and assisted his wife in the small attentions she offered for his +comfort. Old Mme. Delaherche, too, in presence of the man whose hours were +numbered, felt her enmity subsiding. She would be silent, she who knew all and +had sworn to impart her knowledge to her son. What would it avail to excite +discord in the household, since death would soon obliterate all trace of the +wrong? +</p> + +<p> +The end came very soon. Captain Beaudoin, whose strength was ebbing rapidly, +relapsed into his comatose condition, and a cold sweat broke out and stood in +beads upon his neck and forehead. He opened his eyes again, and began to feebly +grope about him with his stiffening fingers, as if feeling for a covering that +was not there, pulling at it with a gentle, continuous movement, as if to draw +it up around his shoulders. +</p> + +<p> +“It is cold—Oh! it is so cold.” +</p> + +<p> +And so he passed from life, peacefully, without a struggle; and on his wasted, +tranquil face rested an expression of unspeakable melancholy. +</p> + +<p> +Delaherche saw to it that the remains, instead of being borne away and placed +among the common dead, were deposited in one of the outbuildings of the +factory. He endeavored to prevail on Gilberte, who was tearful and +disconsolate, to retire to her apartment, but she declared that to be alone now +would be more than her nerves could stand, and begged to be allowed to remain +with her mother-in-law in the ambulance, where the noise and movement would be +a distraction to her. She was seen presently running to carry a drink of water +to a chasseur d’Afrique whom his fever had made delirious, and she +assisted a hospital steward to dress the hand of a little recruit, a lad of +twenty, who had had his thumb shot away and come in on foot from the +battlefield; and as he was jolly and amusing, treating his wound with all the +levity and nonchalance of the Parisian rollicker, she was soon laughing and +joking as merrily as he. +</p> + +<p> +While the captain lay dying the cannonade seemed, if that were possible, to +have increased in violence; another shell had landed in the garden, shattering +one of the old elms. Terror-stricken men came running in to say that all Sedan +was in danger of destruction; a great fire had broken out in the Faubourg de la +Cassine. If the bombardment should continue with such fury for any length of +time there would be nothing left of the city. +</p> + +<p> +“It can’t be; I am going to see about it!” Delaherche +exclaimed, violently excited. +</p> + +<p> +“Where are you going, pray?” asked Bouroche. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, to the Sous-Prefecture, to see what the Emperor means by fooling us +in this way, with his talk of hoisting the white flag.” +</p> + +<p> +For some few seconds the major stood as if petrified at the idea of defeat and +capitulation, which presented itself to him then for the first time in the +midst of his impotent efforts to save the lives of the poor maimed creatures +they were bringing in to him from the field. Rage and grief were in his voice +as he shouted: +</p> + +<p> +“Go to the devil, if you will! All you can do won’t keep us from +being soundly whipped!” +</p> + +<p> +On leaving the factory Delaherche found it no easy task to squeeze his way +through the throng; at every instant the crowd of straggling soldiers that +filled the streets received fresh accessions. He questioned several of the +officers whom he encountered; not one of them had seen the white flag on the +citadel. Finally he met a colonel, who declared that he had caught a momentary +glimpse of it: that it had been run up and then immediately hauled down. That +explained matters; either the Germans had not seen it, or seeing it appear and +disappear so quickly, had inferred the distressed condition of the French and +redoubled their fire in consequence. There was a story in circulation how a +general officer, enraged beyond control at the sight of the flag, had wrested +it from its bearer, broken the staff, and trampled it in the mud. And still the +Prussian batteries continued to play upon the city, shells were falling upon +the roofs and in the streets, houses were in flames; a woman had just been +killed at the corner of the Rue Pont de Meuse and the Place Turenne. +</p> + +<p> +At the Sous-Prefecture Delaherche failed to find Rose at her usual station in +the janitor’s lodge. Everywhere were evidences of disorder; all the doors +were standing open; the reign of terror had commenced. As there was no sentry +or anyone to prevent, he went upstairs, encountering on the way only a few +scared-looking men, none of whom made any offer to stop him. He had reached the +first story and was hesitating what to do next when he saw the young girl +approaching him. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, M. Delaherche! isn’t this dreadful! Here, quick! this way, if +you would like to see the Emperor.” +</p> + +<p> +On the left of the corridor a door stood ajar, and through the narrow opening a +glimpse could be had of the sovereign, who had resumed his weary, anguished +tramp between the fireplace and the window. Back and forth he shuffled with +heavy, dragging steps, and ceased not, despite his unendurable suffering. An +aide-de-camp had just entered the room—it was he who had failed to close +the door behind him—and Delaherche heard the Emperor ask him in a +sorrowfully reproachful voice: +</p> + +<p> +“What is the reason of this continued firing, sir, after I gave orders to +hoist the white flag?” +</p> + +<p> +The torture to him had become greater than he could bear, that never-ceasing +cannonade, that seemed to grow more furious with every minute. Every time he +approached the window it pierced him to the heart. More spilling of blood, more +useless squandering of human life! At every moment the piles of corpses were +rising higher on the battlefield, and his was the responsibility. The +compassionate instincts that entered so largely into his nature revolted at it, +and more than ten times already he had asked that question of those who +approached him. +</p> + +<p> +“I gave orders to raise the white flag; tell me, why do they continue +firing?” +</p> + +<p> +The aide-de-camp made answer in a voice so low that Delaherche failed to catch +its purport. The Emperor, moreover, seemed not to pause to listen, drawn by +some irresistible attraction to that window at which, each time he approached +it, he was greeted by that terrible salvo of artillery that rent and tore his +being. His pallor was greater even than it had been before; his poor, pinched, +wan face, on which were still visible traces of the rouge that had been applied +that morning, bore witness to his anguish. +</p> + +<p> +At that moment a short, quick-motioned man in dust-soiled uniform, whom +Delaherche recognized as General Lebrun, hurriedly crossed the corridor and +pushed open the door, without waiting to be announced. And scarcely was he in +the room when again was heard the Emperor’s so oft repeated question. +</p> + +<p> +“Why do they continue to fire, General, when I have given orders to hoist +the white flag?” +</p> + +<p> +The aide-de-camp left the apartment, shutting the door behind him, and +Delaherche never knew what was the general’s answer. The vision had faded +from his sight. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” said Rose, “things are going badly; I can see that +clearly enough by all those gentlemen’s faces. It is bad for my +tablecloth, too; I am afraid I shall never see it again; somebody told me it +had been torn in pieces. But it is for the Emperor that I feel most sorry in +all this business, for he is in a great deal worse condition than the marshal; +he would be much better off in his bed than in that room, where he is wearing +himself out with his everlasting walking.” +</p> + +<p> +She spoke with much feeling, and on her pretty pink and white face there was an +expression of sincere pity, but Delaherche, whose Bonapartist ardor had somehow +cooled considerably during the last two days, said to himself that she was a +little fool. He nevertheless remained chatting with her a moment in the hall +below while waiting for General Lebrun to take his departure, and when that +officer appeared and left the building he followed him. +</p> + +<p> +General Lebrun had explained to the Emperor that if it was thought best to +apply for an armistice, etiquette demanded that a letter to that effect, signed +by the commander-in-chief of the French forces, should be dispatched to the +German commander-in-chief. He had also offered to write the letter, go in +search of General de Wimpffen, and obtain his signature to it. He left the +Sous-Prefecture with the letter in his pocket, but apprehensive he might not +succeed in finding de Wimpffen, entirely ignorant as he was of the +general’s whereabouts on the field of battle. Within the ramparts of +Sedan, moreover, the crowd was so dense that he was compelled to walk his +horse, which enabled Delaherche to keep him in sight until he reached the Minil +gate. +</p> + +<p> +Once outside upon the road, however, General Lebrun struck into a gallop, and +when near Balan had the good fortune to fall in with the chief. Only a few +minutes previous to this the latter had written to the Emperor: “Sire, +come and put yourself at the head of your troops; they will force a passage +through the enemy’s lines for you, or perish in the attempt;” +therefore he flew into a furious passion at the mere mention of the word +armistice. No, no! he would sign nothing, he would fight it out! This was about +half-past three o’clock, and it was shortly afterward that occurred the +gallant, but mad attempt, the last serious effort of the day, to pierce the +Bavarian lines and regain possession of Bazeilles. In order to put heart into +the troops a ruse was resorted to: in the streets of Sedan and in the fields +outside the walls the shout was raised: “Bazaine is coming up! Bazaine is +at hand!” Ever since morning many had allowed themselves to be deluded by +that hope; each time that the Germans opened fire with a fresh battery it was +confidently asserted to be the guns of the army of Metz. In the neighborhood of +twelve hundred men were collected, soldiers of all arms, from every corps, and +the little column bravely advanced into the storm of missiles that swept the +road, at double time. It was a splendid spectacle of heroism and endurance +while it lasted; the numerous casualties did not check the ardor of the +survivors, nearly five hundred yards were traversed with a courage and nerve +that seemed almost like madness; but soon there were great gaps in the ranks, +the bravest began to fall back. What could they do against overwhelming +numbers? It was a mad attempt, anyway; the desperate effort of a commander who +could not bring himself to acknowledge that he was defeated. And it ended by +General de Wimpffen finding himself and General Lebrun alone together on the +Bazeilles road, which they had to make up their mind to abandon to the enemy, +for good and all. All that remained for them to do was to retreat and seek +security under the walls of Sedan. +</p> + +<p> +Upon losing sight of the general at the Minil gate Delaherche had hurried back +to the factory at the best speed he was capable of, impelled by an irresistible +longing to have another look from his observatory at what was going on in the +distance. Just as he reached his door, however, his progress was arrested a +moment by encountering Colonel de Vineuil, who, with his blood-stained boot, +was being brought in for treatment in a condition of semi-consciousness, upon a +bed of straw that had been prepared for him on the floor of a +market-gardener’s wagon. The colonel had persisted in his efforts to +collect the scattered fragments of his regiment until he dropped from his +horse. He was immediately carried upstairs and put to bed in a room on the +first floor, and Bouroche, who was summoned at once, finding the injury not of +a serious character, had only to apply a dressing to the wound, from which he +first extracted some bits of the leather of the boot. The worthy doctor was +wrought up to a high pitch of excitement; he exclaimed, as he went downstairs, +that he would rather cut off one of his own legs than continue working in that +unsatisfactory, slovenly way, without a tithe of either the assistants or the +appliances that he ought to have. Below in the ambulance, indeed, they no +longer knew where to bestow the cases that were brought them, and had been +obliged to have recourse to the lawn, where they laid them on the grass. There +were already two long rows of them, exposed beneath the shrieking shells, +filling the air with their dismal plaints while waiting for his ministrations. +The number of cases brought in since noon exceeded four hundred, and in +response to Bouroche’s repeated appeals for assistance he had been sent +one young doctor from the city. Good as was his will, he was unequal to the +task; he probed, sliced, sawed, sewed like a man frantic, and was reduced to +despair to see his work continually accumulating before him. Gilberte, satiated +with sights of horror, unable longer to endure the sad spectacle of blood and +tears, remained upstairs with her uncle, the colonel, leaving to Mme. +Delaherche the care of moistening fevered lips and wiping the cold sweat from +the brow of the dying. +</p> + +<p> +Rapidly climbing the stairs to his terrace, Delaherche endeavored to form some +idea for himself of how matters stood. The city had suffered less injury than +was generally supposed; there was one great conflagration, however, over in the +Faubourg de la Cassine, from which dense volumes of smoke were rising. Fort +Palatinat had discontinued its fire, doubtless because the ammunition was all +expended; the guns mounted on the Porte de Paris alone continued to make +themselves heard at infrequent intervals. But something that he beheld +presently had greater interest for his eyes than all beside; they had run up +the white flag on the citadel again, but it must be that it was invisible from +the battlefield, for there was no perceptible slackening of the fire. The Balan +road was concealed from his vision by the neighboring roofs; he was unable to +make out what the troops were doing in that direction. Applying his eye to the +telescope, however, which remained as he had left it, directed on la Marfée, he +again beheld the cluster of officers that he had seen in that same place about +midday. The master of them all, that miniature toy-soldier in lead, half finger +high, in whom he had thought to recognize the King of Prussia, was there still, +erect in his plain, dark uniform before the other officers, who, in their showy +trappings, were for the most part reclining carelessly on the grass. Among them +were officers from foreign lands, aides-de-camp, generals, high officials, +princes; all of them with field glasses in their hands, with which, since early +morning, they had been watching every phase of the death-struggle of the army +of Châlons, as if they were at the play. And the direful drama was drawing to +its end. +</p> + +<p> +From among the trees that clothed the summit of la Marfée King William had just +witnessed the junction of his armies. It was an accomplished fact; the third +army, under the leadership of his son, the Crown Prince, advancing by the way +of Saint-Menges and Fleigneux, had secured possession of the plateau of Illy, +while the fourth, commanded by the Crown Prince of Saxony, turning the wood of +la Garenne and, coming up through Givonne and Daigny, had also reached its +appointed rendezvous. There, too, the XIth and Vth corps had joined hands with +the XIIth corps and the Guards. The gallant but ineffectual charge of +Margueritte’s division in its supreme effort to break through the hostile +lines at the very moment when the circle was being rounded out had elicited +from the king the exclamation: “Ah, the brave fellows!” Now the +great movement, inexorable as fate, the details of which had been arranged with +such mathematical precision, was complete, the jaws of the vise had closed, and +stretching on his either hand far in the distance, a mighty wall of adamant +surrounding the army of the French, were the countless men and guns that called +him master. At the north the contracting lines maintained a constantly +increasing pressure on the vanquished, forcing them back upon Sedan under the +merciless fire of the batteries that lined the horizon in an array without a +break. Toward the south, at Bazeilles, where the conflict had ceased to rage +and the scene was one of mournful desolation, great clouds of smoke were rising +from the ruins of what had once been happy homes, while the Bavarians, now +masters of Balan, had advanced their batteries to within three hundred yards of +the city gates. And the other batteries, those posted on the left bank at Pont +Maugis, Noyers, Frenois, Wadelincourt, completing the impenetrable rampart of +flame and bringing it around to the sovereign’s feet on his right, that +had been spouting fire uninterruptedly for nearly twelve hours, now thundered +more loudly still. +</p> + +<p> +But King William, to give his tired eyes a moment’s rest, dropped his +glass to his side and continued his observations with unassisted vision. The +sun was slanting downward to the woods on his left, about to set in a sky where +there was not a cloud, and the golden light that lay upon the landscape was so +transcendently clear and limpid that the most insignificant objects stood out +with startling distinctness. He could almost count the houses in Sedan, whose +windows flashed back the level rays of the departing day-star, and the ramparts +and fortifications, outlined in black against the eastern sky, had an unwonted +aspect of frowning massiveness. Then, scattered among the fields to right and +left, were the pretty, smiling villages, reminding one of the toy villages that +come packed in boxes for the little ones; to the west Donchery, seated at the +border of her broad plain; Douzy and Carignan to the east, among the meadows. +Shutting in the picture to the north was the forest of the Ardennes, an ocean +of sunlit verdure, while the Meuse, loitering with sluggish current through the +plain with many a bend and curve, was like a stream of purest molten gold in +that caressing light. And seen from that height, with the sun’s parting +kiss resting on it, the horrible battlefield, with its blood and smoke, became +an exquisite and highly finished miniature; the dead horsemen and disemboweled +steeds on the plateau of Floing were so many splashes of bright color; on the +right, in the direction of Givonne, those minute black specks that whirled and +eddied with such apparent lack of aim, like motes dancing in the sunshine, were +the retreating fragments of the beaten army; while on the left a Bavarian +battery on the peninsula of Iges, its guns the size of matches, might have been +taken for some mechanical toy as it performed its evolutions with clockwork +regularity. The victory was crushing, exceeding all that the victor could have +desired or hoped, and the King felt no remorse in presence of all those +corpses, of those thousands of men that were as the dust upon the roads of that +broad valley where, notwithstanding the burning of Bazeilles, the slaughter of +Illy, the anguish of Sedan, impassive nature yet could don her gayest robe and +put on her brightest smile as the perfect day faded into the tranquil evening. +</p> + +<p> +But suddenly Delaherche descried a French officer climbing the steep path up +the flank of la Marfée; he was a general, wearing a blue tunic, mounted on a +black horse, and preceded by a hussar bearing a white flag. It was General +Reille, whom the Emperor had entrusted with this communication for the King of +Prussia: “My brother, as it has been denied me to die at the head of my +army, all that is left me is to surrender my sword to Your Majesty. I am Your +Majesty’s affectionate brother, Napoleon.” Desiring to arrest the +butchery and being no longer master, the Emperor yielded himself a prisoner, in +the hope to placate the conqueror by the sacrifice. And Delaherche saw General +Reille rein up his charger and dismount at ten paces from the King, then +advance and deliver his letter; he was unarmed and merely carried a riding +whip. The sun was setting in a flood of rosy light; the King seated himself on +a chair in the midst of a grassy open space, and resting his hand on the back +of another chair that was held in place by a secretary, replied that he +accepted the sword and would await the appearance of an officer empowered to +settle the terms of the capitulation. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap15"></a>VII.</h2> + +<p> +As when the ice breaks up and the great cakes come crashing, grinding down upon +the bosom of the swollen stream, carrying away all before them, so now, from +every position about Sedan that had been wrested from the French, from Floing +and the plateau of Illy, from the wood of la Garenne, the valley of la Givonne +and the Bazeilles road, the stampede commenced; a mad torrent of horses, guns, +and affrighted men came pouring toward the city. It was a most unfortunate +inspiration that brought the army under the walls of that fortified place. +There was too much in the way of temptation there; the shelter that it afforded +the skulker and the deserter, the assurance of safety that even the bravest +beheld behind its ramparts, entailed widespread panic and demoralization. Down +there behind those protecting walls, so everyone imagined, was safety from that +terrible artillery that had been blazing without intermission for near twelve +hours; duty, manhood, reason were all lost sight of; the man disappeared and +was succeeded by the brute, and their fierce instinct sent them racing wildly +for shelter, seeking a place where they might hide their head and lie down and +sleep. +</p> + +<p> +When Maurice, bathing Jean’s face with cool water behind the shelter of +their bit of wall, saw his friend open his eyes once more, he uttered an +exclamation of delight. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, poor old chap, I was beginning to fear you were done for! And +don’t think I say it to find fault, but really you are not so light as +you were when you were a boy.” +</p> + +<p> +It seemed to Jean, in his still dazed condition, that he was awaking from some +unpleasant dream. Then his recollection returned to him slowly, and two big +tears rolled down his cheeks. To think that little Maurice, so frail and +slender, whom he had loved and petted like a child, should have found strength +to lug him all that distance! +</p> + +<p> +“Let’s see what damage your knowledge-box has sustained.” +</p> + +<p> +The wound was not serious; the bullet had plowed its way through the scalp and +considerable blood had flowed. The hair, which was now matted with the +coagulated gore, had served to stanch the current, therefore Maurice refrained +from applying water to the hurt, so as not to cause it to bleed afresh. +</p> + +<p> +“There, you look a little more like a civilized being, now that you have +a clean face on you. Let’s see if I can find something for you to wear on +your head.” And picking up the <i>kepi</i> of a soldier who lay dead not +far away, he tenderly adjusted it on his comrade. “It fits you to a T. +Now if you can only walk everyone will say we are a very good-looking +couple.” +</p> + +<p> +Jean got on his legs and gave his head a shake to assure himself it was secure. +It seemed a little heavier than usual, that was all; he thought he should get +along well enough. A great wave of tenderness swept through his simple soul; he +caught Maurice in his arms and hugged him to his bosom, while all he could find +to say was: +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! dear boy, dear boy!” +</p> + +<p> +But the Prussians were drawing near: it would not answer to loiter behind the +wall. Already Lieutenant Rochas, with what few men were left him, was +retreating, guarding the flag, which the sous-lieutenant still carried under +his arm, rolled around the staff. Lapoulle’s great height enabled him to +fire an occasional shot at the advancing enemy over the coping of the wall, +while Pache had slung his chassepot across his shoulder by the strap, doubtless +considering that he had done a fair day’s work and it was time to eat and +sleep. Maurice and Jean, stooping until they were bent almost double, hastened +to rejoin them. There was no scarcity of muskets and ammunition; all they had +to do was stoop and pick them up. They equipped themselves afresh, having left +everything behind, knapsacks included, when one lugged the other out of danger +on his shoulders. The wall extended to the wood of la Garenne, and the little +band, believing that now their safety was assured, made a rush for the +protection afforded by some farm buildings, whence they readily gained the +shelter of the trees. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” said Rochas, drawing a long breath, “we will remain +here a moment and get our wind before we resume the offensive.” No +adversity could shake his unwavering faith. +</p> + +<p> +They had not advanced many steps before all felt that they were entering the +valley of death, but it was useless to think of retracing their steps; their +only line of retreat lay through the wood, and cross it they must, at every +hazard. At that time, instead of la Garenne, its more fitting name would have +been the wood of despair and death; the Prussians, knowing that the French +troops were retiring in that direction, were riddling it with artillery and +musketry. Its shattered branches tossed and groaned as if enduring the +scourging of a mighty tempest. The shells hewed down the stalwart trees, the +bullets brought the leaves fluttering to the earth in showers; wailing voices +seemed to issue from the cleft trunks, sobs accompanied the little twigs as +they fell bleeding from the parent stem. It might have been taken for the agony +of some vast multitude, held there in chains and unable to flee under the +pelting of that pitiless iron hail; the shrieks, the terror of thousands of +creatures rooted to the ground. Never was anguish so poignant as of that +bombarded forest. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice and Jean, who by this time had caught up with their companions, were +greatly alarmed. The wood where they then were was a growth of large trees, and +there was no obstacle to their running, but the bullets came whistling about +their ears from every direction, making it impossible for them to avail +themselves of the shelter of the trunks. Two men were killed, one of them +struck in the back, the other in front. A venerable oak, directly in +Maurice’s path, had its trunk shattered by a shell, and sank, with the +stately grace of a mailed paladin, carrying down all before it, and even as the +young man was leaping back the top of a gigantic ash on his left, struck by +another shell, came crashing to the ground like some tall cathedral spire. +Where could they fly? whither bend their steps? Everywhere the branches were +falling; it was as one who should endeavor to fly from some vast edifice +menaced with destruction, only to find himself in each room he enters in +succession confronted with crumbling walls and ceilings. And when, in order to +escape being crushed by the big trees, they took refuge in a thicket of bushes, +Jean came near being killed by a projectile, only it fortunately failed to +explode. They could no longer make any progress now on account of the dense +growth of the shrubbery; the supple branches caught them around the shoulders, +the rank, tough grass held them by the ankles, impenetrable walls of brambles +rose before them and blocked their way, while all the time the foliage was +fluttering down about them, clipped by the gigantic scythe that was mowing down +the wood. Another man was struck dead beside them by a bullet in the forehead, +and he retained his erect position, caught in some vines between two small +birch trees. Twenty times, while they were prisoners in that thicket, did they +feel death hovering over them. +</p> + +<p> +“Holy Virgin!” said Maurice, “we shall never get out of this +alive.” +</p> + +<p> +His face was ashy pale, he was shivering again with terror; and Jean, always so +brave, who had cheered and comforted him that morning, he, also, was very white +and felt a strange, chill sensation creeping down his spine. It was fear, +horrible, contagious, irresistible fear. Again they were conscious of a +consuming thirst, an intolerable dryness of the mouth, a contraction of the +throat, painful as if someone were choking them. These symptoms were +accompanied by nausea and qualms at the pit of the stomach, while maleficent +goblins kept puncturing their aguish, trembling legs with needles. Another of +the physical effects of their fear was that in the congested condition of the +blood vessels of the retina they beheld thousands upon thousands of small black +specks flitting past them, as if it had been possible to distinguish the flying +bullets. +</p> + +<p> +“Confound the luck!” Jean stammered. “It is not worth +speaking of, but it’s vexatious all the same, to be here getting +one’s head broken for other folks, when those other folks are at home, +smoking their pipe in comfort.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, that’s so,” Maurice replied, with a wild look. +“Why should it be I rather than someone else?” +</p> + +<p> +It was the revolt of the individual Ego, the unaltruistic refusal of the one to +make himself a sacrifice for the benefit of the species. +</p> + +<p> +“And then again,” Jean continued, “if a fellow could but know +the rights of the matter; if he could be sure that any good was to come from it +all.” Then turning his head and glancing at the western sky: +“Anyway, I wish that blamed sun would hurry up and go to roost. Perhaps +they’ll stop fighting when it’s dark.” +</p> + +<p> +With no distinct idea of what o’clock it was and no means of measuring +the flight of time, he had long been watching the tardy declination of the +fiery disk, which seemed to him to have ceased to move, hanging there in the +heavens over the woods of the left bank. And this was not owing to any lack of +courage on his part; it was simply the overmastering, ever increasing desire, +amounting to an imperious necessity, to be relieved from the screaming and +whistling of those projectiles, to run away somewhere and find a hole where he +might hide his head and lose himself in oblivion. Were it not for the feeling +of shame that is implanted in men’s breasts and keeps them from showing +the white feather before their comrades, every one of them would lose his head +and run, in spite of himself, like the veriest poltroon. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice and Jean, meanwhile, were becoming somewhat more accustomed to their +surroundings, and even when their terror was at its highest there came to them +a sort of exalted self-unconsciousness that had in it something of bravery. +They finally reached a point when they did not even hasten their steps as they +made their way through the accursed wood. The horror of the bombardment was +even greater than it had been previously among that race of sylvan denizens, +killed at their post, struck down on every hand, like gigantic, faithful +sentries. In the delicious twilight that reigned, golden-green, beneath their +umbrageous branches, among the mysterious recesses of romantic, moss-carpeted +retreats, Death showed his ill-favored, grinning face. The solitary fountains +were contaminated; men fell dead in distant nooks whose depths had hitherto +been trod by none save wandering lovers. A bullet pierced a man’s chest; +he had time to utter the one word: “hit!” and fell forward on his +face, stone dead. Upon the lips of another, who had both legs broken by a +shell, the gay laugh remained; unconscious of his hurt, he supposed he had +tripped over a root. Others, injured mortally, would run on for some yards, +jesting and conversing, until suddenly they went down like a log in the supreme +convulsion. The severest wounds were hardly felt at the moment they were +received; it was only at a later period that the terrible suffering commenced, +venting itself in shrieks and hot tears. +</p> + +<p> +Ah, that accursed wood, that wood of slaughter and despair, where, amid the +sobbing of the expiring trees, arose by degrees and swelled the agonized clamor +of wounded men. Maurice and Jean saw a zouave, nearly disemboweled, propped +against the trunk of an oak, who kept up a most terrific howling, without a +moment’s intermission. A little way beyond another man was actually being +slowly roasted; his clothing had taken fire and the flames had run up and +caught his beard, while he, paralyzed by a shot that had broken his back, was +silently weeping scalding tears. Then there was a captain, who, one arm torn +from its socket and his flank laid open to the thigh, was writhing on the +ground in agony unspeakable, beseeching, in heartrending accents, the +by-passers to end his suffering. There were others, and others, and others +still, whose torments may not be described, strewing the grass-grown paths in +such numbers that the utmost caution was required to avoid treading them under +foot. But the dead and wounded had ceased to count; the comrade who fell by the +way was abandoned to his fate, forgotten as if he had never been. No one turned +to look behind. It was his destiny, poor devil! Next it would be someone else, +themselves, perhaps. +</p> + +<p> +They were approaching the edge of the wood when a cry of distress was heard +behind them. +</p> + +<p> +“Help! help!” +</p> + +<p> +It was the subaltern standard-bearer, who had been shot through the left lung. +He had fallen, the blood pouring in a stream from his mouth, and as no one +heeded his appeal he collected his fast ebbing strength for another effort: +</p> + +<p> +“To the colors!” +</p> + +<p> +Rochas turned and in a single bound was at his side. He took the flag, the +staff of which had been broken in the fall, while the young officer murmured in +words that were choked by the bubbling tide of blood and froth: +</p> + +<p> +“Never mind me; I am a goner. Save the flag!” +</p> + +<p> +And they left him to himself in that charming woodland glade to writhe in +protracted agony upon the ground, tearing up the grass with his stiffening +fingers and praying for death, which would be hours yet ere it came to end his +misery. +</p> + +<p> +At last they had left the wood and its horrors behind them. Beside Maurice and +Jean all that were left of the little band were Lieutenant Rochas, Lapoulle and +Pache. Gaude, who had strayed away from his companions, presently came running +from a thicket to rejoin them, his bugle hanging from his neck and thumping +against his back with every step he took. It was a great comfort to them all to +find themselves once again in the open country, where they could draw their +breath; and then, too, there were no longer any whistling bullets and crashing +shells to harass them; the firing had ceased on this side of the valley. +</p> + +<p> +The first object they set eyes on was an officer who had reined in his smoking, +steaming charger before a farm-yard gate and was venting his towering rage in a +volley of Billingsgate. It was General Bourgain-Desfeuilles, the commander of +their brigade, covered with dust and looking as if he was about to tumble from +his horse with fatigue. The chagrin on his gross, high-colored, animal face +told how deeply he took to heart the disaster that he regarded in the light of +a personal misfortune. His command had seen nothing of him since morning. +Doubtless he was somewhere on the battlefield, striving to rally the remnants +of his brigade, for he was not the man to look closely to his own safety in his +rage against those Prussian batteries that had at the same time destroyed the +empire and the fortunes of a rising officer, the favorite of the Tuileries. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Tonnerre de Dieu!</i>” he shouted, “is there no one of +whom one can ask a question in this d——-d country?” +</p> + +<p> +The farmer’s people had apparently taken to the woods. At last a very old +woman appeared at the door, some servant who had been forgotten, or whose +feeble legs had compelled her to remain behind. +</p> + +<p> +“Hallo, old lady, come here! Which way from here is Belgium?” +</p> + +<p> +She looked at him stupidly, as one who failed to catch his meaning. Then he +lost all control of himself and effervesced, forgetful that the woman was only +a poor peasant, bellowing that he had no idea of going back to Sedan to be +caught like a rat in a trap; not he! he was going to make tracks for foreign +parts, he was, and d——-d quick, too! Some soldiers had come up and +stood listening. +</p> + +<p> +“But you won’t get through, General,” spoke up a sergeant; +“the Prussians are everywhere. This morning was the time for you to cut +stick.” +</p> + +<p> +There were stories even then in circulation of companies that had become +separated from their regiments and crossed the frontier without any intention +of doing so, and of others that, later in the day, had succeeded in breaking +through the enemy’s lines before the armies had effected their final +junction. +</p> + +<p> +The general shrugged his shoulders impatiently. “What, with a few daring +fellows of your stripe, do you mean to say we couldn’t go where we +please? I think I can find fifty daredevils to risk their skin in the +attempt.” Then, turning again to the old peasant: “<i>Eh!</i> you +old mummy, answer, will you, in the devil’s name! where is the +frontier?” +</p> + +<p> +She understood him this time. She extended her skinny arm in the direction of +the forest. +</p> + +<p> +“That way, that way!” +</p> + +<p> +“Eh? What’s that you say? Those houses that we see down there, at +the end of the field?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! farther, much farther. Down yonder, away down yonder!” +</p> + +<p> +The general seemed as if his anger must suffocate him. “It is too +disgusting, an infernal country like this! one can make neither top nor tail of +it. There was Belgium, right under our nose; we were all afraid we should put +our foot in it without knowing it; and now that one wants to go there it is +somewhere else. No, no! it is too much; I’ve had enough of it; let them +take me prisoner if they will, let them do what they choose with me; I am going +to bed!” And clapping spurs to his horse, bobbing up and down on his +saddle like an inflated wine skin, he galloped off toward Sedan. +</p> + +<p> +A winding path conducted the party down into the Fond de Givonne, an outskirt +of the city lying between two hills, where the single village street, running +north and south and sloping gently upward toward the forest, was lined with +gardens and modest houses. This street was just then so obstructed by flying +soldiers that Lieutenant Rochas, with Pache, Lapoulle, and Gaude, found himself +caught in the throng and unable for the moment to move in either direction. +Maurice and Jean had some difficulty in rejoining them; and all were surprised +to hear themselves hailed by a husky, drunken voice, proceeding from the tavern +on the corner, near which they were blockaded. +</p> + +<p> +“My stars, if here ain’t the gang! Hallo, boys, how are you? My +stars, I’m glad to see you!” +</p> + +<p> +They turned, and recognized Chouteau, leaning from a window of the ground floor +of the inn. He seemed to be very drunk, and went on, interspersing his speech +with hiccoughs: +</p> + +<p> +“Say, fellows, don’t stand on ceremony if you’re thirsty. +There’s enough left for the comrades.” He turned unsteadily and +called to someone who was invisible within the room: “Come here, you +lazybones. Give these gentlemen something to drink—” +</p> + +<p> +Loubet appeared in turn, advancing with a flourish and holding aloft in either +hand a full bottle, which he waved above his head triumphantly. He was not so +far gone as his companion; with his Parisian <i>blague</i>, imitating the nasal +drawl of the coco-venders of the boulevards on a public holiday, he cried: +</p> + +<p> +“Here you are, nice and cool, nice and cool! Who’ll have a +drink?” +</p> + +<p> +Nothing had been seen of the precious pair since they had vanished under +pretense of taking Sergeant Sapin into the ambulance. It was sufficiently +evident that since then they had been strolling and seeing the sights, taking +care to keep out of the way of the shells, until finally they had brought up at +this inn that was given over to pillage. +</p> + +<p> +Lieutenant Rochas was very angry. “Wait a bit, you scoundrels, just wait, +and I’ll attend to your case! deserting and getting drunk while the rest +of your company were under fire!” +</p> + +<p> +But Chouteau would have none of his reprimand. “See here, you old +lunatic, I want you to understand that the grade of lieutenant is abolished; we +are all free and equal now. Aren’t you satisfied with the basting the +Prussians gave you to-day, or do you want some more?” +</p> + +<p> +The others had to restrain the lieutenant to keep him from assaulting the +socialist. Loubet himself, dandling his bottles affectionately in his arms, did +what he could to pour oil upon the troubled waters. +</p> + +<p> +“Quit that, now! what’s the use quarreling, when all men are +brothers!” And catching sight of Lapoulle and Pache, his companions in +the squad: “Don’t stand there like great gawks, you fellows! Come +in here and take something to wash the dust out of your throats.” +</p> + +<p> +Lapoulle hesitated a moment, dimly conscious of the impropriety there was in +the indulgence when so many poor devils were in such sore distress, but he was +so knocked up with fatigue, so terribly hungry and thirsty! He said not a word, +but suddenly making up his mind, gave one bound and landed in the room, pushing +before him Pache, who, equally silent, yielded to the temptation he had not +strength to resist. And they were seen no more. +</p> + +<p> +“The infernal scoundrels!” muttered Rochas. “They deserve to +be shot, every mother’s son of them!” +</p> + +<p> +He had now remaining with him of his party only Jean, Maurice, and Gaude, and +all four of them, notwithstanding their resistance, were gradually involved and +swallowed up in the torrent of stragglers and fugitives that streamed along the +road, filling its whole width from ditch to ditch. Soon they were at a distance +from the inn. It was the routed army rolling down upon the ramparts of Sedan, a +roily, roaring flood, such as the disintegrated mass of earth and boulders that +the storm, scouring the mountainside, sweeps down into the valley. From all the +surrounding plateaus, down every slope, up every narrow gorge, by the Floing +road, by Pierremont, by the cemetery, by the Champ de Mars, as well as through +the Fond de Givonne, the same sorry rabble was streaming cityward in panic +haste, and every instant brought fresh accessions to its numbers. And who could +reproach those wretched men, who, for twelve long, mortal hours, had stood in +motionless array under the murderous artillery of an invisible enemy, against +whom they could do nothing? The batteries now were playing on them from front, +flank, and rear; as they drew nearer the city they presented a fairer mark for +the convergent fire; the guns dealt death and destruction out by wholesale on +that dense, struggling mass of men in that accursed hole, where there was no +escape from the bursting shells. Some regiments of the 7th corps, more +particularly those that had been stationed about Floing, had left the field in +tolerably good order, but in the Fond de Givonne there was no longer either +organization or command; the troops were a pushing, struggling mob, composed of +debris from regiments of every description, zouaves, turcos, chasseurs, +infantry of the line, most of them without arms, their uniforms soiled and +torn, with grimy hands, blackened faces, bloodshot eyes starting from their +sockets and lips swollen and distorted from their yells of fear or rage. At +times a riderless horse would dash through the throng, overturning those who +were in his path and leaving behind him a long wake of consternation. Then some +guns went thundering by at breakneck speed, a retreating battery abandoned by +its officers, and the drivers, as if drunk, rode down everything and everyone, +giving no word of warning. And still the shuffling tramp of many feet along the +dusty road went on and ceased not, the close-compacted column pressed on, +breast to back, side to side; a retreat <i>en masse</i>, where vacancies in the +ranks were filled as soon as made, all moved by one common impulse, to reach +the shelter that lay before them and be behind a wall. +</p> + +<p> +Again Jean raised his head and gave an anxious glance toward the west; through +the dense clouds of dust raised by the tramp of that great multitude the +luminary still poured his scorching rays down upon the exhausted men. The +sunset was magnificent, the heavens transparently, beautifully blue. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s a nuisance, all the same,” he muttered, “that +plaguey sun that stays up there and won’t go to roost!” +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly Maurice became aware of the presence of a young woman whom the +movement of the resistless throng had jammed against a wall and who was in +danger of being injured, and on looking more attentively was astounded to +recognize in her his sister Henriette. For near a minute he stood gazing at her +in open-mouthed amazement, and finally it was she who spoke, without any +appearance of surprise, as if she found the meeting entirely natural. +</p> + +<p> +“They shot him at Bazeilles—and I was there. Then, in the hope that +they might at least let me have his body, I had an idea—” +</p> + +<p> +She did not mention either Weiss or the Prussians by name; it seemed to her +that everyone must understand. Maurice did understand. It made his heart bleed; +he gave a great sob. +</p> + +<p> +“My poor darling!” +</p> + +<p> +When, about two o’clock, Henriette recovered consciousness, she found +herself at Balan, in the kitchen of some people who were strangers to her, her +head resting on a table, weeping. Almost immediately, however, she dried her +tears; already the heroic element was reasserting itself in that silent woman, +so frail, so gentle, yet of a spirit so indomitable that she could suffer +martyrdom for the faith, or the love, that was in her. She knew not fear; her +quiet, undemonstrative courage was lofty and invincible. When her distress was +deepest she had summoned up her resolution, devoting her reflections to how she +might recover her husband’s body, so as to give it decent burial. Her +first project was neither more nor less than to make her way back to Bazeilles, +but everyone advised her against this course, assuring her that it would be +absolutely impossible to get through the German lines. She therefore abandoned +the idea, and tried to think of someone among her acquaintance who would afford +her the protection of his company, or at least assist her in the necessary +preliminaries. The person to whom she determined she would apply was a M. +Dubreuil, a cousin of hers, who had been assistant superintendent of the +refinery at Chêne at the time her husband was employed there; Weiss had been a +favorite of his; he would not refuse her his assistance. Since the time, now +two years ago, when his wife had inherited a handsome fortune, he had been +occupying a pretty villa, called the Hermitage, the terraces of which could be +seen skirting the hillside of a suburb of Sedan, on the further side of the +Fond de Givonne. And thus it was toward the Hermitage that she was now bending +her steps, compelled at every moment to pause before some fresh obstacle, +continually menaced with being knocked down and trampled to death. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice, to whom she briefly explained her project, gave it his approval. +</p> + +<p> +“Cousin Dubreuil has always been a good friend to us. He will be of +service to you.” +</p> + +<p> +Then an idea of another nature occurred to him. Lieutenant Rochas was greatly +embarrassed as to what disposition he should make of the flag. They all were +firmly resolved to save it—to do anything rather than allow it to fall +into the hands of the Prussians. It had been suggested to cut it into pieces, +of which each should carry one off under his shirt, or else to bury it at the +foot of a tree, so noting the locality in memory that they might be able to +come and disinter it at some future day; but the idea of mutilating the flag, +or burying it like a corpse, affected them too painfully, and they were +considering if they might not preserve it in some other manner. When Maurice, +therefore, proposed to entrust the standard to a reliable person who would +conceal it and, in case of necessity, defend it, until such day as he should +restore it to them intact, they all gave their assent. +</p> + +<p> +“Come,” said the young man, addressing his sister, “we will +go with you to the Hermitage and see if Dubreuil is there. Besides, I do not +wish to leave you without protection.” +</p> + +<p> +It was no easy matter to extricate themselves from the press, but they +succeeded finally and entered a path that led upward on their left. They soon +found themselves in a region intersected by a perfect labyrinth of lanes and +narrow passages, a district where truck farms and gardens predominated, +interspersed with an occasional villa and small holdings of extremely irregular +outline, and these lanes and passages wound circuitously between blank walls, +turning sharp corners at every few steps and bringing up abruptly in the +cul-de-sac of some courtyard, affording admirable facilities for carrying on a +guerilla warfare; there were spots where ten men might defend themselves for +hours against a regiment. Desultory firing was already beginning to be heard, +for the suburb commanded Balan, and the Bavarians were already coming up on the +other side of the valley. +</p> + +<p> +When Maurice and Henriette, who were in the rear of the others, had turned once +to the left, then to the right and then to the left again, following the course +of two interminable walls, they suddenly came out before the Hermitage, the +door of which stood wide open. The grounds, at the top of which was a small +park, were terraced off in three broad terraces, on one of which stood the +residence, a roomy, rectangular structure, approached by an avenue of venerable +elms. Facing it, and separated from it by the deep, narrow valley, with its +steeply sloping banks, were other similar country seats, backed by a wood. +</p> + +<p> +Henriette’s anxiety was aroused at sight of the open door, “They +are not at home,” she said; “they must have gone away.” +</p> + +<p> +The truth was that Dubreuil had decided the day before to take his wife and +children to Bouillon, where they would be in safety from the disaster he felt +was impending. And yet the house was not unoccupied; even at a distance and +through the intervening trees the approaching party were conscious of movements +going on within its walls. As the young woman advanced into the avenue she +recoiled before the dead body of a Prussian soldier. +</p> + +<p> +“The devil!” exclaimed Rochas; “so they have already been +exchanging civilities in this quarter!” +</p> + +<p> +Then all hands, desiring to ascertain what was going on, hurried forward to the +house, and there their curiosity was quickly gratified; the doors and windows +of the <i>rez-de-chaussée</i> had been smashed in with musket-butts and the +yawning apertures disclosed the destruction that the marauders had wrought in +the rooms within, while on the graveled terrace lay various articles of +furniture that had been hurled from the stoop. Particularly noticeable was a +drawing-room suite in sky-blue satin, its sofa and twelve fauteuils piled in +dire confusion, helter-skelter, on and around a great center table, the marble +top of which was broken in twain. And there were zouaves, chasseurs, liners, +and men of the infanterie de marine running to and fro excitedly behind the +buildings and in the alleys, discharging their pieces into the little wood that +faced them across the valley. +</p> + +<p> +“Lieutenant,” a zouave said to Rochas, by way of explanation, +“we found a pack of those dirty Prussian hounds here, smashing things and +raising Cain generally. We settled their hash for them, as you can see for +yourself; only they will be coming back here presently, ten to our one, and +that won’t be so pleasant.” +</p> + +<p> +Three other corpses of Prussian soldiers were stretched upon the terrace. As +Henriette was looking at them absently, her thoughts doubtless far away with +her husband, who, amid the blood and ashes of Bazeilles, was also sleeping his +last sleep, a bullet whistled close to her head and struck a tree that stood +behind her. Jean sprang forward. +</p> + +<p> +“Madame, don’t stay there. Go inside the house, quick, +quick!” +</p> + +<p> +His heart overflowed with pity as he beheld the change her terrible affliction +had wrought in her, and he recalled her image as she had appeared to him only +the day before, her face bright with the kindly smile of the happy, loving +wife. At first he had found no word to say to her, hardly knowing even if she +would recognize him. He felt that he could gladly give his life, if that would +serve to restore her peace of mind. +</p> + +<p> +“Go inside, and don’t come out. At the first sign of danger we will +come for you, and we will all escape together by way of the wood up +yonder.” +</p> + +<p> +But she apathetically replied: +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, M. Jean, what is the use?” +</p> + +<p> +Her brother, however, was also urging her, and finally she ascended the stoop +and took her position within the vestibule, whence her vision commanded a view +of the avenue in its entire length. She was a spectator of the ensuing combat. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice and Jean had posted themselves behind one of the elms near the house. +The gigantic trunks of the centenarian monarchs were amply sufficient to afford +shelter to two men. A little way from them Gaude, the bugler, had joined forces +with Lieutenant Rochas, who, unwilling to confide the flag to other hands, had +rested it against the tree at his side while he handled his musket. And every +trunk had its defenders; from end to end the avenue was lined with men covered, +Indian fashion, by the trees, who only exposed their head when ready to fire. +</p> + +<p> +In the wood across the valley the Prussians appeared to be receiving +re-enforcements, for their fire gradually grew warmer. There was no one to be +seen; at most, the swiftly vanishing form now and then of a man changing his +position. A villa, with green shutters, was occupied by their sharpshooters, +who fired from the half-open windows of the <i>rez-de-chaussée</i>. It was +about four o’clock, and the noise of the cannonade in the distance was +diminishing, the guns were being silenced one by one; and there they were, +French and Prussians, in that out-of-the-way-corner whence they could not see +the white flag floating over the citadel, still engaged in the work of mutual +slaughter, as if their quarrel had been a personal one. Notwithstanding the +armistice there were many such points where the battle continued to rage until +it was too dark to see; the rattle of musketry was heard in the faubourg of the +Fond de Givonne and in the gardens of Petit-Pont long after it had ceased +elsewhere. +</p> + +<p> +For a quarter of an hour the bullets flew thick and fast from one side of the +valley to the other. Now and again someone who was so incautious as to expose +himself went down with a ball in his head or chest. There were three men lying +dead in the avenue. The rattling in the throat of another man who had fallen +prone upon his face was something horrible to listen to, and no one thought to +go and turn him on his back to ease his dying agony. Jean, who happened to look +around just at that moment, beheld Henriette glide tranquilly down the steps, +approach the wounded man and turn him over, then slip a knapsack beneath his +head by way of pillow. He ran and seized her and forcibly brought her back +behind the tree where he and Maurice were posted. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you wish to be killed?” +</p> + +<p> +She appeared to be entirely unconscious of the danger to which she had exposed +herself. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, no—but I am afraid to remain in that house, all alone. I +would rather be outside.” +</p> + +<p> +And so she stayed with them. They seated her on the ground at their feet, +against the trunk of the tree, and went on expending the few cartridges that +were left them, blazing away to right and left, with such fury that they quite +forgot their sensations of fear and fatigue. They were utterly unconscious of +what was going on around them, acting mechanically, with but one end in view; +even the instinct of self-preservation had deserted them. +</p> + +<p> +“Look, Maurice,” suddenly said Henriette; “that dead soldier +there before us, does he not belong to the Prussian Guard?” +</p> + +<p> +She had been eying attentively for the past minute or two one of the dead +bodies that the enemy had left behind them when they retreated, a short, +thick-set young man, with big mustaches, lying upon his side on the gravel of +the terrace. +</p> + +<p> +The chin-strap had broken, releasing the spiked helmet, which had rolled away a +few steps. And it was indisputable that the body was attired in the uniform of +the Guard; the dark gray trousers, the blue tunic with white facings, the +greatcoat rolled and worn, belt-wise, across the shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +“It is the Guard uniform,” she said; “I am quite certain of +it. It is exactly like the colored plate I have at home, and then the +photograph that Cousin Gunther sent us—” She stopped suddenly, and +with her unconcerned, fearless air, before anyone could make a motion to detain +her, walked up to the corpse, bent down and read the number of the regiment. +“Ah, the Forty-third!” she exclaimed. “I knew it.” +</p> + +<p> +And she returned to her position, while a storm of bullets whistled around her +ears. “Yes, the Forty-third; Cousin Gunther’s +regiment—something told me it must be so. Ah! if my poor husband were +only here!” +</p> + +<p> +After that all Jean’s and Maurice’s entreaties were ineffectual to +make her keep quiet. She was feverishly restless, constantly protruding her +head to peer into the opposite wood, evidently harassed by some anxiety that +preyed upon her mind. Her companions continued to load and fire with the same +blind fury, pushing her back with their knee whenever she exposed herself too +rashly. It looked as if the Prussians were beginning to consider that their +numbers would warrant them in attacking, for they showed themselves more +frequently and there were evidences of preparations going on behind the trees. +They were suffering severely, however, from the fire of the French, whose +bullets at that short range rarely failed to bring down their man. +</p> + +<p> +“That may be your cousin,” said Jean. “Look, that officer +over there, who has just come out of the house with the green shutters.” +</p> + +<p> +He was a captain, as could be seen by the gold braid on the collar of his tunic +and the golden eagle on his helmet that flashed back the level ray of the +setting sun. He had discarded his epaulettes, and carrying his saber in his +right hand, was shouting an order in a sharp, imperative voice; and the +distance between them was so small, a scant two hundred yards, that every +detail of his trim, slender figure was plainly discernible, as well as the +pinkish, stern face and slight blond mustache. +</p> + +<p> +Henriette scrutinized him with attentive eyes. “It is he,” she +replied, apparently unsurprised. “I recognize him perfectly.” +</p> + +<p> +With a look of concentrated rage Maurice drew his piece to his shoulder and +covered him. “The cousin—Ah! sure as there is a God in heaven he +shall pay for Weiss.” +</p> + +<p> +But, quivering with excitement, she jumped to her feet and knocked up the +weapon, whose charge was wasted on the air. +</p> + +<p> +“Stop, stop! we must not kill acquaintances, relatives! It is too +barbarous.” +</p> + +<p> +And, all her womanly instincts coming back to her, she sank down behind the +tree and gave way to a fit of violent weeping. The horror of it all was too +much for her; in her great dread and sorrow she was forgetful of all beside. +</p> + +<p> +Rochas, meantime, was in his element. He had excited the few zouaves and other +troops around him to such a pitch of frenzy, their fire had become so +murderously effective at sight of the Prussians, that the latter first wavered +and then retreated to the shelter of their wood. +</p> + +<p> +“Stand your ground, my boys! don’t give way an inch! Aha, see +’em run, the cowards! we’ll fix their flint for ’em!” +</p> + +<p> +He was in high spirits and seemed to have recovered all his unbounded +confidence, certain that victory was yet to crown their efforts. There had been +no defeat. The handful of men before him stood in his eyes for the united +armies of Germany, and he was going to destroy them at his leisure. All his +long, lean form, all his thin, bony face, where the huge nose curved down upon +the self-willed, sensual mouth, exhaled a laughing, vain-glorious satisfaction, +the joy of the conquering trooper who goes through the world with his +sweetheart on his arm and a bottle of good wine in his hand. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Parbleu</i>, my children, what are we here for, I’d like to +know, if not to lick ’em out of their boots? and that’s the way +this affair is going to end, just mark my words. We shouldn’t know +ourselves any longer if we should let ourselves be beaten. Beaten! come, come, +that is too good! When the neighbors tread on our toes, or when we feel we are +beginning to grow rusty for want of something to do, we just turn to and give +’em a thrashing; that’s all there is to it. Come, boys, let +’em have it once more, and you’ll see ’em run like so many +jackrabbits!” +</p> + +<p> +He bellowed and gesticulated like a lunatic, and was such a good fellow withal +in the comforting illusion of his ignorance that the men were inoculated with +his confidence. He suddenly broke out again: +</p> + +<p> +“And we’ll kick ’em, we’ll kick ’em, we’ll +kick ’em to the frontier! Victory, victory!” +</p> + +<p> +But at that juncture, just as the enemy across the valley seemed really to be +falling back, a hot fire of musketry came pouring in on them from the left. It +was a repetition of the everlasting flanking movement that had done the +Prussians such good service; a strong detachment of the Guards had crept around +toward the French rear through the Fond de Givonne. It was useless to think of +holding the position longer; the little band of men who were defending the +terraces were caught between two fires and menaced with being cut off from +Sedan. Men fell on every side, and for a moment the confusion was extreme; the +Prussians were already scaling the wall of the park, and advancing along the +pathways. Some zouaves rushed forward to repel them, and there was a fierce +hand-to-hand struggle with the bayonet. There was one zouave, a big, handsome, +brown-bearded man, bare-headed and with his jacket hanging in tatters from his +shoulders, who did his work with appalling thoroughness, driving his reeking +bayonet home through splintering bones and yielding tissues, cleansing it of +the gore that it had contracted from one man by plunging it into the flesh of +another; and when it broke he laid about him, smashing many a skull, with the +butt of his musket; and when finally he made a misstep and lost his weapon he +sprung, bare-handed, for the throat of a burly Prussian, with such tigerish +fierceness that both men rolled over and over on the gravel to the shattered +kitchen door, clasped in a mortal embrace. The trees of the park looked down on +many such scenes of slaughter, and the green lawn was piled with corpses. But +it was before the stoop, around the sky-blue sofa and fauteuils, that the +conflict raged with greatest fury; a maddened mob of savages, firing at one +another at point-blank range, so that hair and beards were set on fire, tearing +one another with teeth and nails when a knife was wanting to slash the +adversary’s throat. +</p> + +<p> +Then Gaude, with his sorrowful face, the face of a man who has had his troubles +of which he does not care to speak, was seized with a sort of sudden heroic +madness. At that moment of irretrievable defeat, when he must have known that +the company was annihilated and that there was not a man left to answer his +summons, he grasped his bugle, carried it to his lips and sounded the general, +in so tempestuous, ear-splitting strains that one would have said he wished to +wake the dead. Nearer and nearer came the Prussians, but he never stirred, only +sounding the call the louder, with all the strength of his lungs. He fell, +pierced with many bullets, and his spirit passed in one long-drawn, parting +wail that died away and was lost upon the shuddering air. +</p> + +<p> +Rochas made no attempt to fly; he seemed unable to comprehend. Even more erect +than usual, he waited the end, stammering: +</p> + +<p> +“Well, what’s the matter? what’s the matter?” +</p> + +<p> +Such a possibility had never entered his head as that they could be defeated. +They were changing everything in these degenerate days, even to the manner of +fighting; had not those fellows a right to remain on their own side of the +valley and wait for the French to go and attack them? There was no use killing +them; as fast as they were killed more kept popping up. What kind of a +d——-d war was it, anyway, where they were able to collect ten men +against their opponent’s one, where they never showed their face until +evening, after blazing away at you all day with their artillery until you +didn’t know on which end you were standing? Aghast and confounded, having +failed so far to acquire the first idea of the rationale of the campaign, he +was dimly conscious of the existence of some mysterious, superior method which +he could not comprehend, against which he ceased to struggle, although in his +dogged stubbornness he kept repeating mechanically: +</p> + +<p> +“Courage, my children! victory is before us!” +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile he had stooped and clutched the flag. That was his last, his only +thought, to save the flag, retreating again, if necessary, so that it might not +be defiled by contact with Prussian hands. But the staff, although it was +broken, became entangled in his legs; he narrowly escaped falling. The bullets +whistled past him, he felt that death was near; he stripped the silk from the +staff and tore it into shreds, striving to destroy it utterly. And then it was +that, stricken at once in the neck, chest, and legs, he sank to earth amid the +bright tri-colored rags, as if they had been his pall. He survived a moment +yet, gazing before him with fixed, dilated eyes, reading, perhaps, in the +vision he beheld on the horizon the stern lesson that War conveys, the cruel, +vital struggle that is to be accepted not otherwise than gravely, reverently, +as immutable law. Then a slight tremor ran through his frame, and darkness +succeeded to his infantine bewilderment; he passed away, like some poor dumb, +lowly creature of a day, a joyous insect that mighty, impassive Nature, in her +relentless fatality, has caught and crushed. In him died all a legend. +</p> + +<p> +When the Prussians began to draw near Jean and Maurice had retreated, retiring +from tree to tree, face to the enemy, and always, as far as possible, keeping +Henriette behind them. They did not give over firing, discharging their pieces +and then falling back to seek a fresh cover. Maurice knew where there was a +little wicket in the wall at the upper part of the park, and they were so +fortunate as to find it unfastened. With lighter hearts when they had left it +behind them, they found themselves in a narrow by-road that wound between two +high walls, but after following it for some distance the sound of firing in +front caused them to turn into a path on their left. As luck would have it, it +ended in an <i>impasse</i>; they had to retrace their steps, running the +gauntlet of the bullets, and take the turning to the right. When they came to +exchange reminiscences in later days they could never agree on which road they +had taken. In that tangled network of suburban lanes and passages there was +firing still going on from every corner that afforded a shelter, protracted +battles raged at the gates of farmyards, everything that could be converted +into a barricade had its defenders, from whom the assailants tried to wrest it; +all with the utmost fury and vindictiveness. And all at once they came out upon +the Fond de Givonne road, not far from Sedan. +</p> + +<p> +For the third time Jean raised his eyes toward the western sky, that was all +aflame with a bright, rosy light; and he heaved a sigh of unspeakable relief. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, that pig of a sun! at last he is going to bed!” +</p> + +<p> +And they ran with might and main, all three of them, never once stopping to +draw breath. About them, filling the road in all its breadth, was the +rear-guard of fugitives from the battlefield, still flowing onward with the +irresistible momentum of an unchained mountain torrent. When they came to the +Balan gate they had a long period of waiting in the midst of the impatient, +ungovernable throng. The chains of the drawbridge had given way, and the only +path across the fosse was by the foot-bridge, so that the guns and horses had +to turn back and seek admission by the bridge of the château, where the jam was +said to be even still more fearful. At the gate of la Cassine, too, people were +trampled to death in their eagerness to gain admittance. From all the adjacent +heights the terror-stricken fragments of the army came tumbling into the city, +as into a cesspool, with the hollow roar of pent-up water that has burst its +dam. The fatal attraction of those walls had ended by making cowards of the +bravest; men trod one another down in their blind haste to be under cover. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice had caught Henriette in his arms, and in a voice that trembled with +suspense: +</p> + +<p> +“It cannot be,” he said, “that they will have the cruelty to +close the gate and shut us out.” +</p> + +<p> +That was what the crowd feared would be done. To right and left, however, upon +the glacis soldiers were already arranging their bivouacs, while entire +batteries, guns, caissons, and horses, in confusion worse confounded, had +thrown themselves pell-mell into the fosse for safety. +</p> + +<p> +But now shrill, impatient bugle calls rose on the evening air, followed soon by +the long-drawn strains of retreat. They were summoning the belated soldiers +back to their comrades, who came running in, singly and in groups. A dropping +fire of musketry still continued in the faubourgs, but it was gradually dying +out. Heavy guards were stationed on the banquette behind the parapet to protect +the approaches, and at last the gate was closed. The Prussians were within a +hundred yards of the sally-port; they could be seen moving on the Balan road, +tranquilly establishing themselves in the houses and gardens. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice and Jean, pushing Henriette before them to protect her from the +jostling of the throng, were among the last to enter Sedan. Six o’clock +was striking. The artillery fire had ceased nearly an hour ago. Soon the +distant musketry fire, too, was silenced. Then, to the deafening uproar, to the +vengeful thunder that had been roaring since morning, there succeeded a +stillness as of death. Night came, and with it came a boding silence, fraught +with terror. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap16"></a>VIII.</h2> + +<p> +At half-past five o’clock, after the closing of the gates, Delaherche, in +his eager thirst for news, now that he knew the battle lost, had again returned +to the Sous-Prefecture. He hung persistently about the approaches of the +janitor’s lodge, tramping up and down the paved courtyard with feverish +impatience, for more than three hours, watching for every officer who came up +and interviewing him, and thus it was that he had become acquainted, piecemeal, +with the rapid series of events; how General de Wimpffen had tendered his +resignation and then withdrawn it upon the peremptory refusal of Generals +Ducrot and Douay to append their names to the articles of capitulation, how the +Emperor had thereupon invested the General with full authority to proceed to +the Prussian headquarters and treat for the surrender of the vanquished army on +the most advantageous terms obtainable; how, finally, a council of war had been +convened with the object of deciding what possibilities there were of further +protracting the struggle successfully by the defense of the fortress. During +the deliberations of this council, which consisted of some twenty officers of +the highest rank and seemed to him as if it would never end, the cloth +manufacturer climbed the steps of the huge public building at least twenty +times, and at last his curiosity was gratified by beholding General de Wimpffen +emerge, very red in the face and his eyelids puffed and swollen with tears, +behind whom came two other generals and a colonel. They leaped into the saddle +and rode away over the Pont de Meuse. The bells had struck eight some time +before; the inevitable capitulation was now to be accomplished, from which +there was no escape. +</p> + +<p> +Delaherche, somewhat relieved in mind by what he had heard and seen, remembered +that it was a long time since he had tasted food and resolved to turn his steps +homeward, but the terrific crowd that had collected since he first came made +him pause in dismay. It is no exaggeration to say that the streets and squares +were so congested, so thronged, so densely packed with horses, men, and guns, +that one would have declared the closely compacted mass could only have been +squeezed and wedged in there thus by the effort of some gigantic mechanism. +While the ramparts were occupied by the bivouacs of such regiments as had +fallen back in good order, the city had been invaded and submerged by an angry, +surging, desperate flood, the broken remnants of the various corps, stragglers +and fugitives from all arms of the service, and the dammed-up tide made it +impossible for one to stir foot or hand. The wheels of the guns, of the +caissons, and the innumerable vehicles of every description, had interlocked +and were tangled in confusion worse confounded, while the poor horses, flogged +unmercifully by their drivers and pulled, now in this direction, now in that, +could only dance in their bewilderment, unable to move a step either forward or +back. And the men, deaf to reproaches and threats alike, forced their way into +the houses, devoured whatever they could lay hands on, flung themselves down to +sleep wherever they could find a vacant space, it might be in the best bedroom +or in the cellar. Many of them had fallen in doorways, where they blocked the +vestibule; others, without strength to go farther, lay extended on the +sidewalks and slept the sleep of death, not even rising when some by-passer +trod on them and bruised an arm or leg, preferring the risk of death to the +fatigue of changing their location. +</p> + +<p> +These things all helped to make Delaherche still more keenly conscious of the +necessity of immediate capitulation. There were some quarters in which numerous +caissons were packed so close together that they were in contact, and a single +Prussian shell alighting on one of them must inevitably have exploded them all, +entailing the immediate destruction of the city by conflagration. Then, too, +what could be accomplished with such an assemblage of miserable wretches, +deprived of all their powers, mental and physical, by reason of their +long-endured privations, and destitute of either ammunition or subsistence? +Merely to clear the streets and reduce them to a condition of something like +order would require a whole day. The place was entirely incapable of defense, +having neither guns nor provisions. +</p> + +<p> +These were the considerations that had prevailed at the council among those +more reasonable officers who, in the midst of their grief and sorrow for their +country and the army, had retained a clear and undistorted view of the +situation as it was; and the more hot-headed among them, those who cried with +emotion that it was impossible for an army to surrender thus, had been +compelled to bow their head upon their breast in silence and admit that they +had no practicable scheme to offer whereby the conflict might be recommenced on +the morrow. +</p> + +<p> +In the Place Turenne and Place du Rivage, Delaherche succeeded with the +greatest difficulty in working his way through the press. As he passed the +Hotel of the Golden Cross a sorrowful vision greeted his eyes, that of the +generals seated in the dining room, gloomily silent, around the empty board; +there was nothing left to eat in the house, not even bread. General +Bourgain-Desfeuilles, however, who had been storming and vociferating in the +kitchen, appeared to have found something, for he suddenly held his peace and +ran away swiftly up the stairs, holding in his hands a large paper parcel of a +greasy aspect. Such was the crowd assembled there, to stare through the lighted +windows upon the guests assembled around that famine-stricken <i>table +d’hote</i>, that the manufacturer was obliged to make vigorous play with +his elbows, and was frequently driven back by some wild rush of the mob and +lost all the distance, and more, that he had just gained. In the Grande Rue, +however, the obstacles became actually impassable, and there was a moment when +he was inclined to give up in despair; a complete battery seemed to have been +driven in there and the guns and <i>matériel</i> piled, pell-mell, on top of +one another. Deciding finally to take the bull by the horns, he leaped to the +axle of a piece and so pursued his way, jumping from wheel to wheel, straddling +the guns, at the imminent risk of breaking his legs, if not his neck. Afterward +it was some horses that blocked his way, and he made himself lowly and stooped, +creeping among the feet and underneath the bellies of the sorry jades, who were +ready to die of inanition, like their masters. Then, when after a quarter of an +hour’s laborious effort he reached the junction of the Rue Saint-Michel, +he was terrified at the prospect of the dangers and obstacles that he had still +to face, and which, instead of diminishing, seemed to be increasing, and made +up his mind to turn down the street above mentioned, which would take him into +the Rue des Laboureurs; he hoped that by taking these usually quiet and +deserted passages he should escape the crowd and reach his home in safety. As +luck would have it he almost directly came upon a house of ill-fame to which a +band of drunken soldiers were in process of laying siege, and considering that +a stray shot, should one reach him in the fracas, would be equally as +unpleasant as one intended for him, he made haste to retrace his steps. +Resolving to have done with it he pushed on to the end of the Grande Rue, now +gaining a few feet by balancing himself, rope-walker fashion, along the pole of +some vehicle, now climbing over an army wagon that barred his way. At the Place +du Collège he was carried along—bodily on the shoulders of the throng for +a space of thirty paces; he fell to the ground, narrowly escaped a set of +fractured ribs, and saved himself only by the proximity of a friendly iron +railing, by the bars of which he pulled himself to his feet. And when at last +he reached the Rue Maqua, inundated with perspiration, his clothing almost torn +from his back, he found that he had been more than an hour in coming from the +Sous-Prefecture, a distance which in ordinary times he was accustomed to +accomplish in less than five minutes. +</p> + +<p> +Major Bouroche, with the intention of keeping the ambulance and garden from +being overrun with intruders, had caused two sentries to be mounted at the +door. This measure was a source of great comfort to Delaherche, who had begun +to contemplate the possibilities of his house being subjected to pillage. The +sight of the ambulance in the garden, dimly lighted by a few candles and +exhaling its fetid, feverish emanations, caused him a fresh constriction of the +heart; then, stumbling over the body of a soldier who was stretched in slumber +on the stone pavement of the walk, he supposed him to be one of the fugitives +who had managed to find his way in there from outside, until, calling to mind +the 7th corps treasure that had been deposited there and the sentry who had +been set over it, he saw how matters stood: the poor fellow, stationed there +since early morning, had been overlooked by his superiors and had succumbed to +his fatigue. Besides, the house seemed quite deserted; the ground floor was +black as Egypt, and the doors stood wide open. The servants were doubtless all +at the ambulance, for there was no one in the kitchen, which was faintly +illuminated by the light of a wretched little smoky lamp. He lit a candle and +ascended the main staircase very softly, in order not to awaken his wife and +mother, whom he had begged to go to bed early after a day where the stress, +both mental and physical, had been so intense. +</p> + +<p> +On entering his study, however, he beheld a sight that caused his eyes to +dilate with astonishment. Upon the sofa on which Captain Beaudoin had snatched +a few hours’ repose the day before a soldier lay outstretched; and he +could not understand the reason of it until he had looked and recognized young +Maurice Levasseur, Henriette’s brother. He was still more surprised when, +on turning his head, he perceived, stretched on the floor and wrapped in a bed +quilt, another soldier, that Jean, whom he had seen for a moment just before +the battle. It was plain that the poor fellows, in their distress and fatigue +after the conflict, not knowing where else to bestow themselves, had sought +refuge there; they were crushed, annihilated, like dead men. He did not linger +there, but pushed on to his wife’s chamber, which was the next room on +the corridor. A lamp was burning on a table in a corner; the profound silence +seemed to shudder. Gilberte had thrown herself crosswise on the bed, fully +dressed, doubtless in order to be prepared for any catastrophe, and was +sleeping peacefully, while, seated on a chair at her side with her head +declined and resting lightly on the very edge of the mattress, Henriette was +also slumbering, with a fitful, agitated sleep, while big tears welled up +beneath her swollen eyelids. He contemplated them silently for a moment, +strongly tempted to awake and question the young woman in order to ascertain +what she knew. Had she succeeded in reaching Bazeilles? and why was it that she +was back there? Perhaps she would be able to give him some tidings of his +dyehouse were he to ask her? A feeling of compassion stayed him, however, and +he was about to leave the room when his mother, ghost-like, appeared at the +threshold of the open door and beckoned him to follow her. +</p> + +<p> +As they were passing through the dining room he expressed his surprise. +</p> + +<p> +“What, have you not been abed to-night?” +</p> + +<p> +She shook her head, then said below her breath: +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot sleep; I have been sitting in an easy-chair beside the colonel. +He is very feverish; he awakes at every instant, almost, and then plies me with +questions. I don’t know how to answer them. Come in and see him, +you.” +</p> + +<p> +M. de Vineuil had fallen asleep again. His long face, now brightly red, barred +by the sweeping mustache that fell across it like a snowy avalanche, was scarce +distinguishable on the pillow. Mme. Delaherche had placed a newspaper before +the lamp and that corner of the room was lost in semi-darkness, while all the +intensity of the bright lamplight was concentrated on her where she sat, +uncompromisingly erect, in her fauteuil, her hands crossed before her in her +lap, her vague eyes bent on space, in sorrowful reverie. +</p> + +<p> +“I think he must have heard you,” she murmured; “he is +awaking again.” +</p> + +<p> +It was so; the colonel, without moving his head, had reopened his eyes and bent +them on Delaherche. He recognized him, and immediately asked in a voice that +his exhausted condition made tremulous: +</p> + +<p> +“It is all over, is it not? We have capitulated.” +</p> + +<p> +The manufacturer, who encountered the look his mother cast on him at that +moment, was on the point of equivocating. But what good would it do? A look of +discouragement passed across his face. +</p> + +<p> +“What else remained to do? A single glance at the streets of the city +would convince you. General de Wimpffen has just set out for Prussian general +headquarters to discuss conditions.” +</p> + +<p> +M. de Vineuil’s eyes closed again, his long frame was shaken with a +protracted shiver of supremely bitter grief, and this deep, long-drawn moan +escaped his lips: +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! merciful God, merciful God!” And without opening his eyes he +went on in faltering, broken accents: “Ah! the plan I spoke of +yesterday—they should have adopted it. Yes, I knew the country; I spoke +of my apprehensions to the general, but even him they would not listen to. +Occupy all the heights up there to the north, from Saint-Menges to Fleigneux, +with your army looking down on and commanding Sedan, able at any time to move +on Vrigne-aux-Bois, mistress of Saint-Albert’s pass—and there we +are; our positions are impregnable, the Mézières road is under our +control—” +</p> + +<p> +His speech became more confused as he proceeded; he stammered a few more +unintelligible words, while the vision of the battle that had been born of his +fever little by little grew blurred and dim and at last was effaced by slumber. +He slept, and in his sleep perhaps the honest officer’s dreams were +dreams of victory. +</p> + +<p> +“Does the major speak favorably of his case?” Delaherche inquired +in a whisper. +</p> + +<p> +Madame Delaherche nodded affirmatively. +</p> + +<p> +“Those wounds in the foot are dreadful things, though,” he went on. +“I suppose he is likely to be laid up for a long time, isn’t +he?” +</p> + +<p> +She made him no answer this time, as if all her being, all her faculties were +concentrated on contemplating the great calamity of their defeat. She was of +another age; she was a survivor of that strong old race of frontier burghers +who defended their towns so valiantly in the good days gone by. The clean-cut +lines of her stern, set face, with its fleshless, uncompromising nose and thin +lips, which the brilliant light of the lamp brought out in high relief against +the darkness of the room, told the full extent of her stifled rage and grief +and the wound sustained by her antique patriotism, the revolt of which refused +even to let her sleep. +</p> + +<p> +About that time Delaherche became conscious of a sensation of isolation, +accompanied by a most uncomfortable feeling of physical distress. His hunger +was asserting itself again, a griping, intolerable hunger, and he persuaded +himself that it was debility alone that was thus robbing him of courage and +resolution. He tiptoed softly from the room and, with his candle, again made +his way down to the kitchen, but the spectacle he witnessed there was even +still more cheerless; the range cold and fireless, the closets empty, the floor +strewn with a disorderly litter of towels, napkins, dish-clouts and +women’s aprons; as if the hurricane of disaster had swept through that +place as well, bearing away on its wings all the charm and cheer that appertain +naturally to the things we eat and drink. At first he thought he was not going +to discover so much as a crust, what was left over of the bread having all +found its way to the ambulance in the form of soup. At last, however, in the +dark corner of a cupboard he came across the remainder of the beans from +yesterday’s dinner, where they had been forgotten, and ate them. He +accomplished his luxurious repast without the formality of sitting down, +without the accompaniment of salt and butter, for which he did not care to +trouble himself to ascend to the floor above, desirous only to get away as +speedily as possible from that dismal kitchen, where the blinking, smoking +little lamp perfumed the air with fumes of petroleum. +</p> + +<p> +It was not much more than ten o’clock, and Delaherche had no other +occupation than to speculate on the various probabilities connected with the +signing of the capitulation. A persistent apprehension haunted him; a dread +lest the conflict might be renewed, and the horrible thought of what the +consequences must be in such an event, of which he could not speak, but which +rested on his bosom like an incubus. When he had reascended to his study, where +he found Maurice and Jean in exactly the same position he had left them in, it +was all in vain that he settled himself comfortably in his favorite easy-chair; +sleep would not come to him; just as he was on the point of losing himself the +crash of a shell would arouse him with a great start. It was the frightful +cannonade of the day, the echoes of which were still ringing in his ears; and +he would listen breathlessly for a moment, then sit and shudder at the equally +appalling silence by which he was now surrounded. As he could not sleep he +preferred to move about; he wandered aimlessly among the rooms, taking care to +avoid that in which his mother was sitting by the colonel’s bedside, for +the steady gaze with which she watched him as he tramped nervously up and down +had finally had the effect of disconcerting him. Twice he returned to see if +Henriette had not awakened, and he paused an instant to glance at his +wife’s pretty face, so calmly peaceful, on which seemed to be flitting +something like the faint shadow of a smile. Then, knowing not what to do, he +went downstairs again, came back, moved about from room to room, until it was +nearly two in the morning, wearying his ears with trying to decipher some +meaning in the sounds that came to him from without. +</p> + +<p> +This condition of affairs could not last. Delaherche resolved to return once +more to the Sous-Prefecture, feeling assured that all rest would be quite out +of the question for him so long as his ignorance continued. A feeling of +despair seized him, however, when he went downstairs and looked out upon the +densely crowded street, where the confusion seemed to be worse than ever; never +would he have the strength to fight his way to the Place Turenne and back again +through obstacles the mere memory of which caused every bone in his body to +ache again. And he was mentally discussing matters, when who should come up but +Major Bouroche, panting, perspiring, and swearing. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Tonnerre de Dieu!</i> I wonder if my head’s on my shoulders or +not!” +</p> + +<p> +He had been obliged to visit the Hôtel de Ville to see the mayor about his +supply of chloroform, and urge him to issue a requisition for a quantity, for +he had many operations to perform, his stock of the drug was exhausted, and he +was afraid, he said, that he should be compelled to carve up the poor devils +without putting them to sleep. +</p> + +<p> +“Well?” inquired Delaherche. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, they can’t even tell whether the apothecaries have any or +not!” +</p> + +<p> +But the manufacturer was thinking of other things than chloroform. “No, +no,” he continued. “Have they brought matters to a conclusion yet? +Have they signed the agreement with the Prussians?” +</p> + +<p> +The major made a gesture of impatience. “There is nothing +concluded,” he cried. “It appears that those scoundrels are making +demands out of all reason. Ah, well; let ’em commence afresh, then, and +we’ll all leave our bones here. That will be best!” +</p> + +<p> +Delaherche’s face grew very pale as he listened. “But are you quite +sure these things are so?” +</p> + +<p> +“I was told them by those fellows of the municipal council, who are in +permanent session at the city hall. An officer had been dispatched from the +Sous-Prefecture to lay the whole affair before them.” +</p> + +<p> +And he went on to furnish additional details. The interview had taken place at +the Château de Bellevue, near Donchery, and the participants were General de +Wimpffen, General von Moltke, and Bismarck. A stern and inflexible man was that +von Moltke, a terrible man to deal with! He began by demonstrating that he was +perfectly acquainted with the hopeless situation of the French army; it was +destitute of ammunition and subsistence, demoralization and disorder pervaded +its ranks, it was utterly powerless to break the iron circle by which it was +girt about; while on the other hand the German armies occupied commanding +positions from which they could lay the city in ashes in two hours. Coldly, +unimpassionedly, he stated his terms: the entire French army to surrender arms +and baggage and be treated as prisoners of war. Bismarck took no part in the +discussion beyond giving the general his support, occasionally showing his +teeth, like a big mastiff, inclined to be pacific on the whole, but quite ready +to rend and tear should there be occasion for it. General de Wimpffen in reply +protested with all the force he had at his command against these conditions, +the most severe that ever were imposed on a vanquished army. He spoke of his +personal grief and ill-fortune, the bravery of the troops, the danger there was +in driving a proud nation to extremity; for three hours he spoke with all the +energy and eloquence of despair, alternately threatening and entreating, +demanding that they should content themselves with interning their prisoners in +France, or even in Algeria; and in the end the only concession granted was, +that the officers might retain their swords, and those among them who should +enter into a solemn arrangement, attested by a written parole, to serve no more +during the war, might return to their homes. Finally, the armistice to be +prolonged until the next morning at ten o’clock; if at that time the +terms had not been accepted, the Prussian batteries would reopen fire and the +city would be burned. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s stupid!” exclaimed Delaherche; “they have no +right to burn a city that has done nothing to deserve it!” +</p> + +<p> +The major gave him still further food for anxiety by adding that some officers +whom he had met at the Hotel de l’Europe were talking of making a sortie +<i>en masse</i> just before daylight. An extremely excited state of feeling had +prevailed since the tenor of the German demands had become known, and measures +the most extravagant were proposed and discussed. No one seemed to be deterred +by the consideration that it would be dishonorable to break the truce, taking +advantage of the darkness and giving the enemy no notification, and the +wildest, most visionary schemes were offered; they would resume the march on +Carignan, hewing their way through the Bavarians, which they could do in the +black night; they would recapture the plateau of Illy by a surprise; they would +raise the blockade of the Mézières road, or, by a determined, simultaneous +rush, would force the German lines and throw themselves into Belgium. Others +there were, indeed, who, feeling the hopelessness of their position, said +nothing; they would have accepted any terms, signed any paper, with a glad cry +of relief, simply to have the affair ended and done with. +</p> + +<p> +“Good-night!” Bouroche said in conclusion. “I am going to try +to sleep a couple of hours; I need it badly.” +</p> + +<p> +When left by himself Delaherche could hardly breathe. What, could it be true +that they were going to fight again, were going to burn and raze Sedan! It was +certainly to be, soon as the morrow’s sun should be high enough upon the +hills to light the horror of the sacrifice. And once again he almost +unconsciously climbed the steep ladder that led to the roofs and found himself +standing among the chimneys, at the edge of the narrow terrace that overlooked +the city; but at that hour of the night the darkness was intense and he could +distinguish absolutely nothing amid the swirling waves of the Cimmerian sea +that lay beneath him. Then the buildings of the factory below were the first +objects which, one by one, disentangled themselves from the shadows and stood +out before his vision in indistinct masses, which he had no difficulty in +recognizing: the engine-house, the shops, the drying rooms, the storehouses, +and when he reflected that within twenty-four hours there would remain of that +imposing block of buildings, his fortune and his pride, naught save charred +timbers and crumbling walls, he overflowed with pity for himself. He raised his +glance thence once more to the horizon, and sent it traveling in a circuit +around that profound, mysterious veil of blackness behind which lay slumbering +the menace of the morrow. To the south, in the direction of Bazeilles, a few +quivering little flames that rose fitfully on the air told where had been the +site of the unhappy village, while toward the north the farmhouse in the wood +of la Garenne, that had been fired late in the afternoon, was burning still, +and the trees about were dyed of a deep red with the ruddy blaze. Beyond the +intermittent flashing of those two baleful fires no light to be seen; the +brooding silence unbroken by any sound save those half-heard mutterings that +pass through the air like harbingers of evil; about them, everywhere, the +unfathomable abyss, dead and lifeless. Off there in the distance, very far +away, perhaps, perhaps upon the ramparts, was a sound of someone weeping. It +was all in vain that he strained his eyes to pierce the veil, to see something +of Liry, la Marfée, the batteries of Frenois, and Wadelincourt, that encircling +belt of bronze monsters of which he could instinctively feel the presence +there, with their outstretched necks and yawning, ravenous muzzles. And as he +recalled his glance and let it fall upon the city that lay around and beneath +him, he heard its frightened breathing. It was not alone the unquiet slumbers +of the soldiers who had fallen in the streets, the blending of inarticulate +sounds produced by that gathering of guns, men, and horses; what he fancied he +could distinguish was the insomnia, the alarmed watchfulness of his bourgeois +neighbors, who, no more than he, could sleep, quivering with feverish terrors, +awaiting anxiously the coming of the day. They all must be aware that the +capitulation had not been signed, and were all counting the hours, quaking at +the thought that should it not be signed the sole resource left them would be +to go down into their cellars and wait for their own walls to tumble in on them +and crush the life from their bodies. The voice of one in sore straits came up, +it seemed to him, from the Rue des Voyards, shouting: “Help! +murder!” amid the clash of arms. He bent over the terrace to look, then +remained aloft there in the murky thickness of the night where there was not a +star to cheer him, wrapped in such an ecstasy of terror that the hairs of his +body stood erect. +</p> + +<p> +Below-stairs, at early daybreak, Maurice awoke upon his sofa. He was sore and +stiff as if he had been racked; he did not stir, but lay looking listlessly at +the windows, which gradually grew white under the light of a cloudy dawn. The +hateful memories of the day before all came back to him with that distinctness +that characterizes the impressions of our first waking, how they had fought, +fled, surrendered. It all rose before his vision, down to the very least +detail, and he brooded with horrible anguish on the defeat, whose reproachful +echoes seemed to penetrate to the inmost fibers of his being, as if he felt +that all the responsibility of it was his. And he went on to reason on the +cause of the evil, analyzing himself, reverting to his old habit of bitter and +unavailing self-reproach. He would have felt so brave, so glorious had victory +remained with them! And now, in defeat, weak and nervous as a woman, he once +again gave way to one of those overwhelming fits of despair in which the entire +world, seemed to him to be foundering. Nothing was left them; the end of France +was come. His frame was shaken by a storm of sobs, he wept hot tears, and +joining his hands, the prayers of his childhood rose to his lips in stammering +accents. +</p> + +<p> +“O God! take me unto Thee! O God! take unto Thyself all those who are +weary and heavy-laden!” +</p> + +<p> +Jean, lying on the floor wrapped in his bed-quilt, began to show some signs of +life. Finally, astonished at what he heard, he arose to a sitting posture. +</p> + +<p> +“What is the matter, youngster? Are you ill?” Then, with a +glimmering perception of how matters stood, he adopted a more paternal tone. +“Come, tell me what the matter is. You must not let yourself be worried +by such a little thing as this, you know.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” exclaimed Maurice, “it is all up with us, <i>va</i>! we +are Prussians now, and we may as well make up our mind to it.” +</p> + +<p> +As the peasant, with the hard-headedness of the uneducated, expressed surprise +to hear him talk thus, he endeavored to make it clear to him that, the race +being degenerate and exhausted, it must disappear and make room for a newer and +more vigorous strain. But the other, with an obstinate shake of the head, would +not listen to the explanation. +</p> + +<p> +“What! would you try to make me believe that my bit of land is no longer +mine? that I would permit the Prussians to take it from me while I am alive and +my two arms are left to me? Come, come!” +</p> + +<p> +Then painfully, in such terms as he could command, he went on to tell how +affairs looked to him. They had received an all-fired good basting, that was +sure as sure could be! but they were not all dead yet, he didn’t believe; +there were some left, and those would suffice to rebuild the house if they only +behaved themselves, working hard and not drinking up what they earned. When a +family has trouble, if its members work and put by a little something, they +will pull through, in spite of all the bad luck in the world. And further, it +is not such a bad thing to get a good cuffing once in a way; it sets one +thinking. And, great heavens! if a man has something rotten about him, if he +has gangrene in his arms or legs that is spreading all the time, isn’t it +better to take a hatchet and lop them off rather than die as he would from +cholera? +</p> + +<p> +“All up, all up! Ah, no, no! no, no!” he repeated several times. +“It is not all up with me, I know very well it is not.” +</p> + +<p> +And notwithstanding his seedy condition and demoralized appearance, his hair +all matted and pasted to his head by the blood that had flowed from his wound, +he drew himself up defiantly, animated by a keen desire to live, to take up the +tools of his trade or put his hand to the plow, in order, to use his own +expression, to “rebuild the house.” He was of the old soil where +reason and obstinacy grow side by side, of the land of toil and thrift. +</p> + +<p> +“All the same, though,” he continued, “I am sorry for the +Emperor. Affairs seemed to be going on well; the farmers were getting a good +price for their grain. But surely it was bad judgment on his part to allow +himself to become involved in this business!” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice, who was still in “the blues,” spoke regretfully: +“Ah, the Emperor! I always liked him in my heart, in spite of my +republican ideas. Yes, I had it in the blood, on account of my grandfather, I +suppose. And now that that limb is rotten and we shall have to lop it off, what +is going to become of us?” +</p> + +<p> +His eyes began to wander, and his voice and manner evinced such distress that +Jean became alarmed and was about to rise and go to him, when Henriette came +into the room. She had just awakened on hearing the sound of voices in the room +adjoining hers. The pale light of a cloudy morning now illuminated the +apartment. +</p> + +<p> +“You come just in time to give him a scolding,” he said, with an +affectation of liveliness. “He is not a good boy this morning.” +</p> + +<p> +But the sight of his sister’s pale, sad face and the recollection of her +affliction had had a salutary effect on Maurice by determining a sudden crisis +of tenderness. He opened his arms and took her to his bosom, and when she +rested her head upon his shoulder, when he held her locked in a close embrace, +a feeling of great gentleness pervaded him and they mingled their tears. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, my poor, poor darling, why have I not more strength and courage to +console you! for my sorrows are as nothing compared with yours. That good, +faithful Weiss, the husband who loved you so fondly! What will become of you? +You have always been the victim; always, and never a murmur from your lips. +Think of the sorrow I have already caused you, and who can say that I shall not +cause you still more in the future!” +</p> + +<p> +She was silencing him, placing her hand upon his mouth, when Delaherche came +into the room, beside himself with indignation. While still on the terrace he +had been seized by one of those uncontrollable nervous fits of hunger that are +aggravated by fatigue, and had descended to the kitchen in quest of something +warm to drink, where he had found, keeping company with his cook, a relative of +hers, a carpenter of Bazeilles, whom she was in the act of treating to a bowl +of hot wine. This person, who had been one of the last to leave the place while +the conflagrations were at their height, had told him that his dyehouse was +utterly destroyed, nothing left of it but a heap of ruins. +</p> + +<p> +“The robbers, the thieves! Would you have believed it, +<i>hein</i>?” he stammered, addressing Jean and Maurice. “There is +no hope left; they mean to burn Sedan this morning as they burned Bazeilles +yesterday. I’m ruined, I’m ruined!” The scar that Henriette +bore on her forehead attracted his attention, and he remembered that he had not +spoken to her yet. “It is true, you went there, after all; you got that +wound—Ah! poor Weiss!” +</p> + +<p> +And seeing by the young woman’s tears that she was acquainted with her +husband’s fate, he abruptly blurted out the horrible bit of news that the +carpenter had communicated to him among the rest. +</p> + +<p> +“Poor Weiss! it seems they burned him. Yes, after shooting all the +civilians who were caught with arms in their hands, they threw their bodies +into the flames of a burning house and poured petroleum over them.” +</p> + +<p> +Henriette was horror-stricken as she listened. Her tears burst forth, her frame +was shaken by her sobs. My God, my God, not even the poor comfort of going to +claim her dear dead and give him decent sepulture; his ashes were to be +scattered by the winds of heaven! Maurice had again clasped her in his arms and +spoke to her endearingly, calling her his poor Cinderella, beseeching her not +to take the matter so to heart, a brave woman as she was. +</p> + +<p> +After a time, during which no word was spoken, Delaherche, who had been +standing at the window watching the growing day, suddenly turned and addressed +the two soldiers: +</p> + +<p> +“By the way, I was near forgetting. What I came up here to tell you is +this: down in the courtyard, in the shed where the treasure chests were +deposited, there is an officer who is about to distribute the money among the +men, so as to keep the Prussians from getting it. You had better go down, for a +little money may be useful to you, that is, provided we are all alive a few +hours hence.” +</p> + +<p> +The advice was good, and Maurice and Jean acted on it, having first prevailed +on Henriette to take her brother’s place on the sofa. If she could not go +to sleep again, she would at least be securing some repose. As for Delaherche, +he passed through the adjoining chamber, where Gilberte with her tranquil, +pretty face was slumbering still as soundly as a child, neither the sound of +conversation nor even Henriette’s sobs having availed to make her change +her position. From there he went to the apartment where his mother was watching +at Colonel de Vineuil’s bedside, and thrust his head through the door; +the old lady was asleep in her fauteuil, while the colonel, his eyes closed, +was like a corpse. He opened them to their full extent and asked: +</p> + +<p> +“Well, it’s all over, isn’t it?” +</p> + +<p> +Irritated by the question, which detained him at the very moment when he +thought he should be able to slip away unobserved, Delaherche gave a wrathful +look and murmured, sinking his voice: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, yes, all over! until it begins again! There is nothing +signed.” +</p> + +<p> +The colonel went on in a voice scarcely higher than a whisper; delirium was +setting in. +</p> + +<p> +“Merciful God, let me die before the end! I do not hear the guns. Why +have they ceased firing? Up there at Saint-Menges, at Fleigneux, we have +command of all the roads; should the Prussians dare turn Sedan and attack us, +we will drive them into the Meuse. The city is there, an insurmountable +obstacle between us and them; our positions, too, are the stronger. Forward! +the 7th corps will lead, the 12th will protect the retreat—” +</p> + +<p> +And his fingers kept drumming on the counterpane with a measured movement, as +if keeping time with the trot of the charger he was riding in his vision. +Gradually the motion became slower and slower as his words became more +indistinct and he sank off into slumber. It ceased, and he lay motionless and +still, as if the breath had left his body. +</p> + +<p> +“Lie still and rest,” Delaherche whispered; “when I have news +I will return.” +</p> + +<p> +Then, having first assured himself that he had not disturbed his mother’s +slumber, he slipped away and disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +Jean and Maurice, on descending to the shed in the courtyard, had found there +an officer of the pay department, seated on a common kitchen chair behind a +little unpainted pine table, who, without pen, ink, or paper, without taking +receipts or indulging in formalities of any kind, was dispensing fortunes. He +simply stuck his hand into the open mouth of the bags filled with bright gold +pieces, and as the sergeants of the 7th corps passed in line before him he +filled their <i>kepis</i>, never counting what he bestowed with such rapid +liberality. The understanding was that the sergeants were subsequently to +divide what they received with the surviving men of their half-sections. Each +of them received his portion awkwardly, as if it had been a ration of meat or +coffee, then stalked off in an embarrassed, self-conscious sort of way, +transferring the contents of the <i>kepi</i> to his trousers’ pockets so +as not to display his wealth to the world at large. And not a word was spoken; +there was not a sound to be heard but the crystalline chink and rattle of the +coin as it was received by those poor devils, dumfounded to see the +responsibility of such riches thrust on them when there was not a place in the +city where they could purchase a loaf of bread or a quart of wine. +</p> + +<p> +When Jean and Maurice appeared before him the officer, who was holding +outstretched his hand filled, as usual, with louis, drew it back. +</p> + +<p> +“Neither of you fellows is a sergeant. No one except sergeants is +entitled to receive the money.” Then, in haste to be done with his task, +he changed his mind: “Never mind, though; here, you corporal, take this. +Step lively, now. Next man!” +</p> + +<p> +And he dropped the gold coins into the <i>kepi</i> that Jean held out to him. +The latter, oppressed by the magnitude of the amount, nearly six hundred +francs, insisted that Maurice should take one-half. No one could say what might +happen; they might be parted from each other. +</p> + +<p> +They made the division in the garden, before the ambulance, and when they had +concluded their financial business they entered, having recognized on the straw +near the entrance the drummer-boy of their company, Bastian, a fat, +good-natured little fellow, who had had the ill-luck to receive a spent ball in +the groin about five o’clock the day before, when the battle was ended. +He had been dying by inches for the last twelve hours. +</p> + +<p> +In the dim, white light of morning, at that hour of awakening, the sight of the +ambulance sent a chill of horror through them. Three more patients had died +during the night, without anyone being aware of it, and the attendants were +hurriedly bearing away the corpses in order to make room for others. Those who +had been operated on the day before opened wide their eyes in their somnolent, +semi-conscious state, and looked with dazed astonishment on that vast dormitory +of suffering, where the victims of the knife, only half-slaughtered, rested on +their straw. It was in vain that some attempts had been made the night before +to clean up the room after the bloody work of the operations; there were great +splotches of blood on the ill-swept floor; in a bucket of water a great sponge +was floating, stained with red, for all the world like a human brain; a hand, +its fingers crushed and broken, had been overlooked and lay on the floor of the +shed. It was the parings and trimmings of the human butcher shop, the horrible +waste and refuse that ensues upon a day of slaughter, viewed in the cold, raw +light of dawn. +</p> + +<p> +Bouroche, who, after a few hours of repose, had already resumed his duties, +stopped in front of the wounded drummer-boy, Bastian, then passed on with an +imperceptible shrug of his shoulders. A hopeless case; nothing to be done. The +lad had opened his eyes, however, and emerging from the comatose state in which +he had been lying, was eagerly watching a sergeant who, his <i>kepi</i> filled +with gold in his hand, had come into the room to see if there were any of his +men among those poor wretches. He found two, and to each of them gave twenty +francs. Other sergeants came in, and the gold began to fall in showers upon the +straw, among the dying men. Bastian, who had managed to raise himself, +stretched out his two hands, even then shaking in the final agony. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t forget me! don’t forget me!” +</p> + +<p> +The sergeant would have passed on and gone his way, as Bouroche had done. What +good could money do there? Then yielding to a kindly impulse, he threw some +coins, never stopping to count them, into the poor hands that were already +cold. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t forget me! don’t forget me!” +</p> + +<p> +Bastian fell backward on his straw. For a long time he groped with stiffening +fingers for the elusive gold, which seemed to avoid him. And thus he died. +</p> + +<p> +“The gentleman has blown his candle out; good-night!” said a +little, black, wizened zouave, who occupied the next bed. “It’s +vexatious, when one has the wherewithal to pay for wetting his whistle!” +</p> + +<p> +He had his left foot done up in splints. Nevertheless he managed to raise +himself on his knees and elbows and in this posture crawl over to the dead man, +whom he relieved of all his money, forcing open his hands, rummaging among his +clothing and the folds of his capote. When he got back to his place, noticing +that he was observed, he simply said: +</p> + +<p> +“There’s no use letting the stuff be wasted, is there?” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice, sick at heart in that atmosphere of human distress and suffering, had +long since dragged Jean away. As they passed out through the shed where the +operations were performed they saw Bouroche preparing to amputate the leg of a +poor little man of twenty, without chloroform, he having been unable to obtain +a further supply of the anaesthetic. And they fled, running, so as not to hear +the poor boy’s shrieks. +</p> + +<p> +Delaherche, who came in from the street just then, beckoned to them and +shouted: +</p> + +<p> +“Come upstairs, come, quick! we are going to have breakfast. The cook has +succeeded in procuring some milk, and it is well she did, for we are all in +great need of something to warm our stomachs.” And notwithstanding his +efforts to do so, he could not entirely repress his delight and exultation. +With a radiant countenance he added, lowering his voice: “It is all right +this time. General de Wimpffen has set out again for the German headquarters to +sign the capitulation.” +</p> + +<p> +Ah, how much those words meant to him, what comfort there was in them, what +relief! his horrid nightmare dispelled, his property saved from destruction, +his daily life to be resumed, under changed conditions, it is true, but still +it was to go on, it was not to cease! It was little Rose who had told him of +the occurrences of the morning at the Sous-Prefecture; the girl had come +hastening through the streets, now somewhat less choked than they had been, to +obtain a supply of bread from an aunt of hers who kept a baker’s shop in +the quarter; it was striking nine o’clock. As early as eight General de +Wimpffen had convened another council of war, consisting of more than thirty +generals, to whom he related the results that had been reached so far, the hard +conditions imposed by the victorious foe, and his own fruitless efforts to +secure a mitigation of them. His emotion was such that his hands shook like a +leaf, his eyes were suffused with tears. He was still addressing the assemblage +when a colonel of the German staff presented himself, on behalf of General von +Moltke, to remind them that, unless a decision were arrived at by ten +o’clock, their guns would open fire on the city of Sedan. With this +horrible alternative before them the council could do nothing save authorize +the general to proceed once more to the Château of Bellevue and accept the +terms of the victors. He must have accomplished his mission by that time, and +the entire French army were prisoners of war. +</p> + +<p> +When she had concluded her narrative Rose launched out into a detailed account +of the tremendous excitement the tidings had produced in the city. At the +Sous-Prefecture she had seen officers tear the epaulettes from their shoulders, +weeping meanwhile like children. Cavalrymen had thrown their sabers from the +Pont de Meuse into the river; an entire regiment of cuirassiers had passed, +each man tossing his blade over the parapet and sorrowfully watching the water +close over it. In the streets many soldiers grasped their muskets by the barrel +and smashed them against a wall, while there were artillerymen who removed the +mechanism from the mitrailleuses and flung it into the sewer. Some there were +who buried or burned the regimental standards. In the Place Turenne an old +sergeant climbed upon a gate-post and harangued the throng as if he had +suddenly taken leave of his senses, reviling the leaders, stigmatizing them as +poltroons and cowards. Others seemed as if dazed, shedding big tears in +silence, and others also, it must be confessed (and it is probable that they +were in the majority), betrayed by their laughing eyes and pleased expression +the satisfaction they felt at the change in affairs. There was an end to their +suffering at last; they were prisoners of war, they could not be obliged to +fight any more! For so many days they had been distressed by those long, weary +marches, with never food enough to satisfy their appetite! And then, too, they +were the weaker; what use was there in fighting? If their chiefs had betrayed +them, had sold them to the enemy, so much the better; it would be the sooner +ended! It was such a delicious thing to think of, that they were to have white +bread to eat, were to sleep between sheets! +</p> + +<p> +As Delaherche was about to enter the dining room in company with Maurice and +Jean, his mother called to him from above. +</p> + +<p> +“Come up here, please; I am anxious about the colonel.” +</p> + +<p> +M. de Vineuil, with wide-open eyes, was talking rapidly and excitedly of the +subject that filled his bewildered brain. +</p> + +<p> +“The Prussians have cut us off from Mézières, but what matters it! See, +they have outmarched us and got possession of the plain of Donchery; soon they +will be up with the wood of la Falizette and flank us there, while more of them +are coming up along the valley of the Givonne. The frontier is behind us; let +us kill as many of them as we can and cross it at a bound. Yesterday, yes, that +is what I would have advised—” +</p> + +<p> +At that moment his burning eyes lighted on Delaherche. He recognized him; the +sight seemed to sober him and dispel the hallucination under which he was +laboring, and coming back to the terrible reality, he asked for the third time: +</p> + +<p> +“It is all over, is it not?” +</p> + +<p> +The manufacturer explosively blurted out the expression of his satisfaction; he +could not restrain it. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, yes, God be praised! it is all over, completely over. The +capitulation must be signed by this time.” +</p> + +<p> +The colonel raised himself at a bound to a sitting posture, notwithstanding his +bandaged foot; he took his sword from the chair by the bedside where it lay and +made an attempt to break it, but his hands trembled too violently, and the +blade slipped from his fingers. +</p> + +<p> +“Look out! he will cut himself!” Delaherche cried in alarm. +“Take that thing away from him; it is dangerous!” +</p> + +<p> +Mme. Delaherche took possession of the sword. With a feeling of compassionate +respect for the poor colonel’s grief and despair she did not conceal it, +as her son bade her do, but with a single vigorous effort snapped it across her +knee, with a strength of which she herself would never have supposed her poor +old hands capable. The colonel laid himself down again, casting a look of +extreme gentleness upon his old friend, who went back to her chair and seated +herself in her usual rigid attitude. +</p> + +<p> +In the dining room the cook had meantime served bowls of hot coffee and milk +for the entire party. Henriette and Gilberte had awakened, the latter, +completely restored by her long and refreshing slumber, with bright eyes and +smiling face; she embraced most tenderly her friend, whom she pitied, she said, +from the bottom of her heart. Maurice seated himself beside his sister, while +Jean, who was unused to polite society, but could not decline the invitation +that was extended to him, was Delaherche’s right-hand neighbor. It was +Mme. Delaherche’s custom not to come to the table with the family; a +servant carried her a bowl, which she drank while sitting by the colonel. The +party of five, however, who sat down together, although they commenced their +meal in silence, soon became cheerful and talkative. Why should they not +rejoice and be glad to find themselves there, safe and sound, with food before +them to satisfy their hunger, when the country round about was covered with +thousands upon thousands of poor starving wretches? In the cool, spacious +dining room the snow-white tablecloth was a delight to the eye and the steaming +<i>café au lait</i> seemed delicious. +</p> + +<p> +They conversed, Delaherche, who had recovered his assurance and was again the +wealthy manufacturer, the condescending patron courting popularity, severe only +toward those who failed to succeed, spoke of Napoleon III., whose face as he +saw it last continued to haunt his memory. He addressed himself to Jean, having +that simple-minded young man as his neighbor. “Yes, sir, the Emperor has +deceived me, and I don’t hesitate to say so. His henchmen may put in the +plea of mitigating circumstances, but it won’t go down, sir; he is +evidently the first, the only cause of our misfortunes.” +</p> + +<p> +He had quite forgotten that only a few months before he had been an ardent +Bonapartist and had labored to ensure the success of the plebiscite, and now he +who was henceforth to be known as the Man of Sedan was not even worthy to be +pitied; he ascribed to him every known iniquity. +</p> + +<p> +“A man of no capacity, as everyone is now compelled to admit; but let +that pass, I say nothing of that. A visionary, a theorist, an unbalanced mind, +with whom affairs seemed to succeed as long as he had luck on his side. And +there’s no use, don’t you see, sir, in attempting to work on our +sympathies and excite our commiseration by telling us that he was deceived, +that the opposition refused him the necessary grants of men and money. It is he +who has deceived us, he whose crimes and blunders have landed us in the +horrible muddle where we are.” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice, who preferred to say nothing on the subject, could not help smiling, +while Jean, embarrassed by the political turn the conversation had taken and +fearful lest he might make some ill-timed remark, simply replied: +</p> + +<p> +“They say he is a brave man, though.” +</p> + +<p> +But those few words, modestly expressed, fairly made Delaherche jump. All his +past fear and alarm, all the mental anguish he had suffered, burst from his +lips in a cry of concentrated passion, closely allied to hatred. +</p> + +<p> +“A brave man, forsooth; and what does that amount to! Are you aware, sir, +that my factory was struck three times by Prussian shells, and that it is no +fault of the Emperor’s that it was not burned! Are you aware that I, I +shall lose a hundred thousand francs by this idiotic business! No, no; France +invaded, pillaged, and laid waste, our industries compelled to shut down, our +commerce ruined; it is a little too much, I tell you! One brave man like that +is quite sufficient; may the Lord preserve us from any more of them! He is down +in the blood and mire, and there let him remain!” +</p> + +<p> +And he made a forcible gesture with his closed fist as if thrusting down and +holding under the water some poor wretch who was struggling to save himself, +then finished his coffee, smacking his lips like a true gourmand. Gilberte +waited on Henriette as if she had been a child, laughing a little involuntary +laugh when the latter made some exhibition of absent-mindedness. And when at +last the coffee had all been drunk they still lingered on in the peaceful quiet +of the great cool dining room. +</p> + +<p> +And at that same hour Napoleon III. was in the weaver’s lowly cottage on +the Donchery road. As early as five o’clock in the morning he had +insisted on leaving the Sous-Prefecture; he felt ill at ease in Sedan, which +was at once a menace and a reproach to him, and moreover he thought he might, +in some measure, alleviate the sufferings of his tender heart by obtaining more +favorable terms for his unfortunate army. His object was to have a personal +interview with the King of Prussia. He had taken his place in a hired caleche +and been driven along the broad highway, with its row of lofty poplars on +either side, and this first stage of his journey into exile, accomplished in +the chill air of early dawn, must have reminded him forcibly of the grandeur +that had been his and that he was putting behind him forever. It was on this +road that he had his encounter with Bismarck, who came hurrying to meet him in +an old cap and coarse, greased boots, with the sole object of keeping him +occupied and preventing him from seeing the King until the capitulation should +have been signed. The King was still at Vendresse, some nine miles away. Where +was he to go? What roof would afford him shelter while he waited? In his own +country, so far away, the Palace of the Tuileries had disappeared from his +sight, swallowed up in the bosom of a storm-cloud, and he was never to see it +more. Sedan seemed already to have receded into the distance, leagues and +leagues, and to be parted from him by a river of blood. In France there were no +longer imperial châteaus, nor official residences, nor even a chimney-nook in +the house of the humblest functionary, where he would have dared to enter and +claim hospitality. And it was in the house of the weaver that he determined to +seek shelter, the squalid cottage that stood close to the roadside, with its +scanty kitchen-garden inclosed by a hedge and its front of a single story with +little forbidding windows. The room above-stairs was simply whitewashed and had +a tiled floor; the only furniture was a common pine table and two +straw-bottomed chairs. He spent two hours there, at first in company with +Bismarck, who smiled to hear him speak of generosity, after that alone in +silent misery, flattening his ashy face against the panes, taking his last look +at French soil and at the Meuse, winding in and out, so beautiful, among the +broad fertile fields. +</p> + +<p> +Then the next day and the days that came after were other wretched stages of +that journey; the Château of Bellevue, a pretty bourgeois retreat overlooking +the river, where he rested that night, where he shed tears after his interview +with King William; the sorrowful departure, that most miserable flight in a +hired caleche over remote roads to the north of the city, which he avoided, not +caring to face the wrath of the vanquished troops and the starving citizens, +making a wide circuit over cross-roads by Floing, Fleigneux, and Illy and +crossing the stream on a bridge of boats, laid down by the Prussians at Iges; +the tragic encounter, the story of which has been so often told, that occurred +on the corpse-cumbered plateau of Illy: the miserable Emperor, whose state was +such that his horse could not be allowed to trot, had sunk under some more than +usually violent attack of his complaint, mechanically smoking, perhaps, his +everlasting cigarette, when a band of haggard, dusty, blood-stained prisoners, +who were being conducted from Fleigneux to Sedan, were forced to leave the road +to let the carriage pass and stood watching it from the ditch; those who were +at the head of the line merely eyed him in silence; presently a hoarse, sullen +murmur began to make itself heard, and finally, as the caleche proceeded down +the line, the men burst out with a storm of yells and cat-calls, shaking their +fists and calling down maledictions on the head of him who had been their +ruler. After that came the interminable journey across the battlefield, as far +as Givonne, amid scenes of havoc and devastation, amid the dead, who lay with +staring eyes upturned that seemed to be full of menace; came, too, the bare, +dreary fields, the great silent forest, then the frontier, running along the +summit of a ridge, marked only by a stone, facing a wooden post that seemed +ready to fall, and beyond the soil of Belgium, the end of all, with its road +bordered with gloomy hemlocks descending sharply into the narrow valley. +</p> + +<p> +And that first night of exile, that he spent at a common inn, the Hotel de la +Poste at Bouillon, what a night it was! When the Emperor showed himself at his +window in deference to the throng of French refugees and sight-seers that +filled the place, he was greeted with a storm of hisses and hostile murmurs. +The apartment assigned him, the three windows of which opened on the public +square and on the Semoy, was the typical tawdry bedroom of the provincial inn +with its conventional furnishings: the chairs covered with crimson damask, the +mahogany <i>armoire à glace</i>, and on the mantel the imitation bronze clock, +flanked by a pair of conch shells and vases of artificial flowers under glass +covers. On either side of the door was a little single bed, to one of which the +wearied aide-de-camp betook himself at nine o’clock and was immediately +wrapped in soundest slumber. On the other the Emperor, to whom the god of sleep +was less benignant, tossed almost the whole night through, and if he arose to +try to quiet his excited nerves by walking, the sole distraction that his eyes +encountered was a pair of engravings that were hung to right and left of the +chimney, one depicting Rouget de Lisle singing the Marseillaise, the other a +crude representation of the Last Judgment, the dead rising from their graves at +the sound of the Archangel’s trump, the resurrection of the victims of +the battlefield, about to appear before their God to bear witness against their +rulers. +</p> + +<p> +The imperial baggage train, cause in its day of so much scandal, had been left +behind at Sedan, where it rested in ignominious hiding behind the +Sous-Préfet’s lilac bushes. It puzzled the authorities somewhat to devise +means for ridding themselves of what was to them a <i>bête noire</i>, for +getting it away from the city unseen by the famishing multitude, upon whom the +sight of its flaunting splendor would have produced much the same effect that a +red rag does on a maddened bull. They waited until there came an unusually dark +night, when horses, carriages, and baggage-wagons, with their silver stew-pans, +plate, linen, and baskets of fine wines, all trooped out of Sedan in deepest +mystery and shaped their course for Belgium, noiselessly, without beat of drum, +over the least frequented roads like a thief stealing away in the night. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="part03"></a>PART THIRD</h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap17"></a>I.</h2> + +<p> +All the long, long day of the battle Silvine, up on Remilly hill, where Father +Fouchard’s little farm was situated, but her heart and soul absent with +Honoré amid the dangers of the conflict, never once took her eyes from off +Sedan, where the guns were roaring. The following day, moreover, her anxiety +was even greater still, being increased by her inability to obtain any definite +tidings, for the Prussians who were guarding the roads in the vicinity refused +to answer questions, as much from reasons of policy as because they knew but +very little themselves. The bright sun of the day before was no longer visible, +and showers had fallen, making the valley look less cheerful than usual in the +wan light. +</p> + +<p> +Toward evening Father Fouchard, who was also haunted by a sensation of +uneasiness in the midst of his studied taciturnity, was standing on his +doorstep reflecting on the probable outcome of events. His son had no place in +his thoughts, but he was speculating how he best might convert the misfortunes +of others into fortune for himself, and as he revolved these considerations in +his mind he noticed a tall, strapping young fellow, dressed in the +peasant’s blouse, who had been strolling up and down the road for the +last minute or so, looking as if he did not know what to do with himself. His +astonishment on recognizing him was so great that he called him aloud by name, +notwithstanding that three Prussians happened to be passing at the time. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, Prosper! Is that you?” +</p> + +<p> +The chasseur d’Afrique imposed silence on him with an emphatic gesture; +then, coming closer, he said in an undertone: +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, it is I. I have had enough of fighting for nothing, and I cut my +lucky. Say, Father Fouchard, you don’t happen to be in need of a laborer +on your farm, do you?” +</p> + +<p> +All the old man’s prudence came back to him in a twinkling. He <i>was</i> +looking for someone to help him, but it would be better not to say so at once. +</p> + +<p> +“A lad on the farm? faith, no—not just now. Come in, though, all +the same, and have a glass. I shan’t leave you out on the road when +you’re in trouble, that’s sure.” +</p> + +<p> +Silvine, in the kitchen, was setting the pot of soup on the fire, while little +Charlot was hanging by her skirts, frolicking and laughing. She did not +recognize Prosper at first, although they had formerly served together in the +same household, and it was not until she came in, bringing a bottle of wine and +two glasses, that she looked him squarely in the face. She uttered a cry of joy +and surprise; her sole thought was of Honoré. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, you were there, weren’t you? Is Honoré all right?” +</p> + +<p> +Prosper’s answer was ready to slip from his tongue; he hesitated. For the +last two days he had been living in a dream, among a rapid succession of +strange, ill-defined events which left behind them no precise memory, as a man +starts, half-awakened, from a slumber peopled with fantastic visions. It was +true, doubtless, he believed he had seen Honoré lying upon a cannon, dead, but +he would not have cared to swear to it; what use is there in afflicting people +when one is not certain? +</p> + +<p> +“Honoré,” he murmured, “I don’t know, I couldn’t +say.” +</p> + +<p> +She continued to press him with her questions, looking at him steadily. +</p> + +<p> +“You did not see him, then?” +</p> + +<p> +He waved his hands before him with a slow, uncertain motion and an expressive +shake of the head. +</p> + +<p> +“How can you expect one to remember! There were such lots of things, such +lots of things. Look you, of all that d——-d battle, if I was to die +for it this minute, I could not tell you that much—no, not even the place +where I was. I believe men get to be no better than idiots, ’pon my word +I do!” And tossing off a glass of wine, he sat gloomily silent, his +vacant eyes turned inward on the dark recesses of his memory. “All that I +remember is that it was beginning to be dark when I recovered consciousness. I +went down while we were charging, and then the sun was very high. I must have +been lying there for hours, my right leg caught under poor old Zephyr, who had +received a piece of shell in the middle of his chest. There was nothing to +laugh at in my position, I can tell you; the dead comrades lying around me in +piles, not a living soul in sight, and the certainty that I should have to kick +the bucket too unless someone came to put me on my legs again. Gently, gently, +I tried to free my leg, but it was no use; Zephyr’s weight must have been +fully up to that of the five hundred thousand devils. He was warm still. I +patted him, I spoke to him, saying all the pretty things I could think of, and +here’s a thing, do you see, that I shall never forget as long as I live: +he opened his eyes and made an effort to raise his poor old head, which was +resting on the ground beside my own. Then we had a talk together: ‘Poor +old fellow,’ says I, ‘I don’t want to say a word to hurt your +feelings, but you must want to see me croak with you, you hold me down so +hard.’ Of course he didn’t say he did; he couldn’t, but for +all that I could read in his great sorrowful eyes how bad he felt to have to +part with me. And I can’t say how the thing happened, whether he intended +it or whether it was part of the death struggle, but all at once he gave +himself a great shake that sent him rolling away to one side. I was enabled to +get on my feet once more, but ah! in what a pickle; my leg was swollen and +heavy as a leg of lead. Never mind, I took Zephyr’s head in my arms and +kept on talking to him, telling him all the kind thoughts I had in my heart, +that he was a good horse, that I loved him dearly, that I should never forget +him. He listened to me, he seemed to be so pleased! Then he had another long +convulsion, and so he died, with his big vacant eyes fixed on me till the last. +It is very strange, though, and I don’t suppose anyone will believe me; +still, it is the simple truth that great, big tears were standing in his eyes. +Poor old Zephyr, he cried just like a man—” +</p> + +<p> +At this point Prosper’s emotion got the better of him; tears choked his +utterance and he was obliged to break off. He gulped down another glass of wine +and went on with his narrative in disjointed, incomplete sentences. It kept +growing darker and darker, until there was only a narrow streak of red light on +the horizon at the verge of the battlefield; the shadows of the dead horses +seemed to be projected across the plain to an infinite distance. The pain and +stiffness in his leg kept him from moving; he must have remained for a long +time beside Zephyr. Then, with his fears as an incentive, he had managed to get +on his feet and hobble away; it was an imperative necessity to him not to be +alone, to find comrades who would share his fears with him and make them less. +Thus from every nook and corner of the battlefield, from hedges and ditches and +clumps of bushes, the wounded who had been left behind dragged themselves +painfully in search of companionship, forming when possible little bands of +four or five, finding it less hard to agonize and die in the company of their +fellow-beings. In the wood of la Garenne Prosper fell in with two men of the +43d regiment; they were not wounded, but had burrowed in the underbrush like +rabbits, waiting for the coming of the night. When they learned that he was +familiar with the roads they communicated to him their plan, which was to +traverse the woods under cover of the darkness and make their escape into +Belgium. At first he declined to share their undertaking, for he would have +preferred to proceed direct to Remilly, where he was certain to find a refuge, +but where was he to obtain the blouse and trousers that he required as a +disguise? to say nothing of the impracticability of getting past the numerous +Prussian pickets and outposts that filled the valley all the way from la +Garenne to Remilly. He therefore ended by consenting to act as guide to the two +comrades. His leg was less stiff than it had been, and they were so fortunate +as to secure a loaf of bread at a farmhouse. Nine o’clock was striking +from the church of a village in the distance as they resumed their way. The +only point where they encountered any danger worth mentioning was at la +Chapelle, where they fell directly into the midst of a Prussian advanced post +before they were aware of it; the enemy flew to arms and blazed away into the +darkness, while they, throwing themselves on the ground and alternately +crawling and running until the fire slackened, ultimately regained the shelter +of the trees. After that they kept to the woods, observing the utmost +vigilance. At a bend in the road, they crept up behind an out-lying picket and, +leaping on his back, buried a knife in his throat. Then the road was free +before them and they no longer had to observe precaution; they went ahead, +laughing and whistling. It was about three in the morning when they reached a +little Belgian village, where they knocked up a worthy farmer, who at once +opened his barn to them; they snuggled among the hay and slept soundly until +morning. +</p> + +<p> +The sun was high in the heavens when Prosper awoke. As he opened his eyes and +looked about him, while the two comrades were still snoring, he beheld their +entertainer engaged in hitching a horse to a great carriole loaded with bread, +rice, coffee, sugar, and all sorts of eatables, the whole concealed under sacks +of charcoal, and a little questioning elicited from the good man the fact that +he had two married daughters living at Raucourt, in France, whom the passage of +the Bavarian troops had left entirely destitute, and that the provisions in the +carriole were intended for them. He had procured that very morning the +safe-conduct that was required for the journey. Prosper was immediately seized +by an uncontrollable desire to take a seat in that carriole and return to the +country that he loved so and for which his heart was yearning with such a +violent nostalgia. It was perfectly simple; the farmer would have to pass +through Remilly to reach Raucourt; he would alight there. The matter was +arranged in three minutes; he obtained a loan of the longed-for blouse and +trousers, and the farmer gave out, wherever they stopped, that he was his +servant; so that about six o’clock he got down in front of the church, +not having been stopped more than two or three times by the German outposts. +</p> + +<p> +They were all silent for a while, then: “No, I had enough of it!” +said Prosper. “If they had but set us at work that amounted to something, +as out there in Africa! but this going up the hill only to come down again, the +feeling that one is of no earthly use to anyone, that is no kind of a life at +all. And then I should be lonely, now that poor Zephyr is dead; all that is +left me to do is to go to work on a farm. That will be better than living among +the Prussians as a prisoner, don’t you think so? You have horses, Father +Fouchard; try me, and see whether or not I will love them and take good care of +them.” +</p> + +<p> +The old fellow’s eyes gleamed, but he touched glasses once more with the +other and concluded the arrangement without any evidence of eagerness. +</p> + +<p> +“Very well; I wish to be of service to you as far as lies in my power; I +will take you. As regards the question of wages, though, you must not speak of +it until the war is over, for really I am not in need of anyone and the times +are too hard.” +</p> + +<p> +Silvine, who had remained seated with Charlot on her lap, had never once taken +her eyes from Prosper’s face. When she saw him rise with the intention of +going to the stable and making immediate acquaintance with its four-footed +inhabitants, she again asked: +</p> + +<p> +“Then you say you did not see Honoré?” +</p> + +<p> +The question repeated thus abruptly made him start, as if it had suddenly cast +a flood of light in upon an obscure corner of his memory. He hesitated for a +little, but finally came to a decision and spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“See here, I did not wish to grieve you just now, but I don’t +believe Honoré will ever come back.” +</p> + +<p> +“Never come back—what do you mean?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I believe that the Prussians did his business for him. I saw him +lying across his gun, his head erect, with a great wound just beneath the +heart.” +</p> + +<p> +There was silence in the room. Silvine’s pallor was frightful to behold, +while Father Fouchard displayed his interest in the narrative by replacing upon +the table his glass, into which he had just poured what wine remained in the +bottle. +</p> + +<p> +“Are you quite certain?” she asked in a choking voice. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Dame</i>! as certain as one can be of a thing he has seen with his +own two eyes. It was on a little hillock, with three trees in a group right +beside it; it seems to me I could go to the spot blindfolded.” +</p> + +<p> +If it was true she had nothing left to live for. That lad who had been so good +to her, who had forgiven her her fault, had plighted his troth and was to marry +her when he came home at the end of the campaign! and they had robbed her of +him, they had murdered him, and he was lying out there on the battlefield with +a wound under the heart! She had never known how strong her love for him had +been, and now the thought that she was to see him no more, that he who was hers +was hers no longer, aroused her almost to a pitch of madness and made her +forget her usual tranquil resignation. She set Charlot roughly down upon the +floor, exclaiming: +</p> + +<p> +“Good! I shall not believe that story until I see the evidence of it, +until I see it with my own eyes. Since you know the spot you shall conduct me +to it. And if it is true, if we find him, we will bring him home with +us.” +</p> + +<p> +Her tears allowed her to say no more; she bowed her head upon the table, her +frame convulsed by long-drawn, tumultuous sobs that shook her from head to +foot, while the child, not knowing what to make of such unusual treatment at +his mother’s hands, also commenced to weep violently. She caught him up +and pressed him to her heart, with distracted, stammering words: +</p> + +<p> +“My poor child! my poor child!” +</p> + +<p> +Consternation was depicted on old Fouchard’s face. Appearances +notwithstanding, he did love his son, after a fashion of his own. Memories of +the past came back to him, of days long vanished, when his wife was still +living and Honoré was a boy at school, and two big tears appeared in his small +red eyes and trickled down his old leathery cheeks. He had not wept before in +more than ten years. In the end he grew angry at the thought of that son who +was his and upon whom he was never to set eyes again; he rapped out an oath or +two. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Nom de Dieu!</i> it is provoking all the same, to have only one boy, +and that he should be taken from you!” +</p> + +<p> +When their agitation had in a measure subsided, however, Fouchard was annoyed +that Silvine still continued to talk of going to search for Honoré’s body +out there on the battlefield. She made no further noisy demonstration, but +harbored her purpose with the dogged silence of despair, and he failed to +recognize in her the docile, obedient servant who was wont to perform her daily +tasks without a murmur; her great, submissive eyes, in which lay the chief +beauty of her face, had assumed an expression of stern determination, while +beneath her thick brown hair her cheeks and brow wore a pallor that was like +death. She had torn off the red kerchief that was knotted about her neck, and +was entirely in black, like a widow in her weeds. It was all in vain that he +tried to impress on her the difficulties of the undertaking, the dangers she +would be subjected to, the little hope there was of recovering the corpse; she +did not even take the trouble to answer him, and he saw clearly that unless he +seconded her in her plan she would start out alone and do some unwise thing, +and this aspect of the case worried him on account of the complications that +might arise between him and the Prussian authorities. He therefore finally +decided to go and lay the matter before the mayor of Remilly, who was a kind of +distant cousin of his, and they two between them concocted a story: Silvine was +to pass as the actual widow of Honoré, Prosper became her brother, so that the +Bavarian colonel, who had his quarters in the Hotel of the Maltese Cross down +in the lower part of the village, made no difficulty about granting a pass +which authorized the brother and sister to bring home the body of the husband, +provided they could find it. By this time it was night; the only concession +that could be obtained from the young woman was that she would delay starting +on her expedition until morning. +</p> + +<p> +When morning came old Fouchard could not be prevailed on to allow one of his +horses to be taken, fearing he might never set eyes on it again. What assurance +had he that the Prussians would not confiscate the entire equipage? At last he +consented, though with very bad grace, to loan her the donkey, a little gray +animal, and his cart, which, though small, would be large enough to hold a dead +man. He gave minute instructions to Prosper, who had had a good night’s +sleep, but was anxious and thoughtful at the prospect of the expedition now +that, being rested and refreshed, he attempted to remember something of the +battle. At the last moment Silvine went and took the counterpane from her own +bed, folding and spreading it on the floor of the cart. Just as she was about +to start she came running back to embrace Charlot. +</p> + +<p> +“I entrust him to your care, Father Fouchard; keep an eye on him and see +that he doesn’t get hold of the matches.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes; never fear!” +</p> + +<p> +They were late in getting off; it was near seven o’clock when the little +procession, the donkey, hanging his head and drawing the narrow cart, leading, +descended the steep hill of Remilly. It had rained heavily during the night, +and the roads were become rivers of mud; great lowering clouds hung in the +heavens, imparting an air of cheerless desolation to the scene. +</p> + +<p> +Prosper, wishing to save all the distance he could, had determined on taking +the route that lay through the city of Sedan, but before they reached +Pont-Maugis a Prussian outpost halted the cart and held it for over an hour, +and finally, after their pass had been referred, one after another, to four or +five officials, they were told they might resume their journey, but only on +condition of taking the longer, roundabout route by way of Bazeilles, to do +which they would have to turn into a cross-road on their left. No reason was +assigned; their object was probably to avoid adding to the crowd that +encumbered the streets of the city. When Silvine crossed the Meuse by the +railroad bridge, that ill-starred bridge that the French had failed to destroy +and which, moreover, had been the cause of such slaughter among the Bavarians, +she beheld the corpse of an artilleryman floating lazily down with the sluggish +current. It caught among some rushes near the bank, hung there a moment, then +swung clear and started afresh on its downward way. +</p> + +<p> +Bazeilles, through which they passed from end to end at a slow walk, afforded a +spectacle of ruin and desolation, the worst that war can perpetrate when it +sweeps with devastating force, like a cyclone, through a land. The dead had +been removed; there was not a single corpse to be seen in the village streets, +and the rain had washed away the blood; pools of reddish water were to be seen +here and there in the roadway, with repulsive, frowzy-looking debris, matted +masses that one could not help associating in his mind with human hair. But +what shocked and saddened one more than all the rest was the ruin that was +visible everywhere; that charming village, only three days before so bright and +smiling, with its pretty houses standing in their well-kept gardens, now razed, +demolished, annihilated, nothing left of all its beauties save a few +smoke-stained walls. The church was burning still, a huge pyre of smoldering +beams and girders, whence streamed continually upward a column of dense black +smoke that, spreading in the heavens, overshadowed the city like a gigantic +funeral pall. Entire streets had been swept away, not a house left on either +side, nor any trace that houses had ever been there, save the calcined +stone-work lying in the gutter in a pasty mess of soot and ashes, the whole +lost in the viscid, ink-black mud of the thoroughfare. Where streets +intersected the corner houses were razed down to their foundations, as if they +had been carried away bodily by the fiery blast that blew there. Others had +suffered less; one in particular, owing to some chance, had escaped almost +without injury, while its neighbors on either hand, literally torn to pieces by +the iron hail, were like gaunt skeletons. An unbearable stench was everywhere, +noticeable, the nauseating odor that follows a great fire, aggravated by the +penetrating smell of petroleum, that had been used without stint upon floors +and walls. Then, too, there was the pitiful, mute spectacle of the household +goods that the people had endeavored to save, the poor furniture that had been +thrown from windows and smashed upon the sidewalk, crazy tables with broken +legs, presses with cloven sides and split doors, linen, also, torn and soiled, +that was trodden under foot; all the sorry crumbs, the unconsidered trifles of +the pillage, of which the destruction was being completed by the dissolving +rain. Through the breach in a shattered house-front a clock was visible, +securely fastened high up on the wall above the mantel-shelf, that had +miraculously escaped intact. +</p> + +<p> +“The beasts! the pigs!” growled Prosper, whose blood, though he was +no longer a soldier, ran hot at the sight of such atrocities. +</p> + +<p> +He doubled his fists, and Silvine, who was white as a ghost, had to exert the +influence of her glance to calm him every time they encountered a sentry on +their way. The Bavarians had posted sentinels near all the houses that were +still burning, and it seemed as if those men, with loaded muskets and fixed +bayonets, were guarding the fires in order that the flames might finish their +work. They drove away the mere sightseers who strolled about in the vicinity, +and the persons who had an interest there as well, employing first a menacing +gesture, and in case that was not sufficient, uttering a single brief, guttural +word of command. A young woman, her hair streaming about her shoulders, her +gown plastered with mud, persisted in hanging about the smoking ruins of a +little house, of which she desired to search the hot ashes, notwithstanding the +prohibition of the sentry. The report ran that the woman’s little baby +had been burned with the house. And all at once, as the Bavarian was roughly +thrusting her aside with his heavy hand, she turned on him, vomiting in his +face all her despair and rage, lashing him with taunts and insults that were +redolent of the gutter, with obscene words which likely afforded her some +consolation in her grief and distress. He could not have understood her, for he +drew back a pace or two, eying her with apprehension. Three comrades came +running up and relieved him of the fury, whom they led away screaming at the +top of her voice. Before the ruins of another house a man and two little girls, +all three so weary and miserable that they could not stand, lay on the bare +ground, sobbing as if their hearts would break; they had seen their little all +go up in smoke and flame, and had no place to go, no place to lay their head. +But just then a patrol went by, dispersing the knots of idlers, and the street +again assumed its deserted aspect, peopled only by the stern, sullen sentries, +vigilant to see that their iniquitous instructions were enforced. +</p> + +<p> +“The beasts! the pigs!” Prosper repeated in a stifled voice. +“How I should like, oh! how I should like to kill a few of them!” +</p> + +<p> +Silvine again made him be silent. She shuddered. A dog, shut up in a +carriage-house that the flames had spared and forgotten there for the last two +days, kept up an incessant, continuous howling, in a key so inexpressibly +mournful that a brooding horror seemed to pervade the low, leaden sky, from +which a drizzling rain had now begun to fall. They were then just abreast of +the park of Montivilliers, and there they witnessed a most horrible sight. +Three great covered carts, those carts that pass along the streets in the early +morning before it is light and collect the city’s filth and garbage, +stood there in a row, loaded with corpses; and now, instead of refuse, they +were being filled with dead, stopping wherever there was a body to be loaded, +then going on again with the heavy rumbling of their wheels to make another +stop further on, threading Bazeilles in its every nook and corner until their +hideous cargo overflowed. They were waiting now upon the public road to be +driven to the place of their discharge, the neighboring potter’s field. +Feet were seen projecting from the mass into the air. A head, half-severed from +its trunk, hung over the side of the vehicle. When the three lumbering vans +started again, swaying and jolting over the inequalities of the road, a long, +white hand was hanging outward from one of them; the hand caught upon the +wheel, and little by little the iron tire destroyed it, eating through skin and +flesh clean down to the bones. +</p> + +<p> +By the time they reached Balan the rain had ceased, and Prosper prevailed on +Silvine to eat a bit of the bread he had had the foresight to bring with them. +When they were near Sedan, however, they were brought to a halt by another +Prussian post, and this time the consequences threatened to be serious; the +officer stormed at them, and even refused to restore their pass, which he +declared, in excellent French, to be a forgery. Acting on his orders some +soldiers had run the donkey and the little cart under a shed. What were they to +do? were they to be forced to abandon their undertaking? Silvine was in +despair, when all at once she thought of M. Dubreuil, Father Fouchard’s +relative, with whom she had some slight acquaintance and whose place, the +Hermitage, was only a few hundred yards distant, on the summit of the eminence +that overlooked the faubourg. Perhaps he might have some influence with the +military, seeing that he was a citizen of the place. As they were allowed their +freedom, conditionally upon abandoning their equipage, she left the donkey and +cart under the shed and bade Prosper accompany her. They ascended the hill on a +run, found the gate of the Hermitage standing wide open, and on turning into +the avenue of secular elms beheld a spectacle that filled them with amazement. +</p> + +<p> +“The devil!” said Prosper; “there are a lot of fellows who +seem to be taking things easy!” +</p> + +<p> +On the fine-crushed gravel of the terrace, at the bottom of the steps that led +to the house, was a merry company. Arranged in order around a marble-topped +table were a sofa and some easy-chairs in sky-blue satin, forming a sort of +fantastic open-air drawing-room, which must have been thoroughly soaked by the +rain of the preceding day. Two zouaves, seated in a lounging attitude at either +end of the sofa, seemed to be laughing boisterously. A little infantryman, who +occupied one of the fauteuils, his head bent forward, was apparently holding +his sides to keep them from splitting. Three others were seated in a negligent +pose, their elbows resting on the arms of their chairs, while a chasseur had +his hand extended as if in the act of taking a glass from the table. They had +evidently discovered the location of the cellar, and were enjoying themselves. +</p> + +<p> +“But how in the world do they happen to be here?” murmured Prosper, +whose stupefaction increased as he drew nearer to them. “Have the rascals +forgotten there are Prussians about?” +</p> + +<p> +But Silvine, whose eyes had dilated far beyond their natural size, suddenly +uttered an exclamation of horror. The soldiers never moved hand or foot; they +were stone dead. The two zouaves were stiff and cold; they both had had the +face shot away, the nose was gone, the eyes were torn from their sockets. If +there appeared to be a laugh on the face of him who was holding his sides, it +was because a bullet had cut a great furrow through the lower portion of his +countenance, smashing all his teeth. The spectacle was an unimaginably horrible +one, those poor wretches laughing and conversing in their attitude of manikins, +with glassy eyes and open mouths, when Death had laid his icy hand on them and +they were never more to know the warmth and motion of life. Had they dragged +themselves, still living, to that place, so as to die in one another’s +company? or was it not rather a ghastly prank of the Prussians, who had +collected the bodies and placed them in a circle about the table, out of +derision for the traditional gayety of the French nation? +</p> + +<p> +“It’s a queer start, though, all the same,” muttered Prosper, +whose face was very pale. And casting a look at the other dead who lay +scattered about the avenue, under the trees and on the turf, some thirty brave +fellows, among them Lieutenant Rochas, riddled with wounds and surrounded still +by the shreds of the flag, he added seriously and with great respect: +“There must have been some very pretty fighting about here! I don’t +much believe we shall find the bourgeois for whom you are looking.” +</p> + +<p> +Silvine entered the house, the doors and windows of which had been battered in +and afforded admission to the damp, cold air from without. It was clear enough +that there was no one there; the masters must have taken their departure before +the battle. She continued to prosecute her search, however, and had entered the +kitchen, when she gave utterance to another cry of terror. Beneath the sink +were two bodies, fast locked in each other’s arms in mortal embrace, one +of them a zouave, a handsome, brown-bearded man, the other a huge Prussian with +red hair. The teeth of the former were set in the latter’s cheek, their +arms, stiff in death, had not relaxed their terrible hug, binding the pair with +such a bond of everlasting hate and fury that ultimately it was found necessary +to bury them in a common grave. +</p> + +<p> +Then Prosper made haste to lead Silvine away, since they could accomplish +nothing in that house where Death had taken up his abode, and upon their +return, despairing, to the post where the donkey and cart had been detained, it +so chanced that they found, in company with the officer who had treated them so +harshly, a general on his way to visit the battlefield. This gentleman +requested to be allowed to see the pass, which he examined attentively and +restored to Silvine; then, with an expression of compassion on his face, he +gave directions that the poor woman should have her donkey returned to her and +be allowed to go in quest of her husband’s body. Stopping only long +enough to thank her benefactor, she and her companion, with the cart trundling +after them, set out for the Fond de Givonne, obedient to the instructions that +were again given them not to pass through Sedan. +</p> + +<p> +After that they bent their course to the left in order to reach the plateau of +Illy by the road that crosses the wood of la Garenne, but here again they were +delayed; twenty times they nearly abandoned all hope of getting through the +wood, so numerous were the obstacles they encountered. At every step their way +was barred by huge trees that had been laid low by the artillery fire, +stretched on the ground like mighty giants fallen. It was the part of the +forest that had suffered so severely from the cannonade, where the projectiles +had plowed their way through the secular growths as they might have done +through a square of the Old Guard, meeting in either case with the sturdy +resistance of veterans. Everywhere the earth was cumbered with gigantic trunks, +stripped of their leaves and branches, pierced and mangled, even as mortals +might have been, and this wholesale destruction, the sight of the poor limbs, +maimed, slaughtered and weeping tears of sap, inspired the beholder with the +sickening horror of a human battlefield. There were corpses of men there, too; +soldiers, who had stood fraternally by the trees and fallen with them. A +lieutenant, from whose mouth exuded a bloody froth, had been tearing up the +grass by handfuls in his agony, and his stiffened fingers were still buried in +the ground. A little farther on a captain, prone on his stomach, had raised his +head to vent his anguish in yells and screams, and death had caught and fixed +him in that strange attitude. Others seemed to be slumbering among the herbage, +while a zouave; whose blue sash had taken fire, had had his hair and beard +burned completely from his head. And several times it happened, as they +traversed those woodland glades, that they had to remove a body from the path +before the donkey could proceed on his way. Presently they came to a little +valley, where the sights of horror abruptly ended. The battle had evidently +turned at this point and expended its force in another direction, leaving this +peaceful nook of nature untouched. The trees were all uninjured; the carpet of +velvety moss was undefiled by blood. A little brook coursed merrily among the +duckweed, the path that ran along its bank was shaded by tall beeches. A +penetrating charm, a tender peacefulness pervaded the solitude of the lovely +spot, where the living waters gave up their coolness to the air and the leaves +whispered softly in the silence. +</p> + +<p> +Prosper had stopped to let the donkey drink from the stream. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, how pleasant it is here!” he involuntarily exclaimed in his +delight. +</p> + +<p> +Silvine cast an astonished look about her, as if wondering how it was that she, +too, could feel the influence of the peaceful scene. Why should there be repose +and happiness in that hidden nook, when surrounding it on every side were +sorrow and affliction? She made a gesture of impatience. +</p> + +<p> +“Quick, quick, let us be gone. Where is the spot? Where did you tell me +you saw Honoré?” +</p> + +<p> +And when, at some fifty paces from there, they at last came out on the plateau +of Illy, the level plain unrolled itself in its full extent before their +vision. It was the real, the true battlefield that they beheld now, the bare +fields stretching away to the horizon under the wan, cheerless sky, whence +showers were streaming down continually. There were no piles of dead visible; +all the Prussians must have been buried by this time, for there was not a +single one to be seen among the corpses of the French that were scattered here +and there, along the roads and in the fields, as the conflict had swayed in one +direction or another. The first that they encountered was a sergeant, propped +against a hedge, a superb man, in the bloom of his youthful vigor; his face was +tranquil and a smile seemed to rest on his parted lips. A hundred paces further +on, however, they beheld another, lying across the road, who had been mutilated +most frightfully, his head almost entirely shot away, his shoulders covered +with great splotches of brain matter. Then, as they advanced further into the +field, after the single bodies, distributed here and there, they came across +little groups; they saw seven men aligned in single rank, kneeling and with +their muskets at the shoulder in the position of aim, who had been hit as they +were about to fire, while close beside them a subaltern had also fallen as he +was in the act of giving the word of command. After that the road led along the +brink of a little ravine, and there they beheld a spectacle that aroused their +horror to the highest pitch as they looked down into the chasm, into which an +entire company seemed to have been blown by the fiery blast; it was choked with +corpses, a landslide, an avalanche of maimed and mutilated men, bent and +twisted in an inextricable tangle, who with convulsed fingers had caught at the +yellow clay of the bank to save themselves in their descent, fruitlessly. And a +dusky flock of ravens flew away, croaking noisily, and swarms of flies, +thousands upon thousands of them, attracted by the odor of fresh blood, were +buzzing over the bodies and returning incessantly. +</p> + +<p> +“Where is the spot?” Silvine asked again. +</p> + +<p> +They were then passing a plowed field that was completely covered with +knapsacks. It was manifest that some regiment had been roughly handled there, +and the men, in a moment of panic, had relieved themselves of their burdens. +The debris of every sort with which the ground was thickly strewn served to +explain the episodes of the conflict. There was a stubble field where the +scattered <i>kepis</i>, resembling huge poppies, shreds of uniforms, +epaulettes, and sword-belts told the story of one of those infrequent +hand-to-hand contests in the fierce artillery duel that had lasted twelve +hours. But the objects that were encountered most frequently, at every step, in +fact, were abandoned weapons, sabers, bayonets, and, more particularly, +chassepots; and so numerous were they that they seemed to have sprouted from +the earth, a harvest that had matured in a single ill-omened day. Porringers +and buckets, also, were scattered along the roads, together with the +heterogeneous contents of knapsacks, rice, brushes, clothing, cartridges. The +fields everywhere presented an uniform scene of devastation: fences destroyed, +trees blighted as if they had been struck by lightning, the very soil itself +torn by shells, compacted and hardened by the tramp of countless feet, and so +maltreated that it seemed as if seasons must elapse before it could again +become productive. Everything had been drenched and soaked by the rain of the +preceding day; an odor arose and hung in the air persistently, that odor of the +battlefield that smells like fermenting straw and burning cloth, a mixture of +rottenness and gunpowder. +</p> + +<p> +Silvine, who was beginning to weary of those fields of death over which she had +tramped so many long miles, looked about her with increasing distrust and +uneasiness. +</p> + +<p> +“Where is the spot? where is it?” +</p> + +<p> +But Prosper made no answer; he also was becoming uneasy. What distressed him +even more than the sights of suffering among his fellow-soldiers was the dead +horses, the poor brutes that lay outstretched upon their side, that were met +with in great numbers. Many of them presented a most pitiful spectacle, in all +sorts of harrowing attitudes, with heads torn from the body, with lacerated +flanks from which the entrails protruded. Many were resting on their back, with +their four feet elevated in the air like signals of distress. The entire extent +of the broad plain was dotted with them. There were some that death had not +released after their two days’ agony; at the faintest sound they would +raise their head, turning it eagerly from right to left, then let it fall again +upon the ground, while others lay motionless and momentarily gave utterance to +that shrill scream which one who has heard it can never forget, the lament of +the dying horse, so piercingly mournful that earth and heaven seemed to shudder +in unison with it. And Prosper, with a bleeding heart, thought of poor Zephyr, +and told himself that perhaps he might see him once again. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly he became aware that the ground was trembling under the thundering +hoof-beats of a headlong charge. He turned to look, and had barely time to +shout to his companion: +</p> + +<p> +“The horses, the horses! Get behind that wall!” +</p> + +<p> +From the summit of a neighboring eminence a hundred riderless horses, some of +them still bearing the saddle and master’s kit, were plunging down upon +them at break-neck speed. They were cavalry mounts that had lost their masters +and remained on the battlefield, and instinct had counseled them to associate +together in a band. They had had neither hay nor oats for two days, and had +cropped the scanty grass from off the plain, shorn the hedge-rows of leaves and +twigs, gnawed the bark from the trees, and when they felt the pangs of hunger +pricking at their vitals like a keen spur, they started all together at a mad +gallop and charged across the deserted, silent fields, crushing the dead out of +all human shape, extinguishing the last spark of life in the wounded. +</p> + +<p> +The band came on like a whirlwind; Silvine had only time to pull the donkey and +cart to one side where they would be protected by the wall. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Mon Dieu!</i> we shall be killed!” +</p> + +<p> +But the horses had taken the obstacle in their stride and were already scouring +away in the distance on the other side with a rumble like that of a receding +thunder-storm; striking into a sunken road they pursued it as far as the corner +of a little wood, behind which they were lost to sight. +</p> + +<p> +Silvine, when she had brought the cart back into the road, insisted that +Prosper should answer her question before they proceeded further. +</p> + +<p> +“Come, where is it? You told me you could find the spot with your eyes +bandaged; where is it? We have reached the ground.” +</p> + +<p> +He, drawing himself up and anxiously scanning the horizon in every direction, +seemed to become more and more perplexed. +</p> + +<p> +“There were three trees, I must find those three trees in the first +place. Ah, <i>dame</i>! see here, one’s sight is not of the clearest when +he is fighting, and it is no such easy matter to remember afterward the roads +one has passed over!” +</p> + +<p> +Then perceiving people to his left, two men and a woman, it occurred to him to +question them, but the woman ran away at his approach and the men repulsed him +with threatening gestures; and he saw others of the same stripe, clad in sordid +rags, unspeakably filthy, with the ill-favored faces of thieves and murderers, +and they all shunned him, slinking away among the corpses like jackals or other +unclean, creeping beasts. Then he noticed that wherever these villainous gentry +passed the dead behind them were shoeless, their bare, white feet exposed, +devoid of covering, and he saw how it was: they were the tramps and thugs who +followed the German armies for the sake of plundering the dead, the detestable +crew who followed in the wake of the invasion in order that they might reap +their harvest from the field of blood. A tall, lean fellow arose in front of +him and scurried away on a run, a sack slung across his shoulder, the watches +and small coins, proceeds of his robberies, jingling in his pockets. +</p> + +<p> +A boy about fourteen or fifteen years old, however, allowed Prosper to approach +him, and when the latter, seeing him to be French, rated him soundly, the boy +spoke up in his defense. What, was it wrong for a poor fellow to earn his +living? He was collecting chassepots, and received five sous for every +chassepot he brought in. He had run away from his village that morning, having +eaten nothing since the day before, and engaged himself to a contractor from +Luxembourg, who had an arrangement with the Prussians by virtue of which he was +to gather the muskets from the field of battle, the Germans fearing that should +the scattered arms be collected by the peasants of the frontier, they might be +conveyed into Belgium and thence find their way back to France. And so it was +that there was quite a flock of poor devils hunting for muskets and earning +their five sous, rummaging among the herbage, like the women who may be seen in +the meadows, bent nearly double, gathering dandelions. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s a dirty business,” Prosper growled. +</p> + +<p> +“What would you have! A chap must eat,” the boy replied. “I +am not robbing anyone.” +</p> + +<p> +Then, as he did not belong to that neighborhood and could not give the +information that Prosper wanted, he pointed out a little farmhouse not far away +where he had seen some people stirring. +</p> + +<p> +Prosper thanked him and was moving away to rejoin Silvine when he caught sight +of a chassepot, partially buried in a furrow. His first thought was to say +nothing of his discovery; then he turned about suddenly and shouted, as if he +could not help it: +</p> + +<p> +“Hallo! here’s one; that will make five sous more for you.” +</p> + +<p> +As they approached the farmhouse Silvine noticed other peasants engaged with +spades and picks in digging long trenches; but these men were under the direct +command of Prussian officers, who, with nothing more formidable than a light +walking-stick in their hands, stood by, stiff and silent, and superintended the +work. They had requisitioned the inhabitants of all the villages of the +vicinity in this manner, fearing that decomposition might be hastened, owing to +the rainy weather. Two cart-loads of dead bodies were standing near, and a gang +of men was unloading them, laying the corpses side by side in close contiguity +to one another, not searching them, not even looking at their faces, while two +men followed after, equipped with great shovels, and covered the row with a +layer of earth, so thin that the ground had already begun to crack beneath the +showers. The work was so badly and hastily done that before two weeks should +have elapsed each of those fissures would be breathing forth pestilence. +Silvine could not resist the impulse to pause at the brink of the trench and +look at those pitiful corpses as they were brought forward, one after another. +She was possessed by a horrible fear that in each fresh body the men brought +from the cart she might recognize Honoré. Was not that he, that poor wretch +whose left eye had been destroyed? No! Perhaps that one with the fractured jaw +was he? The one thing certain to her mind was that if she did not make haste to +find him, wherever he might be on that boundless, indeterminate plateau, they +would pick him up and bury him in a common grave with the others. She therefore +hurried to rejoin Prosper, who had gone on to the farmhouse with the cart. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Mon Dieu!</i> how is it that you are not better informed? Where is +the place? Ask the people, question them.” +</p> + +<p> +There were none but Prussians at the farm, however, together with a woman +servant and her child, just come in from the woods, where they had been near +perishing of thirst and hunger. The scene was one of patriarchal simplicity and +well-earned repose after the fatigues of the last few days. Some of the +soldiers had hung their uniforms from a clothes-line and were giving them a +thorough brushing, another was putting a patch on his trousers, with great +neatness and dexterity, while the cook of the detachment had built a great fire +in the middle of the courtyard on which the soup was boiling in a huge pot from +which ascended a most appetizing odor of cabbage and bacon. There is no denying +that the Prussians generally displayed great moderation toward the inhabitants +of the country after the conquest, which was made the easier to them by the +spirit of discipline that prevailed among the troops. These men might have been +taken for peaceable citizens just come in from their daily avocations, smoking +their long pipes. On a bench beside the door sat a stout, red-bearded man, who +had taken up the servant’s child, a little urchin five or six years old, +and was dandling it and talking baby-talk to it in German, delighted to see the +little one laugh at the harsh syllables which it could not understand. +</p> + +<p> +Prosper, fearing there might be more trouble in store for them, had turned his +back on the soldiers immediately on entering, but those Prussians were really +good fellows; they smiled at the little donkey, and did not even trouble +themselves to ask for a sight of the pass. +</p> + +<p> +Then ensued a wild, aimless scamper across the bosom of the great, sinister +plain. The sun, now sinking rapidly toward the horizon, showed its face for a +moment from between two clouds. Was night to descend and surprise them in the +midst of that vast charnel-house? Another shower came down; the sun was +obscured, the rain and mist formed an impenetrable barrier about them, so that +the country around, roads, fields, trees, was shut out from their vision. +Prosper knew not where they were; he was lost, and admitted it: his memory was +all astray, he could recall nothing precise of the occurrences of that terrible +day but one before. Behind them, his head lowered almost to the ground, the +little donkey trotted along resignedly, dragging the cart, with his customary +docility. First they took a northerly course, then they returned toward Sedan. +They had lost their bearings and could not tell in which direction they were +going; twice they noticed that they were passing localities that they had +passed before and retraced their steps. They had doubtless been traveling in a +circle, and there came a moment when in their exhaustion and despair they +stopped at a place where three roads met, without courage to pursue their +search further, the rain pelting down on them, lost and utterly miserable in +the midst of a sea of mud. +</p> + +<p> +But they heard the sound of groans, and hastening to a lonely little house on +their left, found there, in one of the bedrooms, two wounded men. All the doors +were standing open; the two unfortunates had succeeded in dragging themselves +thus far and had thrown themselves on the beds, and for the two days that they +had been alternately shivering and burning, their wounds having received no +attention, they had seen no one, not a living soul. They were tortured by a +consuming thirst, and the beating of the rain against the window-panes added to +their torment, but they could not move hand or foot. Hence, when they heard +Silvine approaching, the first word that escaped their lips was: “Drink! +Give us to drink!” that longing, pathetic cry, with which the wounded +always pursue the by-passer whenever the sound of footsteps arouses them from +their lethargy. There were many cases similar to this, where men were +overlooked in remote corners, whither they had fled for refuge. Some were +picked up even five and six days later, when their sores were filled with +maggots and their sufferings had rendered them delirious. +</p> + +<p> +When Silvine had given the wretched men a drink Prosper, who, in the more +sorely injured of the twain, had recognized a comrade of his regiment, a +chasseur d’Afrique, saw that they could not be far from the ground over +which Margueritte’s division had charged, inasmuch as the poor devil had +been able to drag himself to that house. All the information he could get from +him, however, was of the vaguest; yes, it was over that way; you turned to the +left, after passing a big field of potatoes. +</p> + +<p> +Immediately she was in possession of this slender clue Silvine insisted on +starting out again. An inferior officer of the medical department chanced to +pass with a cart just then, collecting the dead; she hailed him and notified +him of the presence of the wounded men, then, throwing the donkey’s +bridle across her arm, urged him along over the muddy road, eager to reach the +designated spot, beyond the big potato field. When they had gone some distance +she stopped, yielding to her despair. +</p> + +<p> +“My God, where is the place! Where can it be?” +</p> + +<p> +Prosper looked about him, taxing his recollection fruitlessly. +</p> + +<p> +“I told you, it is close beside the place where we made our charge. If +only I could find my poor Zephyr—” +</p> + +<p> +And he cast a wistful look on the dead horses that lay around them. It had been +his secret hope, his dearest wish, during the entire time they had been +wandering over the plateau, to see his mount once more, to bid him a last +farewell. +</p> + +<p> +“It ought to be somewhere in this vicinity,” he suddenly said. +“See! over there to the left, there are the three trees. You see the +wheel-tracks? And, look, over yonder is a broken-down caisson. We have found +the spot; we are here at last!” +</p> + +<p> +Quivering with emotion, Silvine darted forward and eagerly scanned the faces of +two corpses, two artillerymen who had fallen by the roadside. +</p> + +<p> +“He is not here! He is not here! You cannot have seen aright. Yes, that +is it; some delusion must have cheated your eyes.” And little by little +an air-drawn hope, a wild delight crept into her mind. “If you were +mistaken, if he should be alive! And be sure he is alive, since he is not +here!” +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly she gave utterance to a low, smothered cry. She had turned, and was +standing on the very position that the battery had occupied. The scene was most +frightful, the ground torn and fissured as by an earthquake and covered with +wreckage of every description, the dead lying as they had fallen in every +imaginable attitude of horror, arms bent and twisted, legs doubled under them, +heads thrown back, the lips parted over the white teeth as if their last breath +had been expended in shouting defiance to the foe. A corporal had died with his +hands pressed convulsively to his eyes, unable longer to endure the dread +spectacle. Some gold coins that a lieutenant carried in a belt about his body +had been spilled at the same time as his life-blood, and lay scattered among +his entrails. There were Adolphe, the driver, and the gunner, Louis, clasped in +each other’s arms in a fierce embrace, their sightless orbs starting from +their sockets, mated even in death. And there, at last, was Honoré, recumbent +on his disabled gun as on a bed of honor, with the great rent in his side that +had let out his young life, his face, unmutilated and beautiful in its stern +anger, still turned defiantly toward the Prussian batteries. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! my friend,” sobbed Silvine, “my friend, my +friend—” +</p> + +<p> +She had fallen to her knees on the damp, cold ground, her hands joined as if in +prayer, in an outburst of frantic grief. The word friend, the only name by +which it occurred to her to address him, told the story of the tender affection +she had lost in that man, so good, so loving, who had forgiven her, had meant +to make her his wife, despite the ugly past. And now all hope was dead within +her bosom, there was nothing left to make life desirable. She had never loved +another; she would put away her love for him at the bottom of her heart and +hold it sacred there. The rain had ceased; a flock of crows that circled above +the three trees, croaking dismally, affected her like a menace of evil. Was he +to be taken from her again, her cherished dead, whom she had recovered with +such difficulty? She dragged herself along upon her knees, and with a trembling +hand brushed away the hungry flies that were buzzing about her friend’s +wide-open eyes. +</p> + +<p> +She caught sight of a bit of blood-stained paper between Honoré’s +stiffened fingers. It troubled her; she tried to gain possession of the paper, +pulling at it gently, but the dead man would not surrender it, seemingly +tightening his hold on it, guarding it so jealously that it could not have been +taken from him without tearing it in bits. It was the letter she had written +him, that he had always carried next his heart, and that he had taken from its +hiding place in the moment of his supreme agony, as if to bid her a last +farewell. It seemed so strange, was such a revelation, that he should have died +thinking of her; when she saw what it was a profound delight filled her soul in +the midst of her affliction. Yes, surely, she would leave it with him, the +letter that was so dear to him! she would not take it from him, since he was so +bent on carrying it with him to the grave. Her tears flowed afresh, but they +were beneficent tears this time, and brought healing and comfort with them. She +arose and kissed his hands, kissed him on the forehead, uttering meanwhile but +that one word, which was in itself a prolonged caress: +</p> + +<p> +“My friend! my friend—” +</p> + +<p> +Meantime the sun was declining; Prosper had gone and taken the counterpane from +the cart, and between them they raised Honoré’s body, slowly, reverently, +and laid it on the bed-covering, which they had stretched upon the ground; +then, first wrapping him in its folds, they bore him to the cart. It was +threatening to rain again, and they had started on their return, forming, with +the donkey, a sorrowful little cortége on the broad bosom of the accursed +plain, when a deep rumbling as of thunder was heard in the distance. Prosper +turned his head and had only time to shout: +</p> + +<p> +“The horses! the horses!” +</p> + +<p> +It was the starving, abandoned cavalry mounts making another charge. They came +up this time in a deep mass across a wide, smooth field, manes and tails +streaming in the wind, froth flying from their nostrils, and the level rays of +the fiery setting sun sent the shadow of the infuriated herd clean across the +plateau. Silvine rushed forward and planted herself before the cart, raising +her arms above her head as if her puny form might have power to check them. +Fortunately the ground fell off just at that point, causing them to swerve to +the left; otherwise they would have crushed donkey, cart, and all to powder. +The earth trembled, and their hoofs sent a volley of clods and small stones +flying through the air, one of which struck the donkey on the head and wounded +him. The last that was seen of them they were tearing down a ravine. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s hunger that starts them off like that,” said Prosper. +“Poor beasts!” +</p> + +<p> +Silvine, having bandaged the donkey’s ear with her handkerchief, took him +again by the bridle, and the mournful little procession began to retrace its +steps across the plateau, to cover the two leagues that lay between it and +Remilly. Prosper had turned and cast a look on the dead horses, his heart heavy +within him to leave the field without having seen Zephyr. +</p> + +<p> +A little below the wood of la Garenne, as they were about to turn off to the +left to take the road that they had traversed that morning, they encountered +another German post and were again obliged to exhibit their pass. And the +officer in command, instead of telling them to avoid Sedan, ordered them to +keep straight on their course and pass through the city; otherwise they would +be arrested. This was the most recent order; it was not for them to question +it. Moreover, their journey would be shortened by a mile and a quarter, which +they did not regret, weary and foot-sore as they were. +</p> + +<p> +When they were within Sedan, however, they found their progress retarded owing +to a singular cause. As soon as they had passed the fortifications their +nostrils were saluted by such a stench, they were obliged to wade through such +a mass of abominable filth, reaching almost to their knees, as fairly turned +their stomachs. The city, where for three days a hundred thousand men had lived +without the slightest provision being made for decency or cleanliness, had +become a cesspool, a foul sewer, and this devil’s broth was thickened by +all sorts of solid matter, rotting hay and straw, stable litter, and the +excreta of animals. The carcasses of the horses, too, that were knocked on the +head, skinned, and cut up in the public squares, in full view of everyone, had +their full share in contaminating the atmosphere; the entrails lay decaying in +the hot sunshine, the bones and heads were left lying on the pavement, where +they attracted swarms of flies. Pestilence would surely break out in the city +unless they made haste to rid themselves of all that carrion, of that stratum +of impurity, which, in the Rue de Minil, the Rue Maqua, and even on the Place +Turenne, reached a depth of twelve inches. The Prussian authorities had taken +the matter up, and their placards were to be seen posted about the city, +requisitioning the inhabitants, irrespective of rank, laborers, merchants, +bourgeois, magistrates, for the morrow; they were ordered to assemble, armed +with brooms and shovels, and apply themselves to the task, and were warned that +they would be subjected to heavy penalties if the city was not clean by night. +The President of the Tribunal had taken time by the forelock, and might even +then be seen scraping away at the pavement before his door and loading the +results of his labors upon a wheelbarrow with a fire-shovel. +</p> + +<p> +Silvine and Prosper, who had selected the Grande Rue as their route for +traversing the city, advanced but slowly through that lake of malodorous slime. +In addition to that the place was in a state of ferment and agitation that made +it necessary for them to pull up almost at every moment. It was the time that +the Prussians had selected for searching the houses in order to unearth those +soldiers, who, determined that they would not give themselves up, had hidden +themselves away. When, at about two o’clock of the preceding day, General +de Wimpffen had returned from the château of Bellevue after signing the +capitulation, the report immediately began to circulate that the surrendered +troops were to be held under guard in the peninsula of Iges until such time as +arrangements could be perfected for sending them off to Germany. Some few +officers had expressed their intention of taking advantage of that stipulation +which accorded them their liberty conditionally on their signing an agreement +not to serve again during the campaign. Only one general, so it was said, +Bourgain-Desfeuilles, alleging his rheumatism as a reason, had bound himself by +that pledge, and when, that very morning, his carriage had driven up to the +door of the Hotel of the Golden Cross and he had taken his seat in it to leave +the city, the people had hooted and hissed him unmercifully. The operation of +disarming had been going on since break of day; the manner of its performance +was, the troops defiled by battalions on the Place Turenne, where each man +deposited his musket and bayonet on the pile, like a mountain of old iron, +which kept rising higher and higher, in a corner of the place. There was a +Prussian detachment there under the command of a young officer, a tall, pale +youth, wearing a sky-blue tunic and a cap adorned with a cock’s feather, +who superintended operations with a lofty but soldier-like air, his hands +encased in white gloves. A zouave, in a fit of insubordination, having refused +to give up his chassepot, the officer ordered that he be taken away, adding, in +the same even tone of voice: “And let him be shot forthwith!” The +rest of the battalion continued to defile with a sullen and dejected air, +throwing down their arms mechanically, as if in haste to have the ceremony +ended. But who could estimate the number of those who had disarmed themselves +voluntarily, those whose muskets lay scattered over the country, out yonder on +the field of battle? And how many, too, within the last twenty-four hours had +concealed themselves, flattering themselves with the hope that they might +escape in the confusion that reigned everywhere! There was scarcely a house but +had its crew of those headstrong idiots who refused to respond when called on, +hiding away in corners and shamming death; the German patrols that were sent +through the city even discovered them stowed away under beds. And as many, even +after they were unearthed, stubbornly persisted in remaining in the cellars +whither they had fled for shelter, the patrols were obliged to fire on them +through the coal-holes. It was a man-hunt, a brutal and cruel battue, during +which the city resounded with rifle-shots and outlandish oaths. +</p> + +<p> +At the Pont du Meuse they found a throng which the donkey was unable to +penetrate and were brought to a stand-still. The officer commanding the guard +at the bridge, suspecting they were endeavoring to carry on an illicit traffic +in bread or meat, insisted on seeing with his own eyes what was contained in +the cart; drawing aside the covering, he gazed for an instant on the corpse +with a feeling expression, then motioned them to go their way. Still, however, +they were unable to get forward, the crowd momentarily grew denser and denser; +one of the first detachments of French prisoners was being conducted to the +peninsula of Iges under escort of a Prussian guard. The sorry band streamed on +in long array, the men in their tattered, dirty uniforms crowding one another, +treading on one another’s heels, with bowed heads and sidelong, hang-dog +looks, the dejected gait and bearing of the vanquished to whom had been left +not even so much as a knife with which to cut their throat. The harsh, curt +orders of the guard urging them forward resounded like the cracking of a whip +in the silence, which was unbroken save for the plashing of their coarse shoes +through the semi-liquid mud. Another shower began to fall, and there could be +no more sorrowful sight than that band of disheartened soldiers, shuffling +along through the rain, like beggars and vagabonds on the public highway. +</p> + +<p> +All at once Prosper, whose heart was beating as if it would burst his bosom +with repressed sorrow and indignation, nudged Silvine and called her attention +to two soldiers who were passing at the moment. He had recognized Maurice and +Jean, trudging along with their companions, like brothers, side by side. They +were near the end of the line, and as there was now no impediment in their way, +he was enabled to keep them in view as far as the Faubourg of Torcy, as they +traversed the level road which leads to Iges between gardens and truck farms. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” murmured Silvine, distressed by what she had just seen, +fixing her eyes on Honoré’s body, “it may be that the dead have the +better part!” +</p> + +<p> +Night descended while they were at Wadelincourt, and it was pitchy dark long +before they reached Remilly. Father Fouchard was greatly surprised to behold +the body of his son, for he had felt certain that it would never be recovered. +He had been attending to business during the day, and had completed an +excellent bargain; the market price for officers’ chargers was twenty +francs, and he had bought three for forty-five francs. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap18"></a>II.</h2> + +<p> +The crush was so great as the column of prisoners was leaving Torcy that +Maurice, who had stopped a moment to buy some tobacco, was parted from Jean, +and with all his efforts was unable thereafter to catch up with his regiment +through the dense masses of men that filled the road. When he at last reached +the bridge that spans the canal which intersects the peninsula of Iges at its +base, he found himself in a mixed company of chasseurs d’Afrique and +troops of the infanterie de marine. +</p> + +<p> +There were two pieces of artillery stationed at the bridge, their muzzles +turned upon the interior of the peninsula; it was a place easy of access, but +from which exit would seem to be attended with some difficulties. Immediately +beyond the canal was a comfortable house, where the Prussians had established a +post, commanded by a captain, upon which devolved the duty of receiving and +guarding the prisoners. The formalities observed were not excessive; they +merely counted the men, as if they had been sheep, as they came streaming in a +huddle across the bridge, without troubling themselves overmuch about uniforms +or organizations, after which the prisoners were free of the fields and at +liberty to select their dwelling-place wherever chance and the road they were +on might direct. +</p> + +<p> +The first thing that Maurice did was to address a question to a Bavarian +officer, who was seated astride upon a chair, enjoying a tranquil smoke. +</p> + +<p> +“The 106th of the line, sir, can you tell me where I shall find +it?” +</p> + +<p> +Either the officer was unlike most German officers and did not understand +French, or thought it a good joke to mystify a poor devil of a soldier. He +smiled and raised his hand, indicating by his motion that the other was to keep +following the road he was pursuing. +</p> + +<p> +Although Maurice had spent a good part of his life in the neighborhood he had +never before been on the peninsula; he proceeded to explore his new +surroundings, as a mariner might do when cast by a tempest on the shore of a +desolate island. He first skirted the Tour à Glaire, a very handsome +country-place, whose small park, situated as it was on the bank of the Meuse, +possessed a peculiarly attractive charm. After that the road ran parallel with +the river, of which the sluggish current flowed on the right hand at the foot +of high, steep banks. The way from there was a gradually ascending one, until +it wound around the gentle eminence that occupied the central portion of the +peninsula, and there were abandoned quarries there and excavations in the +ground, in which a network of narrow paths had their termination. A little +further on was a mill, seated on the border of the stream. Then the road curved +and pursued a descending course until it entered the village of Iges, which was +built on the hillside and connected by a ferry with the further shore, just +opposite the rope-walk at Saint-Albert. Last of all came meadows and cultivated +fields, a broad expanse of level, treeless country, around which the river +swept in a wide, circling bend. In vain had Maurice scrutinized every inch of +uneven ground on the hillside; all he could distinguish there was cavalry and +artillery, preparing their quarters for the night. He made further inquiries, +applying among others to a corporal of chasseurs d’Afrique, who could +give him no information. The prospect for finding his regiment looked bad; +night was coming down, and, leg-weary and disheartened, he seated himself for a +moment on a stone by the wayside. +</p> + +<p> +As he sat there, abandoning himself to the sensation of loneliness and despair +that crept over him, he beheld before him, across the Meuse, the accursed +fields where he had fought the day but one before. Bitter memories rose to his +mind, in the fading light of that day of gloom and rain, as he surveyed the +saturated, miry expanse of country that rose from the river’s bank and +was lost on the horizon. The defile of Saint-Albert, the narrow road by which +the Prussians had gained their rear, ran along the bend of the stream as far as +the white cliffs of the quarries of Montimont. The summits of the trees in the +wood of la Falizette rose in rounded, fleecy masses over the rising ground of +Seugnon. Directly before his eyes, a little to the left, was Saint-Menges, the +road from which descended by a gentle slope and ended at the ferry; there, too, +were the mamelon of Hattoy in the center, and Illy, in the far distance, in the +background, and Fleigneux, almost hidden in its shallow vale, and Floing, less +remote, on the right. He recognized the plateau where he had spent interminable +hours among the cabbages, and the eminences that the reserve artillery had +struggled so gallantly to hold, where he had seen Honoré meet his death on his +dismounted gun. And it was as if the baleful scene were again before him with +all its abominations, steeping his mind in horror and disgust, until he was +sick at heart. +</p> + +<p> +The reflection that soon it would be quite dark and it would not do to loiter +there, however, caused him to resume his researches. He said to himself that +perhaps the regiment was encamped somewhere beyond the village on the low +ground, but the only ones he encountered there were some prowlers, and he +decided to make the circuit of the peninsula, following the bend of the stream. +As he was passing through a field of potatoes he was sufficiently thoughtful to +dig a few of the tubers and put them in his pockets; they were not ripe, but he +had nothing better, for Jean, as luck would have it, had insisted on carrying +both the two loaves of bread that Delaherche had given them when they left his +house. He was somewhat surprised at the number of horses he met with, roaming +about the uncultivated lands, that fell off in an easy descent from the central +elevation to the Meuse, in the direction of Donchery. Why should they have +brought all those animals with them? how were they to be fed? And now it was +night in earnest, and quite dark, when he came to a small piece of woods on the +water’s brink, in which he was surprised to find the cent-gardes of the +Emperor’s escort, providing for their creature comforts and drying +themselves before roaring fires. These gentlemen, who had a separate encampment +to themselves, had comfortable tents; their kettles were boiling merrily, there +was a milch cow tied to a tree. It did not take Maurice long to see that he was +not regarded with favor in that quarter, poor devil of an infantryman that he +was, with his ragged, mud-stained uniform. They graciously accorded him +permission to roast his potatoes in the ashes of their fires, however, and he +withdrew to the shelter of a tree, some hundred yards away, to eat them. It was +no longer raining; the sky was clear, the stars were shining brilliantly in the +dark blue vault. He saw that he should have to spend the night in the open air +and defer his researches until the morrow. He was so utterly used up that he +could go no further; the trees would afford him some protection in case it came +on to rain again. +</p> + +<p> +The strangeness of his situation, however, and the thought of his vast prison +house, open to the winds of heaven, would not let him sleep. It had been an +extremely clever move on the part of the Prussians to select that place of +confinement for the eighty thousand men who constituted the remnant of the army +of Châlons. The peninsula was approximately three miles long by one wide, +affording abundant space for the broken fragments of the vanquished host, and +Maurice could not fail to observe that it was surrounded on every side by +water, the bend of the Meuse encircling it on the north, east and west, while +on the south, at the base, connecting the two arms of the loop at the point +where they drew together most closely, was the canal. Here alone was an outlet, +the bridge, that was defended by two guns; wherefore it may be seen that the +guarding of the camp was a comparatively easy task, notwithstanding its great +extent. He had already taken note of the chain of sentries on the farther bank, +a soldier being stationed by the waterside at every fifty paces, with orders to +fire on any man who should attempt to escape by swimming. In the rear the +different posts were connected by patrols of uhlans, while further in the +distance, scattered over the broad fields, were the dark lines of the Prussian +regiments; a threefold living, moving wall, immuring the captive army. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice, in his sleeplessness, lay gazing with wide-open eyes into the +blackness of the night, illuminated here and there by the smoldering +watch-fires; the motionless forms of the sentinels were dimly visible beyond +the pale ribbon of the Meuse. Erect they stood, duskier spots against the dusky +shadows, beneath the faint light of the twinkling stars, and at regular +intervals their guttural call came to his ears, a menacing watch-cry that was +drowned in the hoarse murmur of the river in the distance. At sound of those +unmelodious phrases in a foreign tongue, rising on the still air of a starlit +night in the sunny land of France, the vision of the past again rose before +him: all that he had beheld in memory an hour before, the plateau of Illy +cumbered still with dead, the accursed country round about Sedan that had been +the scene of such dire disaster; and resting on the ground in that cool, damp +corner of a wood, his head pillowed on a root, he again yielded to the feeling +of despair that had overwhelmed him the day before while lying on +Delaherche’s sofa. And that which, intensifying the suffering of his +wounded pride, now harassed and tortured him, was the question of the morrow, +the feverish longing to know how deep had been their fall, how great the wreck +and ruin sustained by their world of yesterday. The Emperor had surrendered his +sword to King William; was not, therefore, the abominable war ended? But he +recalled the remark he had heard made by two of the Bavarians of the guard who +had escorted the prisoners to Iges: “We’re all in France, +we’re all bound for Paris!” In his semi-somnolent, dreamy state the +vision of what was to be suddenly rose before his eyes: the empire overturned +and swept away amid a howl of universal execration, the republic proclaimed +with an outburst of patriotic fervor, while the legend of ’92 would +incite men to emulate the glorious past, and, flocking to the standards, drive +from the country’s soil the hated foreigner with armies of brave +volunteers. He reflected confusedly upon all the aspects of the case, and +speculations followed one another in swift succession through his poor wearied +brain: the harsh terms imposed by the victors, the bitterness of defeat, the +determination of the vanquished to resist even to the last drop of blood, the +fate of those eighty thousand men, his companions, who were to be captives for +weeks, months, years, perhaps, first on the peninsula and afterward in German +fortresses. The foundations were giving way, and everything was going down, +down to the bottomless depths of perdition. +</p> + +<p> +The call of the sentinels, now loud, now low, seemed to sound more faintly in +his ears and to be receding in the distance, when suddenly, as he turned on his +hard couch, a shot rent the deep silence. A hollow groan rose on the calm air +of night, there was a splashing in the water, the brief struggle of one who +sinks to rise no more. It was some poor wretch who had attempted to escape by +swimming the Meuse and had received a bullet in his brain. +</p> + +<p> +The next morning Maurice was up and stirring with the sun. The sky was +cloudless; he was desirous to rejoin Jean and his other comrades of the company +with the least possible delay. For a moment he had an idea of going to see what +there was in the interior of the peninsula, then resolved he would first +complete its circuit. And on reaching the canal his eyes were greeted with the +sight of the 106th—or rather what was left of it—a thousand men, +encamped along the river bank among some waste lands, with no protection save a +row of slender poplars. If he had only turned to the left the night before +instead of pursuing a straight course he could have been with his regiment at +once. And he noticed that almost all the line regiments were collected along +that part of the bank that extends from the Tour à Glaire to the Château of +Villette—another bourgeois country place, situated more in the direction +of Donchery and surrounded by a few hovels—all of them having selected +their bivouac near the bridge, sole issue from their prison, as sheep will +instinctively huddle together close to the door of their fold, knowing that +sooner or later it will be opened for them. +</p> + +<p> +Jean uttered a cry of pleasure. “Ah, so it’s you, at last! I had +begun to think you were in the river.” +</p> + +<p> +He was there with what remained of the squad, Pache and Lapoulle, Loubet and +Chouteau. The last named had slept under doorways in Sedan until the attention +of the Prussian provost guard had finally restored them to their regiment. The +corporal, moreover, was the only surviving officer of the company, death having +taken away Sergeant Sapin, Lieutenant Rochas and Captain Beaudoin, and although +the victors had abolished distinction of rank among the prisoners, deciding +that obedience was due to the German officers alone, the four men had, +nevertheless, rallied to him, knowing him to be a leader of prudence and +experience, upon whom they could rely in circumstances of difficulty. Thus it +was that peace and harmony reigned among them that morning, notwithstanding the +stupidity of some and the evil designs of others. In the first place, the night +before he had found them a place to sleep in that was comparatively dry, where +they had stretched themselves on the ground, the only thing they had left in +the way of protection from the weather being the half of a shelter-tent. After +that he had managed to secure some wood and a kettle, in which Loubet made +coffee for them, the comforting warmth of which had fortified their stomachs. +The rain had ceased, the day gave promise of being bright and warm, they had a +small supply of biscuit and bacon left, and then, as Chouteau said, it was a +comfort to have no orders to obey, to have their fill of loafing. They were +prisoners, it was true, but there was plenty of room to move about. Moreover, +they would be away from there in two or three days. Under these circumstances +the day, which was Sunday, the 4th, passed pleasantly enough. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice, whose courage had returned to him now that he was with the comrades +once more, found nothing to annoy him except the Prussian bands, which played +all the afternoon beyond the canal. Toward evening there was vocal music, and +the men sang in chorus. They could be seen outside the chain of sentries, +walking to and fro in little groups and singing solemn melodies in a loud, +ringing voice in honor of the Sabbath. +</p> + +<p> +“Confound those bands!” Maurice at last impatiently exclaimed. +“They will drive me wild!” +</p> + +<p> +Jean, whose nerves were less susceptible, shrugged his shoulders. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Dame</i>! they have reason to feel good; and then perhaps they think +it affords us pleasure. It hasn’t been such a bad day; don’t +let’s find fault.” +</p> + +<p> +As night approached, however, the rain began to fall again. Some of the men had +taken possession of what few unoccupied houses there were on the peninsula, +others were provided with tents that they erected, but by far the greater +number, without shelter of any sort, destitute of blankets even, were compelled +to pass the night in the open air, exposed to the pouring rain. +</p> + +<p> +About one o’clock Maurice, who had been sleeping soundly as a result of +his fatigue, awoke and found himself in the middle of a miniature lake. The +trenches, swollen by the heavy downpour, had overflowed and inundated the +ground where he lay. Chouteau’s and Loubet’s wrath vented itself in +a volley of maledictions, while Pache shook Lapoulle, who, unmindful of his +ducking, slept through it all as if he was never to wake again. Then Jean, +remembering the row of poplars on the bank of the canal, collected his little +band and ran thither for shelter; and there they passed the remainder of that +wretched night, crouching with their backs to the trees, their legs doubled +under them, so as to expose as little of their persons as might be to the big +drops. +</p> + +<p> +The next day, and the day succeeding it, the weather was truly detestable, what +with the continual showers, that came down so copiously and at such frequent +intervals that the men’s clothing had not time to dry on their backs. +They were threatened with famine, too; there was not a biscuit left in camp, +and the coffee and bacon were exhausted. During those two days, Monday and +Tuesday, they existed on potatoes that they dug in the adjacent fields, and +even those vegetables had become so scarce toward the end of the second day +that those soldiers who had money paid as high as five sous apiece for them. It +was true that the bugles sounded the call for “distribution”; the +corporal had nearly run his legs off trying to be the first to reach a great +shed near the Tour à Glaire, where it was reported that rations of bread were +to be issued, but on the occasion of a first visit he had waited there three +hours and gone away empty-handed, and on a second had become involved in a +quarrel with a Bavarian. It was well known that the French officers were +themselves in deep distress and powerless to assist their men; had the German +staff driven the vanquished army out there in the mud and rain with the +intention of letting them starve to death? Not the first step seemed to have +been taken, not an effort had been made, to provide for the subsistence of +those eighty thousand men in that hell on earth that the soldiers subsequently +christened Camp Misery, a name that the bravest of them could never hear +mentioned in later days without a shudder. +</p> + +<p> +On his return from his wearisome and fruitless expedition to the shed, Jean +forgot his usual placidity and gave way to anger. +</p> + +<p> +“What do they mean by calling us up when there’s nothing for us? +I’ll be hanged if I’ll put myself out for them another time!” +</p> + +<p> +And yet, whenever there was a call, he hurried off again. It was inhuman to +sound the bugles thus, merely because regulations prescribed certain calls at +certain hours, and it had another effect that was near breaking Maurice’s +heart. Every time that the trumpets sounded the French horses, that were +running free on the other side of the canal, came rushing up and dashed into +the water to rejoin their squadron, as excited at the well-known sound as they +would be at the touch of the spur; but in their exhausted condition they were +swept away by the current and few attained the shore. It was a cruel sight to +see their struggles; they were drowned in great numbers, and their bodies, +decomposing and swelling in the hot sunshine, drifted on the bosom of the +canal. As for those of them that got to land, they seemed as if stricken with +sudden madness, galloping wildly off and hiding among the waste places of the +peninsula. +</p> + +<p> +“More bones for the crows to pick!” sorrowfully said Maurice, +remembering the great droves of horses that he had encountered on a previous +occasion. “If we remain here a few days we shall all be devouring one +another. Poor brutes!” +</p> + +<p> +The night between Tuesday and Wednesday was most terrible of all, and Jean, who +was beginning to feel seriously alarmed for Maurice’s feverish state, +made him wrap himself in an old blanket that they had purchased from a zouave +for ten francs, while he, with no protection save his water-soaked capote, +cheerfully took the drenching of the deluge which that night pelted down +without cessation. Their position under the poplars had become untenable; it +was a streaming river of mud, the water rested in deep puddles on the surface +of the saturated ground. What was worst of all was that they had to suffer on +an empty stomach, the evening meal of the six men having consisted of two beets +which they had been compelled to eat raw, having no dry wood to make a fire +with, and the sweet taste and refreshing coolness of the vegetables had quickly +been succeeded by an intolerable burning sensation. Some cases of dysentery had +appeared among the men, caused by fatigue, improper food and the persistent +humidity of the atmosphere. More than ten times that night did Jean stretch +forth his hand to see that Maurice had not uncovered himself in the movements +of his slumber, and thus he kept watch and ward over his friend—his back +supported by the same tree-trunk, his legs in a pool of water—with +tenderness unspeakable. Since the day that on the plateau of Illy his comrade +had carried him off in his arms and saved him from the Prussians he had repaid +the debt a hundred-fold. He stopped not to reason on it; it was the free gift +of all his being, the total forgetfulness of self for love of the other, the +finest, most delicate, grandest exhibition of friendship possible, and that, +too, in a peasant, whose lot had always been the lowly one of a tiller of the +soil and who had never risen far above the earth, who could not find words to +express what he felt, acting purely from instinct, in all simplicity of soul. +Many a time already he had taken the food from his mouth, as the men of the +squad were wont to say; now he would have divested himself of his skin if with +it he might have covered the other, to protect his shoulders, to warm his feet. +And in the midst of the savage egoism that surrounded them, among that +aggregation of suffering humanity whose worst appetites were inflamed and +intensified by hunger, he perhaps owed it to his complete abnegation of self +that he had preserved thus far his tranquillity of mind and his vigorous +health, for he among them all, his great strength unimpaired, alone maintained +his composure and something like a level head. +</p> + +<p> +After that distressful night Jean determined to carry into execution a plan +that he had been reflecting over since the day previous. +</p> + +<p> +“See here, little one, we can get nothing to eat, and everyone seems to +have forgotten us here in this beastly hole; now unless we want to die the +death of dogs, it behooves us to stir about a bit. How are your legs?” +</p> + +<p> +The sun had come out again, fortunately, and Maurice was warmed and comforted. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, my legs are all right!” +</p> + +<p> +“Then we’ll start off on an exploring expedition. We’ve money +in our pockets, and the deuce is in it if we can’t find something to buy. +And we won’t bother our heads about the others; they don’t deserve +it. Let them take care of themselves.” +</p> + +<p> +The truth was that Loubet and Chouteau had disgusted him by their trickiness +and low selfishness, stealing whatever they could lay hands on and never +dividing with their comrades, while no good was to be got out of Lapoulle, the +brute, and Pache, the sniveling devotee. +</p> + +<p> +The pair, therefore, Maurice and Jean, started out by the road along the Meuse +which the former had traversed once before, on the night of his arrival. At the +Tour à Glaire the park and dwelling-house presented a sorrowful spectacle of +pillage and devastation, the trim lawns cut up and destroyed, the trees felled, +the mansion dismantled. A ragged, dirty crew of soldiers, with hollow cheeks +and eyes preternaturally bright from fever, had taken possession of the place +and were living like beasts in the filthy chambers, not daring to leave their +quarters for a moment lest someone else might come along and occupy them. A +little further on they passed the cavalry and artillery, encamped on the +hillsides, once so conspicuous by reason of the neatness and jauntiness of +their appearance, now run to seed like all the rest, their organization gone, +demoralized by that terrible, torturing hunger that drove the horses wild and +sent the men straggling through the fields in plundering bands. Below them, to +the right, they beheld an apparently interminable line of artillerymen and +chasseurs d’Afrique defiling slowly before the mill; the miller was +selling them flour, measuring out two handfuls into their handkerchiefs for a +franc. The prospect of the long wait that lay before them, should they take +their place at the end of the line, determined them to pass on, in the hope +that some better opportunity would present itself at the village of Iges; but +great was their consternation when they reached it to find the little place as +bare and empty as an Algerian village through which has passed a swarm of +locusts; not a crumb, not a fragment of anything eatable, neither bread, nor +meat, nor vegetables, the wretched inhabitants utterly destitute. General +Lebrun was said to be there, closeted with the mayor. He had been endeavoring, +ineffectually, to arrange for an issue of bonds, redeemable at the close of the +war, in order to facilitate the victualing of the troops. Money had ceased to +have any value when there was nothing that it could purchase. The day before +two francs had been paid for a biscuit, seven francs for a bottle of wine, a +small glass of brandy was twenty sous, a pipeful of tobacco ten sous. And now +officers, sword in hand, had to stand guard before the general’s house +and the neighboring hovels, for bands of marauders were constantly passing, +breaking down doors and stealing even the oil from the lamps and drinking it. +</p> + +<p> +Three zouaves invited Maurice and Jean to join them. Five would do the work +more effectually than three. +</p> + +<p> +“Come along. There are horses dying in plenty, and if we can but get some +dry wood—” +</p> + +<p> +Then they fell to work on the miserable cabin of a poor peasant, smashing the +closet doors, tearing the thatch from the roof. Some officers, who came up on a +run, threatened them with their revolvers and put them to flight. +</p> + +<p> +Jean, who saw that the few villagers who had remained at Iges were no better +off than the soldiers, perceived he had made a mistake in passing the mill +without buying some flour. +</p> + +<p> +“There may be some left; we had best go back.” +</p> + +<p> +But Maurice was so reduced from inanition and was beginning to suffer so from +fatigue that he left him behind in a sheltered nook among the quarries, seated +on a fragment of rock, his face turned upon the wide horizon of Sedan. He, +after waiting in line for two long hours, finally returned with some flour +wrapped in a piece of rag. And they ate it uncooked, dipping it up in their +hands, unable to devise any other way. It was not so very bad; It had no +particular flavor, only the insipid taste of dough. Their breakfast, such as it +was, did them some good, however. They were even so fortunate as to discover a +little pool of rain-water, comparatively pure, in a hollow of a rock, at which +they quenched their thirst with great satisfaction. +</p> + +<p> +But when Jean proposed that they should spend the remainder of the afternoon +there, Maurice negatived the motion with a great display of violence. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no; not here! I should be ill if I were to have that scene before my +eyes for any length of time—” With a hand that trembled he pointed +to the remote horizon, the hill of Hattoy, the plateaux of Floing and Illy, the +wood of la Garenne, those abhorred, detested fields of slaughter and defeat. +“While you were away just now I was obliged to turn my back on it, else I +should have broken out and howled with rage. Yes, I should have howled like a +dog tormented by boys—you can’t imagine how it hurts me; it drives +me crazy!” +</p> + +<p> +Jean looked at him in surprise; he could not understand that pride, sensitive +as a raw sore, that made defeat so bitter to him; he was alarmed to behold in +his eyes that wandering, flighty look that he had seen there before. He +affected to treat the matter lightly. +</p> + +<p> +“Good! we’ll seek another country; that’s easy enough to +do.” +</p> + +<p> +Then they wandered as long as daylight lasted, wherever the paths they took +conducted them. They visited the level portion of the peninsula in the hope of +finding more potatoes there, but the artillerymen had obtained a plow and +turned up the ground, and not a single potato had escaped their sharp eyes. +They retraced their steps, and again they passed through throngs of listless, +glassy-eyed, starving soldiers, strewing the ground with their debilitated +forms, falling by hundreds in the bright sunshine from sheer exhaustion. They +were themselves many times overcome by fatigue and forced to sit down and rest; +then their deep-seated sensation of suffering would bring them to their feet +again and they would recommence their wandering, like animals impelled by +instinct to move on perpetually in quest of pasturage. It seemed to them to +last for years, and yet the moments sped by rapidly. In the more inland region, +over Donchery way, they received a fright from the horses and sought the +protection of a wall, where they remained a long time, too exhausted to rise, +watching with vague, lack-luster eyes the wild course of the crazed beasts as +they raced athwart the red western sky where the sun was sinking. +</p> + +<p> +As Maurice had foreseen, the thousands of horses that shared the captivity of +the army, and for which it was impossible to provide forage, constituted a +peril that grew greater day by day. At first they had nibbled the vegetation +and gnawed the bark off trees, then had attacked the fences and whatever wooden +structures they came across, and now they seemed ready to devour one another. +It was a frequent occurrence to see one of them throw himself upon another and +tear out great tufts from his mane or tail, which he would grind between his +teeth, slavering meanwhile at the mouth profusely. But it was at night that +they became most terrible, as if they were visited by visions of terror in the +darkness. They collected in droves, and, attracted by the straw, made furious +rushes upon what few tents there were, overturning and demolishing them. It was +to no purpose that the men built great fires to keep them away; the device only +served to madden them the more. Their shrill cries were so full of anguish, so +dreadful to the ear, that they might have been mistaken for the howls of wild +beasts. Were they driven away, they returned, more numerous and fiercer than +before. Scarce a moment passed but out in the darkness could be heard the +shriek of anguish of some unfortunate soldier whom the crazed beasts had +crushed in their wild stampede. +</p> + +<p> +The sun was still above the horizon when Jean and Maurice, on their way back to +the camp, were astonished by meeting with the four men of the squad, lurking in +a ditch, apparently for no good purpose. Loubet hailed them at once, and +Chouteau constituted himself spokesman: +</p> + +<p> +“We are considering ways and means for dining this evening. We shall die +if we go on this way; it is thirty-six hours since we have had anything to put +in our stomach—so, as there are horses plenty, and horse-meat isn’t +such bad eating—” +</p> + +<p> +“You’ll join us, won’t you, corporal?” said Loubet, +interrupting, “for, with such a big, strong animal to handle, the more of +us there are the better it will be. See, there is one, off yonder, that +we’ve been keeping an eye on for the last hour; that big bay that is in +such a bad way. He’ll be all the easier to finish.” +</p> + +<p> +And he pointed to a horse that was dying of starvation, on the edge of what had +once been a field of beets. He had fallen on his flank, and every now and then +would raise his head and look about him pleadingly, with a deep inhalation that +sounded like a sigh. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, how long we have to wait!” grumbled Lapoulle, who was +suffering torment from his fierce appetite. “I’ll go and kill +him—shall I?” +</p> + +<p> +But Loubet stopped him. Much obliged! and have the Prussians down on them, who +had given notice that death would be the penalty for killing a horse, fearing +that the carcass would breed a pestilence. They must wait until it was dark. +And that was the reason why the four men were lurking in the ditch, waiting, +with glistening, hungry eyes fixed on the dying brute. +</p> + +<p> +“Corporal,” asked Pache, in a voice that faltered a little, +“you have lots of ideas in your head; couldn’t you kill him +painlessly?” +</p> + +<p> +Jean refused the cruel task with a gesture of disgust. What, kill that poor +beast that was even then in its death agony! oh, no, no! His first impulse had +been to fly and take Maurice with him, that neither of them might be concerned +in the revolting butchery; but looking at his companion and beholding him so +pale and faint, he reproached himself for such an excess of sensibility. What +were animals created for after all, <i>mon Dieu</i>, unless to afford +sustenance to man! They could not allow themselves to starve when there was +food within reach. And it rejoiced him to see Maurice cheer up a little at the +prospect of eating; he said in his easy, good-natured way: +</p> + +<p> +“Faith, you’re wrong there; I’ve no ideas in my head, and if +he has got to be killed without pain—” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! that’s all one to me,” interrupted Lapoulle. +“I’ll show you.” +</p> + +<p> +The two newcomers seated themselves in the ditch and joined the others in their +expectancy. Now and again one of the men would rise and make certain that the +horse was still there, its neck outstretched to catch the cool exhalations of +the Meuse and the last rays of the setting sun, as if bidding farewell to life. +And when at last twilight crept slowly o’er the scene the six men were +erect upon their feet, impatient that night was so tardy in its coming, casting +furtive, frightened looks about them to see they were not observed. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, <i>zut</i>!” exclaimed Chouteau, “the time is +come!” +</p> + +<p> +Objects were still discernible in the fields by the uncertain, mysterious light +“between dog and wolf,” and Lapoulle went forward first, followed +by the five others. He had taken from the ditch a large, rounded boulder, and, +with it in his two brawny hands, rushing upon the horse, commenced to batter at +his skull as with a club. At the second blow, however, the horse, stung by the +pain, attempted to get on his feet. Chouteau and Loubet had thrown themselves +across his legs and were endeavoring to hold him down, shouting to the others +to help them. The poor brute’s cries were almost human in their accent of +terror and distress; he struggled desperately to shake off his assailants, and +would have broken them like a reed had he not been half dead with inanition. +The movements of his head prevented the blows from taking effect; Lapoulle was +unable to despatch him. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Nom de Dieu!</i> how hard his bones are! Hold him, somebody, until I +finish him.” +</p> + +<p> +Jean and Maurice stood looking at the scene in silent horror; they heard not +Chouteau’s appeals for assistance; were powerless to raise a hand. And +Pache, in a sudden outburst of piety and pity, dropped on his knees, joined his +hands, and began to mumble the prayers that are repeated at the bedside of the +dying. +</p> + +<p> +“Merciful God, have pity on him. Let him, good Lord, depart in +peace—” +</p> + +<p> +Again Lapoulle struck ineffectually, with no other effect than to destroy an +ear of the wretched creature, that threw back its head and gave utterance to a +loud, shrill scream. +</p> + +<p> +“Hold on!” growled Chouteau; “this won’t do; +he’ll get us all in the lockup. We must end the matter. Hold him fast, +Loubet.” +</p> + +<p> +He took from his pocket a penknife, a small affair of which the blade was +scarcely longer than a man’s finger, and casting himself prone on the +animal’s body and passing an arm about its neck, began to hack away at +the live flesh, cutting away great morsels, until he found and severed the +artery. He leaped quickly to one side; the blood spurted forth in a torrent, as +when the plug is removed from a fountain, while the feet stirred feebly and +convulsive movements ran along the skin, succeeding one another like waves of +the sea. It was near five minutes before the horse was dead. His great eyes, +dilated wide and filled with melancholy and affright, were fixed upon the +wan-visaged men who stood waiting for him to die; then they grew dim and the +light died from out them. +</p> + +<p> +“Merciful God,” muttered Pache, still on his knees, “keep him +in thy holy protection—succor him, Lord, and grant him eternal +rest.” +</p> + +<p> +Afterward, when the creature’s movements had ceased, they were at a loss +to know where the best cut lay and how they were to get at it. Loubet, who was +something of a Jack-of-all-trades, showed them what was to be done in order to +secure the loin, but as he was a tyro at the butchering business and, moreover, +had only his small penknife to work with, he quickly lost his way amid the +warm, quivering flesh. And Lapoulle, in his impatience, having attempted to be +of assistance by making an incision in the belly, for which there was no +necessity whatever, the scene of bloodshed became truly sickening. They +wallowed in the gore and entrails that covered the ground about them, like a +pack of ravening wolves collected around the carcass of their prey, fleshing +their keen fangs in it. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know what cut that may be,” Loubet said at last, +rising to his feet with a huge lump of meat in his hands, “but by the +time we’ve eaten it, I don’t believe any of us will be +hungry.” +</p> + +<p> +Jean and Maurice had averted their eyes in horror from the disgusting +spectacle; still, however, the pangs of hunger were gnawing at their vitals, +and when the band slunk rapidly away, so as not to be caught in the vicinity of +the incriminating carcass, they followed it. Chouteau had discovered three +large beets, that had somehow been overlooked by previous visitors to the +field, and carried them off with him. Loubet had loaded the meat on +Lapoulle’s shoulders so as to have his own arms free, while Pache carried +the kettle that belonged to the squad, which they had brought with them on the +chance of finding something to cook in it. And the six men ran as if their +lives were at stake, never stopping to take breath, as if they heard the +pursuers at their heels. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly Loubet brought the others to a halt. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s idiotic to run like this; let’s decide where we shall +go to cook the stuff.” +</p> + +<p> +Jean, who was beginning to recover his self-possession, proposed the quarries. +They were only three hundred yards distant, and in them were secret recesses in +abundance where they could kindle a fire without being seen. When they reached +the spot, however, difficulties of every description presented themselves. +First, there was the question of wood; fortunately a laborer, who had been +repairing the road, had gone home and left his wheelbarrow behind him; Lapoulle +quickly reduced it to fragments with the heel of his boot. Then there was no +water to be had that was fit to drink; the hot sunshine had dried up all the +pools of rain-water. True there was a pump at the Tour à Glaire, but that was +too far away, and besides it was never accessible before midnight; the men +forming in long lines with their bowls and porringers, only too happy when, +after waiting for hours, they could escape from the jam with their supply of +the precious fluid unspilled. As for the few wells in the neighborhood, they +had been dry for the last two days, and the bucket brought up nothing save mud +and slime. Their sole resource appeared to be the water of the Meuse, which was +parted from them by the road. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll take the kettle and go and fill it,” said Jean. +</p> + +<p> +The others objected. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no! We don’t want to be poisoned; it is full of dead +bodies!” +</p> + +<p> +They spoke the truth. The Meuse was constantly bringing down corpses of men and +horses; they could be seen floating with the current at any moment of the day, +swollen and of a greenish hue, in the early stages of decomposition. Often they +were caught in the weeds and bushes on the bank, where they remained to poison +the atmosphere, swinging to the tide with a gentle, tremulous motion that +imparted to them a semblance of life. Nearly every soldier who had drunk that +abominable water had suffered from nausea and colic, often succeeded afterward +by dysentery. It seemed as if they must make up their mind to use it, however, +as there was no other; Maurice explained that there would be no danger in +drinking it after it was boiled. +</p> + +<p> +“Very well, then; I’ll go,” said Jean. And he started, taking +Lapoulle with him to carry the kettle. +</p> + +<p> +By the time they got the kettle filled and on the fire it was quite dark. +Loubet had peeled the beets and thrown them into the water to cook—a +feast fit for the gods, he declared it would be—and fed the fire with +fragments of the wheelbarrow, for they were all suffering so from hunger that +they could have eaten the meat before the pot began to boil. Their huge shadows +danced fantastically in the firelight on the rocky walls of the quarry. Then +they found it impossible longer to restrain their appetite, and threw +themselves upon the unclean mess, tearing the flesh with eager, trembling +fingers and dividing it among them, too impatient even to make use of the +knife. But, famishing as they were, their stomachs revolted; they felt the want +of salt, they could not swallow that tasteless, sickening broth, those chunks +of half-cooked, viscid meat that had a taste like clay. Some among them had a +fit of vomiting. Pache was very ill. Chouteau and Loubet heaped maledictions on +that infernal old nag, that had caused them such trouble to get him to the pot +and then given them the colic. Lapoulle was the only one among them who ate +abundantly, but he was in a very bad way that night when, with his three +comrades, he returned to their resting-place under the poplars by the canal. +</p> + +<p> +On their way back to camp Maurice, without uttering a word, took advantage of +the darkness to seize Jean by the arm and drag him into a by-path. Their +comrades inspired him with unconquerable disgust; he thought he should like to +go and sleep in the little wood where he had spent his first night on the +peninsula. It was a good idea, and Jean commended it highly when he had laid +himself down on the warm, dry ground, under the shelter of the dense foliage. +They remained there until the sun was high in the heavens, and enjoyed a sound, +refreshing slumber, which restored to them something of their strength. +</p> + +<p> +The following day was Thursday, but they had ceased to note the days; they were +simply glad to observe that the weather seemed to be coming off fine again. +Jean overcame Maurice’s repugnance and prevailed on him to return to the +canal, to see if their regiment was not to move that day. Not a day passed now +but detachments of prisoners, a thousand to twelve hundred strong, were sent +off to the fortresses in Germany. The day but one before they had seen, drawn +up in front of the Prussian headquarters, a column of officers of various +grades, who were going to Pont-a-Mousson, there to take the railway. Everyone +was possessed with a wild, feverish longing to get away from that camp where +they had seen such suffering. Ah! if it but might be their turn! And when they +found the 106th still encamped on the bank of the canal, in the inevitable +disorder consequent upon such distress, their courage failed them and they +despaired. +</p> + +<p> +Jean and Maurice that day thought they saw a prospect of obtaining something to +eat. All the morning a lively traffic had been going on between the prisoners +and the Bavarians on the other side of the canal; the former would wrap their +money in a handkerchief and toss it across to the opposite shore, the latter +would return the handkerchief with a loaf of coarse brown bread, or a plug of +their common, damp tobacco. Even soldiers who had no money were not debarred +from participating in this commerce, employing, instead of currency, their +white uniform gloves, for which the Germans appeared to have a weakness. For +two hours packages were flying across the canal in its entire length under this +primitive system of exchanges. But when Maurice dispatched his cravat with a +five-franc piece tied in it to the other bank, the Bavarian who was to return +him a loaf of bread gave it, whether from awkwardness or malice, such an +ineffectual toss that it fell in the water. The incident elicited shouts of +laughter from the Germans. Twice again Maurice repeated the experiment, and +twice his loaf went to feed the fishes. At last the Prussian officers, +attracted by the uproar, came running up and prohibited their men from selling +anything to the prisoners, threatening them with dire penalties and punishments +in case of disobedience. The traffic came to a sudden end, and Jean had hard +work to pacify Maurice, who shook his fists at the scamps, shouting to them to +give him back his five-franc pieces. +</p> + +<p> +This was another terrible day, notwithstanding the warm, bright sunshine. Twice +the bugle sounded and sent Jean hurrying off to the shed whence rations were +supposed to be issued, but on each occasion he only got his toes trod on and +his ribs racked in the crush. The Prussians, whose organization was so +wonderfully complete, continued to manifest the same brutal inattention to the +necessities of the vanquished army. On the representations of Generals Douay +and Lebrun, they had indeed sent in a few sheep as well as some wagon-loads of +bread, but so little care was taken to guard them that the sheep were carried +off bodily and the wagons pillaged as soon as they reached the bridge, the +consequence of which was that the troops who were encamped a hundred yards +further on were no better off than before; it was only the worst element, the +plunderers and bummers, who benefited by the provision trains. And thereon +Jean, who, as he said, saw how the trick was done, brought Maurice with him to +the bridge to keep an eye on the victuals. +</p> + +<p> +It was four o’clock, and they had not had a morsel to eat all that +beautiful bright Thursday, when suddenly their eyes were gladdened by the sight +of Delaherche. A few among the citizens of Sedan had with infinite difficulty +obtained permission to visit the prisoners, to whom they carried provisions, +and Maurice had on several occasions expressed his surprise at his failure to +receive any tidings of his sister. As soon as they recognized Delaherche in the +distance, carrying a large basket and with a loaf of bread under either arm, +they darted forward fast as their legs could carry them, but even thus they +were too late; a crowding, jostling mob closed in, and in the confusion the +dazed manufacturer was relieved of his basket and one of his loaves, which +vanished from his sight so expeditiously that he was never able to tell the +manner of their disappearance. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, my poor friends!” he stammered, utterly crestfallen in his +bewilderment and stupefaction, he who but a moment before had come through the +gate with a smile on his lips and an air of good-fellowship, magnanimously +forgetting his superior advantages in his desire for popularity. +</p> + +<p> +Jean had taken possession of the remaining loaf and saved it from the hungry +crew, and while he and Maurice, seated by the roadside, were making great +inroads in it, Delaherche opened his budget of news for their benefit. His +wife, the Lord be praised! was very well, but he was greatly alarmed for the +colonel, who had sunk into a condition of deep prostration, although his mother +continued to bear him company from morning until night. +</p> + +<p> +“And my sister?” Maurice inquired. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, yes! your sister; true. She insisted on coming with me; it was she +who brought the two loaves of bread. She had to remain over yonder, though, on +the other side of the canal; the sentries wouldn’t let her pass the gate. +You know the Prussians have strictly prohibited the presence of women in the +peninsula.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he spoke of Henriette, and of her fruitless attempts to see her brother +and come to his assistance. Once in Sedan chance had brought her face to face +with Cousin Gunther, the man who was captain in the Prussian Guards. He had +passed her with his haughty, supercilious air, pretending not to recognize her. +She, also, with a sensation of loathing, as if she were in the presence of one +of her husband’s murderers, had hurried on with quickened steps; then, +with a sudden change of purpose for which she could not account, had turned +back and told him all the manner of Weiss’s death, in harsh accents of +reproach. And he, thus learning how horribly a relative had met his fate, had +taken the matter coolly; it was the fortune of war; the same thing might have +happened to himself. His face, rendered stoically impassive by the discipline +of the soldier, had barely betrayed the faintest evidence of interest. After +that, when she informed him that her brother was a prisoner and besought him to +use his influence to obtain for her an opportunity of seeing him, he had +excused himself on the ground that he was powerless in the matter; the +instructions were explicit and might not be disobeyed. He appeared to place the +regimental orderly book on a par with the Bible. She left him with the clearly +defined impression that he believed he was in the country for the sole purpose +of sitting in judgment on the French people, with all the intolerance and +arrogance of the hereditary enemy, swollen by his personal hatred for the +nation whom it had devolved on him to chastise. +</p> + +<p> +“And now,” said Delaherche in conclusion, “you won’t +have to go to bed supperless to-night; you have had a little something to eat. +The worst is that I am afraid I shall not be able to secure another +pass.” +</p> + +<p> +He asked them if there was anything he could do for them outside, and +obligingly consented to take charge of some pencil-written letters confided to +him by other soldiers, for the Bavarians had more than once been seen to laugh +as they lighted their pipes with missives which they had promised to forward. +Then, when Jean and Maurice had accompanied him to the gate, he exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“Look! over yonder, there’s Henriette! Don’t you see her +waving her handkerchief?” +</p> + +<p> +True enough, among the crowd beyond the line of sentinels they distinguished a +little, thin, pale face, a white dot that trembled in the sunshine. Both were +deeply affected, and, with moist eyes, raising their hands above their head, +answered her salutation by waving them frantically in the air. +</p> + +<p> +The following day was Friday, and it was then that Maurice felt that his cup of +horror was full to overflowing. After another night of tranquil slumber in the +little wood he was so fortunate as to secure another meal, Jean having come +across an old woman at the Château of Villette who was selling bread at ten +francs the pound. But that day they witnessed a spectacle of which the horror +remained imprinted on their minds for many weeks and months. +</p> + +<p> +The day before Chouteau had noticed that Pache had ceased complaining and was +going about with a careless, satisfied air, as a man might do who had dined +well. He immediately jumped at the conclusion that the sly fox must have a +concealed treasure somewhere, the more so that he had seen him absent himself +for near an hour that morning and come back with a smile lurking on his face +and his mouth filled with unswallowed food. It must be that he had had a +windfall, had probably joined some marauding party and laid in a stock of +provisions. And Chouteau labored with Loubet and Lapoulle to stir up bad +feeling against the comrade, with the latter more particularly. <i>Hein!</i> +wasn’t he a dirty dog, if he had something to eat, not to go snacks with +the comrades! He ought to have a lesson that he would remember, for his +selfishness. +</p> + +<p> +“To-night we’ll keep a watch on him, don’t you see. +We’ll learn whether he dares to stuff himself on the sly, when so many +poor devils are starving all around him.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes, that’s the talk! we’ll follow him,” Lapoulle +angrily declared. “We’ll see about it!” +</p> + +<p> +He doubled his fists; he was like a crazy man whenever the subject of eating +was mentioned in his presence. His enormous appetite caused him to suffer more +than the others; his torment at times was such that he had been known to stuff +his mouth with grass. For more than thirty-six hours, since the night when they +had supped on horseflesh and he had contracted a terrible dysentery in +consequence, he had been without food, for he was so little able to look out +for himself that, notwithstanding his bovine strength, whenever he joined the +others in a marauding raid he never got his share of the booty. He would have +been willing to give his blood for a pound of bread. +</p> + +<p> +As it was beginning to be dark Pache stealthily made his way to the Tour à +Glaire and slipped into the park, while the three others cautiously followed +him at a distance. +</p> + +<p> +“It won’t do to let him suspect anything,” said Chouteau. +“Be on your guard in case he should look around.” +</p> + +<p> +But when he had advanced another hundred paces Pache evidently had no idea +there was anyone near, for he began to hurry forward at a swift gait, not so +much as casting a look behind. They had no difficulty in tracking him to the +adjacent quarries, where they fell on him as he was in the act of removing two +great flat stones, to take from the cavity beneath part of a loaf of bread. It +was the last of his store; he had enough left for one more meal. +</p> + +<p> +“You dirty, sniveling priest’s whelp!” roared Lapoulle, +“so that is why you sneak away from us! Give me that; it’s my +share!” +</p> + +<p> +Why should he give his bread? Weak and puny as he was, his slight form dilated +with anger, while he clutched the loaf against his bosom with all the strength +he could master. For he also was hungry. +</p> + +<p> +“Let me alone. It’s mine.” +</p> + +<p> +Then, at sight of Lapoulle’s raised fist, he broke away and ran, sliding +down the steep banks of the quarries, making his way across the bare fields in +the direction of Donchery, the three others after him in hot pursuit. He gained +on them, however, being lighter than they, and possessed by such overmastering +fear, so determined to hold on to what was his property, that his speed seemed +to rival the wind. He had already covered more than half a mile and was +approaching the little wood on the margin of the stream when he encountered +Jean and Maurice, who were on their way back to their resting-place for the +night. He addressed them an appealing, distressful cry as he passed; while +they, astounded by the wild hunt that went fleeting by, stood motionless at the +edge of a field, and thus it was that they beheld the ensuing tragedy. +</p> + +<p> +As luck would have it, Pache tripped over a stone and fell. In an instant the +others were on top of him—shouting, swearing, their passion roused to +such a pitch of frenzy that they were like wolves that had run down their prey. +</p> + +<p> +“Give me that,” yelled Lapoulle, “or by G-d I’ll kill +you!” +</p> + +<p> +And he had raised his fist again when Chouteau, taking from his pocket the +penknife with which he had slaughtered the horse and opening it, placed it in +his hand. +</p> + +<p> +“Here, take it! the knife!” +</p> + +<p> +But Jean meantime had come hurrying up, desirous to prevent the mischief he saw +brewing, losing his wits like the rest of them, indiscreetly speaking of +putting them all in the guardhouse; whereon Loubet, with an ugly laugh, told +him he must be a Prussian, since they had no longer any commanders, and the +Prussians were the only ones who issued orders. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Nom de Dieu!</i>” Lapoulle repeated, “will you give me +that?” +</p> + +<p> +Despite the terror that blanched his cheeks Pache hugged the bread more closely +to his bosom, with the obstinacy of the peasant who never cedes a jot or tittle +of that which is his. +</p> + +<p> +“No!” +</p> + +<p> +Then in a second all was over; the brute drove the knife into the other’s +throat with such violence that the wretched man did not even utter a cry. His +arms relaxed, the bread fell to the ground, into the pool of blood that had +spurted from the wound. +</p> + +<p> +At sight of the imbecile, uncalled-for murder, Maurice, who had until then been +a silent spectator of the scene, appeared as if stricken by a sudden fit of +madness. He raved and gesticulated, shaking his fist in the face of the three +men and calling them murderers, assassins, with a violence that shook his frame +from head to foot. But Lapoulle seemed not even to hear him. Squatted on the +ground beside the corpse, he was devouring the bloodstained bread, an +expression of stupid ferocity on his face, with a loud grinding of his great +jaws, while Chouteau and Loubet, seeing him thus terrible in the gratification +of his wild-beast appetite, did not even dare claim their portion. +</p> + +<p> +By this time night had fallen, a pleasant night with a clear sky thick-set with +stars, and Maurice and Jean, who had regained the shelter of their little wood, +presently perceived Lapoulle wandering up and down the river bank. The two +others had vanished, had doubtless returned to the encampment by the canal, +their mind troubled by reason of the corpse they left behind them. He, on the +other hand, seemed to dread going to rejoin the comrades. When he was more +himself and his brutish, sluggish intellect showed him the full extent of his +crime, he had evidently experienced a twinge of anguish that made motion a +necessity, and not daring to return to the interior of the peninsula, where he +would have to face the body of his victim, had sought the bank of the stream, +where he was now tramping to and fro with uneven, faltering steps. What was +going on within the recesses of that darkened mind that guided the actions of +that creature, so degraded as to be scarce higher than the animal? Was it the +awakening of remorse? or only the fear lest his crime might be discovered? He +could not remain there; he paced his beat as a wild beast shambles up and down +its cage, with a sudden and ever-increasing longing to fly, a longing that +ached and pained like a physical hurt, from which he felt he should die, could +he do nothing to satisfy it. Quick, quick, he must fly, must fly at once, from +that prison where he had slain a fellow-being. And yet, the coward in him, it +may be, gaining the supremacy, he threw himself on the ground, and for a long +time lay crouched among the herbage. +</p> + +<p> +And Maurice said to Jean in his horror and disgust: +</p> + +<p> +“See here, I cannot remain longer in this place; I tell you plainly I +should go mad. I am surprised that the physical part of me holds out as it +does; my bodily health is not so bad, but the mind is going; yes! it is going, +I am certain of it. If you leave me another day in this hell I am lost. I beg +you, let us go away, let us start at once!” +</p> + +<p> +And he went on to propound the wildest schemes for getting away. They would +swim the Meuse, would cast themselves on the sentries and strangle them with a +cord he had in his pocket, or would beat out their brains with rocks, or would +buy them over with the money they had left and don their uniform to pass +through the Prussian lines. +</p> + +<p> +“My dear boy, be silent!” Jean sadly answered; “it frightens +me to hear you talk so wildly. Is there any reason in what you say, are any of +your plans feasible? Wait; to-morrow we’ll see about it. Be +silent!” +</p> + +<p> +He, although his heart, no less than his friend’s, was wrung by the +horrors that surrounded them on every side, had preserved his mental balance +amid the debilitating effects of famine, among the grisly visions of that +existence than which none could approach more nearly the depth of human misery. +And as his companion’s frenzy continued to increase and he talked of +casting himself into the Meuse, he was obliged to restrain him, even to the +point of using violence, scolding and supplicating, tears standing in his eyes. +Then suddenly he said: +</p> + +<p> +“See! look there!” +</p> + +<p> +A splash was heard coming from the river, and they saw it was Lapoulle, who had +finally decided to attempt to escape by the stream, first removing his capote +in order that it might not hinder his movements; and his white shirt made a +spot of brightness that was distinctly visible upon the dusky bosom of the +moving water. He was swimming up-stream with a leisurely movement, doubtless on +the lookout for a place where he might land with safety, while on the opposite +shore there was no difficulty in discerning the shadowy forms of the sentries, +erect and motionless in the semi-obscurity. There came a sudden flash that tore +the black veil of night, a report that went with bellowing echoes and spent +itself among the rocks of Montimont. The water boiled and bubbled for an +instant, as it does under the wild efforts of an unpracticed oarsman. And that +was all; Lapoulle’s body, the white spot on the dusky stream, floated +away, lifeless, upon the tide. +</p> + +<p> +The next day, which was Saturday, Jean aroused Maurice as soon as it was day +and they returned to the camp of the 106th, with the hope that they might move +that day, but there were no orders; it seemed as though the regiment’s +existence were forgotten. Many of the troops had been sent away, the peninsula +was being depopulated, and sickness was terribly prevalent among those who were +left behind. For eight long days disease had been germinating in that hell on +earth; the rains had ceased, but the blazing, scorching sunlight had only +wrought a change of evils. The excessive heat completed the exhaustion of the +men and gave to the numerous cases of dysentery an alarmingly epidemic +character. The excreta of that army of sick poisoned the air with their noxious +emanations. No one could approach the Meuse or the canal, owing to the +overpowering stench that rose from the bodies of drowned soldiers and horses +that lay festering among the weeds. And the horses, that dropped in the fields +from inanition, were decomposing so rapidly and forming such a fruitful source +of pestilence that the Prussians, commencing to be alarmed on their own +account, had provided picks and shovels and forced the prisoners to bury them. +</p> + +<p> +That day, however, was the last on which they suffered from famine. As their +numbers were so greatly reduced and provisions kept pouring in from every +quarter, they passed at a single bound from the extreme of destitution to the +most abundant plenty. Bread, meat, and wine, even, were to be had without +stint; eating went on from morning till night, until they were ready to drop. +Darkness descended, and they were eating still; in some quarters the gorging +was continued until the next morning. To many it proved fatal. +</p> + +<p> +That whole day Jean made it his sole business to keep watch over Maurice, who +he saw was ripe for some rash action. He had been drinking; he spoke of his +intention of cuffing a Prussian officer in order that he might be sent away. +And at night Jean, having discovered an unoccupied corner in the cellar of one +of the outbuildings at the Tour à Glaire, thought it advisable to go and sleep +there with his companion, thinking that a good night’s rest would do him +good, but it turned out to be the worst night in all their experience, a night +of terror during which neither of them closed an eye. The cellar was inhabited +by other soldiers; lying in the same corner were two who were dying of +dysentery, and as soon as it was fairly dark they commenced to relieve their +sufferings by moans and inarticulate cries, a hideous death-rattle that went on +uninterruptedly until morning. These sounds finally became so horrific there in +the intense darkness, that the others who were resting there, wishing to sleep, +allowed their anger to get the better of them and shouted to the dying men to +be silent. They did not hear; the rattle went on, drowning all other sounds, +while from without came the drunken clamor of those who were eating and +drinking still, with insatiable appetite. +</p> + +<p> +Then commenced for Maurice a period of agony unspeakable. He would have fled +from the awful sounds that brought the cold sweat of anguish in great drops to +his brow, but when he arose and attempted to grope his way out he trod on the +limbs of those extended there, and finally fell to the ground, a living man +immured there in the darkness with the dying. He made no further effort to +escape from this last trial. The entire frightful disaster arose before his +mind, from the time of their departure from Rheims to the crushing defeat of +Sedan. It seemed to him that in that night, in the inky blackness of that +cellar, where the groans of two dying soldiers drove sleep from the eyelids of +their comrades, the ordeal of the army of Châlons had reached its climax. At +each of the stations of its passion the army of despair, the expiatory band, +driven forward to the sacrifice, had spent its life-blood in atonement for the +faults of others; and now, unhonored amid disaster, covered with contumely, it +was enduring martyrdom in that cruel scourging, the severity of which it had +done nothing to deserve. He felt it was too much; he was heartsick with rage +and grief, hungering for justice, burning with a fierce desire to be avenged on +destiny. +</p> + +<p> +When daylight appeared one of the soldiers was dead, the other was lingering on +in protracted agony. +</p> + +<p> +“Come along, little one,” Jean gently said; “we’ll go +and get a breath of fresh air; it will do us good.” +</p> + +<p> +But when the pair emerged into the pure, warm morning air and, pursuing the +river bank, were near the village of Iges, Maurice grew flightier still, and +extending his hand toward the vast expanse of sunlit battlefield, the plateau +of Illy in front of them, Saint-Menges to the left, the wood of la Garenne to +the right, he cried: +</p> + +<p> +“No, I cannot, I cannot bear to look on it! The sight pierces my heart +and drives me mad. Take me away, oh! take me away, at once, at once!” +</p> + +<p> +It was Sunday once more; the bells were pealing from the steeples of Sedan, +while the music of a German military band floated on the air in the distance. +There were still no orders for their regiment to move, and Jean, alarmed to see +Maurice’s deliriousness increasing, determined to attempt the execution +of a plan that he had been maturing in his mind for the last twenty-four hours. +On the road before the tents of the Prussians another regiment, the 5th of the +line, was drawn up in readiness for departure. Great confusion prevailed in the +column, and an officer, whose knowledge of the French language was imperfect, +had been unable to complete the roster of the prisoners. Then the two friends, +having first torn from their uniform coat the collar and buttons in order that +the number might not betray their identity, quietly took their place in the +ranks and soon had the satisfaction of crossing the bridge and leaving the +chain of sentries behind them. The same idea must have presented itself to +Loubet and Chouteau, for they caught sight of them somewhat further to the +rear, peering anxiously about them with the guilty eyes of murderers. +</p> + +<p> +Ah, what comfort there was for them in that first blissful moment! Outside +their prison the sunlight was brighter, the air more bracing; it was like a +resurrection, a bright renewal of all their hopes. Whatever evil fortune might +have in store for them, they dreaded it not; they snapped their fingers at it +in their delight at having seen the last of the horrors of Camp Misery. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap19"></a>III.</h2> + +<p> +That morning Maurice and Jean listened for the last time to the gay, ringing +notes of the French bugles, and now they were on their way to Pont-a-Mousson, +marching in the ranks of the convoy of prisoners, which was guarded front and +rear by platoons of Prussian infantry, while a file of men with fixed bayonets +flanked the column on either side. Whenever they came to a German post they +heard only the lugubrious, ear-piercing strains of the Prussian trumpets. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice was glad to observe that the column took the left-hand road and would +pass through Sedan; perhaps he would have an opportunity of seeing his sister +Henriette. All the pleasure, however, that he had experienced at his release +from that foul cesspool where he had spent nine days of agony was dashed to the +ground and destroyed during the three-mile march from the peninsula of Iges to +the city. It was but another form of his old distress to behold that array of +prisoners, shuffling timorously through the dust of the road, like a flock of +sheep with the dog at their heels. There is no spectacle in all the world more +pitiful than that of a column of vanquished troops being marched off into +captivity under guard of their conquerors, without arms, their empty hands +hanging idly at their sides; and these men, clad in rags and tatters, besmeared +with the filth in which they had lain for more than a week, gaunt and wasted +after their long fast, were more like vagabonds than soldiers; they resembled +loathsome, horribly dirty tramps, whom the gendarmes would have picked up along +the highways and consigned to the lockup. As they passed through the Faubourg +of Torcy, where men paused on the sidewalks and women came to their doors to +regard them with mournful, compassionate interest, the blush of shame rose to +Maurice’s cheek, he hung his head and a bitter taste came to his mouth. +</p> + +<p> +Jean, whose epidermis was thicker and mind more practical, thought only of +their stupidity in not having brought off with them a loaf of bread apiece. In +the hurry of their abrupt departure they had even gone off without +breakfasting, and hunger soon made its presence felt by the nerveless sensation +in their legs. Others among the prisoners appeared to be in the same boat, for +they held out money, begging the people of the place to sell them something to +eat. There was one, an extremely tall man, apparently very ill, who displayed a +gold piece, extending it above the heads of the soldiers of the escort; and he +was almost frantic that he could purchase nothing. Just at that time Jean, who +had been keeping his eyes open, perceived a bakery a short distance ahead, +before which were piled a dozen loaves of bread; he immediately got his money +ready and, as the column passed, tossed the baker a five-franc piece and +endeavored to secure two of the loaves; then, when the Prussian who was +marching at his side pushed him back roughly into the ranks, he protested, +demanding that he be allowed to recover his money from the baker. But at that +juncture the captain commanding the detachment, a short, bald-headed man with a +brutal expression of face, came hastening up; he raised his revolver over +Jean’s head as if about to strike him with the butt, declaring with an +oath that he would brain the first man that dared to lift a finger. And the +rest of the captives continued to shamble on, stirring up the dust of the road +with their shuffling feet, with eyes averted and shoulders bowed, cowed and +abjectly submissive as a drove of cattle. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! how good it would seem to slap the fellow’s face just +once!” murmured Maurice, as if he meant it. “How I should like to +let him have just one from the shoulder, and drive his teeth down his dirty +throat!” +</p> + +<p> +And during the remainder of their march he could not endure to look on that +captain, with his ugly, supercilious face. +</p> + +<p> +They had entered Sedan and were crossing the Pont de Meuse, and the scenes of +violence and brutality became more numerous than ever. A woman darted forward +and would have embraced a boyish young sergeant—likely she was his +mother—and was repulsed with a blow from a musket-butt that felled her to +the ground. On the Place Turenne the guards hustled and maltreated some +citizens because they cast provisions to the prisoners. In the Grande Rue one +of the convoy fell in endeavoring to secure a bottle that a lady extended to +him, and was assisted to his feet with kicks. For a week now Sedan had +witnessed the saddening spectacle of the defeated driven like cattle through +its streets, and seemed no more accustomed to it than at the beginning; each +time a fresh detachment passed the city was stirred to its very depths by a +movement of pity and indignation. +</p> + +<p> +Jean had recovered his equanimity; his thoughts, like Maurice’s, reverted +to Henriette, and the idea occurred to him that they might see Delaherche +somewhere among the throng. He gave his friend a nudge of the elbow. +</p> + +<p> +“Keep your eyes open if we pass through their street presently, will +you?” +</p> + +<p> +They had scarce more than struck into the Rue Maqua, indeed, when they became +aware of several pairs of eyes turned on the column from one of the tall +windows of the factory, and as they drew nearer recognized Delaherche and his +wife Gilberte, their elbows resting on the railing of the balcony, and behind +them the tall, rigid form of old Madame Delaherche. They had a supply of bread +with them, and the manufacturer was tossing the loaves down into the hands that +were upstretched with tremulous eagerness to receive them. Maurice saw at once +that his sister was not there, while Jean anxiously watched the flying loaves, +fearing there might none be left for them. They both had raised their arms and +were waving them frantically above their head, shouting meanwhile with all the +force of their lungs: +</p> + +<p> +“Here we are! This way, this way!” +</p> + +<p> +The Delaherches seemed delighted to see them in the midst of their surprise. +Their faces, pallid with emotion, suddenly brightened, and they displayed by +the warmth of their gestures the pleasure they experienced in the encounter. +There was one solitary loaf left, which Gilberte insisted on throwing with her +own hands, and pitched it into Jean’s extended arms in such a charmingly +awkward way that she gave a winsome laugh at her own expense. Maurice, unable +to stop on account of the pressure from the rear, turned his head and shouted, +in a tone of anxious inquiry: +</p> + +<p> +“And Henriette? Henriette?” +</p> + +<p> +Delaherche replied with a long farrago, but his voice was inaudible in the +shuffling tramp of so many feet. He seemed to understand that the young man had +failed to catch his meaning, for he gesticulated like a semaphore; there was +one gesture in particular that he repeated several times, extending his arm +with a sweeping motion toward the south, apparently intending to convey the +idea of some point in the remote distance: Off there, away off there. Already +the head of the column was wheeling into the Rue du Minil, the facade of the +factory was lost to sight, together with the kindly faces of the three +Delaherches; the last the two friends saw of them was the fluttering of the +white handkerchief with which Gilberte waved them a farewell. +</p> + +<p> +“What did he say?” asked Jean. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice, in a fever of anxiety, was still looking to the rear where there was +nothing to be seen. “I don’t know; I could not understand him; I +shall have no peace of mind until I hear from her.” +</p> + +<p> +And the trailing, shambling line crept slowly onward, the Prussians urging on +the weary men with the brutality of conquerors; the column left the city by the +Minil gate in straggling, long-drawn array, hastening their steps, like sheep +at whose heels the dogs are snapping. +</p> + +<p> +When they passed through Bazeilles Jean and Maurice thought of Weiss, and cast +their eyes about in an effort to distinguish the site of the little house that +had been defended with such bravery. While they were at Camp Misery they had +heard the woeful tale of slaughter and conflagration that had blotted the +pretty village from existence, and the abominations that they now beheld +exceeded all they had dreamed of or imagined. At the expiration of twelve days +the ruins were smoking still; the tottering walls had fallen in, there were not +ten houses standing. It afforded them some small comfort, however, to meet a +procession of carts and wheelbarrows loaded with Bavarian helmets and muskets +that had been collected after the conflict. That evidence of the chastisement +that had been inflicted on those murderers and incendiaries went far toward +mitigating the affliction of defeat. +</p> + +<p> +The column was to halt at Douzy to give the men an opportunity to eat +breakfast. It was not without much suffering that they reached that place; +already the prisoners’ strength was giving out, exhausted as they were by +their ten days of fasting. Those who the day before had availed of the abundant +supplies to gorge themselves were seized with vertigo, their enfeebled legs +refused to support their weight, and their gluttony, far from restoring their +lost strength, was a further source of weakness to them. The consequence was +that, when the train was halted in a meadow to the left of the village, these +poor creatures flung themselves upon the ground with no desire to eat. Wine was +wanting; some charitable women who came, bringing a few bottles, were driven +off by the sentries. One of them in her affright fell and sprained her ankle, +and there ensued a painful scene of tears and hysterics, during which the +Prussians confiscated the bottles and drank their contents amid jeers and +insulting laughter. This tender compassion of the peasants for the poor +soldiers who were being led away into captivity was manifested constantly along +the route, while it was said the harshness they displayed toward the generals +amounted almost to cruelty. At that same Douzy, only a few days previously, the +villagers had hooted and reviled a number of paroled officers who were on their +way to Pont-a-Mousson. The roads were not safe for general officers; men +wearing the blouse—escaped soldiers, or deserters, it may be—fell +on them with pitch-forks and endeavored to take their life as traitors, +credulously pinning their faith to that legend of bargain and sale which, even +twenty years later, was to continue to shed its opprobrium upon those leaders +who had commanded armies in that campaign. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice and Jean ate half their bread, and were so fortunate as to have a +mouthful of brandy with which to wash it down, thanks to the kindness of a +worthy old farmer. When the order was given to resume their advance, however, +the distress throughout the convoy was extreme. They were to halt for the night +at Mouzon, and although the march was a short one, it seemed as if it would tax +the men’s strength more severely than they could bear; they could not get +on their feet without giving utterance to cries of pain, so stiff did their +tired legs become the moment they stopped to rest. Many removed their shoes to +relieve their galled and bleeding feet. Dysentery continued to rage; a man fell +before they had gone half a mile, and they had to prop him against a wall and +leave him. A little further on two others sank at the foot of a hedge, and it +was night before an old woman came along and picked them up. All were +stumbling, tottering, and dragging themselves along, supporting their forms +with canes, which the Prussians, perhaps in derision, had suffered them to cut +at the margin of a wood. They were a straggling array of tramps and beggars, +covered with sores, haggard, emaciated, and footsore; a sight to bring tears to +the eyes of the most stony-hearted. And the guards continued to be as brutally +strict as ever; those who for any purpose attempted to leave the ranks were +driven back with blows, and the platoon that brought up the rear had orders to +prod with their bayonets those who hung back. A sergeant having refused to go +further, the captain summoned two of his men and instructed them to seize him, +one by either arm, and in this manner the wretched man was dragged over the +ground until he agreed to walk. And what made the whole thing more bitter and +harder to endure was the utter insignificance of that little pimply-faced, +bald-headed officer, so insufferably consequential in his brutality, who took +advantage of his knowledge of French to vituperate the prisoners in it in curt, +incisive words that cut and stung like the lash of a whip. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh!” Maurice furiously exclaimed, “to get the puppy in my +hands and drain him of his blood, drop by drop!” +</p> + +<p> +His powers of endurance were almost exhausted, but it was his rage that he had +to choke down, even more than his fatigue, that was cause of his suffering. +Everything exasperated him and set on edge his tingling nerves; the harsh notes +of the Prussian trumpets particularly, which inspired him with a desire to +scream each time he heard them. He felt he should never reach the end of their +cruel journey without some outbreak that would bring down on him the utmost +severity of the guard. Even now, when traversing the smallest hamlets, he +suffered horribly and felt as if he should die with shame to behold the eyes of +the women fixed pityingly on him; what would it be when they should enter +Germany, and the populace of the great cities should crowd the streets to laugh +and jeer at them as they passed? And he pictured to himself the cattle cars +into which they would be crowded for transportation, the discomforts and +humiliations they would have to suffer on the journey, the dismal life in +German fortresses under the leaden, wintry sky. No, no; he would have none of +it; better to take the risk of leaving his bones by the roadside on French soil +than go and rot off yonder, for months and months, perhaps, in the dark depths +of a casemate. +</p> + +<p> +“Listen,” he said below his breath to Jean, who was walking at his +side; “we will wait until we come to a wood; then we’ll break +through the guards and run for it among the trees. The Belgian frontier is not +far away; we shall have no trouble in finding someone to guide us to it.” +</p> + +<p> +Jean, accustomed as he was to look at things coolly and calculate chances, put +his veto on the mad scheme, although he, too, in his revolt, was beginning to +meditate the possibilities of an escape. +</p> + +<p> +“Have you taken leave of your senses! the guard will fire on us, and we +shall both be killed.” +</p> + +<p> +But Maurice replied there was a chance the soldiers might not hit them, and +then, after all, if their aim should prove true, it would not matter so very +much. +</p> + +<p> +“Very well!” rejoined Jean, “but what is going to become of +us afterward, dressed in uniform as we are? You know perfectly well that the +country is swarming in every direction with Prussian troops; we could not go +far unless we had other clothes to put on. No, no, my lad, it’s too +risky; I’ll not let you attempt such an insane project.” +</p> + +<p> +And he took the young man’s arm and held it pressed against his side, as +if they were mutually sustaining each other, continuing meanwhile to chide and +soothe him in a tone that was at once rough and affectionate. +</p> + +<p> +Just then the sound of a whispered conversation close behind them caused them +to turn and look around. It was Chouteau and Loubet, who had left the peninsula +of Iges that morning at the same time as they, and whom they had managed to +steer clear of until the present moment. Now the two worthies were close at +their heels, and Chouteau must have overheard Maurice’s words, his plan +for escaping through the mazes of a forest, for he had adopted it on his own +behalf. His breath was hot upon their neck as he murmured: +</p> + +<p> +“Say, comrades, count us in on that. That’s a capital idea of +yours, to skip the ranch. Some of the boys have gone already, and sure +we’re not going to be such fools as to let those bloody pigs drag us away +like dogs into their infernal country. What do you say, eh? Shall we four make +a break for liberty?” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice’s excitement was rising to fever-heat again; Jean turned and said +to the tempter: +</p> + +<p> +“If you are so anxious to get away, why don’t you go? there’s +nothing to prevent you. What are you up to, any way?” +</p> + +<p> +He flinched a little before the corporal’s direct glance, and allowed the +true motive of his proposal to escape him. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Dame</i>! it would be better that four should share the undertaking. +One or two of us might have a chance of getting off.” +</p> + +<p> +Then Jean, with an emphatic shake of the head, refused to have anything +whatever to do with the matter; he distrusted the gentleman, he said, as he was +afraid he would play them some of his dirty tricks. He had to exert all his +authority with Maurice to retain him on his side, for at that very moment an +opportunity presented itself for attempting the enterprise; they were passing +the border of a small but very dense wood, separated from the road only by the +width of a field that was covered by a thick growth of underbrush. Why should +they not dash across that field and vanish in the thicket? was there not safety +for them in that direction? +</p> + +<p> +Loubet had so far said nothing. His mind was made up, however, that he was not +going to Germany to run to seed in one of their dungeons, and his nose, mobile +as a hound’s, was sniffing the atmosphere, his shifty eyes were watching +for the favorable moment. He would trust to his legs and his mother wit, which +had always helped him out of his scrapes thus far. His decision was quickly +made. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, <i>zut</i>! I’ve had enough of it; I’m off!” +</p> + +<p> +He broke through the line of the escort, and with a single bound was in the +field, Chouteau following his example and running at his side. Two of the +Prussian soldiers immediately started in pursuit, but the others seemed dazed, +and it did not occur to them to send a ball after the fugitives. The entire +episode was so soon over that it was not easy to note its different phases. +Loubet dodged and doubled among the bushes and it appeared as if he would +certainly succeed in getting off, while Chouteau, less nimble, was on the point +of being captured, but the latter, summoning up all his energies in a supreme +burst of speed, caught up with his comrade and dexterously tripped him; and +while the two Prussians were lumbering up to secure the fallen man, the other +darted into the wood and vanished. The guard, finally remembering that they had +muskets, fired a few ineffectual shots, and there was some attempt made to +search the thicket, which resulted in nothing. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime the two soldiers were pummeling poor Loubet, who had not regained his +feet. The captain came running up, beside himself with anger, and talked of +making an example, and with this encouragement kicks and cuffs and blows from +musket-butts continued to rain down upon the wretched man with such fury that +when at last they stood him on his feet he was found to have an arm broken and +his skull fractured. A peasant came along, driving a cart, in which he was +placed, but he died before reaching Mouzon. +</p> + +<p> +“You see,” was all that Jean said to Maurice. +</p> + +<p> +The two friends cast a look in the direction of the wood that sufficiently +expressed their sentiments toward the scoundrel who had gained his freedom by +such base means, while their hearts were stirred with feelings of deepest +compassion for the poor devil whom he had made his victim, a guzzler and a +toper, who certainly did not amount to much, but a merry, good-natured fellow +all the same, and nobody’s fool. And that was always the way with those +who kept bad company, Jean moralizingly observed: they might be very fly, but +sooner or later a bigger rascal was sure to come along and make a meal of them. +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding this terrible lesson Maurice, upon reaching Mouzon, was still +possessed by his unalterable determination to attempt an escape. The prisoners +were in such an exhausted condition when they reached the place that the +Prussians had to assist them to set up the few tents that were placed at their +disposal. The camp was formed near the town, on low and marshy ground, and the +worst of the business was that another convoy having occupied the spot the day +before, the field was absolutely invisible under the superincumbent filth; it +was no better than a common cesspool, of unimaginable foulness. The sole means +the men had of self-protection was to scatter over the ground some large flat +stones, of which they were so fortunate as to find a number in the vicinity. By +way of compensation they had a somewhat less hard time of it that evening; the +strictness of their guardians was relaxed a little once the captain had +disappeared, doubtless to seek the comforts of an inn. The sentries began by +winking at the irregularity of the proceeding when some children came along and +commenced to toss fruit, apples and pears, over their heads to the prisoners; +the next thing was they allowed the people of the neighborhood to enter the +lines, so that in a short time the camp was swarming with impromptu merchants, +men and women, offering for sale bread, wine, cigars, even. Those who had money +had no trouble in supplying their needs so far as eating, drinking, and smoking +were concerned. A bustling animation prevailed in the dim twilight; it was like +a corner of the market place in a town where a fair is being held. +</p> + +<p> +But Maurice drew Jean behind their tent and again said to him in his nervous, +flighty way: +</p> + +<p> +“I can’t stand it; I shall make an effort to get away as soon as it +is dark. To-morrow our course will take us away from the frontier; it will be +too late.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well, we’ll try it,” Jean replied, his powers of +resistance exhausted, his imagination, too, seduced by the pleasing idea of +freedom. “They can’t do more than kill us.” +</p> + +<p> +After that he began to scrutinize more narrowly the venders who surrounded him +on every side. There were some among the comrades who had succeeded in +supplying themselves with blouse and trousers, and it was reported that some of +the charitable people of the place had regular stocks of garments on hand, +designed to assist prisoners in escaping. And almost immediately his attention +was attracted to a pretty girl, a tall blonde of sixteen with a pair of +magnificent eyes, who had on her arm a basket containing three loaves of bread. +She was not crying her wares like the rest; an anxious, engaging smile played +on her red lips, her manner was hesitating. He looked her steadily in the face; +their glances met and for an instant remained confounded. Then she came up, +with the embarrassed smile of a girl unaccustomed to such business. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you wish to buy some bread?” +</p> + +<p> +He made no reply, but questioned her by an imperceptible movement of the +eyelids. On her answering yes, by an affirmative nod of the head, he asked in a +very low tone of voice: +</p> + +<p> +“There is clothing?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, under the loaves.” +</p> + +<p> +Then she began to cry her merchandise aloud: “Bread! bread! who’ll +buy my bread?” But when Maurice would have slipped a twenty-franc piece +into her fingers she drew back her hand abruptly and ran away, leaving the +basket with them. The last they saw of her was the happy, tender look in her +pretty eyes, as in the distance she turned and smiled on them. +</p> + +<p> +When they were in possession of the basket Jean and Maurice found difficulties +staring them in the face. They had strayed away from their tent, and in their +agitated condition felt they should never succeed in finding it again. Where +were they to bestow themselves? and how effect their change of garments? It +seemed to them that the eyes of the entire assemblage were focused on the +basket, which Jean carried with an awkward air, as if it contained dynamite, +and that its contents must be plainly visible to everyone. It would not do to +waste time, however; they must be up and doing. They stepped into the first +vacant tent they came to, where each of them hurriedly slipped on a pair of +trousers and donned a blouse, having first deposited their discarded uniforms +in the basket, which they placed on the ground in a dark corner of the tent and +abandoned to its fate. There was a circumstance that gave them no small +uneasiness, however; they found only one head-covering, a knitted woolen cap, +which Jean insisted Maurice should wear. The former, fearing his +bare-headedness might excite suspicion, was hanging about the precincts of the +camp on the lookout for a covering of some description, when it occurred to him +to purchase his hat from an extremely dirty old man who was selling cigars. +</p> + +<p> +“Brussels cigars, three sous apiece, two for five!” +</p> + +<p> +Customs regulations were in abeyance since the battle of Sedan, and the imports +of Belgian merchandise had been greatly stimulated. The old man had been making +a handsome profit from his traffic, but that did not prevent him from driving a +sharp bargain when he understood the reason why the two men wanted to buy his +hat, a greasy old affair of felt with a great hole in its crown. He finally +consented to part with it for two five-franc pieces, grumbling that he should +certainly have a cold in his head. +</p> + +<p> +Then Jean had another idea, which was neither more nor less than to buy out the +old fellow’s stock in trade, the two dozen cigars that remained unsold. +The bargain effected, he pulled his hat down over his eyes and began to cry in +the itinerant hawker’s drawling tone: +</p> + +<p> +“Here you are, Brussels cigars, two for three sous, two for three +sous!” +</p> + +<p> +Their safety was now assured. He signaled Maurice to go on before. It happened +to the latter to discover an umbrella lying on the grass; he picked it up and, +as a few drops of rain began to fall just then, opened it tranquilly as they +were about to pass the line of sentries. +</p> + +<p> +“Two for three sous, two for three sous, Brussels cigars!” +</p> + +<p> +It took Jean less than two minutes to dispose of his stock of merchandise. The +men came crowding about him with chaff and laughter: a reasonable fellow, that; +he didn’t rob poor chaps of their money! The Prussians themselves were +attracted by such unheard-of bargains, and he was compelled to trade with them. +He had all the time been working his way toward the edge of the enceinte, and +his last two cigars went to a big sergeant with an immense beard, who could not +speak a word of French. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t walk so fast, confound it!” Jean breathed in a whisper +behind Maurice’s back. “You’ll have them after us.” +</p> + +<p> +Their legs seemed inclined to run away with them, although they did their best +to strike a sober gait. It caused them a great effort to pause a moment at a +cross-roads, where a number of people were collected before an inn. Some +villagers were chatting peaceably with German soldiers, and the two runaways +made a pretense of listening, and even hazarded a few observations on the +weather and the probability of the rain continuing during the night. They +trembled when they beheld a man, a fleshy gentleman, eying them attentively, +but as he smiled with an air of great good-nature they thought they might +venture to address him, asking in a whisper: +</p> + +<p> +“Can you tell us if the road to Belgium is guarded, sir?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, it is; but you will be safe if you cross this wood and afterward +cut across the fields, to the left.” +</p> + +<p> +Once they were in the wood, in the deep, dark silence of the slumbering trees, +where no sound reached their ears, where nothing stirred and they believed +their safety was assured them, they sank into each other’s arms in an +uncontrollable impulse of emotion. Maurice was sobbing violently, while big +tears trickled slowly down Jean’s cheeks. It was the natural revulsion of +their overtaxed feelings after the long-protracted ordeal they had passed +through, the joy and delight of their mutual assurance that their troubles were +at an end, and that thenceforth suffering and they were to be strangers. And +united by the memory of what they had endured together in ties closer than +those of brotherhood, they clasped each other in a wild embrace, and the kiss +that they exchanged at that moment seemed to them to possess a savor and a +poignancy such as they had never experienced before in all their life; a kiss +such as they never could receive from lips of woman, sealing their undying +friendship, giving additional confirmation to the certainty that thereafter +their two hearts would be but one, for all eternity. +</p> + +<p> +When they had separated at last: “Little one,” said Jean, in a +trembling voice, “it is well for us to be here, but we are not at the +end. We must look about a bit and try to find our bearings.” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice, although he had no acquaintance with that part of the frontier, +declared that all they had to do was to pursue a straight course, whereon they +resumed their way, moving among the trees in Indian file with the greatest +circumspection, until they reached the edge of the thicket. There, mindful of +the injunction of the kind-hearted villager, they were about to turn to the +left and take a short cut across the fields, but on coming to a road, bordered +with a row of poplars on either side they beheld directly in their path the +watch-fire of a Prussian detachment. The bayonet of the sentry, pacing his +beat, gleamed in the ruddy light, the men were finishing their soup and +conversing; the fugitives stood not upon the order of their going, but plunged +into the recesses of the wood again, in mortal terror lest they might be +pursued. They thought they heard the sound of voices, of footsteps on their +trail, and thus for over an hour they wandered at random among the copses, +until all idea of locality was obliterated from their brain; now racing like +affrighted animals through the underbrush, again brought up all standing, the +cold sweat trickling down their face, before a tree in which they beheld a +Prussian. And the end of it was that they again came out on the poplar-bordered +road not more than ten paces from the sentry, and quite near the soldiers, who +were toasting their toes in tranquil comfort. +</p> + +<p> +“Hang the luck!” grumbled Jean. “This must be an enchanted +wood.” +</p> + +<p> +This time, however, they had been heard. The sound of snapping twigs and +rolling stones betrayed them. And as they did not answer the challenge of the +sentry, but made off at the double-quick, the men seized their muskets and sent +a shower of bullets crashing through the thicket, into which the fugitives had +plunged incontinently. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Nom de Dieu!</i>” ejaculated Jean, with a stifled cry of pain. +</p> + +<p> +He had received something that felt like the cut of a whip in the calf of his +left leg, but the impact was so violent that it drove him up against a tree. +</p> + +<p> +“Are you hurt?” Maurice anxiously inquired. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, and in the leg, worse luck!” +</p> + +<p> +They both stood holding their breath and listening, in dread expectancy of +hearing their pursuers clamoring at their heels; but the firing had ceased and +nothing stirred amid the intense stillness that had again settled down upon the +wood and the surrounding country. It was evident that the Prussians had no +inclination to beat up the thicket. +</p> + +<p> +Jean, who was doing his best to keep on his feet; forced back a groan. Maurice +sustained him with his arm. +</p> + +<p> +“Can’t you walk?” +</p> + +<p> +“I should say not!” He gave way to a fit of rage, he, always so +self-contained. He clenched his fists, could have thumped himself. “God +in Heaven, if this is not hard luck! to have one’s legs knocked from +under him at the very time he is most in need of them! It’s too bad, too +bad, by my soul it is! Go on, you, and put yourself in safety!” +</p> + +<p> +But Maurice laughed quietly as he answered: +</p> + +<p> +“That is silly talk!” +</p> + +<p> +He took his friend’s arm and helped him along, for neither of them had +any desire to linger there. When, laboriously and by dint of heroic effort, +they had advanced some half-dozen paces further, they halted again with renewed +alarm at beholding before them a house, standing at the margin of the wood, +apparently a sort of farmhouse. Not a light was visible at any of the windows, +the open courtyard gate yawned upon the dark and deserted dwelling. And when +they plucked up their courage a little and ventured to enter the courtyard, +great was their surprise to find a horse standing there with a saddle on his +back, with nothing to indicate the why or wherefore of his being there. Perhaps +it was the owner’s intention to return, perhaps he was lying behind a +bush with a bullet in his brain. They never learned how it was. +</p> + +<p> +But Maurice had conceived a new scheme, which appeared to afford him great +satisfaction. +</p> + +<p> +“See here, the frontier is too far away; we should never succeed in +reaching it without a guide. What do you say to changing our plan and going to +Uncle Fouchard’s, at Remilly? I am so well acquainted with every inch of +the road that I’m sure I could take you there with my eyes bandaged. +Don’t you think it’s a good idea, eh? I’ll put you on this +horse, and I suppose Uncle Fouchard will grumble, but he’ll take us +in.” +</p> + +<p> +Before starting he wished to take a look at the injured leg. There were two +orifices; the ball appeared to have entered the limb and passed out, fracturing +the tibia in its course. The flow of blood had not been great; he did nothing +more than bandage the upper part of the calf tightly with his handkerchief. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you fly, and leave me here,” Jean said again. +</p> + +<p> +“Hold your tongue; you are silly!” +</p> + +<p> +When Jean was seated firmly in the saddle Maurice took the bridle and they made +a start. It was somewhere about eleven o’clock, and he hoped to make the +journey in three hours, even if they should be unable to proceed faster than a +walk. A difficulty that he had not thought of until then, however, presented +itself to his mind and for a moment filled him with consternation: how were +they to cross the Meuse in order to get to the left bank? The bridge at Mouzon +would certainly be guarded. At last he remembered that there was a ferry lower +down the stream, at Villers, and trusting to luck to befriend him, he shaped +his course for that village, striking across the meadows and tilled fields of +the right bank. All went well enough at first; they had only to dodge a cavalry +patrol which forced them to hide in the shadow of a wall and remain there half +an hour. Then the rain began to come down in earnest and his progress became +more laborious, compelled as he was to tramp through the sodden fields beside +the horse, which fortunately showed itself to be a fine specimen of the equine +race, and perfectly gentle. On reaching Villers he found that his trust in the +blind goddess, Fortune, had not been misplaced; the ferryman, who, at that late +hour, had just returned from setting a Bavarian officer across the river, took +them at once and landed them on the other shore without delay or accident. +</p> + +<p> +And it was not until they reached the village, where they narrowly escaped +falling into the clutches of the pickets who were stationed along the entire +length of the Remilly road, that their dangers and hardships really commenced; +again they were obliged to take to the fields, feeling their way along blind +paths and cart-tracks that could scarcely be discerned in the darkness. The +most trivial obstacle sufficed to drive them a long way out of their course. +They squeezed through hedges, scrambled down and up the steep banks of ditches, +forced a passage for themselves through the densest thickets. Jean, in whom a +low fever had developed under the drizzling rain, had sunk down crosswise on +his saddle in a condition of semi-consciousness, holding on with both hands by +the horse’s mane, while Maurice, who had slipped the bridle over his +right arm, had to steady him by the legs to keep him from tumbling to the +ground. For more than a league, for two long, weary hours that seemed like an +eternity, did they toil onward in this fatiguing way; floundering, stumbling, +slipping in such a manner that it seemed at every moment as if men and beast +must land together in a heap at the bottom of some descent. The spectacle they +presented was one of utter, abject misery, besplashed with mud, the horse +trembling in every limb, the man upon his back a helpless mass, as if at his +last gasp, the other, wild-eyed and pale as death, keeping his feet only by an +effort of fraternal love. Day was breaking; it was not far from five +o’clock when at last they came to Remilly. +</p> + +<p> +In the courtyard of his little farmhouse, which was situated at the extremity +of the pass of Harancourt, overlooking the village, Father Fouchard was stowing +away in his carriole the carcasses of two sheep that he had slaughtered the day +before. The sight of his nephew, coming to him at that hour and in that sorry +plight, caused him such perturbation of spirit that, after the first +explanatory words, he roughly cried: +</p> + +<p> +“You want me to take you in, you and your friend? and then settle matters +with the Prussians afterward, I suppose. I’m much obliged to you, but no! +I might as well die right straight off and have done with it.” +</p> + +<p> +He did not go so far, however, as to prohibit Maurice and Prosper from taking +Jean from the horse and laying him on the great table in the kitchen. Silvine +ran and got the bolster from her bed and slipped it beneath the head of the +wounded man, who was still unconscious. But it irritated the old fellow to see +the man lying on his table; he grumbled and fretted, saying that the kitchen +was no place for him; why did they not take him away to the hospital at once? +since there fortunately was a hospital at Remilly, near the church, in the old +schoolhouse; and there was a big room in it, with everything nice and +comfortable. +</p> + +<p> +“To the hospital!” Maurice hotly replied, “and have the +Prussians pack him off to Germany as soon as he is well, for you know they +treat all the wounded as prisoners of war. Do you take me for a fool, uncle? I +did not bring him here to give him up.” +</p> + +<p> +Things were beginning to look dubious, the uncle was threatening to pitch them +out upon the road, when someone mentioned Henriette’s name. +</p> + +<p> +“What about Henriette?” inquired the young man. +</p> + +<p> +And he learned that his sister had been an inmate of the house at Remilly for +the last two days; her affliction had weighed so heavily on her that life at +Sedan, where her existence had hitherto been a happy one, was become a burden +greater than she could bear. Chancing to meet with Doctor Dalichamp of +Raucourt, with whom she was acquainted, her conversation with him had been the +means of bringing her to take up her abode with Father Fouchard, in whose house +she had a little bedroom, in order to devote herself entirely to the care of +the sufferers in the neighboring hospital. That alone, she said, would serve to +quiet her bitter memories. She paid her board and was the means of introducing +many small comforts into the life of the farmhouse, which caused Father +Fouchard to regard her with an eye of favor. The weather was always fine with +him, provided he was making money. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! so my sister is here,” said Maurice. “That must have +been what M. Delaherche wished to tell me, with his gestures that I could not +understand. Very well; if she is here, that settles it; we shall remain.” +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding his fatigue he started off at once in quest of her at the +ambulance, where she had been on duty during the preceding night, while the +uncle cursed his luck that kept him from being off with the carriole to sell +his mutton among the neighboring villages, so long as the confounded business +that he had got mixed up in remained unfinished. +</p> + +<p> +When Maurice returned with Henriette they caught the old man making a critical +examination of the horse, that Prosper had led away to the stable. The animal +seemed to please him; he was knocked up, but showed signs of strength and +endurance. The young man laughed and told his uncle he might have him as a gift +if he fancied him, while Henriette, taking her relative aside, assured him Jean +should be no expense to him; that she would take charge of him and nurse him, +and he might have the little room behind the cow-stables, where no Prussian +would ever think to look for him. And Father Fouchard, still wearing a very +sulky face and but half convinced that there was anything to be made out of the +affair, finally closed the discussion by jumping into his carriole and driving +off, leaving her at liberty to act as she pleased. +</p> + +<p> +It took Henriette but a few minutes, with the assistance of Silvine and +Prosper, to put the room in order; then she had Jean brought in and they laid +him on a cool, clean bed, he giving no sign of life during the operation save +to mutter some unintelligible words. He opened his eyes and looked about him, +but seemed not to be conscious of anyone’s presence in the room. Maurice, +who was just beginning to be aware how utterly prostrated he was by his +fatigue, was drinking a glass of wine and eating a bit of cold meat, left over +from the yesterday’s dinner, when Doctor Dalichamp came in, as was his +daily custom previous to visiting the hospital, and the young man, in his +anxiety for his friend, mustered up his strength to follow him, together with +his sister, to the bedside of the patient. +</p> + +<p> +The doctor was a short, thick-set man, with a big round head, on which the +hair, as well as the fringe of beard about his face, had long since begun to be +tinged with gray. The skin of his ruddy, mottled face was tough and indurated +as a peasant’s, spending as he did most of his time in the open air, +always on the go to relieve the sufferings of his fellow-creatures; while the +large, bright eyes, the massive nose, indicative of obstinacy, and the +benignant if somewhat sensual mouth bore witness to the lifelong charities and +good works of the honest country doctor; a little brusque at times, not a man +of genius, but whom many years of practice in his profession had made an +excellent healer. +</p> + +<p> +When he had examined Jean, still in a comatose state, he murmured: +</p> + +<p> +“I am very much afraid that amputation will be necessary.” +</p> + +<p> +The words produced a painful impression on Maurice and Henriette. Presently, +however, he added: +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps we may be able to save the leg, but it will require the utmost +care and attention, and will take a very long time. For the moment his physical +and mental depression is such that the only thing to do is to let him sleep. +To-morrow we shall know more.” +</p> + +<p> +Then, having applied a dressing to the wound, he turned to Maurice, whom he had +known in bygone days, when he was a boy. +</p> + +<p> +“And you, my good fellow, would be better off in bed than sitting +there.” +</p> + +<p> +The young man continued to gaze before him into vacancy, as if he had not +heard. In the confused hallucination that was due to his fatigue he developed a +kind of delirium, a supersensitive nervous excitation that embraced all he had +suffered in mind and body since the beginning of the campaign. The spectacle of +his friend’s wretched state, his own condition, scarce less pitiful, +defeated, his hands tied, good for nothing, the reflection that all those +heroic efforts had culminated in such disaster, all combined to incite him to +frantic rebellion against destiny. At last he spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“It is not ended; no, no! we have not seen the end, and I must go away. +Since <i>he</i> must lie there on his back for weeks, for months, perhaps, I +cannot stay; I must go, I must go at once. You will assist me, won’t you, +doctor? you will supply me with the means to escape and get back to +Paris?” +</p> + +<p> +Pale and trembling, Henriette threw her arms about him and caught him to her +bosom. +</p> + +<p> +“What words are those you speak? enfeebled as you are, after all the +suffering you have endured! but think not I shall let you go; you shall stay +here with me! Have you not paid the debt you owe your country? and should you +not think of me, too, whom you would leave to loneliness? of me, who have +nothing now in all the wide world save you?” +</p> + +<p> +Their tears flowed and were mingled. They held each other in a wild tumultuous +embrace, with that fond affection which, in twins, often seems as if it +antedated existence. But for all that his exaltation did not subside, but +assumed a higher pitch. +</p> + +<p> +“I tell you I must go. Should I not go I feel I should die of grief and +shame. You can have no idea how my blood boils and seethes in my veins at the +thought of remaining here in idleness. I tell you that this business is not +going to end thus, that we must be avenged. On whom, on what? Ah! that I cannot +tell; but avenged we must and shall be for such misfortune, in order that we +may yet have courage to live on!” +</p> + +<p> +Doctor Dalichamp, who had been watching the scene with intense interest, +cautioned Henriette by signal to make no reply. Maurice would doubtless be more +rational after he should have slept; and sleep he did, all that day and all the +succeeding night, for more than twenty hours, and never stirred hand or foot. +When he awoke next morning, however, he was as inflexible as ever in his +determination to go away. The fever had subsided; he was gloomy and restless, +in haste to withdraw himself from influences that he feared might weaken his +patriotic fervor. His sister, with many tears, made up her mind that he must be +allowed to have his way, and Doctor Dalichamp, when he came to make his morning +visit, promised to do what he could to facilitate the young man’s escape +by turning over to him the papers of a hospital attendant who had died recently +at Raucourt. It was arranged that Maurice should don the gray blouse with the +red cross of Geneva on its sleeve and pass through Belgium, thence to make his +way as best he might to Paris, access to which was as yet uninterrupted. +</p> + +<p> +He did not leave the house that day, keeping himself out of sight and waiting +for night to come. He scarcely opened his mouth, although he did make an +attempt to enlist the new farm-hand in his enterprise. +</p> + +<p> +“Say, Prosper, don’t you feel as if you would like to go back and +have one more look at the Prussians?” +</p> + +<p> +The ex-chasseur d’Afrique, who was eating a cheese sandwich, stopped and +held his knife suspended in the air. +</p> + +<p> +“It don’t strike me that it is worth while, from what we were +allowed to see of them before. Why should you wish me to go back there, when +the only use our generals can find for the cavalry is to send it in after the +battle is ended and let it be cut to pieces? No, faith, I’m sick of the +business, giving us such dirty work as that to do!” There was silence +between them for a moment; then he went on, doubtless to quiet the reproaches +of his conscience as a soldier: “And then the work is too heavy here just +now; the plowing is just commencing, and then there’ll be the fall sowing +to be looked after. We must think of the farm work, mustn’t we? for +fighting is well enough in its way, but what would become of us if we should +cease to till the ground? You see how it is; I can’t leave my work. Not +that I am particularly in love with Father Fouchard, for I doubt very strongly +if I shall ever see the color of his money, but the beasties are beginning to +take to me, and faith! when I was up there in the Old Field this morning, and +gave a look at that d——d Sedan lying yonder in the distance, you +can’t tell how good it made me feel to be guiding my oxen and driving the +plow through the furrow, all alone in the bright sunshine.” +</p> + +<p> +As soon as it was fairly dark, Doctor Dalichamp came driving up in his old gig. +It was his intention to see Maurice to the frontier. Father Fouchard, well +pleased to be rid of one of his guests at least, stepped out upon the road to +watch and make sure there were none of the enemy’s patrols prowling in +the neighborhood, while Silvine put a few stitches in the blouse of the defunct +ambulance man, on the sleeve of which the red cross of the corps was +prominently displayed. The doctor, before taking his place in the vehicle, +examined Jean’s leg anew, but could not as yet promise that he would be +able to save it. The patient was still in a profound lethargy, recognizing no +one, never opening his mouth to speak, and Maurice was about to leave him +without the comfort of a farewell, when, bending over to give him a last +embrace, he saw him open his eyes to their full extent; the lips parted, and in +a faint voice he said: +</p> + +<p> +“You are going away?” And in reply to their astonished looks: +“Yes, I heard what you said, though I could not stir. Take the remainder +of the money, then. Put your hand in my trousers’ pocket and take +it.” +</p> + +<p> +Each of them had remaining nearly two hundred francs of the sum they had +received from the corps paymaster. +</p> + +<p> +But Maurice protested. “The money!” he exclaimed. “Why, you +have more need of it than I, who have the use of both my legs. Two hundred +francs will be abundantly sufficient to see me to Paris, and to get knocked in +the head afterward won’t cost me a penny. I thank you, though, old +fellow, all the same, and good-by and good-luck to you; thanks, too, for having +always been so good and thoughtful, for, had it not been for you, I should +certainly be lying now at the bottom of some ditch, like a dead dog.” +</p> + +<p> +Jean made a deprecating gesture. “Hush. You owe me nothing; we are quits. +Would not the Prussians have gathered me in out there the other day had you not +picked me up and carried me off on your back? and yesterday again you saved me +from their clutches. Twice have I been beholden to you for my life, and now I +am in your debt. Ah, how unhappy I shall be when I am no longer with +you!” His voice trembled and tears rose to his eyes. “Kiss me, dear +boy!” +</p> + +<p> +They embraced, and, as it had been in the wood the day before, that kiss set +the seal to the brotherhood of dangers braved in each other’s company, +those few weeks of soldier’s life in common that had served to bind their +hearts together with closer ties than years of ordinary friendship could have +done. Days of famine, sleepless nights, the fatigue of the weary march, death +ever present to their eyes, these things made the foundation on which their +affection rested. When two hearts have thus by mutual gift bestowed themselves +the one upon the other and become fused and molten into one, is it possible +ever to sever the connection? But the kiss they had exchanged the day before, +among the darkling shadows of the forest, was replete with the joy of their +new-found safety and the hope that their escape awakened in their bosom, while +this was the kiss of parting, full of anguish and doubt unutterable. Would they +meet again some day? and how, under what circumstances of sorrow or of +gladness? +</p> + +<p> +Doctor Dalichamp had clambered into his gig and was calling to Maurice. The +young man threw all his heart and soul into the embrace he gave his sister +Henriette, who, pale as death in her black mourning garments, looked on his +face in silence through her tears. +</p> + +<p> +“He whom I leave to your care is my brother. Watch over him, love him as +I love him!” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap20"></a>IV.</h2> + +<p> +Jean’s chamber was a large room, with floor of brick and whitewashed +walls, that had once done duty as a store-room for the fruit grown on the farm. +A faint, pleasant odor of pears and apples lingered there still, and for +furniture there was an iron bedstead, a pine table and two chairs, to say +nothing of a huge old walnut clothes-press, tremendously deep and wide, that +looked as if it might hold an army. A lazy, restful quiet reigned there all day +long, broken only by the deadened sounds that came from the adjacent stables, +the faint lowing of the cattle, the occasional thud of a hoof upon the earthen +floor. The window, which had a southern aspect, let in a flood of cheerful +sunlight; all the view it afforded was a bit of hillside and a wheat field, +edged by a little wood. And this mysterious chamber was so well hidden from +prying eyes that never a one in all the world would have suspected its +existence. +</p> + +<p> +As it was to be her kingdom, Henriette constituted herself lawmaker from the +beginning. The regulation was that no one save she and the doctor should have +access to Jean; this in order to avert suspicion. Silvine, even, was never to +set foot in the room unless by direction. Early each morning the two women came +in and put things to rights, and after that, all the long day, the door was as +impenetrable as if it had been a wall of stone. And thus it was that Jean found +himself suddenly secluded from the world, after many weeks of tumultuous +activity, seeing no face save that of the gentle woman whose footfall on the +floor gave back no sound. She appeared to him, as he had beheld her for the +first time down yonder in Sedan, like an apparition, with her somewhat large +mouth, her delicate, small features, her hair the hue of ripened grain, +hovering about his bedside and ministering to his wants with an air of infinite +goodness. +</p> + +<p> +The patient’s fever was so violent during the first few days that +Henriette scarce ever left him. Doctor Dalichamp dropped in every morning on +his way to the hospital and examined and dressed the wound. As the ball had +passed out, after breaking the tibia, he was surprised that the case presented +no better aspect; he feared there was a splinter of the bone remaining there +that he had not succeeded in finding with the probe, and that might make +resection necessary. He mentioned the matter to Jean, but the young man could +not endure the thought of an operation that would leave him with one leg +shorter than the other and lame him permanently. No, no! he would rather die +than be a cripple for life. So the good doctor, leaving the wound to develop +further symptoms, confined himself for the present to applying a dressing of +lint saturated with sweet oil and phenic acid having first inserted a +drain—an India rubber tube—to carry off the pus. He frankly told +his patient, however, that unless he submitted to an operation he must not hope +to have the use of his limb for a very long time. Still, after the second week, +the fever subsided and the young man’s general condition was improved, so +long as he could be content to rest quiet in his bed. +</p> + +<p> +Then Jean’s and Henriette’s relations began to be established on a +more systematic basis. Fixed habits commenced to prevail; it seemed to them +that they had never lived otherwise—that they were to go on living +forever in that way. All the hours and moments that she did not devote to the +ambulance were spent with him; she saw to it that he had his food and drink at +proper intervals. She assisted him to turn in bed with a strength of wrist that +no one, seeing her slender arms, would have supposed was in her. At times they +would converse; but as a general thing, especially in the earlier days, they +had not much to say. They never seemed to tire of each other’s company, +though. On the whole it was a very pleasant life they led in that calm, restful +atmosphere, he with the horrible scenes of the battlefield still fresh in his +memory, she in her widow’s weeds, her heart bruised and bleeding with the +great loss she had sustained. At first he had experienced a sensation of +embarrassment, for he felt she was his superior, almost a lady, indeed, while +he had never been aught more than a common soldier and a peasant. He could +barely read and write. When finally he came to see that she affected no airs of +superiority, but treated him on the footing of an equal, his confidence +returned to him in a measure and he showed himself in his true colors, as a man +of intelligence by reason of his sound, unpretentious common sense. Besides, he +was surprised at times to think he could note a change was gradually coming +over him; it seemed to him that his mind was less torpid than it had been, that +it was clearer and more active, that he had novel ideas in his head, and more +of them; could it be that the abominable life he had been leading for the last +two months, his horrible sufferings, physical and moral, had exerted a refining +influence on him? But that which assisted him most to overcome his shyness was +to find that she was really not so very much wiser than he. She was but a +little child when, at her mother’s death, she became the household +drudge, with her three men to care for, as she herself expressed it—her +grandfather, her father, and her brother—and she had not had the time to +lay in a large stock of learning. She could read and write, could spell words +that were not too long, and “do sums,” if they were not too +intricate; and that was the extent of her acquirement. And if she continued to +intimidate him still, if he considered her far and away the superior of all +other women upon earth, it was because he knew the ineffable tenderness, the +goodness of heart, the unflinching courage, that animated that frail little +body, who went about her duties silently and met them as if they had been +pleasures. +</p> + +<p> +They had in Maurice a subject of conversation that was of common interest to +them both and of which they never wearied. It was to Maurice’s friend, +his brother, to whom she was devoting herself thus tenderly, the brave, kind +man, so ready with his aid in time of trouble, who she felt had made her so +many times his debtor. She was full to overflowing with a sentiment of deepest +gratitude and affection, that went on widening and deepening as she came to +know him better and recognize his sterling qualities of head and heart, and he, +whom she was tending like a little child, was actuated by such grateful +sentiments that he would have liked to kiss her hands each time she gave him a +cup of bouillon. Day by day did this bond of tender sympathy draw them nearer +to each other in that profound solitude amid which they lived, harassed by an +anxiety that they shared in common. When he had utterly exhausted his +recollections of the dismal march from Rheims to Sedan, to the particulars of +which she never seemed to tire of listening, the same question always rose to +their lips: what was Maurice doing then? why did he not write? Could it be that +the blockade of Paris was already complete, and was that the reason why they +received no news? They had as yet had but one letter from him, written at +Rouen, three days after his leaving them, in which he briefly stated that he +had reached that city on his way to Paris, after a long and devious journey. +And then for a week there had been no further word; the silence had remained +unbroken. +</p> + +<p> +In the morning, after Doctor Dalichamp had attended to his patient, he liked to +sit a while and chat, putting his cares aside for the moment. Sometimes he also +returned at evening and made a longer visit, and it was in this way that they +learned what was going on in the great world outside their peaceful solitude +and the terrible calamities that were desolating their country. He was their +only source of intelligence; his heart, which beat with patriotic ardor, +overflowed with rage and grief at every fresh defeat, and thus it was that his +sole topic of conversation was the victorious progress of the Prussians, who, +since Sedan, had spread themselves over France like the waves of some black +ocean. Each day brought its own tidings of disaster, and resting disconsolately +on one of the two chairs that stood by the bedside, he would tell in mournful +tones and with trembling gestures of the increasing gravity of the situation. +Oftentimes he came with his pockets stuffed with Belgian newspapers, which he +would leave behind him when he went away. And thus the echoes of defeat, days, +weeks, after the event, reverberated in that quiet room, serving to unite yet +more closely in community of sorrow the two poor sufferers who were shut within +its walls. +</p> + +<p> +It was from some of those old newspapers that Henriette read to Jean the +occurrences at Metz, the Titanic struggle that was three times renewed, +separated on each occasion by a day’s interval. The story was already +five weeks old, but it was new to him, and he listened with a bleeding heart to +the repetition of the miserable narrative of defeat to which he was not a +stranger. In the deathly stillness of the room the incidents of the woeful tale +unfolded themselves as Henriette, with the sing-song enunciation of a +schoolgirl, picked out her words and sentences. When, after Froeschwiller and +Spickeren, the 1st corps, routed and broken into fragments, had swept away with +it the 5th, the other corps stationed along the frontier <i>en échelon</i> from +Metz to Bitche, first wavering, then retreating in their consternation at those +reverses, had ultimately concentrated before the intrenched camp on the right +bank of the Moselle. But what waste of precious time was there, when they +should not have lost a moment in retreating on Paris, a movement that was +presently to be attended with such difficulty! The Emperor had been compelled +to turn over the supreme command to Marshal Bazaine, to whom everyone looked +with confidence for a victory. Then, on the 14th<a href="#fn3" name="fnref3" id="fnref3"><sup>[3]</sup></a> +came the affair of Borny, when the army was attacked at the moment when it was +at last about to cross the stream, having to sustain the onset of two German +armies: Steinmetz’s, which was encamped in observation in front of the +intrenched camp, and Prince Frederick Charles’s, which had passed the +river higher up and come down along the left bank in order to bar the French +from access to their country; Borny, where the firing did not begin until it +was three o’clock; Borny, that barren victory, at the end of which the +French remained masters of their positions, but which left them astride the +Moselle, tied hand and foot, while the turning movement of the second German +army was being successfully accomplished. After that, on the 16th, was the +battle of Rezonville; all our corps were at last across the stream, although, +owing to the confusion that prevailed at the junction of the Mars-la-Tour and +Etain roads, which the Prussians had gained possession of early in the morning +by a brilliant movement of their cavalry and artillery, the 3d and 4th corps +were hindered in their march and unable to get up; a slow, dragging, confused +battle, which, up to two o’clock, Bazaine, with only a handful of men +opposed to him, should have won, but which he wound up by losing, thanks to his +inexplicable fear of being cut off from Metz; a battle of immense extent, +spreading over leagues of hill and plain, where the French, attacked in front +and flank, seemed willing to do almost anything except advance, affording the +enemy time to concentrate and to all appearances co-operating with them to +ensure the success of the Prussian plan, which was to force their withdrawal to +the other side of the river. And on the 18th, after their retirement to the +intrenched camp, Saint-Privat was fought, the culmination of the gigantic +struggle, where the line of battle extended more than eight miles in length, +two hundred thousand Germans with seven hundred guns arrayed against a hundred +and twenty thousand French with but five hundred guns, the Germans facing +toward Germany, the French toward France, as if invaders and invaded had +inverted their roles in the singular tactical movements that had been going on; +after two o’clock the conflict was most sanguinary, the Prussian Guard +being repulsed with tremendous slaughter and Bazaine, with a left wing that +withstood the onsets of the enemy like a wall of adamant, for a long time +victorious, up to the moment, at the approach of evening, when the weaker right +wing was compelled by the terrific losses it had sustained to abandon +Saint-Privat, involving in its rout the remainder of the army, which, defeated +and driven back under the walls of Metz, was thenceforth to be imprisoned in a +circle of flame and iron. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn3" id="fn3"></a> <a href="#fnref3">[3]</a> +August.—T<small>R</small>. +</p> + +<p> +As Henriette pursued her reading Jean momentarily interrupted her to say: +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, well! and to think that we fellows, after leaving Rheims, were +looking for Bazaine! They were always telling us he was coming; now I can see +why he never came!” +</p> + +<p> +The marshal’s despatch, dated the 19th, after the battle of Saint-Privat, +in which he spoke of resuming his retrograde movement by way of Montmedy, that +despatch which had for its effect the advance of the army of Châlons, would +seem to have been nothing more than the report of a defeated general, desirous +to present matters under their most favorable aspect, and it was not until a +considerably later period, the 29th, when the tidings of the approach of this +relieving army had reached him through the Prussian lines, that he attempted a +final effort, on the right bank this time, at Noiseville, but in such a feeble, +half-hearted way that on the 1st of September, the day when the army of Châlons +was annihilated at Sedan, the army of Metz fell back to advance no more, and +became as if dead to France. The marshal, whose conduct up to that time may +fairly be characterized as that of a leader of only moderate ability, +neglecting his opportunities and failing to move when the roads were open to +him, after that blockaded by forces greatly superior to his own, was now about +to be seduced by alluring visions of political greatness and become a +conspirator and a traitor. +</p> + +<p> +But in the papers that Doctor Dalichamp brought them Bazaine was still the +great man and the gallant soldier, to whom France looked for her salvation. +</p> + +<p> +And Jean wanted certain passages read to him again, in order that he might more +clearly understand how it was that while the third German army, under the Crown +Prince of Prussia, had been leading them such a dance, and the first and second +were besieging Metz, the latter were so strong in men and guns that it had been +possible to form from them a fourth army, which, under the Crown Prince of +Saxony, had done so much to decide the fortune of the day at Sedan. Then, +having obtained the information he desired, resting on that bed of suffering to +which his wound condemned him, he forced himself to hope in spite of all. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s how it is, you see; we were not so strong as they! No one +can ever get at the rights of such matters while the fighting is going on. +Never mind, though; you have read the figures as the newspapers give them: +Bazaine has a hundred and fifty thousand men with him, he has three hundred +thousand small arms and more than five hundred pieces of artillery; take my +word for it, he is not going to let himself be caught in such a scrape as we +were. The fellows all say he is a tough man to deal with; depend on it +he’s fixing up a nasty dose for the enemy, and he’ll make ’em +swallow it.” +</p> + +<p> +Henriette nodded her head and appeared to agree with him, in order to keep him +in a cheerful frame of mind. She could not follow those complicated operations +of the armies, but had a presentiment of coming, inevitable evil. Her voice was +fresh and clear; she could have gone on reading thus for hours; only too glad +to have it in her power to relieve the tedium of his long day, though at times, +when she came to some narrative of slaughter, her eyes would fill with tears +that made the words upon the printed page a blur. She was doubtless thinking of +her husband’s fate, how he had been shot down at the foot of the wall and +his body desecrated by the touch of the Bavarian officer’s boot. +</p> + +<p> +“If it gives you such pain,” Jean said in surprise, “you need +not read the battles; skip them.” +</p> + +<p> +But, gentle and self-sacrificing as ever, she recovered herself immediately. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no; don’t mind my weakness; I assure you it is a pleasure to +me.” +</p> + +<p> +One evening early in October, when the wind was blowing a small hurricane +outside, she came in from the ambulance and entered the room with an excited +air, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“A letter from Maurice! the doctor just gave it me.” +</p> + +<p> +With each succeeding morning the twain had been becoming more and more alarmed +that the young man sent them no word, and now that for a whole week it had been +rumored everywhere that the investment of Paris was complete, they were more +disturbed in mind than ever, despairing of receiving tidings, asking themselves +what could have happened him after he left Rouen. And now the reason of the +long silence was made clear to them: the letter that he had addressed from +Paris to Doctor Dalichamp on the 18th, the very day that ended railway +communication with Havre, had gone astray and had only reached them at last by +a miracle, after a long and circuitous journey. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, the dear boy!” said Jean, radiant with delight. “Read it +to me, quick!” +</p> + +<p> +The wind was howling and shrieking more dismally than ever, the window of the +apartment strained and rattled as if someone were trying to force an entrance. +Henriette went and got the little lamp, and placing it on the table beside the +bed applied herself to the reading of the missive, so close to Jean that their +faces almost touched. There was a sensation of warmth and comfort in the +peaceful room amid the roaring of the storm that raged without. +</p> + +<p> +It was a long letter of eight closely filled pages, in which Maurice first told +how, soon after his arrival on the 16th, he had had the good fortune to get +into a line regiment that was being recruited up to its full strength. Then, +reverting to facts of history, he described in brief but vigorous terms the +principal events of that month of terror: how Paris, recovering her sanity in a +measure after the madness into which the disasters of Wissembourg and +Froeschwiller had driven her, had comforted herself with hopes of future +victories, had cheered herself with fresh illusions, such as lying stories of +the army’s successes, the appointment of Bazaine to the chief command, +the <i>levée en masse</i>, bogus dispatches, which the ministers themselves +read from the tribune, telling of hecatombs of slaughtered Prussians. And then +he went on to tell how, on the 3d of September, the thunderbolt had a second +time burst over the unhappy capital: all hope gone, the misinformed, abused, +confiding city dazed by that crushing blow of destiny, the cries: “Down +with the Empire!” that resounded at night upon the boulevards, the brief +and gloomy session of the Chamber at which Jules Favre read the draft of the +bill that conceded the popular demand. Then on the next day, the ever-memorable +4th of September, was the upheaval of all things, the second Empire swept from +existence in atonement for its mistakes and crimes, the entire population of +the capital in the streets, a torrent of humanity a half a million strong +filling the Place de la Concorde and streaming onward in the bright sunshine of +that beautiful Sabbath day to the great gates of the Corps Législatif, feebly +guarded by a handful of troops, who up-ended their muskets in the air in token +of sympathy with the populace—smashing in the doors, swarming into the +assembly chambers, whence Jules Favre, Gambetta and other deputies of the Left +were even then on the point of departing to proclaim the Republic at the Hôtel +de Ville; while on the Place Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois a little wicket of +the Louvre opened timidly and gave exit to the Empress-regent, attired in black +garments and accompanied by a single female friend, both the women trembling +with affright and striving to conceal themselves in the depths of the public +cab, which went jolting with its scared inmates from the Tuileries, through +whose apartments the mob was at that moment streaming. On the same day Napoleon +III. left the inn at Bouillon, where he had passed his first night of exile, +bending his way toward Wilhelmshohe. +</p> + +<p> +Here Jean, a thoughtful expression on his face, interrupted Henriette. +</p> + +<p> +“Then we have a republic now? So much the better, if it is going to help +us whip the Prussians!” +</p> + +<p> +But he shook his head; he had always been taught to look distrustfully on +republics when he was a peasant. And then, too, it did not seem to him a good +thing that they should be of differing minds when the enemy was fronting them. +After all, though, it was manifest there had to be a change of some kind, since +everyone knew the Empire was rotten to the core and the people would have no +more of it. +</p> + +<p> +Henriette finished the letter, which concluded with a mention of the approach +of the German armies. On the 13th, the day when a committee of the Government +of National Defense had established its quarters at Tours, their advanced +guards had been seen at Lagny, to the east of Paris. On the 14th and 15th they +were at the very gates of the city, at Creteil and Joinville-le-Pont. On the +18th, however, the day when Maurice wrote, he seemed to have ceased to believe +in the possibility of maintaining a strict blockade of Paris; he appeared to be +under the influence of one of his hot fits of blind confidence, characterising +the siege as a senseless and impudent enterprise that would come to an +ignominious end before they were three weeks older, relying on the armies that +the provinces would surely send to their relief, to say nothing of the army of +Metz, that was already advancing by way of Verdun and Rheims. And the links of +the iron chain that their enemies had forged for them had been riveted +together; it encompassed Paris, and now Paris was a city shut off from all the +world, whence no letter, no word of tidings longer came, the huge prison-house +of two millions of living beings, who were to their neighbors as if they were +not. +</p> + +<p> +Henriette was oppressed by a sense of melancholy. “Ah, merciful +heaven!” she murmured, “how long will all this last, and shall we +ever see him more!” +</p> + +<p> +A more furious blast bent the sturdy trees out-doors and made the timbers of +the old farmhouse creak and groan. Think of the sufferings the poor fellows +would have to endure should the winter be severe, fighting in the snow, without +bread, without fire! +</p> + +<p> +“Bah!” rejoined Jean, “that’s a very nice letter of +his, and it’s a comfort to have heard from him. We must not +despair.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus, day by day, the month of October ran its course, with gray melancholy +skies, and if ever the wind went down for a short space it was only to bring +the clouds back in darker, heavier masses. Jean’s wound was healing very +slowly; the outflow from the drain was not the “laudable pus” which +would have permitted the doctor to remove the appliance, and the patient was in +a very enfeebled state, refusing, however, to be operated on in his dread of +being left a cripple. An atmosphere of expectant resignation, disturbed at +times by transient misgivings for which there was no apparent cause, pervaded +the slumberous little chamber, to which the tidings from abroad came in vague, +indeterminate shape, like the distorted visions of an evil dream. The hateful +war, with its butcheries and disasters, was still raging out there in the +world, in some quarter unknown to them, without their ever being able to learn +the real course of events, without their being conscious of aught save the +wails and groans that seemed to fill the air from their mangled, bleeding +country. And the dead leaves rustled in the paths as the wind swept them before +it beneath the gloomy sky, and over the naked fields brooded a funereal +silence, broken only by the cawing of the crows, presage of a bitter winter. +</p> + +<p> +A principal subject of conversation between them at this time was the hospital, +which Henriette never left except to come and cheer Jean with her company. When +she came in at evening he would question her, making the acquaintance of each +of her charges, desirous to know who would die and who recover; while she, +whose heart and soul were in her occupation, never wearied, but related the +occurrences of the day in their minutest details. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah,” she would always say, “the poor boys, the poor +boys!” +</p> + +<p> +It was not the ambulance of the battlefield, where the blood from the wounded +came in a fresh, bright stream, where the flesh the surgeon’s knife cut +into was firm and healthy; it was the decay and rottenness of the hospital, +where the odor of fever and gangrene hung in the air, damp with the exhalations +of the lingering convalescents and those who were dying by inches. Doctor +Dalichamp had had the greatest difficulty in procuring the necessary beds, +sheets and pillows, and every day he had to accomplish miracles to keep his +patients alive, to obtain for them bread, meat and desiccated vegetables, to +say nothing of bandages, compresses and other appliances. As the Prussian +officers in charge of the military hospital in Sedan had refused him +everything, even chloroform, he was accustomed to send to Belgium for what he +required. And yet he had made no discrimination between French and Germans; he +was even then caring for a dozen Bavarian soldiers who had been brought in +there from Bazeilles. Those bitter adversaries who but a short time before had +been trying to cut each other’s throat now lay side by side, their +passions calmed by suffering. And what abodes of distress and misery they were, +those two long rooms in the old schoolhouse of Remilly, where, in the crude +light that streamed through the tall windows, some thirty beds in each were +arranged on either side of a narrow passage. +</p> + +<p> +As late even as ten days after the battle wounded men had been discovered in +obscure corners, where they had been overlooked, and brought in for treatment. +There were four who had crawled into a vacant house at Balan and remained +there, without attendance, kept from starving in some way, no one could tell +how, probably by the charity of some kind-hearted neighbor, and their wounds +were alive with maggots; they were as dead men, their system poisoned by the +corruption that exuded from their wounds. There was a purulency, that nothing +could check or overcome, that hovered over the rows of beds and emptied them. +As soon as the door was passed one’s nostrils were assailed by the odor +of mortifying flesh. From drains inserted in festering sores fetid matter +trickled, drop by drop. Oftentimes it became necessary to reopen old wounds in +order to extract a fragment of bone that had been overlooked. Then abscesses +would form, to break out after an interval in some remote portion of the body. +Their strength all gone, reduced to skeletons, with ashen, clayey faces, the +miserable wretches suffered the torments of the damned. Some, so weakened they +could scarcely draw their breath, lay all day long upon their back, with tight +shut, darkened eyes, like corpses in which decomposition had already set in; +while others, denied the boon of sleep, tossing in restless wakefulness, +drenched with the cold sweat that streamed from every pore, raved like +lunatics, as if their suffering had made them mad. And whether they were calm +or violent, it mattered not; when the contagion of the fever reached them, then +was the end at hand, the poison doing its work, flying from bed to bed, +sweeping them all away in one mass of corruption. +</p> + +<p> +But worst of all was the condemned cell, the room to which were assigned those +who were attacked by dysentery, typhus or small-pox. There were many cases of +black small-pox. The patients writhed and shrieked in unceasing delirium, or +sat erect in bed with the look of specters. Others had pneumonia and were +wasting beneath the stress of their frightful cough. There were others again +who maintained a continuous howling and were comforted only when their burning, +throbbing wound was sprayed with cold water. The great hour of the day, the one +that was looked forward to with eager expectancy, was that of the +doctor’s morning visit, when the beds were opened and aired and an +opportunity was afforded their occupants to stretch their limbs, cramped by +remaining long in one position. And it was the hour of dread and terror as +well, for not a day passed that, as the doctor went his rounds, he was not +pained to see on some poor devil’s skin the bluish spots that denoted the +presence of gangrene. The operation would be appointed for the following day, +when a few more inches of the leg or arm would be sliced away. Often the +gangrene kept mounting higher and higher, and amputation had to be repeated +until the entire limb was gone. +</p> + +<p> +Every evening on her return Henriette answered Jean’s questions in the +same tone of compassion: +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, the poor boys, the poor boys!” +</p> + +<p> +And her particulars never varied; they were the story of the daily recurring +torments of that earthly hell. There had been an amputation at the +shoulder-joint, a foot had been taken off, a humerus resected; but would +gangrene or purulent contagion be clement and spare the patient? Or else they +had been burying some one of their inmates, most frequently a Frenchman, now +and then a German. Scarcely a day passed but a coarse coffin, hastily knocked +together from four pine boards, left the hospital at the twilight hour, +accompanied by a single one of the attendants, often by the young woman +herself, that a fellow-creature might not be laid away in his grave like a dog. +In the little cemetery at Remilly two trenches had been dug, and there they +slumbered, side by side, French to the right, Germans to the left, their enmity +forgotten in their narrow bed. +</p> + +<p> +Jean, without ever having seen them, had come to feel an interest in certain +among the patients. He would ask for tidings of them. +</p> + +<p> +“And ‘Poor boy,’ how is he getting on to-day?” +</p> + +<p> +This was a little soldier, a private in the 5th of the line, not yet twenty +years old, who had doubtless enlisted as a volunteer. The by-name: “Poor +boy” had been given him and had stuck because he always used the words in +speaking of himself, and when one day he was asked the reason he replied that +that was the name by which his mother had always called him. Poor boy he was, +in truth, for he was dying of pleurisy brought on by a wound in his left side. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, poor fellow,” replied Henriette, who had conceived a special +fondness for this one of her charges, “he is no better; he coughed all +the afternoon. It pained my heart to hear him.” +</p> + +<p> +“And your bear, Gutman, how about him?” pursued Jean, with a faint +smile. “Is the doctor’s report more favorable?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, he thinks he may be able to save his life. But the poor man suffers +dreadfully.” +</p> + +<p> +Although they both felt the deepest compassion for him, they never spoke of +Gutman but a smile of gentle amusement came to their lips. Almost immediately +upon entering on her duties at the hospital the young woman had been shocked to +recognize in that Bavarian soldier the features: big blue eyes, red hair and +beard and massive nose, of the man who had carried her away in his arms the day +they shot her husband at Bazeilles. He recognized her as well, but could not +speak; a musket ball, entering at the back of the neck, had carried away half +his tongue. For two days she recoiled with horror, an involuntary shudder +passed through her frame, each time she had to approach his bed, but presently +her heart began to melt under the imploring, very gentle looks with which he +followed her movements in the room. Was he not the blood-splashed monster, with +eyes ablaze with furious rage, whose memory was ever present to her mind? It +cost her an effort to recognize him now in that submissive, uncomplaining +creature, who bore his terrible suffering with such cheerful resignation. The +nature of his affliction, which is not of frequent occurrence, enlisted for him +the sympathies of the entire hospital. It was not even certain that his name +was Gutman; he was called so because the only sound he succeeded in +articulating was a word of two syllables that resembled that more than it did +anything else. As regarded all other particulars concerning him everyone was in +the dark; it was generally believed, however, that he was married and had +children. He seemed to understand a few words of French, for he would answer +questions that were put to him with an emphatic motion of the head: +“Married?” yes, yes! “Children?” yes, yes! The interest +and excitement he displayed one day that he saw some flour induced them to +believe he might have been a miller. And that was all. Where was the mill, +whose wheel had ceased to turn? In what distant Bavarian village were the wife +and children now weeping their lost husband and father? Was he to die, +nameless, unknown, in that foreign country, and leave his dear ones forever +ignorant of his fate? +</p> + +<p> +“To-day,” Henriette told Jean one evening, “Gutman kissed his +hand to me. I cannot give him a drink of water, or render him any other +trifling service, but he manifests his gratitude by the most extravagant +demonstrations. Don’t smile; it is too terrible to be buried thus alive +before one’s time has come.” +</p> + +<p> +Toward the end of October Jean’s condition began to improve. The doctor +thought he might venture to remove the drain, although he still looked +apprehensive whenever he examined the wound, which, nevertheless appeared to be +healing as rapidly as could be expected. The convalescent was able to leave his +bed, and spent hours at a time pacing his room or seated at the window, looking +out on the cheerless, leaden sky. Then time began to hang heavy on his hands; +he spoke of finding something to do, asked if he could not be of service on the +farm. Among the secret cares that disturbed his mind was the question of money, +for he did not suppose he could have lain there for six long weeks and not +exhaust his little fortune of two hundred francs, and if Father Fouchard +continued to afford him hospitality it must be that Henriette had been paying +his board. The thought distressed him greatly; he did not know how to bring +about an explanation with her, and it was with a feeling of deep satisfaction +that he accepted the position of assistant at the farm, with the understanding +that he was to help Silvine with the housework, while Prosper was to be +continued in charge of the out-door labors. +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding the hardness of the times Father Fouchard could well afford to +take on another hand, for his affairs were prospering. While the whole country +was in the throes of dissolution and bleeding at every limb, he had succeeded +in so extending his butchering business that he was now slaughtering three and +even four times as many animals as he had ever done before. It was said that +since the 31st of August he had been carrying on a most lucrative business with +the Prussians. He who on the 30th had stood at his door with his cocked gun in +his hand and refused to sell a crust of bread to the starving soldiers of the +7th corps had on the following day, upon the first appearance of the enemy, +opened up as dealer in all kinds of supplies, had disinterred from his cellar +immense stocks of provisions, had brought back his flocks and herds from the +fastnesses where he had concealed them; and since that day he had been one of +the heaviest purveyors of meat to the German armies, exhibiting consummate +address in bargaining with them and in getting his money promptly for his +merchandise. Other dealers at times suffered great inconvenience from the +insolent arbitrariness of the victors, whereas he never sold them a sack of +flour, a cask of wine or a quarter of beef that he did not get his pay for it +as soon as delivered in good hard cash. It made a good deal of talk in Remilly; +people said it was scandalous on the part of a man whom the war had deprived of +his only son, whose grave he never visited, but left to be cared for by +Silvine; but nevertheless they all looked up to him with respect as a man who +was making his fortune while others, even the shrewdest, were having a hard +time of it to keep body and soul together. And he, with a sly leer out of his +small red eyes, would shrug his shoulders and growl in his bull-headed way: +</p> + +<p> +“Who talks of patriotism! I am more a patriot than any of them. Would you +call it patriotism to fill those bloody Prussians’ mouths gratis? What +they get from me they have to pay for. Folks will see how it is some of these +days!” +</p> + +<p> +On the second day of his employment Jean remained too long on foot, and the +doctor’s secret fears proved not to be unfounded; the wound opened, the +leg became greatly inflamed and swollen, he was compelled to take to his bed +again. Dalichamp suspected that the mischief was due to a spicule of bone that +the two consecutive days of violent exercise had served to liberate. He +explored the wound and was so fortunate as to find the fragment, but there was +a shock attending the operation, succeeded by a high fever, which exhausted all +Jean’s strength. He had never in his life been reduced to a condition of +such debility: his recovery promised to be a work of time, and faithful +Henriette resumed her position as nurse and companion in the little chamber, +where winter with icy breath now began to make its presence felt. It was early +November, already the east wind had brought on its wings a smart flurry of +snow, and between those four bare walls, on the uncarpeted floor where even the +tall, gaunt old clothes-press seemed to shiver with discomfort, the cold was +extreme. As there was no fireplace in the room they determined to set up a +stove, of which the purring, droning murmur assisted to brighten their solitude +a bit. +</p> + +<p> +The days wore on, monotonously, and that first week of the relapse was to Jean +and Henriette the dreariest and saddest in all their long, unsought intimacy. +Would their suffering never end? were they to hope for no surcease of misery, +the danger always springing up afresh? At every moment their thoughts sped away +to Maurice, from whom they had received no further word. They were told that +others were getting letters, brief notes written on tissue paper and brought in +by carrier-pigeons. Doubtless the bullet of some hated German had slain the +messenger that, winging its way through the free air of heaven, was bringing +them their missive of joy and love. Everything seemed to retire into dim +obscurity, to die and be swallowed up in the depths of the premature winter. +Intelligence of the war only reached them a long time after the occurrence of +events, the few newspapers that Doctor Dalichamp still continued to supply them +with were often a week old by the time they reached their hands. And their +dejection was largely owing to their want of information, to what they did not +know and yet instinctively felt to be the truth, to the prolonged death-wail +that, spite of all, came to their ears across the frozen fields in the deep +silence that lay upon the country. +</p> + +<p> +One morning the doctor came to them in a condition of deepest discouragement. +With a trembling hand he drew from his pocket a Belgian newspaper and threw it +on the bed, exclaiming: +</p> + +<p> +“Alas, my friends, poor France is murdered; Bazaine has played the +traitor!” +</p> + +<p> +Jean, who had been dozing, his back supported by a couple of pillows, suddenly +became wide-awake. +</p> + +<p> +“What, a traitor?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, he has surrendered Metz and the army. It is the experience of Sedan +over again, only this time they drain us of our last drop of life-blood.” +Then taking up the paper and reading from it: “One hundred and fifty +thousand prisoners, one hundred and fifty-three eagles and standards, one +hundred and forty-one field guns, seventy-six machine guns, eight hundred +casemate and barbette guns, three hundred thousand muskets, two thousand +military train wagons, material for eighty-five batteries—” +</p> + +<p> +And he went on giving further particulars: how Marshal Bazaine had been +blockaded in Metz with the army, bound hand and foot, making no effort to break +the wall of adamant that surrounded him; the doubtful relations that existed +between him and Prince Frederick Charles, his indecision and fluctuating +political combinations, his ambition to play a great role in history, but a +role that he seemed not to have fixed upon himself; then all the dirty business +of parleys and conferences, and the communications by means of lying, unsavory +emissaries with Bismarck, King William and the Empress-regent, who in the end +put her foot down and refused to negotiate with the enemy on the basis of a +cession of territory; and, finally, the inevitable catastrophe, the completion +of the web that destiny had been weaving, famine in Metz, a compulsory +capitulation, officers and men, hope and courage gone, reduced to accept the +bitter terms of the victor. France no longer had an army. +</p> + +<p> +“In God’s name!” Jean ejaculated in a deep, low voice. He had +not fully understood it all, but until then Bazaine had always been for him the +great captain, the one man to whom they were to look for salvation. “What +is left us to do now? What will become of them at Paris?” +</p> + +<p> +The doctor was just coming to the news from Paris, which was of a disastrous +character. He called their attention to the fact that the paper from which he +was reading was dated November 5. The surrender of Metz had been consummated on +the 27th of October, and the tidings were not known in Paris until the 30th. +Coming, as it did, upon the heels of the reverses recently sustained at +Chevilly, Bagneux and la Malmaison, after the conflict at Bourget and the loss +of that position, the intelligence had burst like a thunderbolt over the +desperate populace, angered and disgusted by the feebleness and impotency of +the government of National Defense. And thus it was that on the following day, +the 31st, the city was threatened with a general insurrection, an immense +throng of angry men, a mob ripe for mischief, collecting on the Place de +l’Hôtel de Ville, whence they swarmed into the halls and public offices, +making prisoners the members of the Government, whom the National Guard rescued +later in the day only because they feared the triumph of those incendiaries who +were clamoring for the commune. And the Belgian journal wound up with a few +stinging comments on the great City of Paris, thus torn by civil war when the +enemy was at its gates. Was it not the presage of approaching decomposition, +the puddle of blood and mire that was to engulf a world? +</p> + +<p> +“That’s true enough!” said Jean, whose face was very white. +“They’ve no business to be squabbling when the Prussians are at +hand!” +</p> + +<p> +But Henriette, who had said nothing as yet, always making it her rule to hold +her tongue when politics were under discussion, could not restrain a cry that +rose from her heart. Her thoughts were ever with her brother. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Mon Dieu</i>, I hope that Maurice, with all the foolish ideas he has +in his head, won’t let himself get mixed up in this business!” +</p> + +<p> +They were all silent in their distress; and it was the doctor, who was ardently +patriotic, who resumed the conversation. +</p> + +<p> +“Never mind; if there are no more soldiers, others will grow. Metz has +surrendered, Paris may surrender, even; but it don’t follow from that +that France is wiped out. Yes, the strong-box is all right, as our peasants +say, and we will live on in spite of all.” +</p> + +<p> +It was clear, however, that he was hoping against hope. He spoke of the army +that was collecting on the Loire, whose initial performances, in the +neighborhood of Arthenay, had not been of the most promising; it would become +seasoned and would march to the relief of Paris. His enthusiasm was aroused to +boiling pitch by the proclamations of Gambetta, who had left Paris by balloon +on the 7th of October and two days later established his headquarters at Tours, +calling on every citizen to fly to arms, and instinct with a spirit at once so +virile and so sagacious that the entire country gave its adhesion to the +dictatorial powers assumed for the public safety. And was there not talk of +forming another army in the North, and yet another in the East, of causing +soldiers to spring from the ground by sheer force of faith? It was to be the +awakening of the provinces, the creation of all that was wanting by exercise of +indomitable will, the determination to continue the struggle until the last sou +was spent, the last drop of blood shed. +</p> + +<p> +“Bah!” said the doctor in conclusion as he arose to go, “I +have many a time given up a patient, and a week later found him as lively as a +cricket.” +</p> + +<p> +Jean smiled. “Doctor, hurry up and make a well man of me, so I can go +back to my post down yonder.” +</p> + +<p> +But those evil tidings left Henriette and him in a terribly disheartened state. +There came another cold wave, with snow, and when the next day Henriette came +in shivering from the hospital she told her friend that Gutman was dead. The +intense cold had proved fatal to many among the wounded; it was emptying the +rows of beds. The miserable man whom the loss of his tongue had condemned to +silence had lain two days in the throes of death. During his last hour she had +remained seated at his bedside, unable to resist the supplication of his +pleading gaze. He seemed to be speaking to her with his tearful eyes, trying to +tell, it may be, his real name and the name of the village, so far away, where +a wife and little ones were watching for his return. And he had gone from them +a stranger, known of none, sending her a last kiss with his uncertain, +stiffening fingers, as if to thank her once again for all her gentle care. She +was the only one who accompanied the remains to the cemetery, where the frozen +earth, the unfriendly soil of the stranger’s country, rattled with a +dull, hollow sound on the pine coffin, mingled with flakes of snow. +</p> + +<p> +The next day, again, Henriette said upon her return at evening: +</p> + +<p> +“‘Poor boy’ is dead.” She could not keep back her tears +at mention of his name. “If you could but have seen and heard him in his +pitiful delirium! He kept calling me: ‘Mamma! mamma!’ and stretched +his poor thin arms out to me so entreatingly that I had to take him on my lap. +His suffering had so wasted him that he was no heavier than a boy of ten, poor +fellow. And I held and soothed him, so that he might die in peace; yes, I held +him in my arms, I whom he called his mother and who was but a few years older +than himself. He wept, and I myself could not restrain my tears; you can see I +am weeping still—” Her utterance was choked with sobs; she had to +pause. “Before his death he murmured several times the name which he had +given himself: ‘Poor boy, poor boy!’ Ah, how just the designation! +poor boys they are indeed, some of them so young and all so brave, whom your +hateful war maims and mangles and causes to suffer so before they are laid away +at last in their narrow bed!” +</p> + +<p> +Never a day passed now but Henriette came in at night in this anguished state, +caused by some new death, and the suffering of others had the effect of +bringing them together even more closely still during the sorrowful hours that +they spent, secluded from all the world, in the silent, tranquil chamber. And +yet those hours were full of sweetness, too, for affection, a feeling which +they believed to be a brother’s and sister’s love, had sprung up in +those two hearts which little by little had come to know each other’s +worth. To him, with his observant, thoughtful nature, their long intimacy had +proved an elevating influence, while she, noting his unfailing kindness of +heart and evenness of temper, had ceased to remember that he was one of the +lowly of the earth and had been a tiller of the soil before he became a +soldier. Their understanding was perfect; they made a very good couple, as +Silvine said with her grave smile. There was never the least embarrassment +between them; when she dressed his leg the calm serenity that dwelt in the eyes +of both was undisturbed. Always attired in black, in her widow’s +garments, it seemed almost as if she had ceased to be a woman. +</p> + +<p> +But during those long afternoons when Jean was left to himself he could not +help giving way to speculation. The sentiment he experienced for his friend was +one of boundless gratitude, a sort of religious reverence, which would have +made him repel the idea of love as if it were a sort of sacrilege. And yet he +told himself that had he had a wife like her, so gentle, so loving, so helpful, +his life would have been an earthly paradise. His great misfortune, his unhappy +marriage, the evil years he had spent at Rognes, his wife’s tragic end, +all the sad past, arose before him with a softened feeling of regret, with an +undefined hope for the future, but without distinct purpose to try another +effort to master happiness. He closed his eyes and dropped off into a doze, and +then he had a confused vision of being at Remilly, married again and owner of a +bit of land, sufficient to support a family of honest folks whose wants were +not extravagant. But it was all a dream, lighter than thistle-down; he knew it +could never, never be. He believed his heart to be capable of no emotion +stronger than friendship, he loved Henriette as he did solely because he was +Maurice’s brother. And then that vague dream of marriage had come to be +in some measure a comfort to him, one of those fancies of the imagination that +we know is never to be realized and with which we fondle ourselves in our hours +of melancholy. +</p> + +<p> +For her part, such thoughts had never for a moment presented themselves to +Henriette’s mind. Since the day of the horrible tragedy at Bazeilles her +bruised heart had lain numb and lifeless in her bosom, and if consolation in +the shape of a new affection had found its way thither, it could not be +otherwise than without her knowledge; the latent movement of the seed +deep-buried in the earth, which bursts its sheath and germinates, unseen of +human eye. She failed even to perceive the pleasure it afforded her to remain +for hours at a time by Jean’s bedside, reading to him those newspapers +that never brought them tidings save of evil. Never had her pulses beat more +rapidly at the touch of his hand, never had she dwelt in dreamy rapture on the +vision of the future with a longing to be loved once more. And yet it was in +that chamber alone that she found comfort and oblivion. When she was there, +busying herself with noiseless diligence for her patient’s well-being, +she was at peace; it seemed to her that soon her brother would return and all +would be well, they would all lead a life of happiness together and never more +be parted. And it appeared to her so natural that things should end thus that +she talked of their relations without the slightest feeling of embarrassment, +without once thinking to question her heart more closely, unaware that she had +already made the chaste surrender of it. +</p> + +<p> +But as she was on the point of leaving for the hospital one afternoon she +looked into the kitchen as she passed and saw there a Prussian captain and two +other officers, and the icy terror that filled her at the sight, then, for the +first time, opened her eyes to the deep affection she had conceived for Jean. +It was plain that the men had heard of the wounded man’s presence at the +farm and were come to claim him; he was to be torn from them and led away +captive to the dungeon of some dark fortress deep in Germany. She listened +tremblingly, her heart beating tumultuously. +</p> + +<p> +The captain, a big, stout man, who spoke French with scarce a trace of foreign +accent, was rating old Fouchard soundly. +</p> + +<p> +“Things can’t go on in this way; you are not dealing squarely by +us. I came myself to give you warning, once for all, that if the thing happens +again I shall take other steps to remedy it; and I promise you the consequences +will not be agreeable.” +</p> + +<p> +Though entirely master of all his faculties the old scamp assumed an air of +consternation, pretending not to understand, his mouth agape, his arms +describing frantic circles on the air. +</p> + +<p> +“How is that, sir, how is that?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, come, there’s no use attempting to pull the wool over my eyes; +you know perfectly well that the three beeves you sold me on Sunday last were +rotten—yes, diseased, and rotten through and through; they must have been +where there was infection, for they poisoned my men; there are two of them in +such a bad way that they may be dead by this time for all I know.” +</p> + +<p> +Fouchard’s manner was expressive of virtuous indignation. “What, my +cattle diseased! why, there’s no better meat in all the country; a sick +woman might feed on it to build her up!” And he whined and sniveled, +thumping himself on the chest and calling God to witness he was an honest man; +he would cut off his right hand rather than sell bad meat. For more than thirty +years he had been known throughout the neighborhood, and not a living soul +could say he had ever been wronged in weight or quality. “They were as +sound as a dollar, sir, and if your men had the belly-ache it was because they +ate too much—unless some villain hocussed the pot—” +</p> + +<p> +And so he ran on, with such a flux of words and absurd theories that finally +the captain, his patience exhausted, cut him short. +</p> + +<p> +“Enough! You have had your warning; see you profit by it! And there is +another matter: we have our suspicions that all you people of this village give +aid and comfort to the francs-tireurs of the wood of Dieulet, who killed +another of our sentries day before yesterday. Mind what I say; be +careful!” +</p> + +<p> +When the Prussians were gone Father Fouchard shrugged his shoulders with a +contemptuous sneer. Why, yes, of course he sold them carcasses that had never +been near the slaughter house; that was all they would ever get to eat from +him. If a peasant had a cow die on his hands of the rinderpest, or if he found +a dead ox lying in the ditch, was not the carrion good enough for those dirty +Prussians? To say nothing of the pleasure there was in getting a big price out +of them for tainted meat at which a dog would turn up his nose. He turned and +winked slyly at Henriette, who was glad to have her fears dispelled, muttering +triumphantly: +</p> + +<p> +“Say, little girl, what do you think now of the wicked people who go +about circulating the story that I am not a patriot? Why don’t they do as +I do, eh? sell the blackguards carrion and put their money in their pocket. Not +a patriot! why, good Heavens! I shall have killed more of them with my diseased +cattle than many a soldier with his chassepot!” +</p> + +<p> +When the story reached Jean’s ears, however, he was greatly disturbed. If +the German authorities suspected that the people of Remilly were harboring the +francs-tireurs from Dieulet wood they might at any time come and beat up his +quarters and unearth him from his retreat. The idea that he should be the means +of compromising his hosts or bringing trouble to Henriette was unendurable to +him. Yielding to the young woman’s entreaties, however, he consented to +delay his departure yet for a few days, for his wound was very slow in healing +and he was not strong enough to go away and join one of the regiments in the +field, either in the North or on the Loire. +</p> + +<p> +From that time forward, up to the middle of December, the stress of their +anxiety and mental suffering exceeded even what had gone before. The cold was +grown to be so intense that the stove no longer sufficed to heat the great, +barn-like room. When they looked from their window on the crust of snow that +covered the frozen earth they thought of Maurice, entombed down yonder in +distant Paris, that was now become a city of death and desolation, from which +they scarcely ever received reliable intelligence. Ever the same questions were +on their lips: what was he doing, why did he not let them hear from him? They +dared not voice their dreadful doubts and fears; perhaps he was ill, or +wounded; perhaps even he was dead. The scanty and vague tidings that continued +to reach them occasionally through the newspapers were not calculated to +reassure them. After numerous lying reports of successful sorties, circulated +one day only to be contradicted the next, there was a rumor of a great victory +gained by General Ducrot at Champigny on the 2d of December; but they speedily +learned that on the following day the general, abandoning the positions he had +won, had been forced to recross the Marne and send his troops into cantonments +in the wood of Vincennes. With each new day the Parisians saw themselves +subjected to fresh suffering and privation: famine was beginning to make itself +felt; the authorities, having first requisitioned horned cattle, were now doing +the same with potatoes, gas was no longer furnished to private houses, and soon +the fiery flight of the projectiles could be traced as they tore through the +darkness of the unlighted streets. And so it was that neither of them could +draw a breath or eat a mouthful without being haunted by the image of Maurice +and those two million living beings, imprisoned in their gigantic sepulcher. +</p> + +<p> +From every quarter, moreover, from the northern as well as from the central +districts, most discouraging advices continued to arrive. In the north the 22d +army corps, composed of gardes mobiles, depot companies from various regiments +and such officers and men as had not been involved in the disasters of Sedan +and Metz, had been forced to abandon Amiens and retreat on Arras, and on the +5th of December Rouen had also fallen into the hands of the enemy, after a mere +pretense of resistance on the part of its demoralized, scanty garrison. In the +center the victory of Coulmiers, achieved on the 3d of November by the army of +the Loire, had resuscitated for a moment the hopes of the country: Orleans was +to be reoccupied, the Bavarians were to be put to flight, the movement by way +of Étampes was to culminate in the relief of Paris; but on December 5 Prince +Frederick Charles had retaken Orleans and cut in two the army of the Loire, of +which three corps fell back on Bourges and Vierzon, while the remaining two, +commanded by General Chanzy, retired to Mans, fighting and falling back +alternately for a whole week, most gallantly. The Prussians were everywhere, at +Dijon and at Dieppe, at Vierzon as well as at Mans. And almost every morning +came the intelligence of some fortified place that had capitulated, unable +longer to hold out under the bombardment. Strasbourg had succumbed as early as +the 28th of September, after standing forty-six days of siege and thirty-seven +of shelling, her walls razed and her buildings riddled by more than two hundred +thousand projectiles. The citadel of Laon had been blown into the air; Toul had +surrendered; and following them, a melancholy catalogue, came Soissons with its +hundred and twenty-eight pieces of artillery, Verdun, which numbered a hundred +and thirty-six, Neufbrisach with a hundred, La Fere with seventy, Montmedy, +sixty-five. Thionville was in flames, Phalsbourg had only opened her gates +after a desperate resistance that lasted eighty days. It seemed as if all +France were doomed to burn and be reduced to ruins by the never-ceasing +cannonade. +</p> + +<p> +One morning that Jean manifested a fixed determination to be gone, Henriette +seized both his hands and held them tight clasped in hers. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, no! I beg you, do not go and leave me here alone. You are not strong +enough; wait a few days yet, only a few days. I will let you go, I promise you +I will, whenever the doctor says you are well enough to go and fight.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap21"></a>V.</h2> + +<p> +The cold was intense on that December evening. Silvine and Prosper, together +with little Charlot, were alone in the great kitchen of the farmhouse, she busy +with her sewing, he whittling away at a whip that he proposed should be more +than usually ornate. It was seven o’clock; they had dined at six, not +waiting for Father Fouchard, who they supposed had been detained at Raucourt, +where there was a scarcity of meat, and Henriette, whose turn it was to watch +that night at the hospital, had just left the house, after cautioning Silvine +to be sure to replenish Jean’s stove with coal before she went to bed. +</p> + +<p> +Outside a sky of inky blackness overhung the white expanse of snow. No sound +came from the village, buried among the drifts; all that was to be heard in the +kitchen was the scraping of Prosper’s knife as he fashioned elaborate +rosettes and lozenges on the dogwood stock. Now and then he stopped and cast a +glance at Charlot, whose flaxen head was nodding drowsily. When the child fell +asleep at last the silence seemed more profound than ever. The mother +noiselessly changed the position of the candle that the light might not strike +the eyes of her little one; then sitting down to her sewing again, she sank +into a deep reverie. And Prosper, after a further period of hesitation, finally +mustered up courage to disburden himself of what he wished to say. +</p> + +<p> +“Listen, Silvine; I have something to tell you. I have been watching for +an opportunity to speak to you in private—” +</p> + +<p> +Alarmed by his preface, she raised her eyes and looked him in the face. +</p> + +<p> +“This is what it is. You’ll forgive me for frightening you, but it +is best you should be forewarned. In Remilly this morning, at the corner by the +church, I saw Goliah; I saw him as plain as I see you sitting there. Oh, no! +there can be no mistake; I was not dreaming!” +</p> + +<p> +Her face suddenly became white as death; all she was capable of uttering was a +stifled moan: +</p> + +<p> +“My God! my God!” +</p> + +<p> +Prosper went on, in words calculated to give her least alarm, and related what +he had learned during the day by questioning one person and another. No one +doubted now that Goliah was a spy, that he had formerly come and settled in the +country with the purpose of acquainting himself with its roads, its resources, +the most insignificant details pertaining to the life of its inhabitants. Men +reminded one another of the time when he had worked for Father Fouchard on his +farm and of his sudden disappearance; they spoke of the places he had had +subsequently to that over toward Beaumont and Raucourt. And now he was back +again, holding a position of some sort at the military post of Sedan, its +duties apparently not very well defined, going about from one village to +another, denouncing this man, fining that, keeping an eye to the filling of the +requisitions that made the peasants’ lives a burden to them. That very +morning he had frightened the people of Remilly almost out of their wits in +relation to a delivery of flour, alleging it was short in weight and had not +been furnished within the specified time. +</p> + +<p> +“You are forewarned,” said Prosper in conclusion, “and now +you’ll know what to do when he shows his face here—” +</p> + +<p> +She interrupted him with a terrified cry. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you think he will come here?” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Dame</i>! it appears to me extremely probable he will. It would show +great lack of curiosity if he didn’t, since he knows he has a young one +here that he has never seen. And then there’s you, besides, and +you’re not so very homely but he might like to have another look at +you.” +</p> + +<p> +She gave him an entreating glance that silenced his rude attempt at gallantry. +Charlot, awakened by the sound of their voices, had raised his head. With the +blinking eyes of one suddenly aroused from slumber he looked about the room, +and recalled the words that some idle fellow of the village had taught him; and +with the solemn gravity of a little man of three he announced: +</p> + +<p> +“Dey’re loafers, de Prussians!” +</p> + +<p> +His mother went and caught him frantically in her arms and seated him on her +lap. Ah! the poor little waif, at once her delight and her despair, whom she +loved with all her soul and who brought the tears to her eyes every time she +looked on him, flesh of her flesh, whom it wrung her heart to hear the urchins +with whom he consorted in the street tauntingly call “the little +Prussian!” She kissed him, as if she would have forced the words back +into his mouth. +</p> + +<p> +“Who taught my darling such naughty words? It’s not nice; you must +not say them again, my loved one.” +</p> + +<p> +Whereon Charlot, with the persistency of childhood, laughing and squirming, +made haste to reiterate: +</p> + +<p> +“Dey’re dirty loafers, de Prussians!” +</p> + +<p> +And when his mother burst into tears he clung about her neck and also began to +howl dismally. <i>Mon Dieu</i>, what new evil was in store for her! Was it not +enough that she had lost in Honoré the one single hope of her life, the assured +promise of oblivion and future happiness? and was that man to appear upon the +scene again to make her misery complete? +</p> + +<p> +“Come,” she murmured, “come along, darling, and go to bed. +Mamma will kiss her little boy all the same, for he does not know the sorrow he +causes her.” +</p> + +<p> +And she went from the room, leaving Prosper alone. The good fellow, not to add +to her embarrassment, had averted his eyes from her face and was apparently +devoting his entire attention to his carving. +</p> + +<p> +Before putting Charlot to bed it was Silvine’s nightly custom to take him +in to say good-night to Jean, with whom the youngster was on terms of great +friendship. As she entered the room that evening, holding her candle before +her, she beheld the convalescent seated upright in bed, his open eyes peering +into the obscurity. What, was he not asleep? Faith, no; he had been ruminating +on all sorts of subjects in the silence of the winter night; and while she was +cramming the stove with coal he frolicked for a moment with Charlot, who rolled +and tumbled on the bed like a young kitten. He knew Silvine’s story, and +had a very kindly feeling for the meek, courageous girl whom misfortune had +tried so sorely, mourning the only man she had ever loved, her sole comfort +that child of shame whose existence was a daily reproach to her. When she had +replaced the lid on the stove, therefore, and came to the bedside to take the +boy from his arms, he perceived by her red eyes that she had been weeping. +What, had she been having more trouble? But she would not answer his question: +some other day she would tell him what it was if it seemed worth the while. +<i>Mon Dieu!</i> was not her life one of continual suffering now? +</p> + +<p> +Silvine was at last lugging Charlot away in her arms when there arose from the +courtyard of the farm a confused sound of steps and voices. Jean listened in +astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +“What is it? It can’t be Father Fouchard returning, for I did not +hear his wagon wheels.” Lying on his back in his silent chamber, with +nothing to occupy his mind, he had become acquainted with every detail of the +routine of home life on the farm, of which the sounds were all familiar to his +ears. Presently he added: “Ah, I see; it is those men again, the +francs-tireurs from Dieulet, after something to eat.” +</p> + +<p> +“Quick, I must be gone!” said Silvine, hurrying from the room and +leaving him again in darkness. “I must make haste and see they get their +loaves.” +</p> + +<p> +A loud knocking was heard at the kitchen door and Prosper, who was beginning to +tire of his solitude, was holding a hesitating parley with the visitors. He did +not like to admit strangers when the master was away, fearing he might be held +responsible for any damage that might ensue. His good luck befriended him in +this instance, however, for just then Father Fouchard’s carriole came +lumbering up the acclivity, the tramp of the horse’s feet resounding +faintly on the snow that covered the road. It was the old man who welcomed the +newcomers. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, good! it’s you fellows. What have you on that +wheelbarrow?” +</p> + +<p> +Sambuc, lean and hungry as a robber and wrapped in the folds of a blue woolen +blouse many times too large for him, did not even hear the farmer; he was +storming angrily at Prosper, his honest brother, as he called him, who had only +then made up his mind to unbar the door. +</p> + +<p> +“Say, you! do you take us for beggars that you leave us standing in the +cold in weather such as this?” +</p> + +<p> +But Prosper did not trouble himself to make any other reply than was expressed +in a contemptuous shrug of the shoulders, and while he was leading the horse +off to the stable old Fouchard, bending over the wheelbarrow, again spoke up. +</p> + +<p> +“So, it’s two dead sheep you’ve brought me. It’s lucky +it’s freezing weather, otherwise we should know what they are by the +smell.” +</p> + +<p> +Cabasse and Ducat, Sambuc’s two trusty henchmen, who accompanied him in +all his expeditions, raised their voices in protest. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh!” cried the first, with his loud-mouthed Provençal volubility, +“they’ve only been dead three days. They’re some of the +animals that died on the Raffins farm, where the disease has been putting in +its fine work of late.” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Procumbit humi bos</i>,” spouted the other, the ex-court +officer whose excessive predilection for the ladies had got him into +difficulties, and who was fond of airing his Latin on occasion. +</p> + +<p> +Father Fouchard shook his head and continued to disparage their merchandise, +declaring it was too “high.” Finally he took the three men into the +kitchen, where he concluded the business by saying: +</p> + +<p> +“After all, they’ll have to take it and make the best of it. It +comes just in season, for there’s not a cutlet left in Raucourt. When a +man’s hungry he’ll eat anything, won’t he?” And very +well pleased at heart, he called to Silvine, who just then came in from putting +Charlot to bed: “Let’s have some glasses; we are going to drink to +the downfall of old Bismarck.” +</p> + +<p> +Fouchard maintained amicable relations with these francs-tireurs from Dieulet +wood, who for some three months past had been emerging at nightfall from the +fastnesses where they made their lurking place, killing and robbing a Prussian +whenever they could steal upon him unawares, descending on the farms and +plundering the peasants when there was a scarcity of the other kind of game. +They were the terror of all the villages in the vicinity, and the more so that +every time a provision train was attacked or a sentry murdered the German +authorities avenged themselves on the adjacent hamlets, the inhabitants of +which they accused of abetting the outrages, inflicting heavy penalties on +them, carrying off their mayors as prisoners, burning their poor hovels. +Nothing would have pleased the peasants more than to deliver Sambuc and his +band to the enemy, and they were only deterred from doing so by their fear of +being shot in the back at a turn in the road some night should their attempt +fail of success. +</p> + +<p> +It had occurred to Fouchard to inaugurate a traffic with them. Roaming about +the country in every direction, peering with their sharp eyes into ditches and +cattle sheds, they had become his purveyors of dead animals. Never an ox or a +sheep within a radius of three leagues was stricken down by disease but they +came by night with their barrow and wheeled it away to him, and he paid them in +provisions, most generally in bread, that Silvine baked in great batches +expressly for the purpose. Besides, if he had no great love for them, he +experienced a secret feeling of admiration for the francs-tireurs, a set of +handy rascals who went their way and snapped their fingers at the world, and +although he was making a fortune from his dealings with the Prussians, he could +never refrain from chuckling to himself with grim, savage laughter as often as +he heard that one of them had been found lying at the roadside with his throat +cut. +</p> + +<p> +“Your good health!” said he, touching glasses with the three men. +Then, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand: “Say, have you heard of +the fuss they’re making over the two headless uhlans that they picked up +over there near Villecourt? Villecourt was burned yesterday, you know; they say +it was the penalty the village had to pay for harboring you. You’ll have +to be prudent, don’t you see, and not show yourselves about here for a +time. I’ll see the bread is sent you somewhere.” +</p> + +<p> +Sambuc shrugged his shoulders and laughed contemptuously. What did he care for +the Prussians, the dirty cowards! And all at once he exploded in a fit of +anger, pounding the table with his fist. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Tonnerre de Dieu!</i> I don’t mind the uhlans so much; +they’re not so bad, but it’s the other one I’d like to get a +chance at once—you know whom I mean, the other fellow, the spy, the man +who used to work for you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Goliah?” said Father Fouchard. +</p> + +<p> +Silvine, who had resumed her sewing, dropped it in her lap and listened with +intense interest. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s his name, Goliah! Ah, the brigand! he is as familiar with +every inch of the wood of Dieulet as I am with my pocket, and he’s like +enough to get us pinched some fine morning. I heard of him to-day at the +Maltese Cross making his boast that he would settle our business for us before +we’re a week older. A dirty hound, he is, and he served as guide to the +Prussians the day before the battle of Beaumont; I leave it to these fellows if +he didn’t.” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s as true as there’s a candle standing on that +table!” attested Cabasse. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Per silentia amica lunæ</i>,” added Ducat, whose quotations +were not always conspicuous for their appositeness. +</p> + +<p> +But Sambuc again brought his heavy fist down upon the table. “He has been +tried and adjudged guilty, the scoundrel! If ever you hear of his being in the +neighborhood just send me word, and his head shall go and keep company with the +heads of the two uhlans in the Meuse; yes, by G-d! I pledge you my word it +shall.” +</p> + +<p> +There was silence. Silvine was very white, and gazed at the men with unwinking, +staring eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“Those are things best not be talked too much about,” old Fouchard +prudently declared. “Your health, and good-night to you.” +</p> + +<p> +They emptied the second bottle, and Prosper, who had returned from the stable, +lent a hand to load upon the wheelbarrow, whence the dead sheep had been +removed, the loaves that Silvine had placed in an old grain-sack. But he turned +his back and made no reply when his brother and the other two men, wheeling the +barrow before them through the snow, stalked away and were lost to sight in the +darkness, repeating: +</p> + +<p> +“Good-night, good-night! <i>au plaisir!</i>” +</p> + +<p> +They had breakfasted the following morning, and Father Fouchard was alone in +the kitchen when the door was thrown open and Goliah in the flesh entered the +room, big and burly, with the ruddy hue of health on his face and his tranquil +smile. If the old man experienced anything in the nature of a shock at the +suddenness of the apparition he let no evidence of it escape him. He peered at +the other through his half-closed lids while he came forward and shook his +former employer warmly by the hand. +</p> + +<p> +“How are you, Father Fouchard?” +</p> + +<p> +Then only the old peasant seemed to recognize him. +</p> + +<p> +“Hallo, my boy, is it you? You’ve been filling out; how fat you +are!” +</p> + +<p> +And he eyed him from head to foot as he stood there, clad in a sort of +soldier’s greatcoat of coarse blue cloth, with a cap of the same +material, wearing a comfortable, prosperous air of self-content. His speech +betrayed no foreign accent, moreover; he spoke with the slow, thick utterance +of the peasants of the district. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Father Fouchard, it’s I in person. I didn’t like to be +in the neighborhood without dropping in just to say how-do-you-do to +you.” +</p> + +<p> +The old man could not rid himself of a feeling of distrust. What was the fellow +after, anyway? Could he have heard of the francs-tireurs’ visit to the +farmhouse the night before? That was something he must try to ascertain. First +of all, however, it would be best to treat him politely, as he seemed to have +come there in a friendly spirit. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, my lad, since you are so pleasant we’ll have a glass +together for old times’ sake.” +</p> + +<p> +He went himself and got a bottle and two glasses. Such expenditure of wine went +to his heart, but one must know how to be liberal when he has business on hand. +The scene of the preceding night was repeated, they touched glasses with the +same words, the same gestures. +</p> + +<p> +“Here’s to your good health, Father Fouchard.” +</p> + +<p> +“And here’s to yours, my lad.” +</p> + +<p> +Then Goliah unbent and his face assumed an expression of satisfaction; he +looked about him like a man pleased with the sight of objects that recalled +bygone times. He did not speak of the past, however, nor, for the matter of +that, did he speak of the present. The conversation ran on the extremely cold +weather, which would interfere with farming operations; there was one good +thing to be said for the snow, however: it would kill off the insects. He +barely alluded, with a slightly pained expression, to the partially concealed +hatred, the affright and scorn, with which he had been received in the other +houses of Remilly. Every man owes allegiance to his country, doesn’t he? +It is quite clear he should serve his country as well as he knows how. In +France, however, no one looked at the matter in that light; there were things +about which people had very queer notions. And as the old man listened and +looked at that broad, innocent, good-natured face, beaming with frankness and +good-will, he said to himself that surely that excellent fellow had had no evil +designs in coming there. +</p> + +<p> +“So you are all alone to-day, Father Fouchard?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, no; Silvine is out at the barn, feeding the cows. Would you like to +see her?” +</p> + +<p> +Goliah laughed. “Well, yes. To be quite frank with you, it was on +Silvine’s account that I came.” +</p> + +<p> +Old Fouchard felt as if a great load had been taken off his mind; he went to +the door and shouted at the top of his voice: +</p> + +<p> +“Silvine! Silvine! There’s someone here to see you.” +</p> + +<p> +And he went away about his business without further apprehension, since the +lass was there to look out for the property. A man must be in a bad way, he +reflected, to let a fancy for a girl keep such a hold on him after such a +length of time, years and years. +</p> + +<p> +When Silvine entered the room she was not surprised to find herself in presence +of Goliah, who remained seated and contemplated her with his broad smile, in +which, however, there was a trace of embarrassment. She had been expecting him, +and stood stock-still immediately she stepped across the doorsill, nerving +herself and bracing all her faculties. Little Charlot came running up and hid +among her petticoats, astonished and frightened to see a strange man there. +Then succeeded a few seconds of awkward silence. +</p> + +<p> +“And this is the little one, then?” Goliah asked at last in his +most dulcet tone. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” was Silvine’s curt, stern answer. +</p> + +<p> +Silence again settled down upon the room. He had known there was a child, +although he had gone away before the birth of his offspring, but this was the +first time he had laid eyes on it. He therefore wished to explain matters, like +a young man of sense who is confident he can give good reasons for his conduct. +</p> + +<p> +“Come, Silvine, I know you cherish bitter feelings against me—and +yet there is no reason why you should. If I went away, if I have been cause to +you of so much suffering, you might have told yourself that perhaps it was +because I was not my own master. When a man has masters over him he must obey +them, mustn’t he? If they had sent me off on foot to make a journey of a +hundred leagues I should have been obliged to go. And, of course, I +couldn’t say a word to you about it; you have no idea how bad it made me +feel to go away as I did without bidding you good-by. I won’t say to you +now that I felt certain I should return to you some day; still, I always fully +expected that I should, and, as you see, here I am again—” +</p> + +<p> +She had turned away her head and was looking through the window at the snow +that carpeted the courtyard, as if resolved to hear no word he said. Her +persistent silence troubled him; he interrupted his explanations to say: +</p> + +<p> +“Do you know you are prettier than ever!” +</p> + +<p> +True enough, she was very beautiful in her pallor, with her magnificent great +eyes that illuminated all her face. The heavy coils of raven hair that crowned +her head seemed the outward symbol of the inward sorrow that was gnawing at her +heart. +</p> + +<p> +“Come, don’t be angry! you know that I mean you no harm. If I did +not love you still I should not have come back, that’s very certain. Now +that I am here and everything is all right once more we shall see each other +now and then, shan’t we?” +</p> + +<p> +She suddenly stepped a pace backward, and looking him squarely in the face: +</p> + +<p> +“Never!” +</p> + +<p> +“Never!—and why? Are you not my wife, is not that child +ours?” +</p> + +<p> +She never once took her eyes from off his face, speaking with impressive +slowness: +</p> + +<p> +“Listen to me; it will be better to end that matter once for all. You +knew Honoré; I loved him, he was the only man who ever had my love. And now he +is dead; you robbed me of him, you murdered him over there on the battlefield, +and never again will I be yours. Never!” +</p> + +<p> +She raised her hand aloft as if invoking heaven to record her vow, while in her +voice was such depth of hatred that for a moment he stood as if cowed, then +murmured: +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I heard that Honoré was dead; he was a very nice young fellow. But +what could you expect? Many another has died as well; it is the fortune of war. +And then it seemed to me that once he was dead there would no longer be a +barrier between us, and let me remind you, Silvine, that after all I was never +brutal toward you—” +</p> + +<p> +But he stopped short at sight of her agitation; she seemed as if about to tear +her own flesh in her horror and distress. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! that is just it; yes, it is that which seems as if it would drive me +wild. Why, oh! why did I yield when I never loved you? Honoré’s departure +left me so broken down, I was so sick in mind and body that never have I been +able to recall any portion of the circumstances; perhaps it was because you +talked to me of him and appeared to love him. My God! the long nights I have +spent thinking of that time and weeping until the fountain of my tears was dry! +It is dreadful to have done a thing that one had no wish to do and afterward be +unable to explain the reason of it. And he had forgiven me, he had told me that +he would marry me in spite of all when his time was out, if those hateful +Prussians only let him live. And you think I will return to you. No, never, +never! not if I were to die for it!” +</p> + +<p> +Goliah’s face grew dark. She had always been so submissive, and now he +saw she was not to be shaken in her fixed resolve. Notwithstanding his +easy-going nature he was determined he would have her, even if he should be +compelled to use force, now that he was in a position to enforce his authority, +and it was only his inherent prudence, the instinct that counseled him to +patience and diplomacy, that kept him from resorting to violent measures now. +The hard-fisted colossus was averse to bringing his physical powers into play; +he therefore had recourse to another method for making her listen to reason. +</p> + +<p> +“Very well; since you will have nothing more to do with me I will take +away the child.” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean?” +</p> + +<p> +Charlot, whose presence had thus far been forgotten by them both, had remained +hanging to his mother’s skirts, struggling bravely to keep down his +rising sobs as the altercation waxed more warm. Goliah, leaving his chair, +approached the group. +</p> + +<p> +“You’re my boy, aren’t you? You’re a good little +Prussian. Come along with me.” +</p> + +<p> +But before he could lay hands on the child Silvine, all a-quiver with +excitement, had thrown her arms about it and clasped it to her bosom. +</p> + +<p> +“He, a Prussian, never! He’s French, was born in France!” +</p> + +<p> +“You say he’s French! Look at him, and look at me; he’s my +very image. Can you say he resembles you in any one of his features?” +</p> + +<p> +She turned her eyes on the big, strapping lothario, with his curling hair and +beard and his broad, pink face, in which the great blue eyes gleamed like +globes of polished porcelain; and it was only too true, the little one had the +same yellow thatch, the same rounded cheeks, the same light eyes; every feature +of the hated race was reproduced faithfully in him. A tress of her jet black +hair that had escaped from its confinement and wandered down upon her shoulder +in the agitation of the moment showed her how little there was in common +between the child and her. +</p> + +<p> +“I bore him; he is mine!” she screamed in fury. “He’s +French, and will grow up to be a Frenchman, knowing no word of your dirty +German language; and some day he shall go and help to kill the whole pack of +you, to avenge those whom you have murdered!” +</p> + +<p> +Charlot, tightening his clasp about her neck, began to cry, shrieking: +</p> + +<p> +“Mammy, mammy, I’m ’fraid! take me away!” +</p> + +<p> +Then Goliah, doubtless because he did not wish to create a scandal, stepped +back, and in a harsh, stern voice, unlike anything she had ever heard from his +lips before, made this declaration: +</p> + +<p> +“Bear in mind what I am about to tell you, Silvine. I know all that +happens at this farm. You harbor the francs-tireurs from the wood of Dieulet, +among them that Sambuc who is brother to your hired man; you supply the bandits +with provisions. And I know that that hired man, Prosper, is a chasseur +d’Afrique and a deserter, and belongs to us by rights. Further, I know +that you are concealing on your premises a wounded man, another soldier, whom a +word from me would suffice to consign to a German fortress. What do you think: +am I not well informed?” +</p> + +<p> +She was listening to him now, tongue-tied and terror-stricken, while little +Charlot kept piping in her ear with lisping voice: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! mammy, mammy, take me away, I’m ’fraid!” +</p> + +<p> +“Come,” resumed Goliah, “I’m not a bad fellow, and I +don’t like quarrels and bickering, as you are well aware, but I swear by +all that’s holy I will have them all arrested, Father Fouchard and the +rest, unless you consent to admit me to your chamber on Monday next. I will +take the child, too, and send him away to Germany to my mother, who will be +very glad to have him; for you have no further right to him, you know, if you +are going to leave me. You understand me, don’t you? The folks will all +be gone, and all I shall have to do will be to come and carry him away. I am +the master; I can do what pleases me—come, what have you to say?” +</p> + +<p> +But she made no answer, straining the little one more closely to her breast as +if fearing he might be torn from her then and there, and in her great eyes was +a look of mingled terror and execration. +</p> + +<p> +“It is well; I give you three days to think the matter over. See to it +that your bedroom window that opens on the orchard is left open. If I do not +find the window open next Monday evening at seven o’clock I will come +with a detail the following day and arrest the inmates of the house and then +will return and bear away the little one. Think of it well; <i>au revoir</i>, +Silvine.” +</p> + +<p> +He sauntered quietly away, and she remained standing, rooted to her place, her +head filled with such a swarming, buzzing crowd of terrible thoughts that it +seemed to her she must go mad. And during the whole of that long day the +tempest raged in her. At first the thought occurred to her instinctively to +take her child in her arms and fly with him, wherever chance might direct, no +matter where; but what would become of them when night should fall and envelop +them in darkness? how earn a livelihood for him and for herself? Then she +determined she would speak to Jean, would notify Prosper, and Father Fouchard +himself, and again she hesitated and changed her mind: was she sufficiently +certain of the friendship of those people that she could be sure they would not +sacrifice her to the general safety, she who was cause that they were menaced +all with such misfortune? No, she would say nothing to anyone; she would rely +on her own efforts to extricate herself from the peril she had incurred by +braving that bad man. But what scheme could she devise; <i>mon Dieu!</i> how +could she avert the threatened evil, for her upright nature revolted; she could +never have forgiven herself had she been the instrument of bringing disaster to +so many people, to Jean in particular, who had always been so good to Charlot. +</p> + +<p> +The hours passed, one by one; the next day’s sun went down, and still she +had decided upon nothing. She went about her household duties as usual, +sweeping the kitchen, attending to the cows, making the soup. No word fell from +her lips, and rising ever amid the ominous silence she preserved, her hatred of +Goliah grew with every hour and impregnated her nature with its poison. He had +been her curse; had it not been for him she would have waited for Honoré, and +Honoré would be living now, and she would be happy. Think of his tone and +manner when he made her understand he was the master! He had told her the +truth, moreover; there were no longer gendarmes or judges to whom she could +apply for protection; might made right. Oh, to be the stronger! to seize and +overpower him when he came, he who talked of seizing others! All she considered +was the child, flesh of her flesh; the chance-met father was naught, never had +been aught, to her. She had no particle of wifely feeling toward him, only a +sentiment of concentrated rage, the deep-seated hatred of the vanquished for +the victor, when she thought of him. Rather than surrender the child to him she +would have killed it, and killed herself afterward. And as she had told him, +the child he had left her as a gift of hate she would have wished were already +grown and capable of defending her; she looked into the future and beheld him +with a musket, slaughtering hecatombs of Prussians. Ah, yes! one Frenchman more +to assist in wreaking vengeance on the hereditary foe! +</p> + +<p> +There was but one day remaining, however; she could not afford to waste more +time in arriving at a decision. At the very outset, indeed, a hideous project +had presented itself among the whirling thoughts that filled her poor, +disordered mind: to notify the francs-tireurs, to give Sambuc the information +he desired so eagerly; but the idea had not then assumed definite form and +shape, and she had put it from her as too atrocious, not suffering herself even +to consider it: was not that man the father of her child? she could not be +accessory to his murder. Then the thought returned, and kept returning at more +frequently recurring intervals, little by little forcing itself upon her and +enfolding her in its unholy influence; and now it had entire possession of her, +holding her captive by the strength of its simple and unanswerable logic. The +peril and calamity that overhung them all would vanish with that man; he in his +grave, Jean, Prosper, Father Fouchard would have nothing more to fear, while +she herself would retain possession of Charlot and there would be never a one +in all the world to challenge her right to him. All that day she turned and +re-turned the project in her mind, devoid of further strength to bid it down, +considering despite herself the murder in its different aspects, planning and +arranging its most minute details. And now it was become the one fixed, +dominant idea, making a portion of her being, that she no longer stopped to +reason on, and when finally she came to act, in obedience to that dictate of +the inevitable, she went forward as in a dream, subject to the volition of +another, a someone within her whose presence she had never known till then. +</p> + +<p> +Father Fouchard had taken alarm, and on Sunday he dispatched a messenger to the +francs-tireurs to inform them that their supply of bread would be forwarded to +the quarries of Boisville, a lonely spot a mile and a quarter from the house, +and as Prosper had other work to do the old man sent Silvine with the +wheelbarrow. It was manifest to the young woman that Destiny had taken the +matter in its hands; she spoke, she made an appointment with Sambuc for the +following evening, and there was no tremor in her voice, as if she were +pursuing a course marked out for her from which she could not depart. The next +day there were still other signs which proved that not only sentient beings, +but inanimate objects as well, favored the crime. In the first place Father +Fouchard was called suddenly away to Raucourt, and knowing he could not get +back until after eight o’clock, instructed them not to wait dinner for +him. Then Henriette, whose night off it was, received word from the hospital +late in the afternoon that the nurse whose turn it was to watch was ill and she +would have to take her place; and as Jean never left his chamber under any +circumstances, the only remaining person from whom interference was to be +feared was Prosper. It revolted the chasseur d’Afrique, the idea of +killing a man that way, three against one, but when his brother arrived, +accompanied by his faithful myrmidons, the disgust he felt for the villainous +crew was lost in his detestation of the Prussians; sure he wasn’t going +to put himself out to save one of the dirty hounds, even if they did do him up +in a way that was not according to rule; and he settled matters with his +conscience by going to bed and burying his head under the blankets, that he +might hear nothing that would tempt him to act in accordance with his soldierly +instincts. +</p> + +<p> +It lacked a quarter of seven, and Charlot seemed determined not to go to sleep. +As a general thing his head declined upon the table the moment he had swallowed +his last mouthful of soup. +</p> + +<p> +“Come, my darling, go to sleep,” said Silvine, who had taken him to +Henriette’s room; “mamma has put you in the nice lady’s big +bed.” +</p> + +<p> +But the child was excited by the novelty of the situation; he kicked and +sprawled upon the bed, bubbling with laughter and animal spirits. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no—stay, little mother—play, little mother.” +</p> + +<p> +She was very gentle and patient, caressing him tenderly and repeating: +</p> + +<p> +“Go to sleep, my darling; shut your eyes and go to sleep, to please +mamma.” +</p> + +<p> +And finally slumber overtook him, with a happy laugh upon his lips. She had not +taken the trouble to undress him; she covered him warmly and left the room, and +so soundly was he in the habit of sleeping that she did not even think it +necessary to turn the key in the door. +</p> + +<p> +Silvine had never known herself to be so calm, so clear and alert of mind. Her +decision was prompt, her movements were light, as if she had parted company +with her material frame and were acting under the domination of that other +self, that inner being which she had never known till then. She had already let +in Sambuc, with Cabasse and Ducat, enjoining upon them the exercise of the +strictest caution, and now she conducted them to her bedroom and posted them on +either side the window, which she threw open wide, notwithstanding the intense +cold. The darkness was profound; barely a faint glimmer of light penetrated the +room, reflected from the bosom of the snow without. A deathlike stillness lay +on the deserted fields, the minutes lagged interminably. Then, when at last the +deadened sound was heard of footsteps drawing near, Silvine withdrew and +returned to the kitchen, where she seated herself and waited, motionless as a +corpse, her great eyes fixed on the flickering flame of the solitary candle. +</p> + +<p> +And the suspense was long protracted, Goliah prowling warily about the house +before he would risk entering. He thought he could depend on the young woman, +and had therefore come unarmed save for a single revolver in his belt, but he +was haunted by a dim presentiment of evil; he pushed open the window to its +entire extent and thrust his head into the apartment, calling below his breath: +</p> + +<p> +“Silvine! Silvine!” +</p> + +<p> +Since he found the window open to him it must be that she had thought better of +the matter and changed her mind. It gave him great pleasure to have it so, +although he would rather she had been there to welcome him and reassure his +fears. Doubtless Father Fouchard had summoned her away; some odds and ends of +work to finish up. He raised his voice a little: +</p> + +<p> +“Silvine! Silvine!” +</p> + +<p> +No answer, not a sound. And he threw his leg over the window-sill and entered +the room, intending to get into bed and snuggle away among the blankets while +waiting, it was so bitter cold. +</p> + +<p> +All at once there was a furious rush, with the noise of trampling, shuffling +feet, and smothered oaths and the sound of labored breathing. Sambuc and his +two companions had thrown themselves on Goliah, and notwithstanding their +superiority in numbers they found it no easy task to overpower the giant, to +whom his peril lent tenfold strength. The panting of the combatants, the +straining of sinews and cracking of joints, resounded for a moment in the +obscurity. The revolver, fortunately, had fallen to the floor in the struggle. +Cabasse’s choking, inarticulate voice was heard exclaiming: “The +cords, the cords!” and Ducat handed to Sambuc the coil of thin rope with +which they had had the foresight to provide themselves. Scant ceremony was +displayed in binding their hapless victim; the operation was conducted to the +accompaniment of kicks and cuffs. The legs were secured first, then the arms +were firmly pinioned to the sides, and finally they wound the cord at random +many times around the Prussian’s body, wherever his contortions would +allow them to place it, with such an affluence of loops and knots that he had +the appearance of being enmeshed in a gigantic net. To his unintermitting +outcries Ducat’s voice responded: “Shut your jaw!” and +Cabasse silenced him more effectually by gagging him with an old blue +handkerchief. Then, first waiting a moment to get their breath, they carried +him, an inert mass, to the kitchen and deposited him upon the big table, beside +the candle. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, the Prussian scum!” exclaimed Sambuc, wiping the sweat from +his forehead, “he gave us trouble enough! Say, Silvine, light another +candle, will you, so we can get a good view of the d——d pig and see +what he looks like.” +</p> + +<p> +Silvine arose, her wide-dilated eyes shining bright from out her colorless +face. She spoke no word, but lit another candle and came and placed it by +Goliah’s head on the side opposite the other; he produced the effect, +thus brilliantly illuminated, of a corpse between two mortuary tapers. And in +that brief moment their glances met; his was the wild, agonized look of the +supplicant whom his fears have overmastered, but she affected not to +understand, and withdrew to the sideboard, where she remained standing with her +icy, unyielding air. +</p> + +<p> +“The beast has nearly chewed my finger off,” growled Cabasse, from +whose hand blood was trickling. “I’m going to spoil his ugly mug +for him.” +</p> + +<p> +He had taken the revolver from the floor and was holding it poised by the +barrel in readiness to strike, when Sambuc disarmed him. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no! none of that. We are not murderers, we francs-tireurs; we are +judges. Do you hear, you dirty Prussian? we’re going to try you; and you +need have no fear, your rights shall be respected. We can’t let you speak +in your own defense, for if we should unmuzzle you you would split our ears +with your bellowing, but I’ll see that you have a lawyer presently, and a +famous good one, too!” +</p> + +<p> +He went and got three chairs and placed them in a row, forming what it pleased +him to call the court, he sitting in the middle with one of his followers on +either hand. When all three were seated he arose and commenced to speak, at +first ironically aping the gravity of the magistrate, but soon launching into a +tirade of blood-thirsty invective. +</p> + +<p> +“I have the honor to be at the same time President of the Court and +Public Prosecutor. That, I am aware, is not strictly in order, but there are +not enough of us to fill all the roles. I accuse you, therefore, of entering +France to play the spy on us, recompensing us for our hospitality with the most +abominable treason. It is to you to whom we are principally indebted for our +recent disasters, for after the battle of Nouart you guided the Bavarians +across the wood of Dieulet by night to Beaumont. No one but a man who had lived +a long time in the country and was acquainted with every path and cross-road +could have done it, and on this point the conviction of the court is +unalterable; you were seen conducting the enemy’s artillery over roads +that had become lakes of liquid mud, where eight horses had to be hitched to a +single gun to drag it out of the slough. A person looking at those roads would +hesitate to believe that an army corps could ever have passed over them. Had it +not been for you and your criminal action in settling among us and betraying us +the surprise of Beaumont would have never been, we should not have been +compelled to retreat on Sedan, and perhaps in the end we might have come off +victorious. I will say nothing of the disgusting career you have been pursuing +since then, coming here in disguise, terrorizing and denouncing the poor +country people, so that they tremble at the mention of your name. You have +descended to a depth of depravity beyond which it is impossible to go, and I +demand from the court sentence of death.” +</p> + +<p> +Silence prevailed in the room. He had resumed his seat, and finally, rising +again, said: +</p> + +<p> +“I assign Ducat to you as counsel for the defense. He has been +sheriff’s officer, and might have made his mark had it not been for his +little weakness. You see that I deny you nothing; we are disposed to treat you +well.” +</p> + +<p> +Goliah, who could not stir a finger, bent his eyes on his improvised defender. +It was in his eyes alone that evidence of life remained, eyes that burned +intensely with ardent supplication under the ashy brow, where the sweat of +anguish stood in big drops, notwithstanding the cold. +</p> + +<p> +Ducat arose and commenced his plea. “Gentlemen, my client, to tell the +truth, is the most noisome blackguard that I ever came across in my life, and I +should not have been willing to appear in his defense had I not a mitigating +circumstance to plead, to wit: they are all that way in the country he came +from. Look at him closely; you will read his astonishment in his eyes; he does +not understand the gravity of his offense. Here in France we may employ spies, +but no one would touch one of them unless with a pair of pincers, while in that +country espionage is considered a highly honorable career and an extremely +meritorious manner of serving the state. I will even go so far as to say, +gentlemen, that possibly they are not wrong; our noble sentiments do us honor, +but they have also the disadvantage of bringing us defeat. If I may venture to +speak in the language of Cicero and Virgil, <i>quos vult perdere Jupiter +dementat</i>. You will understand the allusion, gentlemen.” +</p> + +<p> +And he took his seat again, while Sambuc resumed: +</p> + +<p> +“And you, Cabasse, have you nothing to say either for or against the +defendant?” +</p> + +<p> +“All I have to say,” shouted the Provençal, “is that we are +wasting a deal of breath in settling that scoundrel’s hash. I’ve +had my little troubles in my lifetime, and plenty of ’em, but I +don’t like to see people trifle with the affairs of the law; it’s +unlucky. Let him die, I say!” +</p> + +<p> +Sambuc rose to his feet with an air of profound gravity. +</p> + +<p> +“This you both declare to be your verdict, then—death?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes! death!” +</p> + +<p> +The chairs were pushed back, he advanced to the table where Goliah lay, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“You have been tried and sentenced; you are to die.” +</p> + +<p> +The flame of the two candles rose about their unsnuffed wicks and flickered in +the draught, casting a fitful, ghastly light on Goliah’s distorted +features. The fierce efforts he made to scream for mercy, to vociferate the +words that were strangling him, were such that the handkerchief knotted across +his mouth was drenched with spume, and it was a sight most horrible to see, +that strong man reduced to silence, voiceless already as a corpse, about to die +with that torrent of excuse and entreaty pent in his bosom. +</p> + +<p> +Cabasse cocked the revolver. “Shall I let him have it?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no!” Sambuc shouted in reply; “he would be only too +glad.” And turning to Goliah: “You are not a soldier; you are not +worthy of the honor of quitting the world with a bullet in your head. No, you +shall die the death of a spy and the dirty pig that you are.” +</p> + +<p> +He looked over his shoulder and politely said: +</p> + +<p> +“Silvine, if it’s not troubling you too much, I would like to have +a tub.” +</p> + +<p> +During the whole of the trial scene Silvine had not moved a muscle. She had +stood in an attitude of waiting, with drawn, rigid features, as if mind and +body had parted company, conscious of nothing but the one fixed idea that had +possessed her for the last two days. And when she was asked for a tub she +received the request as a matter of course and proceeded at once to comply with +it, disappearing into the adjoining shed, whence she returned with the big tub +in which she washed Charlot’s linen. +</p> + +<p> +“Hold on a minute! place it under the table, close to the edge.” +</p> + +<p> +She placed the vessel as directed, and as she rose to her feet her eyes again +encountered Goliah’s. In the look of the poor wretch was a supreme prayer +for mercy, the revolt of the man who cannot bear the thought of being stricken +down in the pride of his strength. But in that moment there was nothing of the +woman left in her; nothing but the fierce desire for that death for which she +had been waiting as a deliverance. She retreated again to the buffet, where she +remained standing in silent expectation. +</p> + +<p> +Sambuc opened the drawer of the table and took from it a large kitchen knife, +the one that the household employed to slice their bacon. +</p> + +<p> +“So, then, as you are a pig, I am going to stick you like a pig.” +</p> + +<p> +He proceeded in a very leisurely manner, discussing with Cabasse, and Ducat the +proper method of conducting the operation. They even came near quarreling, +because Cabasse alleged that in Provence, the country he came from, they hung +pigs up by the heels to stick them, at which Ducat expressed great indignation, +declaring that the method was a barbarous and inconvenient one. +</p> + +<p> +“Bring him well forward to the edge of the table, his head over the tub, +so as to avoid soiling the floor.” +</p> + +<p> +They drew him forward, and Sambuc went about his task in a tranquil, decent +manner. With a single stroke of the keen knife he slit the throat crosswise +from ear to ear, and immediately the blood from the severed carotid artery +commenced to drip, drip into the tub with the gentle plashing of a fountain. He +had taken care not to make the incision too deep; only a few drops spurted from +the wound, impelled by the action of the heart. Death was the slower in coming +for that, but no convulsion was to be seen, for the cords were strong and the +body was utterly incapable of motion. There was no death-rattle, not a quiver +of the frame. On the face alone was evidence of the supreme agony, on that +terror-distorted mask whence the blood retreated drop by drop, leaving the skin +colorless, with a whiteness like that of linen. The expression faded from the +eyes; they became dim, the light died from out them. +</p> + +<p> +“Say, Silvine, we shall want a sponge, too.” +</p> + +<p> +She made no reply, standing riveted to the floor in an attitude of +unconsciousness, her arms folded tightly across her bosom, her throat +constricted as by the clutch of a mailed hand, gazing on the horrible +spectacle. Then all at once she perceived that Charlot was there, grasping her +skirts with his little hands; he must have awaked and managed to open the +intervening doors, and no one had seen him come stealing in, childlike, curious +to know what was going on. How long had he been there, half-concealed behind +his mother? From beneath his shock of yellow hair his big blue eyes were fixed +on the trickling blood, the thin red stream that little by little was filling +the tub. Perhaps he had not understood at first and had found something +diverting in the sight, but suddenly he seemed to become instinctively aware of +all the abomination of the thing; he gave utterance to a sharp, startled cry: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, mammy! oh, mammy! I’m ’fraid, take me away!” +</p> + +<p> +It gave Silvine a shock, so violent that it convulsed her in every fiber of her +being. It was the last straw; something seemed to give way in her, the +excitement that had sustained her for the last two days while under the +domination of her one fixed idea gave way to horror. It was the resurrection of +the dormant woman in her; she burst into tears, and with a frenzied movement +caught Charlot up and pressed him wildly to her heart. And she fled with him, +running with distracted terror, unable to see or hear more, conscious of but +one overmastering need, to find some secret spot, it mattered not where, in +which she might cast herself upon the ground and seek oblivion. +</p> + +<p> +It was at this crisis that Jean rose from his bed and, softly opening his door, +looked out into the passage. Although he generally gave but small attention to +the various noises that reached him from the farmhouse, the unusual activity +that prevailed this evening, the trampling of feet, the shouts and cries, in +the end excited his curiosity. And it was to the retirement of his sequestered +chamber that Silvine, sobbing and disheveled, came for shelter, her form +convulsed by such a storm of anguish that at first he could not grasp the +meaning of the rambling, inarticulate words that fell from her blanched lips. +She kept constantly repeating the same terrified gesture, as if to thrust from +before her eyes some hideous, haunting vision. At last he understood, the +entire abominable scene was pictured clearly to his mind: the traitorous +ambush, the slaughter, the mother, her little one clinging to her skirts, +watching unmoved the murdered father, whose life-blood was slowly ebbing; and +it froze his marrow—the peasant and the soldier was sick at heart with +anguished horror. Ah, hateful, cruel war! that changed all those poor folks to +ravening wolves, bespattering the child with the father’s blood! An +accursed sowing, to end in a harvest of blood and tears! +</p> + +<p> +Resting on the chair where she had fallen, covering with frantic kisses little +Charlot, who clung, sobbing, to her bosom, Silvine repeated again and again the +one unvarying phrase, the cry of her bleeding heart. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, my poor child, they will no more say you are a Prussian! Ah, my poor +child, they will no more say you are a Prussian!” +</p> + +<p> +Meantime Father Fouchard had returned and was in the kitchen. He had come +hammering at the door with the authority of the master, and there was nothing +left to do but open to him. The surprise he experienced was not exactly an +agreeable one on beholding the dead man outstretched on his table and the +blood-filled tub beneath. It followed naturally, his disposition not being of +the mildest, that he was very angry. +</p> + +<p> +“You pack of rascally slovens! say, couldn’t you have gone outdoors +to do your dirty work? Do you take my place for a shambles, eh? coming here and +ruining the furniture with such goings-on?” Then, as Sambuc endeavored to +mollify him and explain matters, the old fellow went on with a violence that +was enhanced by his fears: “And what do you suppose I am to do with the +carcass, pray? Do you consider it a gentlemanly thing to do, to come to a +man’s house like this and foist a stiff off on him without so much as +saying by your leave? Suppose a patrol should come along, what a nice fix I +should be in! but precious little you fellows care whether I get my neck +stretched or not. Now listen: do you take that body at once and carry it away +from here; if you don’t, by G-d, you and I will have a settlement! You +hear me; take it by the head, take it by the heels, take it any way you please, +but get it out of here and don’t let there be a hair of it remaining in +this room at the end of three minutes from now!” +</p> + +<p> +In the end Sambuc prevailed on Father Fouchard to let him have a sack, although +it wrung the old miser’s heartstrings to part with it. He selected one +that was full of holes, remarking that anything was good enough for a Prussian. +Cabasse and Ducat had all the trouble in the world to get Goliah into it; it +was too short and too narrow for the long, broad body, and the feet protruded +at its mouth. Then they carried their burden outside and placed it on the +wheelbarrow that had served to convey to them their bread. +</p> + +<p> +“You’ll not be troubled with him any more, I give you my word of +honor!” declared Sambuc. “We’ll go and toss him into the +Meuse.” +</p> + +<p> +“Be sure and fasten a couple of big stones to his feet,” +recommended Fouchard, “so the lubber shan’t come up again.” +</p> + +<p> +And the little procession, dimly outlined against the white waste of snow, +started and soon was buried in the blackness of the night, giving no sound save +the faint, plaintive creaking of the barrow. +</p> + +<p> +In after days Sambuc swore by all that was good and holy he had obeyed the old +man’s directions, but none the less the corpse came to the surface and +was discovered two days afterward by the Prussians among the weeds at +Pont-Maugis, and when they saw the manner of their countryman’s murder, +his throat slit like a pig, their wrath and fury knew no bounds. Their threats +were terrible, and were accompanied by domiciliary visits and annoyances of +every kind. Some of the villagers must have blabbed, for there came a party one +night and arrested Father Fouchard and the Mayor of Remilly on the charge of +giving aid and comfort to the francs-tireurs, who were manifestly the +perpetrators of the crime. And Father Fouchard really came out very strong +under those untoward circumstances, exhibiting all the impassability of a +shrewd old peasant, who knew the value of silence and a tranquil demeanor. He +went with his captors without the least sign of perturbation, without even +asking them for an explanation. The truth would come out. In the country +roundabout it was whispered that he had already made an enormous fortune from +the Prussians, sacks and sacks of gold pieces, that he buried away somewhere, +one by one, as he received them. +</p> + +<p> +All these stories were a terrible source of alarm to Henriette when she came to +hear of them. Jean, fearing he might endanger the safety of his hosts, was +again eager to get away, although the doctor declared he was still too weak, +and she, saddened by the prospect of their approaching separation, insisted on +his delaying his departure for two weeks. At the time of Father +Fouchard’s arrest Jean had escaped a like fate by hiding in the barn, but +he was liable to be taken and led away captive at any moment should there be +further searches made. She was also anxious as to her uncle’s fate, and +so she resolved one morning to go to Sedan and see the Delaherches, who had, it +was said, a Prussian officer of great influence quartered in their house. +</p> + +<p> +“Silvine,” she said, as she was about to start, “take good +care of our patient; see he has his bouillon at noon and his medicine at four +o’clock.” +</p> + +<p> +The maid of all work, ever busy with her daily recurring tasks, was again the +submissive and courageous woman she had been of old; she had the care of the +farm now, moreover, in the absence of the master, while little Charlot was +constantly at her heels, frisking and gamboling around her. +</p> + +<p> +“Have no fear, madame, he shall want for nothing. I am here and will look +out for him.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap22"></a>VI.</h2> + +<p> +Life had fallen back into something like its accustomed routine with the +Delaherches at their house in the Rue Maqua after the terrible shock of the +capitulation, and for nearly four months the long days had been slowly slipping +by under the depressing influence of the Prussian occupation. +</p> + +<p> +There was one corner, however, of the immense structure that was always closed, +as if it had no occupant: it was the chamber that Colonel de Vineuil still +continued to inhabit, at the extreme end of the suite where the master and his +family spent their daily life. While the other windows were thrown open, +affording evidence by sight and sound of the activity that prevailed within, +those of that room were dark and lifeless, their blinds invariably drawn. The +colonel had complained that the daylight hurt his eyes; no one knew whether or +not this was strictly true, but a lamp was kept burning at his bedside day and +night to humor him in his fancy. For two long months he had kept his bed, +although Major Bouroche asserted there was nothing more serious than a +contusion of the ankle and a fragment of bone chipped away; the wound refused +to heal and complications of various kinds had ensued. He was able to get up +now, but was in such a state of utter mental prostration, his mysterious +ailment had taken such firm hold upon his system, that he was content to spend +his days in idleness, stretched on a lounge before a great wood fire. He had +wasted away until he was little more than a shadow, and still the physician who +was attending him could find no lesion to account for that lingering death. He +was slowly fading away, like the flame of a lamp in which the supply of oil is +giving out. +</p> + +<p> +Mme. Delaherche, the mother, had immured herself there with him on the day +succeeding the occupation. No doubt they understood each other, and had +expressed in two words, once for all, their common purpose to seclude +themselves in that apartment so long as there should be Prussians quartered in +the house. They had afforded compulsory hospitality to many of the enemy for +various lengths of time; one, a Captain, M. Gartlauben, was there still, had +taken up his abode with them permanently. But never since that first day had +mention of those things passed the colonel’s and the old lady’s +lips. Notwithstanding her seventy-eight years she was up every morning soon as +it was day and came and took her position in the fauteuil that was awaiting her +in the chimney nook opposite her old friend. There, by the steady, tranquil +lamplight, she applied herself industriously to knitting socks for the children +of the poor, while he, his eyes fixed on the crumbling brands, with no +occupation for body or mind, was as one already dead, in a state of constantly +increasing stupor. They certainly did not exchange twenty words in the course +of a day; whenever she, who still continued to go about the house at intervals, +involuntarily allowed some bit of news from the outer world to escape her lips, +he silenced her with a gesture, so that no tidings of the siege of Paris, the +disasters on the Loire and all the daily renewed horrors of the invasion had +gained admission there. But the colonel might stop his ears and shut out the +light of day as he would in his self-appointed tomb; the air he breathed must +have brought him through key-hole and crevices intelligence of the calamity +that was everywhere throughout the land, for every new day beheld him sinking, +slowly dying, despite his determination not to know the evil news. +</p> + +<p> +While matters were in this condition at one end of the house Delaherche, who +was never contented unless occupied, was bustling about and making attempts to +start up his business once more, but what with the disordered condition of the +labor market and the pecuniary embarrassment of many among his customers, he +had so far only put a few looms in motion. Then it occurred to him, as a means +of killing the time that hung heavy on his hands, to make a complete inventory +of his business and perfect certain changes and improvements that he had long +had in mind. To assist him in his labors he had just then at his disposal a +young man, the son of an old business acquaintance, who had drifted in on him +after the battle. Edmond Lagarde, who, although he was twenty-three years old, +would not have been taken for more than eighteen, had grown to man’s +estate in his father’s little dry-goods shop at Passy; he was a sergeant +in the 5th line regiment and had fought with great bravery throughout the +campaign, so much so that he had been knocked over near the Minil gate about +five o’clock, when the battle was virtually ended, his left arm shattered +by one of the last shots fired that day, and Delaherche, when the other wounded +were removed from the improvised ambulance in the drying room, had +good-naturedly received him as an inmate of his house. It was under these +circumstances that Edmond was now one of the family, having an apartment in the +house and taking his meals at the common table, and, now that his wound was +healed, acting as a sort of secretary to the manufacturer while waiting for a +chance to get back to Paris. He had signed a parole binding himself not to +attempt to leave the city, and owing to this and to his protector’s +influence the Prussian authorities did not interfere with him. He was fair, +with blue eyes, and pretty as a woman; so timid withal that his face assumed a +beautiful hue of rosy red whenever anyone spoke to him. He had been his +mother’s darling; she had impoverished herself, expending all the profits +of their little business to send him to college. And he adored Paris and +bewailed his compulsory absence from it when talking to Gilberte, did this +wounded cherub, whom the young woman had displayed great good-fellowship in +nursing. +</p> + +<p> +Finally, their household had received another addition in the person of M. de +Gartlauben, a captain in the German landwehr, whose regiment had been sent to +Sedan to supply the place of troops dispatched to service in the field. He was +a personage of importance, notwithstanding his comparatively modest rank, for +he was nephew to the governor-general, who, from his headquarters at Rheims, +exercised unlimited power over all the district. He, too, prided himself on +having lived at Paris, and seized every occasion ostentatiously to show he was +not ignorant of its pleasures and refinements; concealing beneath this film of +varnish his inborn rusticity, he assumed as well as he was able the polish of +one accustomed to good society. His tall, portly form was always tightly +buttoned in a close-fitting uniform, and he lied outrageously about his age, +never being able to bring himself to own up to his forty-five years. Had he had +more intelligence he might have made himself an object of greater dread, but as +it was his over-weening vanity, kept him in a continual state of satisfaction +with himself, for never could such a thing have entered his mind as that anyone +could dare to ridicule him. +</p> + +<p> +At a subsequent period he rendered Delaherche services that were of inestimable +value. But what days of terror and distress were those that followed upon the +heels of the capitulation! the city, overrun with German soldiery, trembled in +momentary dread of pillage and conflagration. Then the armies of the victors +streamed away toward the valley of the Seine, leaving behind them only +sufficient men to form a garrison, and the quiet that settled upon the place +was that of a necropolis: the houses all closed, the shops shut, the streets +deserted as soon as night closed in, the silence unbroken save for the hoarse +cries and heavy tramp of the patrols. No letters or newspapers reached them +from the outside world; Sedan was become a dungeon, where the immured citizens +waited in agonized suspense for the tidings of disaster with which the air was +instinct. To render their misery complete they were threatened with famine; the +city awoke one morning from its slumbers to find itself destitute of bread and +meat and the country roundabout stripped naked, as if a devouring swarm of +locusts had passed that way, by the hundreds of thousands of men who for a week +past had been pouring along its roads and across its fields in a devastating +torrent. There were provisions only for two days, and the authorities were +compelled to apply to Belgium for relief; all supplies now came from their +neighbors across the frontier, whence the customs guards had disappeared, swept +away like all else in the general cataclysm. Finally there were never-ending +vexations and annoyances, a conflict that commenced to rage afresh each morning +between the Prussian governor and his underlings, quartered at the +Sous-Prefecture, and the Municipal Council, which was in permanent session at +the Hôtel de Ville. It was all in vain that the city fathers fought like +heroes, discussing, objecting, protesting, contesting the ground inch by inch; +the inhabitants had to succumb to the exactions that constantly became more +burdensome, to the whims and unreasonableness of the stronger. +</p> + +<p> +In the beginning Delaherche suffered great tribulation from the officers and +soldiers who were billeted on him. It seemed as if representatives from every +nationality on the face of the globe presented themselves at his door, pipe in +mouth. Not a day passed but there came tumbling in upon the city two or three +thousand men, horse, foot and dragoons, and although they were by rights +entitled to nothing more than shelter and firing, it was often found expedient +to send out in haste and get them provisions. The rooms they occupied were left +in a shockingly filthy condition. It was not an infrequent occurrence that the +officers came in drunk and made themselves even more obnoxious than their men. +Such strict discipline was maintained, however, that instances of violence and +marauding were rare; in all Sedan there were but two cases reported of outrages +committed on women. It was not until a later period, when Paris displayed such +stubbornness in her resistance, that, exasperated by the length to which the +struggle was protracted, alarmed by the attitude of the provinces and fearing a +general rising of the populace, the savage war which the francs-tireurs had +inaugurated, they laid the full weight of their heavy hand upon the suffering +people. +</p> + +<p> +Delaherche had just had an experience with a lodger who had been quartered on +him, a captain of cuirassiers, who made a practice of going to bed with his +boots on and when he went away left his apartment in an unmentionably filthy +condition, when in the last half of September Captain de Gartlauben came to his +door one evening when it was raining in torrents. The first hour he was there +did not promise well for the pleasantness of their future relations; he carried +matters with a high hand, insisting that he should be given the best bedroom, +trailing the scabbard of his sword noisily up the marble staircase; but +encountering Gilberte in the corridor he drew in his horns, bowed politely, and +passed stiffly on. He was courted with great obsequiousness, for everyone was +well aware that a word from him to the colonel commanding the post of Sedan +would suffice to mitigate a requisition or secure the release of a friend or +relative. It was not very long since his uncle, the governor-general at Rheims, +had promulgated a particularly detestable and cold-blooded order, proclaiming +martial law and decreeing the penalty of death to whomsoever should give aid +and comfort to the enemy, whether by acting for them as a spy, by leading +astray German troops that had been entrusted to their guidance, by destroying +bridges and artillery, or by damaging the railroads and telegraph lines. The +enemy meant the French, of course, and the citizens scowled and involuntarily +doubled their fists as they read the great white placard nailed against the +door of post headquarters which attributed to them as a crime their best and +most sacred aspirations. It was so hard, too, to have to receive their +intelligence of German victories through the cheering of the garrison! Hardly a +day passed over their heads that they were spared this bitter humiliation; the +soldiers would light great fires and sit around them, feasting and drinking all +night long, while the townspeople, who were not allowed to be in the streets +after nine o’clock, listened to the tumult from the depths of their +darkened houses, crazed with suspense, wondering what new catastrophe had +befallen. It was on one of these occasions, somewhere about the middle of +October, that M. de Gartlauben for the first time proved himself to be +possessed of some delicacy of feeling. Sedan had been jubilant all that day +with renewed hopes, for there was a rumor that the army of the Loire, then +marching to the relief of Paris, had gained a great victory; but how many times +before had the best of news been converted into tidings of disaster! and sure +enough, early in the evening it became known for certain that the Bavarians had +taken Orleans. Some soldiers had collected in a house across the way from the +factory in the Rue Maqua, and were so boisterous in their rejoicings that the +Captain, noticing Gilberte’s annoyance, went and silenced them, remarking +that he himself thought their uproar ill-timed. +</p> + +<p> +Toward the close of the month M. de Gartlauben was in position to render some +further trifling services. The Prussian authorities, in the course of sundry +administrative reforms inaugurated by them, had appointed a German +Sous-Prefect, and although this step did not put an end to the exactions to +which the city was subjected, the new official showed himself to be +comparatively reasonable. One of the most frequent among the causes of +difference that were constantly springing up between the officers of the post +and the municipal council was that which arose from the custom of +requisitioning carriages for the use of the staff, and there was a great +hullaballoo raised one morning that Delaherche failed to send his caleche and +pair to the Sous-Prefecture: the mayor was arrested and the manufacturer would +have gone to keep him company up in the citadel had it not been for M. de +Gartlauben, who promptly quelled the rising storm. Another day he secured a +stay of proceedings for the city, which had been mulcted in the sum of thirty +thousand francs to punish it for its alleged dilatoriness in rebuilding the +bridge of Villette, a bridge that the Prussians themselves had destroyed: a +disastrous piece of business that was near being the ruin of Sedan. It was +after the surrender at Metz, however, that Delaherche contracted his main debt +of gratitude to his guest. The terrible news burst on the citizens like a +thunderclap, dashing to the ground all their remaining hopes, and early in the +ensuing week the streets again began to be encumbered with the countless hosts +of the German forces, streaming down from the conquered fortress: the army of +Prince Frederick Charles moving on the Loire, that of General Manteuffel, whose +destination was Amiens and Rouen, and other corps on the march to reinforce the +besiegers before Paris. For several days the houses were full to overflowing +with soldiers, the butchers’ and bakers’ shops were swept clean, to +the last bone, to the last crumb; the streets were pervaded by a greasy, +tallowy odor, as after the passage of the great migratory bands of olden times. +The buildings in the Rue Maqua, protected by a friendly influence, escaped the +devastating irruption, and were only called on to give shelter to a few of the +leaders, men of education and refinement. +</p> + +<p> +Owing to these circumstances, Delaherche at last began to lay aside his +frostiness of manner. As a general thing the bourgeois families shut themselves +in their apartments and avoided all communication with the officers who were +billeted on them; but to him, who was of a sociable nature and liked to extract +from life what enjoyment it had to offer, this enforced sulkiness in the end +became unbearable. His great, silent house, where the inmates lived apart from +one another in a chill atmosphere of distrust and mutual dislike, damped his +spirits terribly. He began by stopping M. de Gartlauben on the stairs one day +to thank him for his favors, and thus by degrees it became a regular habit with +the two men to exchange a few words when they met. The result was that one +evening the Prussian captain found himself seated in his host’s study +before the fireplace where some great oak logs were blazing, smoking a cigar +and amicably discussing the news of the day. For the first two weeks of their +new intimacy Gilberte did not make her appearance in the room; he affected to +ignore her existence, although, at every faintest sound, his glance would be +directed expectantly upon the door of the connecting apartment. It seemed to be +his object to keep his position as an enemy as much as possible in the +background, trying to show he was not narrow-minded or a bigoted patriot, +laughing and joking pleasantly over certain rather ridiculous requisitions. For +example, a demand was made one day for a coffin and a shroud; that shroud and +coffin afforded him no end of amusement. As regarded other things, such as +coal, oil, milk, sugar, butter, bread, meat, to say nothing of clothing, stoves +and lamps—all the necessaries of daily life, in a word—he shrugged +his shoulders: <i>mon Dieu!</i> what would you have? No doubt it was vexatious; +he was even willing to admit that their demands were excessive, but that was +how it was in war times; they had to keep themselves alive in the enemy’s +country. Delaherche, who was very sore over these incessant requisitions, +expressed his opinion of them with frankness, pulling them to pieces +mercilessly at their nightly confabs, in much the same way as he might have +criticised the cook’s kitchen accounts. On only one occasion did their +discussion become at all acrimonious, and that was in relation to the impost of +a million francs that the Prussian préfet at Rethel had levied on the +department of the Ardennes, the alleged pretense of which was to indemnify +Germany for damages caused by French ships of war and by the expulsion of +Germans domiciled in French territory. Sedan’s proportionate share of the +assessment was forty-two thousand francs. And he labored strenuously with his +visitor to convince him of the iniquity of the imposition; the city was +differently circumstanced from the other towns, it had had more than its share +of affliction, and should not be burdened with that new exaction. The pair +always came out of their discussions better friends than when they went in; one +delighted to have had an opportunity of hearing himself talk, the other pleased +with himself for having displayed a truly Parisian urbanity. +</p> + +<p> +One evening Gilberte came into the room, with her air of thoughtless gayety. +She paused at the threshold, affecting embarrassment. M. de Gartlauben rose, +and with much tact presently withdrew, but on repeating his visit the following +evening and finding Gilberte there again, he settled himself in his usual seat +in the chimney-corner. It was the commencement of a succession of delightful +evenings that they passed together in the study of the master of the house, not +in the drawing-room—wherein lay a nice distinction. And at a later period +when, yielding to their guest’s entreaties, the young woman consented to +play for him, she did not invite him to the salon, but entered the room alone, +leaving the communicating door open. In those bitter winter evenings the old +oaks of the Ardennes gave out a grateful warmth from the depths of the great +cavernous fireplace; there was a cup of fragrant tea for them about ten +o’clock; they laughed and chatted in the comfortable, bright room. And it +did not require extra powers of vision to see that M. de Gartlauben was rapidly +falling head over ears in love with that sprightly young woman, who flirted +with him as audaciously as she had flirted in former days at Charleville with +Captain Beaudoin’s friends. He began to pay increased attention to his +person, displayed a gallantry that verged on the fantastic, was raised to the +pinnacle of bliss by the most trifling favor, tormented by the one ever-present +anxiety not to appear a barbarian in her eyes, a rude soldier who did not know +the ways of women. +</p> + +<p> +And thus it was that in the big, gloomy house in the Rue Maqua a twofold life +went on. While at meal-times Edmond, the wounded cherub with the pretty face, +lent a listening ear to Delaherche’s unceasing chatter, blushing if ever +Gilberte asked him to pass her the salt, while at evening M. de Gartlauben, +seated in the study, with eyes upturned in silent ecstasy, listened to a sonata +by Mozart performed for his benefit by the young woman in the adjoining +drawing-room, a stillness as of death continued to pervade the apartment where +Colonel de Vineuil and Madame Delaherche spent their days, the blinds tight +drawn, the lamp continually burning, like a votive candle illuminating a tomb. +December had come and wrapped the city in a winding-sheet of snow; the cruel +news seemed all the bitterer for the piercing cold. After General +Ducrot’s repulse at Champigny, after the loss of Orleans, there was left +but one dark, sullen hope: that the soil of France might avenge their defeat, +exterminate and swallow up the victors. Let the snow fall thicker and thicker +still, let the earth’s crust crack and open under the biting frost, that +in it the entire German nation might find a grave! And there came another +sorrow to wring poor Madame Delaherche’s heart. One night when her son +was from home, having been suddenly called away to Belgium on business, +chancing to pass Gilberte’s door she heard within a low murmur of voices +and smothered laughter. Disgusted and sick at heart she returned to her own +room, where her horror of the abominable thing she suspected the existence of +would not let her sleep: it could have been none other but the Prussian whose +voice she heard; she had thought she had noticed glances of intelligence +passing; she was prostrated by this supreme disgrace. Ah, that woman, that +abandoned woman, whom her son had insisted on bringing to the house despite her +commands and prayers, whom she had forgiven, by her silence, after Captain +Beaudoin’s death! And now the thing was repeated, and this time the +infamy was even worse. What was she to do? Such an enormity must not go +unpunished beneath her roof. Her mind was torn by the conflict that raged +there, in her uncertainty as to the course she should pursue. The colonel, +desiring to know nothing of what occurred outside his room, always checked her +with a gesture when he thought she was about to give him any piece of news, and +she had said nothing to him of the matter that had caused her such suffering; +but on those days when she came to him with tears standing in her eyes and sat +for hours in mournful silence, he would look at her and say to himself that +France had sustained yet another defeat. +</p> + +<p> +This was the condition of affairs in the house in the Rue Maqua when Henriette +dropped in there one morning to endeavor to secure Delaherche’s influence +in favor of Father Fouchard. She had heard people speak, smiling significantly +as they did so, of the servitude to which Gilberte had reduced Captain de +Gartlauben; she was, therefore, somewhat embarrassed when she encountered old +Madame Delaherche, to whom she thought it her duty to explain the object of her +visit, ascending the great staircase on her way to the colonel’s +apartment. +</p> + +<p> +“Dear madame, it would be so kind of you to assist us! My uncle is in +great danger; they talk of sending him away to Germany.” +</p> + +<p> +The old lady, although she had a sincere affection for Henriette, could scarce +conceal her anger as she replied: +</p> + +<p> +“I am powerless to help you, my child; you should not apply to me.” +And she continued, notwithstanding the agitation on the other’s face: +“You have selected an unfortunate moment for your visit; my son has to go +to Belgium to-night. Besides, he could not have helped you; he has no more +influence than I have. Go to my daughter-in-law; she is all powerful.” +</p> + +<p> +And she passed on toward the colonel’s room, leaving Henriette distressed +to have unwittingly involved herself in a family drama. Within the last +twenty-four hours Madame Delaherche had made up her mind to lay the whole +matter before her son before his departure for Belgium, whither he was going to +negotiate a large purchase of coal to enable him to put some of his idle looms +in motion. She could not endure the thought that the abominable thing should be +repeated beneath her eyes while he was absent, and was only waiting to make +sure he would not defer his departure until some other day, as he had been +doing all the past week. It was a terrible thing to contemplate: the wreck of +her son’s happiness, the Prussian disgraced and driven from their doors, +the wife, too, thrust forth upon the street and her name ignominiously +placarded on the walls, as had been threatened would be done with any woman who +should dishonor herself with a German. +</p> + +<p> +Gilberte gave a little scream of delight on beholding Henriette. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, how glad I am to see you! It seems an age since we met, and one +grows old so fast in the midst of all these horrors!” Thus running on she +dragged her friend to her bedroom, where she seated her on the lounge and +snuggled down close beside her. “Come, take off your things; you must +stay and breakfast with us. But first we’ll talk a bit; you must have +such lots and lots of things to tell me! I know that you are without news of +your brother. Ah, that poor Maurice, how I pity him, shut up in Paris, with no +gas, no wood, no bread, perhaps! And that young man whom you have been nursing, +that friend of your brother’s—oh! a little bird has told me all +about it—isn’t it for his sake you are here to-day?” +</p> + +<p> +Henriette’s conscience smote her, and she did not answer. Was it not +really for Jean’s sake that she had come, in order that, the old uncle +being released, the invalid, who had grown so dear to her, might have no +further cause for alarm? It distressed her to hear his name mentioned by +Gilberte; she could not endure the thought of enlisting in his favor an +influence that was of so ambiguous a character. Her inbred scruples of a pure, +honest woman made themselves felt, now it seemed to her that the rumors of a +liaison with the Prussian captain had some foundation. +</p> + +<p> +“Then I’m to understand that it’s in behalf of this young man +that you come to us for assistance?” Gilberte insistently went on, as if +enjoying her friend’s discomfiture. And as the latter, cornered and +unable to maintain silence longer, finally spoke of Father Fouchard’s +arrest: “Why, to be sure! What a silly thing I am—and I was talking +of it only this morning! You did well in coming to us, my dear; we must go +about your uncle’s affair at once and see what we can do for him, for the +last news I had was not reassuring. They are on the lookout for someone of whom +to make an example.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I have had you in mind all along,” Henriette hesitatingly +replied. “I thought you might be willing to assist me with your advice, +perhaps with something more substantial—” +</p> + +<p> +The young woman laughed merrily. “You little goose, I’ll have your +uncle released inside three days. Don’t you know that I have a Prussian +captain here in the house who stands ready to obey my every order? Understand, +he can refuse me nothing!” And she laughed more heartily than ever, in +the giddy, thoughtless triumph of her coquettish nature, holding in her own and +patting the hands of her friend, who was so uncomfortable that she could not +find words in which to express her thanks, horrified by the avowal that was +implied in what she had just heard. But how to account for such serenity, such +childlike gayety? “Leave it to me; I’ll send you home to-night with +a mind at rest.” +</p> + +<p> +When they passed into the dining room Henriette was struck by Edmond’s +delicate beauty, never having seen him before. She eyed him with the pleasure +she would have felt in looking at a pretty toy. Could it be possible that that +boy had served in the army? and how could they have been so cruel as to break +his arm? The story of his gallantry in the field made him even more interesting +still, and Delaherche, who had received Henriette with the cordiality of a man +to whom the sight of a new face is a godsend, while the servants were handing +round the cutlets and the potatoes cooked in their jackets, never seemed to +tire of eulogizing his secretary, who was as industrious and well behaved as he +was handsome. They made a very pleasant and homelike picture, the four, thus +seated around the bright table in the snug, warm dining room. +</p> + +<p> +“So you want us to interest ourselves in Father Fouchard’s case, +and it’s to that we owe the pleasure of your visit, eh?” said the +manufacturer. “I’m extremely sorry that I have to go away to-night, +but my wife will set things straight for you in a jiffy; there’s no +resisting her, she has only to ask for a thing to get it.” He laughed as +he concluded his speech, which was uttered in perfect simplicity of soul, +evidently pleased and flattered that his wife possessed such influence, in +which he shone with a kind of reflected glory. Then turning suddenly to her: +“By the way, my dear, has Edmond told you of his great discovery?” +</p> + +<p> +“No; what discovery?” asked Gilberte, turning her pretty caressing +eyes full on the young sergeant. +</p> + +<p> +The cherub blushed whenever a woman looked at him in that way, as if the +exquisiteness of his sensations was too much for him. “It’s +nothing, madame; only a bit of old lace; I heard you saying the other day you +wanted some to put on your mauve peignoir. I happened yesterday to come across +five yards of old Bruges point, something really handsome and very cheap. The +woman will be here presently to show it to you.” +</p> + +<p> +She could have kissed him, so delighted was she. “Oh, how nice of you! +You shall have your reward.” +</p> + +<p> +Then, while a terrine of foie-gras, purchased in Belgium, was being served, the +conversation took another turn; dwelling for an instant on the quantities of +fish that were dying of poison in the Meuse, and finally coming around to the +subject of the pestilence that menaced Sedan when there should be a thaw. Even +as early as November, there had been several cases of disease of an epidemic +character. Six thousand francs had been expended after the battle in cleansing +the city and collecting and burning clothing, knapsacks, haversacks, all the +debris that was capable of harboring infection; but, for all that, the +surrounding fields continued to exhale sickening odors whenever there came a +day or two of warmer weather, so replete were they with half-buried corpses, +covered only with a few inches of loose earth. In every direction the ground +was dotted with graves; the soil cracked and split in obedience to the forces +acting beneath its surface, and from the fissures thus formed the gases of +putrefaction issued to poison the living. In those more recent days, moreover, +another center of contamination had been discovered, the Meuse, although there +had already been removed from it the bodies of more than twelve hundred dead +horses. It was generally believed that there were no more human remains left in +the stream, until, one day, a <i>garde champetre</i>, looking attentively down +into the water where it was some six feet deep, discovered some objects +glimmering at the bottom, that at first he took for stones; but they proved to +be corpses of men, that had been mutilated in such a manner as to prevent the +gas from accumulating in the cavities of the body and hence had been kept from +rising to the surface. For near four months they had been lying there in the +water among the eel-grass. When grappled for the irons brought them up in +fragments, a head, an arm, or a leg at a time; at times the force of the +current would suffice to detach a hand or foot and send it rolling down the +stream. Great bubbles of gas rose to the surface and burst, still further +empoisoning the air. +</p> + +<p> +“We shall get along well enough as long as the cold weather lasts,” +remarked Delaherche, “but as soon as the snow is off the ground we shall +have to go to work in earnest to abate the nuisance; if we don’t we shall +be wanting graves for ourselves.” And when his wife laughingly asked him +if he could not find some more agreeable subject to talk about at the table, he +concluded by saying: “Well, it will be a long time before any of us will +care to eat any fish out of the Meuse.” +</p> + +<p> +They had finished their repast, and the coffee was being poured, when the maid +came to the door and announced that M. de Gartlauben presented his compliments +and wanted to know if he might be allowed to see them for a moment. There was a +slight flutter of excitement, for it was the first time he had ever presented +himself at that hour of the day. Delaherche, seeing in the circumstance a +favorable opportunity for presenting Henriette to him, gave orders that he +should be introduced at once. The doughty captain, when he beheld another young +woman in the room, surpassed himself in politeness, even accepting a cup of +coffee, which he took without sugar, as he had seen many people do at Paris. He +had only asked to be received at that unusual hour, he said, that he might tell +Madame he had succeeded in obtaining the pardon of one of her proteges, a poor +operative in the factory who had been arrested on account of a squabble with a +Prussian. And Gilberte thereon seized the opportunity to mention Father +Fouchard’s case. +</p> + +<p> +“Captain, I wish to make you acquainted with one of my dearest friends, +who desires to place herself under your protection. She is the niece of the +farmer who was arrested lately at Remilly, as you are aware, for being mixed up +with that business of the francs-tireurs.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes, I know; the affair of the spy, the poor fellow who was found +in a sack with his throat cut. It’s a bad business, a very bad business. +I am afraid I shall not be able to do anything.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, Captain, don’t say that! I should consider it such a +favor!” +</p> + +<p> +There was a caress in the look she cast on him, while he beamed with +satisfaction, bowing his head in gallant obedience. Her wish was his law! +</p> + +<p> +“You would have all my gratitude, sir,” faintly murmured Henriette, +to whose memory suddenly rose the image of her husband, her dear Weiss, +slaughtered down yonder at Bazeilles, filling her with invincible repugnance. +</p> + +<p> +Edmond, who had discreetly taken himself off on the arrival of the captain, now +reappeared and whispered something in Gilberte’s ear. She rose quickly +from the table, and, announcing to the company that she was going to inspect +her lace, excused herself and followed the young man from the room. Henriette, +thus left alone with the two men, went and took a seat by herself in the +embrasure of a window, while they remained seated at the table and went on +talking in a loud tone. +</p> + +<p> +“Captain, you’ll have a <i>petit verre</i> with me. You see I +don’t stand on ceremony with you; I say whatever comes into my head, +because I know you to be a fair-minded man. Now I tell you your préfet is all +wrong in trying to extort those forty-two thousand francs from the city. Just +think once of all our losses since the beginning of the war. In the first +place, before the battle, we had the entire French army on our hands, a set of +ragged, hungry, exhausted men; and then along came your rascals, and their +appetites were not so very poor, either. The passage of those troops through +the place, what with requisitions, repairing damages and expenses of all sorts, +stood us in a million and a half. Add as much more for the destruction caused +by your artillery and by conflagration during the battle; there you have three +millions. Finally, I am well within bounds in estimating the loss sustained by +our trade and manufactures at two millions. What do you say to that, eh? A +grand total of five million francs for a city of thirteen thousand inhabitants! +And now you come and ask us for forty-two thousand more as a contribution to +the expense of carrying on the war against us! Is it fair, is it reasonable? I +leave it to your own sense of justice.” +</p> + +<p> +M. de Gartlauben nodded his head with an air of profundity, and made answer: +</p> + +<p> +“What can you expect? It is the fortune of war, the fortune of +war.” +</p> + +<p> +To Henriette, seated in her window seat, her ears ringing, and vague, sad +images of every sort fleeting through her brain, the time seemed to pass with +mortal slowness, while Delaherche asserted on his word of honor that Sedan +could never have weathered the crisis produced by the exportation of all their +specie had it not been for the wisdom of the local magnates in emitting an +issue of paper money, a step that had saved the city from financial ruin. +</p> + +<p> +“Captain, will you have just a drop of cognac more?” and he skipped +to another topic. “It was not France that started the war; it was the +Emperor. Ah, I was greatly deceived in the Emperor. He need never expect to sit +on the throne again; we would see the country dismembered first. Look here! +there was just one man in this country last July who saw things as they were, +and that was M. Thiers; and his action at the present time in visiting the +different capitals of Europe is most wise and patriotic. He has the best wishes +of every good citizen; may he be successful!” +</p> + +<p> +He expressed the conclusion of his idea by a gesture, for he would have +considered it improper to speak of his desire for peace before a Prussian, no +matter how friendly he might be, although the desire burned fiercely in his +bosom, as it did in that of every member of the old conservative bourgeoisie +who had favored the plebiscite. Their men and money were exhausted, it was time +for them to throw up the sponge; and a deep-seated feeling of hatred toward +Paris, for the obstinacy with which it held out, prevailed in all the provinces +that were in possession of the enemy. He concluded in a lower tone, his +allusion being to Gambetta’s inflammatory proclamations: +</p> + +<p> +“No, no, we cannot give our suffrages to fools and madmen. The course +they advocate would end in general massacre. I, for my part, am for M. Thiers, +who would submit the questions at issue to the popular vote, and as for their +Republic, great heavens! let them have it if they want it, while waiting for +something better; it don’t trouble me in the slightest.” +</p> + +<p> +Captain de Gartlauben continued to nod his head very politely with an approving +air, murmuring: +</p> + +<p> +“To be sure, to be sure—” +</p> + +<p> +Henriette, whose feeling of distress had been increasing, could stand their +talk no longer. She could assign no definite reason for the sensation of +inquietude that possessed her; it was only a longing to get away, and she rose +and left the room quietly in quest of Gilberte, whose absence had been so long +protracted. On entering the bedroom, however, she was greatly surprised to find +her friend stretched on the lounge, weeping bitterly and manifestly suffering +from some extremely painful emotion. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, what is the matter? What has happened you?” +</p> + +<p> +The young woman’s tears flowed faster still and she would not speak, +manifesting a confusion that sent every drop of blood coursing from her heart +up to her face. At last, throwing herself into the arms that were opened to +receive her and concealing her face in the other’s bosom, she stammered: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, darling if you but knew. I shall never dare to tell you—and +yet I have no one but you, you alone perhaps can tell me what is best to +do.” A shiver passed through her frame, her voice was scarcely audible. +“I was with Edmond—and then—and then Madame Delaherche came +into the room and caught me—” +</p> + +<p> +“Caught you! What do you mean?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, we were here in the room; he was holding me in his arms and kissing +me—” And clasping Henriette convulsively in her trembling arms she +told her all. “Oh, my darling, don’t judge me severely; I could not +bear it! I know I promised you it should never happen again, but you have seen +Edmond, you know how brave he is, how handsome! And think once of the poor +young man, wounded, ill, with no one to give him a mother’s care! And +then he has never had the enjoyments that wealth affords; his family have +pinched themselves to give him an education. I could not be harsh with +him.” +</p> + +<p> +Henriette listened, the picture of surprise; she could not recover from her +amazement. “What! you don’t mean to say it was the little sergeant! +Why, my dear, everyone believes the Prussian to be your lover!” +</p> + +<p> +Gilberte straightened herself up with an indignant air, and dried her eyes. +“The Prussian my lover? No, thank you! He’s detestable; I +can’t endure him. I wonder what they take me for? What have I ever done +that they should suppose I could be guilty of such baseness? No, never! I would +rather die than do such a thing!” In the earnestness of her protestations +her beauty had assumed an angry and more lofty cast that made her look other +than she was. And all at once, sudden as a flash, her coquettish gayety, her +thoughtless levity, came back to her face, accompanied by a peal of silvery +laughter. “I won’t deny that I amuse myself at his expense. He +adores me, and I have only to give him a look to make him obey. You have no +idea what fun it is to bamboozle that great big man, who seems to think he will +have his reward some day.” +</p> + +<p> +“But that is a very dangerous game you’re playing,” Henriette +gravely said. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, do you think so? What risk do I incur? When he comes to see he has +nothing to expect he can’t do more than be angry with me and go away. But +he will never see it! You don’t know the man; I read him like a book from +the very start: he is one of those men with whom a woman can do what she +pleases and incur no danger. I have an instinct that guides me in these matters +and which has never deceived me. He is too consumed by vanity; no human +consideration will ever drive it into his head that by any possibility a woman +could get the better of him. And all he will get from me will be permission to +carry away my remembrance, with the consoling thought that he has done the +proper thing and behaved himself like a gallant man who has long been an +inhabitant of Paris.” And with her air of triumphant gayety she added: +“But before he leaves he shall cause Uncle Fouchard to be set at liberty, +and all his recompense for his trouble shall be a cup of tea sweetened by these +fingers.” +</p> + +<p> +But suddenly her fears returned to her: she remembered what must be the +terrible consequences of her indiscretion, and her eyes were again bedewed with +tears. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Mon Dieu!</i> and Madame Delaherche—how will it all end? She +bears me no love; she is capable of telling the whole story to my +husband.” +</p> + +<p> +Henriette had recovered her composure. She dried her friend’s eyes, and +made her rise from the lounge and arrange her disordered clothing. +</p> + +<p> +“Listen, my dear; I cannot bring myself to scold you, and yet you know +what my sentiments must be. But I was so alarmed by the stories I heard about +the Prussian, the business wore such an extremely ugly aspect, that this affair +really comes to me as a sort of relief by comparison. Cease weeping; things may +come out all right.” +</p> + +<p> +Her action was taken none too soon, for almost immediately Delaherche and his +mother entered the room. He said that he had made up his mind to take the train +for Brussels that afternoon and had been giving orders to have a carriage ready +to carry him across the frontier into Belgium; so he had come to say good-by to +his wife. Then turning and addressing Henriette: +</p> + +<p> +“You need have no further fears. M. de Gartlauben, just is he was going +away, promised me he would attend to your uncle’s case, and although I +shall not be here, my wife will keep an eye to it.” +</p> + +<p> +Since Madame Delaherche had made her appearance in the apartment Gilberte had +not once taken her anxious eyes from off her face. Would she speak, would she +tell what she had seen, and keep her son from starting on his projected +journey? The elder lady, also, soon as she crossed the threshold, had bent her +fixed gaze in silence on her daughter-in-law. Doubtless her stern patriotism +induced her to view the matter in somewhat the same light that Henriette had +viewed it. <i>Mon Dieu!</i> since it was that young man, that Frenchman who had +fought so bravely, was it not her duty to forgive, even as she had forgiven +once before, in Captain Beaudoin’s case? A look of greater softness rose +to her eyes; she averted her head. Her son might go; Edmond would be there to +protect Gilberte against the Prussian. She even smiled faintly, she whose grim +face had never once relaxed since the news of the victory at Coulmiers. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Au revoir</i>,” she said, folding her son in her arms. +“Finish up your business quickly as you can and come back to us.” +</p> + +<p> +And she took herself slowly away, returning to the prison-like chamber across +the corridor, where the colonel, with his dull gaze, was peering into the +shadows that lay outside the disk of bright light which fell from the lamp. +</p> + +<p> +Henriette returned to Remilly that same evening, and one morning, three days +afterward, had the pleasure to see Father Fouchard come walking into the house, +as calmly as if he had merely stepped out to transact some business in the +neighborhood. He took a seat by the table and refreshed himself with some bread +and cheese, and to all the questions that were put to him replied with cool +deliberation, like a man who had never seen anything to alarm him in his +situation. What reason had he to be afraid? He had done nothing wrong; it was +not he who had killed the Prussian, was it? So he had just said to the +authorities: “Investigate the matter; I know nothing about it.” And +they could do nothing but release him, and the mayor as well, seeing they had +no proofs against them. But the eyes of the crafty, sly old peasant gleamed +with delight at the thought of how nicely he had pulled the wool over the eyes +of those dirty blackguards, who were beginning to higgle with him over the +quality of the meat he furnished to them. +</p> + +<p> +December was drawing near its end, and Jean insisted on going away. His leg was +quite strong again, and the doctor announced that he was fit to go and join the +army. This was to Henriette a subject of profoundest sorrow, which she kept +locked in her bosom as well as she was able. No tidings from Paris had reached +them since the disastrous battle of Champigny; all they knew was that +Maurice’s regiment had been exposed to a murderous fire and had suffered +severely. Ever that deep, unbroken silence; no letter, never the briefest line +for them, when they knew that families in Raucourt and Sedan were receiving +intelligence of their loved ones by circuitous ways. Perhaps the pigeon that +was bringing them the so eagerly wished-for news had fallen a victim to some +hungry bird of prey, perhaps the bullet of a Prussian had brought it to the +ground at the margin of a wood. But the fear that haunted them most of all was +that Maurice was dead; the silence of the great city off yonder in the +distance, uttering no cry in the mortal hug of the investment, was become to +them in their agonized suspense the silence of death. They had abandoned all +hope of tidings, and when Jean declared his settled purpose to be gone, +Henriette only gave utterance to this stifled cry of despair: +</p> + +<p> +“My God! then all is ended, and I am to be left alone!” +</p> + +<p> +It was Jean’s desire to go and serve with the Army of the North, which +had recently been re-formed under General Faidherbe. Now that General +Manteuffel’s corps had moved forward to Dieppe there were three +departments, cut off from the rest of France, that this army had to defend, le +Nord, le Pas-de-Calais, and la Somme, and Jean’s plan, not a difficult +one to carry into execution, was simply to make for Bouillon and thence +complete his journey across Belgian territory. He knew that the 23d corps was +being recruited, mainly from such old soldiers of Sedan and Metz as could be +gathered to the standards. He had heard it reported that General Faidherbe was +about to take the field, and had definitely appointed the next ensuing Sunday +as the day of his departure, when news reached him of the battle of +Pont-Noyelle, that drawn battle which came so near being a victory for the +French. +</p> + +<p> +It was Dr. Dalichamp again in this instance who offered the services of his gig +and himself as driver to Bouillon. The good man’s courage and kindness +were boundless. At Raucourt, where typhus was raging, communicated by the +Bavarians, there was not a house where he had not one or more patients, and +this labor was additional to his regular attendance at the two hospitals at +Raucourt and Remilly. His ardent patriotism, the impulse that prompted him to +protest against unnecessary barbarity, had twice led to his being arrested by +the Prussians, only to be released on each occasion. He gave a little laugh of +satisfaction, therefore, the morning he came with his vehicle to take up Jean, +pleased to be the instrument of assisting the escape of another of the victims +of Sedan, those poor, brave fellows, as he called them, to whom he gave his +professional services and whom he aided with his purse. Jean, who knew of +Henriette’s straitened circumstances and had been suffering from lack of +funds since his relapse, accepted gratefully the fifty francs that the doctor +offered him for traveling expenses. +</p> + +<p> +Father Fouchard did things handsomely at the leave-taking, sending Silvine to +the cellar for two bottles of wine and insisting that everyone should drink a +glass to the extermination of the Germans. He was a man of importance in the +country nowadays and had his “plum” hidden away somewhere or other; +he could sleep in peace now that the francs-tireurs had disappeared, driven +like wild beasts from their lair, and his sole wish was for a speedy conclusion +of the war. He had even gone so far in one of his generous fits as to pay +Prosper his wages in order to retain his services on the farm, which the young +man had no thought of leaving. He touched glasses with Prosper, and also with +Silvine, whom he at times was half inclined to marry, knowing what a treasure +he had in his faithful, hard-working little servant; but what was the use? he +knew she would never leave him, that she would still be there when Charlot +should be grown and go in turn to serve his country as a soldier. And touching +his glass to Henriette’s, Jean’s, and the doctor’s, he +exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“Here’s to the health of you all! May you all prosper and be no +worse off than I am!” +</p> + +<p> +Henriette would not let Jean go away without accompanying him as far as Sedan. +He was in citizen’s dress, wearing a frock coat and derby hat that the +doctor had loaned him. The day was piercingly cold; the sun’s rays were +reflected from a crust of glittering snow. Their intention had been to pass +through the city without stopping, but when Jean learned that his old colonel +was still at the Delaherches’ he felt an irresistible desire to go and +pay his respects to him, and at the same time thank the manufacturer for his +many kindnesses. His visit was destined to bring him an additional, a final +sorrow, in that city of mournful memories. On reaching the structure in the Rue +Maqua they found the household in a condition of the greatest distress and +disorder, Gilberte wringing her hands, Madame Delaherche weeping great silent +tears, while her son, who had come in from the factory, where work was +gradually being resumed, uttered exclamations of surprise. The colonel had just +been discovered, stone dead, lying exactly as he had fallen, in a heap on the +floor of his chamber. The physician, who was summoned with all haste, could +assign no cause for the sudden death; there was no indication of paralysis or +heart trouble. The colonel had been stricken down, and no one could tell from +what quarter the blow came; but the following morning, when the room was thrown +open, a piece of an old newspaper was found, lying on the carpet, that had been +wrapped around a book and contained the account of the surrender of Metz. +</p> + +<p> +“My, dear,” said Gilberte to Henriette, “as Captain de +Gartlauben was coming downstairs just now he removed his hat as he passed the +door of the room where my uncle’s body is lying. Edmond saw it; +he’s an extremely well-bred man, don’t you think so?” +</p> + +<p> +In all their intimacy Jean had never yet kissed Henriette. Before resuming his +seat in the gig with the doctor he endeavored to thank her for all her devoted +kindness, for having nursed and loved him as a brother, but somehow the words +would not come at his command; he opened his arms and, with a great sob, +clasped her in a long embrace, and she, beside herself with the grief of +parting, returned his kiss. Then the horse started, he turned about in his +seat, there was a waving of hands, while again and again two sorrowful voices +repeated in choking accents: +</p> + +<p> +“Farewell! Farewell!” +</p> + +<p> +On her return to Remilly that evening Henriette reported for duty at the +hospital. During the silent watches of the night she was visited by another +convulsive attack of sobbing, and wept, wept as if her tears would never cease +to flow, clasping her hands before her as if between them to strangle her +bitter sorrow. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap23"></a>VII.</h2> + +<p> +On the day succeeding the battle of Sedan the mighty hosts of the two German +armies, without the delay of a moment, commenced their march on Paris, the army +of the Meuse coming in by the north through the valley of the Marne, while the +third army, passing the Seine at Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, turned the city to +the south and moved on Versailles; and when, on that bright, warm September +morning, General Ducrot, to whom had been assigned the command of the as yet +incomplete 14th corps, determined to attack the latter force while it was +marching by the flank, Maurice’s new regiment, the 115th, encamped in the +woods to the left of Meudon, did not receive its orders to advance until the +day was lost. A few shells from the enemy sufficed to do the work; the panic +started with a regiment of zouaves made up of raw recruits, and quickly +spreading to the other troops, all were swept away in a headlong rout that +never ceased until they were safe behind the walls of Paris, where the utmost +consternation prevailed. Every position in advance of the southern line of +fortifications was lost, and that evening the wires of the Western Railway +telegraph, the city’s sole remaining means of communicating with the rest +of France, were cut. Paris was cut off from the world. +</p> + +<p> +The condition of their affairs caused Maurice a terrible dejection. Had the +Germans been more enterprising they might have pitched their tents that night +in the Place du Carrousel, but with the prudence of their race they had +determined that the siege should be conducted according to rule and precept, +and had already fixed upon the exact lines of investment, the position of the +army of the Meuse being at the north, stretching from Croissy to the Marne, +through Epinay, the cordon of the third army at the south, from Chennevieres to +Chatillon and Bougival, while general headquarters, with King William, +Bismarck, and General von Moltke, were established at Versailles. The gigantic +blockade, that no one believed could be successfully completed, was an +accomplished fact; the city, with its girdle of fortifications eight leagues +and a half in length, embracing fifteen forts and six detached redoubts, was +henceforth to be transformed into a huge prison-pen. And the army of the +defenders comprised only the 13th corps, commanded by General Vinoy, and the +14th, then in process of reconstruction under General Ducrot, the two +aggregating an effective strength of eighty thousand men; to which were to be +added fourteen thousand sailors, fifteen thousand of the francs corps, and a +hundred and fifteen thousand mobiles, not to mention the three hundred thousand +National Guards distributed among the sectional divisions of the ramparts. If +this seems like a large force it must be remembered that there were few +seasoned and trained soldiers among its numbers. Men were constantly being +drilled and equipped; Paris was a great intrenched camp. The preparations for +the defense went on from hour to hour with feverish haste; roads were built, +houses demolished within the military zone; the two hundred siege guns and the +twenty-five hundred pieces of lesser caliber were mounted in position, other +guns were cast; an arsenal, complete in every detail, seemed to spring from the +earth under the tireless efforts of Dorian, the patriotic war minister. When, +after the rupture of the negotiations at Ferrieres, Jules Favre acquainted the +country with M. von Bismarck’s demands—the cession of Alsace, the +garrison of Strasbourg to be surrendered, three milliards of indemnity—a +cry of rage went up and the continuation of the war was demanded by acclaim as +a condition indispensable to the country’s existence. Even with no hope +of victory Paris must defend herself in order that France might live. +</p> + +<p> +On a Sunday toward the end of September Maurice was detailed to carry a message +to the further end of the city, and what he witnessed along the streets he +passed through filled him with new hope. Ever since the defeat of Chatillon it +had seemed to him that the courage of the people was rising to a level with the +great task that lay before them. Ah! that Paris that he had known so +thoughtless, so wayward, so keen in the pursuit of pleasure; he found it now +quite changed, simple, earnest, cheerfully brave, ready for every sacrifice. +Everyone was in uniform; there was scarce a head that was not decorated with +the <i>kepi</i> of the National Guard. Business of every sort had come to a +sudden standstill, as the hands of a watch cease to move when the mainspring +snaps, and at the public meetings, among the soldiers in the guard-room, or +where the crowds collected in the streets, there was but one subject of +conversation, inflaming the hearts and minds of all—the determination to +conquer. The contagious influence of illusion, scattered broadcast, unbalanced +weaker minds; the people were tempted to acts of generous folly by the tension +to which they were subjected. Already there was a taint of morbid, nervous +excitability in the air, a feverish condition in which men’s hopes and +fears alike became distorted and exaggerated, arousing the worst passions of +humanity at the slightest breath of suspicion. And Maurice was witness to a +scene in the Rue des Martyrs that produced a profound impression on him, the +assault made by a band of infuriated men on a house from which, at one of the +upper windows, a bright light had been displayed all through the night, a +signal, evidently, intended to reach the Prussians at Bellevue over the roofs +of Paris. There were jealous citizens who spent all their nights on their +house-tops, watching what was going on around them. The day before a poor +wretch had had a narrow escape from drowning at the hands of the mob, merely +because he had opened a map of the city on a bench in the Tuileries gardens and +consulted it. +</p> + +<p> +And that epidemic of suspicion Maurice, who had always hitherto been so liberal +and fair-minded, now began to feel the influence of in the altered views he was +commencing to entertain concerning men and things. He had ceased to give way to +despair, as he had done after the rout at Chatillon, when he doubted whether +the French army would ever muster up sufficient manhood to fight again: the +sortie of the 30th of September on l’Hay and Chevilly, that of the 13th +of October, in which the mobiles gained possession of Bagneux, and finally that +of October 21, when his regiment captured and held for some time the park of la +Malmaison, had restored to him all his confidence, that flame of hope that a +spark sufficed to light and was extinguished as quickly. It was true the +Prussians had repulsed them in every direction, but for all that the troops had +fought bravely; they might yet be victorious in the end. It was Paris now that +was responsible for the young man’s gloomy forebodings, that great fickle +city that at one moment was cheered by bright illusions and the next was sunk +in deepest despair, ever haunted by the fear of treason in its thirst for +victory. Did it not seem as if Trochu and Ducrot were treading in the footsteps +of the Emperor and Marshal MacMahon and about to prove themselves incompetent +leaders, the unconscious instruments of their country’s ruin? The same +movement that had swept away the Empire was now threatening the Government of +National Defense, a fierce longing of the extremists to place themselves in +control in order that they might save France by the methods of ’92; even +now Jules Favre and his co-members were more unpopular than the old ministers +of Napoleon III. had ever been. Since they would not fight the Prussians, they +would do well to make way for others, for those revolutionists who saw an +assurance of victory in decreeing the <i>levée en masse</i>, in lending an ear +to those visionaries who proposed to mine the earth beneath the +Prussians’ feet, or annihilate them all by means of a new fashioned Greek +fire. +</p> + +<p> +Just previous to the 31st of October Maurice was more than usually a victim to +this malady of distrust and barren speculation. He listened now approvingly to +crude fancies that would formerly have brought a smile of contempt to his lips. +Why should he not? Were not imbecility and crime abroad in the land? Was it +unreasonable to look for the miraculous when his world was falling in ruins +about him? Ever since the time he first heard the tidings of Froeschwiller, +down there in front of Mülhausen, he had harbored a deep-seated feeling of +rancor in his breast; he suffered from Sedan as from a raw sore, that bled +afresh with every new reverse; the memory of their defeats, with all the +anguish they entailed, was ever present to his mind; body and mind enfeebled by +long marches, sleepless nights, and lack of food, inducing a mental torpor that +left them doubtful even if they were alive; and the thought that so much +suffering was to end in another and an irremediable disaster maddened him, made +of that cultured man an unreflecting being, scarce higher in the scale than a +very little child, swayed by each passing impulse of the moment. Anything, +everything, destruction, extermination, rather than pay a penny of French money +or yield an inch of French soil! The revolution that since the first reverse +had been at work within him, sweeping away the legend of Napoleonic glory, the +sentimental Bonapartism that he owed to the epic narratives of his grandfather, +was now complete. He had ceased to be a believer in Republicanism, pure and +simple, considering the remedy not drastic enough; he had begun to dabble in +the theories of the extremists, he was a believer in the necessity of the +Terror as the only means of ridding them of the traitors and imbeciles who were +about to slay the country. And so it was that he was heart and soul with the +insurgents when, on the 31st of October, tidings of disaster came pouring in on +them in quick succession: the loss of Bourget, that had been captured from the +enemy only a few days before by a dashing surprise; M. Thiers’ return to +Versailles from his visit to the European capitals, prepared to treat for +peace, so it was said, in the name of Napoleon III.; and finally the +capitulation of Metz, rumors of which had previously been current and which was +now confirmed, the last blow of the bludgeon, another Sedan, only attended by +circumstances of blacker infamy. And when he learned next day the occurrences +at the Hôtel de Ville—how the insurgents had been for a brief time +successful, how the members of the Government of National Defense had been made +prisoners and held until four o’clock in the morning, how finally the +fickle populace, swayed at one moment by detestation for the ministers and at +the next terrified by the prospect of a successful revolution, had released +them—he was filled with regret at the miscarriage of the attempt, at the +non-success of the Commune, which might have been their salvation, calling the +people to arms, warning them of the country’s danger, arousing the +cherished memories of a nation that wills it will not perish. Thiers did not +dare even to set his foot in Paris, where there was some attempt at +illumination to celebrate the failure of the negotiations. +</p> + +<p> +The month of November was to Maurice a period of feverish expectancy. There +were some conflicts of no great importance, in which he had no share. His +regiment was in cantonments at the time in the vicinity of Saint-Ouen, whence +he made his escape as often as he could to satisfy his craving for news. Paris, +like him, was awaiting the issue of events in eager suspense. The election of +municipal officers seemed to have appeased political passion for the time +being, but a circumstance that boded no good for the future was that those +elected were rabid adherents of one or another party. And what Paris was +watching and praying for in that interval of repose was the grand sortie that +was to bring them victory and deliverance. As it had always been, so it was +now; confidence reigned everywhere: they would drive the Prussians from their +position, would pulverize them, annihilate them. Great preparations were being +made in the peninsula of Gennevilliers, the point where there was most +likelihood of the operation being attended with success. Then one morning came +the joyful tidings of the victory at Coulmiers; Orleans was recaptured, the +army of the Loire was marching to the relief of Paris, was even then, so it was +reported, in camp at Étampes. The aspect of affairs was entirely changed: all +they had to do now was to go and effect a junction with it beyond the Marne. +There had been a general reorganization of the forces; three armies had been +created, one composed of the battalions of National Guards and commanded by +General Clement Thomas, another, comprising the 13th and 14th corps, to which +were added a few reliable regiments, selected indiscriminately wherever they +could be found, was to form the main column of attack under the lead of General +Ducrot, while the third, intended to act as a reserve, was made up entirely of +mobiles and turned over to General Vinoy. And when Maurice laid him down to +sleep in the wood of Vincennes on the night of the 28th of November, with his +comrades of the 115th, he was without a doubt of their success. The three corps +of the second army were all there, and it was common talk that their junction +with the army of the Loire had been fixed for the following day at +Fontainebleau. Then ensued a series of mischances, the usual blunders arising +from want of foresight; a sudden rising of the river, which prevented the +engineers from laying the pontoon bridge; conflicting orders, which delayed the +movement of the troops. The 115th was among the first regiments to pass the +river on the following night, and in the neighborhood of ten o’clock, +with Maurice in its ranks, it entered Champigny under a destructive fire. The +young man was wild with excitement; he fired so rapidly that his chassepot +burned his fingers, notwithstanding the intense cold. His sole thought was to +push onward, ever onward, surmounting every obstacle until they should join +their brothers from the provinces over there across the river. But in front of +Champigny and Bry the army fell up against the park walls of Coeuilly and +Villiers, that the Prussians had converted into impregnable fortresses, more +than a quarter of a mile in length. The men’s courage faltered, and after +that the action went on in a half-hearted way; the 3d corps was slow in getting +up, the 1st and 2d, unable to advance, continued for two days longer to hold +Champigny, which they finally abandoned on the night of December 2, after their +barren victory. The whole army retired to the wood of Vincennes, where the +men’s only shelter was the snow-laden branches of the trees, and Maurice, +whose feet were frost-bitten, laid his head upon the cold ground and cried. +</p> + +<p> +The gloom and dejection that reigned in the city, after the failure of that +supreme effort, beggars the powers of description. The great sortie that had +been so long in preparation, the irresistible eruption that was to be the +deliverance of Paris, had ended in disappointment, and three days later came a +communication from General von Moltke under a flag of truce, announcing that +the army of the Loire had been defeated and that the German flag again waved +over Orleans. The girdle was being drawn tighter and tighter about the doomed +city all whose struggles were henceforth powerless to burst its iron fetters. +But Paris seemed to accumulate fresh powers of resistance in the delirium of +its despair. It was certain that ere long they would have to count famine among +the number of their foes. As early as October the people had been restricted in +their consumption of butcher’s meat, and in December, of all the immense +herds of beeves and flocks of sheep that had been turned loose in the Bois de +Boulogne, there was not a single creature left alive, and horses were being +slaughtered for food. The stock of flour and wheat, with what was subsequently +taken for the public use by forced sale, it was estimated would keep the city +supplied with bread for four months. When the flour was all consumed mills were +erected in the railway stations to grind the grain. The supply of coal, too, +was giving out; it was reserved to bake the bread and for use in the mills and +arms factories. And Paris, her streets without gas and lighted by petroleum +lamps at infrequent intervals; Paris, shivering under her icy mantle; Paris, to +whom the authorities doled out her scanty daily ration of black bread and horse +flesh, continued to hope—in spite of all, talking of Faidherbe in the +north, of Chanzy on the Loire, of Bourbaki in the east, as if their victorious +armies were already beneath the walls. The men and women who stood waiting, +their feet in snow and slush, in interminable lines before the bakers’ +and butchers’ shops, brightened up a bit at times at the news of some +imaginary success of the army. After the discouragement of each defeat the +unquenchable flame of their illusion would burst out and blaze more brightly +than ever among those wretched people, whom starvation and every kind of +suffering had rendered almost delirious. A soldier on the Place du Château +d’Eau having spoken of surrender, the by-standers mobbed and were near +killing him. While the army, its endurance exhausted, feeling the end was near, +called for peace, the populace clamored still for the sortie <i>en masse</i>, +the torrential sortie, in which the entire population of the capital, men, +women, and children, even, should take part, rushing upon the Prussians like +water from a broken dyke and overwhelming them by sheer force of numbers. +</p> + +<p> +And Maurice kept himself apart from his comrades, with an ever-increasing +disgust for the life and duties of a soldier, that condemned him to inactivity +and uselessness behind the ramparts of Mont-Valerien. He grasped every occasion +to get away and hasten to Paris, where his heart was. It was in the midst of +the great city’s thronging masses alone that he found rest and peace of +mind; he tried to force himself to hope as they hoped. He often went to witness +the departure of the balloons, which were sent up every other day from the +station of the Northern Railway with a freight of despatches and carrier +pigeons. They rose when the ropes were cast loose and soon were lost to sight +in the cheerless wintry sky, and all hearts were filled with anguish when the +wind wafted them in the direction of the German frontier. Many of them were +never heard of more. He had himself twice written to his sister Henriette, +without ever learning if she had received his letters. The memory of his sister +and of Jean, living as they did in that outer, shadowy world from which no +tidings ever reached him now, was become so blurred and faint that he thought +of them but seldom, as of affections that he had left behind him in some +previous existence. The incessant conflict of despair and hope in which he +lived occupied all the faculties of his being too fully to leave room for mere +human feelings. Then, too, in the early days of January he was goaded to the +verge of frenzy by the action of the enemy in shelling the district on the left +bank of the river. He had come to credit the Prussians with reasons of humanity +for their abstention, which was in fact due simply to the difficulties they +experienced in bringing up their guns and getting them in position. Now that a +shell had killed two little girls at the Val-de-Grâce, his scorn and hatred +knew no bounds for those barbarous ruffians who murdered little children and +threatened to burn the libraries and museums. After the first days of terror, +however, Paris had resumed its life of dogged, unfaltering heroism. +</p> + +<p> +Since the reverse of Champigny there had been but one other attempt, ending in +disaster like the rest, in the direction of Bourget; and the evening when the +plateau of Avron was evacuated, under the fire of the heavy siege artillery +battering away at the forts, Maurice was a sharer in the rage and exasperation +that possessed the entire city. The growing unpopularity that threatened to +hurl from power General Trochu and the Government of National Defense was so +augmented by this additional repulse that they were compelled to attempt a +supreme and hopeless effort. What, did they refuse the services of the three +hundred thousand National Guards, who from the beginning had been demanding +their share in the peril and in the victory! This time it was to be the +torrential sortie that had all along been the object of the popular clamor; +Paris was to throw open its dikes and drown the Prussians beneath the +on-pouring waves of its children. Notwithstanding the certainty of a fresh +defeat, there was no way of avoiding a demand that had its origin in such +patriotic motives; but in order to limit the slaughter as far as possible, the +chiefs determined to employ, in connection with the regular army, only the +fifty-nine mobilized battalions of the National Guard. The day preceding the +19th of January resembled some great public holiday; an immense crowd gathered +on the boulevards and in the Champs-Élysées to witness the departing regiments, +which marched proudly by, preceded by their bands, the men thundering out +patriotic airs. Women and children followed them along the sidewalk, men +climbed on the benches to wish them Godspeed. The next morning the entire +population of the city hurried out to the Arc de Triomphe, and it was almost +frantic with delight when at an early hour news came of the capture of +Montretout; the tales that were told of the gallant behavior of the National +Guard sounded like epics; the Prussians had been beaten all along the line, the +French would occupy Versailles before night. As a natural result the +consternation was proportionately great when, at nightfall, the inevitable +defeat became known. While the left wing was seizing Montretout the center, +which had succeeded in carrying the outer wall of Buzanval Park, had +encountered a second inner wall, before which it broke. A thaw had set in, the +roads were heavy from the effects of a fine, drizzling rain, and the guns, +those guns that had been cast by popular subscription and were to the Parisians +as the apple of their eye, could not get up. On the right General +Ducrot’s column was tardy in getting into action and saw nothing of the +fight. Further effort was useless, and General Trochu was compelled to order a +retreat. Montretout was abandoned, and Saint-Cloud as well, which the Prussians +burned, and when it became fully dark the horizon of Paris was illuminated by +the conflagration. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice himself this time felt that the end was come. For four hours he had +remained in the park of Buzanval with the National Guards under the galling +fire from the Prussian intrenchments, and later, when he got back to the city, +he spoke of their courage in the highest terms. It was undisputed that the +Guards fought bravely on that occasion; after that was it not self-evident that +all the disasters of the army were to be attributed solely to the imbecility +and treason of its leaders? In the Rue de Rivoli he encountered bands of men +shouting: “Hurrah for the Commune! down with Trochu!” It was the +leaven of revolution beginning to work again in the popular mind, a fresh +outbreak of public opinion, and so formidable this time that the Government of +National Defense, in order to preserve its own existence, thought it necessary +to compel General Trochu’s resignation and put General Vinoy in his +place. On that same day Maurice, chancing to enter a hall in Belleville where a +public meeting was going on, again heard the <i>levée en masse</i> demanded +with clamorous shouts. He knew the thing to be chimerical, and yet it set his +heart a-beating more rapidly to see such a determined will to conquer. When all +is ended, is it not left us to attempt the impossible? All that night he +dreamed of miracles. +</p> + +<p> +Then a long week went by, during which Paris lay agonizing without a murmur. +The shops had ceased to open their doors; in the lonely streets the infrequent +wayfarer never met a carriage. Forty thousand horses had been eaten; dogs, cats +and rats were now luxuries, commanding a high price. Ever since the supply of +wheat had given out the bread was made from rice and oats, and was black, damp, +and slimy, and hard to digest; to obtain the ten ounces that constituted a +day’s ration involved a wait, often of many hours, in line before the +bake-house. Ah, the sorrowful spectacle it was, to see those poor women +shivering in the pouring rain, their feet in the ice-cold mud and water! the +misery and heroism of the great city that would not surrender! The death rate +had increased threefold; the theaters were converted into hospitals. As soon as +it became dark the quarters where luxury and vice had formerly held carnival +were shrouded in funereal blackness, like the faubourgs of some accursed city, +smitten by pestilence. And in that silence, in that obscurity, naught was to be +heard save the unceasing roar of the cannonade and the crash of bursting +shells, naught to be seen save the red flash of the guns illuminating the +wintry sky. +</p> + +<p> +On the 28th of January the news burst on Paris like a thunderclap that for the +past two days negotiations had been going on, between Jules Favre and M. von +Bismarck, looking to an armistice, and at the same time it learned that there +was bread for only ten days longer, a space of time that would hardly suffice +to revictual the city. Capitulation was become a matter of material necessity. +Paris, stupefied by the hard truths that were imparted to it at that late day, +remained sullenly silent and made no sign. Midnight of that day heard the last +shot from the German guns, and on the 29th, when the Prussians had taken +possession of the forts, Maurice went with his regiment into the camp that was +assigned them over by Montrouge, within the fortifications. The life that he +led there was an aimless one, made up of idleness and feverish unrest. +Discipline was relaxed; the soldiers did pretty much as they pleased, waiting +in inactivity to be dismissed to their homes. He, however, continued to hang +around the camp in a semi-dazed condition, moody, nervous, irritable, prompt to +take offense on the most trivial provocation. He read with avidity all the +revolutionary newspapers he could lay hands on; that three weeks’ +armistice, concluded solely for the purpose of allowing France to elect an +assembly that should ratify the conditions of peace, appeared to him a delusion +and a snare, another and a final instance of treason. Even if Paris were forced +to capitulate, he was with Gambetta for the prosecution of the war in the north +and on the line of the Loire. He overflowed with indignation at the disaster of +Bourbaki’s army in the east, which had been compelled to throw itself +into Switzerland, and the result of the elections made him furious: it would be +just as he had always predicted; the base, cowardly provinces, irritated by +Paris’ protracted resistance, would insist on peace at any price and +restore the monarchy while the Prussian guns were still directed on the city. +After the first sessions, at Bordeaux, Thiers, elected in twenty-six +departments and constituted by unanimous acclaim the chief executive, appeared +to his eyes a monster of iniquity, the father of lies, a man capable of every +crime. The terms of the peace concluded by that assemblage of monarchists +seemed to him to put the finishing touch to their infamy, his blood boiled +merely at the thought of those hard conditions: an indemnity of five milliards, +Metz to be given up, Alsace to be ceded, France’s blood and treasure +pouring from the gaping wound, thenceforth incurable, that was thus opened in +her flank. +</p> + +<p> +Late in February Maurice, unable to endure his situation longer, made up his +mind he would desert. A stipulation of the treaty provided that the troops +encamped about Paris should be disarmed and returned to their abodes, but he +did not wait to see it enforced; it seemed to him that it would break his heart +to leave brave, glorious Paris, which only famine had been able to subdue, and +so he bade farewell to army life and hired for himself a small furnished room +next the roof of a tall apartment house in the Rue des Orties, at the top of +the butte des Moulins, whence he had an outlook over the immense sea of roofs +from the Tuileries to the Bastille. An old friend, whom he had known while +pursuing his law studies, had loaned him a hundred francs. In addition to that +he had caused his name to be inscribed on the roster of a battalion of National +Guards as soon as he was settled in his new quarters, and his pay, thirty sous +a day, would be enough to keep him alive. The idea of going to the country and +there leading a tranquil life, unmindful of what was happening to the country, +filled him with horror; the letters even that he received from his sister +Henriette, to whom he had written immediately after the armistice, annoyed him +by their tone of entreaty, their ardent solicitations that he would come home +to Remilly and rest. He refused point-blank; he would go later on when the +Prussians should be no longer there. +</p> + +<p> +And so Maurice went on leading an idle, vagabondish sort of life, in a state of +constant feverish agitation. He had ceased to be tormented by hunger; he +devoured the first white bread he got with infinite gusto; but the city was a +prison still: German guards were posted at the gates, and no one was allowed to +pass them until he had been made to give an account of himself. There had been +no resumption of social life as yet; industry and trade were at a standstill; +the people lived from day to day, watching to see what would happen next, doing +nothing, simply vegetating in the bright sunshine of the spring that was now +coming on apace. During the siege there had been the military service to occupy +men’s minds and tire their limbs, while now the entire population, +isolated from all the world, had suddenly been reduced to a state of utter +stagnation, mental as well as physical. He did as others did, loitering his +time away from morning till night, living in an atmosphere that for months had +been vitiated by the germs arising from the half-crazed mob. He read the +newspapers and was an assiduous frequenter of public meetings, where he would +often smile and shrug his shoulders at the rant and fustian of the speakers, +but nevertheless would go away with the most ultra notions teeming in his +brain, ready to engage in any desperate undertaking in the defense of what he +considered truth and justice. And sitting by the window in his little bedroom, +and looking out over the city, he would still beguile himself with dreams of +victory; would tell himself that France and the Republic might yet be saved, so +long as the treaty of peace remained unsigned. +</p> + +<p> +The 1st of March was the day fixed for the entrance of the Prussians into +Paris, and a long-drawn howl of wrath and execration went up from every heart. +Maurice never attended a meeting now that he did not hear Thiers, the Assembly, +even the men of September 4th themselves, cursed and reviled because they had +not spared the great heroic city that crowning degradation. He was himself one +night aroused to such a pitch of frenzy that he took the floor and shouted that +it was the duty of all Paris to go and die on the ramparts rather than suffer +the entrance of a single Prussian. It was quite natural that the spirit of +insurrection should show itself thus, should bud and blossom in the full light +of day, among that populace that had first been maddened by months of distress +and famine and then had found itself reduced to a condition of idleness that +afforded it abundant leisure to brood on the suspicions and fancied wrongs that +were largely the product of its own disordered imagination. It was one of those +moral crises that have been noticed as occurring after every great siege, in +which excessive patriotism, thwarted in its aims and aspirations, after having +fired men’s minds, degenerates into a blind rage for vengeance and +destruction. The Central Committee, elected by delegates from the National +Guard battalions, had protested against any attempt to disarm their +constituents. Then came an immense popular demonstration on the Place de la +Bastille, where there were red flags, incendiary speeches and a crowd that +overflowed the square, the affair ending with the murder of a poor inoffensive +agent of police, who was bound to a plank, thrown into the canal, and then +stoned to death. And forty-eight hours later, during the night of the 26th of +February, Maurice, awakened by the beating of the long roll and the sound of +the tocsin, beheld bands of men and women streaming along the Boulevard des +Batignolles and dragging cannon after them. He descended to the street, and +laying hold of the rope of a gun along with some twenty others, was told how +the people had gone to the Place Wagram and taken the pieces in order that the +Assembly might not deliver them to the Prussians. There were seventy of them; +teams were wanting, but the strong arms of the mob, tugging at the ropes and +pushing at the limbers and axles, finally brought them to the summit of +Montmartre with the mad impetuosity of a barbarian horde assuring the safety of +its idols. When on March 1 the Prussians took possession of the quarter of the +Champs Élysées, which they were to occupy only for one day, keeping themselves +strictly within the limits of the barriers, Paris looked on in sullen silence, +its streets deserted, its houses closed, the entire city lifeless and shrouded +in its dense veil of mourning. +</p> + +<p> +Two weeks more went by, during which Maurice could hardly have told how he +spent his time while awaiting the approach of the momentous events of which he +had a distinct presentiment. Peace was concluded definitely at last, the +Assembly was to commence its regular sessions at Versailles on the 20th of the +month; and yet for him nothing was concluded: he felt that they were ere long +to witness the beginning of a dreadful drama of atonement. On the 18th of +March, as he was about to leave his room, he received a letter from Henriette +urging him to come and join her at Remilly, coupled with a playful threat that +she would come and carry him off with her if he delayed too long to afford her +that great pleasure. Then she went on to speak of Jean, concerning whose +affairs she was extremely anxious; she told how, after leaving her late in +December to join the Army of the North, he had been seized with a low fever +that had kept him long a prisoner in a Belgian hospital, and only the preceding +week he had written her that he was about to start for Paris, notwithstanding +his enfeebled condition, where he was determined to seek active service once +again. Henriette closed her letter by begging her brother to give her a +faithful account of how matters were with Jean as soon as he should have seen +him. Maurice laid the open letter before him on the table and sank into a +confused revery. Henriette, Jean; his sister whom he loved so fondly, his +brother in suffering and privation; how absent from his daily thoughts had +those dear ones been since the tempest had been raging in his bosom! He aroused +himself, however, and as his sister advised him that she had been unable to +give Jean the number of the house in the Rue des Orties, promised himself to go +that very day to the office where the regimental records were kept and hunt up +his friend. But he had barely got beyond his door and was crossing the Rue +Saint-Honoré when he encountered two fellow-soldiers of his battalion, who gave +him an account of what had happened that morning and during the night before at +Montmartre, and the three men started off on a run toward the scene of the +disturbance. +</p> + +<p> +Ah, that day of the 18th of March, the elation and enthusiasm that it aroused +in Maurice! In after days he could never remember clearly what he said and did. +First he beheld himself dimly, as through a veil of mist, convulsed with rage +at the recital of how the troops had attempted, in the darkness and quiet that +precedes the dawn, to disarm Paris by seizing the guns on Montmartre heights. +It was evident that Thiers, who had arrived from Bordeaux, had been meditating +the blow for the last two days, in order that the Assembly at Versailles might +proceed without fear to proclaim the monarchy. Then the scene shifted, and he +was on the ground at Montmartre itself—about nine o’clock it +was—fired by the narrative of the people’s victory: how the +soldiery had come sneaking up in the darkness, how the delay in bringing up the +teams had given the National Guards an opportunity to fly to arms, the troops, +having no heart to fire on women and children, reversing their muskets and +fraternizing with the people. Then he had wandered desultorily about the city, +wherever chance directed his footsteps, and by midday had satisfied himself +that the Commune was master of Paris, without even the necessity of striking a +blow, for Thiers and the ministers had decamped from their quarters in the +Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the entire government was flying in disorder to +Versailles, the thirty thousand troops had been hastily conducted from the +city, leaving more than five thousand deserters from their numbers along the +line of their retreat. And later, about half-past five in the afternoon, he +could recall being at a corner of the exterior boulevard in the midst of a mob +of howling lunatics, listening without the slightest evidence of disapproval to +the abominable story of the murder of Generals Lecomte and Clement Thomas. +Generals, they called themselves; fine generals, they! The leaders they had had +at Sedan rose before his memory, voluptuaries and imbeciles; one more, one +less, what odds did it make! And the remainder of the day passed in the same +state of half-crazed excitement, which served to distort everything to his +vision; it was an insurrection that the very stones of the streets seemed to +have favored, spreading, swelling, finally becoming master of all at a stroke +in the unforeseen fatality of its triumph, and at ten o’clock in the +evening delivering the Hôtel de Ville over to the members of the Central +Committee, who were greatly surprised to find themselves there. +</p> + +<p> +There was one memory, however, that remained very distinct to Maurice’s +mind: his unexpected meeting with Jean. It was three days now since the latter +had reached Paris, without a sou in his pocket, emaciated and enfeebled by the +illness that had consigned him to a hospital in Brussels and kept him there two +months, and having had the luck to fall in with Captain Ravaud, who had +commanded a company in the 106th, he had enlisted at once in his former +acquaintance’s new company in the 124th. His old rank as corporal had +been restored to him, and that evening he had just left the Prince Eugene +barracks with his squad on his way to the left bank, where the entire army was +to concentrate, when a mob collected about his men and stopped them as they +were passing along the boulevard Saint-Martin. The insurgents yelled and +shouted, and evidently were preparing to disarm his little band. With perfect +coolness he told them to let him alone, that he had no business with them or +their affairs; all he wanted was to obey his orders without harming anybody. +Then a cry of glad surprise was heard, and Maurice, who had chanced to pass +that way, threw himself on the other’s neck and gave him a brotherly hug. +</p> + +<p> +“What, is it you! My sister wrote me about you. And just think, no later +than this very morning I was going to look you up at the war office!” +</p> + +<p> +Jean’s eyes were dim with big tears of pleasure. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, my dear lad how glad I am to see you once more! I have been looking +for you, too, but where could a fellow expect to find you in this confounded +great big place?” +</p> + +<p> +To the crowd, continuing their angry muttering, Maurice turned and said: +</p> + +<p> +“Let me talk to them, citizens! They’re good fellows; I’ll +answer for them.” He took his friend’s hands in his, and lowering +his voice: “You’ll join us, won’t you?” +</p> + +<p> +Jean’s face was the picture of surprise. “How, join you? I +don’t understand.” Then for a moment he listened while Maurice +railed against the government, against the army, raking up old sores and +recalling all their sufferings, telling how at last they were going to be +masters, punish dolts and cowards and preserve the Republic. And as he +struggled to get the problems the other laid before him through his brain, the +tranquil face of the unlettered peasant was clouded with an increasing sorrow. +“Ah, no! ah, no! my boy. I can’t join you if it’s for that +fine work you want me. My captain told me to go with my men to Vaugirard, and +there I’m going. In spite of the devil and his angels I will go there. +That’s natural enough; you ought to know how it is yourself.” He +laughed with frank simplicity and added: +</p> + +<p> +“It’s you who’ll come along with us.” +</p> + +<p> +But Maurice released his hands with an angry gesture of dissent, and thus they +stood for some seconds, face to face, one under the influence of that madness +that was sweeping all Paris off its feet, the malady that had been bequeathed +to them by the crimes and follies of the late reign, the other strong in his +ignorance and practical common sense, untainted as yet because he had grown up +apart from the contaminating principle, in the land where industry and thrift +were honored. They were brothers, however, none the less; the tie that united +them was strong, and it was a pang to them both when the crowd suddenly surged +forward and parted them. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Au revoir</i>, Maurice!” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Au revoir</i>, Jean!” +</p> + +<p> +It was a regiment, the 79th, debouching from a side street, that had caused the +movement among the crowd, forcing the rioters back to the sidewalks by the +weight of its compact column, closed in mass. There was some hooting, but no +one ventured to bar the way against the soldier boys, who went by at double +time, well under control of their officers. An opportunity was afforded the +little squad of the 124th to make their escape, and they followed in the wake +of the larger body. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Au revoir</i>, Jean!” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Au revoir</i>, Maurice!” +</p> + +<p> +They waved their hands once more in a parting salute, yielding to the fatality +that decreed their separation in that manner, but each none the less securely +seated in the other’s heart. +</p> + +<p> +The extraordinary occurrences of the next and the succeeding days crowded on +the heels of one another in such swift sequence that Maurice had scarcely time +to think. On the morning of the 19th Paris awoke without a government, more +surprised than frightened to learn that a panic during the night had sent army, +ministers, and all the public service scurrying away to Versailles, and as the +weather happened to be fine on that magnificent March Sunday, Paris stepped +unconcernedly down into the streets to have a look at the barricades. A great +white poster, bearing the signature of the Central Committee and convoking the +people for the communal elections, attracted attention by the moderation of its +language, although much surprise was expressed at seeing it signed by names so +utterly unknown. There can be no doubt that at this incipient stage of the +Commune Paris, in the bitter memory of what it had endured, in the suspicions +by which it was haunted, and in its unslaked thirst for further fighting, was +against Versailles. It was a condition of absolute anarchy, moreover, the +conflict for the moment being between the mayors and the Central Committee, the +former fruitlessly attempting to introduce measures of conciliation, while the +latter, uncertain as yet to what extent it could rely on the federated National +Guard, continued modestly to lay claim to no higher title than that of defender +of the municipal liberties. The shots fired against the pacific demonstration +in the Place Vendôme, the few corpses whose blood reddened the pavements, first +sent a thrill of terror circulating through the city. And while these things +were going on, while the insurgents were taking definite possession of the +ministries and all the public buildings, the agitation, rage and alarm +prevailing at Versailles were extreme, the government there hastening to get +together sufficient troops to repel the attack which they felt sure they should +not have to wait for long. The steadiest and most reliable divisions of the +armies of the North and of the Loire were hurried forward. Ten days sufficed to +collect a force of nearly eighty thousand men, and the tide of returning +confidence set in so strongly that on the 2d of April two divisions opened +hostilities by taking from the federates Puteaux and Courbevoie. +</p> + +<p> +It was not until the day following the events just mentioned that Maurice, +starting out with his battalion to effect the conquest of Versailles, beheld, +amid the throng of misty, feverish memories that rose to his poor wearied +brain, Jean’s melancholy face as he had seen it last, and seemed to hear +the tones of his last mournful <i>au revoir</i>. The military operations of the +Versaillese had filled the National Guard with alarm and indignation; three +columns, embracing a total strength of fifty thousand men, had gone storming +that morning through Bougival and Meudon on their way to seize the monarchical +Assembly and Thiers, the murderer. It was the torrential sortie that had been +demanded with such insistence during the siege, and Maurice asked himself where +he should ever see Jean again unless among the dead lying on the field of +battle down yonder. But it was not long before he knew the result; his +battalion had barely reached the Plateau des Bergères, on the road to Reuil, +when the shells from Mont-Valerien came tumbling among the ranks. Universal +consternation reigned; some had supposed that the fort was held by their +comrades of the Guard, while others averred that the commander had promised +solemnly to withhold his fire. A wild panic seized upon the men; the battalions +broke and rushed back to Paris fast as their legs would let them, while the +head of the column, diverted by a flanking movement of General Vinoy, was +driven back on Reuil and cut to pieces there. +</p> + +<p> +Then Maurice, who had escaped unharmed from the slaughter, his nerves still +quivering with the fury that had inspired him on the battlefield, was filled +with fresh detestation for that so-called government of law and order which +always allowed itself to be beaten by the Prussians, and could only muster up a +little courage when it came to oppressing Paris. And the German armies were +still there, from Saint-Denis to Charenton, watching the shameful spectacle of +internecine conflict! Thus, in the fierce longing for vengeance and destruction +that animated him, he could not do otherwise than sanction the first measures +of communistic violence, the building of barricades in the streets and public +squares, the arrest of the archbishop, some priests, and former officeholders, +who were to be held as hostages. The atrocities that distinguished either side +in that horrible conflict were already beginning to manifest themselves, +Versailles shooting the prisoners it made, Paris retaliating with a decree that +for each one of its soldiers murdered three hostages should forfeit their life. +The horror of it, that fratricidal conflict, that wretched nation completing +the work of destruction by devouring its own children! And the little reason +that remained to Maurice, in the ruin of all the things he had hitherto held +sacred, was quickly dissipated in the whirlwind of blind fury that swept all +before it. In his eyes the Commune was to be the avenger of all the wrongs they +had suffered, the liberator, coming with fire and sword to purify and punish. +He was not quite clear in mind about it all, but remembered having read how +great and flourishing the old free cities had become, how wealthy provinces had +federated and imposed their law upon the world. If Paris should be victorious +he beheld her, crowned with an aureole of glory, building up a new France, +where liberty and justice should be the watchwords, organizing a new society, +having first swept away the rotten debris of the old. It was true that when the +result of the elections became known he was somewhat surprised by the strange +mixture of moderates, revolutionists, and socialists of every sect and shade to +whom the accomplishment of the great work was intrusted; he was acquainted with +several of the men and knew them to be of extremely mediocre abilities. Would +not the strongest among them come in collision and neutralize one another amid +the clashing ideas which they represented? But on the day when the ceremony of +the inauguration of the Commune took place before the Hôtel de Ville, amid the +thunder of artillery and trophies and red banners floating in the air, his +boundless hopes again got the better of his fears and he ceased to doubt. Among +the lies of some and the unquestioning faith of others, the illusion started +into life again with renewed vigor, in the acute crisis of the malady raised to +paroxysmal pitch. +</p> + +<p> +During the entire month of April Maurice was on duty in the neighborhood of +Neuilly. The gentle warmth of the early spring had brought out the blossoms on +the lilacs, and the fighting was conducted among the bright verdure of the +gardens; the National Guards came into the city at night with bouquets of +flowers stuck in their muskets. The troops collected at Versailles were now so +numerous as to warrant their formation in two armies, a first line under the +orders of Marshal MacMahon and a reserve commanded by General Vinoy. The +Commune had nearly a hundred thousand National Guards mobilized and as many +more on the rosters who could be called out at short notice, but fifty thousand +were as many as they ever brought into the field at one time. Day by day the +plan of attack adopted by the Versaillese became more manifest: after occupying +Neuilly they had taken possession of the Château of Bécon and soon after of +Asnières, but these movements were simply to make the investment more complete, +for their intention was to enter the city by the Point-du-Jour soon as the +converging fire from Mont-Valerien and Fort d’Issy should enable them to +carry the rampart there. Mont-Valerien was theirs already, and they were +straining every nerve to capture Issy, utilizing the works abandoned by the +Germans for the purpose. Since the middle of April the fire of musketry and +artillery had been incessant; at Levallois and Neuilly the fighting never +ceased, the skirmishers blazing away uninterruptedly, by night as well as by +day. Heavy guns, mounted on armored cars, moved to and fro on the Belt Railway, +shelling Asnières over the roofs of Levallois. It was at Vanves and Issy, +however, that the cannonade was fiercest; it shook the windows of Paris as the +siege had done when it was at its height. And when finally, on the 9th of May, +Fort d’Issy was obliged to succumb and fell into the hands of the +Versailles army the defeat of the Commune was assured, and in their frenzy of +panic the leaders resorted to most detestable measures. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice favored the creation of a Committee of Public Safety. The warnings of +history came to his mind; had not the hour struck for adopting energetic +methods if they wished to save the country? There was but one of their +barbarities that really pained him, and that was the destruction of the Vendôme +column; he reproached himself for the feeling as being a childish weakness, but +his grandfather’s voice still sounded in his ears repeating the old +familiar tales of Marengo, Austerlitz, Jena, Eylau, Friedland, Wagram, the +Moskowa—those epic narratives that thrilled his pulses yet as often as he +thought of them. But that they should demolish the house of the murderer +Thiers, that they should retain the hostages as a guarantee and a menace, was +not that right and just when the Versaillese were unchaining their fury on +Paris, bombarding it, destroying its edifices, slaughtering women and children +with their shells? As he saw the end of his dream approaching dark thoughts of +ruin and destruction filled his mind. If their ideas of justice and retribution +were not to prevail, if they were to be crushed out of them with their +life-blood, then perish the world, swept away in one of those cosmic upheavals +that are the beginning of a new life. Let Paris sink beneath the waves, let it +go up in smoke and flame, like a gigantic funeral pyre, sooner than let it be +again delivered over to its former state of vice and misery, to that old +vicious social system of abominable injustice. And he dreamed another dark, +terrible dream, the great city reduced to ashes, naught to be seen on either +side the Seine but piles of smoldering ruins, the festering wound purified and +healed with fire, a catastrophe without a name, such as had never been before, +whence should arise a new race. Wild stories were everywhere circulated, which +interested him intensely, of the mines that were driven under all the quarters +of the city, the barrels of powder with which the catacombs were stuffed, the +monuments and public buildings ready to be blown into the air at a +moment’s notice; and all were connected by electric wires in such a way +that a single spark would suffice to set them off; there were great stores of +inflammable substances, too, especially petroleum, with which the streets and +avenues were to be converted into seething lakes of flame. The Commune had +sworn that should the Versaillese enter the city not one of them would ever get +beyond the barricades that closed the ends of the streets; the pavements would +yawn, the houses would sink in ruins, Paris would go up in flames, and bury +assailants and assailed under its ashes. +</p> + +<p> +And if Maurice solaced himself with these crazy dreams, it was because of his +secret discontent with the Commune itself. He had lost all confidence in its +members, he felt it was inefficient, drawn this way and that by so many +conflicting elements, losing its head and becoming purposeless and driveling as +it saw the near approach of the peril with which it was menaced. Of the social +reforms it had pledged itself to it had not been able to accomplish a single +one, and it was now quite certain that it would leave behind it no great work +to perpetuate its name. But what more than all beside was gnawing at its vitals +was the rivalries by which it was distracted, the corroding suspicion and +distrust in which each of its members lived. For some time past many of them, +the more moderate and the timid, had ceased to attend its sessions. The others +shaped their course day by day in accordance with events, trembling at the idea +of a possible dictatorship; they had reached that point where the factions of +revolutionary assemblages exterminate one another by way of saving the country. +Cluzeret had become suspected, then Dombrowski, and Rossel was about to share +their fate. Delescluze, appointed Civil Delegate at War, could do nothing of +his own volition, notwithstanding his great authority. And thus the grand +social effort that they had had in view wasted itself in the ever-widening +isolation about those men, whose power had become a nullity, whose actions were +the result of their despair. +</p> + +<p> +In Paris there was an increasing feeling of terror. Paris, irritated at first +against Versailles, shivering at the recollection of what it had suffered +during the siege, was now breaking away from the Commune. The compulsory +enrollment, the decree incorporating every man under forty in the National +Guard, had angered the more sedate citizens and been the means of bringing +about a general exodus: men in disguise and provided with forged papers of +Alsatian citizenship made their escape by way of Saint-Denis; others let +themselves down into the moat in the darkness of the night with ropes and +ladders. The wealthy had long since taken their departure. None of the +factories and workshops had opened their doors; trade and commerce there was +none; there was no employment for labor; the life of enforced idleness went on +amid the alarmed expectancy of the frightful denouement that everyone felt +could not be far away. And the people depended for their daily bread on the pay +of the National Guards, that dole of thirty sous that was paid from the +millions extorted from the Bank of France, the thirty sous for the sake of +which alone many men were wearing the uniform, which had been one of the +primary causes and the <i>raison d’être</i> of the insurrection. Whole +districts were deserted, the shops closed, the house-fronts lifeless. In the +bright May sunshine that flooded the empty streets the few pedestrians beheld +nothing moving save the barbaric display of the burial of some federates killed +in action, the funeral train where no priest walked, the hearse draped with red +flags, followed by a crowd of men and women bearing bouquets of immortelles. +The churches were closed and did duty each evening as political club-rooms. The +revolutionary journals alone were hawked about the streets; the others had been +suppressed. Great Paris was indeed an unhappy city in those days, what with its +republican sympathies that made it detest the monarchical Assembly at +Versailles and its ever-increasing terror of the Commune, from which it prayed +most fervently to be delivered among all the grisly stories that were current, +the daily arrests of citizens as hostages, the casks of gunpowder that filled +the sewers, where men patrolled by day and night awaiting the signal to apply +the torch. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice, who had never been a drinking man, allowed himself to be seduced by +the too prevalent habit of over-indulgence. It had become a thing of frequent +occurrence with him now, when he was out on picket duty or had to spend the +night in barracks, to take a “pony” of brandy, and if he took a +second it was apt to go to his head in the alcohol-laden atmosphere that he was +forced to breathe. It had become epidemic, that chronic drunkenness, among +those men with whom bread was scarce and who could have all the brandy they +wanted by asking for it. Toward evening on Sunday, the 21st of May, Maurice +came home drunk, for the first time in his life, to his room in the Rue des +Orties, where he was in the habit of sleeping occasionally. He had been at +Neuilly again that day, blazing away at the enemy and taking a nip now and then +with the comrades, to see if it would not relieve the terrible fatigue from +which he was suffering. Then, with a light head and heavy legs, he came and +threw himself on the bed in his little chamber; it must have been through force +of instinct, for he could never remember how he got there. And it was not until +the following morning, when the sun was high in the heavens, that he awoke, +aroused by the ringing of the alarm bells, the blare of trumpets and beating of +drums. During the night the Versaillese, finding a gate undefended, had +effected an unresisted entrance at the Point-du-Jour. +</p> + +<p> +When he had thrown on his clothes and hastened down into the street, his musket +slung across his shoulder by the strap, a band of frightened soldiers whom he +fell in with at the <i>mairie</i> of the arrondissement related to him the +occurrences of the night, in the midst of a confusion such that at first he had +hard work to understand. Fort d’Issy and the great battery at Montretout, +seconded by Mont Valerien, for the last ten days had been battering the rampart +at the Point-du-Jour, as a consequence of which the Saint-Cloud gate was no +longer tenable and an assault had been ordered for the following morning, the +22d; but someone who chanced to pass that way at about five o’clock +perceived that the gate was unprotected and immediately notified the guards in +the trenches, who were not more than fifty yards away. Two companies of the +37th regiment of regulars were the first to enter the city, and were quickly +followed by the entire 4th corps under General Douay. All night long the troops +were pouring in in an uninterrupted stream. At seven o’clock +Verge’s division marched down to the bridge at Grenelle, crossed, and +pushed on to the Trocadero. At nine General Clinchamp was master of Passy and +la Muette. At three o’clock in the morning the 1st corps had pitched its +tents in the Bois de Boulogne, while at about the same hour Bruat’s +division was passing the Seine to seize the Sèvres gate and facilitate the +movement of the 2d Corps, General de Cissey’s, which occupied the +district of Grenelle an hour later. The Versailles army, therefore, on the +morning of the 22d, was master of the Trocadero and the Château of la Muette on +the right bank, and of Grenelle on the left; and great was the rage and +consternation that prevailed among the Communists, who were already accusing +one another of treason, frantic at the thought of their inevitable defeat. +</p> + +<p> +When Maurice at last understood the condition of affairs his first thought was +that the end had come, that all left him was to go forth and meet his death. +But the tocsin was pealing, drums were beating, women and children, even, were +working on the barricades, the streets were alive with the stir and bustle of +the battalions hurrying to assume the positions assigned them in the coming +conflict. By midday it was seen that the Versaillese were remaining quiet in +their new positions, and then fresh courage returned to the hearts of the +soldiers of the Commune, who were resolved to conquer or die. The enemy’s +army, which they had feared to see in possession of the Tuileries by that time, +profiting by the stern lessons of experience and imitating the prudent tactics +of the Prussians, conducted its operations with the utmost caution. The +Committee of Public Safety and Delescluze, Delegate at War, directed the +defense from their quarters in the Hôtel de Ville. It was reported that a last +proposal for a peaceable arrangement had been rejected by them with disdain. +That served to inspire the men with still more courage, the triumph of Paris +was assured, the resistance would be as unyielding as the attack was +vindictive, in the implacable hate, swollen by lies and cruelties, that +inflamed the heart of either army. And that day was spent by Maurice in the +quarters of the Champ de Mars and the Invalides, firing and falling back slowly +from street to street. He had not been able to find his battalion; he fought in +the ranks with comrades who were strangers to him, accompanying them in their +march to the left bank without taking heed whither they were going. About four +o’clock they had a furious conflict behind a barricade that had been +thrown across the Rue de l’Université, where it comes out on the +Esplanade, and it was not until twilight that they abandoned it on learning +that Bruat’s division, stealing up along the <i>quai</i>, had seized the +Corps Législatif. They had a narrow escape from capture, and it was with great +difficulty that they managed to reach the Rue de Lille after a long circuit +through the Rue Saint-Dominique and the Rue Bellechasse. At the close of that +day the army of Versailles occupied a line which, beginning at the Vanves gate, +led past the Corps Législatif, the Palace of the Elysee, St. Augustine’s +Church, the Lazare station, and ended at the Asnières gate. +</p> + +<p> +The next day, Tuesday, the 23d, was warm and bright, and a terrible day it was +for Maurice. The few hundred federates with whom he was, and in whose ranks +were men of many different battalions, were charged with the defense of the +entire quartier, from the <i>quai</i> to the Rue Saint-Dominique. Most of them +had bivouacked in the gardens of the great mansions that line the Rue de Lille; +he had had an unbroken night’s rest on a grass-plot at one side of the +Palace of the Legion of Honor. It was his belief that soon as it was light +enough the troops would move out from their shelter behind the Corps Législatif +and force them back upon the strong barricades in the Rue du Bac, but hour +after hour passed and there was no sign of an attack. There was only some +desultory firing at long range between parties posted at either end of the +streets. The Versaillese, who were not desirous of attempting a direct attack +on the front of the formidable fortress into which the insurgents had converted +the terrace of the Tuileries, developed their plan of action with great +circumspection; two strong columns were sent out to right and left that, +skirting the ramparts, should first seize Montmartre and the Observatory and +then, wheeling inward, swoop down on the central quarters, surrounding them and +capturing all they contained, as a shoal of fish is captured in the meshes of a +gigantic net. About two o’clock Maurice heard that the tricolor was +floating over Montmartre: the great battery of the Moulin de la Galette had +succumbed to the combined attack of three army corps, which hurled their +battalions simultaneously on the northern and western faces of the butte +through the Rues Lepic, des Saules and du Mont-Cenis; then the waves of the +victorious troops had poured back on Paris, carrying the Place Saint-Georges, +Notre-Dame de Lorette, the <i>mairie</i> in the Rue Drouot and the new Opera +House, while on the left bank the turning movement, starting from the cemetery +of Mont-Parnasse, had reached the Place d’Enfer and the Horse Market. +These tidings of the rapid progress of the hostile army were received by the +communards with mingled feelings of rage and terror amounting almost to +stupefaction. What, Montmartre carried in two hours; Montmartre, the glorious, +the impregnable citadel of the insurrection! Maurice saw that the ranks were +thinning about him; trembling soldiers, fearing the fate that was in store for +them should they be caught, were slinking furtively away to look for a place +where they might wash the powder grime from hands and face and exchange their +uniform for a blouse. There was a rumor that the enemy were making ready to +attack the Croix-Rouge and take their position in flank. By this time the +barricades in the Rues Martignac and Bellechasse had been carried, the red-legs +were beginning to make their appearance at the end of the Rue de Lille, and +soon all that remained was a little band of fanatics and men with the courage +of their opinions, Maurice and some fifty more, who were resolved to sell their +lives dearly, killing as many as they could of those Versaillese, who treated +the federates like thieves and murderers, dragging away the prisoners they made +and shooting them in the rear of the line of battle. Their bitter animosity had +broadened and deepened since the days before; it was war to the knife between +those rebels dying for an idea and that army, inflamed with reactionary +passions and irritated that it was kept so long in the field. +</p> + +<p> +About five o’clock, as Maurice and his companions were finally falling +back to seek the shelter of the barricades in the Rue du Bac, descending the +Rue de Lille and pausing at every moment to fire another shot, he suddenly +beheld volumes of dense black smoke pouring from an open window in the Palace +of the Legion of Honor. It was the first fire kindled in Paris, and in the +furious insanity that possessed him it gave him a fierce delight. The hour had +struck; let the whole city go up in flame, let its people be cleansed by the +fiery purification! But a sight that he saw presently filled him with surprise: +a band of five or six men came hurrying out of the building, headed by a tall +varlet in whom he recognized Chouteau, his former comrade in the squad of the +106th. He had seen him once before, after the 18th of March, wearing a +gold-laced <i>kepi</i>; he seemed by his bedizened uniform to have risen in +rank, was probably on the staff of some one of the many generals who were never +seen where there was fighting going on. He remembered the account somebody had +given him of that fellow Chouteau, of his quartering himself in the Palace of +the Legion of Honor and living there, guzzling and swilling, in company with a +mistress, wallowing with his boots on in the great luxurious beds, smashing the +plate-glass mirrors with shots from his revolver, merely for the amusement +there was in it. It was even asserted that the woman left the building every +morning in one of the state carriages, under pretense of going to the Halles +for her day’s marketing, carrying off with her great bundles of linen, +clocks, and even articles of furniture, the fruit of their thieveries. And +Maurice, as he watched him running away with his men, carrying a bucket of +petroleum on his arm, experienced a sickening sensation of doubt and felt his +faith beginning to waver. How could the terrible work they were engaged in be +good, when men like that were the workmen? +</p> + +<p> +Hours passed, and still he fought on, but with a bitter feeling of distress, +with no other wish than that he might die. If he had erred, let him at least +atone for his error with his blood! The barricade across the Rue de Lille, near +its intersection with the Rue du Bac, was a formidable one, composed of bags +and casks filled with earth and faced by a deep ditch. He and a scant dozen of +other federates were its only defenders, resting in a semi-recumbent position +on the ground, infallibly causing every soldier who exposed himself to bite the +dust. He lay there, without even changing his position, until nightfall, using +up his cartridges in silence, in the dogged sullenness of his despair. The +dense clouds of smoke from the Palace of the Legion of Honor were billowing +upward in denser masses, the flames undistinguishable as yet in the dying +daylight, and he watched the fantastic, changing forms they took as the wind +whirled them downward to the street. Another fire had broken out in an hotel +not far away. And all at once a comrade came running up to tell him that the +enemy, not daring to advance along the street, were making a way for themselves +through the houses and gardens, breaking down the walls with picks. The end was +close at hand; they might come out in the rear of the barricade at any moment. +A shot having been fired from an upper window of a house on the corner, he saw +Chouteau and his gang, with their petroleum and their lighted torch, rush with +frantic speed to the buildings on either side and climb the stairs, and half an +hour later, in the increasing darkness, the entire square was in flames, while +he, still prone on the ground behind his shelter, availed himself of the vivid +light to pick off any venturesome soldier who stepped from his protecting +doorway into the narrow street. +</p> + +<p> +How long did Maurice keep on firing? He could not tell; he had lost all +consciousness of time and place. It might be nine o’clock, or ten, +perhaps. He continued to load and fire; his condition of hopelessness and gloom +was pitiable; death seemed to him long in coming. The detestable work he was +engaged in gave him now a sensation of nausea, as the fumes of the wine he has +drunk rise and nauseate the drunkard. An intense heat began to beat on him from +the houses that were burning on every side—an air that scorched and +asphyxiated. The carrefour, with the barricades that closed it in, was become +an intrenched camp, guarded by the roaring flames that rose on every side and +sent down showers of sparks. Those were the orders, were they not? to fire the +adjacent houses before they abandoned the barricades, arrest the progress of +the troops by an impassable sea of flame, burn Paris in the face of the enemy +advancing to take possession of it. And presently he became aware that the +houses in the Rue du Bac were not the only ones that were devoted to +destruction; looking behind him he beheld the whole sky suffused with a bright, +ruddy glow; he heard an ominous roar in the distance, as if all Paris were +bursting into conflagration. Chouteau was no longer to be seen; he had long +since fled to save his skin from the bullets. His comrades, too, even those +most zealous in the cause, had one by one stolen away, affrighted at the +approaching prospect of being outflanked. At last he was left alone, stretched +at length between two sand bags, his every faculty bent on defending the front +of the barricade, when the soldiers, who had made their way through the gardens +in the middle of the block, emerged from a house in the Rue du Bac and pounced +on him from the rear. +</p> + +<p> +For two whole days, in the fevered excitement of the supreme conflict, Maurice +had not once thought of Jean, nor had Jean, since he entered Paris with his +regiment, which had been assigned to Bruat’s division, for a single +moment remembered Maurice. The day before his duties had kept him in the +neighborhood of the Champ de Mars and the Esplanade of the Invalides, and on +this day he had remained in the Place du Palais-Bourbon until nearly noon, when +the troops were sent forward to clean out the barricades of the quartier, as +far as the Rue des Saints-Pères. A feeling of deep exasperation against the +rioters had gradually taken possession of him, usually so calm and +self-contained, as it had of all his comrades, whose ardent wish it was to be +allowed to go home and rest after so many months of fatigue. But of all the +atrocities of the Commune that stirred his placid nature and made him forgetful +even of his tenderest affections, there were none that angered him as did those +conflagrations. What, burn houses, set fire to palaces, and simply because they +had lost the battle! Only robbers and murderers were capable of such work as +that. And he who but the day before had sorrowed over the summary executions of +the insurgents was now like a madman, ready to rend and tear, yelling, +shouting, his eyes starting from their sockets. +</p> + +<p> +Jean burst like a hurricane into the Rue du Bac with the few men of his squad. +At first he could distinguish no one; he thought the barricade had been +abandoned. Then, looking more closely, he perceived a communard extended on the +ground between two sand bags; he stirred, he brought his piece to the shoulder, +was about to discharge it down the Rue du Bac. And impelled by blind fate, Jean +rushed upon the man and thrust his bayonet through him, nailing him to the +barricade. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice had not had time to turn. He gave a cry and raised his head. The +blinding light of the burning buildings fell full on their faces. +</p> + +<p> +“O Jean, dear old boy, is it you?” +</p> + +<p> +To die, that was what he wished, what he had been longing for. But to die by +his brother’s hand, ah! the cup was too bitter; the thought of death no +longer smiled on him. +</p> + +<p> +“Is it you, Jean, old friend?” +</p> + +<p> +Jean, sobered by the terrible shock, looked at him with wild eyes. They were +alone; the other soldiers had gone in pursuit of the fugitives. About them the +conflagrations roared and crackled and blazed up higher than before; great +sheets of white flame poured from the windows, while from within came the crash +of falling ceilings. And Jean cast himself on the ground at Maurice’s +side, sobbing, feeling him, trying to raise him to see if he might not yet be +saved. +</p> + +<p> +“My boy, oh! my poor, poor boy!” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap24"></a>VIII.</h2> + +<p> +When at about nine o’clock the train from Sedan, after innumerable delays +along the way, rolled into the Saint-Denis station, the sky to the south was +lit up by a fiery glow as if all Paris was burning. The light had increased +with the growing darkness, and now it filled the horizon, climbing constantly +higher up the heavens and tingeing with blood-red hues some clouds, that lay +off to the eastward in the gloom which the contrast rendered more opaque than +ever. +</p> + +<p> +The travelers alighted, Henriette among the first, alarmed by the glare they +had beheld from the windows of the cars as they rushed onward across the +darkling fields. The soldiers of a Prussian detachment, moreover, that had been +sent to occupy the station, went through the train and compelled the passengers +to leave it, while two of their number, stationed on the platform, shouted in +guttural French: +</p> + +<p> +“Paris is burning. All out here! this train goes no further. Paris is +burning, Paris is burning!” +</p> + +<p> +Henriette experienced a terrible shock. <i>Mon Dieu!</i> was she too late, +then? Receiving no reply from Maurice to her two last letters, the alarming +news from Paris had filled her with such mortal terror that she determined to +leave Remilly and come and try to find her brother in the great city. For +months past her life at Uncle Fouchard’s had been a melancholy one; the +troops occupying the village and the surrounding country had become harsher and +more exacting as the resistance of Paris was protracted, and now that peace was +declared and the regiments were stringing along the roads, one by one, on their +way home to Germany, the country and the cities through which they passed were +taxed to their utmost to feed the hungry soldiers. The morning when she arose +at daybreak to go and take the train at Sedan, looking out into the courtyard +of the farmhouse she had seen a body of cavalry who had slept there all night, +scattered promiscuously on the bare ground, wrapped in their long cloaks. They +were so numerous that the earth was hidden by them. Then, at the shrill summons +of a trumpet call, all had risen to their feet, silent, draped in the folds of +those long mantles, and in such serried, close array that she involuntarily +thought of the graves of a battlefield opening and giving up their dead at the +call of the last trump. And here again at Saint-Denis she encountered the +Prussians, and it was from Prussian lips that came that cry which caused her +such distress: +</p> + +<p> +“All out here! this train goes no further. Paris is burning!” +</p> + +<p> +Henriette, her little satchel in her hand, rushed distractedly up to the men in +quest of information. There had been heavy fighting in Paris for the last two +days, they told her, the railway had been destroyed, the Germans were watching +the course of events. But she insisted on pursuing her journey at every risk, +and catching sight upon the platform of the officer in command of the +detachment detailed to guard the station, she hurried up to him. +</p> + +<p> +“Sir, I am terribly distressed about my brother, and am trying to get to +him. I entreat you, furnish me with the means to reach Paris.” The light +from a gas jet fell full on the captain’s face she stopped in surprise. +“What, Otto, is it you! Oh, <i>mon Dieu</i>, be good to me, since chance +has once more brought us together!” +</p> + +<p> +It was Otto Gunther, the cousin, as stiff and ceremonious as ever, +tight-buttoned in his Guard’s uniform, the picture of a narrow-minded +martinet. At first he failed to recognize the little, thin, +insignificant-looking woman, with the handsome light hair and the pale, gentle +face; it was only by the brave, honest look that filled her eyes that he +finally remembered her. His only answer was a slight shrug of the shoulders. +</p> + +<p> +“You know I have a brother in the army,” Henriette eagerly went on. +“He is in Paris; I fear he has allowed himself to become mixed up with +this horrible conflict. O Otto, I beseech you, assist me to continue my +journey.” +</p> + +<p> +At last he condescended to speak. “But I can do nothing to help you; +really I cannot. There have been no trains running since yesterday; I believe +the rails have been torn up over by the ramparts somewhere. And I have neither +a horse and carriage nor a man to guide you at my disposal.” +</p> + +<p> +She looked him in the face with a low, stifled murmur of pain and sorrow to +behold him thus obdurate. “Oh, you will do nothing to aid me. My God, to +whom then can I turn!” +</p> + +<p> +It was an unlikely story for one of those Prussians to tell, whose hosts were +everywhere all-powerful, who had the city at their beck and call, could have +requisitioned a hundred carriages and brought a thousand horses from their +stables. And he denied her prayer with the haughty air of a victor who has made +it a law to himself not to interfere with the concerns of the vanquished, lest +thereby he might defile himself and tarnish the luster of his new-won laurels. +</p> + +<p> +“At all events,” continued Henriette, “you know what is going +on in the city; you won’t refuse to tell me that much.” +</p> + +<p> +He gave a smile, so faint as scarce to be perceptible. “Paris is burning. +Look! come this way, you can see more clearly.” +</p> + +<p> +Leaving the station, he preceded her along the track for a hundred steps or so +until they came to an iron foot-bridge that spanned the road. When they had +climbed the narrow stairs and reached the floor of the structure, resting their +elbows on the railing, they beheld the broad level plain outstretched before +them, at the foot of the slope of the embankment. +</p> + +<p> +“You see, Paris is burning.” +</p> + +<p> +It was in the neighborhood of ten o’clock. The fierce red glare that lit +the southern sky was ever mounting higher. The blood-red clouds had disappeared +from where they had floated in the east; the zenith was like a great inverted +bowl of inky blackness, across which ran the reflections of the distant flames. +The horizon was one unbroken line of fire, but to the right they could +distinguish spots where the conflagration was raging with greater fury, sending +up great spires and pinnacles of flame, of the most vivid scarlet, to pierce +the dense opacity above, amid billowing clouds of smoke. It was like the +burning of some great forest, where the fire bridges intervening space, and +leaps from tree to tree; one would have said the very earth must be calcined +and reduced to ashes beneath the heat of Paris’ gigantic funeral pyre. +</p> + +<p> +“Look,” said Otto, “that eminence that you see profiled in +black against the red background is Montmartre. There on the left, at +Belleville and la Villette, there has not been a house burned yet; it must be +they are selecting the districts of the wealthy for their work; and it spreads, +it spreads. Look! there is another conflagration breaking out; watch the flames +there to the right, how they seethe and rise and fall; observe the shifting +tints of the vapors that rise from the blazing furnace. And others, and others +still; the heavens are on fire!” +</p> + +<p> +He did not raise his voice or manifest any sign of feeling, and it froze +Henriette’s blood that a human being could stand by and witness such a +spectacle unmoved. Ah, that those Prussians should be there to see that sight! +She saw an insult in his studied calmness, in the faint smile that played upon +his lips, as if he had long foreseen and been watching for that unparalleled +disaster. So, Paris was burning then at last, Paris, upon whose monuments the +German shells had scarce been able to inflict more than a scratch! and he was +there to see it burn, and in the spectacle found compensation for all his +grievances, the inordinate length to which the siege had been protracted, the +bitter, freezing weather, the difficulties they had surmounted only to see them +present themselves anew under some other shape, the toil and trouble they had +had in mounting their heavy guns, while all the time Germany from behind was +reproaching them with their dilatoriness. Nothing in all the glory of their +victory, neither the ceded provinces nor the indemnity of five milliards, +appealed to him so strongly as did that sight of Paris, in a fit of furious +madness, immolating herself and going up in smoke and flame on that beautiful +spring night. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, it was sure to come,” he added in a lower voice. “Fine +work, my masters!” +</p> + +<p> +It seemed to Henriette as if her heart would break in presence of that dire +catastrophe. Her personal grief was lost to sight for some minutes, swallowed +up in the great drama of a people’s atonement that was being enacted +before her eyes. The thought of the lives that would be sacrificed to the +devouring flames, the sight of the great capital blazing on the horizon, +emitting the infernal light of the cities that were accursed and smitten for +their iniquity, elicited from her an involuntary cry of anguish. She clasped +her hands, asking: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, merciful Father, of what have we been guilty that we should be +punished thus?” +</p> + +<p> +Otto raised his arm in an oratorical attitude. He was on the point of speaking, +with the stern, cold-blooded vehemence of the military bigot who has ever a +quotation from Holy Writ at his tongue’s end, but glancing at the young +woman, the look he encountered from her candid, gentle eyes checked him. +Besides, his gesture had spoken for him; it told his hatred for the nation, his +conviction that he was in France to mete out justice, delegated by the God of +Armies, to chastise a perverse and stiff-necked generation. Paris was burning +off there on the horizon in expiation of its centuries of dissolute life, of +its heaped-up measure of crime and lust. Once again the German race were to be +the saviors of the world, were to purge Europe of the remnant of Latin +corruption. He let his arm fall to his side and simply said: +</p> + +<p> +“It is the end of all. There is another quartier doomed, for see, a fresh +fire has broken out there to the right. In that direction, that line of flame +that creeps onward like a stream of lava—” +</p> + +<p> +Neither spoke for a long time; an awed silence rested on them. The great waves +of flame continued to ascend, sending up streamers and ribbons of vivid light +high into the heavens. Beneath the sea of fire was every moment extending its +boundaries, a tossing, stormy, burning ocean, whence now arose dense clouds of +smoke that collected over the city in a huge pall of a somber coppery hue, +which was wafted slowly athwart the blackness of the night, streaking the vault +of heaven with its accursed rain of ashes and of soot. +</p> + +<p> +Henriette started as if awaking from an evil dream, and, the thought of her +brother flowing in again upon her mind, once more became a supplicant. +</p> + +<p> +“Can you do nothing for me? won’t you assist me to get to +Paris?” +</p> + +<p> +With his former air of unconcern Otto again raised his eyes to the horizon, +smiling vaguely. +</p> + +<p> +“What would be the use? since to-morrow morning the city will be a pile +of ruins!” +</p> + +<p> +And that was all; she left the bridge, without even bidding him good-by, +flying, she knew not whither, with her little satchel, while he remained yet a +long time at his post of observation, a motionless figure, rigid and erect, +lost in the darkness of the night, feasting his eyes on the spectacle of that +Babylon in flames. +</p> + +<p> +Almost the first person that Henriette encountered on emerging from the station +was a stout lady who was chaffering with a hackman over his charge for driving +her to the Rue Richelieu in Paris, and the young woman pleaded so touchingly, +with tears in her eyes, that finally the lady consented to let her occupy a +seat in the carriage. The driver, a little swarthy man, whipped up his horse +and did not open his lips once during the ride, but the stout lady was +extremely loquacious, telling how she had left the city the day but one before +after tightly locking and bolting her shop, but had been so imprudent as to +leave some valuable papers behind, hidden in a hole in the wall; hence her mind +had been occupied by one engrossing thought for the two hours that the city had +been burning, how she might return and snatch her property from the flames. The +sleepy guards at the barrier allowed the carriage to pass without much +difficulty, the worthy lady allaying their scruples with a fib, telling them +she was bringing back her niece with her to Paris to assist in nursing her +husband, who had been wounded by the Versaillese. It was not until they +commenced to make their way along the paved streets that they encountered +serious obstacles; they were obliged at every moment to turn out in order to +avoid the barricades that were erected across the roadway, and when at last +they reached the boulevard Poissonière the driver declared he would go no +further. The two women were therefore forced to continue their way on foot, +through the Rue du Sentier, the Rue des Jeûneurs, and all the circumscribing +region of the Bourse. As they approached the fortifications the blazing sky had +made their way as bright before them as if it had been broad day; now they were +surprised by the deserted and tranquil condition of the streets, where the only +sound that disturbed the stillness was a dull, distant roar. In the vicinity of +the Bourse, however, they were alarmed by the sound of musketry; they slipped +along with great caution, hugging the walls. On reaching the Rue Richelieu and +finding her shop had not been disturbed, the stout lady was so overjoyed that +she insisted on seeing her traveling companion safely housed; they struck +through the Rue du Hazard, the Rue Saint-Anne, and finally reached the Rue des +Orties. Some federates, whose battalion was still holding the Rue Saint-Anne, +attempted to prevent them from passing. It was four o’clock and already +quite light when Henriette, exhausted by the fatigue of her long day and the +stress of her emotions, reached the old house in the Rue des Orties and found +the door standing open. Climbing the dark, narrow staircase, she turned to the +left and discovered behind a door a ladder that led upward toward the roof. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice, meantime, behind the barricade in the Rue du Bac, had succeeded in +raising himself to his knees, and Jean’s heart throbbed with a wild, +tumultuous hope, for he believed he had pinned his friend to the earth. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, my little one, are you alive still? is that great happiness in store +for me, brute that I am? Wait a moment, let me see.” +</p> + +<p> +He examined the wound with great tenderness by the light of the burning +buildings. The bayonet had gone through the right arm near the shoulder, but a +more serious part of the business was that it had afterward entered the body +between two of the ribs and probably touched the lung. Still, the wounded man +breathed without much apparent difficulty, but the right arm hung useless at +his side. +</p> + +<p> +“Poor old boy, don’t grieve! We shall have time to say good-by to +each other, and it is better thus, you see; I am glad to have done with it all. +You have done enough for me to make up for this, for I should have died long +ago in some ditch, even as I am dying now, had it not been for you.” +</p> + +<p> +But Jean, hearing him speak thus, again gave way to an outburst of violent +grief. +</p> + +<p> +“Hush, hush! Twice you saved me from the clutches of the Prussians. We +were quits; it was my turn to devote my life, and instead of that I have slain +you. Ah, <i>tonnerre de Dieu!</i> I must have been drunk not to recognize you; +yes, drunk as a hog from glutting myself with blood.” +</p> + +<p> +Tears streamed from his eyes at the recollection of their last parting, down +there, at Remilly, when they embraced, asking themselves if they should ever +meet again, and how, under what circumstances of sorrow or of gladness. It was +nothing, then, that they had passed toilsome days and sleepless nights +together, with death staring them in the face? It was to bring them to this +abominable thing, to this senseless, atrocious fratricide, that their hearts +had been fused in the crucible of those weeks of suffering endured in common? +No, no, it could not be; he turned in horror from the thought. +</p> + +<p> +“Let’s see what I can do, little one; I must save you.” +</p> + +<p> +The first thing to be done was to remove him to a place of safety, for the +troops dispatched the wounded Communists wherever they found them. They were +alone, fortunately; there was not a minute to lose. He first ripped the sleeve +from wrist to shoulder with his knife, then took off the uniform coat. Some +blood flowed; he made haste to bandage the arm securely with strips that he +tore from the lining of the garment for the purpose. After that he staunched as +well as he could the wound in the side and fastened the injured arm over it, He +luckily had a bit of cord in his pocket, which he knotted tightly around the +primitive dressing, thus assuring the immobility of the injured parts and +preventing hemorrhage. +</p> + +<p> +“Can you walk?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I think so.” +</p> + +<p> +But he did not dare to take him through the streets thus, in his shirt sleeves. +Remembering to have seen a dead soldier lying in an adjacent street, he hurried +off and presently came back with a capote and a <i>kepi</i>. He threw the +greatcoat over his friend’s shoulders and assisted him to slip his +uninjured arm into the left sleeve. Then, when he had put the <i>kepi</i> on +his head: +</p> + +<p> +“There, now you are one of us—where are we to go?” +</p> + +<p> +That was the question. His reviving hope and courage were suddenly damped by a +horrible uncertainty. Where were they to look for a shelter that gave promise +of security? the troops were searching the houses, were shooting every +Communist they took with arms in his hands. And in addition to that, neither of +them knew a soul in that portion of the city to whom they might apply for +succor and refuge; not a place where they might hide their heads. +</p> + +<p> +“The best thing to do would be to go home where I live,” said +Maurice. “The house is out of the way; no one will ever think of visiting +it. But it is in the Rue des Orties, on the other side of the river.” +</p> + +<p> +Jean gave vent to a muttered oath in his irresolution and despair. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Nom de Dieu!</i> What are we to do?” +</p> + +<p> +It was useless to think of attempting to pass the Pont Royal, which could not +have been more brilliantly illuminated if the noonday sun had been shining on +it. At every moment shots were heard coming from either bank of the river. +Besides that, the blazing Tuileries lay directly in their path, and the Louvre, +guarded and barricaded, would be an insurmountable obstacle. +</p> + +<p> +“That ends it, then; there’s no way open,” said Jean, who had +spent six months in Paris on his return from the Italian campaign. +</p> + +<p> +An idea suddenly flashed across his brain. There had formerly been a place a +little below the Pont Royal where small boats were kept for hire; if the boats +were there still they would make the venture. The route was a long and +dangerous one, but they had no choice, and, further, they must act with +decision. +</p> + +<p> +“See here, little one, we’re going to clear out from here; the +locality isn’t healthy. I’ll manufacture an excuse for my +lieutenant; I’ll tell him the communards took me prisoner and I got +away.” +</p> + +<p> +Taking his unhurt arm he sustained him for the short distance they had to +traverse along the Rue du Bac, where the tall houses on either hand were now +ablaze from cellar to garret, like huge torches. The burning cinders fell on +them in showers, the heat was so intense that the hair on their head and face +was singed, and when they came out on the <i>quai</i> they stood for a moment +dazed and blinded by the terrific light of the conflagrations, rearing their +tall crests heavenward, on either side the Seine. +</p> + +<p> +“One wouldn’t need a candle to go to bed by here,” grumbled +Jean, with whose plans the illumination promised to interfere. And it was only +when he had helped Maurice down the steps to the left and a little way down +stream from the bridge that he felt somewhat easy in mind. There was a clump of +tall trees standing on the bank of the stream, whose shadow gave them a measure +of security. For near a quarter of an hour the dark forms moving to and fro on +the opposite <i>quai</i> kept them in a fever of apprehension. There was +firing, a scream was heard, succeeded by a loud splash, and the bosom of the +river was disturbed. The bridge was evidently guarded. +</p> + +<p> +“Suppose we pass the night in that shed?” suggested Maurice, +pointing to the wooden structure that served the boatman as an office. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, and get pinched to-morrow morning!” +</p> + +<p> +Jean was still harboring his idea. He had found quite a flotilla of small boats +there, but they were all securely fastened with chains; how was he to get one +loose and secure a pair of oars? At last he discovered two oars that had been +thrown aside as useless; he succeeded in forcing a padlock, and when he had +stowed Maurice away in the bow, shoved off and allowed the boat to drift with +the current, cautiously hugging the shore and keeping in the shadow of the +bathing-houses. Neither of them spoke a word, horror-stricken as they were by +the baleful spectacle that presented itself to their vision. As they floated +down the stream and their horizon widened the enormity of the terrible sight +increased, and when they reached the bridge of Solferino a single glance +sufficed to embrace both the blazing <i>quais</i>. +</p> + +<p> +On their left the palace of the Tuileries was burning. It was not yet dark when +the Communists had fired the two extremities of the structure, the Pavilion de +Flore and the Pavilion de Marsan, and with rapid strides the flames had gained +the Pavilion de l’Horloge in the central portion, beneath which, in the +Salle des Marechaux, a mine had been prepared by stacking up casks of powder. +At that moment the intervening buildings were belching from their shattered +windows dense volumes of reddish smoke, streaked with long ribbons of blue +flame. The roofs, yawning as does the earth in regions where volcanic agencies +prevail, were seamed with great cracks through which the raging sea of fire +beneath was visible. But the grandest, saddest spectacle of all was that +afforded by the Pavilion de Flore, to which the torch had been earliest applied +and which was ablaze from its foundation to its lofty summit, burning with a +deep, fierce roar that could be heard far away. The petroleum with which the +floors and hangings had been soaked gave the flames an intensity such that the +ironwork of the balconies was seen to twist and writhe in the convolutions of a +serpent, and the tall monumental chimneys, with their elaborate carvings, +glowed with the fervor of live coals. +</p> + +<p> +Then, still on their left, were, first, the Chancellerie of the Legion of +Honor, which was fired at five o’clock in the afternoon and had been +burning nearly seven hours, and next, the Palace of the Council of State, a +huge rectangular structure of stone, which was spouting torrents of fire from +every orifice in each of its two colonnaded stories. The four structures +surrounding the great central court had all caught at the same moment, and the +petroleum, which here also had been distributed by the barrelful, had poured +down the four grand staircases at the four corners of the building in rivers of +hellfire. On the facade that faced the river the black line of the mansard was +profiled distinctly against the ruddy sky, amid the red tongues that rose to +lick its base, while colonnades, entablatures, friezes, carvings, all stood out +with startling vividness in the blinding, shimmering glow. So great was the +energy of the fire, so terrible its propulsive force, that the colossal +structure was in some sort raised bodily from the earth, trembling and rumbling +on its foundations, preserving intact only its four massive walls, in the +fierce eruption that hurled its heavy zinc roof high in air. Then, close at one +side were the d’Orsay barracks, which burned with a flame that seemed to +pierce the heavens, so purely white and so unwavering that it was like a tower +of light. And finally, back from the river, were still other fires, the seven +houses in the Rue du Bac, the twenty-two houses in the Rue de Lille, helping to +tinge the sky a deeper crimson, profiling their flames on other flames, in a +blood-red ocean that seemed to have no end. +</p> + +<p> +Jean murmured in awed tone: +</p> + +<p> +“Did ever mortal man look on the like of this! the very river is on +fire.” +</p> + +<p> +Their boat seemed to be sailing on the bosom of an incandescent stream. As the +dancing lights of the mighty conflagrations were caught by the ripples of the +current the Seine seemed to be pouring down torrents of living coals; flashes +of intensest crimson played fitfully across its surface, the blazing brands +fell in showers into the water and were extinguished with a hiss. And ever they +floated downward with the tide on the bosom of that blood-red stream, between +the blazing palaces on either hand, like wayfarers in some accursed city, +doomed to destruction and burning on the banks of a river of molten lava. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” exclaimed Maurice, with a fresh access of madness at the +sight of the havoc he had longed for, “let it burn, let it all go up in +smoke!” +</p> + +<p> +But Jean silenced him with a terrified gesture, as if he feared such blasphemy +might bring them evil. Where could a young man whom he loved so fondly, so +delicately nurtured, so well informed, have picked up such ideas? And he +applied himself more vigorously to the oars, for they had now passed the bridge +of Solferino and were come out into a wide open space of water. The light was +so intense that the river was illuminated as by the noonday sun when it stands +vertically above men’s heads and casts no shadow. The most minute +objects, such as the eddies in the stream, the stones piled on the banks, the +small trees along the <i>quais</i>, stood out before their vision with +wonderful distinctness. The bridges, too, were particularly noticeable in their +dazzling whiteness, and so clearly defined that they could have counted every +stone; they had the appearance of narrow gangways thrown across the fiery +stream to connect one conflagration with the other. Amid the roar of the flames +and the general clamor a loud crash occasionally announced the fall of some +stately edifice. Dense clouds of soot hung in the air and settled everywhere, +the wind brought odors of pestilence on its wings. And another horror was that +Paris, those more distant quarters of the city that lay back from the banks of +the Seine, had ceased to exist for them. To right and left of the conflagration +that raged with such fierce resplendency was an unfathomable gulf of blackness; +all that presented itself to their strained gaze was a vast waste of shadow, an +empty void, as if the devouring element had reached the utmost limits of the +city and all Paris were swallowed up in everlasting night. And the heavens, +too, were dead and lifeless; the flames rose so high that they extinguished the +stars. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice, who was becoming delirious, laughed wildly. +</p> + +<p> +“High carnival at the Consoil d’Etat and at the Tuileries to-night! +They have illuminated the facades, women are dancing beneath the sparkling +chandeliers. Ah, dance, dance and be merry, in your smoking petticoats, with +your chignons ablaze—” +</p> + +<p> +And he drew a picture of the feasts of Sodom and Gomorrah, the music, the +lights, the flowers, the unmentionable orgies of lust and drunkenness, until +the candles on the walls blushed at the shamelessness of the display and fired +the palaces that sheltered such depravity. Suddenly there was a terrific +explosion. The fire, approaching from either extremity of the Tuileries, had +reached the Salle des Marechaux, the casks of powder caught, the Pavilion de +l’Horloge was blown into the air with the violence of a powder mill. A +column of flame mounted high in the heavens, and spreading, expanded in a great +fiery plume on the inky blackness of the sky, the crowning display of the +horrid <i>fete</i>. +</p> + +<p> +“Bravo!” exclaimed Maurice, as at the end of the play, when the +lights are extinguished and darkness settles on the stage. +</p> + +<p> +Again Jean, in stammering, disconnected sentences, besought him to be quiet. +No, no, it was not right to wish evils to anyone! And if they invoked +destruction, would not they themselves perish in the general ruin? His sole +desire was to find a landing place so that he might no longer have that horrid +spectacle before his eyes. He considered it best not to attempt to land at the +Pont de la Concorde, but, rounding the elbow of the Seine, pulled on until they +reached the Quai de la Conférence, and even at that critical moment, instead of +shoving the skiff out into the stream to take its chances, he wasted some +precious moments in securing it, in his instinctive respect for the property of +others. While doing this he had seated Maurice comfortably on the bank; his +plan was to reach the Rue des Orties through the Place de la Concorde and the +Rue Saint-Honoré. Before proceeding further he climbed alone to the top of the +steps that ascended from the <i>quai</i> to explore the ground, and on +witnessing the obstacles they would have to surmount his courage was almost +daunted. There lay the impregnable fortress of the Commune, the terrace of the +Tuileries bristling with cannon, the Rues Royale, Florentin, and Rivoli +obstructed by lofty and massive barricades; and this state of affairs explained +the tactics of the army of Versailles, whose line that night described an +immense arc, the center and apex resting on the Place de la Concorde, one of +the two extremities being at the freight depot of the Northern Railway on the +right bank, the other on the left bank, at one of the bastions of the ramparts, +near the gate of Arcueil. But as the night advanced the Communards had +evacuated the Tuileries and the barricades and the regular troops had taken +possession of the quartier in the midst of further conflagrations; twelve +houses at the junction of the Rue Saint-Honoré and the Rue Royale had been +burning since nine o’clock in the evening. +</p> + +<p> +When Jean descended the steps and reached the river-bank again he found Maurice +in a semi-comatose condition, the effects of the reaction after his hysterical +outbreak. +</p> + +<p> +“It will be no easy job. I hope you are going to be able to walk, +youngster?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes; don’t be alarmed. I’ll get there somehow, alive or +dead.” +</p> + +<p> +It was not without great difficulty that he climbed the stone steps, and when +he reached the level ground of the <i>quai</i> at the summit he walked very +slowly, supported by his companion’s arm, with the shuffling gait of a +somnambulist. The day had not dawned yet, but the reflected light from the +burning buildings cast a lurid illumination on the wide Place. They made their +way in silence across its deep solitude, sick at heart to behold the mournful +scene of devastation it presented. At either extremity, beyond the bridge and +at the further end of the Rue Royale, they could faintly discern the shadowy +outlines of the Palais Bourbon and the Church of the Madeleine, torn by shot +and shell. The terrace of the Tuileries had been breached by the fire of the +siege guns and was partially in ruins. On the Place itself the bronze railings +and ornaments of the fountains had been chipped and defaced by the balls; the +colossal statue of Lille lay on the ground shattered by a projectile, while +near at hand the statue of Strasbourg, shrouded in heavy veils of crape, seemed +to be mourning the ruin that surrounded it on every side. And near the Obelisk, +which had escaped unscathed, a gas-pipe in its trench had been broken by the +pick of a careless workman, and the escaping gas, fired by some accident, was +flaring up in a great undulating jet, with a roaring, hissing sound. +</p> + +<p> +Jean gave a wide berth to the barricade erected across the Rue Royale between +the Ministry of Marine and the Garde-Meuble, both of which the fire had spared; +he could hear the voices of the soldiers behind the sand bags and casks of +earth with which it was constructed. Its front was protected by a ditch, filled +with stagnant, greenish water, in which was floating the dead body of a +federate, and through one of its embrasures they caught a glimpse of the houses +in the carrefour Saint-Honoré, which were burning still in spite of the engines +that had come in from the suburbs, of which they heard the roar and clatter. To +right and left the trees and the kiosks of the newspaper venders were riddled +by the storm of bullets to which they had been subjected. Loud cries of horror +arose; the firemen, in exploring the cellar of one of the burning houses, had +come across the charred bodies of seven of its inmates. +</p> + +<p> +Although the barricade that closed the entrance to the Rue Saint-Florentin and +the Rue de Rivoli by its skilled construction and great height appeared even +more formidable than the other, Jean’s instinct told him they would have +less difficulty in getting by it. It was completely evacuated, indeed, and the +Versailles troops had not yet entered it. The abandoned guns were resting in +the embrasures in peaceful slumber, the only living thing behind that +invincible rampart was a stray dog, that scuttled away in haste. But as Jean +was making what speed he could along the Rue Saint-Florentin, sustaining +Maurice, whose strength was giving out, that which he had been in fear of came +to pass; they fell directly into the arms of an entire company of the 88th of +the line, which had turned the barricade. +</p> + +<p> +“Captain,” he explained, “this is a comrade of mine, who has +just been wounded by those bandits. I am taking him to the hospital.” +</p> + +<p> +It was then that the capote which he had thrown over Maurice’s shoulders +stood them in good stead, and Jean’s heart was beating like a trip-hammer +as at last they turned into the Rue Saint-Honoré. Day was just breaking, and +the sound of shots reached their ears from the cross-streets, for fighting was +going on still throughout the quartier. It was little short of a miracle that +they finally reached the Rue des Frondeurs without sustaining any more +disagreeable adventure. Their progress was extremely slow; the last four or +five hundred yards appeared interminable. In the Rue des Frondeurs they struck +up against a communist picket, but the federates, thinking a whole regiment was +at hand, took to their heels. And now they had but a short bit of the Rue +d’Argenteuil to traverse and they would be safe in the Rue des Orties. +</p> + +<p> +For four long hours that seemed like an eternity Jean’s longing desire +had been bent on that Rue des Orties with feverish impatience, and now they +were there it appeared like a haven of safety. It was dark, silent, and +deserted, as if there were no battle raging within a hundred leagues of it. The +house, an old, narrow house without a concierge, was still as the grave. +</p> + +<p> +“I have the keys in my pocket,” murmured Maurice. “The big +one opens the street door, the little one is the key of my room, way at the top +of the house.” +</p> + +<p> +He succumbed and fainted dead away in Jean’s arms, whose alarm and +distress were extreme. They made him forget to close the outer door, and he had +to grope his way up that strange, dark staircase, bearing his lifeless burden +and observing the greatest caution not to stumble or make any noise that might +arouse the sleeping inmates of the rooms. When he had gained the top he had to +deposit the wounded man on the floor while he searched for the chamber door by +striking matches, of which he fortunately had a supply in his pocket, and only +when he had found and opened it did he return and raise him in his arms again. +Entering, he laid him on the little iron bed that faced the window, which he +threw open to its full extent in his great need of air and light. It was broad +day; he dropped on his knees beside the bed, sobbing as if his heart would +break, suddenly abandoned by all his strength as the fearful thought again +smote him that he had slain his friend. +</p> + +<p> +Minutes passed; he was hardly surprised when, raising his eyes, he saw +Henriette standing by the bed. It was perfectly natural: her brother was dying, +she had come. He had not even seen her enter the room; for all he knew she +might have been standing there for hours. He sank into a chair and watched her +with stupid eyes as she hovered about the bed, her heart wrung with mortal +anguish at sight of her brother lying there senseless, in his blood-stained +garments. Then his memory began to act again; he asked: +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me, did you close the street door?” +</p> + +<p> +She answered with an affirmative motion of the head, and as she came toward +him, extending her two hands in her great need of sympathy and support, he +added: +</p> + +<p> +“You know it was I who killed him.” +</p> + +<p> +She did not understand; she did not believe him. He felt no flutter in the two +little hands that rested confidingly in his own. +</p> + +<p> +“It was I who killed him—yes, ’twas over yonder, behind a +barricade, I did it. He was fighting on one side, I on the other—” +</p> + +<p> +There began to be a fluttering of the little hands. +</p> + +<p> +“We were like drunken men, none of us knew what he as about—it was +I who killed him.” +</p> + +<p> +Then Henriette, shivering, pale as death, withdrew her hands, fixing on him a +gaze that was full of horror. Father of Mercy, was the end of all things come! +was her crushed and bleeding heart to know no peace for ever more! Ah, that +Jean, of whom she had been thinking that very day, happy in the unshaped hope +that perhaps she might see him once again! And it was he who had done that +abominable thing; and yet he had saved Maurice, for was it not he who had +brought him home through so many perils? She could not yield her hands to him +now without a revolt of all her being, but she uttered a cry into which she +threw the last hope of her tortured and distracted heart. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! I will save him; I <i>must</i> save him, now!” +</p> + +<p> +She had acquired considerable experience in surgery during the long time she +had been in attendance on the hospital at Remilly, and now she proceeded +without delay to examine her brother’s hurt, who remained unconscious +while she was undressing him. But when she undid the rude bandage of +Jean’s invention, he stirred feebly and uttered a faint cry of pain, +opening wide his eyes that were bright with fever. He recognized her at once +and smiled. +</p> + +<p> +“You here! Ah, how glad I am to see you once more before I die!” +</p> + +<p> +She silenced him, speaking in a tone of cheerful confidence. +</p> + +<p> +“Hush, don’t talk of dying; I won’t allow it! I mean that you +shall live! There, be quiet, and let me see what is to be done.” +</p> + +<p> +However, when Henriette had examined the injured arm and the wound in the side, +her face became clouded and a troubled look rose to her eyes. She installed +herself as mistress in the room, searching until she found a little oil, +tearing up old shirts for bandages, while Jean descended to the lower regions +for a pitcher of water. He did not open his mouth, but looked on in silence as +she washed and deftly dressed the wounds, incapable of aiding her, seemingly +deprived of all power of action by her presence there. When she had concluded +her task, however, noticing her alarmed expression, he proposed to her that he +should go and secure a doctor, but she was in possession of all her clear +intelligence. No, no; she would not have a chance-met doctor, of whom they knew +nothing, who, perhaps, would betray her brother to the authorities. They must +have a man they could depend on; they could afford to wait a few hours. +Finally, when Jean said he must go and report for duty with his company, it was +agreed that he should return as soon as he could get away, and try to bring a +surgeon with him. +</p> + +<p> +He delayed his departure, seemingly unable to make up his mind to leave that +room, whose atmosphere was pervaded by the evil he had unintentionally done. +The window, which had been closed for a moment, had been opened again, and from +it the wounded man, lying on his bed, his head propped up by pillows, was +looking out over the city, while the others, also, in the oppressive silence +that had settled on the chamber, were gazing out into vacancy. +</p> + +<p> +From that elevated point of the Butte des Moulins a good half of Paris lay +stretched beneath their eyes in a vast panorama: first the central districts, +from the Faubourg Saint-Honoré to the Bastille, then the Seine in its entire +course through the city, with the thickly-built, densely-populated regions of +the left bank, an ocean of roofs, treetops, steeples, domes, and towers. The +light was growing stronger, the abominable night, than which there have been +few more terrible in history, was ended; but beneath the rosy sky, in the pure, +clear light of the rising sun, the fires were blazing still. Before them lay +the burning Tuileries, the d’Orsay barracks, the Palaces of the Council +of State and the Legion of Honor, the flames from which were paled by the +superior refulgence of the day-star. Even beyond the houses in the Rue de Lille +and the Rue du Bac there must have been other structures burning, for clouds of +smoke were visible rising from the carrefour of la Croix-Rouge, and, more +distant still, from the Rue Vavin and the Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs. Nearer at +hand and to their right the fires in the Rue Saint-Honoré were dying out, while +to the left, at the Palais-Royal and the new Louvre, to which the torch had not +been applied until near morning, the work of the incendiaries was apparently a +failure. But what they were unable to account for at first was the dense volume +of black smoke which, impelled by the west wind, came driving past their +window. Fire had been set to the Ministry of Finance at three o’clock in +the morning and ever since that time it had been smoldering, emitting no blaze, +among the stacks and piles of documents that were contained in the low-ceiled, +fire-proof vaults and chambers. And if the terrific impressions of the night +were not there to preside at the awakening of the great city—the fear of +total destruction, the Seine pouring its fiery waves past their doors, Paris +kindling into flame from end to end—a feeling of gloom and despair, hung +heavy over the quartiers that had been spared, with that dense, on-pouring +smoke, whose dusky cloud was ever spreading. Presently the sun, which had risen +bright and clear, was hid by it, and the golden sky was filled with the great +funeral pall. +</p> + +<p> +Maurice, who appeared to be delirious again, made a slow, sweeping gesture that +embraced the entire horizon, murmuring: +</p> + +<p> +“Is it all burning? Ah, how long it takes!” +</p> + +<p> +Tears rose to Henriette’s eyes, as if her burden of misery was made +heavier for her by the share her brother had had in those deeds of horror. And +Jean, who dared neither take her hand nor embrace his friend, left the room +with the air of one crazed by grief. +</p> + +<p> +“I will return soon. <i>Au revoir</i>!” +</p> + +<p> +It was dark, however, nearly eight o’clock, before he was able to redeem +his promise. Notwithstanding his great distress he was happy; his regiment had +been transferred from the first to the second line and assigned the task of +protecting the quartier, so that, bivouacking with his company in the Place du +Carrousel, he hoped to get a chance to run in each evening to see how the +wounded man was getting on. And he did not return alone; as luck would have it +he had fallen in with the former surgeon of the 106th and had brought him along +with him, having been unable to find another doctor, consoling himself with the +reflection that the terrible, big man with the lion’s mane was not such a +bad sort of fellow after all. +</p> + +<p> +When Bouroche, who knew nothing of the patient he was summoned with such +insistence to attend and grumbled at having to climb so many stairs, learned +that it was a Communist he had on his hands he commenced to storm. +</p> + +<p> +“God’s thunder, what do you take me for? Do you suppose I’m +going to waste my time on those thieving, murdering, house-burning scoundrels? +As for this particular bandit, his case is clear, and I’ll take it upon +me to see he is cured; yes, with a bullet in his head!” +</p> + +<p> +But his anger subsided suddenly at sight of Henriette’s pale face and her +golden hair streaming in disorder over her black dress. +</p> + +<p> +“He is my brother, doctor, and he was with you at Sedan.” +</p> + +<p> +He made no reply, but uncovered the injuries and examined them in silence; +then, taking some phials from his pocket, he made a fresh dressing, explaining +to the young woman how it was done. When he had finished he turned suddenly to +the patient and asked in his loud, rough voice: +</p> + +<p> +“Why did you take sides with those ruffians? What could cause you to be +guilty of such an abomination?” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice, with a feverish luster in his eyes, had been watching him since he +entered the room, but no word had escaped his lips. He answered in a voice that +was almost fierce, so eager was it: +</p> + +<p> +“Because there is too much suffering in the world, too much wickedness, +too much infamy!” +</p> + +<p> +Bouroche’s shrug of the shoulders seemed to indicate that he thought a +young man was likely to make his mark who carried such ideas about in his head. +He appeared to be about to say something further, but changed his mind and +bowed himself out, simply adding: +</p> + +<p> +“I will come in again.” +</p> + +<p> +To Henriette, on the landing, he said he would not venture to make any +promises. The injury to the lung was serious; hemorrhage might set in and carry +off the patient without a moment’s warning. And when she re-entered the +room she forced a smile to her lips, notwithstanding the sharp stab with which +the doctor’s words had pierced her heart, for had she not promised +herself to save him? and could she permit him to be snatched from them now that +they three were again united, with a prospect of a lifetime of affection and +happiness before them? She had not left the room since morning, an old woman +who lived on the landing having kindly offered to act as her messenger for the +purchase of such things as she required. And she returned and resumed her place +upon a chair at her brother’s bedside. +</p> + +<p> +But Maurice, in his febrile excitation, questioned Jean, insisting on knowing +what had happened since the morning. The latter did not tell him everything, +maintaining a discreet silence upon the furious rage which Paris, now it was +delivered from its tyrants, was manifesting toward the dying Commune. It was +now Wednesday. For two interminable days succeeding the Sunday evening when the +conflict first broke out the citizens had lived in their cellars, quaking with +fear, and when they ventured out at last on Wednesday morning, the spectacle of +bloodshed and devastation that met their eyes on every side, and more +particularly the frightful ruin entailed by the conflagrations, aroused in +their breasts feelings the bitterest and most vindictive. It was felt in every +quarter that the punishment must be worthy of the crime. The houses in the +suspected quarters were subjected to a rigorous search and men and women who +were at all tainted with suspicion were led away in droves and shot without +formality. At six o’clock of the evening of that day the army of the +Versaillese was master of the half of Paris, following the line of the +principal avenues from the park of Montsouris to the station of the Northern +Railway, and the remainder of the braver members of the Commune, a mere +handful, some twenty or so, had taken refuge in the <i>mairie</i> of the +eleventh arrondissement, in the Boulevard Voltaire. +</p> + +<p> +They were silent when he concluded his narration, and Maurice, his glance +vaguely wandering over the city through the open window that let in the soft, +warm air of evening, murmured: +</p> + +<p> +“Well, the work goes on; Paris continues to burn!” +</p> + +<p> +It was true: the flames were becoming visible again in the increasing darkness +and the heavens were reddened once more with the ill-omened light. That +afternoon the powder magazine at the Luxembourg had exploded with a frightful +detonation, which gave rise to a report that the Pantheon had collapsed and +sunk into the catacombs. All that day, moreover, the conflagrations of the +night pursued their course unchecked; the Palace of the Council of State and +the Tuileries were burning still, the Ministry of Finance continued to belch +forth its billowing clouds of smoke. A dozen times Henriette was obliged to +close the window against the shower of blackened, burning paper that the hot +breath of the fire whirled upward into the sky, whence it descended to earth +again in a fine rain of fragments; the streets of Paris were covered with them, +and some were found in the fields of Normandy, thirty leagues away. And now it +was not the western and southern districts alone which seemed devoted to +destruction, the houses in the Rue Royale and those of the Croix-Rouge and the +Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs: the entire eastern portion of the city appeared to +be in flames, the Hôtel de Ville glowed on the horizon like a mighty furnace. +And in that direction also, blazing like gigantic beacon-fires upon the +mountain tops, were the Théâtre-Lyrique, the <i>mairie</i> of the fourth +arrondissement, and more than thirty houses in the adjacent streets, to say +nothing of the theater of the Porte-Saint-Martin, further to the north, which +illuminated the darkness of its locality as a stack of grain lights up the +deserted, dusky fields at night. There is no doubt that in many cases the +incendiaries were actuated by motives of personal revenge; perhaps, too, there +were criminal records which the parties implicated had an object in destroying. +It was no longer a question of self-defense with the Commune, of checking the +advance of the victorious troops by fire; a delirium of destruction raged among +its adherents: the Palace of Justice, the Hôtel-Dieu and the cathedral of +Notre-Dame escaped by the merest chance. They would destroy solely for the sake +of destroying, would bury the effete, rotten humanity beneath the ruins of a +world, in the hope that from the ashes might spring a new and innocent race +that should realize the primitive legends of an earthly paradise. And all that +night again did the sea of flame roll its waves over Paris. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah; war, war, what a hateful thing it is!” said Henriette to +herself, looking out on the sore-smitten city. +</p> + +<p> +Was it not indeed the last act, the inevitable conclusion of the tragedy, the +blood-madness for which the lost fields of Sedan and Metz were responsible, the +epidemic of destruction born from the siege of Paris, the supreme struggle of a +nation in peril of dissolution, in the midst of slaughter and universal ruin? +</p> + +<p> +But Maurice, without taking his eyes from the fires that were raging in the +distance, feebly, and with an effort, murmured: +</p> + +<p> +“No, no; do not be unjust toward war. It is good; it has its appointed +work to do—” +</p> + +<p> +There were mingled hatred and remorse in the cry with which Jean interrupted +him. +</p> + +<p> +“Good God! When I see you lying there, and know it is through my +fault—Do not say a word in defense of it; it is an accursed thing, is +war!” +</p> + +<p> +The wounded man smiled faintly. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, as for me, what matters it? There is many another in my condition. +It may be that this blood-letting was necessary for us. War is life, which +cannot exist without its sister, death.” +</p> + +<p> +And Maurice closed his eyes, exhausted by the effort it had cost him to utter +those few words. Henriette signaled Jean not to continue the discussion. It +angered her; all her being rose in protest against such suffering and waste of +human life, notwithstanding the calm bravery of her frail woman’s nature, +with her clear, limpid eyes, in which lived again all the heroic spirit of the +grandfather, the veteran of the Napoleonic wars. +</p> + +<p> +Two days more, Thursday and Friday, passed, like their predecessors, amid +scenes of slaughter and conflagration. The thunder of the artillery was +incessant; the batteries of the army of Versailles on the heights of Montmartre +roared against those that the federates had established at Belleville and +Père-Lachaise without a moment’s respite, while the latter maintained a +desultory fire on Paris. Shells had fallen in the Rue Richelieu and the Place +Vendôme. At evening on the 25th the entire left bank was in possession of the +regular troops, but on the right bank the barricades in the Place Château +d’Eau and the Place de la Bastille continued to hold out; they were +veritable fortresses, from which proceeded an uninterrupted and most +destructive fire. At twilight, while the last remaining members of the Commune +were stealing off to make provision for their safety, Delescluze took his cane +and walked leisurely away to the barricade that was thrown across the Boulevard +Voltaire, where he died a hero’s death. At daybreak on the following +morning, the 26th, the Château d’Eau and Bastille positions were carried, +and the Communists, now reduced to a handful of brave men who were resolved to +sell their lives dearly, had only la Villette, Belleville, and Charonne left to +them, And for two more days they remained and fought there with the fury of +despair. +</p> + +<p> +On Friday evening, as Jean was on his way from the Place du Carrousel to the +Rue des Orties, he witnessed a summary execution in the Rue Richelieu that +filled him with horror. For the last forty-eight hours two courts-martial had +been sitting, one at the Luxembourg, the other at the Théâtre du Chatelet; the +prisoners convicted by the former were taken into the garden and shot, while +those found guilty by the latter were dragged away to the Lobau barracks, where +a platoon of soldiers that was kept there in constant attendance for the +purpose mowed them down, almost at point-blank range. The scenes of slaughter +there were most horrible: there were men and women who had been condemned to +death on the flimsiest evidence: because they had a stain of powder on their +hands, because their feet were shod with army shoes; there were innocent +persons, the victims of private malice, who had been wrongfully denounced, +shrieking forth their entreaties and explanations and finding no one to lend an +ear to them; and all were driven pell-mell against a wall, facing the muzzles +of the muskets, often so many poor wretches in the band at once that the +bullets did not suffice for all and it became necessary to finish the wounded +with the bayonet. From morning until night the place was streaming with blood; +the tumbrils were kept busy bearing away the bodies of the dead. And throughout +the length and breadth of the city, keeping pace with the revengeful clamors of +the people, other executions were continually taking place, in front of +barricades, against the walls in the deserted streets, on the steps of the +public buildings. It was under such circumstances that Jean saw a woman and two +men dragged by the residents of the quartier before the officer commanding the +detachment that was guarding the Théâtre Français. The citizens showed +themselves more bloodthirsty than the soldiery, and those among the newspapers +that had resumed publication were howling for measures of extermination. A +threatening crowd surrounded the prisoners and was particularly violent against +the woman, in whom the excited bourgeois beheld one of those <i>petroleuses</i> +who were the constant bugbear of terror-haunted imaginations, whom they accused +of prowling by night, slinking along the darkened streets past the dwellings of +the wealthy, to throw cans of lighted petroleum into unprotected cellars. This +woman, was the cry, had been found bending over a coal-hole in the Rue +Sainte-Anne. And notwithstanding her denials, accompanied by tears and +supplications, she was hurled, together with the two men, to the bottom of the +ditch in front of an abandoned barricade, and there, lying in the mud and +slime, they were shot with as little pity as wolves caught in a trap. Some +by-passers stopped and looked indifferently on the scene, among them a lady +hanging on her husband’s arm, while a baker’s boy, who was carrying +home a tart to someone in the neighborhood, whistled the refrain of a popular +air. +</p> + +<p> +As Jean, sick at heart, was hurrying along the street toward the house in the +Rue des Orties, a sudden recollection flashed across his mind. Was not that +Chouteau, the former member of his squad, whom he had seen, in the blouse of a +respectable workman, watching the execution and testifying his approval of it +in a loud-mouthed way? He was a proficient in his role of bandit, traitor, +robber, and assassin! For a moment the corporal thought he would retrace his +steps, denounce him, and send him to keep company with the other three. Ah, the +sadness of the thought; the guilty ever escaping punishment, parading their +unwhipped infamy in the bright light of day, while the innocent molder in the +earth! +</p> + +<p> +Henriette had come out upon the landing at the sound of footsteps coming up the +stairs, where she welcomed Jean with a manner that indicated great alarm. +</p> + +<p> +“’Sh! he has been extremely violent all day long. The major was +here, I am in despair—” +</p> + +<p> +Bouroche, in fact, had shaken his head ominously, saying he could promise +nothing as yet. Nevertheless the patient might pull through, in spite of all +the evil consequences he feared; he had youth on his side. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, here you are at last,” Maurice said impatiently to Jean, as +soon as he set eyes on him. “I have been waiting for you. What is going +on—how do matters stand?” And supported by the pillows at his back, +his face to the window which he had forced his sister to open for him, he +pointed with his finger to the city, where, on the gathering darkness, the +lambent flames were beginning to rise anew. “You see, it is breaking out +again; Paris is burning. All Paris will burn this time!” +</p> + +<p> +As soon as daylight began to fade, the distant quarters beyond the Seine had +been lighted up by the burning of the Grenier d’Abondance. From time to +time there was an outburst of flame, accompanied by a shower of sparks, from +the smoking ruins of the Tuileries, as some wall or ceiling fell and set the +smoldering timbers blazing afresh. Many houses, where the fire was supposed to +be extinguished, flamed up anew; for the last three days, as soon as darkness +descended on the city it seemed as if it were the signal for the conflagrations +to break out again; as if the shades of night had breathed upon the still +glowing embers, reanimating them, and scattering them to the four corners of +the horizon. Ah, that city of the damned, that had harbored for a week within +its bosom the demon of destruction, incarnadining the sky each evening as soon +as twilight fell, illuminating with its infernal torches the nights of that +week of slaughter! And when, that night, the docks at la Villette burned, the +light they shed upon the huge city was so intense that it seemed to be on fire +in every part at once, overwhelmed and drowned beneath the sea of flame. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, it is the end!” Maurice repeated. “Paris is +doomed!” +</p> + +<p> +He reiterated the words again and again with apparent relish, actuated by a +feverish desire to hear the sound of his voice once more, after the dull +lethargy that had kept him tongue-tied for three days. But the sound of stifled +sobs causes him to turn his head. +</p> + +<p> +“What, sister, you, brave little woman that you are! You weep because I +am about to die—” +</p> + +<p> +She interrupted him, protesting: +</p> + +<p> +“But you are not going to die!” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes; it is better it should be so; it must be so. Ah, I shall be no +great loss to anyone. Up to the time the war broke out I was a source of +anxiety to you, I cost you dearly in heart and purse. All the folly and the +madness I was guilty of, and which would have landed me, who knows where? in +prison, in the gutter—” +</p> + +<p> +Again she took the words from his mouth, exclaiming hotly: +</p> + +<p> +“Hush! be silent!—you have atoned for all.” +</p> + +<p> +He reflected a moment. “Yes, perhaps I shall have atoned, when I am dead. +Ah, Jean, old fellow, you didn’t know what a service you were rendering +us all when you gave me that bayonet thrust.” +</p> + +<p> +But the other protested, his eyes swimming with tears: +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t, I entreat you, say such things! do you wish to make me go +and dash out my brains against a wall?” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice pursued his train of thought, speaking in hurried, eager tones. +</p> + +<p> +“Remember what you said to me the day after Sedan, that it was not such a +bad thing, now and then, to receive a good drubbing. And you added that if a +man had gangrene in his system, if he saw one of his limbs wasting from +mortification, it would be better to take an ax and chop off that limb than to +die from the contamination of the poison. I have many a time thought of those +words since I have been here, without a friend, immured in this city of +distress and madness. And I am the diseased limb, and it is you who have lopped +it off—” He went on with increasing vehemence, regardless of the +supplications of his terrified auditors, in a fervid tirade that abounded with +symbols and striking images. It was the untainted, the reasoning, the +substantial portion of France, the peasantry, the tillers of the soil, those +who had always kept close contact with their mother Earth, that was suppressing +the outbreak of the crazed, exasperated part, the part that had been vitiated +by the Empire and led astray by vain illusions and empty dreams; and in the +performance of its duty it had had to cut deep into the living flesh, without +being fully aware of what it was doing. But the baptism of blood, French blood, +was necessary; the abominable holocaust, the living sacrifice, in the midst of +the purifying flames. Now they had mounted the steps of the Calvary and known +their bitterest agony; the crucified nation had expiated its faults and would +be born again. “Jean, old friend, you and those like you are strong in +your simplicity and honesty. Go, take up the spade and the trowel, turn the sod +in the abandoned field, rebuild the house! As for me, you did well to lop me +off, since I was the ulcer that was eating away your strength!” +</p> + +<p> +After that his language became more and more incoherent; he insisted on rising +and going to sit by the window. “Paris burns, Paris burns; not a stone of +it will be left standing. Ah! the fire that I invoked, it destroys, but it +heals; yes, the work it does is good. Let me go down there; let me help to +finish the work of humanity and liberty—” +</p> + +<p> +Jean had the utmost difficulty in getting him back to bed, while Henriette +tearfully recalled memories of their childhood, and entreated him, for the sake +of the love they bore each other, to be calm. Over the immensity of Paris the +fiery glow deepened and widened; the sea of flame seemed to be invading the +remotest quarters of the horizon; the heavens were like the vaults of a +colossal oven, heated to red heat. And athwart the red light of the +conflagrations the dense black smoke-clouds from the Ministry of Finance, which +had been burning three days and given forth no blaze, continued to pour in +unbroken, slow procession. +</p> + +<p> +The following, Saturday, morning brought with it a decided improvement in +Maurice’s condition: he was much calmer, the fever had subsided, and it +afforded Jean inexpressible delight to behold a smile on Henriette’s face +once more, as the young woman fondly reverted to her cherished dream, a pact of +reciprocal affection between the three of them, that should unite them in a +future that might yet be one of happiness, under conditions that she did not +care to formulate even to herself. Would destiny be merciful? Would it save +them all from an eternal farewell by saving her brother? Her nights were spent +in watching him; she never stirred outside that chamber, where her noiseless +activity and gentle ministrations were like a never-ceasing caress. And Jean, +that evening, while sitting with his friends, forgot his great sorrow in a +delight that astonished him and made him tremble. The troops had carried +Belleville and the Buttes-Chaumont that day; the only remaining point where +there was any resistance now was the cemetery of Père-Lachaise, which had been +converted into a fortified camp. It seemed to him that the insurrection was +ended; he even declared that the troops had ceased to shoot their prisoners, +who were being collected in droves and sent on to Versailles. He told of one of +those bands that he had seen that morning on the <i>quai</i>, made up of men of +every class, from the most respectable to the lowest, and of women of all ages +and conditions, wrinkled old bags and young girls, mere children, not yet out +of their teens; pitiful aggregation of misery and revolt, driven like cattle by +the soldiers along the street in the bright sunshine, and that the people of +Versailles, so it was said, received with revilings and blows. +</p> + +<p> +But Sunday was to Jean a day of terror. It rounded out and fitly ended that +accursed week. With the triumphant rising of the sun on that bright, warm +Sabbath morning he shudderingly heard the news that was the culmination of all +preceding horrors. It was only at that late day that the public was informed of +the murder of the hostages; the archbishop, the curé of the Madeleine and +others, shot at la Roquette on Wednesday, the Dominicans of Arcueil coursed +like hares on Thursday, more priests and gendarmes, to the number of +forty-seven in all, massacred in cold blood in the Rue Haxo on Friday; and a +furious cry went up for vengeance, the soldiers bunched the last prisoners they +made and shot them in mass. All day long on that magnificent Sunday the volleys +of musketry rang out in the courtyard of the Lobau barracks, that were filled +with blood and smoke and the groans of the dying. At la Roquette two hundred +and twenty-seven miserable wretches, gathered in here and there by the drag-net +of the police, were collected in a huddle, and the soldiers fired volley after +volley into the mass of human beings until there was no further sign of life. +At Père-Lachaise, which had been shelled continuously for four days and was +finally carried by a hand-to-hand conflict among the graves, a hundred and +forty-eight of the insurgents were drawn up in line before a wall, and when the +firing ceased the stones were weeping great tears of blood; and three of them, +despite their wounds, having succeeded in making their escape, they were +retaken and despatched. Among the twelve thousand victims of the Commune, who +shall say how many innocent people suffered for every malefactor who met his +deserts! An order to stop the executions had been issued from Versailles, so it +was said, but none the less the slaughter still went on; Thiers, while hailed +as the savior of his country, was to bear the stigma of having been the Jack +Ketch of Paris, and Marshal MacMahon, the vanquished of Froeschwiller, whose +proclamation announcing the triumph of law and order was to be seen on every +wall, was to receive the credit of the victory of Père-Lachaise. And in the +pleasant sunshine Paris, attired in holiday garb, appeared to be <i>en +fête</i>; the reconquered streets were filled with an enormous crowd; men and +women, glad to breathe the air of heaven once more, strolled leisurely from +spot to spot to view the smoking ruins; mothers, holding their little children +by the hand, stopped for a moment and listened with an air of interest to the +deadened crash of musketry from the Lobau barracks. +</p> + +<p> +When Jean ascended the dark staircase of the house in the Rue des Orties, in +the gathering obscurity of that Sunday evening, his heart was oppressed by a +chill sense of impending evil. He entered the room, and saw at once that the +inevitable end was come; Maurice lay dead on the little bed; the hemorrhage +predicted by Bouroche had done its work. The red light of the setting sun +streamed through the open window and rested on the wall as if in a last +farewell; two tapers were burning on a table beside the bed. And Henriette, +alone with her dead, in her widow’s weeds that she had not laid aside, +was weeping silently. +</p> + +<p> +At the noise of footsteps she raised her head, and shuddered on beholding Jean. +He, in his wild despair, was about to hurry toward her and seize her hands, +mingle his grief with hers in a sympathetic clasp, but he saw the little hands +were trembling, he felt as by instinct the repulsion that pervaded all her +being and was to part them for evermore. Was not all ended between them now? +Maurice’s grave would be there, a yawning chasm, to part them as long as +they should live. And he could only fall to his knees by the bedside of his +dead friend, sobbing softly. After the silence had lasted some moments, +however, Henriette spoke: +</p> + +<p> +“I had turned my back and was preparing a cup of bouillon, when he gave a +cry. I hastened to his side, but had barely time to reach the bed before he +expired, with my name upon his lips, and yours as well, amid an outgush of +blood—” +</p> + +<p> +Her Maurice, her twin brother, whom she might almost be said to have loved in +the prenatal state, her other self, whom she had watched over and saved! sole +object of her affection since at Bazeilles she had seen her poor Weiss set +against a wall and shot to death! And now cruel war had done its worst by her, +had crushed her bleeding heart; henceforth her way through life was to be a +solitary one, widowed and forsaken as she was, with no one upon whom to bestow +her love. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, <i>bon sang</i>!” cried Jean, amid his sobs, “behold my +work! My poor little one, for whom I would have laid down my life, and whom I +murdered, brute that I am! What is to become of us? Can you ever forgive +me?” +</p> + +<p> +At that moment their glances met, and they were stricken with consternation at +what they read in each other’s eyes. The past rose before them, the +secluded chamber at Remilly, where they had spent so many melancholy yet happy +days. His dream returned to him, that dream of which at first he had been +barely conscious and which even at a later period could not be said to have +assumed definite shape: life down there in the pleasant country by the Meuse, +marriage, a little house, a little field to till whose produce should suffice +for the needs of two people whose ideas were not extravagant. Now the dream was +become an eager longing, a penetrating conviction that, with a wife as loving +and industrious as she, existence would be a veritable earthly paradise. And +she, the tranquillity of whose mind had never in those days been ruffled by +thoughts of that nature, in the chaste and unconscious bestowal of her heart, +now saw clearly and understood the true condition of her feelings. That +marriage, of which she had not admitted to herself the possibility, had been, +unknown to her, the object of her desire. The seed that had germinated had +pushed its way in silence and in darkness; it was love, not sisterly affection, +that she bore toward that young man whose company had at first been to her +nothing more than a source of comfort and consolation. And that was what their +eyes told each other, and the love thus openly expressed could have no other +fruition than an eternal farewell. It needed but that frightful sacrifice, the +rending of their heart-strings by that supreme parting, the prospect of their +life’s happiness wrecked amid all the other ruins, swept away by the +crimson tide that ended their brother’s life. +</p> + +<p> +With a slow and painful effort Jean rose from his knees. +</p> + +<p> +“Farewell!” +</p> + +<p> +Henriette stood motionless in her place. +</p> + +<p> +“Farewell!” +</p> + +<p> +But Jean could not tear himself away thus. Advancing to the bedside he +sorrowfully scanned the dead man’s face, with its lofty forehead that +seemed loftier still in death, its wasted features, its dull eyes, whence the +wild look that had occasionally been seen there in life had vanished. He longed +to give a parting kiss to his little one, as he had called him so many times, +but dared not. It seemed to him that his hands were stained with his +friend’s blood; he shrank from the horror of the ordeal. Ah, what a death +to die, amid the crashing ruins of a sinking world! On the last day, among the +shattered fragments of the dying Commune, might not this last victim have been +spared? He had gone from life, hungering for justice, possessed by the dream +that haunted him, the sublime and unattainable conception of the destruction of +the old society, of Paris chastened by fire, of the field dug up anew, that +from the soil thus renewed and purified might spring the idyl of another golden +age. +</p> + +<p> +His heart overflowing with bitter anguish, Jean turned and looked out on Paris. +The setting sun lay on the edge of the horizon, and its level rays bathed the +city in a flood of vividly red light. The windows in thousands of houses flamed +as if lighted by fierce fires within; the roofs glowed like beds of live coals; +bits of gray wall and tall, sober-hued monuments flashed in the evening air +with the sparkle of a brisk fire of brushwood. It was like the show-piece that +is reserved for the conclusion of a <i>fete</i>, the huge bouquet of gold and +crimson, as if Paris were burning like a forest of old oaks and soaring +heavenward in a rutilant cloud of sparks and flame. The fires were burning +still; volumes of reddish smoke continued to rise into the air; a confused +murmur in the distance sounded on the ear, perhaps the last groans of the dying +Communists at the Lobau barracks, or it may have been the happy laughter of +women and children, ending their pleasant afternoon by dining in the open air +at the doors of the wine-shops. And in the midst of all the splendor of that +royal sunset, while a large part of Paris was crumbling away in ashes, from +plundered houses and gutted palaces, from the torn-up streets, from the depths +of all that ruin and suffering, came sounds of life. +</p> + +<p> +Then Jean had a strange experience. It seemed to him that in the slowly fading +daylight, above the roofs of that flaming city, he beheld the dawning of +another day. And yet the situation might well be considered irretrievable. +Destiny appeared to have pursued them with her utmost fury; the successive +disasters they had sustained were such as no nation in history had ever known +before; defeat treading on the heels of defeat, their provinces torn from them, +an indemnity of milliards to be raised, a most horrible civil war that had been +quenched in blood, their streets cumbered with ruins and unburied corpses, +without money, their honor gone, and order to be re-established out of chaos! +His share of the universal ruin was a heart lacerated by the loss of Maurice +and Henriette, the prospect of a happy future swept away in the furious storm! +And still, beyond the flames of that furnace whose fiery glow had not subsided +yet, Hope, the eternal, sat enthroned in the limpid serenity of the tranquil +heavens. It was the certain assurance of the resurrection of perennial nature, +of imperishable humanity; the harvest that is promised to him who sows and +waits; the tree throwing out a new and vigorous shoot to replace the rotten +limb that has been lopped away, which was blighting the young leaves with its +vitiated sap. +</p> + +<p> +“Farewell!” Jean repeated with a sob. +</p> + +<p> +“Farewell!” murmured Henriette, her bowed face hidden in her hands. +</p> + +<p> +The neglected field was overgrown with brambles, the roof-tree of the ruined +house lay on the ground; and Jean, bearing his heavy burden of affliction with +humble resignation, went his way, his face set resolutely toward the future, +toward the glorious and arduous task that lay before him and his countrymen, to +create a new France. +</p> + +<p> +THE END. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13851 ***</div> +</body> + +</html> + + |