the short distance that the little troop was obliged to cover in order to reach the plain was entirely bare, except for the wounded, the dead, and the dying. the fight had lasted barely an hour and a half, but more than fifteen hundred men lay strewn upon the battlefield.
charles approached the line of dead with a certain degree of apprehension; at the first corpse that his horse encountered the animal shied so violently that the boy was nearly thrown. pichegru's horse, held in better check, or perhaps better accustomed to such scenes, leaped over the obstacles; in time charles's horse was forced to follow his example and to leap over the dead.
it was not, however, the dead that made the most impression upon charles, but the wounded, who sought to drag themselves from beneath the hoofs of the horses of the general and his staff, by a supreme effort, or lay horribly mutilated and muttering, the death-rattle in their throats: "comrades, for mercy's sake despatch me! despatch me!"
others again, those who were not so grievously wounded, raised themselves upon their elbows, and, waving their caps, cried: "long live the republic!"
"is this the first time that you have ever seen a battlefield?" asked pichegru.
"no, general," replied the boy.
"where have you seen one before?"
"in tacitus—that of teutberg, with germanicus and cecina."
[pg 151]
"ah, yes," replied pichegru, "i remember: it is when germanicus, just before he reaches the forest, finds the eagle of the nineteenth legion which was lost with varus."
"and do you remember that passage, general, which i understand so well now—'all the army were filled with pity as they thought of relatives, friends, the chances of war, and the destiny of men'?"
"yes," said pichegru. "'there were,' said tacitus, 'in the midst of the vast clearing, whitening bones scattered where the men had fled, and lying in heaps where they had fought.' oh! i wish i could remember the latin text, which no translation can equal; wait: 'medio—'"
"i remember it, general," said charles; "'medio campi albentia ossa ut fugerant, ut resisterant.'"
"well done, charles," said pichegru; "your father made me a fine gift when he sent you to me!"
"general," asked charles, "are you not going to send help to these poor wounded men?"
"don't you see the surgeons who are going from one to the other, regardless of whether they are friends or enemies? we have gained at least this much in eighteen hundred years of civilization; we do not cut the throats of prisoners upon the altars of teutates, as in the time of armin and marbod."
"and," said charles, "the conquered generals are not obliged to kill themselves like varus, infelice dextra."
"do you think," said pichegru, laughing, "that it is preferable to be sent to the revolutionary tribunal like that poor eisemberg, whose head is constantly before my eyes and whose words are constantly in my mind?"
while they were thus talking they had entered the town. perhaps the sight was even more terrible there, because the carnage was confined to a smaller space. the fighting had been carried on from house to house. before trying to escape from the roofs and windows, the prussians, and particularly a small body of royalists who had remained in the town, had made a desperate defence. when their cartridges[pg 152] were exhausted they had seized upon any weapon that came to hand, and had thrown cupboards, bureaus, chairs, and even marbles from the mantel down upon their assailants from the third story windows. some of the houses were on fire, and as there was nothing left inside to burn, their ruined proprietors, judging it useless to stop the conflagration, stood and watched their possessions burn.
pichegru gave directions that fires should be put out as soon as possible, and then he went to the town-hall, where he always chose to lodge when on a campaign. there he received his reports.
on entering the court he perceived an ammunition wagon, carefully guarded, bearing the blue coat of arms and the three fleur-de-lis of france; it had been captured at m. de condé's lodgings. thinking it of importance, it had been brought to the town-hall, where, as we have said, the general was to lodge.
"very good," said pichegru, "i will have the wagon opened in the presence of the staff."
he dismounted, went upstairs, and took up his quarters in the council-chamber, where the officers who had taken part in the engagement arrived one after the other.
the first to come was captain gaume. desiring to take part in the engagement, he had joined the square formed by general michaud's command, and after three charges, as boldly executed as they were useless, he had seen the prince de condé retreat, by a wide circle, in the direction of haguenau, leaving about two hundred of his men upon the field of battle.
general michaud was providing lodgings for his soldiers, and had given orders for rations of bread to be cooked and sent to the neighboring villages from dawendorff.
then came chaumette. in pursuance of the general's orders, he had taken his twenty-five men and entered the village at the other end, sounding the charge as boldly as if he had been at the head of six hundred men. the ruse had succeeded; the prussians and the small body of royal[pg 153]ists who were defending the town, believing themselves attacked in front and in the rear at the same time, had fled over the roofs of the houses, as charles had pointed out to the general.
the next to arrive was abatucci. he had received a sword-cut in his cheek, and his shoulder, moreover, had been dislocated. the general had noted the splendid courage with which he had charged at the head of his chasseurs; but when they reached the prussians, the encounter had become a hand-to-hand fight and the individuals had been lost sight of.
abatucci's horse had been struck by a bullet in the head and had fallen. while endeavoring to extricate himself, abatucci had been struck by a sabre and had his shoulder dislocated. for a moment he thought himself lost; but a detachment of chasseurs had saved him. nevertheless, on foot, in the midst of this terrible disorder, he had been in the greatest danger, until the chasseur falou, the one the general had questioned the previous evening about eisemberg, had brought him a horse which he had taken from an officer whom he had killed. at such times there is little time for words; abatucci had grasped the reins with one hand, while with the other he had offered his purse to the chasseur. the latter refused the officer's gift, and as he was carried away by the rush of the combat, abatucci called after him: "we shall meet again!"
consequently when he entered the town-hall, abatucci instituted a search for the chasseur. the young aide-de-camp's force had killed about two hundred men and captured one flag, while they themselves had lost only about eight or ten men.
macdonald waited until abatucci had finished his report before beginning his. at the head of the battalion of the indre he had borne the brunt of the battle, receiving at first the fire from the intrenchments, and then entering the town. we know how he had been received there. each house had vomited flames like a volcano; but in spite of the rain of[pg 154] bullets, which had greatly reduced his forces, he had continued to advance, until, turning into the principal street of the town, he had been confronted with two cannon, which had poured forth grape-shot at a distance of only five hundred feet. it was then that the battalion of the indre had had to beat a retreat, and had fallen back without leaving the town.
true to his promise, macdonald, after giving his men time to breathe, had re-entered the town, and, animated by the trumpets sounding at the other end of the village, his force reached the great square, intending to capture the two cannon. but the chasseurs had already taken possession of them.
from that moment the village of dawendorff was won. besides the two cannon, a military wagon, or caisson, as we have said, bearing the fleur-de-lis of france, had fallen into the hands of the victorious army.
the general, thinking that it might contain money belonging to the prince de condé, had given orders to have it opened in the presence of his staff.
lieber arrived last. followed by abatucci's chasseurs, he had pursued the enemy for more than three miles, and had taken three hundred prisoners.
the day had been fortunate; they had slain about a thousand of the enemy, and upward of six hundred had been taken prisoner.
larrey set abatucci's dislocated shoulder.
the members of the staff being all present, they went down into the court and a locksmith was sent for. there was one near at hand, and he came shortly, bringing his instruments. in a moment the cover was raised; they found one of the compartments filled with long rolls like cartridges. they broke one and found that it contained gold. each roll contained one hundred guineas—two thousand five hundred francs, stamped with the effigy of king george. there were three hundred and ten rolls, making in all seven hundred and seventy-five thousand francs.
[pg 155]
"faith!" said pichegru, "this is wonderfully fortunate; we will use it to pay the soldiers. are you there, estève?"
estève was the paymaster of the army of the rhine.
"have you ascertained how much is due the men?"
"about five hundred thousand francs. i will show you my accounts."
"take five hundred thousand francs at once, citizen estève," said pichegru, laughing, "and pay the men. you will use the ground floor for your office. i will take the next story."
the five hundred thousand francs were counted out to citizen estève.
"now," continued pichegru, "there are twenty-five thousand francs to be divided among the battalion of the indre, which has suffered the most."
"that is about thirty-nine francs for each man," said citizen estève.
"you will keep fifty thousand francs for the need of the army."
"and the remaining two hundred thousand francs?"
"abatucci shall carry them to the convention, with the flag we have captured; it is well to show the world that republicans do not fight for money. let us go upstairs, citizens," continued pichegru, "and leave citizen estève to his work."
