When Zeffen and her mother went up on the bastion, it was, perhaps,
half-past five; there was not a star to be seen. Just at that time,
Schweyer and his boys ran away, and five minutes later the skirmish
began.
Burguet told me afterward that, notwithstanding the darkness and the
distance, they saw the flash of the muskets around the inn as plainly
as if they were a hundred paces off, and everybody was still and
listened to hear the shots, which were repeated by the echoes of the
Bois-de-Chenes and Lutzelburg.
When they ceased Sorle descended from the slope leaning on Zeffen's
arm, for she could not support herself. Burguet helped them to reach
the street, and took them into old Frise's house on the corner, where
they found him warming himself gloomily by his hearth.
"My last day has come!" said Sorle. Zeffen wept bitterly.
I have often reproached myself for having caused this sorrow, but who
can answer for his own wisdom? Has not the wise man himself said: "I
turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly; and I saw that
wisdom excelleth folly; and I myself perceived that one event happeneth
to the wise man and the fool. Wherefore, I said in my heart, that
wisdom also is vanity."
Burguet was going out from Father Frise's when Schweyer and his sons
came up the postern stairs, crying out that we were surrounded by
Cossacks and lost. Fortunately my wife and daughter could not hear
them, and the mayor soon came along and ordered them to stop talking
and go home quickly, if they did not want to be sent to prison.
They obeyed, but that did not prevent people from believing what they
said, especially as it was all dark again in the direction of
Mittelbronn.
The crowd came down from the ramparts and filled the street; many of
them went to their homes thinking they should never see us again, when,
just as the clock struck seven, the sentinel of the outworks called
out, "Who goes there?"
We had reached the gate.
The crowd was soon on the ramparts again. The squad in front of the
sergeant on duty flew to arms; they had just recognized us.
We heard the murmur, without knowing what it was. So, when, after a
reconnoissance, the gates were slowly opened to us, and the two bridges
lowered for us to pass, what was our surprise at hearing the shouts:
"Hurrah for Father Moses! Hurrah for the spirits of wine!"
The tears came to my eyes. And my wagons rolling heavily under the
gates, the soldiers presented arms to us, the great crowd surrounding
us, shouting: "Moses! Hey, Moses! are you all right? you have not been
killed?" the shouts of laughter, the people seizing my arm to hear me
tell about the fight,--all these things were very pleasant.
Everybody wanted to talk with me, even the mayor, and I had not time to
answer them.
But all this was nothing compared with the joy I felt at seeing Sorle,
Zeffen, and little Safel run from Father Frise's and throw themselves
all at once into my arms, exclaiming: "He is safe! he is safe!"
Ah, Fritz! what are honors by the side of such love? What is all the
glory of the world compared with the joy of seeing our beloved ones?
The others might have cried out, "Hurrah for Moses!" a hundred years,
and I would not even have turned my head; but I was terribly moved by
the sight of my family.
I gave Safel my gun, and while the wagons, escorted by the veterans,
went on toward the little market, I led Zeffen and Sorle through the
crowd to old Frise's, and there, when we were alone, we began to hug
each other again.
Without, the shouts of joy were redoubled; you would have thought that
the spirits of wine belonged to the whole city. But within the room,
my wife and daughter burst into tears, and I confessed my imprudence.
So, instead of telling them of the dangers I had experienced, I told
them that the Cossacks ran away as soon as they saw us, and that we had
only to put horses to the wagons before starting.
A quarter of an hour afterward, when the cries and tumult had ceased, I
went out, with Zeffen and Sorle on my arms, and little Safel in front,
with my gun on his shoulder, and in this way we went home, to see to
the unlading of the brandy.
I wanted to put everything in order before morning, so as to begin to
sell at double price as soon as possible.
When a man runs such risks he ought to make something by it; for if he
should sell at cost price, as some persons wish, nobody would be
willing to run any risk for the sake of others; and if it should come
to pass that a man should sacrifice himself for other people, he would
be thought a blockhead; we have seen it a hundred times, and it will
always be so.
Thank God! such ideas never entered into my head! I have always
thought that the true idea of trade was to make as much profit as we
can, honestly and lawfully.
That is according to justice and good sense.
As we turned at the corner of the market, our two wagons were already
unharnessed before our house. Heitz was running back with his horses,
so as to take advantage of the open gates, and the veterans, with their
arms at will, were going up the street toward the infantry quarters.
It might have been eight o'clock. Zeffen and Sorle went to bed, and I
sent Safel for Gros the cooper, to come and unload the casks.
Quantities of people came and offered to help us. Gros came soon with
his boys, and the work began.
It is very pleasant, Fritz, to see great tuns going into your cellar,
and to say to yourself, "These splendid tuns are mine: it is spirits
which cost me twenty sous the quart, and which I am going to sell for
three francs!" This shows the beauty of trade; but everybody can
imagine the pleasure for himself--there is no use in speaking of it.
About midnight my twelve pipes were down on the stands, and there was
nothing left to do but to broach them.
While the crowd was dispersing, I engaged Gros to come in the morning
to help me mix the spirits with water, and we went up, well pleased
with our day's work. We closed the double oak door, and I fastened the
padlock and went to bed.
What a pleasure it is to own something and feel that it is all safe!
This is how my twelve pipes were saved.
You see now, Fritz, what anxieties and fears we had at that time.
Nobody was sure of anything; for you must not suppose that I was the
only one living like a bird on the branch; there were hundreds of
others who were not able to close their eyes. You should have seen how
the citizens looked every morning, when they heard that the Austrians
and Russians occupied Alsace, that the Prussians were marching upon
Sarrebruck, or when an order was published for domiciliary visits, or
for days' labor to wall up the posterns and orillons of the place, or
to form companies of firemen to remove at once all inflammable matter,
or to report to the governor the situation of the city treasury, and
the list of the principal persons subject to taxes for the supply of
shoes, caps, bed-linen, and so forth.
You should have seen how people looked at each other.
In war times civil life is nothing, and they will take from you your
last shirt, giving you the governor's receipt for it. The first men of
the land are zeros when the governor has spoken. This is why I have
often thought that everybody who wishes for war, or at least wants to
be a soldier, is either demented or half ruined, and hopes to better
himself by the ruin of everybody else. It must be so.
But notwithstanding all these troubles, I could not lose time, and I
spent all the next day in mixing my spirits. I took off my cloak, and
drew out with great gusto. Gros and his boys brought jugs, and emptied
them in the casks which I had bought beforehand, so that by evening
these casks were brimful of good white brandy, eighteen degrees.
I had caramel prepared, also, to give the brandy a good color of old
cognac, and when I turned the faucet, and raised the glass before the
candle, and saw that it was exactly the right tint, I was in ecstasies,
and exclaimed: "Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and
wine unto those that be of heavy hearts! Let him drink and remember
his misery no more."
Father Gros, standing at my side on his great flat feet, smiled
quietly, and his boys looked well pleased.
I filled the glass for them; they passed it to each other and were
delighted with it.
About five o'clock we went upstairs. Safel, on the same day, had
brought three workmen, and had them remove our old iron into the court
under the shed. The old rickety storehouse was cleaned. Desmarets,
the joiner, put up some shelves behind the door in the arch, for
holding bottles, and glasses, and tin measures, when the time for
selling should come, and his son put together the planks of the
counter. This was all done at once, as at a time of great pressure,
when people like to make a good sum of money quickly.
I looked at it all with a good deal of satisfaction. Zeffen, with her
baby in her arms, and Sorle, had also come down. I showed my wife the
place behind the counter, and said, "That is the place where you are to
sit, with your feet in loose slippers, and a warm tippet on your
shoulders, and sell our brandy."
She smiled as she thought of it.
Our neighbors, Bailly the armorer, Koffel the little weaver, and
several others, came and looked on without speaking; they were
astonished to see what quick work we were making.
At six o'clock, just as Desmarets laid aside his hammer, the sergeant
arrived in great glee, on his return from the cantine.
"Well, Father Moses!" he exclaimed, "the work goes on! But there is
still something wanting."
"What is that, sergeant?"
"Hi! It is all right, only you must put a screen up above, or look out
for the shells!"
I saw that he was right, and we were all well frightened, except the
neighbors, who laughed to see our surprise.
"Yes," said the sergeant, "we must have it."
This took away all my pleasure; I saw that our troubles were not yet at
an end.
Sorle, Zeffen, and I went up, while Desmarets closed the door. Supper
was ready; we sat down thoughtfully, and little Safel brought the keys.
The noise had ceased without; now and then a citizen on patrol passed
by.
The sergeant came to smoke his pipe as usual. He explained how the
screens were made, by crossing beams in the form of a sentry-box, the
two sides supported against the gables, but while he maintained that it
would hold like an arch, I did not think it strong enough, and I saw by
Sorle's face that she thought as I did.
We sat there talking till ten o'clock, and then all went to bed.