The Republican., 1890-12-05
THE 18TH CHASSEURS.
The Last Of Their Number Fell
Fighting Hungry Wolves.

1872 the sixteenth CnaSSeurS were ue-
tailed as skirmishers. They had fought
in Spain and Germany and had gained
high reputation for bravery. On the
way to Moscow they made themselves
dreaded by the Cossacks and the sound
of their battle cry was enough to put
the "foxes of tho plains" to flight. AS
Is we'll known, the Russians offered no
serious resistance, but their heroic pol
icy of self-sacrifice in destroying all
crops and provisions that lay in the
path of the invader made the enemy's
progress very slow
However, Moscow was reached at last
and promised to prove haven of rest.
Then the Russians crowned their previ-
Gus efforts of devotion to their country
by setting fire to their old, sacred town
and in the depths of winter the in
truders were forced to commence dis
astrous retreat.
The bitterly cold and pitilessy north
easter moaned and howled through the
scanty and stunted trees standing here
and there on the side plains OF Western
Russia. 1t whisbed sharp snow parti-
c,es high into the air, whirled them
into shadowy shapes and drove them
fpriously after small troop of French
soldiers that were slowly and painfully
blowing through the riffs.
No ono would have recognized the
gay SaJreuTs of the Sixteenth Imperial
ChasseurS in those wretched bundles of
rags that tottered feeDly westward.
Three weeks before that regiment had
led the way into Moscow, two thousand
strong, mounted on fine horses and the
sun had glistened brightly from their
uniforms of light blue and gold. When
Moscow went up in flames, they had
protected the rear of the retreating
army; when the retreat became a rout,
they had still showed their teeth to the
enemy. But harrassed hourly by the
relentless Cossacks, tortured by hunger
and cold day by day the regiment had
lost scores ~ brave men-till hardly
ono hundred remained. Weak and
wo7n, they still had a CHEEKY word for
one another, and hoping against hope,
every man expected to see once more
his beloved France-one thousand miles
away OF their horses but three were
left-tottering along under stacks of
straw and horsefesh, they were but
specters of those fine steeds that once
needed the res straint OF curb. Marching
westward wrapped in the cloaks of their
dead comrades, their legs and feet
bundled in horse hides, tied with the
brides and stirrup feathers of their
dead horses, staggering under the bur-
den of their carbines, the Sixteenth
Chasseurs retained not a particle of
their former splendor.
Twilight was fast fading into night
when the little band reached slight
but welcome shelter from the icy fury
of the wind under the bank Of small
stream. A halt was made and fire
kindled. Thor supper was of melted
snow and boiled horse1esh. Guards
were posted and the weary men slept.
AS morning broke savage yells re-
sounded on all sides ard bullets came
pinging through tho camp. A party of
about two hundred Cossacks had acci-
dentally come upon them, and the sup.
erlority of the enemy in weapons and
numbers gave them but little promise of
asucccssful resistance. Volley after vol
ley of the Cossacks could only be answer
ed by fcw well-directed shots, for their
ammunition was getting low and theY
dare not waste bullet. The Cossacks
grew bolder-circling nearer and nearer
round the camp, seeking weak spot for
one of their resistless charges. Sud
denly they clustered together, pointing
toward the east and gesticulatiug vio-
lently-thcn squirting their horses they
all rode Off to the west AS the enemy
fed the French raised shout of victory
feeling suro help was near at hand.
Probably large detachment of the re-
treating army was coming up and in
their Joy they rushed out of their shelter
and poured hail of lead after the rap
idly disappearing Cossacks. Looking
eastward they discerned on the horizon
long black line, but blinded by the
glare of the snow they could not at first
make out what it was. But the horrors
IF their situation burst upon them when
the faint but terrible, ominous sound of
prolonged bowling reached their ears.
That long line meant wolves.
Despair was in their hearts, but they
at once began preparations for stout
defense. Twenty had fallen beneath
the bullets of the Cossacks-only eighty
men to face hundreds of wolves. They
gathered tho rifles of the dead Cossacks
and of their dead comrades and hastily
threw up an embankment of snow.
Bounding with long strides over the
undulating stretch of frozen plain on
came that ravenous host of fierce brutes.
Howling and yelping they came straight
over the track of the Cossack troop that
was now but dim speck on the hori-
zon. They would halt to devour the
bodies of those who had fallen beneath
the French fire, and an attack was in
evitable. Every face in that doomed
little body of soldiers was pale, but
their courage never faltered.
On came the foremost wolves. They
reached the dead Cossacks, and tumb-