Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1883-05-19
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'4AG
DEATHS HEAD CUIRASSIERS;
A Legend of the Old Guard.
BY CAPT. FRED. WHITAKER,
"RED RUDIGER," "NEMo, KING OF
TRAMPs," "THE IRISH CAP
TAIN ETC, ETC.
CHAPTER TX.
AT THE BALL.

| AT THE BALL.
That night Hercule FOrton, sur
named Casse Tete, came to his new
master and said, in an awkward
way:
"Please, captain, may l have
leave of absence from dressing-hOur
tomorrow morning on a little pri-
! vate business ?"
Casse Tete had dropped his uni
form in Berlin, and subsided into a
plain, dark livery, in which his
grim face and bony figure made him
look like professional mOurner at
funeral.
Gabriel looked at him in some
surprise.
"From dressing hour? L don't
understand"
Casse Tete looked shocked.
"Of course, now that your honor
is an officer of rank, it is not fitting
to the dignity of captain OF the
Deaths Heads to dress himself, and
it is my duty, as the orderly Of mon
sieur, to see that he is properly
waited on"
"Oh, l see. But you have not
done it yet on the journey hither,
Casse Tete."
"That was because we were in
campaign, monsieur. Now we have
come among these accursed Prus-
slams, we must sustain the dignity
of France"
Gabriel smiled.
"Very well, Casse Tete; as you
please. We will commence tO-mor-
row morning"
Casse Tete coughed.
"Piease, my captain, that was
why | asked you to excuse me. l
have little affair on my hands to-
morrow"
"An affair with whom ?"
"Please, my captain, it is with
one of these Prussian Cuirassiers of
the Guard. They think there is no
one like them, and one of them was
Dragging last night that the Prus-
sian cavalry was the best in the
whole world. So | told him he was
much mistaken that the French
cuirassiers could beat all the Prus-
slams to be found, and that our
Marshal Murat was the greatest
man in the world in a charge"
"Well," said Gabriel, smiling,
s'and what did he say to that ?"
Casse Tete scratched his head.
"M0 fol, cdpit0ine, he only laugh
ed, and told me that our beau sab
re,tr couldn't hold a candle to their
General SeidlitZ, a man I'd never
heard of. So said: Il never heard
of Seidlitz, but I've heard of Seid-
litz powders as good for sour
stomach and what do you think
he said to that. captain 2"
Gabriel laughed.
Ppm sure | don't know"
"l(e said, captain-think of it
the powders were named after the
general, because he went through.
the French so badly at place called
Rossbach, fifty years before. So l
told him he lied, and slapped him.
We are to have it out behind the
Royal Stables in the morning."
Gabriel could not help laughing
at the grim earnestness of Casse
Tele in his belief that the Prussian
had told a lie about the French
having been beaten, but he said:
"Do you know, Casse Tete, Pm
afraid ne told the truth There was
a battle of Rossbach fifty years ago,
and the French were badly beaten
by Frederick the Great"
Case Tete looked veXed.
"All the same, my captain, |
told him he lied, and Pm going to
prove it,"
"What do you fight with ?" asked
Gabriel.
81 take my Idth, captain, and he
trusts his German tool, called a
patasch."
The straight cuirassier sword of
the French army is nicknamed the
has its own name OF 1.-The spit"
Gabriel gave his consent to the
duel, and Casse Tete seemed to be
satisfied, for his countenance be-
came radiant and he observed, con-
| fidentially:
Between us two, my, captain, !,
there is no love lost between us
| French and these cursed PrussianS.
heard something to-day that would
astonish YOU"
Gabriel, hardly imagining that
his orderly could have heard any
thing of Importance, nevertheless
asked him:
"Well, what have you heard ?''
81 heard that there is more going
on at the palace than they know
about at Paris" replied Casse Tete,
mysteriously. "YOur honor knows
that in these palaces there are doors
and passages all over; and that
iSfn TO an I,n
they can. And when they find out
anything, they are never easy till
they have told it to some friend"
"WelI, and what have you
heard ?" again asked the young Off
Ger.
Casse Tete came closer and look
ed around, as if he supsected lis
| teners
"Please, your honor, the kings
barber is a Frenchman, and so is
his majesty's cook and, what is
more, they are good Frenchmen /;
not like those traitors of royali4ts. J"
"And you have made friends of
them ?''
"Of course, my captain. AS soon
as they heard there was a Gascon at
the French embassy, the kings
cook sent me over a delicious little
pie of game, and | could do no less
than pay him visit. 1 was receiv-
ed in his private chamber. Oh.
monsieur, they know how to treat
artists in Berlin. The cook is lodged
like a noble. And there | was in
troduced to Monsieur Pantoufie, the
barber, and between us we MADE a
day of it."
"Well, well, Casse Tete, this is in
teresting, of course; but what did
you hear ?"
81 heard, monsieur, that the king
of Prussia is getting ready for war,
and further that it is his intention
to forbid the marriage of the Prince
of POtsdam to the French lady we
brought here, unless the emperor
gives him satisfaction for walking
over his land to get at those Austri-
ans"
"And how do you know that ?"
"Par6leu ! my captain, Monsieur
Pantoufie heard him say this morn.