AN ADVENTURE IN THE FRANCOPRUSSIAN WAR.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1049, 15 April 1882, Page 1 (Supplement)

AN ADVENTURE IN THE FRANCOPRUSSIAN WAR.

I Tho battlcfiold on which three succesaivt lays' fighting tpok placo was an almost leve jlain, over which were dotted villages; each me with its church and spire, and- which, jtrongly oooupied and. loopholcd, madi formidable isolated positions, out of.wliioh ;he enomyhad,either, to be sholled.or; forced it'the point, of, the: bayonet,,: •I, passed' the *reater part of these three days seated amidsl 'lie. bells in the top of ; the steeples;: ,T1« position was safe and,.commanding,i, and snabled me to avoid unnecessary fatigue. As ioon as a new village was captured with a jood spire, I moved to it, and femaiucd until it ,waa left too far in tho rear to be Useful, On this particular occasion I saw a "steeple which, in. addition to belonging to a church Situated on a' slight eminence, was in itsell loftier than any, other., My. longing eyes'had been often fixed upon its belfry, but, urifortunately, it had been :from the firsl Strongly held by the French; and little puffs of smoke were' perpetually: being vomited from the loop-holed walls. ; For some time a yory annoying '.b|*tteTy, .of; artillery hail assailed us from its neighborhood, Mean' time a change of locality had become necessary, and I descended from the steeple I was in to find another. I HVas making for a village nearer tho front whon I came across a Bavarian regiment, ■ the colonel of which ] know. To liinv I expounded my penchant for steeples, and; my regret that I did not see any ohance of the one I particularly affected being it my disposal. While we wore talking, an ide-de-camp arrived with an order that the olouel,. andiauother regiment-brigaded with lis, should Advance and storm the village in [uestion. "Now," he said, with a disagroe,ble suspicion of irony in his voice—"now is (our chance, You have only to keep at my ide, and you will be in your steeple in ten ninutes." The iuvitation.was in tho highost legree disagreeable, How I regretted I had aid anything about wanting villages taken or my benefit.. I was on the point of deciding, when the sneering laugh, of one or two 'fficers, who had joined in our conversation, hanged my decision I had just time to lirug my shoulders with the nonchalant air f a man who had passed his life in carrying illages at the point of the bayonet, when liey were summoned to their duties. The egiment was put in motion, and I found lyself leading it at the tail of .the colonel's orsc, It was simply sickening, and I don't ;uow exactly what it did—l mean the regi-ment—-when we got so near that the bullets iegan to ping all round us. It probably armed in columns of companies, or deployed n its pivot Hank, or did something incomprelensible; but it had the excellent effect of nabling me to get well mixed up with it, so hat when we all went oh at a run, I got arried along and into the village, only drawng my breath at the door of the church, into riiich I bolted like a rabbit into a warren, nd sat down for a moment on a chair to ireathe, and listen to the straggling firing rhich.still went on in the street, Then I ?ent up to the belfry. All tho churches were n pretty much the same model, and I had io difficulty in finding my way. I had just massed the organ loft, and got a few steps up he stairs, when a shot was fired apparently I'ithin a few yards of me. I first jumped, nd then reflected, I had not heard the ound of a ball, nor could I see from what loint I could have been fired at,. Still the ,oisc was unpleasantly close. Certainly the ooner I attained an elevation the better. ]he bells were approached by a ladder at last, ,nd there was a mere framework to stand ipon, but there were splendid loopholes to aok through, and the coup d'ceil over, the lattlefield amply repaid me for all that.l had ;one through to get there, Iliad just adusted my field-glass, and- was beginning to ake a deliberate survey,! when I heard a hout, followed by a volley ,of German oaths,' ind looked down to see a huge Bavarian take deliberate " pot" at me with his rifle, the milet flattening itself against the corner ol he loophole, not three inches from my nose, »hicli I had drawn in with the rapidity oi ightning. '.Why. I should thus suddenly lave become a target for one of my German riends was a mystery to me, I did not like tc esceud, fori was afraid.of some more stray booting near the organ loft, I did not like 0 look out of the loophole again, for I felt hat the big Bavarian was on the watch for nother shot, so I sat down where I was, and raited the march of events, In a few loments I heard a great clattering on the teps leading up to the belfry, and soon a ozen or more'soldiers, led by the big Bavrian, appeared at tho bottom of the ladder, ■nd simultaneously pointed their rifles at me, ?ith loud commands to descend and aurender myself a prisoner on pain of being hot. I replied by imploring them not to ire, and all the time I was looking literally lown the barrels of their rifles, and hoping hat one might not accidentally go off, ; I houted energetically that I was' unharmed j hat I had that moment entered the village pith them; and that I was a friend,- if they vould only believe me, and not fire,. Still, 1 lad to descend with all their rifles , steadily limed at me, as though they feared I should «ike wing and fly away through a loophole. It is not probable that any of my readers enow from experience what it is to descend 1 riokotty ladder backwards, with twelve iiles pointed at one's most vulnerable extremity, I earnestly trust they may long be ipared the sensation. ... , v ,, 1 1 was instantly, seized roughly by tho color when I reached the bottom,! and was igain in tho middle of explanations, .when, host fortunately, there appeared otie of the ifficers who : had been present when th< :olonel asked me take part in the' assault on ;he village, 1 He at onee ordered my release, ind on my stating that I had been first fired it and then captured by his. own men, he (emanded an explanation from the big Bavarian. This worthy assorted, .that he' had jeou fired at out of the church-that the jnllet had just grazed past him-and that,^

upon looking towards the: steeple, he had seen me exactly in the position from which the report seemed to come, ■ This was; at obce accounted for by the shot which I heard after passing the organ loft; iind I suggested to the officer'that if we searched there we niight find the' man who' had so narrowly missed the big-Bavarian, as I hi>d heard .the, shot proceed .from it, Wo accordingly re. paired thitheiyand there, crouched;in a corner was a wretched mobile, There was ■ a •general shout to him of " Surrender," but ojther through panic, or not understanding that ho might sjve his life by throwing down his gun, he clutched }t fta more tightly, and even seemed to bring it up to ljii! shoulder, oh which tlio big Bavarian rushed at hiiyj, wrenched it out of his hands, and with one blow of the butt literally scattered his'brains oUr the floor. The whole episode was most paiqful; 'and when, a moment afterwards, my would-be assassin slapped me familiarly on the shoulder, and laughed heartily at the idea of his nearly having blown out njy brains by mistake, I failed altogether to see the jjqiift of the joke.—From " The adventures'of a War (^respondent" in Blackwood's Maga-;-y ■ • •