Yes, indeed, it was those requisitions which tormented us the most. Oh, these requisitions! The seven or eight thousand men who were blockading the town lived at our expense, and denied themselves nothing.
But a little later, during the blockade of Metz, we were to experience worse miseries yet.
CHAPTER VIII
A few days after the passage of the last squadrons of hussars, we learned that the Phalsbourgers had made a sortie to carry off cattle from the Biechelberg. That night we might have captured the whole of the garrison of our village; but the officer in command of the party was a poor creature. Instead of approaching in silence, he had ordered guns to be fired at two hundred paces from the enemy's advanced posts, to frighten the Prussians! But they, in great alarm, had sprung out of their beds, where they lay fast asleep, and had all decamped, firing back at our men; and the peasants lost no time in driving their cattle into the woods.
From this you may see what notions our officers had about war.
"The men of 1814," said our old forester, Martin Kopp, "set to work in a different way; they were sure to fetch back bullocks, cows, and prisoners into the town."
When Cousin George was spoken to of these matters, he shrugged his shoulders and made no remark.
Worse than all, the Prussians made fun of us unlucky villagers of Rothalp, calling us "la grande nation!" But was it our fault if our officers, who had almost all been brought up by the Jesuits, knew nothing of their profession? If our lads had been drilled, if every man had been compelled to serve, as they are in Germany; and if every man had been given the post for which he was best fitted, according to his acquirements and his spirit, I don't think the Prussians would have got so much fun out of "la grande nation."
This was the only sortie attempted during the siege. The commander, Talliant, who had plenty of sense, was quite aware that with officers of this stamp, and soldiers who knew nothing of drill, it was better to keep behind the ramparts and try to live without meat.