The Downfall | Page 9

to obtaining that rank, and was so
illiterate that he had no chance of ever getting his captaincy.
"You, sir, who think you know everything, let me tell you a thing you

don't know. Yes, at Mazagran I was scarce nineteen years old, and
there were twenty-three of us, not a living soul more, and for more than
four days we held out against twelve thousand Arabs. Yes, indeed! for
years and years, if you had only been with us out there in Africa, sir, at
Mascara, at Biskra, at Dellys, after that in Grand Kabylia, after that
again at Laghouat, you would have seen those dirty niggers run like
deer as soon as we showed our faces. And at Sebastopol, sir, _fichtre_!
you wouldn't have said it was the pleasantest place in the world. The
wind blew fit to take a man's hair out by the roots, it was cold enough
to freeze a brass monkey, and those beggars kept us on a continual
dance with their feints and sorties. Never mind; we made them dance in
the end; we danced them into the big hot frying pan, and to quick music,
too! And Solferino, you were not there, sir! then why do you speak of it?
Yes, at Solferino, where it was so hot, although I suppose more rain fell
there that day than you have seen in your whole life, at Solferino,
where we had our little brush with the Austrians, it would have warmed
your heart to see how they vanished before our bayonets, riding one
another down in their haste to get away from us, as if their coat tails
were on fire!"
He laughed the gay, ringing laugh of the daredevil French soldier; he
seemed to expand and dilate with satisfaction. It was the old story: the
French trooper going about the world with his girl on his arm and a
glass of good wine in his hand; thrones upset and kingdoms conquered
in the singing of a merry song. Given a corporal and four men, and
great armies would bite the dust. His voice suddenly sank to a low,
rumbling bass:
"What! whip France? We, whipped by those Prussian pigs, we!" He
came up to Weiss and grasped him violently by the lapel of his coat.
His entire long frame, lean as that of the immortal Knight Errant,
seemed to breathe defiance and unmitigated contempt for the foe,
whoever he might be, regardless of time, place, or any other
circumstance. "Listen to what I tell you, sir. If the Prussians dare to
show their faces here, we will kick them home again. You hear me? we
will kick them from here to Berlin." His bearing and manner were
superb; the serene tranquillity of the child, the candid conviction of the
innocent who knows nothing and fears nothing. "_Parbleu_! it is so,
because it is so, and that's all there is about it!"

Weiss, stunned and almost convinced, made haste to declare that he
wished for nothing better. As for Maurice, who had prudently held his
tongue, not venturing to express an opinion in presence of his superior
officer, he concluded by joining in the other's merriment; he warmed
the cockles of his heart, that devil of a man, whom he nevertheless
considered rather stupid. Jean, too, had nodded his approval at every
one of the lieutenant's assertions. He had also been at Solferino, where
it rained so hard. And that showed what it was to have a tongue in one's
head and know how to use it. If all the leaders had talked like that they
would not be in such a mess, and there would be camp-kettles and
flannel belts in abundance.
It was quite dark by this time, and Rochas continued to gesticulate and
brandish his long arms in the obscurity. His historical studies had been
confined to a stray volume of Napoleonic memoirs that had found its
way to his knapsack from a peddler's wagon. His excitement refused to
be pacified and all his book-learning burst from his lips in a torrent of
eloquence:
"We flogged the Austrians at Castiglione, at Marengo, at Austerlitz, at
Wagram; we flogged the Prussians at Eylau, at Jena, at Lutzen; we
flogged the Russians at Friedland, at Smolensk and at the Moskowa;
we flogged Spain and England everywhere; all creation flogged,
flogged, flogged, up and down, far and near, at home and abroad, and
now you tell me that it is we who are to take the flogging! Why, pray
tell me? How? Is the world coming to an end?" He drew his tall form
up higher still and raised his arm aloft, like the staff of a battle-flag.
"Look you, there has been a fight to-day, down yonder, and we are
waiting for the news.