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

Hide, but crossed it out. Instead he
wrote. God bless you all, then
scratched that out. for he had horror
of battlefield sentiment and doleful
messages from the 'front.'
| He raised his head and watched the
storm. Swifter and swifter came the
rain, dashing itself to smoking mist on
! the glistening slate roofs. A shutter,
/ hanging from one twisted hinge, swung
I like an inn sign across the facade of
! cottage opposite.
! He wrote again message to Hide,
cheerful and optimistic-a gay pleas
| antry untinged with doubt and fore
/ bodings-and signed his name, James
| Hardwood"
When he had sealed and directed the
| letter, he handed it to the hussar, say
ing cheerfully:
THANK you, comrade. for your trou-
ble."
The trooper thrust the letter into the
breast of his tunic, pocketed the silver
piece that Hardwood held out to him,
and nodded his thanks.
A few moments later General Belle
mare came out of the house next the
church and climbed into his saddle,
calling sharply to his escort, and off
! they tore into the teeth of the storm,
| the hussar's lance flying a crimson gui-
| don that snapped like wet whiplash
in the tempest.
Hardwood prowled around the church,
/ picking up scraps of information from
| officers and men, until he found that he
knew quite as much about the situation
as anybody did, which was really
nothing.
He leaned against the Gothic column
that supported the west choir, eating a
bit of bread and drinking from time to
time the mixture of wine and rainwater
that stood in a great stone font-where
I 81 I pom rot
had found holy water. The church
swarmed with soldiers at breakfast,
some eating ravenously, some walkinGI
about listlessly. nibbling bits of crust,
some sitting cross-legged on the stone
stabbed floor. races vacant, morsel or
bread, untasted, in their hands. They
came to dip their little tincups into the
basin where the wine and water stood:
one forgetful, touched the crimson Ii
quid with his fingers and crossed him
self. Nobody laughed.
About o'clock, without the slightest
warning, a violent explosion shook the
street in front of the church. Before
Hardwood could reach the door, three
shells fell, one after another, and ex-
ploded in the street, sending cobble-
stones and. pavement into tie air.
Keep backw shouted an officer.
CLOSE the doorsi' Hardwood ran out
into the street. Far away toward Pont-
Iblon the smoke of the PruSSian guns
hung heavily in the air.
Are you coming back?" called sol
der. We're going to close the church
DOORS"
Hardwood came back. calling out to
an officer: It's the batteries behind
Pont-ILlo-r'
Some soldiers piled pews and chairs
into heaps under the stained glass win
dows. On each of the heaps an officer
GzlI 1o6
lay down on the floor. Many of them
slept.
The cannonade now ragged furiously;
for an hour the wretched village was
covered with bursting shells. Suddenly
the tumult ceased and Hardwood.
clinging to a shattered window, heard /
from the plain to the northward the
long roll of volley firing. A moment
later he was in the street running be- |
side a column of mobiles. Everywhere
the French bugles were ringing; the
cobblestones echoed with the clatter or
artillery dashing past, summoned from
Drancy by rocket signal.
Hardwood, perched astride a stucco
wall, looked across the plain and saw
dark masses of the Prussian guard adj
vancing in silence through the rain.
The French shells went sailing out over
the plain, dropping between the Prus- |
sian skirmiSherS and the line of bat
tie; the Prussian cannon were silent.
1t seemed to him that after awhile
the dark lines ceased to advance, but
we're swinging obliquely toward Blanc !
Mesnil. Presently he saw that the
Germans were actually retiring, and
he wondered, while the troops along the
wall muttered their miSgivingS as the |
Prussian lines faded away in retreat !
accompanied by shotted salutes from
the fortress of the east and the I'M
seen batteries of Aubervilliers.
All day he roamed about the village /
trying to form some idea of its defen- !
sive possibilities and at night he re-
turned to the church. The rain had
ceased again, but through the fog a /
fine driZZle still descended, freezing as /
it fell until the streets glistened with |
greasy slush. There were fires lighted |
along the main street; across the red |
glare silhouettes passed and fepassed. |
Hardwood looked up at the gothic /
portal of the church, all crimsoned in !
the freight. Above it the rose Win !
dow glittered with splendid hues dyed /
deep in the flames glow. and still !
above the rose window the cross of /
stone, dark and wet, absorbed the /
rudy light till it cleaned like a living |
cinder. Somewhere in the village /
battalion was marching to quarters
He heard the trample of the men. the !
short. hoarse commands of the officers, |
the clatter of a mitrailleUSe dragged !
along by hand.
'The carbineers are insubordinate,"
said an officer beside him. Il wish the !
general was here"
1.-THE carbineers2" repeated Hare |
wood. Il thought they had run away
part of them ran," said an artillery
officer, sullxily. 1.-TWO companies got |
lost near Blanc Mesnil and had to come !
back when the cannonade began"
They're in the next street said an
other officer They are quarreling be- !
cause there has been no distribution. |
Damn them,'' he added, "the distribu-
ton they deserve is a volley from a
Calling
Hardwood listened a moment to the
chorus of denunciation that arose from
the group around the fire. From it he !
gathered that Flourens and his car
bineers had fled at the first attack on |
LIE Bourget, and on the whole he twas
rather glad, for he had no desire to en-
counter any of the battalion that the |
Undertakes had sent out. He went to
the corner of the street and looked |
down the short transverse alley where |
the campfires of the two carbineer COM |
panies blazed fiercely. Curiosity led
him on and in a moment he had done
the very thing that he intended to |
avoid-he was standing in the midst
of a group of carbineers, listening to
their angry chickering's.
The two companies were fart~ site |
enough in their strange uniforms. Hun |
ger had made them sullen. They cursed
their officers, their generals, and LIE
Bourget At daylight they intended to |
leave for Paris-they had had enough |
of this sortie foolishness. They were
freezing, they were tired, they were |
hungry, and, above all the stereotyped |
phrase was on every carbineer's lips: |
Treason, Cur Generals have betrayed |
u.s."