A Soldier Of The Empire | Page 5

there by Pierre. And he saw in his
imagination Pierre climbing at a stride from a private to a captain, a
colonel, a--! who could tell?--had not the baton been won in a
campaign? As to dreaming that a battle could bring any other result
than victory!--It was impossible!
"Where are you going?" shouted derisively the men of a regiment at
rest, to the Sergeant's command as they marched past.
"To Berlin," replied the Sergeant.
The reply evoked cheers, and that regiment that day stood its ground
until a fourth of its men fell. The old soldier's enthusiasm infected the
new recruits, who were pale and nervous under the strain of waiting.
His eye rested on Pierre, who was standing down near the other end of
the company, and the father's face beamed as he thought he saw there
resolution and impatience for the fight. Ha! France should ring with his
name; the Quarter should go wild with delight.
Just then the skirmishers ahead began to fire, and in a few moments it
was answered by a sullen note from the villages beyond the plain, and
the battle had begun. The dropping fire of the skirmish line increased
and merged into a rattle, and suddenly the thunder broke from a hill to
their right, and ran along the crest until the earth trembled under their
feet. Bullets began to whistle over their heads and clip the leaves of the
trees beyond them, and the long, pulsating scream of shells flying over

them and exploding in the park behind them made the faces of the men
look gray in the morning twilight. Waiting was worse than fighting. It
told on the young men.
In a little while a staff-officer galloped up to the colonel, who was
sitting on his horse in the road, quietly smoking a cigar, and a moment
later the whole line was in motion. They were wheeled to the right, and
marched under shelter of the knoll in the direction of the firing. As they
passed the turn of the road, they caught a glimpse of the hill ahead
where the artillery, enveloped in smoke, was thundering from an
ever-thickening cloud. A battery of eight guns galloped past them, and
turning the curve disappeared in a cloud of dust. To the new recruits it
seemed as if the whole battle was being fought right there. They could
see nothing but their own line, and only a part of that; smoke and dust
hid everything else; but the hill was plainly an important point, for they
were being pushed forward, and the firing on the rise ahead of them
was terrific. They were still partly protected by the ridge, but shells
were screaming over them, and the earth was rocking under their feet.
More batteries came thundering by,--the men clinging to the pieces and
the drivers lashing their horses furiously,--and disappearing into the
smoke on the hill, unlimbered and swelled the deafening roar; they
passed men lying on the ground dead or wounded, or were passed by
others helping wounded comrades to the rear. Several men in the
company fell, some crying out or groaning with pain, and two or three
killed outright.
The men were dodging and twisting, with heads bent forward a little as
if in a pelting rain. Only the old Sergeant and some of the younger ones
were perfectly erect.
"Why don't you dodge the balls?" asked a recruit of the Sergeant.
"A soldier of the empire never dodges," was the proud reply.
Some change occurred on the hills; they could not see what. Just then
the order came down the line to advance at a double-quick and support
the batteries. They moved forward at a run and passed beyond the
shelter of the ridge. Instantly they were in the line of fire from the

Prussian batteries, whose white puffs of smoke were visible across the
plain, and bullets and shell tore wide spaces in their ranks. They could
not see the infantrymen, who were in pits, but the bullets hissed and
whistled by them. The men on both sides of Pierre were killed and fell
forward on their faces with a thud, one of them still clutching his
musket. Pierre would have stopped, but there was no time, the men in
the rear pressed him on. As they appeared in the smoke of the nearest
battery, the artillerymen broke into cheers at the welcome sight, and all
down the line it was taken up. All around were dead and dying men
increasing in numbers momentarily. No one had time to notice them.
Some of them had blankets thrown over them. The infantry, who were
a little to the side of the batteries, were ordered to lie down; most of
them had already done so; even then