Tales and Sketches.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 43, 18 November 1871, Page 15

Tales and Sketches.

IN THE FIELD WITH THE PRUSSIANS. ‘ REQUISITIONING-.’ [From All the Year Round.] The Germane as a rule, but the Bavarians in particular, revel in this word just at present. What is a ‘requisition?’ It is evidently derived from the verb ‘to require.’ Now t© require is to order a thing to be given—in fact, a German requisition is a pretty way of borrowing without payment, or, in other words, of stealing. ‘ Convey, the wise it call.’ To give an example. A clever Bavarian will go to a French maire with a slip of paper, signed by his commander, in which it is stated that the bearer of the paper wants a horse and cart. The maire refers the Bavarian to some unfortunate villager who is luekless enough to possess such luxuries. The Bavarian taps at the door. The villager opens it. The Bavarian presents the slip of paper with the marie’s signature. The villager’s face falls, the Bavarian’s becomes proportionately beaming. ‘Ah monsieur!’ says the Frenchman, ‘ this is my only horse.’ The Bavarian shrugs his shoulders, nob understanding a single word. The Frenchman continues his palaver. The Bavarian shrugs his shoulder again, and mutters. The Frenchman gets frantic, and gesticulates wildly. The Bavarian gets cross, and begins to swear. At last, seeing that gentle persuasion avails not, the Bavarian lowes his bayonet, and pronounces the two words, 1 Yorwarts!’ ‘ Marsch ’ Now the Frenchman justs understands these two words, and, with the additional persuasion of the lowered bayonet, he is not long in bringing forth his cart and horse. The Bavarian mounts, having previously, before the Frenchmans’ eyes, cut a stick, as thick as bis brawny arm can wield, which he does very deliberately, as he is annoyed, in all probability with the apparent disinclination of the Frenchman to lefc him have his eart. The poor Frenchman raises his eyes to Heaven, mentally noting the thickness of the Bavarian’s whip, and wondering what effect it will have on his luckless horse’s flanks. The Bavarian does not leave him long in doubt; whack, down comes the stick ; the horse commences a trot; the Bavarian is master of the situation; his rugged nature is thoroughly thawed; and he turns round to look at his friend. * Bonjour, monsieur!’ he says, in a most annoyingly chuckling manner. The Frenchman does not return the adieu in an equally jocular way. * Monsieur, au revoir!’ he says, sedately, as he stands with his hands in his pocket, looking the picture of impotent rage. Ah! he hopes to see his cart and horse next day ; of course he expects to find his horse tired to death and his cart damaged ; but let us follow the cart and horse, and see what happens to them. The Bavarian, not content with the horse trotting, makes the poor brute break into a gallop, which continually increases, until he gets up to the Bavarian corps. Immediately the rear rank catches sight of the cart, with a comrade inside, it runs through the ranks, ‘ The cart is coming !’ It reaches the captain’s ears ; he turns in his saddle, and commands his company to halt. The men have been tramping for several hours along a dusty road, and as the cart comes up a sigh of relief is heard all round -as the shoulder-strap of the knapsack is unbuckled, and the heavy, cumbersome weight is slung into the cart. Fifty knapsacks are now in it; the crowd round the cart it thicker than ever; two men are stacking the pile, which still increases. At. last the Frenchman’s horse totters on its hoofs, being almost taken off its legs by the weight; so, not to be beaten, and to keep the equilibrium, a fat Bavarian gets on the poor beast’s back, and the company proceeds. After a weary day’s work the Frenchman’s horse and cart arrive at the Bavarian bivouac ; here, if there are any eats or hay to be ‘ required,’ the horse gets a feed ; if not, he may nibble a little grass, or a few leaves, and he proceeds the next morning with the Bavarian knapsacks, plus the fat Bavarian, as before. At night, again, the unfortunate beast stops in the pouring rain, attached to a tree. He gets some oats, and starts for a third day’s march, as before. Suddenly the company comes to a halt. A battery of artillery in front has lost a horse from fatigue. A new horse must be forthcoming. The captain orders his company to shoulder their knapsacks once more. They don’t do it very willingly, but the order is soon obeyed. The fat Bavarian slowly descends, the horse is taken out of the cart, the cart is left by the roadside, and the French horse, accustomed to the cart or plough, is suddenly converted into a Prussian artillery horse. Here the French peasant’s chance of getting his horse back ends. The animal now gets well fed and groomed, has a dapper Prussian, with his burnished helmet,, instead of the poor French peasant, as its. master. Such is the end of a Bavarian requisition in many instances.

Wherever the Bavarians come they sweep* the place clean of everything. They remind me always of a visitation of locusts. One meets them on the road to Paris with a couple of champagne bottles slung at each side. If one goes south, there are more Bavarians: if one goes north, there they are again. As for their constitutions and powers of endurance, they resemble bears more than human beings. I saw a Prussian and a Bavarian bivouac near together, one bitterly cold night, before Paris. It was so wretchedly cold that, despite the bivouac fires, the Prussians were running; about to keep themselves warm ; the Bavarians, on the other hand, were lying on theground, and looked, from the way they slept and snored, as if they would never wake again,, showing that they, at any rate, were not much, affected by the cold. I myself once or twice made a requsition, and one of these was the funniest adventurein which I ever participated. It was a fine day in the middle of October, and La Belle France, though at war, still looked charming 5,

the sky was blue, and the atmosphere serene and beautiful. I had been entrusted by. a Prussian dignitary, near Paris, with a special' mission, which, although it had little or no military interest, was exciting enough because it had to be carried out amid such stirring scenes as war alone can produce. As I jumped into my saddle, an officer in Brunswick uniform, in fact, a Black Brunswicker, dashed up to my side ; he was an acquaintance of mine, and we had met before at a mutual friend’s bivouac fire. »Whither away so early ?’ was his question. ‘ To Trilpont,’ was my answer. ‘You’ll find the bridges all blown away 1’ «If I do not find Prussian pontoon bridges already in their places I shall be very much surprised,’ I said; ‘and shall have to make my horse pass the Seine, as I am bound for the other side.’ ‘Ah, yes, they may have finished a bridge by now, certainly,’ was his rejoinder. ‘ I have nothing to do for a couple of hours, will you take me for a companion de voyage ?’ ‘ Most willingly,’ was my answer, so on we rode together. Our route took us along a chaussee, with a double row of young lime trees. It was early morning; the telegraph wires along the route had been cut and hung in festoons, which gave an air of dreariness and desolation to the chaussee itself. Every now and then we would come to a little wooden bridge, which the poor Frenchmen had cut or blown up, hoping thereby to impede a little the progress of the victorious German army ; a hope that has always been signaPv disap pointed. The actual German army does not arrive at these little bridges until long after their pioneers have completed new ones. Great bridges, and great tunnels, have, as a rule, been spared, while little bridges have been blown up; or, what has been still more foolish and futile, wherever there has been a bit of paved road, the French seemed to have set to work to unpave twenty yards or so, or, if there be no pavement to have dug little holes here and there in it. Now there are some troops in the G'rman army who have greatly distinguished themselves in this campaign, and none more so than the impudent Uhlans, a 9 they are called by their countrymen. These Uhlans, or Lancers, being light cavalry, scours the country days before the actual army comes through it. Now Uhlans naturally find a dug-up road uncomfortable for their horses to amble over, so they go at once to the nearest village, and drive every single man, woman, and child out of it to mend the road, and stand round them with lowered lances until the work is done. If a Frenchman murmurs at having to work for the enemy, he gets one of two sentences from the Uhlan thrown in his teeth ; one is, ‘ C’est a la guerre, comme a la guerre,’ or ‘ C’est la guerre, raais la guerre est tres-triste,’ these being the Uhlan’s pet sentences. Well, we, passed many a newly constructed little wooden bridge, and many a little patch of paving stones newly laid down, and arrived at Trilpont at last. Here a sight greeted us which we did not expect to find. The French had really done something in the way of stopping the Germans’ progress. Of two large stone bridges, one, a railway bridge, had lost both its arches : the other, for passenger traffic, had lost but one. The mighty blocks of stone were lying in heaps, and the waters of the blue Seine were foaming over them, making cascades and whirlpools; they were grand ruins. My companion s words were, ‘ sebwere noth.’ Yes, it must indeed have been a ‘ dreadful necessity’ to have caused the Frenchman to commit such frightful devastation against their own beautiful bridges. There was a pontoon bridge, and, a German sentry at each end, to keep the pontoon boats from being too heavily laden by traffic ; only one cart was allowed to pass at a ; time. _ Here my companion turned his horse s head back again, and I continued my journey. I rode quickly along, for the little town was some way off. At last I arrived. My mission , was to take some twenty wounded from a house they were in, and bring them to the hospital prepared for them, which I had just left, On my arrival, I presented my card to the chief man in the town, who was the tnaire and notary as well, and told him my mission. He Baid he would speak to the doctor of the place, and that they would see if they could manage it the next day for me; but of course they, must have a debate about it first.. Now I was very loth to wait till this good Frenchman had got a sufficient number of his countrymen together, and had time to name a president, &c., and as it was but eleven o’clock, I felt very much inclined to get back by night to the place from which I started. I therefore merely bowed to the marie s decision and left. I remounted my black horse, and rode to the nearest Prussian bivouac, which I had previously passed; here I found a company of Uhlans. I dismounted and touching my cap to the officer, I asked him if he would give me a couple of Uhlans to help me make some requisitions ; at the same time I showed him what my errand was. He was a delightful fellow ; he had as handsome a face and figure as could be desired'; his little black moustache was twisted fiercely upward, and he looked a thorough soldier from top to toe. ‘ * Ah, you are English !’ he said. ‘ My dear mother is English, so we must shake hand. Come, sit down, and we will have breakfast together. Karlofski, bring us something to eat, and tell unter offizier Hummer I want him.’ The under officer made his appearance. ‘ Tell off two men for requisitions. Let them have their horses saddled directly.’ Karlofski now made his appearance with some sausages and bread, and a bottle of ** ae, old Burgundy. ‘Ah!’ said mv companion, ‘ I have t /eat for you in this wine. I “ required” it yesterday at a gentleman’s chateau. The butler, of course, said he had nothing ; but we have not

been in France for tan weeks without knowing that a French “ no,” and a German “ yes,” mean something about the same thing, so I said to him, my friend, let me look into your cellar. The butler, who was very obsequious, complacently lit a candle and showed me into a vault. The vault certainly had as clean a conscience of having anything to drink in it as I at that moment had, but I noticed a peculiar look the good butler gave at an apparently newly built wall, so calling out for Karlofski, I told him to bring something to knock a wall down with. To make a long story short, we found as good a stock of wine in this soi-disant empty cellar as any of U 3 have ever tasted ; and this is part of the contents,’ he added, as he held up to the light a bumper of Burgundy. After we had finished the repast, and had taken down one another’s names and addresses, and had exchanged eternal vows of friendship, I remounted my horse, and, with the two Uhlans at my side, started to make my first requisition. It was a glorious trot we had before we arrived at a village some eight milea off. . As the women and children saw us they ran into their houses ; they don’t like the look of those long lances with the dirty little black and white flag. The few men who were lounging about east glances of the bitterest hate at us The Uhlans take no notice of sour looks, except now and then they give a little derisive laugh. I now tapped with the handle of my riding whip at a villager’s door. A thin, soarlooking Frenchman came to answer my summons. ‘ My friend,’ I said, * I have come to require yourhorseand cart, to transport some wounded from the house they are now in to a military hospital.’ ‘ Monsieur,’ said the Frenchman, wringing his hands, ‘je n’ai rien de tout, de tout, de tout; the Prussians have stolen all that I had.’ I repeated this to the Uhlans. ‘ Aeh! herr, never believe a Frenchman,’ said one of the Uhlans.

Thereupon I insisted on having the key of the outhouse in order to look for myself, but my Frenchman declined to let me have it. So I gave a Uhlan the order to break the door open. There was a cart; and in going through a door, I found two horses quietly munching oats. I left the Uhlans to see the harnessing done 1 , to their satisfaction, and went back to the house to tell the man that, although no doubt ho did not know it, a stray cart and two horses had singularly enough found their way into his stables. He received this piece of good news in gloomy silence. I said, ‘ Should you wish these strange horses to come back into your stables to-morrow, you will either drive them to the place I want them to go to yourself, or you will sene someone with them, for you may rest assured your friends the Uhlans won’t trouble themselves about seeing that you get the cart and animals back.’ The Frenchman saw the justice of my remark, called a humpbacked son, and told him to drive the cart where the brigands wanted it, and then slammed the door in my face. I took no notice. The poor French have enough to try them I had made a beginning. 1 then went to the next most likely person in the village, and tapped at his door. ‘ Well, monsieur/ I said, as he opened it, ‘I suppose at this juncture of affairs you, like all other Frenchmen, have got rein de tout, de tout, de tout.’ Now the Frenchmen seemed highly delighted at finding a foreigner use the very words that he meant to have used himself, and he repeated them slowly and deliberately. I suggested, ‘ Not even a cart, and horse ?’ He raised his eyes to Heaven, 4 Mais non, monsieur! Les Prussiens!’

Unluckily for him, just at that moment bis horse in the barn neighed, and prevented him adding the other half of what might be termed a slight perversion of the truth. He forthwith drew the bolt of his stable door, and, as if he had expected our coming, there was a horse, and also a cart, quite ready, with a sack ot oats inside it. That grain the owner wanted to remove, but tlie Uhlan assured him it was not necessary. A third cart was given in such a different spirit that I must certainly record the fact. A poor old peasant, with white hair, was standing by his door, when I asked him if he could let me have his cart to transport some wounded. ‘ Certainly, sir. All, les pauvres blesses, les pauvres blesses! This is a frightful wav, sir. Shall I drive the cart myself?’ I said, ‘ Have you no son ?’ ‘ Yes, sir, I have two ; but they are Francstircurs, and I almost think they must be dead now, sir. One did say he meant to join the army of Lyons ; but since they left home, after the news of the battle of Sedan, I have not heard a word of them.’ I said, ‘ Can you stay out from home till noon to-morrow ?’ ‘ Yes, sir. I must tell my wife, though, and put on my great coat.* I now had three carts, and at the next village I got four more, and then started to feLch the wounded.

It was now past one, and I had a long way to go; however, at four I reached the little town, and having straw put into each cart, the wounded were, one after another, brought out, and placed on it. How thankful the pool fellows were to get away from that feverstricken town ! They gulped down the fresh air, and seemed to think that their recovery was certain now. The carts had all their allowance of wounded so I told one Uhlan to head the cavalcade, and the other to bring up the rear. I rode on ahead to find the good maire. Just as i turned the corner I met that very individual. I drew up by his side, and entered into conversation with him. He told me, with great impressment, that he would soon be in a posito help me ‘ evacuate’ my wounded, and that, as he must be away the next day, he had asked some one to be president of the meeting, and they would, no doubt, provide me with carts.

At that moment the Uhlan heading the cavalcade came round the corner, and one. two, three, four, five, six, seven carts followed ; my second Uhlan brought up the rear. The maire looked at them complacently, thinking no doubt, that they were wounded from another village ; but when they had passed I bid him good-bye, and thanked him for bis civility, but hoped he would not think of troubling messieurs les citoyens, to meet for a debate, as that was scarcely necessary now, and then rode after the wounded, leaving the marie looking perfectly bewildered. The carts in this instance were all duly returned to their respective owners, and I got a certificate for the old man, to say that his cart was not to be required of him, unless under extremely exceptional circumstances. Another requisition I made was not so pleasant an affair. At Nanteuil, or in the immediate neighborhood, the French had blown up a tunnel, so that it was no slight nuisance to find, on arrival at this place with sundry packages of luggage, that there were no means of further conveyance. Yet such was once my luck. Two young Prussian officers, each with a portmanteau, were in the same plight. I had a horse ; they were lieutenants in the artillery and line, and had none. Nanteuil at present consists of half a dozen houses, with nobody and nothing in them. ‘ Well,’ I said, ‘how shall we manage to get on to La Ferte sons Jouarre ?’

‘ We can’t leave our luggage here, or else we might all got on your horse,’ suggested one of the young lieutenants. ‘ I’ve done that constantly before. One horse that was known to be very frisky, was quite tamed after a ride three of us gave him from Sedan to a village twenty miles off.’ Just then a railway official came up to us, and touching his cap said : ‘ It’s a pity you were not here a quarter of an hour ago, sir ; a beautiful open carriage brought some wounded here, but that’s already started back.’ ‘ A beautiful open carriage !’ I ejaculated. I said no more. One bound and I was in the saddle, and the next minute I was dashing along the road like an aide-de-camp. Past signboards and milestones, I seemed to fly, and at last, at a corner of the road, I caught a glimpse of the beautiful carriage, and I think the coachman caught a glimpse of me, for the carriage was going at a tremendous pace. On I flew. The peasants looked scared as I passed, no doubt thinking I was followed and was a deserter or prisoner in plain clothes. Still I plied my whip, aud dashed the spurs into the poor beast’s reeking flanks ; at last, turning a corner of the road, I found the man not more than a hnndred yards in front, but lie was driving like a very Jehu, and his pair of horses were good ones. ‘ Arretez,’ I cried, but the man either did not or would not hear. A minute more I was alongside. ‘Stop, you rascal!’, I cried. ‘ No, I won’t / he said sullenly. ‘You won’t,’ I said, drawing my revolver, ‘if you don’t, I’ll shoot your horses and you after them.’ He trembled and turned pale and drew up. ‘ Now, back you go ! and if you don’t go as quickly as you came, I’ll still carry out my threat. You impudent rascal, if you had stopped when I first called to you I would have paid you for your trouble, now I require you. To whom do those horses belong?’ ‘ To the master of the Trois Rois, at Meaux.’

‘That’s the very hotel we want to go to,’ I mentally noted. When I got back I found my companions auietly munching sausage and bread near the place where the train had stopped. I told them what had been necessary in order to induce the Frenchman to return.

‘ Well,’ said one of them, after eyeing me for a minute or so, ‘ and what would you have done had lie not drawn up when you ordered ?’ ‘Shot one of bis horses,’ I answered. ‘ And after that ?’ ‘ Why, as soon as lie had taken that one out of the harness, and began to proceed with the other, I should have shot that.’ ‘ And what about the man ?’ ‘ Oh, I should have marched him back to you, bolding the revolver in his ear all the way.’ ‘ Donner und blizen/ said the lieutenant, ‘ you ought to have been a soldier/ So we all got on to Meaux and slept at the Hotel des Trois Rois.