The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-06-27

came from the dark village, not a
/ sound.
Riding ahead, Hardwood felt the peb-
| bled shore beneath his horses feet; be-
side him the infantry were passing the
ford, while the black water gurgled and
swirled to their knees. Suddenly, all
along the opposite bank of the stream
a line of tiny lights danced and spar
killed. like firefies> There came a rip
pling, tearing crash, the keen whim-
pering whisper of bullets-showers of
bullets that hurtled and smacked on
stone and rock and tore through the
| bushes on either side. Out in the. wa
| ter a horse reared, sank on his
launches, then began to splash furious
! ly. A soldier in midstream started TO
run in circle, shrieking; another
/ dropped forward and came floating
past, head under water. little tin cup
shining in the starlight.
| A shrill cheer broke out from the in
fantry. The shallow waters of the ford
boiled under their rush. Mounted Of
ficers thrashed forward through the
water, shouting, Forward. For
Wardp and the advance trains, borne
! onward by dashed horses, swung the
| field pieces down to the shore and
through the icy water to the bank OPP
| posite, where the will-o -the-wisp
lights fickered and danced, and the
bullets whistled like hail through
sheafed wheat.
The first rolling crash from the
| French infantry rifles seemed to ex-
| tinguish the flicker of the rifles from
! the opposite shore. Already the battery
horses were galloDing back with the
limbers; the two cannon stood apart
half hidden by shrubbery. Then,
/ through the night, came the rush of a
/ column, a fierce cheer:
THE bayoneti The bayonetr and
Hardwood, setting spurs to his horse
rode out of the muddy fields to the
! highway, where the French onset pass
ed like a whirlwind straight into the
black throat of the village street
1t w:Es over in g, moment; he caught
a .glim u e of figures outlined through
sheets of level fame: he saw a Uhlan
clinging to the neck of a plunging
horse rear up in a blaze of light like
soul in torment. Drums began to
beat from the extreme right; on the
left the troops were cheering fiercely
A battalion of sailors came up on
double-quick. the flames from a roof
on fire cleaning on rifle barrel and
cutlasS, on the red knots of their sail
or caps on broadaxes swinging and
glittering as the blows fell on oaken
doors from which sputed smoke and
needle-like yellow flames. There were
strange sounds, too, in the houses
rifles behind barred shutters, the clan
gor of a bell that began swinging and
ringing in some unseen steeple. A rush
of strange cavalry passed like the wind
they were Uhlans of the Prussian
guard, stampeding frantically toward
the open country. They drove past.
cyclone of slanting lances, OF tossing
pennons and frenzied horses enveloped
in fame and smoke from the French
rifles. while the savage cheering re-
doubled, and swift, jetted flashes from
revolver and ohassepot pricked the
fringing gloom with a thousand Grim
son rays.
The two cannon of u shook the earth
with their discharges in the east; from
the west, two other cannon. pieces of
4, broke in with shotted blasts, accom-
panied by the sinister drumming of a
mitraiIleuse from the Blanc Mesnil
highway. The little river Mollette re-
flected the glare of a burning thatch:
a drowned horse with a bloated belly
and hideous stiff legs, swayed with the
current, stranded on "a shoal.
HARDWOOD, covered with mud, stood
on the steps of the village church, his
own dead horse lay in the gutter I'M
der shattered lamp post, its patient,
sad eyes glazing in the sickly light of
the torches. General Bellemare, cloak
ed and muddy, stood near Hardwood
on the church steps, surrounded by
dismounted officers. Hardwood heard
him saw:
THE Fourteenth Mobile battalion
and the Franc-tireurs will occupy the
village, detachment of three infantry
battalions and two guns will form the
grand 'garde, to be reliever every "A