Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1915-04-30

| spirit live again--to evoke, as you
have said, the immortal shade. And If
die, here"
Their was a pause, an instant Of in
describable silence, and then. through
PLACE where Napoleon slept, there
came a reverberation of distant thun-
der.
"The cannon! l hear the cannonI"
Grenadier Mere cried.
The thunder was repeated.
"Adjutant! Adjutantl It's the can
non!" the grenadier cried as he
stepped in front Of his ancient friends
chair.
1t seemed as II bullet, or a piece of
shrapnel. or a shell from those very
cannon that were roaring now, had
stricken the grenadier where he stood.
For, stricken and petrifed, he was
looking at this old, old friend OF his
and the friend was sitting there dead.
Adjutant Latour-Michel, more than
hundred years old, the man who had
seen Napoleon, had died there at the
very side OF the place where the en-
peror slept.
After that first moment or two of
stupefaction the grenadier did a very
peculiar thing.
He was still looking at the dead CEN
tenarian, and he spoke to him as If he
could hear; spoke softly, but seriously,
as though he expected an answer;
spoke smiIingly and coaxingly.
art thou-art thou, perchance," he
asked, gone to summon him?"
To summon whom? The temerity of
what he had said frightened Grenadier
Mere.
Then, as he stood there in the
gloom. that hope of theirs came back
to him, no longer nebulous, but vivid
and wild
Just now Latour-Michel had spoken
of the emperor's spirit as being awake
and near. Just now Latour-Michel had
spoken Of death; and here he was,
dead. Were there not many things in
the world that ordinary people did not
understand?
Mere tore open the greatcoat of his
friend, tore open the shirt, put his
hand on the heart. The heart was
STILL
He heard a step in the corridor be-
yond the crypt. There entered care
taker, very old, who held his lantern
aloft and saw Mere standing there.
Good evening, M. Mere" he said.
They still advanced"
"Still advance" the grenadier re-
piled.
The caretaker saw the rolling chair
: and the still form in 1t. It was not at
all surprising to find these two com.
rades here at any hour of the day or
night.
: And M. Latour-Michel, how is her.
the caretaker asked, addressing the
: form in the chair.
Said Mere softly:
: "He sleeps"
The caretaker went away after q
!. cursory tour. Mere turned to his friend
5 and whispered:
Thou sleepest? Not so, my com
q rade! And thou, thou-oh, Napoleon!'
Then there occurred a very strange
and beautiful thing. His old brain was
shaky, perhaps, and his old nerves un
strung; but he had a vision.
t It was as if from the great sarcopha
!. gus Of Finland granite there had come
/ a wrath, scarcely perceptible at first IL
e the dim light. then clearer and clearer
as it mounted and took form, until h,
e was looking at Napoleon himself.
Mere was stricken with awe anC
d name1ess rapture.
1t was the Napoleon of victory, al
J. he must have been at the zenith of hi
strength and glory-inscrutable, god
: like. AS Latour-Michel described him
y SO he stood there now.
d The vision grew. II took on reful
gence and amplitude. Gradually |
r filed all space. Nothing else was real
# The emperor was gazing with In
e domitable eyes out over a far-funI
p battlefield, where flags tossed In tn
IS van of charging regiments, where car
II non roared and filled the air witt
smoke, and cavalry Numbered wit
1t sabers drawn.
"ViVe la Franee!" cried the Grena
st der Mere in strangled voice.
s, At the cry, the enemy broke an
fed.
: "Vive la France!"
i The grenadier heard the echo of hi
own voice, felt the pounding of hi
heart. Sheer emotion made him veal
3 Excitement overwhelmed him; but hi
) arteries we're liquid fire.
Napoleon lives!" he stammere,
"He saves the country. Grenade
Mere! Present, my emperor! G
carry the word to General Joffrei Oh
Quill
"oh, God!" cried the grenadier, VIII
had dropped his monologue for a SUI
plication. Your help, and our arm
D moves forward this night to victory, /
\ deliverance, following the immortt
4 shade of Napoleon!"
Z Joseph Dubois was doing courie
duty that night in a powerful autom
bile that sped between Paris and til
/ harried left wing of the allies, the
J back again; then over the road ono
more. He tells how, on one of h
) trips, while nursing his machir
= around bad place, he almost ra
4 over an old invalid, a veteran of 49,
5 with silver plate on his neck and
big package under his arm.