The Blockade of Phalsburg: An Episode of the End of the Empire. Erckmann-Chatrian

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СКАЧАТЬ the window and leaned out to hear the announcements. Parmentier opened his paper, young Engelheider kept up his drum-beating, and the people assembled.

      Then Parmentier read that the governor of the place ordered all citizens to present themselves at the mayoralty between eight in the morning and six in the evening, without fail, to receive their muskets and cartridge-boxes, and that those who did not come, would be court-martialed.

      There was the end at last! Every one who was able to march was on his way, and the old men were to defend the fortifications; sober-minded men – citizens – men accustomed to living quietly at home, and attending to their own affairs! now they must mount the ramparts and every day run the risk of losing their lives!

      Sorlé looked at me without a word, and indignation made me also speechless. Not till after a quarter of an hour, when I was dressed, did I say:

      "Make the soup ready. I am going to the mayoralty to get my musket and cartridge-box."

      Then she exclaimed: "Moses, who would have believed that you would have to go and fight at your age? Oh! what misery!"

      And I answered: "It is the Lord's will."

      Then I started with a sad heart. Little Sâfel followed me.

      As I arrived at the corner of the market, Burguet was coming down the mayoralty steps, which swarmed with men; he had his musket on his shoulder, and said with a smile:

      "Ah, well, Moses! We are going to turn Maccabees in our old age?"

      His cheerfulness encouraged me, and I replied:

      "Burguet, how is it they can take rational men, heads of families, and make them destroy themselves? I cannot comprehend it; no, there is no sense in it!"

      "Ah," said he, "what would you have? If they can't get thrushes, they must take blackbirds."

      I could not smile at his pleasantries, and he said:

      "Come, Moses, don't be so disconsolate; this is only a formality. We have troops enough for active service; we shall have only to mount guard. If sorties are to be made, or attacks repulsed, they will not take you; you are not of an age to run, or to give a bayonet stroke! You are gray and bald. Don't be troubled!"

      "Yes," I said, "that is very true, Burguet, I am broken down – more so, perhaps, than you think."

      "That is well," said he, "but go and take your musket and cartridge-box."

      "And are we not going to stay in the barracks?"

      "No, no!" he cried, laughing aloud, "we are going to live quietly at home."

      He shook hands with me, and I went under the arch of the mayoralty. The stairway was crowded with people, and we heard names called out.

      And there, Fritz, you should have seen the looks of the Robinots, the Gourdiers, the Mariners, that mass of tilers, knife-grinders, house-painters, people who, every day, in ordinary times, would take off their caps to you to get a little work – you should have seen them straighten themselves up, look at you pityingly over the shoulder, blow in their cheeks, and call out:

      "Ah, Moses, is it thou? Thou wilt make a comical soldier. He! he! he! They will cut thy mustaches according to regulation!"

      And such-like nonsense.

      Yes, everything was changed; these former bullies had been named in advance sergeants, sergeant-majors, corporals, and the rest of us were nothing at all. War upsets everything; the first become last, and the last first. It is not good sense but discipline which carries the day. The man who scrubbed your floor yesterday, because he was too stupid to gain a living any other way, becomes your sergeant, and if he tells you that white is black, you must let it be so.

      At last, after waiting an hour, some one called out, "Moses!" and I went up.

      The great hall above was full of people. They all exclaimed:

      "Moses! Wilt thou come, Moses? Ah, see him! He is the old guard! Look now, how he is built! Thou shalt be ensign, Moses! Thou shalt lead us on to victory!"

      And the fools laughed, nudging each others' elbows. I passed on, without answering or even looking at them.

      In the room at the farther end, where the names were drawn at conscriptions, Governor Moulin, Commandant Petitgenet, the mayor, Frichard, secretary of the mayoralty, Rollin, captain of apparel, and six or seven other superannuated men, crippled with rheumatism, brought from all parts of the world, were met in council, some sitting, the rest standing.

      These old ones began to laugh as they saw me come in. I heard them say to one another: "He is strong yet! Yes, he is all right."

      So they talked, one after another. I thought to myself: "Say what you like, you will not make me think that you are twenty years old, or that you are handsome."

      But I kept silence.

      Suddenly the governor, who was talking with the mayor in a corner, turned around, with his great chapeau awry, and looking at me, said:

      "What do you intend to do with such a patriarch? You see very well that he can hardly stand."

      I was pleased, in spite of it all, and began to cough.

      "Good, good!" said he, "you may go home; take care of your cold!"

      I had taken four steps toward the door, when Frichard, the secretary of the mayoralty, called out:

      "It is Moses! The Jew Moses, colonel, who has sent his two boys off to America! The oldest should be in the service."

      This wretch of a Frichard had a grudge against me, because we had the same business of selling old clothes under the market, and the country people almost always preferred buying of me; he had a mortal grudge against me, and that is why he began to inform against me.

      The governor exclaimed at once: "Stop a minute! Ah ha, old fox! You send your boys to America to escape conscription! Very well! Give him his musket, cartridge-box, and sabre."

      Indignation against Frichard choked me. I would have spoken, but the wretch laughed and kept on writing at the desk; so I followed the gendarme Werner to a side room, which was filled with muskets, sabres, and cartridge-boxes.

      Werner himself hung a cartridge-box crosswise on my back, and gave me a musket, saying:

      "Go, Moses, and try always to answer to the call."

      I went down through the crowd so indignant that I heard no longer the shouts of laughter from the rabble.

      On reaching home I told Sorlé what had happened. She was very pale as she listened. After a moment, she said: "This Frichard is the enemy of our race; he is an enemy of Israel. I know it; he detests us! But just now, Moses, do not say a word; do not let him see that you are angry; it would please him too much. By and by you can have your revenge! You will have a chance. And if not yourself, your children, your grandchildren; they shall all know what this wretch has done to their grandfather – they shall know it!"

      She clinched her hand, and little Sâfel listened.

      This was all the comfort she could give me. I thought as she did, but I was so angry that I would have given half my fortune to ruin the wretch. All that day, and in the night, too, I exclaimed more than twenty times:

      "Ah, СКАЧАТЬ