Part 19 (1/2)
”An excellent habit, a most excellent habit,” the captain exclaimed with warmth.
”It strengthens the memory,” Cousin Hans remarked, modestly.
”Certainly, certainly, sir!” answered the captain, who was beginning to be much pleased by this modest young man.
”Especially in situations of any complexity,” continued the modest young man, rubbing out his strokes with his foot.
”Just what I was going to say!” exclaimed the captain, delighted. ”And, as you may well believe, drawings and plans are especially indispensable in military science. Look at a battle-field, for example.”
”Ah, battles are altogether too intricate for me,” Cousin Hans interrupted, with a smile of humility.
”Don't say that, sir!” answered the kindly old man. ”When once you have a bird's-eye view of the ground and of the positions of the armies, even a tolerably complicated battle can be made quite comprehensible.--This sand, now, that we have before us here, could very well be made to give us an idea, in miniature, of, for example, the battle of Waterloo.”
”I have come in for the long one,” thought Cousin Hans, ”but never mind!
[Note: In English in the original.] I love her.”
”Be so good as to take a seat on the bench here,” continued the captain, whose heart was rejoiced at the thought of so intelligent a hearer, ”and I shall try to give you in short outline a picture of that momentous and remarkable battle--if it interests you?”
”Many thanks, sir,” answered Cousin Hans, ”nothing could interest me more. But I'm afraid you'll find it terribly hard work to make it clear to a poor, ignorant civilian.”
”By no means; the whole thing is quite simple and easy, if only you are first familiar with the lay of the land,” the amiable old gentleman a.s.sured him, as he took his seat at Hans's side, and cast an inquiring glance around.
While they were thus seated, Cousin Hans examined the captain more closely, and he could not but admit that in spite of his sixty years, Captain Schrappe was still a handsome man. He wore his short, iron-gray mustaches a little turned up at the ends, which gave him a certain air of youthfulness. On the whole, he bore a strong resemblance to King Oscar the First on the old sixpenny-pieces.
And as the captain rose and began his dissertation, Cousin Hans decided in his own mind that he had every reason to be satisfied with his future father-in-law's exterior.
The captain took up a position in a corner of the ramparts, a few paces from the bench, whence he could point all around him with a stick.
Cousin Hans followed what he said, closely, and took all possible trouble to ingratiate himself with his future father-in-law.
”We will suppose, then, that I am standing here at the farm of Belle-Alliance, where the Emperor has his headquarters; and to the north-fourteen miles from Waterloo--we have Brussels, that is to say, just about at the corner of the gymnastic-school.
”The road there along the rampart is the highway leading to Brussels, and here,” the captain rushed over the plain of Waterloo, ”here in the gra.s.s we have the Forest of Soignies. On the highway to Brussels, and in front of the forest, the English are stationed--you must imagine the northern part of the battle-field somewhat higher than it is here. On Wellington's left wing, that is to say, to the eastward--here in the gra.s.s--we have the Chateau of Hougoumont; that must be marked,” said the captain, looking about him.
The serviceable Cousin Hans at once found a stick, which was fixed in the ground at this important point.
”Excellent!” cried the captain, who saw that he had found an interested and imaginative listener. ”You see it's from this side that we have to expect the Prussians.”
Cousin Hans noticed that the captain picked up a stone and placed it in the gra.s.s with an air of mystery.
”Here at Hougoumont,” the old man continued, ”the battle began. It was Jerome who made the first attack. He took the wood; but the chateau held out, garrisoned by Wellington's best troops.
”In the mean time Napoleon, here at Belle-Alliance, was on the point of giving Marshal Ney orders to commence the main attack upon Wellington's centre, when he observed a column of troops approaching from the east, behind the bench, over there by tree.”
Cousin Hans looked round, and began to feel uneasy: could Blucher be here already?
”Blu--Blu--” he murmured, tentatively.
”It was Bulow,” the captain fortunately went on, ”who approached with thirty thousand Prussians. Napoleon made his arrangements hastily to meet this new enemy, never doubting that Grouchy, at any rate, was following close on the Prussians' heels.
”You see, the Emperor had on the previous day detached Marshal Grouchy with the whole right wing of the army, about fifty thousand men, to hold Blucher and Bulow in check. But Grouchy--but of course all this is familiar to you--” the captain broke off.