The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1878-05-01

"Hugo?'
'sHere."
Glow many men q.
"a hundred and twenty"
Good take your whole company and
get killed"
''Where?r
In the cemetery.'
answered him-"Thnt's the place"
/ had my gourd. He drank and / drank.
A bitter wind was blowing. He said.
Death is not far OF, captain. love
life, life is q sure thing, but no body knows
so wei how TO die as good livers. 1 give
my heart, but sell my hide. Health to the
fart Drink. You've got the very worst
post'-for our colonel was II joker. He
continued
Climb the wall, cross the ditch, and stay
there-this point is threatened, rather. Hold
it,"
Good"
'Get some tr1Isses of straw
There are none"
''Sleep on tho ground, then
"We'n sleep there
"Is your drummer brave Z"
"As Barra."
Good; let him boat the charge at ran-
dom in the 81 I'D. We must have noise
whom we haven't numbers
And 1 said to the boy -'po You hear,
boy"
most buried in the snow, and laughing.
1.-The battle" continued the colonel, will
be a %cannonade. For my part, L love the
cold steel and blEm3 the abuse Of hose saw
ago end cowardly shells. The sword is n
hero the sheIla traitor. But let tine enpe-
ror alone. Adicu, timo presses. Stay here
tomorrow without hinching Don't lave
till six o'clock in the evening. in Grerier!"
Tho colonel left, l said-''File right
and wo all entered II narrow enclosure
grass, q wall round il. n church in the cen
tire, and, in the shadow, God above tho
tomb9. A dark cemetery, with white
pillows. Remind ono somow hat Of tic
sen. We notched the wall. gave my or
ders and established an ambulance al tho
foot of the crucifix.
Let us sup and Sleep" said I.
The snow hid the grass. Our overcoats
were in rags. That's splendid, if you
please, but rather hard in bad weather. I
took o grave for a pillow. My feet were
frozen, for I had no solcs to my boots,
and soon, pell-mell, captain and soldiers,
we were motionless sleeping above the
dead. Soldiers will slesp; they have neither
remorse, nor fear, nor pity, being ~irrespon-
Sible; and, frozen by snow and scorched by
sand, they sleep, and, besides, fighting
mikes them merry. l called out good
ilkhA W AAAEAlF hlAAA NAboIN Ahl tNAos
In wnr we have no time for lourishes.
The sky was ~frowning, it was showing,
and we slept. We had picked up a lot of
~farming-tools and made q great fire of
them. My drummer-boy famed it, md
then came TO sleep beside me. Tho little
man was q great soldier, my o n Devil
take Ine il | can tell how long We slept in
this way! We slept well. 10 sleep is to
make a trinl of death. That's q good
| EI.-. =. .. ILL .-a-, - - g-N .
then / dreamed and saw skeletons and
spectres wearing largo epaulettcs. By de-
groes, slowly and without leaving my bed,
l had a sensation of day breaking. My
eyelids felt the brightness i'll the shade.
Suddenly through my sleep, n deep noise
like cannon, shook me. l woke up. There
wns something white over my eyes. Gently,
without shock or violence, the snow had 81
lently woven q shroud about Ms. l made
o holo in it by sitting up. 4 round shot,
coming from somcwher,s, woke me up
completely. / said to it, Keep off ~ and
i cried, up, drimmyr. beat tho charge 20
Then a hundred and twenty heads roso
from the snow like an archipelago. A SER
gennt called the roll. and dawn appeared,
red, joyous and glow, like a smile from
bleeding lips
L reflected Mt first we had n truce. The
two cannon shots were only n signal to the
few notes of music preceding n bail. Night
bad frozen the blood in our veins, but it
warmed us to think of the approaching bat
tie. The army was going 10 rest on US. We
we're the guardians Of tho centre, a handful
OF men for shot aud shell to ravnge. 1
should have liked better to he elsewhere.
I placed my men along the wall rs sharp
shooters, and each one thought of the
doubtful chance of promotion by means of
q good wound. In war We get killed TO
win success. My lieutenant, IL lad gradu-
Gtlng from the military school OF st. Cyr,
called out TO me
"How lovely the morning is. What
charming sunlight! The SNOW is ros,ate.
Captain, everything is shining uud sInil-
ing, What fresh azure. iiow white,
pcaceablo and pure the landscape is!'
1T will soon grow terrible / answered
him, aud | thought Of the Rhine, the Alps
and the Adige-ou own naughty and sinus
ter battles of old time. Suddenly the battle
burst forth. Six hundred enormous voices
belching lame fuli-mouthed, insulted cach
other from the submits of savage hills.
The whole plain was Il smoking abyss,
and my drummer was heating the Charge
furiously.
With the cannons mingled a naughty
flourish and the shells rainrd down on our
cemetery, as if they were seeking TO shy
the tombs. The crows were seen flying
from the bclfry. | remember n fragment
Of shell ploughed up the Carth, aud a corpse
appeared stupeficd in a coffin, us if the
earthly tumult had awakened the dead;
then II fog hid the sun. Canrou-balls and
shells were making n terrific noise. Berthric,
prince of the empire and vice. constable,
charged n Hnnoyerian corps on our right
with thirty squadron, and we saw nothing
but an endless fog starred by shells, so Lad
the whole battle and medley been swallowed
up by the tragic cluud-a horrible cloud,
settling on the earth increased by vast vom-
things of smoke. Children, two armies
were fighting beneath it. The snow was
drifting through the night, like down, ant
men killed each other, cgad! rs wei ::
they could. They did their best.
Pensivcly ! hchold my men pruwliug alon,
the wall like shadows. IA the scene pro
duoed n singular effect on melodies below
and phantoms above. Some hamlets wer,
on fire matched roofs blazing in the dis
lance.
My boy-drummer continued his noise.
We fired over the nearly ruined wall. We
were the target in the midst of the battle.
To hold out md last Us long as possible.
To try not 10 be killed before SIX in tho
evening.
Now, meanwhile, to kill, that was our
duty.
We fired at random, blnckeued with pow
der, savage, only taking time to bite off
our cartridges, our soldiers fought and fell
without n word.
Sergeant l said, see if the enemy is
giving way"
NO"
'What do you see:'