The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1899-03-01
the air for AN instant-drop his sword
o. Il. 70 LII hao h;eul <al1-

sergeant arm. buU he SVTuCk IHe Will
the butt of his rifle, rolling me over,
| and exclaimed:
Fool! prove iilat did it'll
| 81 rose in rage, just as all Uhc sharp
| shooters rose likewise. Our colonel,
bareheaded, on his smoking horse, point
ed his saber at the Austrian battery,
and shouted:
"'Forward, zouaves! Use your bay
onets!'
Gould do likewise than charge with
the others? What famous charge it
was, too! Have you ever seen high
sea dash on rock? Each company
rushed up Like breaker ON a reef.
Thrice the battery was covered with
blue coats and red trousers, and thrice
we saw the earthwork reappear with its
cannon jaws, impossible.
''But our company, the Fourth, was to
snatch theAprize. In 20 leaps L reached
the redoubt; helping myself with my
rifle butt, crossed the talus I had only
time to see blonde mustache, a blue
cap, and a carbine barrel almost touch
me. Then | thought my arm flew off.
dropped my gun, fell dizzily on my
side near a gun carriage wheel, and
lost consciousness.
when l opened my eyes nothing was
to be heard but distant musketry. The
zouaves, forming a disordered half-cir-
Gle, were shouting 'Vive PEmpereur!'
and brandishing their rifles.
"An old general followed by his staff
| galloped up. He pulled up his horse,
waved his gilded helmet gayly, and
cried:
"'Brayo, zouaves! You are the first
soldiers in the world!'
"Ifoundmyselfs sitting near the wheel,
supporting my poor broken paw, when
suddenly RENE bered Dry-Jean's aw-
full crime. At that very instant he
stepped out of the ranks toward the
| general. He had lost his fez, and from
a big cash on his close-shaven head
ran a trickle of blood. Leaning OH his
gun with one hand, with the other he
held out an Austrian flag, tattereG and
dyed red-a flag he had taken. The gen.
eral gazed at him admiringly.
| "'Hey, there, Bricourt!' turning to
one of his staff; look at that, # you
please. What men!'
"Whereupon Dry-Jean in his caIaille
voice, spoke up:
| "'Quite so, my general. But you
know-the First zouaves-there are
only enough left for once more!'
81 would like to hug you for that!'
cried the general; you'll get the cross,
you know and still repeating. what
men!' he said to his aide-de-camp some
| thing I didn't understandable no
scholar, you know. But I remember
it perfectly: Worthy of Plutarch,
wasn't it, Bricourt?'
cat that very moment the pain was
| too much for me and I tainted. You
know the rest. I've often told, you how
| they sawed off my arm and how I
dragged along in delirium for two
months in the hospital. In my sleep
| less hours 1 used to ask myself if it
| was my duty to accuse Dry-Jean pub
licly. But could l prove it? And then
| 1 said: He's a scoundrel; but he's
brave; he killed Capt. Gentili, but he
took flag from the enemy Finally,
| in my convalescence. l learned that as
a reward for his courage Dry-Jean had
stepped up into the Zouaves of the
| Guard and had been decorated. All! at
| first it gave me disgust at my own
| cross which the colonel had pinned on
me in the hospital. Yet Dry-Jean de-
served his, too; only his Legion of Hon
or ought to have served as the bulls
eve for the squad detailed to put him
| out of existence.
cts all far away now. never saw
| him again; he remained in the service
and I became a good civilian. But just
now, when l saw that uniform with its
| bullet-hole-God knows how it got
| there-hanging a stones throw from
| the barracks where the murderer is, it
seemed to me that the captain, the
crime still unpublished, was clamoring
for justice"
did my best to quiet Pere Vidal, as
surfing him he had acted for the best.
| Five days later, on reaching the office,
| Vidal, handing me paper folded at a
certain paragraph, murmured. gravely:
''What did tell your" l read:
Another Victim of Intemperance.-Yes-
| terday afternoon, on the Boulevard de
Grenelle, certain Jean Mallet, known as
Dry-Jean, sergeant in the Zouaves of the.
| Imperial guard, who with two companions
| had been drinking freely, was seized with
| delirium tremens while looking at some
old uniforms hanging in a secondhand
shop. He drew his bayonet and dashed
down the street, to the terror of all passers-
| by. The two privates with him had the
| utmost difficulty in securing the mailman.
| who shouted ceaselessly: L am not a muir
derer, l took an Austrian flag a. Melegna-
| no! 1t seems that the latter statement is
| true. Mallet was decorated for this feat;
| his addiction to drink has alone prevented
him from rising in the ranks Mallet was
| conducted to the military hospital of Gros-