Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1888-02-24

zero, you unQerSCanu-Wueu SoHle ndUlOnal
guards, charged with the defense of the old
cemetery, where the two howitzers had been
placed as vanguard. reported to the COM
mander that a party of Prussian cavalrymen
was advancing down the road.
NJ Montonnel appeared precipitately in
person, with unsheathed sword, a revolver at
his belt, field glass under his arm and
booted to the thighs.
Half dozen horsemen, who had stopped
in a trench by the road, were examining the
barricades from afar.
"Hanoverian hussars," announced NJ Mon
tonnel, putting up his field glass carefully.
Suddenly he grew very pale. A few shots
had reached the parapet of the barricade,
while small detonations sounded, from the
distance, like the cracking of whip.
NJ Montonnel concealed himself behind
a wall
keep your stand, my boysl Hold frml
This is probably an attack. We shall call
upon the citadel for help. Keep your stand,
and remember that the eyes of France are
upon you! 1 am going to examine the
enen1ys position. Wait for me- And COM
posure, above all things"
Then, presumably to lay his plan of battle,
he made his way to a neighboring hay loft,
his heart beating tumultously
A platoon of German infantry now ap-
peared, deployed beyond its scouts in line
as though at parade. They seemed to come
from the woods, from every side.
M. Montonnel was covered with cold per-
splratlon. Of course, when one has never
been under fire. His mouth was dry, his
brain vacuum Oh, those four chevrons
He cursed their existence. But since he was
caught there was nothing to do but go through
the mill. He went to dormer window,
from which the barricade could be seen.
Attention, boys! 1t looks as though they
were going to surround us. It's a whole army!
Hold firm! Hold firm?n
In point of fact the army was composed of
about 100 men. But the commanders field
glass had large magnifying qualities, you see
The enemy's sharpshooters opened fire at
distance of some 800 meters They looked
across the fields like little black specks. A
light smoke assembled in the air, and then one
could hear the defamation. Not shot car
ried. The national guards were losing rap
idly the sang froid to which the intrepid
commander had exhorted them. The san
guine compilations were turning pale, the
pale yellow, the yellow green.
Ut sudden the earth quaked-a terrific
whizzing rent the air. The citadel was send
LIS oll0 L uSSlcLS d Lew Shells. Inc shells
passed over the guards heads, and the
Wretched creatures, seized with wild panic,
began to decamp like hares, descending the
slope of the old cemetery with enormous
strides and sowing the ground with the arms,
which they threw to the right and left to ex-
pedite their flight. Behind them their COM
mander-for it had taken him little time to
descend from his galret-hastened, stumbling
over his sword, which beat against his calves
at every step, and crying:
wait! Wait for me! Stop! Wait for mel"
Wait for him, indeed That was not
likely. His cries only increased their terror
and the rapidity of their flight. The Oldest
and the goutiest of them used their legs as
though they were 60
Dlscarding the last remnant of self respect,
which was, to say the least of it, out of place
under the circumstances, NJ Montonnel had
begun as he ran to unbuckle his sword belt,
when he struck his foot against stone and
fell prone in the midst of dung heap.
Il am dead man! am a dead mani" he
kept saying to himself. ''Those towards have
abandoned me-"
He touched himself cautiously to see where
the bullet had penetrated, for he was sure
that he had been struck He had slight
sensation i'll the left side as he fell Nothing
in the left side, though, nor in the right.
Well, his escape had been miraculous The
question now was to see that he did not fall
into the hands of the enemy, who was ap-
preaching. He raised himself slightly on
his elbow and looked about him for a hiding
place.
Everything was silent around him.
Off there on the road the Prussians were
disappearing, followed by the citaders bull
of Tbo
be seen. Thus had it come about that NJ
Montonnel, thanks to his courage, his nerve,
had been left sole victor on the battlefield.
Thereat, forgetting his imaginary wound,
which had already healed, he gathered up
the guns, and with the ferocious cries of an
Toquois or CQmanche Indian dancing a
scalp dance he began, in an indescribable
state OF exaltation, to discharge them all in
the direction of the enemy, who was enter
ing the woods some two kilometers away
When the company of regulars, who had
been sent to the assistance of the national
guards, appeared upon the scene they found
NJ Montonnel, powder blackened and COW
cred with dust, but calm, smiling, transig-
ured with the enthusiasm of victory
"Gentlemen," said he to the officers who
were complimenting him, 81 should have
had myself cut into pieces before abandoning
these symbols of our country in danger Like
a Roman, should have spilled for them the
last drop of my blood"
And with a noble gesture he pointed to the
howitzers still lying side by side in their
cart.
When the general heard the story he so ap-
preciated it that, being man with sense
of humor, he decorated NJ. Montonnel with
the cross Of the Legion of Honor, comparing
him to Horatius Coolies defending, solitary
and alone, bridge against whole army.
At the same time there was issued an order
disbanding the national guard of X
And thus it is that NJ. Montonnel registers
''ex-officer," and often, recalling those past
events, and speaking of the 'Battle of the
Old Cemetery" he adds, with clenched hands:
''Ahl if every Frenchman had felt as I not
Prussian would have lived to see Germany
again"
The best of it is that lie has really ended by
believing that all he says is true. The bragg
carts do not all come from Gascony, after
all.-Translated from the French of P. La
barriere by Agnes Clifford for New York
Mercury.
Concert Audiences Are Quiet.
Thoca yvhOSa inclination or bI,c;rocc +o1,os