The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-05-17
THE PRESS.
The Man and the Monkey.
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Battery, which Immediately fronted the be-
siegers works. 1t was my special duty TO
acquire as accurate knowledge of those
works, their armament, position, defenses
and progress, as it was possible to obtain by
constant observation and a very mddling
spy-glass, while enveloped in dus tand smoke
choked with sulphur and exposed to inces-
SAINT compliments of shot and shell. The
knowledge thus obtained | had the honor of
imparting to our gallant Lieutenant Govern
or, Gen. Boyd, when he came to our front
from time to time. This circumstance pro-
cured for me the glorious distinction of go
ing out as guide when we made sorte by
night for the purpose of surprising the enc
my's works, burning and destroying them.
| am not going to describe the sortie; you
will find all about it in Drinkwater. Let me
only say that it proved real surprise to the
enemy; their works were ruined their guns
spiked and their approaches in a correspond
ing degree retarded, which was just what
we wanted.
The affair was nearly over, their gabions
along the whole front were in a blaze; but
though outnumbered at our point of attack
the enemy fought stoutly, and good deal of
savage skirmishing was still going on.
was in the thick of a regular melee hard
knocks at close quarters, when my attention
was arrested by diminutive Frenchman AN
officer in splendid uniform who was doing
chivalrous deeds as if he fancied his own arm
might yet restore the lost combat. He was a
mere pigmy, and his pluckiness had so won
upon our fellows that they were bent upon
effecting an object to which his own valor
was the only obstacle,-that of taking him
alive. Flourishing his sword he skipped
about, facing every point of the compass in
succession, and thrusting, with loud cries of
defiance, at every one that approached him.
Don't kill him. the men cried, "Take
him alive; don't hurt the little chap"
though the little chap had already disabled a
Sergeant and private who had ventured too
near him. shouted, taking of my hat and
entreating him, for his own sake, to surren-
der; it was clear, indeed, that he had no
chance left but either to to be taken prisoner
or TO bite the dust. He returned my salute,
but still maintained the defensive, spinning
round and round lana lunging at the horizon.
As we had done our work, and it was high
time to get back to our lines lest the enemy
should attack us in force, began to fear it
would be out of my power to save the little
Frenchman's life. Our men, too, were be-
ginning to lose patience and showed dis
position to close upon him with fixed bayo-
nets; in which case, though he might posi-
bly, have set his mark upon one or two more
of them, the consequences to himself might
have been far from agreeable. At that mo-
ment, and just as l was thinking, as last
ing him in person, he seemed to awake sud-
denly to consciousness of his own peril,
rushed toward me, threw down his sword
clasped his hands, uttered piercing shrek,
and dropped on his knees at my feet.
He was my prisoner-a very grand cap
ture, to be sure. In an instant he became
calm, gentlemanly and garrnlous. Walking
with me side by side as our party withdrew,
he was kind enough to commence perpet-
ual stream of talk, which lasted all the way,
and in which he found time to tell me who
he was, and all about his own family and
history; how he had fought in many battles,
and always came off with more glory than
all the rest ofthe combatants put together,
not forgetting to mention how much sooner
Gibraltar would have fallen-it was sure to
at last-had only his suggestions been appre-
ciated as they deserved. He begged to as
sure me that he was person of great i'm
portance. He bore, as he was pleased to
state, the name of Montmaur, and his
noma-de-guerre by an inversion of the sylla-
bles, was Mormon. He was of noble birth,
turned of thirty; but his distinguished tai
ents and requirements in the art of war,
known throughout Europe and universally
recognized in the French service, had so
excited the envy of his military superiors
that they had succeeded by .tfnesse in pre-
venting his rising to higher grade than that
of Lieutenant in a regiment of the line
The next day, when NJ. De Montmaur was
presented before the Governor, his Excellen-
cy seemed little nonplussed. To shut up a
diminutive object like that in durance would
have looked abused one would as soon have
thought of imprisoning a tomtit. Formally
to parole him would have been formality in
weightier matters to attend to, his excellen-
cy let alone. The result was that, having
far weightier matters to attend to, his Ex-
cellency let the business stand over, and
ended by doing nothing, so that NJ De
Montmaur remained a prisoner at large.
He rather attached himself to me, as his first
English acquaintance, and, SO far as garri-
son regulations permitted, used to follow
me about everywhere. The consequence
was that my brother officers were accus-
toned to speak of him as my ''liLtle dog
Mormon"
Among the officers he soon became popu-
lar. 1 had given due publicity to his gallan-
try when captured, and that was sufficient
to place him on good footing with military
men. Besides this he was good-humored,
clever, and always lively; could take joke
and repay it with interest. AS musician,
both vocal and instrumental, he was decided
ly above par; when casualties were brought
in from the batteries he was handy in assist
ing the surgeons, and in fencing. dancing
and cookery we soon found out that he
equaled the most highly-educated of his own
accomplished countrymen. The consequence
was that M. De Montmaur was welcome
guest at every mess, and whenever an adj
venturous settee brought us fruit, or vege-
tables, or fish, or fresh meat, he was special
ly invited to share the feast. If he some
times talked big, either about his prowess,
his military attachments, his extraordinary
adventures, his hairbreadth escapes, his va
ried accomplishments, or his innumerable
conquests among the fair, this only added to
our amusement, his vanity was so open
hearted that we liked him all the better.
His more extravag CANT sallies were generally
received with cheers, shouts of laughter,
and much humping on the table, all which
he took to his own credit, probably uncon-
cious that the said humping was grim
regimental pun, practically and convention
ally signifying ''That's thumperp' When
he had succeeded in eliciting a vociferous
demonstration, he always went home to his
quarters in high state of exhileration.
In the garrison, however, we had one in
dividual with whom M. De Montmaur,
though it was not his own fault, never es-
tablished amiable relations. This was for
eign officer in our service; he was from the
north of Europe-a Capt Schnaub, who,
though wanting neither courage or capacity
had certainly failed in making himself gem
orally popular among us. He was a tall,
large, powerful man, his stoutness almost
tuiSIlS III CoIPulcHCy. Ills IudnuerS were
rough, so were his jokes. Unfortunately
also,:he viewed all Frenchmen with hostility
and this feeling he had no opportunity of
exhibiting except toward NJ. De Montmaur
whom he was in the habit of treating as g-
ANONYMOUSLY as the general feeling of the
garrison would permit To me our little
prisoner had mentioned the subject more
than once, pompously remarking that he
feared he should be under the painful ne
cessity of teaching Gee cher Capitaine Sc
che-naubbe" lesson in pollteness.
At length in M. De Montmaur's opinion,
the time for administering this very neces-
sary lesson arrived, and he communicated
with me in due form. He commenced by
intimating that ''though little in stature
he was as brave as lion.'
To this 1 merely responded by bow.
He next went on to state that This sense of
honor was not inferior to his bravery"
In short, seeing that he had communca-
ticn to make, and was taking very round
about way of coming to the point, brought
him to it at once. He then gave me to I'M
derstand that the moment had at length ar
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