Young bloods - Scarrow Simon. Страница 74

The colonel rose from the table and called on the officers to join him, then strolled over towards the oak tree and took his seat in the centre of the row facing the three nooses. Around him the other officers took their places and when all was ready the colonel nodded to his adjutant, who shouted across the square, 'Bring the prisoners!'

The three men were thrust into motion and half walked, half stumbled across to their place of execution. As they approached, Napoleon could see that their faces were marked with bruises and cuts and one of them was nursing an arm in a makeshift sling. He felt a queasy sickness rising in his throat as he watched each man forced into position behind a noose, and then the sergeant drew the rope over their heads and adjusted the slip knot so that it lined up with the spine at the nape of each man's neck. A squad of soldiers marched up and four men were detailed to each rope. They took up the slack and then stood still, waiting for the order to proceed.The sergeant looked to the adjutant for permission to begin and received a nod.

'Does any man among the condemned wish to offer any final words?' the sergeant called out. Napoleon glanced from man to man. One was shaking uncontrollably and his whimpers were clearly audible. Next to him a tall, thin man stood, staring defiantly at the officers seated in front of him. Only the last man opened his mouth.

'This is not the end!' he cried. 'This is the first step towards liberty and equality! You can kill us, but you can't kill what we stand for.' He turned and looked at the soldiers holding the rope behind him. 'Brothers, why are you doing the dirty work of these aristocrats? We are on the same side. They are your enemy. They-'

'I've heard enough of this!' the colonel barked. 'Get on with it!'

'Execution party!' shouted the adjutant, raising his arm. 'Prepare!'

The soldiers tensed their arms and braced their feet. The ringleader took a deep breath and cried out. 'Liberty! Lib-'

The adjutant's arm swept down. 'Pull!'

The soldiers hauled on the ropes and the three men were jerked off their feet up into the air. There were gasps and a few nervous laughs from the seated officers as the men kicked and writhed frantically as the nooses snapped tight about their necks and strangled them. Their faces strained in agony as they tried to draw breath with rasping hisses.The ringleader went first, his eyes bulging as his tongue, dark and swollen, protruded from his lips. The tall man was last, giving up the fight some minutes after his comrades. All three bodies slowly stopped swaying until at last they were still.

The men of the artillery regiment remained in Seurre for nearly two weeks and Napoleon led patrols through the quiet streets daily. The only sign of continued unrest were the slogans that appeared on walls each morning. The most frequent message was simply, 'Liberty! Equality!' and Napoleon shuddered as he remembered the colonel's entertainment of the first night. The bodies remained hanging from the tree as an example to the workers of Seurre. A watch was set over them so no friends or relatives could claim the bodies and cut them down for proper burial. In the warm summer air, corruption soon set in and the stench of decay filled the corner of the square and carried across it whenever there was an evening breeze from that direction.

News from Paris reached the town.The impasse that had beset the parliament had crumbled. The third estate had won over enough of the clergy from the first estate and some nobles from the second estate to declare itself a National Assembly with the authority to pass its own laws.The King's son had died after a long illness at the start of June and the King and Queen were so racked with grief that they had done little to curb the rapidly growing power of the third estate. The country was bracing itself for the inevitable battle of wills between the King and the new National Assembly. There were reports that over twenty regiments were camped near Versailles waiting for orders to crush the Assembly and disperse the mob that had gathered outside the royal palace to support the deputies of the third estate.

Captain Des Mazis led his detachment back to Auxonne on the afternoon of 18 July. It was immediately apparent that something significant had happened. The streets were filled with people locked in earnest discussion. They moved aside as the column of soldiers tramped past.

'Keep the men moving!' Captain Des Mazis yelled from the front of the column. 'Back to the barracks as quickly as possible.'

Alexander reined his horse in and waited for Napoleon before edging his mount back into the column.

'What's this all about, I wonder.'

'Something's happened at Versailles, perhaps,' Napoleon said.

Alexander stared at him in wide-eyed excitement. 'The King's moved against the National Assembly. I bet that's it.'

'We'll know soon enough.'

As the detachment marched in through the main gates of the barracks a junior lieutenant came running up. He saluted Captain Des Mazis and passed on his orders in breathless excitement.

'Colonel's compliments, sir. All officers are to report to headquarters at once.'

'At once? But we've only just returned from Seurre.'

'At once, sir.'

'Very well.' Captain Des Mazis turned in his saddle and bellowed an order to the detachment. 'Fall out! Corporal, take over!'

The three officers marched quickly across the parade ground to the headquarters building. Inside, the main hall was filled with the rest of the officers from the regiment and the artillery school. Napoleon edged over towards General du Tiel.

'Excuse me, sir.'

'Ah, Buona Parte. It's grim news, isn't it, lad?'

Napoleon shook his head. 'What news, sir?'

'From Paris-'

Before the general could continue there was a commotion at the end of the hall and heads turned as the colonel strode in through a side door and quickly mounted the small platform. At his side was a young officer, looking weary and bearing the filth of some days' hard riding. An expectant silence filled the hall as the officers faced the colonel and waited for him to speak. He cleared his throat and drew a deep breath. His voice carried clearly over the crowd and communicated his anxiety in the forced tonelessness of his delivery.

'Gentlemen, this is Lieutenant Corbois of the Swiss Guard. He has come to us directly from Versailles with a dispatch from the War Minister.' He turned towards Corbois and gestured for him to step forward. 'It's best that you tell the news.'

'Yes, sir.' Lieutenant Corbois calmed his nerves and began to speak.'Four days ago, on the fourteenth, the mob in Paris stormed the Bastille. They slaughtered most of the garrison, murdered the governor and seized all the stores of muskets and gunpowder. When I left Versailles the King was having orders prepared for General Broglie to march on Paris. Gentlemen!' Lieutenant Corbois's voice was strained and he had to pause a moment to clear his throat again. 'Gentlemen, I fear that France will be at war with itself at any moment.'

Chapter 52

In the days that followed the fall of the Bastille the officers of the Regiment de la Fere waited for the command to march against the communes of Paris and restore order. But no command came and, to their astonishment, it seemed that the King had simply accepted the seizing of the prison and the slaughter of members of the garrison. Word of the surrender of royal authority to the mob spread through France like a plague.

A few days after the fall of the Bastille a riot broke out in Auxonne. A crowd destroyed the town gates and then made its way through the streets to the tax office and sacked it, badly beating the handful of officials who had tried to deny the mob entry to the building. The colonel of the artillery regiment had ordered a detachment of his men to stiffen the ranks of the local civil guards being assembled to put down the rioters. But once the soldiers were given their orders they had refused to march against the townspeople. The men were confined to barracks at once and a more reliable company of soldiers were sent in their place. The mob was quickly broken up and order restored in Auxonne, but the bad feeling lingered in the barracks. Napoleon, more attuned to the sentiments of the common soldiers than the other officers, sensed it at once. Although daily routine continued, the men took longer to obey orders. Their demeanour became noticeably more surly and the number of complaints about their quarters, their food and their pay grew from the usual trickle into a stream of notes presented to the colonel through their sergeants. Soon the complaints took on the tone of demands and the colonel, mindful of the fate of the governor of the Bastille, took to wearing his sword around the barracks.