第 19 页

The attack upon the village was to take place at half-past five;

and never did moments appear so slow, to the boys, as those which

passed as they awaited the signal. At last the silence was broken

by the sharp crack of a rifle, followed by three or four others.

"There goes the Prussian sentry, and there is our reply," Major

Tempe said. "Now, lads, forward!"

As he spoke, the sentry on the bridge fired his rifle; immediately,

this was repeated by the next sentry on the line, and the signal

was taken up by each sentry, until the sound died in the distance.

As it had done so, the franc tireurs had made a rush forwards. They

were met by a straggling discharge from the Germans as, half

asleep, they hurried out from the guard room. This was answered by

the fire of the franc tireurs, who surrounded them. Five fell; and

the others, surprised and panic stricken, threw down their arms.

They were instantly secured, and the bridge was at once seized.

The firing still continued in the village; but in another five

minutes it ceased and, shortly afterwards, Louis Duburg ran up with

the tidings that the village was taken. The Germans, surprised in

their beds, had offered but a slight resistance. Four were killed,

and sixteen taken prisoners; one franc tireur, only, was slightly

wounded.

"Take two men with you," Major Tempe said, "and escort those five

prisoners to the village. Give them over to Lieutenant Houdin; and

tell him to send them, with the prisoners he has taken, under

charge of six men to the forest. Let their hands be tied behind

their backs, for we cannot spare a larger escort. Tell him to be

sure that the escort are loaded, and have fixed bayonets. Directly

he has sent off the prisoners let him join me here, with the rest

of his force."

Lieutenant Ribouville now set to work to inspect the bridge; and

ordered the men--who were provided with the necessary implements--to

set to, and dig a hole down to the crown of the principal arch. It

was harder work than they had expected. The roadway was solid, the

ballast pressed down very tightly, and the crown of the arch covered,

to a considerable depth, with concrete. Only a few men could work at

once and, after a half-hour's desperate labor, the hole was nothing

like far enough advanced to ensure the total destruction of the

bridge, upon the charge being fired. In the meantime the Prussian

sentries were arriving from up and down the line and, although not

in sufficient force to attack, had opened fire from a distance.

"Don't you think that will do, Ribouville?" Major Tempe asked.

"No, sir," the other replied. "It might blow a hole through the top

of the arch, but I hardly think that it would do so. Its force

would be spent upwards."

At this moment Ralph--who had done his spell of work, and had been

down to the stream, to get a drink of water--came running up.

"If you please, Lieutenant Ribouville, there is a hole right

through the pier, just above the water's edge. It seems to have

been left to let any water that gets into the pier, from above,

make its escape. I should think that would do to hold the charge."

"The very thing," Lieutenant Ribouville said, delightedly. "What a

fool I was, not to have looked to see if such a hole existed!

"Stop work, men, and carry the barrels down to the edge of the

water."

The stream was not above waist deep; and the engineer officer

immediately waded into it, and examined the hole. He at once

pronounced it to be admirably suited to the purpose. It did not--as

Ralph had supposed--go straight through; but there were two holes,

one upon each side of the pier, nearly at the same level, and each

extending into the center of the pier. The holes were about four

inches square.

The barrels of gun cotton were now hastily opened on the bank, and

men waded out with the contents. Lieutenant Ribouville upon one

side, and Ralph upon the other, took the cotton and thrust it, with

long sticks, into the ends of the hole. In five minutes the

contents of the two barrels were safely lodged, the fuse inserted,

and the operation of tamping--or ramming--in dry sand, earth, and

stones commenced.

"Make haste!" Major Tempe shouted. "Their numbers are increasing

fast. There are some fifteen or twenty, on either side."

A brisk fire of rifles was now going on. The day had fairly broken;

and the franc tireurs, sheltered behind the parapet of the bridge,

on the bank of the river, were exchanging a lively fire with the

enemy. Three-quarters of an hour had passed since the first shot

was fired.

Suddenly a distant boom was heard, followed in a few seconds by a

slight whizzing noise, which grew rapidly into a loud scream and,

in another moment, there was an explosion close to the bridge. The

men all left off their work, for an instant.

"And what may that be, Mister Percy? A more unpleasant sound I

niver heard, since I was a baby."

"I quite agree with you, Tim, as to its unpleasantness. It is a

shell. The artillery are coming up from Luneville. The fire of the

sentries would take the alarm, in a couple of minutes; give them

another fifteen to get ready, and half an hour to get within range.

"Here comes another."

"Are you ready, Ribouville?" the commandant shouted. "They have

cavalry, as well as artillery. We must be off, or we shall get

caught in a trap."

"I am ready," was the answer.

"Barclay, strike a match, and put it to the end of your fuse, till

it begins to fizz.

"Have you lit it?"

"Yes, sir," Ralph said, a moment later.

"So have I," the lieutenant said. "They will burn about three

minutes.

"Now for a run!"

In a couple of minutes the franc tireurs were retreating, at the

double; and they had not gone a hundred yards when they heard the

sound of two tremendous explosions, following closely one upon

another. Looking back, they saw the pier had fallen in fragments;

and that the bridge lay, a heap of ruins, in the stream.

"Hurrah, lads!" shouted the commandant. "You have done your work

well. Those who get out of this with a whole skin may well be proud

of their day's work.

"Don't mind the shells," he continued, as two more of the missiles

burst, in quick succession, within a short distance of them. "They

make an ugly noise; but they won't hurt us, at this distance."

The German artillerymen had apparently arrived at the same

conclusion, for they now ceased to fire; and the retreating corps

were only exposed to an occasional shot from the infantry, who had

followed them from the bridge.

"The artillery and cavalry will be up, before we reach the wood,"

Percy said to his brother, as they trotted along, side by side.

"They may come up," Ralph said, "but they can do us no harm, on the

broken ground; and will catch a Tartar, if they don't mind."

The ground was indeed unfavorable for cavalry, and artillery. It

was broken up with the spurs of the hill. Here and there great

masses of rock cropped out of the ground, while patches of forest

extended over a considerable portion of the ground. In one of

these, standing upon rising and broken ground, Major Tempe halted

his men; and opened so heavy a fire upon the enemy's cavalry, when

the column appeared, that they were at once halted; and although,

when the artillery arrived, a few shells were fired into the wood,

the franc tireurs had already retired, and gained the forest

without further molestation. Upon calling the roll, it was

discovered that six men, only, were missing. These had fallen--either

killed or wounded--from the fire of the enemy's infantry, during the

time that the operation at the bridge were being carried out.

There was great rejoicing at the success of their enterprise, the

effect of which would certainly be to block the traffic along that

line, for at least a week. Their satisfaction was, however,

somewhat damped by the sight of several dense columns of smoke in

the plain; showing that the Germans had, as usual, wreaked their

vengeance upon the innocent villagers. The feeling of disgust was

changed to fury when some of the peasants--who had fled into the

woods, upon the destruction of their abodes--reported that the

Germans, having found that three of the franc tireurs were only

wounded, had dragged them along to the entrance to the village; and

had hung them there upon some trees, by the roadside. Had it not

been for Major Tempe's assurance, that their comrades should be

avenged, the franc tireurs would at once have killed their

prisoners.

In the evening the men were formed up, the prisoners ranged in

line, and twelve were taken by lot; and these, with the officer

taken with them--when night fell--were bound and marched off, under

a guard of thirty men. Neither of the boys formed part of the

escort, which was an immense relief to them for, although they were

as indignant as the rest, at the murder of their wounded comrades

by the Germans; and quite agreed in the justice of reprisal, still,

they were greatly relieved when they found that they would not have

to be present at the execution.

Two hours later Major Tempe returned, with the escort. The officer,

and eleven of his men, had been hung on trees by the roadside, at a

distance of half a mile, only, from the village; the twelfth man

had been released, as bearer of a note from Major Tempe to the

German commanding officer saying that, as a reprisal for the murder

of the three wounded franc tireurs, he had hung twelve Germans; and

that, in future, he would always hang four prisoners for every one

of his men who might be murdered, contrary to the rules of war.

This act of retributive justice performed, the corps retreated to

join the army of the Vosges, under General Cambriels. The news of

the destruction of the bridge across the Vesouze had preceded them;

and when, after three days' heavy marching, they reached the

village which formed the headquarters of the general, they were

received with loud cheers by the crowds of Mobiles who thronged its

little streets. It was out of the question to find quarters; and

the major therefore ordered the men to bivouac in the open, while

he reported himself to General Cambriels.

The commandant of the franc tireurs was personally known to General

Cambriels, having at one time served for some years under his

command; and he was most warmly received by the veteran, one of the

bravest and most popular of the French generals. As general of the

district, he had received all Major Tempe's reports; and was

therefore acquainted with the actions of the corps.

"Ah, major!" he said, after the first greetings, "if I had only a

few thousand men, animated with the spirit and courage of your

fellows, the Germans would never get through the Vosges. As it is I

shall, of course, do my best; but what can one do with an army of

plow boys, led by officers who know nothing of their duty, against

troops like the Germans?

"As for my franc tireurs, they are in many cases worse than

useless. They have no discipline, whatever. They embroil me with

the peasantry. They are always complaining. The whole of them,

together, have not done as much real service as your small band.

They shoot down Uhlans, when they catch them in very small parties;

but have no notion, whatever, of real fighting.

"However, I cannot thank you too warmly. Your name will appear in

the Gazette, tomorrow, as colonel; and I must ask you to extend the

sphere of your duties. We want officers, terribly; and I will

brigade four or five of these corps of franc tireurs under your

orders, so as to make up a force of a thousand men. You will have

full authority over them, to enforce any discipline you may choose.

I want you to make a body to act as an advanced guard of

skirmishers to my army of Mobiles. I have a few line troops, but I

want them as a nucleus for the force.

"What do you say?"

"Personally, general, I should greatly prefer remaining with my own

little corps, upon every man of whom I can rely. At the same time,

I should not wish for a moment to oppose my own likings, or

dislikings, to the general good of the service. Many of these corps

of franc tireurs are composed of excellent materials and, if well

led and disciplined, would do anything. I can only say I will do my

best."

"Thank you, Tempe. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"I should like to see a step given to the three officers serving

under me," the major said. "They have all served in the regular

army, and all have equally well done their duty."

"It shall be done; and two of them shall be posted to other corps,

while one takes the command of your own," the general said. "Do you

wish commissions for any of the men?"

Major Tempe named three of the men, and then added:

"The two members of the corps who have most distinguished

themselves I have not mentioned, general, because they are too

young to place over the heads of the others; at the same time,

their services certainly deserve recognition. I mentioned them, in

the dispatches I sent to you, as having done immense service by

going down, in disguise, into the midst of the Germans. In fact, at

Saverne they saved the corps from destruction. They are two young

English lads, named Barclay."

"I remember distinctly," General Cambriels said. "They speak French

fluently, I suppose, as well as German?"

"Both languages like natives," the major answered.

"And can they ride?"

"Yes, admirably," Major Tempe said. "I knew them before the war,

and they are excellent horsemen."

"Then they are the very fellows for me," General Cambriels said. "I

will give them commissions in the provisional army, at once; and