The Invasion of France in 1814 by Erckmann-Chatrian
CHAPTER XXV
"BATTLE OF THE ROCKS"
For three days they had been entirely without food on the Falkenstein,and Dives had given no signs of life. How often, during those longdays of agony, did the mountaineers turn their eyes towardPhalsbourg!--how often had they listened, fancying they could hear thesmuggler's step, while the vague murmur of the wind alone filled thespace!
The nineteenth day since the arrival of the partisans on theFalkenstein was passed amidst all the tortures of hunger. They nolonger spoke; they remained crouched on the earth, with pinched faces,and lost in endless reveries. Sometimes they watched each other withsparkling eyes, as though about to devour one another, then relapsedinto sullen calm.
Occasionally Yegof's raven, flying from crag to crag, would approachthis place of misfortune. Then old Materne would take aim with hisrifle, but the ill-omened bird would immediately take flight withdismal croakings, and the old hunter's arm fell helpless by his side.And as though the exhaustion of hunger was not enough to fill themeasure of so much misery, the poor creatures only opened their mouthsto accuse and menace one another.
"Do not touch me," cried Hexe-Baizel, in a shrill voice to those wholooked at her--"do not look at me, or I will bite you!"
Louise was delirious; her great blue eyes, instead of living objects,saw only shadows flit across the plateau, touching the tops of thebushes, and resting on the old tower.
"Here is food!" she said. Then the others became enraged with the poorchild, crying out with fury, that she was mocking them, and bidding herbeware.
Jerome alone remained perfectly calm; but the great quantity of snow hehad swallowed to appease the pangs of ravenous hunger, had inundatedhis whole body and bony face with a cold sweat. To appease thecravings of his stomach, Doctor Lorquin had bound a handkerchief roundhis loins, and tightened it more and more. He was seated with his backagainst the tower, and his eyes closed, though he now and then openedthem to say, "We have reached the first--the second--the third stage.One more day, and all will be over!"
He then began to declaim about the Druids, Odin, Brahma, Pythagoras,quoting Latin and Greek, and announcing the near transformation of thepeople of Harberg into wolves, foxes, and animals of all sorts. "Formyself," he exclaimed, "I will be a lion! I will eat fifteen pounds ofbeef every day!"
Then renewing his discourse:--"No, I will be a man. I will preachpeace, brotherhood, justice. Ah, my friends, we suffer for our ownfaults. What have we done with the other side of the Rhine for thelast ten years? With what right did we set up masters over thosepeoples? Why did we not exchange our ideas, our sentiments, theproduce of our arts and of our industry with theirs? Why did we notapproach them like brothers, in place of wishing to subject them to us?We should have been well received. What must they not have suffered,those unhappy people, during those ten years of violence and rapine!Now they are avenged, and it is just! May the malediction of heavenfall on the miserable wretches who get up divisions among peoples inorder to oppress them!"
After these moments of excitement he would fall exhausted against thewall of the tower, and murmur--"Some bread; oh, only a morsel of bread!"
Materne's two sons, crouched in the brushwood, their carbines at theirshoulders, seemed to expect the passage of some game which neverarrived. Their ceaseless watching alone sustained their expiringstrength.
Others, bent double with pain, were shivering with cold, and yet wereburning with fever: they reproached Jean-Claude with having broughtthem to the Falkenstein.
Hullin, with a superhuman force of character, still went and came,observing what took place in the neighboring valleys, but withoutsaying anything.
Occasionally he would advance to the edge of the rock, and with hismassive jaws clinched and shining eyes, looked at Yegof, seated beforea large fire, on the plains of Bois-de-Chenes, in the midst of a bandof Cossacks. Since the arrival of the Germans in the valley of theCharmes, the madman had never quitted his post, but appeared to bewatching the agony of his victims.
Such was the position of these unfortunate people beneath the openheaven.
In the gloom of a prison the torture of hunger is doubtless frightful,but in the broad light of day, in the eyes of a whole country, in faceof all the resources of nature, its sufferings are beyond alldescription.
At the close of the nineteenth day, between four and five o'clock inthe afternoon, the weather was gloomy; large gray clouds rose behindthe snowy summit of the Grosmann; the red sun, like a ball of fire,threw a few last rays into the misty horizon. The silence on the rockwas unbroken. Louise no longer gave signs of life; Kasper and Frantzremained among the bushes immovable as stones; Catherine Lefevre,crouching on the earth, her skinny arms clasped round her pointedknees, with hard, rigid features, her hair hanging over her clammycheeks, looked like some old sibyl seated in the heather. She hadceased speaking. That evening, Hullin, Jerome, old Materne, and DoctorLorquin gathered themselves around the old farm-mistress to die. Theywere silent, and the last rays of twilight fell upon the wretchedgroup. To the right, behind a jutting rock, a few German watch-firessparkled in the abyss. Suddenly the old dame, rousing from her dreams,began to murmur some unintelligible words.
"Dives is coming," said she, in a low voice. "I see him. He goes outfrom the door to the right of the arsenal. Gaspard follows him,and----"
Then she began to count.
"Two hundred and fifty men," she exclaimed; "National Guards andsoldiers. They cross the ditch; they mount behind the demilune.Gaspard is speaking with Marc. What does he say?"
She appeared to listen.
"Let us hurry!--yes, hurry! Time flies! There they are on the glacis!"
There was a long pause; then the old woman suddenly arose, withoutstretched arms and hair on end, and screamed aloud in a terriblevoice:--"Courage! Kill, kill! Ah, ah!" And she fell down heavily.
This fearful cry awoke them all; it would have aroused the dead. Thebesieged seemed born anew. Something was abroad. Was it hope, life, aspirit? I know not; but all rose up on their hands and knees, likewild beasts, holding their breath to hear. Louise even moved softlyand lifted her head; Frantz and Kasper dragged themselves along; and,strange to say, Hullin, turning his eyes toward Phalsbourg, thought hesaw through the darkness the flashes of a fusillade announcing a sortie.
Catherine had resumed her first appearance; but her cheeks, beforestill and pale as those of a corpse, trembled now. The others listenedas though their salvation hung on her lips. A quarter of an hournearly had passed, when the old dame slowly recommenced:--"They havepassed the enemy's lines; they are running toward Lutzelbourg. I seethem! Gaspard and Dives are before, with Desmarets, Ulrich, Weber, andour friends of the town. They come! they come!"
She again became silent. Long did they listen; but the vision wasgone. Seconds followed seconds slowly like centuries. At length,Hexe-Baizel, in an angry voice, began to say:--"She is mad! She sawnothing! Marc, I know him: he is making fun of us. What does itmatter to him if we perish? So long as he has his bottle and tobaccoand can smoke his pipe in peace by the fireside, all the rest isnothing. Ah, the wretch!"
Then all relapsed into silence, and the unhappy creatures, reanimatedfor an instant by hope of a speedy deliverance, again fell into despair.
"It is a dream," thought they; "Hexe-Baizel is right: we are condemnedto die of hunger."
While this was going on night arrived. When the moon rose behind thehigh pine-trees, and lit up the gloomy group, Hullin alone kept watch,in spite of his raging fever. Far off--very far off in the gorges--heheard the voices of the German sentries; "Wer da? Wer da?" the roundsof the patrols in the woods; the shrill neighing of the horses at thepicket, and the shouts of their keepers. Toward midnight the worthyfellow fell asleep like the rest. When he awoke, the clock of thevillage of Charmes struck four. At the sound of the distant chimes,Hullin shook off his drowsiness, and he opened his eyes. As he gazedunconsciously into the darkness, trying to
Nevertheless, the flame reappeared; he looked at it, then raisedhimself quickly, resting his contracted face for a second in his hand.At length, hazarding one more look, he distinctly saw a fire on theGiromani, on the other side of Blanru--a fire which swept the heavenswith its purple wings, causing the shadows of the pines to dance on thesnow. Recalling to himself that this signal had been agreed uponbetween him and Piorette to announce an attack, he trembled from headto foot, his face streamed with perspiration, and, walking in the dark,groping like a blind man with his hands outstretched, hestammered,--"Catherine, Louise, Jerome." But no one answered. Stillgroping about, thinking he was walking while he did not make a step,the unfortunate man fell down, exclaiming, "My children! Catherine!they come! We are saved!"
A vague sound immediately arose. One would have said that the deadwere awaking. There was a shrill laugh: it was Hexe-Baizel, gone madfrom her sufferings.
Then Catherine exclaimed: "Hullin! Hullin! who spoke?"
Jean-Claude, recovering from his emotion, said, in firmer tones:"Jerome, Catherine, Materne, and the others, are you dead? Do you notsee that fire down there, in the direction of Blanru? It is Piorette,who is coming to our assistance."
At the same instant, a deep boom rolled along the gorges of theJaegerthal, like the rumbling of a storm. The summoning trumpet of theJudgment could not have produced a greater effect on the besieged: theysuddenly awoke.
"It is Piorette! it is Marc!" cried broken, harsh voices, such as mighthave belonged to skeletons; "they are coming to our aid!"
And all the wretched creatures tried to rise: some sobbed; but they hadno longer any tears to shed. A second report brought them upright.
"They are firing in detachments," said Hullin. "Ours are doing so too.We have soldiers in lines! France forever!"
"Yes," replied Jerome. "Mother Catherine was right; the Phalsbourgersare coming to our assistance; they are descending the hills of theSarre; and there is Piorette, who is now attacking by Blanru."
Indeed, the fusillade now began to resound on both sides at once,toward the plateau of Bois-de-Chenes and the heights of Kilberi.
The two chiefs embraced; and, as they groped along in the dark night,seeking to reach the edge of the rock, suddenly Materne cried out,"Take care, the precipice is near!"
They stopped short and looked down; but nothing was to be seen: acurrent of cold air ascending from the abyss alone warned them of thedanger. The peaks and gorges round were all plunged in darkness. Onthe hill-sides in front the flashes of the fusillade passed likelightning, illuminating now an old oak, now the heather, or the blackoutline of some rock; and groups of men were coming and going, asthough in the midst of a conflagration. Two thousand feet below, inthe depth of the gorge, could be heard dull sounds of galloping horses,and the clamors of command. Now, the shout of a mountaineer hailinganother was prolonged from peak to peak, and arose to the Falkensteinlike a sigh.
"It is Marc!" said Hullin; "it is Marc's voice!"
"Yes, it is Marc, who bids us have courage," replied Jerome.
The others looked around them with outstretched necks, their handsgrasping the rock. The fusillade continued with a vivacity thatbetrayed the fury of the battle; but nothing could be seen. Oh! howthey wished to take part in this supreme struggle! With what ardorwould they not have thrown themselves into the fire! The fear of beingabandoned once more, of seeing by daylight their defenders retreating,rendered them speechless with terror.
Day began to dawn; the pale light arose behind the black summits, andbegan to illumine the gloomy valleys, and soon the fog of the abyssturned to silvery mists. Hullin, looking across the openings of theseclouds, at length made out the position. The Germans had lost theheights of Valtin, and the plain of Bois-de-Chenes. They were massedin the valley of Charmes, at the foot of the Falkenstein, so as toobtain shelter from their adversaries' fire. Piorette, master ofBois-de-Chenes, had thrown out outworks, in front of the rock, on theside of the descent to Charmes. He was pacing to and fro, his pipe inhis mouth, and carbine slung across his shoulders; and the blue axes ofthe wood-cutters glistened in the rising sun. On the left of thevillage, toward Valtin, in the midst of the furze, Marc Dives, on asmall black horse, with a long tail, his blade by his side, pointed tothe ruins and the sledge road; while an infantry officer and a fewNational Guards were listening to him. Gaspard Lefevre stood alone, infront of the group, leaning on his gun; and, on the summit of the hill,by the wood, two or three hundred men were keeping watch.
The sight of the small number of their defenders caused the hearts ofthe besieged to grow fearful; all the more so, as the Germans wereseven or eight times superior in numbers, and had already begun to formcolumns of attack, to regain the positions they had lost. Horsemenwere conveying on all sides the general's orders, and the bayonetsbegan to defile.
"It is all over," said Hullin to Jerome. "What are five or six hundredmen to do against four thousand in line of battle? The Phalsbourgerswill return to their houses and say, 'We have done our duty.' AndPiorette will be crushed."
The others thought so too; and their despair was brought to a climaxwhen they suddenly saw a long file of Cossacks riding furiously alongthe valley of Charmes, with Yegof the madman galloping like the wind attheir head, his beard, horse's tail, dogskin, and red hair floatingwildly in the air. He looked up at the rock, and brandished his lanceabove his head. Reaching the bottom of the valley, he made at once forthe enemy's staff, and coming up to the general, he indicated bygestures the other side of the plateau of Bois-de-Chenes.
"Ah, the brigand!" shouted Hullin. "See, he tells them that Piorettehas no outworks on that side, that they must go round the mountain."
In fact, a column began immediately to march in that direction, whileanother went toward the outworks to mask the movement of the first.
"Materne," cried Jean-Claude, "is there no means of sending a ball intothe madman?"
The old hunter shook his head.
"No," said he, "it is impossible; he is out of range."
Just then, Catherine Lefevre gave a wild scream like a hawk.
"Crush them, crush them, as they did at the Blutfeld!"
And the old woman, an instant before so feeble, threw herself on a massof rock, lifted it with both hands, advanced, with her streaming grayhair, bent over to the edge of the abyss, and the rock dashed throughthe space beneath.
A terrible crash resounded below, pieces of pine flew out on all sides,the great stone rebounded a hundred feet away, and descending the steepslope with fresh impulse, struck Yegof, and crushed him at the feet ofthe enemy's general. This was but the work of a few seconds.
Catherine, upright on the edge of the rock laughed with a rattlingsound, which seemed as though it would never end.
The others, as though all animated with new life, precipitatedthemselves on the ruins of the old castle, shouting: "Slay them! slaythem! Crush them as at the Blutfeld!"
"LET US OVERWHELM THEM, AS AT BLUTFELD!"]
It is impossible to imagine a more terrible scene. These beings, atdeath's very door, lean and haggard as skeletons, found strength forthe carnage. They no longer stumbled, they trembled no more; each onelifted his stone and threw it down the precipice, then returned to takeanother, without even looking to see what was passing below.
Imagine the stupor of the "kaiserlichs" at this deluge of ruins androcks. All had turned at the sound of the stones bounding abovethrough the bushes and clumps of trees. At first they stopped asthough petrified; but looking higher up, and seeing more and morestones descending, and above it all the spectres coming and going,lifting their arms, and continually discharging fresh burdens--seeingtheir comrades crushed, fifteen or twenty at a time, an immense crywent up from the valley of Charmes to the Falkenstein, and,notwithstanding the fusilla
In the thickest of the rout, the enemy's general contrived to rally abattalion, and descend slowly toward the village.
There was something grand and dignified about this man, so calm in themidst of disaster. He turned from time to time with a gloomy look towatch the bounding rocks, which made ghastly havoc in his columns.
Jean-Claude observed him, and, notwithstanding the intoxication of histriumph and the certitude of having escaped famine, the old soldiercould not suppress a feeling of admiration.
"Look," said he to Jerome, "he acts as he did on returning from theDonon and Grosmann: he is the last to retire, and yields only bit bybit. There are, indeed, brave fellows in every country!"
Marc Dives and Piorette, the witnesses of this stroke of fortune, thendescended into the midst of the fir-trees, to try and cut off theretreat of the enemy. But the battalion, reduced to half its strength,formed into square behind the village of Charmes, and slowly ascendedthe valley of the Sarre, stopping sometimes, like a wounded boar whoturns to look at the huntsmen, whenever Piorette's men or those ofPhalsbourg tried to press too nearly upon them.
Thus terminated the great battle of the Falkenstein, known in themountains under the name of the Battle of the Rocks.
CHAPTER XXVI
CONCLUSION
The combat was hardly over, when, toward eight o'clock, Marc Dives,Gaspard, and about thirty mountaineers, laden with provisions, ascendedthe Falkenstein. What a spectacle awaited them! The besieged,stretched on the earth, appeared to be dead. It seemed useless toshake them, to cry into their ears; "Jean-Claude! Catherine? Jerome!"There came no reply. Gaspard Lefevre, seeing his mother and Louiseimmovable, with clinched teeth, told Marc, that if they did not returnto life, he would blow out his brains with his gun. Marc replied thateach man must do as he liked; but for his part he should not dolikewise on Hexe-Baizel's account. At length old Colon, having laidhis burden down on a stone, Kasper Materne opened his eyes, and seeingthe provisions, his teeth began to chatter like those of a fox pursuedby the hounds.
They immediately understood the meaning of this symptom; and MarcDives, going from one to the other, passed his gourd under their noses,which sufficed to bring them to. They wanted to drink its contents allup at once; but Doctor Lorquin, notwithstanding his condition, hadstill enough sense to warn Marc not to allow them to do so, and theslightest action of choking would be fatal to them. Each one,therefore, only received a morsel of bread, an egg, and a glass ofwine, which wonderfully revived their spirits; then Catherine, Louise,and the others, were laid on sledges and were brought down to thevillage.
It is impossible to describe the enthusiasm and joy of their friendswhen they saw them return, leaner than Lazarus when he rose from hisgrave. They gazed at one another, and embraced, and the process wasrepeated on the arrival of every newcomer from Abreschwiller, Dagsburg,St. Quirin, or elsewhere.
Marc Dives was obliged to relate more than twenty times the story ofhis journey to Phalsbourg. The brave smuggler had had no luck. Afterhaving miraculously escaped from the balls of the "kaiserlichs," he gotinto the valley of Spartzprod, and fell into the midst of a band ofCossacks, who ransacked him from top to toe. He had been compelled towander for two weeks around the Russian posts which surrounded thetown, exposed to the continual fire of their sentries, and runningendless risks of being taken as a spy, before being able to get intothe town. Then the commandant, Meunier, at first refused to give anysuccor, assigning the weakness of his garrison as an excuse, and onlyat the pressing petitions of the towns-folk at length consented todetach two companies. Listening to his recital, the mountaineers gavevent to their admiration of Marc's courage and perseverance in themidst of danger.
"Well," replied the tall smuggler good-humoredly to those who thuscongratulated him, "I have only done my duty; could I have allowed mycomrades to perish? I well knew it would not be easy; those rascallyCossacks are sharper than the customs' folks; they scent you a leagueoff like crows; but all the same, we have outwitted them."
Five or six days later everybody was on the alert; Captain Yidal, fromPhalsbourg, had left twenty-five men to guard the powder; GaspardLefevre was of the number, and the sturdy fellow went down everymorning to the village. The allies had all passed into Lorraine, andwere no longer seen in Alsace, except around the fortresses. Soonafter came the news of the victories of Champ-Aubert and Montmirail;but a great misfortune was at hand; for the allies, notwithstanding theheroism of our army and the genius of the Emperor, entered Paris.
It was a terrible shock to Jean-Claude and Catherine, Materne, Jeromeand all the mountaineers; but the history of these events does notbelong to this tale. It has already been related by others.
Peace having been made, the farm of Bois-de-Chenes was rebuilt in thespring; the wood-cutters, the shoemakers, masons, wood-floaters, andall the workmen of the district, lent a hand in the work.
Toward the same time, the army having been disbanded, Gaspard cut offhis mustaches and his marriage with Louise took place.
On the day of the wedding all the combatants of the Falkenstein andDonon came to the farm, where they were received with open doors andwindows. Each brought his present to the newly married pair; Jerome,small shoes for Louise; Materne and his sons, a black cock, the mostloving of birds, as all know; and Dives, packets of smuggled tobaccofor Gaspard; and Doctor Lorquin a fine set of baby-linen. Tables werespread out, even in the granaries and sheds. How much wine, bread,meat, and tarts was consumed I cannot say; but what I am sure of is,that Jean-Claude, who had been low-spirited ever since the entry of theallies into Paris, revived on that day, and sang the old song of hisyouth as cheerfully as when he shouldered his gun and set out forValmy, Jemmapes, and Fleurus. The echoes of the Falkenstein repeatedin the distance that old patriotic song; the grandest and noblest thathas ever been heard by man. Catherine Lefevre kept time on the tablewith the handle of her knife; and if it be true, as many say, that thedead come to listen when they are spoken of, our departed friends musthave been happy, and "The King of Diamonds" have fumed in his red beard.
Toward midnight, Hullin arose, and addressing the newly married pair,said: "You will have fine children; I will jump them on my knees, Iwill teach them my old song, and then I shall go to rejoin my oldcomrades!"
So saying he embraced Louise, and arm in arm with Marc Dives andJerome, descended to his cottage, followed by the rest, who sangtogether the fine old song. A more beautiful night was never seen:numberless stars shone out in the dark blue sky; the shrubs on thehill-side, where so many brave fellows had found a grave, quiveredslightly in the breeze. Every one felt happy and softened; they shookhands on the threshold of the small house, and wished each other"good-night," and departed, to the right and to the left, to theirdifferent villages.
"Good-night, Materne, Jerome, Dives, Piorette--good-night!" criedJean-Claude.
His old friends turned back, waving their hats, and said to themselves:"There are some days when one is very happy on the earth. Ah, if therewere never any plagues, or wars, or famines; if men would but agree tolove and help each other; if they would but live in peace together,what a paradise this world would be!"