The Galley Slave's Ring Part 24

"Zounds! How I suffer!" murmured the sergeant. "And what a thirst! My throat is on fire!"

Father Bribri overheard the words, and seeing Gildas approach holding in one hand a bottle of wine and water, and in the other a basket with gla.s.ses, called out to him as if he were at an inn:

"Waiter! This way, waiter! The old man here wants something to drink, if you please! He is thirsty!"

Surprised and touched by the civility of his companion on the mattress, the sergeant said to him:

"Thank you, my good old man; I may not decline, because I feel as if I would choke."

Upon the summons of father Bribri, Gildas filled one of the gla.s.ses in his basket. He stooped down and handed it to the soldier. The latter essayed to rise, but failed, and said as he dropped back:

"Zounds! I can not sit up. My loins are shattered."

"Wait a second, sergeant," said father Bribri; "one of my legs is disabled, but my loins and arms are still sea-worthy. I shall give you a helping hand."

The ragpicker helped the soldier to sit up, and supported him until he had emptied his gla.s.s. After that he gently helped him to lie down again.

"Thanks, and pardon the trouble, my good old man," said the Munic.i.p.alist.

"At your service, sergeant."

"Tell me, old boy--"

"What is it, sergeant?"

"Doesn't it strike you that this thing is rather droll?"

"What, sergeant?"

"Well, to think that two hours ago we were trying to shoot holes through each other, and now we are exchanging courtesies."

"Don't mention it, sergeant! Shots are stupid things."

"All the more when people have no ill-will for each other--"

"Zounds! May the devil take me, sergeant, if I had any ill-will towards you! Nevertheless, for all I know, it was I who put the bullet in your loin--just as, without having the slightest ill feeling for me, you would have planted your bayonet in my bowels. Wherefore, I repeat it, it is a stupid thing for people who have no ill-will toward each other to come to blows."

"That's the truth of it."

"And, furthermore, were you particularly stuck upon Louis Philippe, sergeant?"

"I? Little did I trouble my head about him! What I was after was to obtain my furlough, so that I could go to the country and plant my cabbages. That's what I was after. And you, old boy, what were you after?"

"I am after the Republic that will guarantee work, and will furnish bread to those who need it."

"If that is so, old fellow, I am as much for the Republic as yourself, because I have a poor brother with a large family upon his hands, to whom to be out of work is like death. Ah! And was it for that that you fought, old fellow? By my honor, you were not so far out of the way.

Long live the Republic!"

"And yet, it may be you, old fraud, who shot that bullet into my leg--but, at least you are not to be blamed."

"How the devil could I help it! Do we ever know why we fall into one another's hair? The old custom of obeying orders is what sets us agoing.

We are ordered to fire--and we fire, without at first taking any particular aim--that's true. But the other side answers in kind.

Zounds! From that minute it is each for his own skin."

"I believe you."

"And then one gets p.r.i.c.ked, or sees a comrade fall; he grows hotter in the collar; the smell of gunpowder intoxicates you; and then you begin to bellow as if you were among deaf people--"

"Once so far, the rest comes natural, sergeant!"

"It does not matter so much, you see, my good old man, so long as you are at guns' length. But the moment you come to close quarters, to a bayonet charge, and you can see the white of each others' eyes, then the compliments exchanged are: 'Take this!' 'Take that!' and yet one feels a weakness stealing over his legs and arms."

"Quite natural, sergeant, because you think to yourself--'These are, after all, brave fellows who want the Reform, they want the Republic.

Good--what harm can they do me? Besides, am I not one of the common people, like themselves? Have I not relatives and friends among the common people? I wager a hundred to one that I should be of their opinion, that I should fall in line with them, instead of charging upon them'--"

"That's so true, my old man, that I'm as much for the Republic as yourself, if it can furnish work to my poor brother."

"And that's why I repeat, sergeant, that there is nothing so stupid as for people to shoot holes into one another, without, at least, knowing the why and the wherefore."

Saying this father Bribri drew out of his pocket his old snuff-box of white wood, and holding it out to his companion, added:

"Will you have some, sergeant?"

"Zounds! That's not to be refused, old man; it will help to clear up my head."

"Tell me, sergeant," remarked father Bribri laughing, "have you perhaps a cold in the head? Do you know the song:

"There were six soldiers, or five, They had a cold in the head--"

"Ah, you gay old fraud!" exclaimed the Munic.i.p.alist, giving his mattress-fellow a friendly tap on the shoulder and laughing heartily at the opportune refrain. He took a pinch of snuff, and after absorbing and relis.h.i.+ng it like a connoisseur, he added:

"Zounds! This is good!"

"I'll take you into my confidence, sergeant," whispered father Bribri, taking a pinch himself, "this is my only luxury. I get it at the Civitte, nowhere else!"

"That's the very place my wife makes her purchases in."

"Oh, so, then, you are married, sergeant? The devil take it! Your poor wife must be feeling frightfully uneasy."

"Yes, she is an excellent woman. If my wound is not fatal, old man, you must come to my house and take a bowl of soup with us. Ho! Ho! We shall chat about St. Denis Street while nibbling a crust."

"You are very kind, sergeant. Neither is that to be refused. And seeing that I do not keep house, you and your wife must return the visit by coming and sharing a rabbit-stew with me on the outer boulevard."

"Agreed, old man!"

As the civilian and the Munic.i.p.alist were exchanging these courtesies, Monsieur Lebrenn came out of the rear room, the door of which had been kept closed. The linendraper looked pale; there were tears in his eyes.

He said to his wife, whom he found busy attending one of the wounded men: