The Blockade of Phalsburg: An Episode of the End of the Empire

by Erckmann-Chatrian

  IX

  APPROACH OF THE ENEMY

  The next morning, when I threw back the shutters of our room,everything was white with snow; the old elms of the square, the street,the roofs of the mayoralty and market and church. Some of ourneighbors, Recco the tinman, Spick the baker, and old Durand themattress-maker, opened their doors and looked as if dazzled, while theyexclaimed:

  "He! Winter has come!"

  Although we see it every year yet it is like a new existence. Webreathe better out of doors, and within it is a pleasure to sit in thecorner of the fireplace and smoke our pipes, while we watch thecrackling of the red fire. Yes, I have always felt so for seventy-fiveyears, and I feel so still!

  I had scarcely opened the shutters when Safel sprang from his bed likea squirrel, and came and flattened his nose against a pane of glass,his long hair dishevelled and his legs bare.

  "Oh! snow! snow!" he exclaimed. "Now we can have some slides!"

  Sorle, in the next room, made haste to dress herself and run in. Weall looked out for some minutes; then I went to make the fire, Sorlewent to the kitchen, Safel dressed himself hastily, and everything fellback into the ordinary channel.

  Notwithstanding the falling snow, it was very cold. You need only tosee the fire kindle at once, and hear it roar in the stove, to knowthat it was freezing hard.

  As we were eating our soup, I said to Sorle, "The poor sergeant musthave passed a dreadful night. His little glass of cherry-brandy willtaste good."

  "Yes," she said, "it is well you thought of it."

  She went to the closet, and filled my little pocket-flask from thebottle of cherry-brandy.

  You know, Fritz, that we do not like to go into public houses when weare on our way to our own business. Each of us carries his own littlebottle and crust of bread; it is the best way and most conformed to thelaw of the Lord.

  Sorle then filled my flask, and I put it in my pocket, under mygreat-coat, to go to the guard-house. Safel wanted to follow me, buthis mother told him to stay, and I went down alone, well pleased atbeing able to do the sergeant a kindness.

  It was about seven o'clock. The snow falling from the roofs at everygust of wind was enough to blind you. But going along the walls, withmy nose in my great-coat, which was well drawn up on the shoulders, Ireached the German gate, and was about going down the three steps ofthe guard-house, under the arch at the left, when the sergeant himselfopened the heavy door and exclaimed:

  "Is it you, Father Moses! What the devil has brought you here in thiscold?"

  The guard-house was full of mist; we could hardly see some menstretched on camp-beds at the farther end, and five or six veteransnear the red-hot stove.

  I stood and looked.

  "Here," I said to the sergeant as I handed him my little bottle, "Ihave brought you your drop of cherry-brandy; it was such a cold night,you must need it."

  "And you have thought of me, Father Moses!" he exclaimed, taking me bythe arm, and looking at me with emotion.

  "Yes, sergeant."

  "Well, I am glad of it."

  He raised the flask to his mouth and took a good drink. At that momentthere was a distant cry. "Who goes there?" and the guard of theoutpost ran to open the gate.

  "That is good!" said the sergeant, tapping on the cork, and giving methe bottle; "take it back, Father Moses, and thank you!"

  Then he turned toward the half-moon and asked, "News! What is it?"

  We both looked and saw a hussar quartermaster, a withered, gray oldman, with quantities of chevrons on his arm, arrive in great haste.

  All my life I shall have that man before my eyes; his smoking horse,his flying sabretash, his sword clinking against his boots; his cap andjacket covered with frost; his long, bony, wrinkled face, his pointednose, long chin, and yellow eyes. I shall always see him riding likethe wind, then stopping his rearing horse under the arch in front ofus, and calling out to us with a voice like a trumpet: "Where is thegovernor's house, sergeant?"

  "The first house at the right, quartermaster. What is the news?"

  "The enemy is in Alsace!"

  Those who have never seen such men--men accustomed to long warfare, andhard as iron--can have no idea of them. And then if you had heard theexclamation, "The enemy is in Alsace!" it would have made you tremble.

  The veterans had gone away; the sergeant, as he saw the hussar fastenhis horse at the governor's door, said to me: "Ah, well, Father Moses,now we shall see the whites of their eyes!"

  He laughed, and the others seemed pleased.

  As for myself, I set forth quickly, with my head bent, and in my terrorrepeating to myself the words of the prophet:

  "One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another,to show the king that his passages are stopped, and the reeds they haveburned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.

  "The mighty men have forborne to fight, they have remained in theirholds, their might hath failed, and the bars are broken.

  "Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations,prepare the nations against her, call together against her thekingdoms, appoint a captain against her.

  "And the land shall tremble and sorrow; for every purpose of the Lordshall be performed, to make the land a desolation without aninhabitant!"

  I saw my ruin at hand--the destruction of my hopes.

  "Mercy, Moses!" exclaimed my wife, as she saw me come back, "what isthe matter? Your face is all drawn up. Something dreadful hashappened."

  "Yes, Sorle," I said, as I sat down; "the time of trouble has come ofwhich the prophet spoke: 'The king of the south shall push at him, andthe king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind; and heshall enter into the countries and shall overflow and pass over.'"

  This I said with my hands raised toward heaven. Little Safel squeezedhimself between my knees, while Sorle looked on, not knowing what tosay; and I told them that the Austrians were in Alsace; that theBavarians, Swedes, Prussians, and Russians were coming by hundreds ofthousands; that a hussar had come to announce all these calamities;that our spirits of wine were lost, and ruin was threatening us.

  I shed a few tears, and neither Sorle nor Safel would comfort me.

  It was eight o'clock. There was a great commotion in the city. Weheard the drum beat, and proclamations read; it seemed as if the enemywere already there.

  One thing which I remember especially, for we had opened a window tohear, was that the governor ordered the inhabitants to emptyimmediately their barns and granaries; and that, while we werelistening, a large Alsatian wagon with two horses, with Baruch sittingon the pole, and Zeffen behind on some straw--her infant in her arms,and her other child at her side--turned suddenly into the street.

  They were coming to us for safety!

  The sight of them upset me, and raising my hands, I exclaimed:

  "Lord, take from me all weakness! Thou seest that I need to live forthe sake of these little ones. Therefore be thou my strength, and letme not be cast down!"

  And I went down at once to receive them, Sorle and Safel following me.I took my daughter in my arms, and helped her to the ground, whileSorle took the children, and Baruch exclaimed:

  "We came at the last minute! The gate was closed as soon as we hadcome in. There were many others from Quatre-Vents and Saverne who hadto stay outside."

  "God be praised, Baruch!" I replied. "You are all welcome, my dearchildren! I have not much, I am not rich; but what I have, youhave--it is all yours. Come in!"

  And we went upstairs; Zeffen, Sorle, and I carrying the children, whileBaruch stayed to take their things out of the wagon, and then he cameup.

  The street was now full of straw and hay, thrown out from the lofts;there was no wind, and the snow had stopped falling. In a little whilethe shouts and proclamations ceased.

  Sorle hastened to serve up the remains of our breakfast, with a bottleof wine; and Baruch, while he was eating, told us that there was apanic in Alsace, that the Austria
ns had turned Basle, and wereadvancing by forced marches upon Schlestadt, Neuf Brisach, andStrasburg, after having surrounded Huninguen.

  "Everybody is escaping," said he. "They are fleeing to the mountain,taking their valuables on their carts, and driving their cattle intothe woods. There is a rumor already that bands of Cossacks have beenseen at Mutzig, but that is hardly possible, as the army of MarshalVictor is on the Upper Rhine, and dragoons are passing every day tojoin him. How could they pass his lines without giving battle?"

  We were listening very attentively to these things when the sergeantcame in. He was just off duty, and stood outside of the door, lookingat us with astonishment.

  I took Zeffen by the hand, and said: "Sergeant, this is my daughter,this is my son-in-law, and these are my grandchildren, about whom Ihave told you. They know you, for I have told them in my letters howmuch we think of you."

  The sergeant looked at Zeffen.--"Father Moses," said he, "you have ahandsome daughter, and your son-in-law looks like a worthy man."

  Then he took little Esdras from Zeffen's arms, and lifted him up, andmade a face at him, at which the child laughed, and everybody waspleased. The other little one opened his eyes wide and looked on.

  "My children have come to stay with me," I said to the sergeant; "youwill excuse them if they make a little noise in the house?"

  "How! Father Moses," he exclaimed. "I will excuse everything! Do notbe concerned; are we not old friends?"

  And at once, in spite of all we could say, he chose another roomlooking upon the court.

  "All the nestful ought to be together," said he. "I am the friend ofthe family, the old sergeant, who will not trouble anybody, providedthey are willing to see him here."

  I was so much moved that I gave him both my hands.

  "It was a happy day when you entered my house," said I. "The Lord bethanked for it!"

  He laughed, and said: "Come now, Father Moses; come! Have I doneanything more than was natural? Why do you wonder at it?"

  He went at once to get his things and carry them to his new room; andthen went away, so as not to disturb us.

  How we are mistaken! This sergeant, whom Frichard had sent to plagueus, at the end of a fortnight was one of our family; he consulted ourcomfort in everything--and, notwithstanding all the years that havepassed since then, I cannot think of that good man without emotion.

  When we were alone, Baruch told us that he could not stay at Phalsburg;that he had come to bring his family, with everything that he couldprovide for them in the first hurried moments; but that, in the midstof such dangers, when the enemy could not long delay coming, his dutywas to guard his house, and prevent, as much as possible, the pillageof his goods.

  This seemed right, though it made us none the less grieved to have himgo. We thought of the pain of living apart from each other; of hearingno tidings; of being all the time uncertain about the fate of ourbeloved ones! Meanwhile we were all busy. Sorle and Zeffen preparedthe children's bed; Baruch took out the provisions which he hadbrought; Safel played with the two little ones, and I went and came,thinking about our troubles.

  At last, when the best room was ready for Zeffen and the children, asthe German gate was already shut, and the French gate would be openonly until two o'clock at the latest, for strangers to leave the city,Baruch exclaimed: "Zeffen, the moment has come!"

  He had scarcely said the words when the great agony began--cries,embraces, and tears!

  Ah! it is a great joy to be loved, the only true joy of life. But whatsorrow to be separated! And how our family loved each other! HowZeffen and Baruch embraced one another! How they leaned over theirlittle ones, how they looked at them, and began to sob again!

  What can be said at such a moment? I sat by the window, with my handsbefore my face, without strength to speak. I thought to myself: "MyGod, must it be that a single man shall hold in his hands the fate ofus all! Must it be that, for his pleasure, for the gratification ofhis pride, everything shall be confounded, overturned, torn asunder!My God, shall these troubles never end? Hast thou no pity on thy poorcreatures?"

  I did not raise my eyes, but I heard the lamentations which rent myheart, and which lasted till the moment when Baruch, perceiving thatZeffen was quite exhausted, ran out, exclaiming: "It must be! It mustbe! Adieu, Zeffen! Adieu, my children! Adieu, all!"

  No one followed him.

  We heard the carriage roll away, and then was the great sorrow--thatsorrow of which it is written:

  "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down; yea, we wept when weremembered Zion.

  "We hanged our harps upon the willows.

  "For there they that carried us away captive, required of us a song,saying: 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion!'

  "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?"