A Girl of the Commune

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER XIII.

  By the aid of their sword-bayonets the Franc-tireurs soon pierced thewall, and lying at full length a yard apart, replied to the enemy'sfire. Through the smoke they could just make out the upper line of thewall, and as the Prussians stood up to fire picked them off. HenriVaucour crept along the line urging the men to fire slowly.

  "They will advance presently," he said. "You can tell by the fire thatthey are getting thicker and thicker. We must check their rush."

  Five minutes later there was a deep cheer and a crowd of dark figuresleaped over the wall. A flash of fire ran along the line of defenders,and then as fast as the Chassepots could be reloaded a rolling firebroke out. So heavy was it that before crossing a third of theintervening space the Germans wavered, hesitated, and then ran back totheir shelter.

  "Bravo! bravo!" Des Valles shouted, springing to his feet in hisexcitement, but as he spoke the enemy's fire broke out again, "Vive laFrance!" he shouted, and then fell heavily backwards.

  His fall was noticed only by those nearest to him, for the Franc-tireurswere all busy. The rattle of musketry in the houses to their rightshowed that the French were still holding their own.

  The Germans were apparently waiting for reinforcements before theyattempted another rush against the position held by their invisiblefoes. They in turn loop-holed the wall they held and the musketry duelcontinued. Between the walls were two lines of low hedges, but theleaves had fallen and each party could see the loopholes through whichtheir opponents fired. Henri Vaucour, who was now in command, orderedhalf the men to crawl back to the next wall some fifty paces in the rearand to loop-hole that.

  "The next time they come," he said, "they will be too strong for us andwe must fall back." The remainder of the men he placed near the two endsof the wall, so that as they fell back their comrades behind could opentheir fire and so cover their retreat. It was another quarter of an hourbefore the Germans made a move. Then a great body of men sprang over thewall. Forty rifles were discharged simultaneously, then Henri's whistlerang out. The men leaped to their feet, and at the top of their speedran to the wall behind them, from which their comrades were pouring astream of fire into the Germans. Several fell as they ran, the rest ongaining the wall threw themselves over, and as soon as they had reloadedjoined its defenders. The Germans, however, were still pressing on, whenthey were taken in flank by a heavy fire from the back of the housesheld by the French, and they got no farther than the wall that had justbeen vacated. Then the musketry duel recommenced under the sameconditions as before. The company had already lost thirty men, ten layby the wall they had defended, killed by bullets that had passed throughthe loop-holes; eight more were stretched on the ground that they hadjust traversed. The rest had made their way to the rear, wounded.Cuthbert had had a finger of the left hand carried away as he was in theact of firing. He had felt a stinging blow but had thought little of ituntil he had taken his position behind the second wall.

  "Tie my handkerchief over this, Rene," he said, "fortunately it is onlythe left hand, and a finger more or less makes little odds. Where isDampierre? I don't see him."

  "I am afraid he is lying under that wall there," Rend said; "at any rateI don't see him here; he ought to be the third man from me. Minette willgo out of her mind if he is killed," but they had no further time fortalking, and as soon as his hand was bandaged, Cuthbert took his placeat a loophole.

  "I think things are better," he said, after a few minutes, to Rend. "Theshells are not falling round us as they did. The heavy guns at St. Maurmust have silenced the German batteries, and I fancy, by the heavyfiring from the other end of the village, that we have been reinforced."

  This was indeed the case. For some time the Prussians continued to makeobstinate efforts to advance, but gradually the number of defenders ofthe village increased, as the French officers managed to rally smallparties of the fugitives at the bridge and led them forward again, theirefforts being aided by the mounted gendarmes, who, riding among thesoldiers, beat them with the flat of their swords, and literally drovethem forward again.

  By eleven o'clock the line of the Franc-tireurs had been thickened bythe fresh arrivals, and the roar of rifles along the wall wascontinuous. The French, who had hitherto fought silently, now began tocheer, and when a regiment came up in something like fair order throughthe gardens, its colonel shouted, "Forward men, and drive the Germansout."

  With a cheer of anticipated triumph those who had so stubbornly defendedthe position sprang up, and the whole rushed forward against the enemy.A tremendous volley flashed from the wall in front of them. Cuthbertfelt that he was falling. The thought flashed through his mind that hisfoot had caught in something, and then he knew nothing more. When herecovered consciousness he was lying with a score of others on the floorof a kitchen. There was a gaping hole in the roof and loop-holes in thewalls, but of this at present he saw nothing. A man with a lantern wasstanding beside him? while another was doing something, he didn't knowwhat, to him.

  "What is it?" he muttered.

  "You are wounded, mon brave, and seriously I am afraid, but notfatally--at least I hope not."

  "Is this Champigny?"

  "Yes."

  "Then we have held the village?"

  "Yes, we beat the Prussians back all along the line, they could notstand our artillery-fire. There, I have bandaged you up for the present,to-morrow morning you will be taken into Paris."

  "I should like to go to the American ambulance, if you can manage it,Doctor," Cuthbert said. "I am an Englishman and have friends there."

  "I will manage it if I can for you, lad. Your corps has done splendidlyto-day. Everyone says if it had not been for you, Champigny would havebeen lost. So you well deserve anything I can do for you."

  The desperate defence of Champigny had indeed saved that portion of theFrench army across the river from destruction. It had given time for thefugitives to rally, and as if ashamed of the panic to which they hadgiven way, they had afterwards fought steadily and well, and had driventhe Germans back beyond the line they had occupied the night before,Brie-sur-Marne being now in the possession of the French, having beencarried by a desperate assault, in which General Ducrot led the way atthe head of the troops. During the various operations they had lostabout 1,000 killed and 5,000 wounded.

  The four days that had elapsed since Mary Brander had said good-bye toCuthbert at the entrance to the ambulance, had effected a marked changein her appearance. She had returned to her work on the Monday morning,but no fresh cases had come in, for there had been a lull in theskirmishes at the outposts. During the last few days the beds had beencleared out as much as possible to make room for the expected influx,and there was but little for her to do. After going round the tent ofwhich she had charge, the American surgeon put his hand upon hershoulder.

  "You are no better, Miss Brander," he said. "This is too much for you. Idid not expect to see you break down, for I have noticed that yournerves were as steady as those of an old hospital nurse. Though younaturally lost your color, when standing by with the sponge at some ofthose operations, there was no flinching or hesitation; but I see that,though you did not show it at the time, it has told upon you. I shall besorry to lose your services, especially at the present moment; but Ithink you had better give it up for a time. We have plenty ofvolunteers, you know."

  "I will stay on, if you please, Dr. Swinburne. It is not the work, butthe suspense, that has upset me. One has been expecting this dreadfulbattle to begin for the last three days, and to know that at any momentnow 200,000 men may fly at each other, and that thousands upon thousandsmay be killed is almost too awful to think about. The silence seems sooppressive, one knows that they are gathering and preparing, and thatwhile all seems so still, we may suddenly hear the roar of the cannonall round. I think when it once begins I shall be myself again. It isthe waiting that is so oppressive."

  "I can understand that," he said, kindly. "It is the same thing with thetroops themselves. It is the pause be
fore a great battle that shakes thenerves of the men. As soon as the work begins the feeling passes off andthe man who, a few minutes before, was as weak as a child, feels theblood rushing hotly through his veins, and the burning desire to get athis enemy overpowers all sense of danger. Well, as there is reallynothing for you to do to-day, for there are three of you in this tentand only four beds occupied, you had better put your bonnet on again,child; a brisk walk will be the best thing for you; try and interestyourself in what you see passing round you. From what I hear thefighting will not begin until to-morrow morning, and it must be later inthe day before the wounded begin to come in. So, though you can returnand take charge again to-night if you like, there will be really nooccasion for you to do so until to-morrow, say at twelve o'clock; butmind, unless you are looking a good deal better, I shall send you offagain; my assistants will need all their nerve for the work we arelikely to have on hand. Indeed, I must beg you to do so, Miss Brander,nothing is so trying as sitting in idleness. I shall really want yourservices to-morrow, and for my own sake, as well as yours, I must insistupon my orders being obeyed."

  Mary Brander conscientiously tried to carry out the doctor'sinstructions, walked briskly along the Boulevards, and then going up theChamps Elysees, and turning to the left, went to the edge of the plateauabove the river, and there sat down on a bench and looked over thecountry to the south. There were many groups of people gathered at thispoint; most of them, doubtless, like herself, had friends in the armygathered outside the walls, and were too anxious and restless to remainindoors; but although her eyes were fixed on the country beyond theforts, Mary Brander did not take in the scene. She was thinking, as shehad been for the last two days, and was full of regrets for the past.She had not altogether admitted this to herself, but she knew now thatit was so, although she had fought hard and angrily with herself beforeshe owned it.

  "He was right," she said to herself bitterly, "when he said that I hadnot yet discovered that I had a heart as well as a head. We aremiserable creatures, we women. A man can go straight on his way throughlife--he can love, he can marry, but it makes no change in his course. Iknow I read somewhere that love is but an incident in a man's life,while it is a woman's all, or something of that sort. I laughed at theidea then as absurd--now that it is too late I see it is true. He lovedme, or, at least he liked me so much that he thought it was love. Ilaughed at him, I told him he was not worthy of a woman's love. He wentaway. Here was an end of it, as far as he was concerned. He lost hisproperty and took to work nobly, and when we met he was just the same ashe had been before, and treated me as if I had been a cousin, and has nodoubt laughed many a time at the thought of that morning in the gardenat Newquay, and indeed thought so little of it that he did not mind myseeing all those sketches of that woman in his note-books.

  "There were three or four of them, too, stuck up on the walls of hisroom. Of course she goes there. He said she was a model. Of course he isfond of her. I should not have thought it of him, but men are wicked andwomen are fools," she added, after a pause, "and I do think that I amone of the most foolish of them. I am like a child who throws away a toyone minute and cries for it the next. It is horrid, and I am ashamed ofmyself, downright ashamed. I hate myself to think that just because aman is nice to me, and leaves me two pictures if he is killed, that I amto make myself miserable about him, and to feel that I could give up allmy plans in life for his sake. I understand now how it is that women arecontent to remain what they are. It is because nature made them so. Weare like weathercocks, and have no fixed point, but can be turned by apassing breath.

  "We have no rights because we are content to remain slaves. Here is mylife spoilt. A week ago I was my own mistress and felt as free andindependent as any man; now a thrill runs through me at evercannon-shot. The things that had seemed so important to me then do notoccupy a thought now. However, I hope I am not quite a fool. I shallshake it off in time perhaps," and she smiled pitifully, "it will evendo me good. I shall understand things better. Anna used to tell me I wasintolerant and made no allowance for human nature. I laughed then, butshe was right. When this is all over I shall go away. I don't suppose Ishall ever see him again, and I will make up my mind not to think of himany more. I wonder what he is doing now, whether his corps went out lastnight or will go to-day. I hope they won't be in front. They have noright to put volunteers in front when they have got regular soldiers. Itis downright wicked that he should have enlisted when it was no businessof his. I wonder she let him do it."

  Then she broke off, rose to her feet suddenly, and with an angryexclamation, "Mary Brander, you are a weak fool," she started back at aquick pace and with head erect. Again she walked round the Boulevards,and having thoroughly tired herself, made her way home, drank a cup ofbouillon made from horse-flesh, went straight to bed and sobbed herselfto sleep. She woke up with a start. The house shook with the explosionof heavy guns. She sprang up and went to her window, threw it open, andlooked out.

  She could see Forts Issy and Vanvres. Both were firing heavily, whilebetween the booms of their guns she could hear the reports of others. Noflashes came back from Meudon or any of the Prussian positions. Nor,though she held her breath to listen, could she hear the sound ofmusketry. She struck a match and looked at her watch. It was but oneo'clock. She closed her window and wrapping herself up in herdressing-gown sat there for some time looking out. Presently the fireslackened and she crept back into bed, but again rose when the fortsre-opened fire. Then feeling that sleep was impossible she lighted acandle and forced herself to read until daylight. She was dressing whenthe roar again broke out. This time it was away to the left. She threwon her things, put on her bonnet and cloak, and went out of her roomjust as M. Michaud issued from his.

  "You are going out, mademoiselle. So am I. I will walk with you if youwill allow me. I think the real thing has begun. The firing last nightwas only, I fancy, to rouse the Germans and make them pass as bad anight as our men were doing, but I think this is the real thing."

  Mary was glad of his escort, it seemed to make it more bearable to havesomeone to speak to. In a few minutes they reached the spot where shehad sat the day before. A crowd were already collected.

  "Where is it?" M. Michaud asked, as they joined a group who weregathered near the edge of the plateau.

  "It is from the southern forts that they are firing," the man said;"look at the smoke rolling up from them; they are clearing the way forour men. There, do you see that puff of smoke away on the right? That isfrom a battery up at Creteil, and now the Prussian guns on Montmesly,and all the way round Ville Juif, are answering. The affair is becominghot. Listen, the Chassepots are at work."

  Indeed, between the sounds of the cannon a continuous murmur could beheard. It sounded like a railway train passing over a distant viaduct.

  "Is there any place where we can see better from?"

  "You would see better from the wall over on that side, but no one isallowed there; half the National Guard are under arms, and have takenthe places on the walls of the mobiles, who have gone out."

  "It is wretched seeing nothing here," she said, feverishly. "Do youthink we could get up to the top of the tower of Notre Dame?"

  "It is a long way off," M. Michaud said, "and if people are permittedthere you may be sure by this time there is not standing room. Besides,even from there the distance would be too great to make out themovements of the troops."

  Mary felt that he was right, and with a little shiver said, "I willhurry back now and will then go down to the ambulance."

  She swallowed a cup of coffee in which two eggs from the hidden storehad been beaten up; ate a piece of bread, and then started off. As shewent along she gathered from the talk in the streets that things werebelieved to be going on well. The musketry was certainly a good dealfurther off, and a light smoke was rising fur out upon the plain. "Theysay that we have captured Montmesly, and on this side cannot be far fromVille Juif."

  "Ah, these Prussians have begun to learn what Paris can
do."

  "I expect William and Bismarck are by this time packing up atVersailles," another said. "They will know that their day has come to anend; everyone says they will both be hung if we catch them."

  Mary hurried on. She knew that hours must elapse before the woundedcould be brought in, but felt a feverish anxiety to be at the ambulanceand to hear what was said there. Just before she reached it the roar ofthe distant combat suddenly increased, but it seemed to her further awayto the left. Dr. Swinburne was standing outside the tents when she cameup.

  "Do you know what is going on, sir?" she asked, breathlessly, as shecame up to him.

  "I believe that the first firing you heard was the advance of Vinoy, whomoved out under cover of the guns of the southern forts. From all I hearhe has advanced a considerable distance across the plain. I believe thatthe firing that has just begun away to the west, is the real battle.Ducrot is out there with 100,000 men, and Vinoy's attack is but a feintto draw the Prussians to the south, and so clear the way for Ducrot, whocrosses the Marne and advances through Champigny. I heard the plan lastnight from one of Trochu's staff. It seems a good one, and if it iscarried out with spirit I see no reason why it should not succeed. Yourrest has done you good, Miss Brander; your eyes are brighter and youlook more like yourself."

  "I feel better, Doctor. I have been rating myself soundly and it hasdone me good. I feel quite ready for work again."

  The doctor detected a little pathetic ring beneath the almost defianttone in which she uttered the words, but he only said--

  "We all have need of a scolding occasionally, it acts as a tonic. Ishould rather like to be braced up myself for to-night's work."

  "It is too bad," Mary said, almost indignantly. "You are alwaysinsisting on our resting ourselves and you have all the work on yourshoulders. There are eight or ten of us, and you are all by yourself."

  "Not quite by myself. Mr. Wingfield is of great assistance to me, andhis aid will be invaluable when the rush comes. Besides, a surgeon,after the first operation or treatment, has little more to do than towatch his patient, if he has nurses that he can rely upon. As he goeshis rounds he gets their reports, he knows how the patients have passedthe night, and if there is any change in their condition, and if thewounds require rebandaging you are at hand with all that is necessary.It is the responsibility rather than the work which tries one. Still, ifone knows that one is doing one's best, and that at any rate the woundedare very much better cared for, and have much better chances of recoveryhere than in the city hospitals, one must be content. Worry does no goodeither to one's patients or to oneself. That is a maxim that does forboth of us, Miss Brander. Now you had better go in and get everythingready. It is probable that some of those wounded early this morning maysoon be brought in."

  Mary went in to her marque.

  "The child is herself on the list of wounded," the surgeon said, as helooked after her. "She has been fighting a battle of some sort and hasbeen hit pretty hard. Her expression has changed altogether. There was abrisk alertness about her before and she went about her work in aresolute business sort of way that was almost amusing in a girl ofnineteen or twenty. It was easy to see that she had good health, plentyof sense, and an abundant confidence in herself. At one moment she wouldbe lecturing her patients with the gravity of a middle-aged woman, andfive minutes later chattering away with them like a young girl. I shouldhave put her down as absolutely heartwhole and as never havingexperienced the slightest real care or trouble, as never having quiterecognized that she had grown into womanhood. Well, something hasoccurred to alter all that. She has received a blow of some sort, andthough she may soon get over it she will never be quite the same as shewas before. If one wasn't so weighed down with work, and had so manyserious matters to think of, she would be an interesting study. I neverquite understood what on earth she is in Paris for by herself at such atime as this. But there is something that will give me other matters tothink of."

  The something was an ambulance wagon which, a minute later, drew up infront of the hospital, and from that moment there was, indeed, no timefor doctor or nurses to give a thought to anything save the wounded menwho continued to pour in until fully half the 200 beds were occupied.All these men belonged to Vinoy's division. Dr. Swinburne would take nomore. There was already more work to do than he could get through beforenext morning, and none of the wounded who came in later from beyond theMarne were received there, but were distributed among the otherhospitals and ambulances, at all of which preparations on a very largescale had been made.

  By morning the most pressing part of the work had been done. The woundedhad been made as far as possible comfortable. Some of the bullets hadbeen extracted, some of the most urgent amputations made. A fresh batchof nurses arrived to take the places of the white-faced women who hadnobly and steadily-borne their part in the trying work of the night.

  "I thank you all, ladies," the doctor said, as they gathered outside thetents before going away. "Your assistance has been invaluable; notrained nurses could have shown more nerve and pluck than you have done.I have just learned that it is not likely that there will be a renewalof the fighting to-day, and you can therefore go home with theconviction that you can take your twenty-four hours off duty withoutfear that there will be any pressure in your absence. I am going to liedown myself for three hours. Even a surgeon has nerves, and I must keepmine steady. There are several operations that must be performed thisafternoon and some bullets to hunt up. I beg you all to force yourselvesto take something as soon as you get to your homes, and then to go tobed and sleep as long as you can."

  It did not seem to Mary Brander when she started that she would be ableto walk home, but the keen air revived her and she kept on until sheentered Madame Michaud's flat.

  "Mon Dieu, my child, how white you look," the French lady exclaimed, asthe girl entered the room where she was taking her morning coffee. "Whata night you must have had!"

  The need for strength was past now, and Mary sank into a chair and burstinto a fit of hysterical sobbing. Madame Michaud caressed and soothedher as if she had been an over-tired child.

  "There," she said, when Mary recovered a little, "take this cup ofcoffee and drink it. I have not touched it and there are two eggs beatenup in it. Margot will make me some more in a few minutes. Here is afresh roll. She made a batch this morning in the oven; try and eat it,my child, and drink the coffee, and then I will help you into bed."

  Mary, with a great effort, ate a mouthful of bread, and drank thecoffee, and in a quarter of an hour was asleep. It was growing dark whenshe woke, and remembering the doctor's orders she got up and went intothe sitting-room. Madame Michaud kissed her affectionately.

  "Now, you are looking more like yourself, my child; truly you lookedlike a ghost when you came in. It is the husband's turn for duty on thewalls so we can sit and have a cosy chat together. Well," she went on,when Mary had taken a seat that she had placed for her by the stove,"all is going on famously. We have pushed the Germans back everywhereand Trochu's proclamation says the plans have been carried out exactlyas arranged. There has not been much fighting to-day, we have hardly hada gun fired. Everyone is rejoicing, and all the world agrees that nowthe Prussians have seen how we can fight they will speedily takethemselves off altogether."

  "I hope it is so, Madame Michaud; certainly the wounded said that theyhad advanced a long way on the south side, but I have not heard at allwhat was done on the other side of the Marne. None of the wounded fromthere were brought to our hospital.

  "Champigny was taken. They say that there was a hard fight there and wepushed the Prussians back beyond it ever so far," and Madame Michaud'sarms expressed illimitable distance.

  "I suppose there are no reports as to what regiments were engaged," Maryasked.

  "Oh, no, but everyone says that the soldiers fought like lions and thatthe National Guard was splendid."

  "There were none of the National Guards brought in wounded to ourambulance," Mary said. "They were all line
smen and mobiles."

  "Perhaps there were no National Guards engaged on that side, my dear."

  "Perhaps not," Mary agreed. "No, I think they all went out by the eastgates."

  "Yes, that was where Ducrot commanded and that was where the great fightwas to be," Madame Michaud said, complacently; "no doubt he wanted tohave the National Guards there."

  Mary, having, as the result of her own observations and from imbibingthe very pronunced opinions of Cuthbert as to the efficiency of theNational Guard, formed an estimate the reverse of favorable to thatbody, made no reply, but indeed derived some little comfort from a pointof view diametrically opposed to that of Madame Michaud, saying toherself that Trochu probably sent the National Guard with Ducrot becauseit was not likely that they would be called upon to do any seriousfighting there.

  "Won't you let the boys in, Madame Michaud?" she said, changing thesubject. "I think their chatter would do me good, my brain seems stupidstill."

  The boys were brought in from the next room, where they were doing theirlessons. They were full of the reports they had gathered from theirschool-fellows, and if but half of these had been true it was evidentthat the remnant of the German army were in full flight towards thefrontier, and that the bravest deeds of antiquity faded intoinsignificance by the side of the heroism displayed by the Frenchsoldiers. Their talk and excitement had the effect of rousing Mary andpreventing her thoughts reverting to the scene in the ambulance, and athalf-past nine she again went off to bed feeling more like herself thanshe had done for some days.