A Soldier Of The Empire | Page 8

soldier still stood and fought

desperately, they were soon surrounded. There was no thought of
quarter; none was asked, none was given. Cries, curses, cheers, shots,
blows, were mingled together, and clear above all rang the old soldier's
war-cry, For France, for France, "Vive la France, Vive l'Empereur." It
was the refrain from an older and bloodier field. He thought he was at
Waterloo.
Mad with excitement, the men took up the cry, and fought like tigers;
but the issue could not be doubtful.
Man after man fell, shot or clubbed down, with the cry "For France" on
his lips, and his comrades, standing astride his body, fought with
bayonets and clubbed muskets till they too fell in turn. Almost the last
one was the old Sergeant. Wounded to death, and bleeding from
numberless gashes, he still fought, shouting his battle-cry, "For
France," till his musket was hurled spinning from his shattered hand,
and staggering senseless back, a dozen bayonets were driven into his
breast, crushing out forever the brave spirit of the soldier of the empire.
It was best, for France was lost.
A few hours later the Quarter was in mourning over the terrible defeat.
* * * * *
That night a group of Prussian officers going over the field with
lanterns looking after their wounded, stopped near a spot remarkable
even on that bloody slope for the heaps of dead of both armies literally
piled upon each other.
"It was just here," said one, "that they got reinforcements and made that
splendid rally."
A second, looking at the body of an old French sergeant lying amidst
heaps of slain, with his face to the sky, said simply as he saw his scars:
"There died a brave soldier."

Another, older than the first, bending closer to count the bayonet
wounds, caught the gleam of something in the light of the lantern, and
stooping to examine a broken cross of the Legion on the dead man's
breast, said reverently:
"He was a soldier of the empire."

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