They were
elite troops that we had before us. They had allowed us to
come within thirty, and even within ten, meters--too close.
Their arms and knapsacks thrown down in heaps showed that they
wanted to fly, but upon the appearance of our "gray phantoms"
terror paralyzed them, and, on the narrow path in which they
crowded, the German bullets brought them the order to halt!
There they are at the very entrance of their leafy hiding
places, lying down moaning and asking for quarter, but whether
their wounds are light or grievous, the brave fusiliers saved
their country the expensive care which would have to be given
to such a number of enemies.
Now the recital continues very ornate, very literary, and the writer
relates how his Imperial Highness Prince Oscar of Prussia, being advised
of the exploits (perhaps, indeed, other exploits than these) of the
154th and of the Regiment of Grenadiers, which forms the Brigade with
the 154th, declared them both worthy of the name of "King's Brigade,"
and the recital closes with this phrase: "When night came on, with a
prayer of thankfulness on our lips we fell asleep to await the coming
day.
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