The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1878-01-03

4
like the sun striking bayonet. And
then / thought to myself:
"'It won't be an easy thing to match
Pavel Petrovitch; but if it can be done,
here's the man to do itp
81 think that campaign was the hard |
est ever served. Before was enlisted, |
i had often heard it said that the Turks |
had no winter; but / had always thought |
that this was only yarn though, in !
deed, it would be only just judgment
upon the unhelievers to lose the finest |
part of the whole year. But when
went down there / found it true, sure
enough. Instead of a good, honest,
cracking frost to freshen everything up, ,
as our proverb says,
"'Na zimni kholod
Vsiaki molod'-
lin winters cold every one is young), it
was all chill, sneaking rain, wetting us
through and through, and making the
hill-sides so slippery that we could hardly
climb them, and turning all the lower
grounds into a regular lake of mud,
through which it was a terrible fob to
drag our cannon. Many time in after
days, when I've heard spruce young
cadets at home, who had never smelt
powder in their lives, talking big about
glorious war; and all that, I've said to
myself, AHA, my fine fellows if you had
been where 1 have, marching for days
and days over ankles. in mud, with
nothing to eat but stale black bread, so
hard that you had to soak it before you
could get it down; and if you'd had to
drink water through which hundreds of
horses had just been trampling; and to
scramble up and down steep hills under
|
and sore that every step was like knife
going into you; and to lie all night in
the rain, longing for the sun to rise that
you might dry yourself bit,-perhaps
| then you wouldn't talk quite SO loud
about GLORIOUS war"
However, we drove the Turks across
the Balkans at last, and got down to
Yamboli, a little town at the foot of the
mountains, which commands the high
road to Adrianople. And there the un-
believers made stand, and fought right
we'll. / sciU say that for 'em; for they
knew that if Adrianople were lost, all
was over. But God fought for us, and
we beat them; though, indeed, with
!, half our men sick, and our clothes ell
in rags, and our arms rusted, and our
powder mixed with sand by those rogues
# of army contractors, itwas wonder that
we could fight at all.
;. "Toward afternoon, just as the enemy
were beginning to give away, l saw Pa
vel Petrovitch) who was a general by
this time) looking very hard at mortar
battery about hundred yards to our
right; and all at once he struck his knee
fiercely with his hand, and shouted
"What do the fellows mean by firing
like that? They might as we'll pelt the
=, Turks with potatoes! PH soon settle
7 them! Here, Vanya Ivan)v
!. "Away he went, l after him; and he
y burst into the battery like storm, and
= roared out:
q q Where's the blockhead who COM
!. \ mands this batteryT
= "a young officer stepped forward and
u saluted; and who should this be but the
y light-haired lad with the blue eyes
y whom had noticed that night at Varna
Y "Well, you won't command it to-
- morrow, my fine fellow, for I'll have you
II turned out this very day. Do you know
u that not single shell that you've thrown
= nee I've been watching you has ex
,e ploded at alp
y "tWith your excellency's leave saic
- the young fellow, respectfully, but pretty
'e firmly too, the fault is none OF mine
luCSC lucCO dIC dlu WILL liz
9 burn down to the powder
&c Fusesp roared the general. Dom
y a talk to me of fuses; Pm too old for that
- rubbish Isn't it enough for you tx
~ II bungle your work, but you must tell MT
.n a lie into the bargainY
y "At the word lie,' the young officer
u face seemed to turn red-hot all in /;
Az moment, and saw his hand clench as i
a. he would drive his fingers through tn
'e flesh. He made one stride to the heal
a. as of bomb-shells, and, taking one up in hi
~ arms, struck a match on it.
y I" Now said he, quietly, your excel
ni -, lency can judge for yourself. Pm goin
n, to light this fuse; if your excellenc
hiy1 will please stand by and watch it burn
an you will see whether / have Z" lied" 0
- not
IN "The general started, as we'll he might
M lMas Not that he was afraid-you may b
us pretty sure of that; but to hear thi
quiet, bashful lad, who looked as if h
had nothing in him, coolly propose
hold lighted shell in his arms to Sc
if it would 60 off, and ask him to stan
bo by and watch it, was enough to start
la, anybody. However, he wasn't one
- think twice about accepting challenge
NJ so he folded his arms and stood there lik
ror a statue. The young officer lighted til
e. fuse, and it began to burn.
g. GAS for me and the other men, yo
~ may fancy what aoe felt like. Of cours
- we couldn't run while our officers wei
"a standing their ground; but we kne
ra lr'a that if the shell did go off, it would bio
6 . every man of us to bits, and it WASH
os % pleasant t6 have to stand still and wa
-" for it. | saw the men set their tee1
- hard as the fame caught the fuse; an
;1n ;no as for me, 1 wished with all my hea
;;IJ and soul that if there were any COZ
aat fuses in the heap, this might turn out
Ira Sns be one of the bad ones!
WI "But mott burned away merri
+oh enough, and came down, and down, al
aon down, nearer and nearer to the powde
: e The young officer never moved musc1
bor or but stood looking steadily at the gener.
Its and the general at him. At last, t
1at red spark got close to the metal Of t
;nn she'll; and then / shut my eyes al
,,s3 prayed God to receive my sonl.
.nd "Just at that moment, / heard t
Iha- man next me give quick gasp, as if
hot had just come up from plunge und
The the water; and opened my eyes again jr
odv in time to see the fuse out, and t
"s young officer letting drop the shell
mol the generals feet, without word.
ond For moment the general sto
aMe fora stock still, looking as if he didn't qu
the know whether to knock the young f
oh,s J low down, or hug him in his arms like
= son; but, at last, he held out his ha
nra' - to him, saying:
olo- 81, !. =. = :iuo pi9velp' 'IaI ete
fin 9ne W nlee's WIN nis lia.In I, syme uay d
lin, We 1nes niin1 G eocuay, 9. snele no uenyl
It to y. ineio Ino ~; oeois1 iol w. !
you IL Ill tne c1o.ess . man IN tne p re
give ile ou te To-; ene III Tooies' t II. - al hussl
ern- nu So eaiu "ii 'no ioeo' "non