Cavalier County farmers press. (Langdon, N.D.) 1920-1921, 1920-08-05
mrough my nerves just as 1t had done
years before when, with Eide by my

Ay AS NJ JASS ~ . y AN N>
years before when, with Edie by my
side, / had seen the merchant ship
fight with the privateers. 1t was so
loud nov that it seemed to me that
the battle must be going on just be-
yond the nearest wood, but my friend
the sergeant knew better.
cts twelve to fifteen miles off" said
he. "you may be sure that the general
knows that we are not wanted, or we
should not be resting here at Hal"
What he said proved to be true, for
a minute later down came the colonel
with orders that we should stack arms
and bivouac where we were, and there
we stayed all day, while horse and
foot and guns, English, Dutch and
Hanoverians, were streaming through.
The devils music went on till evening,
sometimes rising into q roar, some
times sinking into a grumble, until
about eight o'clock in the evening 1t
stopped altogether. We were eating
our hearts out, as you may think, to
know what it all meant, but we knew
that what the Duke did would be for
the best, so we just waited in patience.
Next day the brigade remained at
Hal in the morning, but about midday
came an order from the Duke, and we
pushed on once more until we came to
a village called Braine something, and
there we stopped, and time, too, for a
sudden thunderstorm came on and a
plump Of rain that turned all the roads
and the fields into bog and mire. We
got into the barns at this village for
shelter. and there we found two stray
glers, one from a killed regiment and
the other a man of the German legion,
who had a tale to tell that was as
dreary as the weather.
Boney had thrashed the Prussians
been sore put to it to hold their w
against Ney, but had beaten him off at
last. 1t seems an old, stale story to
you now, but you cannot think how we
scrambled around those two men in
the barn, and pushed and fought just
to catch a word of what they said, and
how those who had heard were in turn
mobbed by those who had not. We
laughed and cheered and groaned all
in turn, as we were told how the Forty
fourth had received cavalry in line,
how the Dutch-Belgians had fled, and
how the Black Watch had taken the
lancers into their square, and then had
killed them at their leisure. But the
lancers had had the laugh on their
side when they %crumpled up the Sixty.
ninth and carried off one of the colors.
To wind it all up, the Duke was in re.
treat, in order to keep in touch with
the Prussians, and it was rumored that
he would take up his ground and fight
a big battle just at the very place
where we had been halted.
And soon we saw that this rumor
was true. for the weather cleared
toward evening, and we were all out
on the ridge to see what we could see.
1t was such a bonny stretch Of corn
and grazing land, with the crops just
half green and half yellow, and fine
rye as high as a mans shoulder. A
scene more full of peace you could not
think of, and look where you would
over the low, curving, corn-covered
hills, you could see the little village
steeples pricking up their spires among
the poplars. But slashed right across
this pretty picture was a long trail
Of marching men, some red, some
green, some blue, some black, zigzag:
ging over the plain and choking the
roads, one end so close that we could
shout to them as they stacked their
muskets on the ridge at our left, and
the other end lost among the woods
as far as we could see. And then OF
other roads we saw. the teams OF
horses toiling and the dull CLEAN OF
the guns. and the men straining an6
swaying as they helped to turn the
spokes in the deep, deep mud. AS we
stood there regiment after regiment
and brigade after brigade took posi-
ton on the ridge, and ere the sun hai
set we lay in a line Of over sixty thou
sand men. blocking Napoleon's way tt
Brussels. But the rain had com
swishing down again, and we of the
Seventy-first rushed off to our barr
once more, where we had better quar-
tiers than the greater part of our com
men leaned on their muskets and
smoked their pipes, looking down at
this grand gathering and listening 70
what the old soldiers, who had fought
the French before. had to say about
them. Then, when the infantry had
formed in long, deep masses, their
guns came whirling and bounding
down the slope, and it was pretty to
see how smartly they numbered and
were ready for action. And then, at
a stately trot, down came the cav
alry-thirty regiments at the least,
with plume and b~reastplate, twinkling
sword and fluttering lance-forming
up at the TANKS and rear in long, shift
ing. glimmering lines.
"Them's the chaps" cried our old
sergeant. They're gluttons to fight,
they are. And you see them regi-
ments with the great high hats in the
middle, a bit behind the farm? That's
the Guard-twenty thousand Of them,
nv sons. and all picked men-gray-