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

by Erckmann-Chatrian

  XI

  FATHER MOSES RETURNS IN TRIUMPH

  Now I must tell you about our return to Phalsburg.

  You may suppose that my wife and children, after seeing me take my gunand go away, were in a state of great anxiety. About five o'clockSorle went out with Zeffen to try to learn what was going on, and onlythen they heard that I had started for Mittelbronn with a detachment ofveterans.

  Imagine their terror!

  The rumor of these extraordinary proceedings had spread through thecity, and quantities of people were on the bastion of the artillerybarracks, looking on from the distance. Burguet was there, with themayor, and other persons of distinction, and a number of women andchildren, all trying to see through the darkness. Some insisted thatMoses marched with the detachment, but nobody would believe it, andBurguet exclaimed: "It is not possible that a sensible man like Moseswould go and risk his life in fighting Cossacks--no, it is notpossible!"

  If I had been in his place I should have said the same of him. Butwhat can you do, Fritz? The most prudent of men become blind whentheir property is at stake; blind, I say, and terrible, for they losesight of danger.

  This crowd was waiting, as I said, and soon Zeffen and Sorle came, aspale as death, with their large shawls over their heads. They went upthe rampart and stood there, with their feet in the snow, too muchfrightened to speak.

  I learned these things afterward.

  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 skirmishbegan.

  Burguet told me afterward that, notwithstanding the darkness and thedistance, they saw the flash of the muskets around the inn as plainlyas if they were a hundred paces off, and everybody was still andlistened to hear the shots, which were repeated by the echoes of theBois-de-Chenes and Lutzelburg.

  When they ceased Sorle descended from the slope leaning on Zeffen'sarm, for she could not support herself. Burguet helped them to reachthe street, and took them into old Frise's house on the corner, wherethey 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 whocan answer for his own wisdom? Has not the wise man himself said: "Iturned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly; and I saw thatwisdom excelleth folly; and I myself perceived that one event happenethto the wise man and the fool. Wherefore, I said in my heart, thatwisdom also is vanity."

  Burguet was going out from Father Frise's when Schweyer and his sonscame up the postern stairs, crying out that we were surrounded byCossacks and lost. Fortunately my wife and daughter could not hearthem, and the mayor soon came along and ordered them to stop talkingand go home quickly, if they did not want to be sent to prison.

  They obeyed, but that did not prevent people from believing what theysaid, especially as it was all dark again in the direction ofMittelbronn.

  The crowd came down from the ramparts and filled the street; many ofthem went to their homes thinking they should never see us again, when,just as the clock struck seven, the sentinel of the outworks calledout, "Who goes there?"

  We had reached the gate.

  The crowd was soon on the ramparts again. The squad in front of thesergeant on duty flew to arms; they had just recognized us.

  We heard the murmur, without knowing what it was. So, when, after areconnoissance, the gates were slowly opened to us, and the two bridgeslowered 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 thegates, the soldiers presented arms to us, the great crowd surroundingus, shouting: "Moses! Hey, Moses! are you all right? you have not beenkilled?" the shouts of laughter, the people seizing my arm to hear metell about the fight,--all these things were very pleasant.

  Everybody wanted to talk with me, even the mayor, and I had not time toanswer 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 themselvesall 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 theglory 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 bythe 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 thecrowd to old Frise's, and there, when we were alone, we began to hugeach other again.

  Without, the shouts of joy were redoubled; you would have thought thatthe 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 toldthem that the Cossacks ran away as soon as they saw us, and that we hadonly to put horses to the wagons before starting.

  A quarter of an hour afterward, when the cries and tumult had ceased, Iwent 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 tothe unlading of the brandy.

  I wanted to put everything in order before morning, so as to begin tosell at double price as soon as possible.

  When a man runs such risks he ought to make something by it; for if heshould sell at cost price, as some persons wish, nobody would bewilling to run any risk for the sake of others; and if it should cometo pass that a man should sacrifice himself for other people, he wouldbe thought a blockhead; we have seen it a hundred times, and it willalways be so.

  Thank God! such ideas never entered into my head! I have alwaysthought that the true idea of trade was to make as much profit as wecan, honestly and lawfully.

  That is according to justice and good sense.

  As we turned at the corner of the market, our two wagons were alreadyunharnessed before our house. Heitz was running back with his horses,so as to take advantage of the open gates, and the veterans, with theirarms 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 Isent Safel for Gros the cooper, to come and unload the casks.Quantities of people came and offered to help us. Gros came soon withhis 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 spiritswhich cost me twenty sous the quart, and which I am going to sell forthree francs!" This shows the beauty of trade; but everybody canimagine the pleasure for himself--there is no use in speaking of it.

  About midnight my twelve pipes were down on the stands, and there wasnothing left to do but to broach them.

  While the crowd was dispersing, I engaged Gros to come in the morningto help me mix the spirits with water, and we went up, well pleasedwith our day's work. We closed the double oak door, and I fastened thepadlock 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 theonly one living like a bird on the branch; there were hundreds ofothers who were not able to close their eyes. You should have seen howthe citizens looked every morning, when they heard that the Austriansand Russians occupied Alsace, that the Prussians were marching uponSarrebruck, or when an order was published for domiciliary visits, orfor days' labor to wall up the posterns and orillons of the place, orto form companies of firemen to remove at once all inflammable matter,or to report to the governor the situation of the city treasury, andthe 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 yourlast shirt, giving you the governor's receipt for it. The first men ofthe land are zeros when the governor has spoken. This is why I haveoften thought that everybody who wishes for war, or at least wants tobe a soldier, is either demented or half ruined, and hopes to betterhimself by the ruin of everybody else. It must be so.

  But notwithstanding all these troubles, I could not lose time, and Ispent all the next day in mixing my spirits. I took off my cloak, anddrew out with great gusto. Gros and his boys brought jugs, and emptiedthem in the casks which I had bought beforehand, so that by eveningthese casks were brimful of good white brandy, eighteen degrees.

  I had caramel prepared, also, to give the brandy a good color of oldcognac, and when I turned the faucet, and raised the glass before thecandle, 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, andwine unto those that be of heavy hearts! Let him drink and rememberhis misery no more."

  Father Gros, standing at my side on his great flat feet, smiledquietly, and his boys looked well pleased.

  I filled the glass for them; they passed it to each other and weredelighted with it.

  About five o'clock we went upstairs. Safel, on the same day, hadbrought three workmen, and had them remove our old iron into the courtunder the shed. The old rickety storehouse was cleaned. Desmarets,the joiner, put up some shelves behind the door in the arch, forholding bottles, and glasses, and tin measures, when the time forselling should come, and his son put together the planks of thecounter. 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 herbaby in her arms, and Sorle, had also come down. I showed my wife theplace behind the counter, and said, "That is the place where you are tosit, with your feet in loose slippers, and a warm tippet on yourshoulders, and sell our brandy."

  She smiled as she thought of it.

  Our neighbors, Bailly the armorer, Koffel the little weaver, andseveral others, came and looked on without speaking; they wereastonished to see what quick work we were making.

  At six o'clock, just as Desmarets laid aside his hammer, the sergeantarrived in great glee, on his return from the cantine.

  "Well, Father Moses!" he exclaimed, "the work goes on! But there isstill something wanting."

  "What is that, sergeant?"

  "Hi! It is all right, only you must put a screen up above, or look outfor the shells!"

  I saw that he was right, and we were all well frightened, except theneighbors, 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 atan end.

  Sorle, Zeffen, and I went up, while Desmarets closed the door. Supperwas ready; we sat down thoughtfully, and little Safel brought the keys.

  The noise had ceased without; now and then a citizen on patrol passedby.

  The sergeant came to smoke his pipe as usual. He explained how thescreens were made, by crossing beams in the form of a sentry-box, thetwo sides supported against the gables, but while he maintained that itwould hold like an arch, I did not think it strong enough, and I saw bySorle's face that she thought as I did.

  We sat there talking till ten o'clock, and then all went to bed.