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diff --git a/23014.txt b/23014.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..55bcebf --- /dev/null +++ b/23014.txt @@ -0,0 +1,972 @@ +Project Gutenberg's "A Soldier Of The Empire", by Thomas Nelson Page + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: "A Soldier Of The Empire" + 1891 + +Author: Thomas Nelson Page + +Release Date: October 12, 2007 [EBook #23014] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "A SOLDIER OF THE EMPIRE" *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + + + +"A SOLDIER OF THE EMPIRE." + +By Thomas Nelson Page + +1891 + +It was his greatest pride in life that he had been a soldier--a soldier +of the empire. (He was known simply as "The Soldier," and it is probable +that there was not a man or woman, and certain that there was not a +child in the Quarter who did not know him: the tall, erect old Sergeant +with his white, carefully waxed moustache, and his face seamed with two +sabre cuts. One of these cuts, all knew, had been received the summer +day when he had stood, a mere boy, in the hollow square at Waterloo, +striving to stay the fierce flood of the "men on the white horses"; the +other, tradition said, was of even more ancient date.) + +Yes, they all knew him, and knew how when he was not over thirteen, just +the age of little Raoul the humpback, who was not as tall as Pauline, he +had received the cross which he always wore over his heart sewed in the +breast of his coat, from the hand of the emperor himself, for standing +on the hill at Wagram when his regiment broke, and beating the +long-roll, whilst he held the tattered colors resting in his arm, until +the men rallied and swept back the left wing of the enemy. This the +children knew, as their fathers and mothers and grandfathers and +grandmothers before them had known it, and rarely an evening passed that +some of the gamins were not to be found in the old man's kitchen, +which was also his parlor, or else on his little porch, listening with +ever-new delight to the story of his battles and of the emperor. They +all knew as well as he the thrilling part where the emperor dashed by +(the old Sergeant always rose reverently at the name, and the little +audience also stood,--one or two nervous younger ones sometimes bobbing +up a little ahead of time, but sitting down again in confusion under +the contemptuous scowls and pluckings of the rest),--where the emperor +dashed by, and reined up to ask an officer what regiment that was +that had broken, and who was that drummer that had been promoted +to ensign;--they all knew how, on the grand review afterwards, the +Sergeant, beating his drum with one hand (while the other, which had +been broken by a bullet, was in a sling), had marched with his company +before the emperor, and had been recognized by him. They knew how he had +been called up by a staff-officer (whom the children imagined to be +a fine gentleman with a rich uniform, and a great shako like Marie's +uncle, the drum-major), and how the emperor had taken from his own +breast and with his own hand had given him the cross, which he had never +from that day removed from his heart, and had said, "I would make you a +colonel if I could spare you." + +This was the story they liked best, though there were many others which +they frequently begged to be told--of march and siege and battle, of +victories over or escapes from red-coated Britishers and fierce German +lancers, and of how the mere presence of the emperor was worth fifty +thousand men, and how the soldiers knew that where he was no enemy could +withstand them. It all seemed to them very long ago, and the soldier of +the empire was the only man in the Quarter who was felt to be greater +than the rich nobles and fine officers who flashed along the great +streets, or glittered through the boulevards and parks outside. More +than once when Paris was stirred up, and the Quarter seemed on the eve +of an outbreak, a mounted orderly had galloped up to his door with +a letter, requesting his presence somewhere (it was whispered at the +prefect's), and when he returned, if he refused to speak of his visit +the Quarter was satisfied; it trusted him and knew that when he advised +quiet it was for its good. He loved France first, the Quarter next. Had +he not been offered--? What had he not been offered! The Quarter knew, +or fancied it knew, which did quite as well. At least, it knew how he +always took sides with the Quarter against oppression. It knew how he +had gone up into the burning tenement and brought the children down out +of the garret just before the roof fell. It knew how he had jumped into +the river that winter when it was full of ice, to save Raoul's little +lame dog which had fallen into the water; it knew how he had reported +the gendarmes for arresting poor little Aimee just for begging a man in +the Place de L'Opera for a franc for her old grandmother, who was blind, +and how he had her released instead of being sent to ------. But what +was the need of multiplying instances! He was "the Sergeant," a soldier +of the empire, and there was not a dog in the Quarter which did not feel +and look proud when it could trot on the inside of the sidewalk by him. + +Thus the old Sergeant came to be regarded as the conservator of order in +the Quarter, and was worth more in the way of keeping it quiet than all +the gendarmes that ever came inside its precincts. And thus the children +all knew him. + +One story that the Sergeant sometimes told, the girls liked to hear, +though the boys did not, because it had nothing about war in it, and +Minette and Clarisse used to cry so when it was told, that the Sergeant +would stop and put his arms around them and pet them until they only +sobbed on his shoulder. + +It was of how he had, when a lonely old man, met down in Lorraine his +little Camille, whose eyes were as blue as the sky, and her hand as +white as the flower from which she took her name, and her cheeks as pink +as the roses in the gardens of the Tuileries. He had loved her, and she, +though forty years his junior, had married him and had come here to live +with him; but the close walls of the city had not suited her, and she +had pined and languished before his eyes like a plucked lily, and, after +she bore him Pierre, had died in his arms, and left him lonelier than +before. And the old soldier always lowered his voice and paused a moment +(Raoul said he was saying a mass), and then he would add consolingly: +"But she left a soldier, and when I am gone, should France ever need +one, Pierre will be here." The boys did not fancy this story for the +reasons given, and besides, although they loved the Sergeant, they did +not like Pierre. Pierre was not popular in the Quarter,--except with the +young girls and a few special friends. The women said he was idle and +vain like his mother, who had been, they said, a silly lazy thing with +little to boast of but blue eyes and a white skin, of which she was too +proud to endanger it by work, and that she had married the Sergeant for +his pension, and would have ruined him if she had lived, and that Pierre +was just like her. + +The children knew nothing of the resemblance. They disliked Pierre +because he was cross and disagreeable to them, and however their older +sisters might admire his curling brown hair, his dark eyes, and delicate +features, which he had likewise inherited from his mother, they did not +like him; for he always scolded when he came home and found them there; +and he had several times ordered the whole lot out of the house; and +once he had slapped little Raoul, for which Jean Maison had beaten him. +Of late, too, when it drew near the hour for him to come home, the old +Sergeant had two or three times left out a part of his story, and had +told them to run away and come back in the morning, as Pierre liked to +be quiet when he came from his work--which Raoul said was gambling. + +Thus it was that Pierre was not popular in the Quarter. + +He was nineteen years old when war was declared. + +They said Prussia was trying to rob France,--to steal Alsace and +Lorraine. All Paris was in an uproar. The Quarter, always ripe for any +excitement, shared in and enjoyed the general commotion. It struck off +from work. It was like the commune; at least, so people said. Pierre was +the loudest declaimer in the district. He got work in the armory. + +Recruiting officers went in and out of the saloons and cafes, drinking +with the men, talking to the women, and stirring up as much fervor as +possible. It needed little to stir it. The Quarter was seething. Troops +were being mustered in, and the streets and parks were filled with the +tramp of regiments; and the roll of the drums, the call of the bugles, +and the cheers of the crowds as they marched by floated into the +Quarter. Brass bands were so common that although in the winter a couple +of strolling musicians had been sufficient to lose temporarily every +child in the Quarter, it now required a full band and a grenadier +regiment, to boot, to draw a tolerable representation. + +Of all the residents of the Quarter, none took a deeper interest than +the soldier of the empire. He became at once an object of more than +usual attention. He had married in Lorraine, and could, of course, tell +just how long it would take to whip the Prussians. He thought a single +battle would decide it. It would if the emperor were there. His little +court was always full of inquirers, and the stories of the emperor were +told to audiences now of grandfathers and grandmothers. + +Once or twice the gendarmes had sauntered down, thinking, from seeing +the crowd, that a fight was going on. They had stayed to hear of the +emperor. A hint was dropped by the soldier of the empire that perhaps +France would conquer Prussia, and then go on across to Moscow to settle +an old score, and that night it was circulated through the Quarter that +the invasion of Russia would follow the capture of Berlin. The emperor +became more popular than he had been since the _coup d'etat_. Half the +Quarter offered its services. + +The troops were being drilled night and day, and morning after morning +the soldier of the empire locked his door, buttoned his coat tightly +around him, and with a stately military air marched over to the park to +see the drill, where he remained until it was time for Pierre to have +his supper. + +The old Sergeant's acquaintance extended far beyond the Quarter. Indeed, +his name had been mentioned in the papers more than once, and his +presence was noted at the drill by those high in authority; so that he +was often to be seen surrounded by a group listening to his accounts of +the emperor, or showing what the _manuel_ had been in his time. His air, +always soldierly, was now imposing, and many a visitor of distinction +inquiring who he might be, and learning that he was a soldier of the +empire, sought an introduction to him. Sometimes they told him that they +could hardly believe him so old, could hardly believe him much older +than some of those in the ranks, and although at first he used to +declare he was like a rusty flint-lock, too old and useless for service, +their flattery soothed his vanity, and after a while, instead of shaking +his head and replying as he did at first that France had no use for old +men, he would smile doubtfully and say that when they let Pierre go, +maybe he would go too, "just to show the children how they fought then." + +The summer came. The war began in earnest. The troops were sent to the +front, the crowds shouting, "On to Berlin." Others were mustered in +and sent after them as fast as they were equipped. News of battle +after battle came; at first, of victory (so the papers said), full and +satisfying, then meagre and uncertain, and at last so scanty that only +the wise ones knew there had been a defeat. The Quarter was in a fever +of patriotism. + +Jean Maison and nearly all the young men had enlisted and gone, leaving +their sweethearts by turns waving their kerchiefs and wiping their +eyes with them. Pierre, however, still remained behind. He said he was +working for the Government. Raoul said he was not working at all; that +he was skulking. + +Suddenly the levy came. Pierre was conscripted. + +That night the Sergeant enlisted in the same company. Before the week +was out, their regiment was equipped and dispatched to the front, for +the news came that the army was making no advance, and it was said that +France needed more men. Some shook their heads and said that was not +what she needed, that what she needed was better officers. A suggestion +of this by some of the recruits in the old Sergeant's presence drew from +him the rebuke that in his day "such a speech would have called out a +corporal and a file of grenadiers." + +The day they were mustered in, the captain of the company sent for him +and bade him have the first sergeant's chevrons sewed on his sleeve. The +order had come from the colonel, some even said from the marshal. In +the Quarter it was said that it came from the emperor. The Sergeant +suggested that Pierre was the man for the place; but the captain simply +repeated the order. The Quarter approved the selection, and several +fights occurred among the children who had gotten up a company as to +who should be the sergeant. It was deemed more honorable than to be the +captain. + +The day the regiment left Paris, the Sergeant was ordered to report +several reliable men for special duty; he detailed Pierre among the +number. Pierre was sick, so sick that when the company started he would +have been left behind but for his father. The old soldier was too proud +of his son to allow him to miss the opportunity of fighting for France. +Pierre was the handsomest man in the regiment. + +The new levies on arrival in the field went into camp, in and near some +villages and were drilled,--quite needlessly, Pierre and some of the +others declared. They were not accustomed to restraint, and they could +not see why they should be worked to death when they were lying in camp +doing nothing. But the soldier of the empire was a strict drill-master, +and the company was shortly the best-drilled one in the regiment. + +Yet the army lay still: they were not marching on to Berlin. The sole +principle of the campaign seemed to be the massing together of as many +troops as possible. What they were to do no one appeared very clearly to +know. What they were doing all knew: they were doing nothing. The men, +at first burning for battle, became cold or lukewarm with waiting; +dissatisfaction crept in, and then murmurs: "Why did they not fight?" +The soldier of the empire himself was sorely puzzled. The art of war had +clearly changed since his day. The emperor would have picked the best +third of these troops and have been at the gates of the Prussian capital +in less time than they had spent camped with the enemy right before +them. Still, it was not for a soldier to question, and he reported for +a week's extra guard duty a man who ventured to complain in his presence +that the marshal knew as little as the men. Extra guard duty did no +good. The army was losing heart. + +Thus it was for several weeks. But at last, one evening, it was apparent +that some change was at hand: the army stirred and shook itself as a +great animal moves and stretches, not knowing if it will awake or drop +off to sleep again. + +During the night it became wide awake. It was high time. The Prussians +were almost on them. They had them in a trap. They held the higher +grounds and hemmed the French in. All night long the tents were being +struck, and the army was in commotion. No one knew just why it was. Some +said they were about to be attacked; some said they were surrounded. +Uncertainty gave place to excitement. At length they marched. + +When day began to break, the army had been tumbled into line of battle, +and the regiment in which the old Sergeant and Pierre were was drawn +up on the edge of a gentleman's park outside of the villages. The line +extended beyond them farther than they could see, and large bodies of +troops were massed behind them, and were marching and countermarching +in clouds of dust. The rumor went along the ranks that they were in +the advanced line, and that the Germans were just the other side of +the little plateau, which they could dimly see in the gray light of the +dawn. The men, having been marching in the dark, were tired, and most +of them lay down, when they were halted, to rest. Some went to sleep; +others, like Pierre, set to work and with their bayonets dug little +trenches and threw up a slight earthwork before them, behind which they +could lie; for the skirmishers had been thrown out, looking vague and +ghostly as they trotted forward in the dim twilight, and they supposed +that the battle would be fought right there. By the time, however, that +the trenches were dug, the line was advanced, and the regiment was moved +forward some distance, and was halted just under a knoll along which ran +a road. The Sergeant was the youngest man in the company; the sound of +battle had brought back all his fire. To him numbers were nothing. He +thought it now but a matter of a few hours, and France would be at the +gates of Berlin. He saw once more the field of glory and heard again +the shout of victory; Lorraine would be saved; he beheld the tricolor +floating over the capital of the enemies of France. Perhaps, it would be +planted there by Pierre. And he saw in his imagination Pierre climbing +at a stride from a private to a captain, a colonel, a--! who could +tell?--had not the _baton_ been won in a campaign? As to dreaming that a +battle could bring any other result than victory!--It was impossible! + +"Where are you going?" shouted derisively the men of a regiment at rest, +to the Sergeant's command as they marched past. + +"To Berlin," replied the Sergeant. + +The reply evoked cheers, and that regiment that day stood its ground +until a fourth of its men fell. The old soldier's enthusiasm infected +the new recruits, who were pale and nervous under the strain of waiting. +His eye rested on Pierre, who was standing down near the other end of +the company, and the father's face beamed as he thought he saw there +resolution and impatience for the fight. Ha! France should ring with his +name; the Quarter should go wild with delight. + +Just then the skirmishers ahead began to fire, and in a few moments it +was answered by a sullen note from the villages beyond the plain, and +the battle had begun. The dropping fire of the skirmish line increased +and merged into a rattle, and suddenly the thunder broke from a hill +to their right, and ran along the crest until the earth trembled under +their feet. Bullets began to whistle over their heads and clip the +leaves of the trees beyond them, and the long, pulsating scream of +shells flying over them and exploding in the park behind them made the +faces of the men look gray in the morning twilight. Waiting was worse +than fighting. It told on the young men. + +In a little while a staff-officer galloped up to the colonel, who was +sitting on his horse in the road, quietly smoking a cigar, and a moment +later the whole line was in motion. They were wheeled to the right, and +marched under shelter of the knoll in the direction of the firing. As +they passed the turn of the road, they caught a glimpse of the hill +ahead where the artillery, enveloped in smoke, was thundering from an +ever-thickening cloud. A battery of eight guns galloped past them, and +turning the curve disappeared in a cloud of dust. To the new recruits it +seemed as if the whole battle was being fought right there. They could +see nothing but their own line, and only a part of that; smoke and dust +hid everything else; but the hill was plainly an important point, for +they were being pushed forward, and the firing on the rise ahead of them +was terrific. They were still partly protected by the ridge, but shells +were screaming over them, and the earth was rocking under their feet. +More batteries came thundering by,--the men clinging to the pieces and +the drivers lashing their horses furiously,--and disappearing into +the smoke on the hill, unlimbered and swelled the deafening roar; they +passed men lying on the ground dead or wounded, or were passed by others +helping wounded comrades to the rear. Several men in the company fell, +some crying out or groaning with pain, and two or three killed outright. + +The men were dodging and twisting, with heads bent forward a little as +if in a pelting rain. Only the old Sergeant and some of the younger ones +were perfectly erect. + +"Why don't you dodge the balls?" asked a recruit of the Sergeant. + +"A soldier of the empire never dodges," was the proud reply. + +Some change occurred on the hills; they could not see what. Just then +the order came down the line to advance at a double-quick and support +the batteries. They moved forward at a run and passed beyond the shelter +of the ridge. Instantly they were in the line of fire from the Prussian +batteries, whose white puffs of smoke were visible across the plain, and +bullets and shell tore wide spaces in their ranks. They could not see +the infantrymen, who were in pits, but the bullets hissed and whistled +by them. The men on both sides of Pierre were killed and fell forward on +their faces with a thud, one of them still clutching his musket. Pierre +would have stopped, but there was no time, the men in the rear pressed +him on. As they appeared in the smoke of the nearest battery, the +artillerymen broke into cheers at the welcome sight, and all down the +line it was taken up. All around were dead and dying men increasing in +numbers momentarily. No one had time to notice them. Some of them had +blankets thrown over them. The infantry, who were a little to the side +of the batteries, were ordered to lie down; most of them had already +done so; even then they were barely protected; shot and shell ploughed +the ground around them as if it had been a fallow field; men spoke to +their comrades, and before receiving a reply were shot dead at their +sides. The wounded were more ghastly than the dead; their faces growing +suddenly deadly white from the shock as they were struck. + +The gunners lay in piles around their guns, and still the survivors +worked furiously in the dense heat and smoke, the sweat pouring down +their blackened faces. The fire was terrific. + +Suddenly an officer galloped up, and spoke to the lieutenant of the +nearest battery. + +"Where is the colonel?" + +"Killed." + +"Where is your captain?" + +"Dead, there under the gun." + +"Are you in command?" + +"I suppose so." + +"Well, hold this hill." + +"How long?" + +"Forever." And he galloped off. + +His voice was heard clear and ringing in a sudden lull, and the old +Sergeant, clutching his musket, shouted: + +"We will, forever." + +There was a momentary lull. + +Suddenly the cry was: + +"Here they are." + +In an instant a dark line of men appeared coming up the slope. The guns +were trained down on them, but shot over their heads; they were double +shotted and trained lower, and belched forth canister. They fell in +swathes, yet still they came on at a run, hurrahing, until they were +almost up among the guns, and the gunners were leaving their pieces. The +old Sergeant's voice speaking to his men was as steady as if on parade, +and kept them down, and when the command was given to fire kneeling, +they rose as one man, and poured a volley into the Germans' faces which +sent them reeling back down the hill, leaving a broken line of dead and +struggling men on the deadly crest. Just then a brigade officer came +along. They heard him say, "That repulse may stop them." Then he +gave some order in an undertone to the lieutenant in command of the +batteries, and passed on. A moment later the fire from the Prussian +batteries was heavier than before; the guns were being knocked to +pieces. A piece of shell struck the Sergeant on the cheek, tearing away +the flesh badly. He tore the sleeve from his shirt and tied it around +his head with perfect unconcern. The fire of the Germans was still +growing heavier; the smoke was too dense to see a great deal, but they +were concentrating or were coming closer. The lieutenant came back for +a moment and spoke to the captain of the company, who, looking along the +line, called the Sergeant, and ordered him to go back down the hill to +where the road turned behind it, and tell General ------ to send them +a support instantly, as the batteries were knocked to pieces, and they +could not hold the hill much longer. The announcement was astonishing +to the old soldier; it had never occurred to him that as long as a man +remained they could not hold the hill, and he was half-way down the +slope before he took it in. He had brought his gun with him, and he +clutched it convulsively as if he could withstand alone the whole +Prussian army. "He might have taken a younger man to do his trotting," +he muttered to himself as he stalked along, not knowing that his wound +had occasioned his selection. "Pierre--" but, no, Pierre must stay where +he would have the opportunity to distinguish himself. + +It was no holiday promenade that the old soldier was taking; for his +path lay right across the track swept by the German batteries, and the +whole distance was strewn with dead, killed as they had advanced in the +morning. But the old Sergeant got safely across. He found the General +with one or two members of his staff sitting on horseback in the road +near the park gate, receiving and answering dispatches. He delivered his +message. + +"Go back and tell him he _must_ hold it," was the reply. "Upon it +depends the fate of the day; perhaps of France. Or wait, you are +wounded; I will send some one else; you go to the rear." And he gave +the order to one of his staff, who saluted and dashed off on his horse. +"Hold it for France," he called after him. + +The words were heard perfectly clear even above the din of battle which +was steadily increasing all along the line, and they stirred the old +soldier like a trumpet. No rear for him! He turned and pushed back up +the hill at a run. The road had somewhat changed since he left, but +he marked it not; shot and shell were ploughing across his path more +thickly, but he did not heed them; in his ears rang the words--"For +France." They came like an echo from the past; it was the same cry he +had heard at Waterloo, when the soldiers of France that summer day +had died for France and the emperor, with a cheer on their lips. "For +France": the words were consecrated; the emperor himself had used them. +He had heard him, and would have died then; should he not die now for +her! Was it not glorious to die for France, and have men say that he had +fought for her when a babe, and had died for her when an old man! + +With these thoughts was mingled the thought of Pierre--Pierre also would +die for France! They would save her or die together; and he pressed his +hand with a proud caress over the cross on his breast. It was the emblem +of glory. + +He was almost back with his men now; he knew it by the roar, but the +smoke hid everything. Just then it shifted a little. As it did so, he +saw a man steal out of the dim line and start towards him at a run. He +had on the uniform of his regiment. His cap was pulled over his eyes, +and he saw him deliberately fling away his gun. He was skulking. All +the blood boiled up in the old soldier's veins. Desert!--not fight for +France! Why did not Pierre shoot him! Just then the coward passed close +to him, and the old man seized him with a grip of iron. The deserter, +surprised, turned his face; it was pallid with terror and shame; but no +more so than his captor's. It was Pierre. + +"Pierre!" he gasped. "Good God! where are you going?" + +"I am sick," faltered the other. + +"Come back," said the father sternly. + +"I cannot," was the terrified answer. + +"It is for France, Pierre," pleaded the old soldier. + +"Oh! I cannot," moaned the young man, pulling away. There was a +pause--the old man still holding on hesitatingly, then,--"Dastard!" he +hissed, flinging his son from him with indescribable scorn. + +Pierre, free once more, was slinking off with averted face, when anew +idea seized his father, and his face grew grim as stone. Cocking his +musket, he flung it up, took careful and deliberate aim at his son's +retreating figure, and brought his finger slowly down upon the trigger. +But, before he could fire, a shell exploded directly in the line of his +aim, and when the smoke blew off, Pierre had disappeared. The Sergeant +lowered his piece, gazed curiously down the hill, and then hurried to +the spot where the shell had burst. A mangled form marked the place. The +coward had in the very act of flight met the death he dreaded. Pierre +lay dead on his face, shot in the back. The back of his head was +shattered by a fragment of shell. The countenance of the living man +was more pallid than that of the dead. No word escaped him, except that +refrain, "For France, for France," which he repeated mechanically. + +Although this had occupied but a few minutes, momentous changes had +taken place on the ridge above. The sound of the battle had somewhat +altered, and with the roar of artillery were mingled now the continuous +rattle of the musketry and the shouts and cheers of the contending +troops. The fierce onslaught of the Prussians had broken the line +somewhere beyond the batteries, and the French were being borne back. +Almost immediately the slope was filled with retreating men hurrying +back in the demoralization of panic. All order was lost. It was a rout. +The soldiers of his own regiment began to rush by the spot where the +old Sergeant stood above his son's body. Recognizing him, some of his +comrades seized his arm and attempted to hurry him along; but with a +fierce exclamation the old soldier shook them off, and raising his voice +so that he was heard even above the tumult of the rout, he shouted, "Are +ye all cowards? Rally for France--For France----" + +They tried to bear him along; the officers, they said, were dead; the +Prussians had captured the guns, and had broken the whole line. But it +was no use; still he shouted that rallying cry, For France, for France, +"Vive la France; Vive l'Empereur"; and steadied by the war-cry, and +accustomed to obey an officer, the men around him fell instinctively +into something like order, and for an instant the rout was arrested. The +fight was renewed over Pierre's dead body. As they had, however, truly +said, the Prussians were too strong for them. They had carried the line +and were now pouring down the hill by thousands in the ardor of hot +pursuit, the line on either side of the hill was swept away, and whilst +the gallant little band about the old soldier still stood and fought +desperately, they were soon surrounded. There was no thought of quarter; +none was asked, none was given. Cries, curses, cheers, shots, blows, +were mingled together, and clear above all rang the old soldier's +war-cry, For France, for France, "Vive la France, Vive l'Empereur." It +was the refrain from an older and bloodier field. He thought he was at +Waterloo. + +Mad with excitement, the men took up the cry, and fought like tigers; +but the issue could not be doubtful. + +Man after man fell, shot or clubbed down, with the cry "For France" +on his lips, and his comrades, standing astride his body, fought with +bayonets and clubbed muskets till they too fell in turn. Almost the last +one was the old Sergeant. Wounded to death, and bleeding from numberless +gashes, he still fought, shouting his battle-cry, "For France," till +his musket was hurled spinning from his shattered hand, and staggering +senseless back, a dozen bayonets were driven into his breast, crushing +out forever the brave spirit of the soldier of the empire. + +It was best, for France was lost. + +A few hours later the Quarter was in mourning over the terrible defeat. + +* * * * * + +That night a group of Prussian officers going over the field with +lanterns looking after their wounded, stopped near a spot remarkable +even on that bloody slope for the heaps of dead of both armies literally +piled upon each other. + +"It was just here," said one, "that they got reinforcements and made +that splendid rally." + +A second, looking at the body of an old French sergeant lying amidst +heaps of slain, with his face to the sky, said simply as he saw his +scars: + +"There died a brave soldier." + +Another, older than the first, bending closer to count the bayonet +wounds, caught the gleam of something in the light of the lantern, +and stooping to examine a broken cross of the Legion on the dead man's +breast, said reverently: + +"He was a _soldier of the empire_." + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's "A Soldier Of The Empire", by Thomas Nelson Page + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "A SOLDIER OF THE EMPIRE" *** + +***** This file should be named 23014.txt or 23014.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/0/1/23014/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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