The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1914-11-05

WHO pam
Toward midnight a man
prowling about, or rather
climbing in the direction of the hollow
road of Chain. To all appearances ne
was neither English nor French, mel
Their peasant nor soldier, less a man
than a ghoul attracted by the scent
of the dead bodies, having theft for
his victory and come to rifle Waterloo
He was clad in a blouse that was
something like great coat. He was
uneasy and audacious. He walked
forwards and gazed behind him. Who
was this man? The night properly
knew more of him than the day. He
had no sack, but evidently he had
large pockets under his coat. From
time to time he halted, scrutinized the
plain around him, as though to see
whether he were observed, bent over
abruptly, disturbed something silent
and motionless on the ground, then
rose and fed. His gliding motion, his
attitudes, his mysterious and rapid
gestures, caused him to resemble
those twilight larvae which haunt ru-
ms, and which ancient Norman leg
ends call the Alleurs. Certain noctur-
nal wading birds produce these sill
houettes among the marshes.
A glance capable of piercing all
that most deeply would have perceiv-
ed at some distance sort of little
suffers wagon with fluted wicker
hood, harnessed to a famished nag,
which was cropping the grass across
its bit as it halted, hidden, as it were,
behind the howell which adjoins the
highway to Nivelles, at the angle OF
the road from Mont Saint Jean to
Braine PAleud; and in the wagon a
sort of woman, seated on Golfers and
packages. Perhaps there was some
connection between that wagon and
the prowler.
The darkness was serene. Not
cloud in the zenith. What matters it
if the earth be red, the moon remains
white. These are the indifferences OF
the sky. In the fields, branches of
trees broken by grape shot, but not
fallen, upheld by their bark, swayed
gently in the breeze at night. A
breath, almost respiration, moved
the shrubbery. Quivers which resem-
bled the departure of souls ran thro
the grass.
In the distance the coming and 60
ing of patrols and the general rounds
of the English camp were audible.
Hougomont and La Haie-Sainte con-
tinued to burn, forming, one IN the
west, the other in the east, two great
flames which were joined by the cor
don of bivouac fires of the English,
like a necklace of rubies with two
carbuncles at the extremities, as they
extended in an immense semi-circlce
over the hills along the horizon.
We have described the catastrophe
of the road of Chain. The heart is
terrified at the thought of what that
death must have been to so many
brave men.
If there is anything terrible, If
there exists reality which surpasses
dreams, it is this: to live, to see the
sun; to be in full possession of vlrile
force; to possess health and JOY; to-
laugh valiantly; to rush towards a
glory which one sees dazzling in front
of one; to feel in ones breast lungs
which breathe, heart which beats, a
will which reasons; to speak, think,
hope, love; to have mother, to have
a wife, to have children; to have the
highland all at once, in the space
of shout, in less than minute, to
sink into an abyss; to fall, to roll, to
crush. to be crushed; to see ears of
wheat. flowers, leaves, branches; not
N he able to catch hold of anything;
70 feel ones sword useless, men be-
noath one, horses on top of one; to
struggle in vain, since ones bones
have been broken by some kick in the
dorkness; to feel heel which makes
one,s eyes start from their sockets, to
h;+e horses shoes in ones rage; to
st;Ae to veil, to writhe, to be beneath
ond 70 say to ones self, "But just
little while ago was living mani"
.sSTbere where that lamentable disas-
had uttered its death rattle, all
silent now. The edges of the
~ road were incumbered with
and riders, inextricably heaped