Part 60 (2/2)
”In one way that little bonfire isn't bad,” said Castillon, ”for it is deuced cold. But too much is too much, and now we're going to roast.”
And catching sight of the volunteer Duresnel, pale, propping himself up with his gun, his lips working as though he would talk, though no sound proceeded from them, Castillon continued: ”Well, neighbor, here we are, 'wo'd of honor;' but what the devil do you see back there to make your eyes pop out so?” So saying, Castillon followed Duresnel's fixed and frightened stare, and what he saw made him pull the young volunteer toward him, with the words: ”Come, comrade, do not look that way. You haven't got the hang of the thing yet. That is the fortune of war.”
”My heaven,” stammered Duresnel, as he followed Castillon's advice. ”My heaven, it is horrible! Poor victims!”
A ball, rebounding on the inner face of the stone wall, had struck the lines of volunteers sheltered there, killing and maiming all in its path. The dead and wounded weltered in blood. Captain Martin, struck by the spent ball near the end of its course, had been knocked down, but only bruised on the shoulder. Soon recovering from the shock, he lent his aid to the soldiers of his company, John Lebrenn among them, to help or carry the wounded to the surgeons' post in the rear. These at once gave their care to the cannoniers and to some hussars of the Third, among whom a sh.e.l.l had also wrought its havoc.
Undaunted by these disasters, the republican artillery continued to work marvels. At last the opposing commander, fearing lest his right wing be annihilated, sent word to the regiment of the Gerolstein Cuira.s.siers to storm the battery. Up to this time masked behind a hill, this regiment of heavy reserve cavalry had taken no part in the conflict. They were part of the contingent put by the princ.i.p.ality of Gerolstein at the service of the Germanic Confederation, and were commanded by the Grand Duke himself. This prince was the father of Franz of Gerolstein, whom he held immured in a state dungeon. In spite of his sixty-and-odd years, the old Grand Duke preserved the freshness and buoyancy of youth; to his natural bravery he now added the incentive of hatred for the Revolution.
The Count of Plouernel, having made good his second escape from Paris, and now for some time married to the daughter of the Prince of Holtzern, was second in command. The hors.e.m.e.n of this troop wore a cuira.s.s and helmet of steel, over a livery in the Grand Duke's colors--bright blue with orange facings--with heavy boots, and white wool trousers. In short, the regiment was one of the best equipped and finest in the allied army. The rank and file, l.u.s.ty fellows in the prime of life, warlike, well drilled, well clad, well fed and well paid, pampered up, in short, like a troop of the chosen, were typical 'soldiers of monarchy.' Disciplined by their officers with the cane, after the German fas.h.i.+on, they were the instrument of their master's will, ready to saber father, mother, brother or fellow-citizen, or to march upon the enemy, with equal indifference, killing merely because some one said ”Kill!” or falling in the onslaught because some one said ”Forward!” On the right of the regiment rode the Grand Duke, a robust man, tall of frame, and hard and proud of feature. His face was half concealed under the visor of his helmet, which was surmounted with a rich plume of heron feathers. The gentlemen and officers of his household rode somewhat apart from him, while he himself held the following conversation with the Count of Plouernel, who now bore the uniform of a colonel of cuira.s.siers:
”Count, I saw the Prince of Conde yesterday on his way through Weissenburg to take up quarters at Lauterburg. 'The Republic,' he said to me, 'is no longer betrayed by its generals. _Our goose is cooked!_'
The Prince's observation was sound; I look forward to a series of reverses to our arms. In case I am killed in to-day's battle, do not forget the promise you have given me. Go to my son Franz, in the prison where he lies; tell him that my last thoughts were curses upon him.
Then,” the Grand Duke added, with a sinister air, ”see that justice takes its course with him. My highest court has judged and condemned my unworthy son; he is convicted of a revolutionary plot against the safety of my states, and against my person. He has incurred the penalty of death--the sentence is to be executed with the briefest possible delay.
My nephew Otto, whose cousin you married, is to inherit my grand-ducal crown. All the bequests, minutely set forth in my testament, are to be fully carried out.”
”Drive away these dark thoughts, monseigneur,” replied the Count. ”You will reign a long time yet, and decide all these matters for yourself.”
The word to advance was given, and the Gerolstein regiment, the Grand Duke at its head, set out at a round trot. The ground shook under the hoofs of its eight hundred horses; the rattle of its sabers, muskets and breastplates made a formidable din. Two hundred rods away rose the hillock on whose brow scowled the republican battery that now menaced every foot of the plain the cuira.s.siers were advancing over. Unable to outflank the battery, owing to its being protected to the right by the little wood and to the left by the semi-demolished farm buildings, the Grand Duke could see nothing for it but to charge right into the muzzles of the cannon which he hoped to capture, little thinking that they were supported by both infantry and cavalry so cunningly disposed that he was prevented from detecting them.
”The republican position is too strong, monseigneur, to be attacked in front,” said the Count of Plouernel, ”and yet it would be difficult to try to turn its flank.”
”I am resolved to take it in front,” replied the Grand Duke. ”I rely on the courage of my cuira.s.siers. Here we are within short range of their cannon, and those fellows do not fire.”
”They await our closer approach, that their discharge may be the more deadly.”
”Then let us close up the distance, and start the action,” exclaimed the Grand Duke.
The trumpets sounded the charge. Formed in a narrow column, to offer less front to the republican fire, the troop trotted rapidly forward.
Then, at two hundred paces from the hill, they spread out into two lines, and, at the Grand Duke's command, spurred their steeds to a gallop. In this order, and uttering loud huzzahs, they reached the foot of the hill. Here their impetuous advance was checked by the steep rise they had to surmount in order to reach the summit and the guns. They discharged their muskets at the cannoniers of the battery, whose pieces, pointed straight down the hill, and till this minute dumb, now spoke out with a fearful volley of shot and sh.e.l.l. The Paris Volunteers, placed as sharpshooters in the fringes of the woody thicket, rained upon their a.s.sailants a storm of bullets which mingled with the fire of the other company cloaked in the courtyard of the farmhouse. The rain of lead and iron being especially trained on the steeds of the first advancing line, these fell or stumbled, rolled over on their riders, and threw the second line into such disorder that in spite of its momentum it was forced to waver and flee. The Grand Duke ordered a retreat on the gallop, in order to reform his ranks out of range.
Repeated cries of ”Long live the Republic!” greeted the retreat. The German musketry-fire had gone over the heads of the French; only a few were wounded. All hastened to reload their pieces. The volunteers threw fresh cartridges into their guns, in order to receive the second charge of the enemy. The cuira.s.siers, galled and goaded by the desire to retrieve their first set-back, reformed while describing a wide circuit on the plain. Then, led on by the example of the impetuous Grand Duke, they came on again, not this time in wide front, but in still narrower column. Again they reached the rise of the hill, bending low over their horses' manes, and belaboring the animals with boot and spur. They received the new volley of artillery almost point blank, but still almost immediately gained the top of the eminence, the Grand Duke in the lead. They found themselves awaited by the two companies of volunteers, formed in a hollow square about the cannon, whose attendants were furiously reloading them. Of the three ranks which formed the square, the first was on one knee; the others were erect, their bodies bent forward, guns at position; ready to let fly at the command of Captain Martin.
Solemn silence reigned among the volunteers as they saw, some thirty paces from them, the Grand Duke of Gerolstein gain the summit of their hillock, flanked on one side by a colossus in casque and cuira.s.s bearing the regimental standard, and followed by several officers of his military household.
Castillon, who was in the second line, with John Lebrenn half kneeling before him, and the new volunteer Duresnel behind, said to the former, sotto voice:
”Friend John, let us unite to bowl over that drum-major on horseback with the flag. What say you? Let us fire together.”
”I am with you. Take the man--I shall aim for the horse.”
”Citizens, I also shall aim at the giant,” said Duresnel, in his reed-like voice; ”if you will permit, I shall be of your party.”
At that moment Captain Martin saw behind the Grand Duke, their bodies half over the brow of the hill, the first rank of cuira.s.siers. Only then, the cavalry being exposed, did he give the order: ”Citizens!
Attention! Pick each his man! Aim! Fire!”
”Onward, cuira.s.siers! Saber this canaille!” shouted the Grand Duke, urging his horse to a great leap in order to reach the serried square.
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