New-York tribune., 1917-07-22

II
first engagement, had surnamed
him Ceur-de- Lion.
He resembled Barbary corsair more
than he did Norman king. He was very
tan and broad shouldered He had a
bronzed skin, fiat nose, terrible beard,
flowing down over a massive chest, and
eyes whose black pupils rolled menacingly
in their sockets.
One expected, when he opened his thick
Tipped mouth, filled with flashing white
teeth like Turco's, to hear issue from it
the harsh vocables of some Oriental lam
guage, made rasping by "Kha," "T'ah"
and "B'ah"-the raucous letters of the
Arab alphabet. But there came from that
mouth only French syllables, pronounced
with the accent-the treasured accent-of
lMarseilles and Tarascon.
Amedee Richard belonged to the Terri
torial Army. The terrible Territorials'
do not take any longer boyish pleasure
in wearing a horizon blue uniform and
yellow CATERS. But they cherish a con-
suming wrath against the invader-in
their character of honest men, long set
tied, peace-loving and serious, exasperated
by a conscienceless aggressor and Obliged
to arm and fight in self-defence.
On arriving at the depot our Southern
friend did not conceal his ill-humor. Will
lam II had greatly Inconvenience him,
Amedee Richard, a man of middle age
torn from his hearthstone, from his wife,
from his two little daughters, from his
kbusiness. He was going to see, that per-
fdious monarch, what a man of the Midi
would do to his imperial guardsmen-
make mince meat of them; yes, simply
make mince meat of them!
This honest wrath amused the other sol
diers. They guyed their exuberant COM
rade little. But he didn't pay any at
tention to their pleasantries. And he was
endowed with such tremendous force!
They began saying of him:
"Wait till he gets into action!"
He got into action very soon. He dug
trenches. He knew how, with shift of
/ his thighs or a turn of his arms, to toss
up huge spadefuls Of earth, without SEEM
ing to get at all tired. He cut in the mid
' die of the night the enemy's barbed wire
entanglements. He bent his formidable
| shoulder at the bottom of underground
saps, in which mines were to be laid. tie
crept forward by covered paths when it
was necessary to reconnoitre the German
trenches. Finally his turn came to charge
with the bayonet.
At that he was magnificent, extraordl-
nary, appalling. His huge beard foated
| in the wind. His eyes and his white Turco
teeth glittered in the setting of his dark
4 face. And he thrust and struck--with the
bsyonet, with the gun butt and with the
knife. The Germans fed before him. He
resembled those superhuman knights in
| the legends of the Middle Ages, whom the
. old PAINTERS show us, erect, wheeling about
with their formidable weapons within a
circle of enemies piled on the ground, mu-
tilated, eviscerated, crushed and reeking
with blood.
A MEDEE RICHARD, surnamed Ceur'
"A de-Lion, received the Croix de Guerrt
Yand was made a sergeant.
ibid his promotion give him an addi'
! tknal arrogance? Was he simply irasciblt
nature? Or had war, the habit, soon
formed, of running wild, of striking and
killing, rendered him so intractable?
At all events he passed for strong
headed" person. The officers allowed hin
good deal Of latitude because Of his
bravery. The soldiers feared him because
Of his strength. He expressed peremptory
opinions. He did not tolerate contradic