Wichita eagle., 1888-02-25
Ii. Montonaa ocacea.s 's:..se1: behind

| wall
Keep your stand, my boys! Hold firm
This is probably an attack. We shall cal
upon the citadel for help. Keep your stand
and remember that the eyes of France ar,
upon you am going to examine tn
enemy's position. Wait for me- And com
posure, above all things
| Then, presumably to lay his plan OF battle
| oe made his way to 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.
n. Montonnel was covered with cold per
| splration. Of course, when one has never
| been under fire His mouth was dry, hi;
BRAN vacuum. Oh, those four chevrons
lie cursed their existence. But since he was
caught there was nothing to do but go through
the mill. He went to a dormer window,
from which the barricade could be seen
Attention, boysl 1t looks as thoughthey
were going to surround Us. It's "a whole army
Hold firm. Hold firmf'
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 a
distance of some /, 800 meters. They looked
across the fields like little black specks. A
light smoke ascended in the air, and then cne
could hear the detonation. Not shot car
ried. The national guards were losing rap
idly the sang froid to which the intrepid
commander had exhorted them. The san
guIHe compilations were turning pale, the
pale yellow, the yellow green.
Of sudden the earth quaked-a terrific
whizzing rent the air. The citadel was send
ing the Prussians few Shells The shells
passed over the guards heads, and the
"retched creatures, seized with a wild panic,
began to decamp like hares, descending the
alope OF the old cemetery with enormous
strides and sowing the ground with the arms,
which they threw to the right and left to ex-
petite their flight. Behind them their COM
mander-for it had taken him little time to
descend from his garret-hastened stumbling
over his sword, which beat against his calves
at every step, and crying:
Wait Wait for me! Stop! Wait for me!n
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 20.
Discarding 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 aIn dead man. l am a dead manln 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 in 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 hiding
place
Everything was silent around him
OH there on the road the Prussians were
disappearing, followed by the citadel's bull
lets. The national guard were nowhere to
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
lroquois or Comanche Indian dancing
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 tw 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 blackencd and COW
cred with dust, but calm, smiling, transfig-
ured with the enthusiasm of victory.
"Gentlemen," said he to the officers who
were conplimenting him, 81 should have
had myself cut into pieces before abandoning
these symbols of our country in danger Liz,
a Roman, l should have spilled for them tho
last drop of my blood"
And with 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 a sense
Of humor, he decorated NJ. Montonnel with
the cross of the Legion of Honor, comparing
him to Horatius Coolies defending, solitary
and alone a bridge against whole army
At the same time there was issued an order
the national guard Of X
And thus it is that n. Montonnel registers
''ex-offcer," and often, recalling those past
events, and speaking of the Battle of the
Old Cemetery, he adds, with clenched hands:
'Ah if every Frenchman had felt as not
a Prussian would have lived to see Germany
again"
The best Of it is that he has really ended by |
believing that ali he says is true. The brag-
carts do not all come from Gascony, after |
lll.-Translated from the French of p La |
Darriere by Agnes Clifford for New York |
Mercury.