But when Commandant Thomas cried out, "Charge!" and I tore off my first
cartridge, and put it in the barrel, and, instead of hearing the ramrod
I felt a ball at the bottom!--when they ordered us: "By file--left!
left! forward! quick step! march!" and we set out for the barracks of
the Bois-de-Chenes, while the first battalion went on to Quatre-Vents
and Bichelberg, the second to Wechern and Metting; when I thought that
we were going to seize and carry away everything, and that the
court-martial was at the mayoralty to pass sentence upon those who did
not do their duty;--all these new and terrible things completely upset
me. I was troubled as I saw the village in the distance, and pictured
to myself beforehand the cries of the women and children.
You see, Fritz, to take from the poor peasant all his living at the
beginning of winter; to take from him his cow, his goats, his pigs,
everything in short, it is dreadful! and my own misfortune made me feel
more for that of others.
And then, as we marched, I thought of my daughter Zeffen, and Baruch,
and their children, and I exclaimed to myself:
"Mercy on us! if the enemy comes, what will they do in an exposed town
like Saverne? They will lose everything. We may be beggared any day."
These thoughts took away my breath, and in the midst of them I saw some
peasants, who, from their little windows, watched our approach over the
fields and along their street, without stirring. They did not know
what we were coming for.
Six mounted soldiers preceded us; Commandant Thomas ordered them to
pass to the right and left of the barracks, to prevent the peasants
from driving their cattle into the woods, when they had found out that
we had come to rob them.
They set off on a gallop.
We came to the first house, where there is the stone crucifix. We
heard the order:
"Halt!"
Then thirty men were detached to act as sentinels in the little
streets, and I was among the number, which I liked, for I preferred
being on duty to going into their stables and barns.
As we filed through the principal street the peasants asked us:
"What is going on? Have they been cutting wood? Have they been making
arrests?" and such like questions. But we did not answer them, and
hastened on.
Monborne placed me in the third street to the right, near the large
house of Father Franz, who raised bees on the slope of the valley
behind his house. We heard the sheep bleating and the cattle lowing;
that wretch of a Monborne said, winking at me:
"It will be jolly! We will make the Baraquois open their eyes."
He had no mercy in him. He said to me:
"Moses, thou must stay there. If any one tries to pass, cross your
bayonet. If any one resists, prick him well and then fire. The law
must be supported by force."
I don't know where the cobbler picked up that expression; but he left
me in the street, between two fences white with frost, and went on his
way with the rest of the guard.
I waited there nearly twenty minutes, considering what I should do if
the peasants tried to save their property, and thinking it would be
much better to fire upon the cattle than upon their owners.
I was much perplexed and was very cold, when I heard a great shouting;
at the same time the drum began to beat. Some men went into the
stables and drove the cattle. The Baraquins swore and wept; some tried
to defend themselves. Commandant Thomas cried out:
"To the square! Drive them to the square!"
Some cows escaped through the fences, and you can't imagine what a
tumult there was. I congratulated myself that I was not in the midst
of this pillage. But this did not last long, for suddenly a herd of
goats, driven by two old women, filed down the street on their way to
the valley.
Then I had to stop them with my bayonet and call out:
"Halt!"
One of the women, Mother Migneron, knew me; she had a pitchfork, and
was very pale.
"Let me pass, Moses," said she.
I saw that she was coming slowly toward me, meaning to throw me down
with her pitchfork. The other tried to drive the goats into a little
garden at the side, but the slats were too near together, and the fence
too high.
I should have liked to let them go by, and deny having seen anything;
but, unfortunately, Lieutenant Rollet came up and called out:
"Attention!"
And two men of the company followed: Macry and Schweyer, the brewer.
Old Migneron, seeing me cross the bayonet, began to grind her teeth,
saying:
"Ah! wretch of a Jew, thou'lt pay for this!"
She was so angry that she had no fear of my musket, and three times she
tried to thrust her pitchfork into me; then I found the benefit of my
drilling, for I parried all her attacks.
Two goats escaped between my legs; the rest were taken. The soldiers
pushed back the old women, broke their pitchforks, and finally regained
the chief street, which was full of cattle, lowing and kicking.
Old Migneron sat down on the fence and tore her hair.
Just then two cows came along, their tails in the air, leaping over the
fences and upsetting everything, the baskets of bees and their old
keeper. Fortunately, as it was winter, the bees remained as if dead in
their baskets, or else I believe they would have routed our whole
battalion.
The horn of the _hardier_* sounded in the village. He had been
summoned in the name of the law. This old _hardier_, Nickel, passed
along the street, and the animals became quiet, and could be put in
some order. I saw the procession go along the street; the oxen and
cows in front, then the goats, and the pigs behind.
* Herdsman.
The Baraquins followed, flinging stones and throwing sticks. I saw
that, if I should be forgotten, these wretches would fall upon me, and
I should be murdered; but Sergeant Monborne, with other comrades, came
and relieved me. They all laughed and said:
"We have shaved them well! There is not a goat left at the Barracks;
we have taken everything at one haul."
We hastened to rejoin the column, which marched in two lines at the
right and left of the road, the cattle in the middle, our company
behind, and Nickel, with Commandant Thomas, in front. This formed a
file of at least three hundred paces. On every animal a bundle of hay
had been tied for fodder.
In this way we passed slowly into the cemetery lane.
Upon the glacis we halted, and tied up the animals, and the order came
to take them down into the fosses behind the arsenal.
We were the first that returned; we had seized thirty oxen, forty-five
cows, a quantity of goats and pigs, and some sheep.
All day long the companies were coming back with their booty, so that
the fosses were filled with cattle, which remained in the open air.
Then the governor said that the garrison had provisions for six months,
and every inhabitant must prove that he had enough to last as long, and
that domiciliary visits were to begin.
We broke ranks before the city hall. I was going up the main street,
my gun on my shoulder, when some one called me:
"Hey! Father Moses!"