The Blockade of Phalsburg: An Episode of the End of the Empire Page 10

  X

  AN ENGAGEMENT WITH THE COSSACKS

  But that day I was to have the greatest fright of all. You remember,Fritz, that Sorle had told me at supper the night before, that if wedid not receive the invoice, our spirits of wine would be at the riskof M. Quataya of Pezenas, and that we need feel no anxiety about it.

  I thought so, too, for it seemed to me right; and as the French andGerman gates were closed at three o'clock, and nothing more could enterthe city, I supposed that that was the end of the matter, and feltquite relieved.

  "It is a pity, Moses!" I said to myself, as I walked up and down theroom; "yes, for if these spirits had been sent a week sooner, we shouldhave made a great profit; but now, at least, thou art relieved of greatanxiety. Be content with thine old trade. Let alone for the futuresuch harassing undertakings. Don't stake thine all again on one throw,and let this be a lesson to thee!"

  Such thoughts were in my mind, when, about four o'clock, I heard someone coming up our stairs. It was a heavy step, as of a man trying tofind his way in the dark.

  Zeffen and Sorle were in the kitchen, preparing supper. Women alwayshave something to talk about by themselves, for nobody else to hear.So I listened, and then opened the door.

  "Who is there?" I asked.

  "Does not Mr. Moses, the wine-merchant, live here?" asked the man in ablouse and broad-brimmed felt hat, with his whip on his shoulder--awagoner's figure, in short. I turned pale as I heard him, and replied:"Yes, my name is Moses. What do you want?"

  He came in, and took out a large leather portfolio from under hisblouse. I trembled as I looked on.

  "There!" said he, giving me two papers, "my invoice and my bill oflading! Are not the twelve pipes of three-six from Pezenas for you?"

  "Yes, where are they?"

  "On the Mittelbronn hill, twenty minutes from here," he quietlyanswered. "Some Cossacks stopped my wagons, and I had to take off thehorses. I hurried into the city by a postern under the bridge."

  My legs failed me as he spoke. I sank into my arm-chair, unable tospeak a word.

  "You will pay me the portage," said the man, "and give me a receipt forthe delivery."

  "Sorle! Sorle!" I cried in a despairing voice. And she and Zeffen ranto me. The wagoner explained it all to them. As for me, I heardnothing. I had strength only to exclaim: "Now all is lost! Now I mustpay without receiving the goods."

  "We are willing to pay, sir," said my wife, "but the letter states thatthe twelve pipes shall be delivered in the city."

  The wagoner said: "I have just come from the justice of the peace, as Iwanted to find out before coming to you what I had a right to claim; hetold me that you ought to pay for everything, even my horses andcarriages, do you understand? I unharnessed my horses, and escaped,myself, which is so much the less on your account. Will you settle?Yes or no?"

  We were almost dead with fright when the sergeant came in. He hadheard loud words, and asked: "What is it, Father Moses? What is itabout? What does this man want?"

  Sorle, who never lost her presence of mind, told him the whole story,shortly and clearly; he comprehended it at once.

  "Twelve pipes of three-six, that makes twenty-four pipes of cognac.What luck for the garrison! what luck!"

  "Yes," said I, "but it cannot come in; the city gates are shut, and thewagons are surrounded by Cossacks."

  "Cannot come in!" cried the sergeant, raising his shoulders. "Goalong! Do you take the governor for a fool? Is he going to refusetwenty-four pipes of good brandy, when the garrison needs it? Is hegoing to leave this windfall to the Cossacks? Madame Sorle, pay theportage at once; and you, Father Moses, put on your cap and follow meto the governor's, with the letter in your pocket. Come along! Don'tlose a minute! If the Cossacks have time to put their noses in yourcasks, you will find a famous deficit, I warrant you!"

  When I heard that I exclaimed: "Sergeant, you have saved my life!" AndI hastened to get my cap.

  "Shall I pay the portage?" asked Sorle.

  "Yes! pay!" I answered as I went down, for it was plain that thewagoner could compel us. I went down with an anxious heart.

  All that I remember after this is that the sergeant walked before me inthe snow, that he said a few words to the sapper on orderly duty at thegovernor's house, and that we went up the grand stairway with themarble balustrade.

  Upstairs, in the gallery with the balustrade around it, he said to me:"Be easy, Father Moses! Take out your letter, and let me do thetalking."

  He knocked softly at a door as he spoke:

  Somebody said: "Come in!"

  We went in.

  Colonel Moulin, a fat man in a dressing-gown and little silk cap, wassmoking his pipe in front of a good fire. He was very red, and had acaraffe of rum and a glass at its side on the marble mantel-piece,where were also a clock and vases of flowers.

  "What is it?" he asked, turning round.

  "Colonel, this is what is the matter," replied the sergeant: "twelvepipes of spirits of wine have been stopped on the Mittelbronn hill, andare surrounded by Cossacks."

  "Cossacks!" exclaimed the governor. "Have they broken through ourlines already?"

  "Yes," said the sergeant, "a sudden attack of Cossacks! They havepossession of the twelve pipes of three-six which this patriot broughtfrom Pezenas to sustain the garrison."

  "Some bandits," said the governor--"thieves!"

  "Here is the letter," said the sergeant, taking it from my hand.

  The colonel cast his eyes over it, and said hastily:

  "Sergeant, go and take twenty-five men of your company. Go on the run,free the wagons, and put in requisition horses from the village tobring them into the city."

  And, as we were going: "Wait!" said he; and he went to his bureau andwrote four words; "here is the order."

  When we were once on the stairway, the sergeant said: "Father Moses,run to the cooper's; we may perhaps need him and his boys. I know theCossacks; their first thought will be to unload the casks so as to bemore sure of keeping them. Have them bring ropes and ladders; and Iwill go to the Barracks and get my men together."

  Then I ran home like a hart, for I was enraged at the Cossacks. I wentin to get my musket and cartridge-box. I could have fought an army: Icould not see straight.

  "What is it? Where are you going?" asked Sorle and Zeffen.

  "You will know by and by," I replied.

  I went to Schweyer's. He had two large saddle-pistols, which he putquickly into his apron-belt with the axe; his two boys, Nickel andFrantz, took the ladder and ropes, and we ran to the French gate.

  The sergeant was not yet there; but two minutes after he came runningdown the street by the rampart with thirty veterans in file, theirmuskets on their shoulders.

  The officer guarding the postern had only to see the order to let us goout, and a few minutes after we were in the trenches behind thehospital, where the sergeant ranged his men.

  "It is cognac!" he told them; "twenty-four pipes of cognac! So,comrades, attention! The garrison is without brandy; those who do notlike brandy have only to fall to the rear."

  But they all wanted to be in front, and laughed in anticipation.

  We went up the stairway, and were ranged in order in the covered ways.It might have been five o'clock. Looking from the top of the glacis wecould see the broad meadow of Eichmatt, and above it the hills ofMittelbronn covered with snow. The sky was full of clouds, and nightwas coming on. It was very cold.

  "Forward!" said the sergeant.

  And we gained the highway. The veterans ran, in two files, at theright and left, their backs rounded, and their muskets in theirshoulder-belts; the snow was up to their knees.

  Schweyer, his two boys, and I walked behind.

  At the end of a quarter of an hour, the veterans, who ran all the way,had left us far behind; we heard for some time their cartridge-boxesrattling, but soon this sound was lost in the distance, and then weheard the dog of the Trois-Maisons barking in his c
hain.

  The deep silence of the night gave me a chance to think. If it had notbeen for the thought of my spirits of wine, I would have gone straightback to Phalsburg, but fortunately that thought prevailed, and I said:

  "Make haste, Schweyer, make haste!"

  "Make haste!" he exclaimed angrily, "you can make haste to get backyour spirits of wine, but what do we care for it? Is the highway theplace for us? Are we bandits that we should risk our lives?"

  I understood at once that he wanted to escape, and was enraged.

  "Take care, Schweyer," said I, "take care! If you and your boys goback, people will say that you have been a traitor to the city brandy,and that is worse than being a traitor to the flag, especially in acooper."

  "The devil take thee!" said he, "we ought never to have come."

  However, he kept on ascending the hill with me. Nickel and Frantzfollowed us without hurrying.

  When we reached the plateau we saw lights in the village. All wasstill and seemed quiet, although there was a great crowd around the twofirst houses.

  The door of the _Bunch of Grapes_ was wide open, and its kitchen fireshone through the passage to the street where my two wagons stood.

  This crowd came from the Cossacks who were carousing at Heitz's house,after tying their horses under the shed. They had made Mother Heitzcook them a good hot soup, and we saw them plainly, two or threehundred paces distant, go up and down the outside steps, with jugs andbottles which they passed from one to another. The thought came to methat they were drinking my spirits of wine, for a lantern hung behindthe first wagon, and the rascals were all going from it with theirelbows raised. I was so furious that, regardless of danger, I began torun to put a stop to the pillage.

  Fortunately the veterans were in advance of me, or I should have beenmurdered by the Cossacks; I had not gone half way when our whole troopsprang from the fences of the highway, and ran like a pack of wolves,crying out, "To the bayonet!"

  You never saw such confusion, Fritz. In a second the Cossacks were ontheir horses, and the veterans in the midst of them; the front of theinn with its trellis, its pigeon-house, and its little fenced garden,was lighted up by the firing of muskets and pistols. Heitz's twodaughters stood at the windows, with their arms lifted and screamed sothat they could be heard all over Mittelbronn.

  Every minute, in the midst of the confusion, something fell upon theroad, and then the horses started and ran through the fields like deer,with their heads run out, and their manes and tails flying. Thevillagers ran; Father Heitz slipped into the barn, and climbed up theladder, and I came up breathless, as if out of my senses.

  I had not gone more than fifteen steps when a Cossack, who was runningaway at full speed, turned about furiously close to me, with his lancein the air, and called out, "Hurra!"

  I had only time to stoop, and I felt the wind from the lance as itpassed along my body.

  I never felt so in my life, Fritz; I felt the chill of death, thattrembling of the flesh, of which the prophet spoke: "Fear came upon meand trembling; the hair of my flesh stood up."

  I SHUDDERED IN MY VERY SOUL AND MY HAIR BRISTLED.]

  But what shows the spirit of wisdom and prudence which the Lord putsinto his creatures, when he means to spare them for a good old age, isthat immediately afterward, in spite of my trembling knees, I went andsat under the first wagon, where the blows of the lances could notreach me; and there I saw the veterans finish the extermination of therascals, who had retreated into the court, and not one of whom escaped.

  Five or six were in a heap before the door, and three others werestretched upon the highway.

  This did not take more than ten minutes; then all was dark again, and Iheard the sergeant call: "Cease firing!"

  Heitz, who had come down from his hay-loft, had just lighted a lantern;the sergeant seeing me under the wagon, called out: "Are you wounded,Father Moses?"

  "No," I replied, "but a Cossack tried to thrust his lance into me, andI got into a safe place."

  He laughed aloud, and gave me his hand to help me to rise.

  "Father Moses," said he, "I was frightened about you. Wipe your back;people might think you were not brave."

  I laughed too, and thought: "People may think what they please! Thegreat thing is to live in good health as long as possible."

  We had only one wounded, Corporal Duhem, an old man, who bandaged hisown leg, and tried to walk. He had had a blow from a lance in theright calf. He was placed on the first wagon, and Lehnel, Heitz'sgranddaughter, came and gave him a drop of cherry-brandy, which at oncerestored his strength and even his good spirits.

  "It is the fifteenth," he exclaimed. "I am in for a week at thehospital; but leave me the bottle for the compresses."

  I was delighted to see my twelve pipes on the wagons, for Schweyer andhis two boys had run away, and without their help we could hardly havereloaded.

  I tapped at once at the bung-hole of the hindmost cask to find out howmuch was missing. These scamps of Cossacks had already drunk nearlyhalf a measure of spirits; Father Heitz told me that some of themscarcely added a drop of water. Such creatures must have throats oftin; the oldest topers among us could not bear a glass of three-sixwithout being upset.

  At last all was ready and we had only to return to the city. When Ithink of it, it all seems before me now: Heitz's large dapple-grayhorses going out of the stable one by one; the sergeant standing by thedark door with his lantern in his hand, and calling out, "Come, hurryup! The rascals may come back!" On the road in front of the inn, theveterans surrounded the wagons; farther on the right some peasants, whohad hastened to the scene with pitchforks and mattocks, were looking atthe dead Cossacks, and myself, standing on the stairs above, singingpraises to God in my heart as I thought how glad Sorle and Zeffen andlittle Safel would be to see me come back with our goods.

  And then when all is ready, when the little bells jingle, when the whipsnaps, and we start on the way--what delight!

  Ah Fritz! everything looks bright after thirty years; we forget fears,anxieties, and fatigues; but the memory of good men and happy hoursremains with us forever!

  The veterans, on both sides of the wagons, with their muskets undertheir arms, escorted my twelve pipes as if they were the tabernacle;Heitz led the horses, and the sergeant and I walked behind.

  "Well, Father Moses!" said he laughing, "it has all gone off well; areyou satisfied?"

  "More than I can possibly tell, sergeant! What would have been my ruinwill make the fortune of my family, and we owe it all to you."

  "Go along," said he, "you are joking."

  He laughed, but I felt deeply; to have been in danger of losingeverything, and then to regain it all and make profit out of it--itmakes one feel deeply.

  I exclaimed inwardly: "I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people;and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.

  "For thy mercy is great above the heavens, and thy truth reacheth untothe clouds."