The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1898-11-30

the besiegers, they suffered for pro-
visions almost as keenb as il they had
BEEN in the fortified town they attack
ed, for, while they bombarded the
town, the troops Of Spain gathered about
them, and thus there was . siege within
q siege. and the forces Of France were
az hungry as the men in the town. The
cadets were reduced to eating cannon
wads soaked in axle grease. sometimes
catching q gudgeon and shooting an &C.
casional sparrow.
ing. Even the Gascons vowed that they
had not come cut to fight the gray wolf
hunger. They grumbled fiercely at their
lot. They picked the commander to
pieces. They found fault with his wide
lace collar and hismannerso Of the court.
Hunger gnawed at them until they
were ready to mutiny against even their
beloved captain, Carbon de Castel-
Jaloux.
Cyrano, returning from a mad dash
he made each morning through the
Spanish lines, that he might send to
Roxane in Paris love letters, all signed
Christian, for the bargain made in
Ragueneau's bakeshop still held force,
found all the camp in turmoil. The
men had vowed. they would no longer
stand their lot.
Cyrano himself was scarcely rudy,
scarcely strong, but it took more than
the want OF food to kill his courage.
At his captains command he began to
rally the men. First it was with jests
IF you be 50 hungry. eat your pa
tience them" he counseled one grum-
bler.
"Always your pointed wordr' cried
the man whom he rebuked.
$50 would I die. said Cyrano, like
this, making q pointed word for good
cause, telled by thrust from some
brave adverary's sword. Thus would !
die-upon the blood stained earth-a
point within my heart. point upon
my lips"
They did not care for that. the Gas.
cons. Their answer was:
We're hungryp'
Then Cyrano babe the fifer play and
do the work his wit had failed in do
ing.
''Play not the calls to battle he
commanded, "but simple things they
heard Of in old Gascony-each piping
note like the call of q little sister. Let
them rise slow, like the slow rising
smoke that curls from out our Chin
neys there. Play the tunes the goat
herds play-now heard, now lost down
in the valley. Hear you it not? See You
not your country-the evening purpling
On the river, the woods, the hills, with
budding sheep the shepherd drives?
See you not Gascony?"
The men sat staring-not at the
camp, not the arms, the sentinels, the
trappings of war, but far past all these
into far Gascony. The higher love had
killed the lower. Inconsistencies drove
out hunger.
It was thus that De Guiche found
them-Gascons again, who could laugh
at starvation as they would laugh at
whistling bullets. They were ready to
bear themselves before him with their
customary air of ineolent high spirit.
He did not like their manner. He,
too, was hungry. Their eyes seemed al.
ways to challenge his courage. Today
he even went so far as to boast of his
strategem of the day before, when,
dropping the white scarf that showed
his rank, he had escaped from detach-
ment Of the enemy. onlJ to return later
and rout it.
"Ahl'' said Cyrano. 1.-The white
plume of Henry of Navarro had not been
dropped thus. Some would not go light
~ abdicate the honor Of serving for a
target. Had been there, would have
picked it up and put it on"
"a Gascon boast, sneered De
Guiche.
"Nay, give it me and I will wear it. -
Another boast. It's gone-dropped
in the Spanish lines where none may
venture-as you knew"
From his pocket Cyrano drew forth
the scarf.
II found it there this morning." said
he, bowling. Permit that return it. y
The rage ON the commanders face
gave place to an uglier look
II thank you, he said. 'I'll use il
for signal. See! Here upon the ram
| parts I wave it. A man below there
runs-a false Spanish spy. He came tc
warn me that the Spanish will this
day attack us, for our force is weak.
ened. Perhaps you did not know it. but
the marshal secretly has gone with q
strong escort to Dourleus, where the
kings provisions are. Our camp being
thus made vulnerable, the Spanish will
attack it. And with the scarf you very
kindly gave to me I have just signaled
to the false spy to tell his general that
this is the weakest spot to fall upon.
Here the attack will begin. You'll have
a chance to prove your boasted courage,
sirs. The marshal will return in time
to save the day for us. but not to save
the men who are first assaulted. Brave
Gascons, who complain Of paltry odds,
be good enough to let yourselves be
killed"
He finished with his sheer. Carbon
was already forming his men in line Of
resistance. Cyrano with all his old ligh,
Il