The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1874-08-30
CHAPTER vi.
La Trdppe.

II" A'aYP''
Yves went straight to Rennes. Six months
later, his good conduct obtained for him tho
permission he applied for to join the army in
Italy. He distinguished himself greatly; he
was something more than a gallant soldier, he
was o hero. He was n model of good conduct
too; and in action, wherever there was most
danger, there was Yves. But there was this
to be noticed in him his most daring feats
had always touch of generosity about them.
He defended rather than attacked. His Que
object was to save tho wounded, to shelter the
fallen from insult, to maintain the honor of
the French flag. o. Que occasion o French
officer, whose courage bordored on rashness,
was surrounded by Austrian soldiers. Yves
dashed in, carried him off through o shower of
bullets, and got him safe to the ambulance /;
there he fell with the wounded oficer-a bull
let had broken his shoulder blade. After this
he was promoted. The first time he was
allowed to use his hand, he wrote the word
''one" en- D sheet of paper, and sent it to the
Able Kerdrec. Another time he saved two
children from drowning at the risk of his life.
He Stunned all notice after these actions, as
though they were crimes and his superior
, officers used to say, yves PAtriarche is a
regular hero, but there never was such bear
of q fellow. After ALL there's nothing like a
Breton (; with few regiments of such men We
should conquer half the world" ----------
At the end of the campaign Yves was sous.
officer He refused his discharge; danger was
his passion, and he volunteered for the Chinese
expedition. There too his bravery was the
theme of many tongues, and his name was
more than once mentioned in the dispatches.
He had particularly requested the Able Ker-
drec not to write to him; he was resolved to
bear his punishment to the full the bitter
cup should be sweetened by hand but
Gods.
The chaplain of the regiment had formed n
strong attachment to the brusQue, reserved
soldier, whose silent ways he had watched he
was interested in the man who fought like a
lion, made no intimacies, aud whose only pas.
sion appeared to be that of helping and saving
others. French, English, Chinese-it was all
the same to Yves; one life was coed as an
other, and there were seven owing still.
On the field, IN the trenches, anywhere and
everywhere, he fought hand to hand with
Death to rob him of his victims. He bore q
charmed life; at times he escaped all hurt Of
by miracle; ut others his injuries healed with
an ease and rapidity which astonshed the
surgeon, no would write him IL prescription
or dress his wound with n smile and shrug
intended to convey that the man was sure to
got round, and no thanks to him.
Alas, poor Yves No wonder that his self
devotion was 30 absolute; it was his only
relief from the anguish of memory. When the
time of action was over, the ghosts of the
miserable past filled his tent. The pale face Of
Anbin on the road in the moonlight rose
before him the voices of the betrothed lovers
again struck his ear on the day when he
heard them behind the hawthorn hedges-tht
day on the evening of which he had destroyed
sheir happiness. Once moro the scene changed
this time it was the wretched howell of the
strnw-cutter; and he saw Armelle dressed il
mean and ragged clothes, with her besotteG
father and the degraded woman he had pu
IN her mothers place, yet unHullied by the upft