"Among the wounded was a young Frenchman with a gold medal about
which he refused to speak, and a slight wound in the foot about
which he made considerable fuss," cables a correspondent. "Disgusted
by these complaints among so much suffering silently borne, my
informant elicited from the youth's comrades the following story,
which subsequently was verified:
"At a point where the French trenches were barely fifty yards
from the enemy's a party of Germans sang songs during the night
which infuriated the French--'They wouldn't let us sleep with
their howling,' as one of the French soldiers put it. Finally one
little chasseur, crying, 'I will silence them,' seized a rifle and
disappeared before any one could detain him.
"After a moment's silence came the crackle of rapid firing,
followed by German shrieks and wild volleys. The firing continued,
accompanied by shouts in French as from an officer directing an
attack; then in guttural tones: 'Stop! Stop! We surrender.' A few
minutes later the little chasseur reappeared escorting several
unarmed Germans. He said: 'You can occupy the trench; there's
nothing but corpses left to defend it.'
"Advancing, the French discovered forty dead Germans in the trench,
killed by the little chasseur, firing from the end, whither he had
crawled unnoticed. In some cases the same bullet pierced several
Germans."