The Invasion of France in 1814 by Erckmann-Chatrian
CHAPTER XIV
"FORWARD! FORWARD!"
At seven o'clock there was no sign of any movement in the valley.
From time to time, Doctor Lorquin opened one of the windows in thelarge room and looked out. Nothing was stirring; the fires hadsmouldered away; all was still.
In front of the farm, on a bank, about a hundred feet distant, theCossack could be seen who had been killed the previous evening byKasper. He was white with the frost, and as hard as a stone.
In the interior, a fire had been made in the great iron stove.
Louise sat near her father, looking at him with an inexpressibleaffection, as though she feared never to see him again. Her red eyesshowed that she had been crying.
Hullin, though firm, looked not a little moved. The doctor and theanabaptist, both grave and serious, talked over the present position ofaffairs, and Lagarmitte, from behind the stove, listened to them withdeep interest.
"We are not only right, but it is our duty to defend ourselves," saidthe doctor. "Our fathers cleared these woods and cultivated them: theyare our legitimate inheritance."
"No doubt," returned the anabaptist, sententiously; "but it is written,'Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not shed thy brother's blood!'"
Catherine Lefevre, who was in the act of cutting a slice of ham,evidently felt impatient at this conversation, and, turning roundsharply, replied to him: "If that were true, and your religion wereright, the Germans, Russians, and all these red men might take theclothes off our backs. 'Tis fine, that religion of yours; yes, fine,for it gives the rogues such an advantage! It helps them to pillagepeople of substance. I am sure the allies would wish for us no betterreligion than yours. Unfortunately, everybody does not care to livelike sheep. As for me, Pelsly--and I say it without wishing to annoyyou--I consider it folly to grow rich for the benefit of others. But,after all, you are honest folks; one cannot be angry with you: you havebeen brought up from father to son in the same notions: what thegrandfather thought, the grandson thinks also. But we will defend youin spite of yourselves; and afterward we will let you tell us of thepeace eternal. I am fond of discourses on peace, when I have nothingelse to do, and when I am thinking after dinner: then it rejoices myheart."
After having said this, she turned round and went on carving her ham.
Pelsly opened his mouth and eyes, and Doctor Lorquin burst out laughing.
Just then the door opened, and one of the sentries who had beenstationed on the edge of the plateau, cried out, "Master Jean-Claude,come and see. I believe they are mounting the hill."
"It is well, Simon; I am coming," said Hullin, rising. "Louise, kissme. Have courage, my child. Do not fear; all will go well."
He pressed her to his breast, her eyes swollen with tears. She seemedmore dead than alive.
"Above all," said the worthy man, addressing Catherine, "let no one gooutside or near the windows."
Then he darted out into the road.
All those present turned pale.
When Master Jean-Claude had reached the verge of the hill, and cast hiseyes over Grandfontaine and Framont, three thousand metres below, thefollowing sight presented itself to his eyes:
The Germans, who had arrived the evening before, a few hours after theCossacks, and had passed the night (about five or six thousand of them)in the barns, stables, and sheds, were moving about like ants. Theyappeared on all sides in bodies of ten, fifteen, and twenty, bucklingtheir knapsacks and swords, and fixing their bayonets.
Besides these, the cavalry--the Uhlans, Cossacks, Hussars--in green,blue, and gray uniforms striped with red and yellow--with their glazedlinen and sheepskin caps, colbacks, and helmets--were saddling theirhorses and hastily rolling up their long cloaks.
Meanwhile the officers, in their great military cloaks, came down thesmall staircase: some were looking up at the country; others wereembracing the women on the doorsteps.
Trumpeters, with their hands on their sides, were sounding theroll-call at all the corners of the streets, and the drummerstightening the cords of their instruments.
In short, through the broad expanse, one could see all their militaryattitudes as they were on the point of starting.
A few peasants, leaning out of their windows, were watching the scene;women were showing themselves at the loopholes of the garrets; and theinnkeepers were filling the gourds, Corporal Knout watching themmeanwhile.
BIG DUBREUIL, THE FRIEND OF THE ALLIES.]
Hullin's sight was keen, and nothing escaped him; besides, for years hehad been accustomed to this sort of thing; but Lagarmitte, who hadnever seen anything like it, was stupefied: "There are great numbers ofthem," he exclaimed, shaking his head.
"Bah! what does that matter?" said Hullin. "In my days we exterminatedthree armies of them, of fifty thousand each, in six months; we werenot one against four. All that thou seest there would not have been abreakfast for us. And besides, you may be sure, we shall not have tokill them all; they will run like hares. I have seen it before."
After these remarks, he resolved to inspect his men. "Come on," hesaid to the herdsman.
Then the two made their way behind the abatis, following a trench madetwo days before in the snow, which had been frozen as hard as ice: thefelled trees in front of it, formed an insurmountable barrier, whichextended about six hundred metres. Below this was the broken-up road.
On coming near, Jean-Claude saw the mountaineers of Dagsburg crouchingat distances of twenty paces from each, other, in a sort of round nestswhich they had dug out for themselves.
All these fine fellows were sitting on their knapsacks, with theirgourds to their right hand, their felts or foxskin caps drawn down upontheir heads, and their guns between their knees. They had only to riseto have a clear view of the road fifty feet below, at the foot of aslippery descent.
Jean-Claude's arrival pleased them much.
"Ho, Master Hullin, shall we soon begin?"
"Yes, my boys, never fear; before an hour we shall be at it."
"Ah, so much the better!"
"Yes, but take care to aim at the breast: do not hurry, and showyourselves no more than you can help."
"You may rest assured, Master Jean-Claude."
He passed on; but everywhere he met with a like reception.
"Do not forget," said he, "to stop firing when Lagarmitte sounds hishorn: it would be only powder lost."
Coming up to old Materne, who commanded all these men--numbering abouttwo hundred and fifty--he found him smoking his pipe, his nose fieryred, and his beard stiffened with the cold.
"At, it is thou, Jean-Claude."
"Yes, I have come to shake your hand."
"In good time. But why are they so slow in coming--tell me that? Arethey going to march off in another direction?"
"Don't be afraid: they need the road for their artillery and baggage.Hark! they are sounding 'to horse.'"
"Yes, I have seen already that they are preparing." Then, chuckling tohimself: "Thou dost not know, Jean-Claude, what a funny thing I saw, afew minutes ago, as I was looking toward Grandfontaine."
"What was it, my old friend?"
"I saw four Germans lay hold of big Dubreuil, the friend of the allies:they stretched him on the stone bench by his door, and one great lankyfellow gave him I know not how many cuts with a stick across his back.Ha, ha, ha, he must have yelled, the old rascal! I will wager that herefused something to his good friends,--his wine of the year XI. forinstance."
Hullin heard no more: for, casting his eyes accidentally down thevalley, he caught sight of an infantry regiment coming up the road.Farther back in the street, cavalry were seen coming, five or sixofficers galloping in front of them.
"Ah, ah! there they come!" cried the old soldier, whose face glowedsuddenly with an expression of strange energy and enthusiasm. "At lastthey have made up their minds!" Then he rushed out of the trench,shouting: "Attention, my children!"
Passing by, he saw Riffi, the little tailor of C
That was all: for in order to command the whole of the action, he hadto climb almost to the summit of the Donon, where there is a rock.
Lagarmitte followed, striding till his long legs looked like stilts.Ten minutes after, when they had reached the top of the rock,half-breathless, they perceived, fifteen hundred metres below them, theenemy's column, three thousand strong, with white great-coats, leatherbelts, cloth gaiters, tall shakos, and red mustaches; and in the spacesformed by the companies, the young officers, with flat caps, wavingtheir swords, and shouting in shrill voices: "Forward! forward!"
These troops were bristling with bayonets, and advancing at the chargetoward the breastworks.
Old Materne, his beaked nose rising above a juniper branch and his browerect, was also watching the arrival of the Germans; and as he was veryclear-sighted, he could distinguish even faces among the crowd, andchoose the man he wished to knock over.
In the centre of the column, on a large bay horse, an old officer wasadvancing right ahead, with a white wig, a three-cornered hat trimmedwith gold, his waist encircled with a yellow scarf, and his breastdecorated with ribbons. When this personage raised his head, the peakof his hat, surmounted by a tuft of black plumes, formed a vizor. Hehad great wrinkles along his cheeks, and looked sufficiently stern.
"There is my man!" thought the old hunter, deliberately taking aim.
He fired, and when he looked again the old officer had disappeared.
Immediately the whole hill-side became enveloped in fire all along theintrenchment; but the Germans, without replying, continued to advancetoward the breastworks, their guns on their shoulders, and as steadilyas though on parade.
To tell the truth, more than one brave mountaineer, father of a family,seeing this forest of bayonets coming up, and notwithstanding theexcitement of battle, felt that he would have done better had heremained in his village, than to have mixed himself up in such anaffair. But, as the proverb says, "The wine was drawn, and it had tobe drunk."
Riffi, the little tailor, recalled the words of his wife Sapience:"Riffi, you will get yourself crippled, and it will serve you right."
He vowed a costly offering to St. Leon's Chapel should he return fromthe war; but at the same time he resolved to make good use of hismusket.
When they were about two hundred feet from the breastworks, the Germanshalted and began a rolling fire, such as had never been heard in themountain before. It was a regular storm of shot: the balls in hundredstore away the branches, sent bits of broken ice flying in alldirections, or flattened themselves on the rocks on every side, leapingup with a strange hissing noise, and passing by like flocks of pigeons.
All this did not stop the mountaineers from continuing their fire, butit could no longer be heard. The whole hill-side was wrapped in bluesmoke, which prevented their taking any aim.
About ten minutes later, there was the rolling of a drum, and all thismass of men made a rush at the breastworks, their officers shouting,"Forward!"
The earth shook with them.
Materne, springing up in the trench, with quivering lips and in aterrible voice, cried out, "To your feet! to your feet!"
It was time: for a good number of these Germans,--nearly all studentsin philosophy, law, and medicine, heroes of the taverns of Munich,Jena, and other places--who fought against us, because they had beenpromised great things after Napoleon's fall--all these intrepid fellowswere climbing the icy slope, and endeavoring to jump into theintrenchment.
But they were received with the butt-end of the musket, and fell backin disorder.
It was then that the gallant conduct of the old wood-cutter Rochart wasobservable, knocking over, as he did, more than ten "kaiserlichs," whomhe took by the shoulder and hurled down the incline. Old Materne'sbayonet was red with blood; and little Riffi never ceased loading hismusket and firing into the mass of Germans with great spirit. JosephLarnette, who unluckily received a bullet in his eye; Hans Baumgarten,who had his shoulder smashed; Daniel Spitz, who lost two fingers by asabre-cut, and many others, whose names should be honored and reveredfor ages--all these never once left off firing and reloading their guns.
Below the slope fearful cries were heard, while above nothing butbristling bayonets and men on horseback were to be seen.
This lasted a good quarter of an hour. No one knew what the Germanswould do, since there was no passage; when they suddenly decided ongoing away. Most of the students had fallen, and the others--oldcampaigners used to honorable retreats--no longer fought with the samesteadiness.
At first they retreated slowly, then more quickly. Their officersstruck them from behind with the flat end of their swords; themusketry-fire pursued them; and, finally, they ran away with as muchprecipitation as they had been orderly in advancing.
Materne, and fifty others, rose upon the barricades, the old hunterbrandishing his carbine, and bursting into hearty roars of laughter.
At the foot of the bank were heaps of wounded dragging themselves alongthe ground. The trodden-down snow was red with blood. In the midst ofthe piles of dead were two young officers, still alive, but unable todisengage themselves from their dead horses.
It was horrible! But men are, in fact, savages: there was not oneamong the mountaineers who pitied those poor wretches; but, on thecontrary, they seemed to rejoice at the sight.
Little Riffi, transported with a noble enthusiasm, just then glided outalong the bank. To the left, underneath the breastworks, he had caughtsight of. a superb horse, which had belonged to the colonel killed byMaterne, and had retired unhurt into his nook.
"Thou shalt be mine," said he to himself. "Sapience will beastonished!"
All the others envied him. He seized the horse by the bridle andsprang upon him; but judge of the general stupefaction, and of Riffi'sin particular, when this noble animal began to shape his course towardthe Germans in full gallop.
The little tailor lifted his hands to heaven, imploring God and all thesaints.
Materne would have liked much to fire; but he dared not, the horse wentso fast.
At last Riffi disappeared amid the bayonets of the enemy.
Everybody thought he had been killed. However, an hour later, he wasto be seen passing along the main street of Grandfontaine, his handstied behind him, and Corporal Knout at his back, bearing his emblem ofoffice.
Poor Riffi! He alone did not partake of the triumph, and his comradeslaughed at his misfortune, as though he had been but a "kaiserlich."
Such is the character of men; so long as they are happy themselves, themisery of others grieves them but little.