We replied only by contemptuous glances, which made them still more insolent and furious.
Some of them flourished their sticks, as much as to say,—"If we had you in a corner, you would be as meek as lambs."
The gendarmes upheld these Pinacles and we were arrested in three or four places. They demanded our papers and took us before the mayor, and the rascals forced us to shout "Vive le Roi!"
It was shameful, and the old soldiers rather than do it allowed themselves to be taken to prison. Buche wanted to follow their example, but I said to him, "What harm will it do us to shout Vive Jean Claude, or Vive Jean Nicholas? All these kings and emperors, old and new, would not give a hair of their heads to save our lives, and shall we go and break our necks in order to shout one thing rather than another? No, it does not concern us, and if people will be so stupid, as long as we are not the strongest, we must satisfy them. By and by, they will shout something else, and afterward still something else. Everything changes—nothing but good sense and good will remain."
Buche did not want to understand this reasoning, but when the gendarmes came, he submitted notwithstanding.
As we went along, one after another of our little party would drop off in his own village, till at last no one was left but Toul, Buche, and I.
We saw the saddest sight of all, and this was the crowds of Germans and Russians in Lorraine and Alsace. They were drilling at Luneville, at Blamont, and at Sarrebourg, with oak branches in their wretched shakos. What vexation to see such savages living in luxury at the expense of our peasants.
Father Goulden was right when he said that military glory costs very dear. I only hope the Lord will save us from it for ages to come!
At last, on the 16th July, 1815, about eleven o'clock in the morning, we reached Mittelbronn, the last village on that side, before reaching Pfalzbourg. The siege was raised after the armistice, and the whole country was full of Cossacks, Landwehr,[[1]] and Kaiserlichs.[[2]] Their batteries were still in position around the town, though they no longer discharged them; the gates were open, and the people went out and in to secure their crops.