crashing of branches, and merry voices could be heard from there. * Another section amid the regimental wagons and horses which were standing in a group was busy getting out cauldrons and rye biscuit, and feeding the horses. * A third section scattered through the village arranging quarters for the staff officers, carrying out the French corpses that were in the huts, and dragging away boards, dry wood, and thatch from the roofs, for the campfires, or wattle fences to
Some fifteen men with merry shouts were shaking down the high wattle wall of a shed, the roof of which had already been removed.
“Now then, all together—shove!” cried the voices, and the huge surface of the wall, sprinkled with snow and creaking with frost, was seen swaying in the gloom of the night. The lower stakes cracked more and more and at last the wall fell, and with it the men who had been pushing it. Loud, coarse laughter and joyous shouts ensued.
“Now then, catch hold in twos! Hand up the lever! That’s it. … Where are you shoving to?”
“Now, all together! But wait a moment, boys … With a song!”
All stood silent, and a soft, pleasant velvety voice began to sing. At the end of the third verse as the last note died away, twenty voices roared out at once: “Oo-oo-oo-oo! That’s it. All together! Heave away, boys! …” but despite their united efforts the wattle hardly moved, and in the silence that followed the heavy breathing of the men was audible.
“Here, you of the Sixth Company! Devils that you are! Lend a hand … will you? You may want us one of these days.”
Some twenty men of the