The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1893-11-29
OLD HORNUS.

VIII 1IO1tASO O.
A single French regiment, on an un.
sheltered railroad bank, stood like a tar
get for the Prussian army, massed in
the woods some so yards away. AS
the bullets fell thick about them, the
French officers ordered their men to lie
down, but not one would obey. All
remained proudly standing about their
flag.
In that broad expanse of green pas
tnres and waving cornfelds iilumined
by the setting sun, that body of tor
naentea men, enveloped in y cloud OF
sznok.e, looked like q flock surprised in
the open fields by the first gust of q
terrible tempest. 1t did indeed rain
lead ON that hillsidei Nothing could
be heard but tine cracking discharge
Of musketry, the heavy rumbling of
shells and the ceaseless vibration of
balls all over the battlefield.
Again and again the flag fell, but
every time a clear, bold voice rang out
above the din of the musketry, the
oaths of the wounded, the death rattle
of the dying To the flag, boys! To
the fiag!"
And instantly, like a vague shadow
in that fiery fog, IN officer would spring
forward, and the dauntless ensign, as
if restored to life, would look down
again upon the battle.
Twenty-Five times it fell. Twenty
two times its staff, still warm as it slip
ped from a dying hand, was caught and
raised again, and when at sunset the
remnant of the regiment, a little hand
full of men, slowly retreated the flag
was but a tattered rag in the hands of
Sergeant Hornus, the twenty-third en-
sign of the day.
This Sergeant Hornus, an old fellow
who could scarcely sign his name, had
been 20 years in gaining the rank of
a noncommissioned officer. The mis-
cries of the founding and the brutality
of the barracks had left their impress
In his low, obstinate brow, his back bent
by the knapsack and that unscrupu-
lous air of the trooper in the ranks. He
stammered a little, too, but eloquence
Is not essential in an ensign. That
same evening of the battle his colonel
said to him. You have the flag, my
gallant fellow-well, keep it."
And on his shabby army coat, worn
md faded by rain and powder, the suit
er placed at once the golden badge of
ne ensign. This was the one glory of
nm life. From this time the old troop
2 Held up his head. The poor soul,
Wne heretofore had walked with bent
Dac1 AID downcast glance, henceforth
s.oOa prsldly erect, with eyes ever
nA.e 70 wach that scrap of cloth fiut-
ser.ny In the b-eeze, and to hold ii very
fest sAd treachery.
Ne@r was there a han so bannv ms
H0rntf when he stood on the hattie.
feId, his hands clasped about his fap.
- n its leathern sheath. silent
D0tioniess, grave as a priest, one would
nave said that he was holding some
thing sacred. His whole life, his Who'll,
being, centered in the fingers grippei
about the beautiful golden rag upor
which the balls seemed to hurl them,
nBlvoA, and his defiant eyes looked the
Frussians straight in the face as If tc
my, lust try now to take ID from mel
NO one did try-not even death. After
those deadly battles of Borny and
saraveIotte, the flag left the field cut to
pieces. literally riddled with bullet
holes, but 1t VA still old Hornus who
bore II n came September, the
army ~ Met the siege, and that long
encampnent the mud till the cannon
rusted, p ne finest troops in the
world dem OF allied by inaction. by
hack of provisions and of news. died in
the trenches. Of fever and despair and
deadly WEAKNESS. Leaders and men
alike lost confidence. Hornus alone still
had faith. His ~tricolor rag was all the
world 70 him, and as long as he kent
that il seemed to him that nothing was
lost.
Unfortunately, as there was no mora
lighting, the colonel kept the flag at his
quarters In on of the suburbs of Metz.
and honest Hornus was very like a
mother whose child is ont at nurse
He thought of Ut continually, and when
his longing for it became unendurahle
ne womb rush Off to the colonel 8 house.
where D mere sight of his flag. rest
ing TRANQUILITY in its place against the
wall, would send him back with cour-
age renewed. TO dream under his soak
ing tent OF marches, of battles. Of the
nag floating gayly down there on the
Prussian trenches.
An order Of Marshal Bazaine DESTROY
ed these illusions. One morning Hor.
mus awoke 70 find the camp in an nm
roar, the soldiers IN excited pro,,ns
shouting and talking angrily and ges.
ncuiating toward one part of the town
OF with himi Shoot him. y, thev
cried, and the officers, walking ansrt
with heads bowed In shame before the
men, let them talk on unheeded.
It was indeed shamefuli To $50. Coo
well armed. abfebodied men had ;rst