Fritz and Eric

by John C. Hutcheson

  CHAPTER TEN.

  ON THE MOVE AGAIN.

  "I wonder if she cares about that French fellow still?" thought Fritz tohimself when Madaleine had gone. "I don't believe she could have feltfor him much, from the manner in which she listened when I told her ofhis death and the way she looked at that ring. Himmel! Would shereceive the news of my being shot in the same fashion, I wonder?"

  Fritz, however, could not settle this momentous question satisfactorilyto his own mind just then; so he had, consequently, to leave the matterto be decided at that blissful period when everybody thought that"everything would come straight"--the period to which he had alluded atthe interesting instant when his slightly confidential conversation withMadaleine was so inopportunely interrupted by the maladroit entrance ofDoctor Carl. In other words, "when the war should be over!" But, asthe worthy disciple of Aesculapius had sapiently remarked on theoccasion of his accidental interference with what might have beenotherwise a mutual understanding between the two, the war was not overyet. The halcyon time had not arrived for the sword to be beaten into aploughshare, nor did there seem much prospect of such a happycontingency in the near immediate future; for, although the contest hadalready lasted three months--during which a series of terribleengagements had invariably resulted in the defeat of the French--fromthe commencement of the campaign to the capitulation of Metz, eachcrushing disaster only seemed to have the effect of nerving the Gallicrace to fresh resistance and so prolong the struggle. Indeed, at thebeginning of November, 1870, with Paris laughing the idea of a siege toscorn and new armies being rapidly organised, in the north at SaintQuentin, in the west at Havre, and in the south at Orleans, the end ofthe war appeared as far off as ever!

  Fritz missed the attentions of his unwearying little nurse much, and hisconvalescence did not progress so rapidly in consequence; but onemorning, some three weeks after the departure of the party of thebaroness' from Mezieres, he was agreeably surprised by Doctor Carlgiving him permission to rejoin his corps.

  "I don't quite think you exactly strong enough yet, you know; but I'vereceived orders to clear out the hospitals here, sending forward allsuch as are fit to their respective regiments, while those notsufficiently recovered I am to invalid to Germany. Now, which is it tobe, Herr Lieutenant? I candidly don't believe you're quite up to themark for campaigning again yet; but still, perhaps, you would not likebeing put on the shelf, and no doubt you'd gain strength from the changeof air as you moved on with the army. Which course will you select,Herr Lieutenant? I give you the choice."

  "To rejoin my regiment, certainly, doctor!" answered Fritz, without amoment's hesitation. "I'm tired of doing nothing here, and I fancy I'vebeen well enough to move for the past fortnight."

  "Ah, permit me to be the best judge of that, young man," said the other."No doubt you feel wonderfully strong just now! Can you lift thischair, do you think, eh?"

  "Certainly," replied Fritz, laying his hand on the slight little articleof furniture the doctor had pointed out with his cane, and which hecould have easily held up with one finger when in the possession of hisproper strength. He was quite indignant, indeed, with Doctor Carl forsuggesting such a feeble trial for him, as if he were a child; but, muchto his astonishment, he found that he was utterly unable to raise thechair from the ground. Besides which, he quite panted after theexertion, just as if he had been endeavouring to lift a ton weight!

  "Ha, what did I say, Herr Lieutenant?" said the surgeon with a laugh."You will now allow, I suppose, that we doctors know best as to what isgood for our patients! But, come, you will not be wanted to raise orcarry about a greater weight than yourself until you come up with yourregiment, which is now with Manteuffel's division near Amiens, for, bythat time, you'll be yourself again. I'll now go and sign yourcertificate and papers, so that you may get ready to start as soon asyou like."

  "Hurrah!" exclaimed Fritz. "It is `Forwards' again--the very word putsfresh life in me!" and, trying once more, he lifted the chair this timewith ease. "You see, Herr Doctor, I can do it now!"

  "Ah, there's nothing like hope and will!" said the doctor, bustling outof the room--which Fritz, unlike many poor victims of the war, had hadentirely to himself, instead of being only one amongst hundreds ofothers in a crowded hospital ward. "By the time you join your comradesagain, you'll be double the man you were before you came under my care!"

  "Thanks to you, dear doctor," shouted out Fritz after him in cordialtones; and he then proceeded to overhaul his somewhat dilapidateduniform to see whether it was in order for him to don once more.

  On the termination of the siege of Metz, by its capitulation at the endof October, the large German force which had been employed up till thenin the investment of Marshal Bazaine's entrenched camp before thefortress, became released for other duties; thus enabling Von Moltke,the great strategical head of the Teuton legions, to develop his plansfor the complete subjugation of the country.

  In accordance, therefore, with these arrangements, two army corps, eachof some thirty thousand men, proceeded at once to aid the hostsencircling Paris with fire and steel; while two more corps were led byPrince Frederick Charles towards the south of France, where they arrivedin the nick of time to assist the Duke of Mecklenburgh and the defeatedBavarians under Van der Tann in breaking up the formidable army of theLoire commanded by Chanzy, which had very nearly succeeded in alteringthe condition of the war; the remainder of the German investing forcefrom Metz were sent northwards, under Manteuffel, in the direction ofBrittany and the departments bordering on the English Channel, so as tocrush out all opposition there.

  With this latter force marched the regiment of our friend Fritz, whichhe was able to rejoin about the beginning of December at Amiens, wherewere established the headquarters of General Manteuffel, the presentcommander of the first army--"Old Blood and Iron."

  Steinmetz having been shelved, it was said, on account of his age andinfirmities, he having fought at Waterloo, but more probably on accountof his rather lavish sacrifice of his men, especially at Gravelotte.This force kept firm hold of Normandy with a strong hand, threateningDieppe and Havre on either side.

  Fritz had a tedious journey to the front.

  Partly by railway where practicable, and partly by roads that wereblocked by the heavy siege guns and waggon loads of ammunition goingforwards for the use of the force besieging Paris, the young lieutenantmade his way onwards in company with a reserve column of Landwehrproceeding to fill up casualties in Manteuffel's ranks--the journey notbeing rendered any the more agreeable by the frequent attacks sufferedfrom franc-tireurs when passing through the many woods and forestsencountered on the route, in addition to meeting straggling bands of theenemy, who opposed the progress of the column the more vigorously as itabandoned the main roads leading from the frontier and struck acrosscountry.

  It was not by any means a pleasure trip; but, putting all perils aside,regarding them merely as the vicissitudes of a soldier's lot, whatimpressed Fritz more than anything else was the ruin and devastationwhich, following thus in the rear of a triumphant army, he everywherenoticed.

  The towns he entered on his way had most of their shops shut, and thewindows of the private houses were closed, as if in sympathy with anational funeral, those which had been bombarded--and these were many--having, besides, their streets blocked up with fallen masonry andscattered beams of timber, their church steeples prostrate, and thewalls of buildings perforated with round shot and bursting shells thathad likewise burnt and demolished the roofs; while, in the more opencountry, the farms and villages had been swept away as if with awhirlwind of fire, only bare gables and blackened rafters staring upinto the clouds, like the skeletons of what were once happy homes. Thevineyards and fields and gardens around were destroyed and running towaste in the most pitiful way, for every one connected with them, whohad formerly cherished and tended them with such care and attention, hadeither been killed or else sought safety in flight to the cities, wheretheir refuge was equally precari
ous. Along the highway, the trees,whose branches once gave such grateful shade to wayfarers, were now cutdown, only rows of hideous, half-consumed stumps remaining in theirstead; while here and there, as the scene of some great battle waspassed, great mounds like oblong bases of flattened pyramids rose abovethe surface of the devastated plain--mounds under whose frozen surfacelay the mouldering bodies of thousands of brave men who had fallen onthe bloody field, their last resting-place unmarked by sepulchral crossor monumental marble. Everywhere there was terrible evidence of theeffects of war and the price of that "glory" which, the poet singstruly, "leads but to the grave!"

  Fritz was sickened with it all; but, what struck his keen sense ofhonour and honesty more, was the wholesale pillage and robbery permittedby the German commanders to be exercised by their soldiery on thedefenceless peasantry of France. A cart which he overhauled, proceedingback to the frontier, contained such wretched spoil as women's clothes,a bale of coffee, a quantity of cheap engravings and chimney ornaments,an old-fashioned kitchen clock, with an arm-chair--the pride of somefireside corner--a quantity of copper, and several pairs of ear-rings,such as are sold for a few sous in the Palais Royale!

  The sight of this made his blood boil, and Fritz got into some troublewith a colonel of Uhlans by ordering the contents of the cart to be atonce confiscated and burnt, the huckster being on the good books of thatofficer--doubtless as a useful collector of curios!

  It was a current report amongst the French at the time that the Germanarmy was followed by a tribe of Jew speculators, who purchased from thesoldiers the plunder that they certainly could not themselves expect tocarry back to their own country; and this incident led Fritz to believethe rumour well founded.

  "Heavens, little mother," as he wrote home subsequently to Madame Dort,after his experience of what went on at headquarters under his newcommander. "I do not fear the enemy; but the only thing which will dous any harm, God willing that we come safely home, is that we shall notbe able to distinguish between mine and thine, the `meum' and `tuum'taught us at school, for we shall be all thorough thieves; that is tosay, we are ordered to take--`requisition' they call it--everything thatwe can find and that we can use. This does not confine itself alone tofood for the horses and people, but to every piece of portable property,not an absolute fixture, which, if of any value, we are directed toappropriate and `nail' fast!

  "Through the desertion of most of the castles here in the neighbourhoodby their legitimate proprietors, the entry to all of them is open to us;and now everything is taken out of them that is worth taking at all.The wine-cellars in particular are searched; and I may say that ourdivision has drank more champagne on its own account than I everremember to have seen in the district of Champagne, when I visited itlast year before the war.

  "In the second place, our light-fingered forces carry off all the horseswe can take with us; all toilet things, glasses, stockings, brushes,boots and shoes, linen--in a word, everything is `stuck to!'

  "The officers, I may add, are no exception to the private soldiers, butsteal in their proper precedence, appropriating whatever objects of artor pictures of value they can find in the mansions we visit in thesearchaeological tours of ours. Only yesterday, the adjutant of myregiment, a noble by birth, but I am sorry to say not a gentleman eitherby manners or moral demeanour, came to me and said, `Fritz Dort, do methe favour to steal for me all the loot you can bring me. We will atall events show Moltke that he has not sent us into this war fornothing.' Of course, this being an order from a superior officer, Icould not say anything but `At your command, your highness!' But whatwill come of it all only God knows! I'm afraid, when there is nothingleft to lay our hands on, we will begin to appropriate the goods andchattels of each other; although, little mother, I will endeavour tokeep my fingers clean, if only for your sake!"

  Fritz, however, soon had something more exciting to think about than themorals of his comrades; for, only a few days after he joined hisregiment, he went into action again at the battle of Amiens, when theGermans drove back Faidherbe's "army of the north," routing them withmuch slaughter, and taking many prisoners, besides thirteen cannon. AFrench regiment of marines was ridden down by a body of German Hussars,who were almost decimated by the charge--which resembled that ofBalaclava, the "sea soldiers" standing behind entrenchments with theirguns.

  Later on, too, Fritz was in a more memorable engagement. It occurred onthe morning of the 23rd of December at Pont Noyelles, where the army ofGeneral Manteuffel, numbering about fifty thousand men with some fortyguns, attacked a force of almost double the strength, commanded byFaidherbe, the last of the generals on whom the French relied outside ofParis. The two armies confronted each other from opposing heights,separated by the valley of the Somme and a small, winding stream, whichfalls into the larger river at Daours, on the right and left banks ofwhich the contending forces were respectively aligned; and the combatopened about eleven o'clock in the forenoon with a heavy cannonade,under cover of which the German tirailleurs smartly advanced and tookpossession of several small villages, although the French shortlyafterwards drove them out of these at the point of the bayonet,exhibiting great gallantry. In the evening, both armies rested in thesame positions they had occupied at the commencement of the fight; but,although the French greatly outnumbered their antagonists, beingespecially superior in artillery, the fire of which had considerablythinned the German ranks, they did nothing the whole of the succeedingday. On the contrary, they rested in a state of complete inactivity,when, if they had but pushed forwards, they might have compelled theretreat of Manteuffel.

  The next morning was that of Christmas Day.

  Fritz could not but remember it, in spite of his surroundings, for hereceived a small parcel by the field post, containing some warm woollensocks knitted by Lorischen's own fair fingers, and sent to him in order"to prevent his appropriating those of the poor French peasantry," as hehad intimated might be the case with him in his last letter home, shouldhe be in need of such necessaries and not have any of his own. His goodmother, too, did not forget him, nor did a certain young lady whoresided at Darmstadt.

  It was the morning of Christmas Day; but not withstanding its holy andpeaceful associations, Fritz and every one else in Manteuffel's armycorps expected that the anniversary would be celebrated in blood. Judgeof their surprise, however, when, as the day advanced, the vedettes andoutposts they sent ahead returned with the strange intelligence that theenemy had abandoned the highly advantageous ground they had selected onPont Noyelles, retiring on Arras.

  The news was almost too good to be true; but, nevertheless, the Germancavalry were soon on the alert, pursuing the retreating force andslaughtering thousands in the chase--thus Christmas Day was passed!

  The new year opened with more fighting for Fritz; for, on the 2nd ofJanuary, occurred the battle of Bapaume, and on the 19th of the samemonth the more disastrous engagement for the French of Saint Quentin,which finally crumbled up "the army of the north" under Faidherbe, whichat one time almost looked as if it would have succeeded in raising thesiege of Paris, by diverting the attention of the encircling force.However, in neither of these actions did Fritz either get wounded orgain additional promotion; and from thence, up to the close of the war,his life in the invaded country was uneventful and without interest.

  Yes, to him; for he was longing to return home.

  "Going to the war" had lost all its excitement for him, the carnage ofthe past months and the sorrowful scenes he had witnessed having fairlysatiated him with "glory" and all the horrors which follow in its train.

  Now, he was fairly hungering for home, and the quiet of the oldhousehold at Lubeck with his "little mother" and Lorischen--notforgetting Mouser, to make home more homelike and enjoyable, for Fritzthought how he would have to teach Gelert, who had likewise escapedscathless throughout the remainder of the campaign in the north ofFrance, to be on friendly terms with the old nurse's pet cat.

  He was thinking of some one else too; for,
lately, the letters ofMadaleine had stopped, although she had previously corresponded with himregularly. He could not make out the reason for her silence. Onedespatch might certainly have been lost in transmission through thefield post; but for three or four--as would have been the case if shehad responded in due course to his effusions, which were written off toDarmstadt each week without fail--to miss on the journey, was simplyimpossible!

  Some treachery must be at work; or else, Madaleine was ill; or, she hadchanged her mind towards him.

  Which of these reasons caused her silence?

  It was probably, he thought, the former which he had to thank for hisanxiety; and the cause, he was certain, was the baroness. Whatblessings he heaped on her devoted head!

  It was in this frame of mind that Fritz awaited the end of the war.