Huntsville gazette., 1886-04-24
.sThe war; he said ..had led him To

Death, they passed all belief. Inc
. enemy could do nothing! With my
five thousand wolves at my back
made breach" etc., etc.
Mime. Durand listened to this rhodo-
montade with complaisance; Durand.
with undisguised admiration. As to
the poor militiaman Victor, his exist
ence seemed totally erased in the
presence Of this great blusterer.
invented q pretext to leave imme-
diately after the coffee, for / was op-
pressed by the Dragging Of the leather
1unged Gascon, whom / hoped never to
see again. But in vain, for on the fol-
lowing Sunday found HMM the same
place, again on Friday, and finally a
cover was placed for him every evening.
The entire Durand family seemed fas-
cinated by him. NORM had captured
Nine. Durand by his joviality, and
papa Durand by the interest he seemed
to take in the military operations con-
'cted in lie Temps. Victor lost more
Ut. I'D at every dinner.
gr0uA M discredit into which he had
Inc ome plainly apparent after
fallen bec~ 'oht OF LIE Bourget, where
the bloody b. done his d1ty nobly
the poor lad hao ;nful wound in the
and received a pa ted the whole
forearm. He nara. and the sad
affair to us, the retreat at. with So
ending of that heroic eomb, cement
lamentable an air of disc0urA. m as
that the Captain began to treat n, .th
if he were adeserter and coward. W.
what noble Indignation he demonstrated
that if the ''Zouaves of Death had
been there, things would have been
very different. Thereupon, warming
to the subject, he sketched out for us
plan for a sortie by the passage OF the
Disc, a march to Rouen, and final
triumphant arrival at Havre, SO clearly
and vividly that he aroused Durand to
great enthusiasm. And all this time
poor humiliated Victor was suffering
from his still bleeding wound.
The next day Victor had fever and
kept his bed, and for some weeks he
did not appear at the table. The Cap
tain, meanwhile, energetically estab-
lished his pretensions to the hand of
Gertrude. The evening that Victor
reappeared among us, weak and paler
than ever, it seemed to me that Ger
trude's eyes were very red and that
some skirmish had taken place be-
tween her and her mother, who seemed
more taken up with NORM than ever.
/ saw that it was time to interfere in
the interest of these poor children. 1t
was the last day of the year, and as
we were talking of the new year we
decided to celebrate the anniversary
together.
s'Egad, Nine. Durand," said the
Captain, 81 have a surprise for your
New Years present"
This put an idea in my head.
On New Years day Durand received
US, radiant and with open arms. The
strategical editor of lie Temps had just
struck terrible blow at Prince Charles
in the neighborhood of Evreu. Du-
land offered us this good news for our
New Years present. Victor brought
a hare which he had trapped beyond
the Notifications. AS TO the Captain,
he presented Mime. Durand with bag
of marrons glaces in Uhlan's helmet.
Madam" said he, magnificently,
II am sorry did not bring in it the
head of its owner"
''What!" cried Nine. Durand, al
most speechless with emotion; "did
you kill him?''
'.Aye, to get this bonbon oox,
madam-a performance which, l make
bold to say, would not have been at
tempted by many men,"
will pass over the recital of this
adventure, of which you may be sure
our Bombastes did not spare us the
| smallest detail. Crouched down be-
hind cask, he had watched for, sur
prised, and knocked down the wearer
of the cap, solitary sentinel, and had
strangled him, in order not to arouse
the attention of the enemy by using
his revolver! What poor showing
the hare, strangled, too, made beside
this glorious triumph!
"Well," said I, II would not think
of rivaling such hero as the Captain;
but also have my little surprise. But
it has not yet arrived, and hope you
will dine without waiting for it,
We sat down to table, and very
pleasant dinner it was. We had just
reached the coffee, when a servant in
formed us that an artilleryman had
Just deposited my present in the draw
ing-room. Repairing thither we found
the object on the table, wrapped in
bright paper and tied up with gay rib
bons.
"What in the world can it bep' asked
Nine. Durand.
Don't try to guess. my dear mad
anne; it is bomb-shell."
| "Durand has often expressed to me
desire to possess bomb-shell, one
that has seen SERVICE and at my re-
quest my friend Roland, commandant
of battery, has sent me this. 1t is
from the Avron plateau, where it fell
but failed to explode"
| AS / spoke | united the blue ribbon,
took off the paper, and the bomb-shell
appeared, black, sinister and menac-
ing.
"My dear fellow" said Durand, II
am delighted. l shall hang it up in my
study"
But objected Nine. Durand, "if it
has not gone Off, III
"Oh have no fear; it was understood
| polo,l xr,o,,11 op1v- Sand ~ ma