The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1915-04-16
Take me-for the love Of God!"
Joseph stfll heSitated.

Take me. It's for victory! It's for
France!"
"In the absence OF orders to the con.
trary." Joseph says, II did as the old
man requested. carried him fifteen
kiiometers to the northeast, and there
left him at the crossroads of Mes
signy, which was well within our
lines"
There will be occasion to quote Jo-
seph again, little later on; but be-
tween the time at which he stops and
the time at which he begins again
there is hiatus of several hours
They were hours of 1urid warfare
for the most part.
Then there came lull, with a noise
and glare Of battle rolling of to the
eastward like retreating thunder
storm.
The allied army, in this part of the
field, occupied the segment of vast
amphitheater, where the hills sloped
gently down to a wide valley.
The lull strangely deepened. Some
thing was about to happen. The in
tuition, or telepathy, that sheds a COM
mon feeling through vast masses of
men was at work. Nerves strained,
muscles quivered, lungs labored. and
every pair of eyes that had that black
silhouette Of ridge against the red
background in range was staring in
that direction-ready-re for no
one knew what
Then single figure appeared.
It appeared out there on the ridge,
all alone-a short, stout figure in
long cloak and bicorne hat, majestic,
calm-the figure of Napoleon. 1t had
come out of the night. 1t had been
conjured up by the cannon.
The word spread, faltering, yet
rapid, from post to post and trench to
trench.
Napoleon!
1t came first from the noncommis-
stoned officers, the sergeants and the
corporals who were cheek by jowl
with their men, and who stared
through their binoculars, transfxed.
Then it was seen that the higher Off
GERS were staring, too.
There were audible cries:
"The emperor"
tits Napoleon"
He's come to lead us!"
The CULVER, the thrill, was contagi
GUS. 1t spread from company to COM
pany, from regiment to regiment, from
corps to corps. 1t revivified hope,
glorified courage, gave an almost su-
perhuman sense of confidence and
power.
Then there was the rush of an aerial
express train and shock of binding
as the enemy resumed the |
bombardment.
Over the ridge where the figure of
the emperor had appeared there came
a huge fash and a rolling billow of |
smoke, then darkness, then the quaver
Of flame again, brighter than ever |
where the weeds and brush had caught |
fire.
He was still thereI
There was a rolling cheer.
AS he was before, he was now
eisurely, calm, commanding.
He turned to face the long French |
ines. Then, while the shrapnel burst |
overhead like rockets, and geysers of |
ire disgorged where other shells |
struck the ground, they saw him lift
his hand in gesture that was both |
salute and benediction. Again the
hunder-clouds of smoke and fire had
hidden him.
But the army was inspired, was |
'training now in frenzied eagerness.
There came a shrilling blast of bugles
or miles and miles, an infinite, food
ng roar of cheers, and down the
lopes and out across the valley to-
ward the ridge, and on, and on, and
IN, corps after corps Of exalted hearts
nd reaching bayonets.
The army that had seen Napoleon
vas driving the enemy back from
Paris.
Let us take up the narrative of Jo- +
eph Dubois again.
He reports how he had followed the
dvance of the allies almost to the
lew outposts they had thrown out,
nd how, while the army was still hurl-
ng itself forward, he was constrained
D return to Paris with dispatches.
He came to the ridge just beyond 1
be burning hamlet of (name deleted I
y the censor) and there he found an |
Id man, dressed like Napoleon"
ing grievously wounded by the road. .
ut was the same old man l had car :
ed forward in the night" says Jo-
sph. This time he was wearing a i
lcorne hat and a long cloak; but, I
ON the silver plate on his neck,
new him for my invalid. So l asked I
i'm If he wanted anything, and he ,
lid:
i desire-that my ashes-banks OF t
le Seine-this French people / have I
} greatly loved
Il took him in my machine and car t
ed him back to Paris, where we ar '
we'd at dawn"
Joseph doesn't mention it in his re- 8
1rt, but various comrades OF the j
Mere-such as the Corporal
ctou, Marine Frenzy, Quartermaster v
Indeau and Farrier Saint-Lambert-I
OF them, in fact, tell how they had 4