The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1878-02-17

| The officer guarding the postern had only to
sec the order to let us 90 ont and ie% h;nd MN
utes after VIC were in the trenches behlnu
the hospital, where the sergeant ranged his
men.
ait is ooguao - he told them; twenty. -four
| pipea of cognsc! So, comrades, attention
The garrison il without brandy; those who
do not like brandy have only to fall to the
rear"
Bet they all wanted to be in front, aud
| laughed in anticipation.
| We went mp the stairway, and were ranged
in order in the covered ways. 1t might have
been Ave O'Clock. Looking from the top oi
| the g lacis We could soc the broad meadow OF
Eiohfnstt, and about it the hills Of Mittei,
bronn covered with snow. The sky wes full
of clouds, aud night was coming on' 1t was
| very cold.
| "Forwardp said the sergeant
| And we gained the highway. The veterans
ran, in two files, at the right and left, their
| backs rounded, and their muskets in their
shoulder belts the snow was up TO their
knees
schweyer, his two boys, and 1 walked be-
| hind.
At the end of quarter of an hour, the
| veterans, who ran all the way, had left Us ter
behind We heard for some time their oart
| ridge boxes rattlng, but soon this sound was
| lost in the distance, and then we heard tue
dog of the Trois-Maisons barking in his chain.
Tho deep silence of the night gave me Q
| chance to think. II it had not been for the
| thought Of my spirits of wine, l would have
| gone straight back to Phalsburg, bnt tortu-
|
make haste, Sch weyer, make haste ~
"Make haete !" be exclaimed angFily, 'you
can make haste to get back your .pir1s OF
wine, bat wat do We care for it'll Is the
| highway the pfnce for usf Are we bandits
| that we should risk cur livesp
| Understood at once that he wanted to es
| cape. and was enTsged.
Take care, Sohweyer," said I, stake care
| If you and your boys go back, people will say
| that you have been traitor TO the city
brandy. aud that is worse than being traitor
| to the flag, especially in q cooper"
"The devil take thee u said he, "we ought
| never to have come."
| However, he kept on ascending the bill with
me. Nickel and Frantz followed us without
| hurryipg.
When we reached the plateau we saw lights
| in the village. All was still and seemed quiet
although there was great crowd around the
| two first houses.
The door of the Bunch of Grapes was wide
open, and it's kitchen fire shone through the
passage to the street where my two wagons
| stood.
This crowd came from the Cossacks who
| were carousing at Heitz's house. after tying
their horses under the shed. They had made
Mother Heitz cook them good hot soup, and
We saw them plainly, two or three hundred
paoes distant, go up and down the outsi 1e
steps, with jugs and bottles which they
passed from one to another. The thought
came to me that they were drinking my spirits
| of wine for n lantern hung behihd the frs,
| wagon and the rascsls were All going from II
| that, regardless of danger, l began to run To
| put u stop to the pillage.
| Fortunately the veterans ere In advance oi
me, or | should have been murdered by the
Cussaoks; / had not gone haI9 way when oul
| whole troop spranE from tho fences OF the
highway, and ran like pack OF wolves, cry
ing out, "to the bayonetW
You never saw such confession, Fritz. In 9
second the Cossacks were on their horses, auG
the veterans in the midst of them the from
of the inn with its trellis, it's pigeon-house
and it's little fenced garden was lighted up by
the firing of muskets aud pistols. Hei'1's two
daughters stood at the windows, with thei
| arms lifted and screamed SO that they coult
be heard all over Mittelbronn.
Every minute, in the midst of the confusion
something fell upon the road, and then thu
horses started and ran through the fields lik'
deer, with their ads run oat, aud thei
names and tails flying: Tue villagers ran
climbed up the ladder, and l came up breath
less, as ii out of my senses.
| had not gone more than fifteen steps wher
q Cossack, who was running away at ful
speed, turned about furiousiy Gloss to me
with his lance in the air, and called out
"HurrahW
had only time to stoop, and felt the wint
from the lance as it passed along my body.
l never felt 80 in my life, Fritz l felt thu
chill of death, that trembling of the flesh, o
which the prophet spoke: Fear came upol
me and trembling; the hair of my flesh stoot
up"
But what shows the spirit of wisdom ant
prudence which the Lord puts into his Gre
atures, when he means to spare them for
good old ego, is that Immediately afterward
ia spite OF my trembling knees, / went an
sat under the first wagon, where the blows O
the lapces could not reach me and there sav
the veterans finish the determination of tn
rasoals, who had retreAted into the court, an,
not one of whom escaped.
Five or six were in q heap before the door
, and three Others were stretched upon tn
highway.
This did not take more than ten minutes
then all was dark again, and heard the Sci
geant call: "Cease firing"
HeitZ, who had come down from his hay loft
had just lighted lantern the sergeant see
: ing me under the wagon, called out: "Are yo
. wounded, Father Mosesi"
NO." replied, "but Cossack tried
, thrust his lance into me, and got into sal
D place."
He laughed aloud, and gave me his hand t
help me to rise.
"Father Noses" said he. "I was frightene
s about you. Wipe your back people mgt
q think you ere not brave"
laughed too, and thought: "People ma
3 think what they pleased The great thing
to live in good health as long as posi- b o."
< We had only one wounded, Corporal Duhen
Q an old man, who bandRGed his own lei
l and tiled to walk. He had had blow from
. lance in the right calf. He was placed on tt
first wagon, and Lehuel, ueitz's Eranddaugh b