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misfortunes and separation from his family), and she used to be
admitted to see him twice or thrice a week, and never came empty-
handed---a little brown bright-eyed creature, whose ogles had made
the greatest impression upon all the world.
This man was drafted into a regiment that was quartered at Neiss in
Silesia, which is only at a short distance from the Austrian
frontier; he maintained always the same character for daring and
skill, and was, in the secret republic of the regiment--which always
exists as well as the regular military hierarchy--the acknowledged
leader. He was an admirable soldier, as I have said; but haughty,
dissolute, and a drunkard. A man of this mark, unless he takes care
to coax and flatter his officers (which I always did), is sure to
fall out with them. Le Blondin's captain was his sworn enemy, and
his punishments were frequent and severe.
His wife and the women of the regiment (this was after the peace)
used to carry on a little commerce of smuggling across the Austrian
frontier, where their dealings were winked at by both parties; and
in obedience to the instructions of her husband, this woman, from
every one of her excursions, would bring in a little powder and
ball: commodities which are not to be procured by the Prussian
soldier, and which were stowed away in secret till wanted. They WERE
to be wanted, and that soon.
Le Blondin had organised a great and extraordinary conspiracy. We
don't know how far it went, how many hundreds or thousands it
embraced; but strange were the stories told about the plot amongst
us privates: for the news was spread from garrison to garrison, and
talked of by the army, in spite of all the Government efforts to
hush it up--hush it up, indeed! I have been of the people myself; I
have seen the Irish rebellion, and I know what is the free-masonry
of the poor.
He made himself the head of the plot. There were no writings nor
papers. No single one of the conspirators communicated with any
other than the Frenchman; but personally he gave his orders to them
all. He had arranged matters for a general rising of the garrison,
at twelve o'clock on a certain day: the guard-houses in the town
were to be seized, the sentinels cut down, and--who knows the rest?
Some of our people used to say that the conspiracy was spread
through all Silesia, and that Le Blondin was to be made a general in
the Austrian service.
At twelve o'clock, and opposite the guard-house by the Bohmer-Thor
of Neiss, some thirty men were lounging about in their undress, and
the Frenchman stood near the sentinel of the guard-house, sharpening
a wood hatchet on a stone. At the stroke of twelve, he got up, split
open the sentinel's head with a blow of his axe, and the thirty men,
rushing into the guard-house, took possession of the arms there, and
marched at once to the gate. The sentry there tried to drop the bar,
but the Frenchman rushed up to him, and, with another blow of the
axe, cut off his right hand, with which he held the chain.
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