Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1883-07-07


J Duchy of Sake Coburg Gotha, an
II you persist in the attempt W
shall be compelled to fire on you. ("
The colonel OF the French cuira:
siers was powerful built, but
very young man, with a fair fac
and delicate blonde mustache.
His uniform was sIngularly plail
and dark without touch of gold
save in the cross of the Legion q
Honor which he wore at his breast
and his followers, officers and men
were equally plain and somber.
It was noticeable too that he wa
the only fair man in the command
all the rest being swarthy, black
moustached giants on big blacl
horses.
The colonel looked pale anC
gloomy; but his face lighted up a
the other spoke and he asked with
great civility:
"And who, may L ask, monsieur
are you ?"
81 am the tield-marshal, Herzos
! Duke Albrccht Won Williamson
of SaXe-Gotha, generalissimo of tht
forces OF his serene highneSs," was
! the pompouS answer in a tone o
great pride.
"And where is his serene high
ness? asked the colonel, i'm the same
courteous tone.
"At Eisenach, in command ol
the cavalry of the first army"
'The first army?" asked the colo
mel. "WhO commands it?"
"His highness, Prince Hohen-
lohe, equerry-in-chief to the king"
"And you are sure he Is at Else
mach ?"
The gorgeous general considered.
"Well, no. He was there yester-
day. To-day he may be near Cob
lenz. The fact is, colonel, that our
people are going to take Paris this
time, SO you may aS well go back -
sour people ?" echoed the French
colonel. "Are you a Prussian
then ?"
The general drew himself up.
"No, sir. / am a SAKE COburg
Gotha man on my sovereign's
land"
The young colonel burst out
laughing.
every well, then. What are
you going to do if l advance? /
have eight hundred cuirassiers here
and you have not Il hundred and
fifty all told"
"I shall trust to your sense of fair
play to send only equal numbers
against us at Il time. When we have
beaten the first lot you can send AN
other, and so On.'
The pompouS general seemed to
be i'll earnest with his innocent
proposition, and Gabriel Lenoir-
for he it was-had orders to only re-
cOnnOiter in that direction. He saw
that the other was not a practical
soldier, and it Immediately struck
our young colonel that he might
gain information by humoring his
fantasies for awhile.
~ have fairer plan than that"
he said to the general. "Supposo |
send q single squadron of my men
out in your rear till they sight the
Prussian forces. VIII you let them
pass =? In the meantime, we can
have little tournament here, all to
ourselves, and decide the relative
merits of our systems of training.
Have you ever been in action, gen
eral ?'
The general blushed as he ad-
mitted he had not; but added that
he had studied the works of the
Great Frederick, and had trained
his army on the principles which
had placed Prussia at the head OF all
Europe.
He objected to letting any French
soldiers cross the stream, but had
no objection to their maneuvering
on the further bank.
Gabriel saw that he had parleyed
long enough and the time for action
had come. With all his pomposity
the General Duke of Williamson
was gaining time, and he had no
ticed a husSar officer ride off to the
rear while the conversation was
progressing.
He gave the signal for advance,
and the squadrons behind him
which had been deploying out of
sight while he was talking to the
came crashing through the
woods at a slow trot, swept over |
the stream in imposing force, and
lo! the infantry of SAKE .Coburg
Gotha, in their white and gold uni
forms, stood staring at them in
while the black Cui- |
rassiers came tramping all around |
them.
Then the gorgeous general, very
red in the face, galloped up to his
men. shouting:
"Why didn't you fire at them as
hey crossed ?"
The captain, "A white-headed vet
eran with a pigtail, saluted stiiily:
ave have no orders, general.
Besides, we are surrounded. The
proper thing to do is to surrender
The cavalry can cut
heir way out, but we are not cav
dry"
Gabriel heard the colloquy, and
could hardly help roaring with
aughter. All the officers and men
If the usually solemn Deaths Heads
we're grinning at the confusion OF
he noble army of SAKE COburg Go
ha, and in the midst of ii all the
valiant Duke of Williamson drew
lis sword, shouted to the hussars,
Follow me !" and galloped off as
lard as he could tear on the road
O Eisenach with the light horse
men.
Gabriel detached squadron to
ollow him slowly at trot, for he
elt ashamed to slaughter such a
small force of men, and
hen spread out his men on all the
oads in the vicinity to examine the
Half an hour later he was startled
~ the intelligence that a heavy
olumn of Prussian cavalry with
,uns was moving rapidly toward
linn, and he drew in his troops,
ent them back on the road to the
main army at Baruth, from which
le was distant about ten hours
march, and resolved to stay himself
o the last moment to see what was
o be seen.
He was moved to this determine
ion by the fact that both armies
we're as yet feeling for each other,
nd il was important for him To
ind out the force and location of
he enemy if possible, without let
ing them know his own resources.
He was mounted on the Russian
)rlOff trOtter which he knew to be
Bile to distance any heavy horse in
Germany, while the faithful Casse
rete, on a similar animal was close
n attendance OF him.
AS soon as he had seen his col
INN off on the road TO Baruth, he
rotted out himself i'm the direction
which the valiant Duke Of Wild
Iausen had taken, and soon topped