Part 7 (2/2)
Then he planted a stick in the ground as a guide-post.
The challengers came rus.h.i.+ng back, followed by the jeers and sticks of the hill boys.
”So! they will not yield? Then will we conquer them,” Napoleon cried.
”In order! Charge!”
And up the slope, brandis.h.i.+ng their sticks, charged the town boys.
The hill boys were ready for them. They were bigger and stronger than the town boys, and they expected to conquer by force.
The two parties met. There was a brief rattle of stick against stick.
But the hill boys were the stronger, and Napoleon gave the order to retreat.
Down the hill rushed the town boys. After them, pell-mell, came the hill boys, flushed with victory and careless of consequences. Suddenly, as Napoleon reached his guide-post, he shouted in his shrill little voice, ”Halt!” And his army, knowing his intentions, instantly obeyed.
”Stones!” he cried, and they scooped up their supply of ammunition.
”About!” They faced the oncoming foe.
”Fire!” came his final order; and, so fast and furious fell the shower of stones upon the surprised and unprepared hill boys, that their victorious columns halted, wavered, turned, broke, and fled.
”Now! upon them! follow them! drive them!” rang out the little Captain Napoleon's swiftly given orders.
They followed his lead. The hill boys, utterly routed, scattered in dismay. One-half of them were captured and held as prisoners, until Napoleon's two big challengers, now acting as commissioners of conquest, received from the hill boys an unconditional surrender, an acknowledgment of the superiority of the town boys, and the humble promise to molest them no more.
This was Napoleon's first taste of victorious war. But ever after he was an acknowledged leader of the boys of Ajaccio. Andrew Pozzo was unceremoniously deposed from his self-a.s.sumed post of commander in all street feuds and forays. The old rivalry was a sore point with him, however; and throughout his life he was the bitter and determined opponent of his famous fellow-Corsican, Napoleon. But you may be sure big Tony Ilari and the other boys paid court to the little Bonaparte's ability; while as for Uncle Joey Fesch, he was prouder than ever of his nine-year-old nephew and commander.
CHAPTER SEVEN.
GOOD-BYE TO CORSICA.
Meantime things were going from bad to worse in the Bonaparte home.
Careless ”Papa Charles” made but little money, and saved none; all the economy and planning of thrifty ”Mamma Let.i.tia” did not keep things from falling behind, and even the help of Uncle Lucien the canon was not sufficient.
Charles Bonaparte had gained but little by his submission to the French.
The people in power flattered him, and gave him office and t.i.tles, but these brought in no money; and yet, because of his position, he was forced to entertain and be hospitable to the French officers in Corsica.
Now, this all took money; and there was but little money in the Bonaparte house to take. So, at last, after much discussion between the father and mother,--the father urging and the mother objecting,--the Bonapartes decided to sell a field to raise money; and you can scarcely understand how bitter a thing this is to a Corsican. To part with a piece of land is, to him, like cutting off an arm. It hurts.
Napoleon heard all of these discussions, and was sadly aware of the poverty of his home. He worried over it; he wished he could know how to help his mother in her struggles; and he looked forward, more earnestly than ever, to the day when he should be a man, or should at least be able to do something toward helping out in his home.
At last things took a turn. Old King Louis of France was dead; young King Louis--the sixteenth of the name--sat on the throne. There was trouble in the kingdom. There was a struggle between the men who wished to better things and those who wished things to stay as they were. Among these latter were the governors of the French provinces or departments.
In order to have things fixed to suit themselves, they selected men to represent them in the nation's a.s.sembly at Paris.
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