Part 21 (1/2)

The lower town presented a different aspect: the _cafes_ were full, and all were talking at once and very loud. The mayor, followed by the major, who kept close to his elbow, and by his staff of a.s.sistants, was making his visits to the shops and houses.

The whole of the population was at the windows or at the door-sills.

Carts were got ready, and the twenty pressed men filled them in no time; if horses could not be found to draw them, the workmen pushed at the wheels. Some large houses, however, remained closely shut.

They had to go through the valley and visit the farmers and millers of the neighbourhood. Many inhabitants of the upper town went down in search of hams, meal, and grains. The grocers' shops and the pork shops were emptied one after the other; provisions were rising in price, so that the last ham was sold, at three o'clock in the afternoon, for sixty francs.

At four o'clock the mayor, followed like his shadow by the major, presented himself before the colonel and gave him the list of all the provisions he had been able to bring into the upper town. The colonel bade him sit down, and examined the account carefully, asking many questions and appealing to the major's testimony respecting the correctness of the statements. The twenty-five days' rations for the two thousand men were found complete, thanks to a good stock of un-ground corn which made up for what was wanting in meal.

The colonel expressed himself satisfied, especially as they had found in the castle some few hundred-weight of biscuit in good condition. ”Thank you, Monsieur le maire,” said he; ”you must be fatigued, and may return home; but as I am not unaware of the ill-feeling of some bad sort of people towards you, you shall have a man on guard posted at your door; and I must beg you not to quit your house except to go to your office, which fortunately is situated in the upper town, which will enable you, when we are invested, to fulfil your functions with the zeal you have just manifested.

”I will also beg you to make arrangements without delay for an ambulance with fifty beds duly furnished--suppose we say to-night--and to send me the surgeons of the town, if there are any at La Roche-Pont, this very evening.... Major! accompany Monsieur le maire while he attends to this business, so that no harm may befal him....”

That same day, at eight o'clock in the evening, the reconnaissance returned and reported what they had seen.

The enemy was at Gray near Champlitte, and was occupying the roads between Gray and Thil-le-Chatel. His force had been seen at Beze, about eighteen miles from La Roche-Pont. Communication between Dijon and Langres was cut off: and although the enemy had not occupied that town, he was forming a curtain between it and the north to mask his ulterior movements.

The circ.u.mstantial details given by his orderly officer confirmed the colonel in the idea that the army of Bohemia was paying but little attention to what was taking place in his rear, but was pus.h.i.+ng on towards the capital by the basin of the Seine. ”Ah!” said the colonel, when he had heard every particular from the young officer, ”if we only had twenty thousand of those men who were lost in Russia, we could make these German and Russian gentlemen pay dearly for their temerity, and few of them would see the other side of the Rhine again.”

Colonel Dubois therefore determined to follow the second part of his instructions. He sent a reliable man, selected by Captain Allaud, to Auxonne to inform the governor of the place--if the town was not already occupied--that he was holding La Roche-Pont, that he was in a condition to defend himself there for some time, and that he should wish all isolated detachments and any provisions or munitions that had no particular destination to be sent to him.

Up to the 15th of January the town of La Roche-Pont had not seen a single enemy. The centre column of Prince Schwartzenberg's army was marching in the direction of Gray along the heights of the Seine and Marne basins, and avoiding the Lower Saone. This delay had allowed additional munitions to be brought into the town, and the garrison increased by some recruits who, not being able to join their regiments, were wandering about without orders. Four pieces of field artillery, whose carriages were out of repair, had also been got into the town. The colonel had put himself in communication with Lyons; and Marshal Augereau, still hoping to commence offensive operations, had confirmed the previous orders that had been given--that is to say, to hold La Roche-Pont, and to gain all possible information respecting the enemy's movements in the north.

Towards the end of January the great army of Bohemia had some grounds for apprehending an attack on its rear; and Prince Schwartzenberg knew that from Macon along the ascent of the Saone, and as far as the countries intersected by hills which form a part of Upper Burgundy, a nucleus of resistance was being formed which might at any moment take the offensive and embarra.s.s him greatly. After the battle of Brienne (29th of January), as the result of which the Prussians were thrown back by Napoleon on La Rothiere, the sovereigns a.s.sembled in Prince Schwartzenberg's neighbourhood deliberated as to whether they should stop short at Langres or risk advancing alone against the troops commanded by the Emperor.

This indecision with regard to ulterior operations led to a more effective concentration and the occupation of a circle of wider radius around Langres.

Orders were then given to a body of four thousand of the allied Bavarians and Austrians to invest La Roche-Pont, and to guard the route from Lyons to Langres.

It was not till the 1st of February that the front of this corps showed itself before La Roche-Pont.

Colonel Dubois had not been wasting time: the garrison was provisioned for more than six weeks, and munitions were not wanting. This superior officer had put everything in order; and his troops, motley in appearance, certainly, but well rested and full of confidence, amounted at that time to more than nineteen hundred men, of whom twelve hundred were experienced soldiers who might be relied upon. The works on the north were well armed and the defences in good condition, duly furnished with palisades, traverses, and appliances for shelter.

On the evening of the 2nd of February, some of the enemy's horse were caracoling at a distance of about two hundred yards from the works; this bravado cost them about a dozen men.

The enemy, however, did not seem desirous of undertaking a regular siege, but took up a position about a mile from the northern salient; he sent detachments to occupy the faubourg on the left bank, and raised an encampment on the eastern hills.

The colonel had blown up the stone-bridge and destroyed the foot-bridges.

On the morning of the 4th of February an envoy appeared on the glacis and handed on to the governor of the place a summons from General Werther, demanding the surrender of La Roche-Pont to the troops of the allied princes. The garrison would be allowed to retire southwards with arms, baggage, and field artillery.

The colonel replied that the place was sufficiently strong and well provided; it would not capitulate till the moment when the breaches were no longer tenable; and he judged that the defence could not be prolonged to any purpose.

The following night Colonel Dubois sent out a hundred men to try the strength of the enemy's outposts and reconnoitre their positions.

By the end of the two following days--the 5th and 6th--the investment was almost complete, and the communication with the surrounding country interrupted. On the evening of the 9th there came another summons from the enemy's general, declaring that if the place were not surrendered within twenty-four hours the bombardment would commence. The colonel replied as before.

In fact, on the 10th of February a mortar battery opened fire, first on the northern salient, about eight o'clock in the evening. The bombs produced no effect, and in ten hours' bombardment only eight men had been struck, the roof of one of the barracks broken in, and two gun-carriages damaged.

The pieces of large calibre mounted on the cavaliers of the bastions of the work did not begin to fire on the mortar battery until daybreak, and silenced it about noon. The enemy appeared then to limit his efforts to the investment; and it was not till the 17th of February, probably in consequence of news received from the north, that he appeared to decide on a regular siege. Perhaps until this moment he had not the needful appliances.

On the night of the 17th, the first parallel was commenced about six hundred yards from the salient of the re-entering _place d'armes_ (Fig.