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013 - Chapter 7 Part 2 · An Englishman in the French Foreign Legion

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Speaker 1: Chapter seven of A Soldier of the Legion by George Mannington.
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Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter seven,
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Speaker 1: Part two. About the middle of June, Lieutenant de Luz,
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Speaker 1: the intelligence officer from Tai Yuen, to which reference was
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Speaker 1: made in a preceding chapter, came to us to assist
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Speaker 1: in the operations that were going on, for owing to
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Speaker 1: his knowledge of the vernacular of the natives and their customs,
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Speaker 1: he was able to obtain information when others less gifted
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Speaker 1: would most certainly have failed. This officer was also instructed
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Speaker 1: to complete a new map of the region, for the
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Speaker 1: late expedition had brought to light the many errors and
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Speaker 1: omissions contained in the former surveys of the province. My
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Speaker 1: friend Liptay accompanied the lieutenant, for he was to assist
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Speaker 1: in the topographical work. I was pleased, indeed to see
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Speaker 1: my friend again, and was happy at being able to
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Speaker 1: congratulate him on his recent promotion, for he was now
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Speaker 1: a corporal, and we wetted his stripes on the evening
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Speaker 1: of his arrival with several bottles of good wine. In confidence.
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Speaker 1: He informed me that I was myself to be attached
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Speaker 1: to the intelligence staff of the district, and though he
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Speaker 1: disclaimed all knowledge of the cause, I soon found out
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Speaker 1: that I owed this chance of promotion to his good offices.
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Speaker 1: I knew little at the time what important changes in
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Speaker 1: my existence this new departure would bring me, though had
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Speaker 1: I possessed that knowledge, it could hardly have increased my
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Speaker 1: gratitude for the good turn my chum had done me.
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Speaker 1: For a month I worked with Lieutenant de Luz and
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Speaker 1: accompanied the different reconnaissances and little columns, making rough surveys
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Speaker 1: of the ground covered, and bringing back the sketches to Nanam,
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Speaker 1: where they were amplified and checked. During these expeditions I
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Speaker 1: was mounted on a native pony, and on armed with
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Speaker 1: a carbine instead of the longer and less handy rifle.
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Speaker 1: My new life was a most agreeable one, for not
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Speaker 1: only did I escape all the drudgery of fatigue duties
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Speaker 1: in the fort, but when the reconnaissance with which I
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Speaker 1: might happen to be out got in touch with the enemy,
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Speaker 1: I would put away my compass and planchette and do
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Speaker 1: duty as a galloper, carrying information from the scouts to
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Speaker 1: the commanding officer and going back again with orders. My
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Speaker 1: mount was only eleven and a half hands in height,
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Speaker 1: so that when I was in the saddle, my feet
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Speaker 1: were but a few inches from the ground. But the
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Speaker 1: animal's pluck, endurance and sure footedness were extraordinary. On the
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Speaker 1: fifteenth July, Lipte, together with the other members of the
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Speaker 1: district staff, returned to Ta Nuin. I was left behind,
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Speaker 1: as my employment had only been a temporary one, but
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Speaker 1: I continued to do topographical work for our captain, and
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Speaker 1: was in consequence spared the ordinary company routine. Owing to
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Speaker 1: the extreme heat which had now set in, the authorities
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Speaker 1: gave orders for the suspension of all operations, except in
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Speaker 1: case of great urgency, so that nothing more exciting went
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Speaker 1: on than an occasional hour of drill or theoretical instruction.
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Speaker 1: Having failed to capture Datam, while it was still possible
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Speaker 1: to move the troops, the authorities were now obliged to
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Speaker 1: wait for cooler weather. Within the Red Dui or little
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Speaker 1: citadel of our fort, a military telegraph office had been erected,
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Speaker 1: communicating with Boha and Tai Nuin by wire and with
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Speaker 1: Motrange and Mona Luog by the heliograph. Two French operators,
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Speaker 1: a marine and a gunner were in charge of the station.
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Speaker 1: Since I had been detached on special service, I had
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Speaker 1: messed with these two telegraphists, and it was not long
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Speaker 1: before we were the best of friends. Gond the Marine
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Speaker 1: and gray Mare the gunner were Pyrasians of good family
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Speaker 1: and education, and thanks to their natural versatility and wit,
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Speaker 1: we soon found means of introducing a certain amount of
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Speaker 1: fun into our existence, which helped to relieve the terrible
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Speaker 1: monotony of life in the fort. By nailing a damp
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Speaker 1: sheet over a window which gave upon the gun platform,
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Speaker 1: and with the aid of a powerful lamp sometimes used
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Speaker 1: for signaling at night, we started a shadow theater. Our
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Speaker 1: troop and scenery we cut out of thick cardboard, and
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Speaker 1: we were able to present adaptations of some of the
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Speaker 1: most popular dramas and comedies of the day, the text
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Speaker 1: and the meis encenne of which would have been a
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Speaker 1: startling revelation to the original authors. These performances were given
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Speaker 1: twice a week and lasted from seven thirty till nine
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Speaker 1: p m. And our audience was composed of all the
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Speaker 1: legionaries not on duty, and such of the native troops
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Speaker 1: as cared to attend. There was of course no accommodation
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Speaker 1: for the spectators, who were indeed above such details, and
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Speaker 1: they contented themselves with standing or squatting up on the
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Speaker 1: hard ground to watch the show. Though some of our
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Speaker 1: audience saw fit to make rude remarks concerning the tone
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Speaker 1: of voice in which the feminine roles were read, the
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Speaker 1: majority were unsparing of their applause, and the appearance of
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Speaker 1: the silhouettes of such famous artists as the Golden Voiced
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Speaker 1: Sarah or the Two Cocolans brought down the house now
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Speaker 1: and again, some ready witted interruption from one of the
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Speaker 1: spectators would cause the temporary disappearance of the actors from
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Speaker 1: the stage and a momentary cessation of the performance. For
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Speaker 1: unable to control our emotions or continue the dialogue, we
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Speaker 1: would fall on the floor of the little matt shed hut,
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Speaker 1: where we would like bolst with laughter until the noisy
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Speaker 1: public threatened to pull down the house unless we continued
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Speaker 1: the play. Success ofttimes breed's foolhardiness, and in an evil hour,
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Speaker 1: finding that we had exhausted the repertoire, our memories offered
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Speaker 1: us of plots from the Parisian stage, we decided to
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Speaker 1: draw on local incidents for the construction of our plays.
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Speaker 1: At first all went well, for such farces as the
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Speaker 1: that Tom's Defeat, in which that chief, after refusing the
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Speaker 1: hand of the Governor General's daughter and a big dowry,
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Speaker 1: died through incautiously tasting the contents of a tin of
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Speaker 1: bully beef supplied by the Commissariat for the use of
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Speaker 1: the troops. Were successful and produced no untoward results, but
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Speaker 1: craving for still greater popularity, we were foolish enough to
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Speaker 1: put upon our stage the too transparently caricastured counterpart of
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Speaker 1: one of the senior US noncommissioned officers in the company
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Speaker 1: of Native troops, who, though an excellent soldier, was possessed
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Speaker 1: of many eccentricities. This veteran resented our impudence, and we
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Speaker 1: were reported and obliged to suspend our performances. The instruments
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Speaker 1: were placed in the upper story of the little telegraph station,
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Speaker 1: and I was in the habit of sitting upstairs for
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Speaker 1: a couple of hours each evening with either of my
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Speaker 1: friends who happened to be on duty. Here we would
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Speaker 1: chat and smoke, for the messages were few and far between.
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Speaker 1: After eight and while away the time till eleven on
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Speaker 1: the evening of twenty second May. I was there as usual,
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Speaker 1: Bougond was on duty, and we had been exchanging opinions
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Speaker 1: concerning the adjutant who had succeeded in obtaining the cloture
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Speaker 1: of our theater, when our conversation was suddenly interrupted by
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Speaker 1: a call on the morse from Tai Yuen. In the
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Speaker 1: middle of the message he was received, my companion gave
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Speaker 1: a sudden whoop of astonishment, though this did not cause
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Speaker 1: me much emotion, for I was accustomed by now to
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Speaker 1: his patmania, which consisted in telling me all sorts of
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Speaker 1: tall stories concerning the wires he received, and I prepared
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Speaker 1: myself to greet a yarn about the capture of ded
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Speaker 1: Tom or my promotion to the much desired dignity of
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Speaker 1: a full blown corporal. When the message was finished and
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Speaker 1: he had wrapped back that he had read the same correctly,
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Speaker 1: he jumped up excitedly, came over to me, and holding
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Speaker 1: out his hand, shouted, mont fieu, I congratulate you, black gel,
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Speaker 1: I answered, Spare me your moldy joke. It's much too
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Speaker 1: hot to laugh, so be sensible. Let's take a glass
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Speaker 1: of wine if any remains in the bottle, and then
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Speaker 1: I'll go to bed, I assure you. He almost yelled it,
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Speaker 1: but I would not let him go on, and taunted
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Speaker 1: him with the staleness of the joke he was trying
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Speaker 1: to play, till, in despair of obtaining a hearing, he
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Speaker 1: rushed over to the instrument, tore off the band, and
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Speaker 1: handed it to me to read. To my amazement, I
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Speaker 1: saw clearly printed in little blue letters upon the narrow
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Speaker 1: strip of paper, beyond the possibility of a hoax, the
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Speaker 1: following message, Major Tai Nuin to Captain Commanding No Nam,
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Speaker 1: send Soldier Mannington by first convoy to Foulong Duang, from
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Speaker 1: whence he will proceed to back Nin to take service
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Speaker 1: as Secretary Brigade Staff. The next few minutes were exciting ones,
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Speaker 1: and it was not until we had hauled Grimaire from
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Speaker 1: his bed downstairs, communicated the news to him, and drowned
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Speaker 1: our emotion in a jugful of wine and water with
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Speaker 1: a lemon cut up in it, that things began to
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Speaker 1: assume their normal proportions. I slept but little that night
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Speaker 1: and lay speculating as to how it was that fortune
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Speaker 1: had so favored me for a berth on the staff
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Speaker 1: meant interesting work, extra pay, and comfortable quarters, in fact,
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Speaker 1: a return to partial civilization. The change carried with it
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Speaker 1: one drawback, however, which made me hesitate as to whether
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Speaker 1: it would not be better for me to propose another
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Speaker 1: man in my place, for I knew that promotion was
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Speaker 1: very slow on the brigade, the number of noncombs there
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Speaker 1: being limited to three, and I was already somewhat disappointed
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Speaker 1: at not receiving my stripes at the same time as
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Speaker 1: my friend Lipte, though this had been owing to the
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Speaker 1: fact that several corporals had been sent out to the
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Speaker 1: corps with the last batch of troops from Algeria, so
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Speaker 1: that the vacancies had been few and only the best
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Speaker 1: had been chosen. Next morning, I was called up to
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Speaker 1: the rapport, and after Captain Watron had informed me of
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Speaker 1: the order received from our major, I told him of
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Speaker 1: my fears, but he would not listen to them at length,
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Speaker 1: and informed me that I must go. That he was
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Speaker 1: proud that a man from his company had been chosen,
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Speaker 1: and that I might congratulate myself on my good luck.
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Speaker 1: Why mon Garson, he said, you have only to do
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Speaker 1: your work well and keep sober, and you will do
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Speaker 1: that I know for the honor of the company and
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Speaker 1: promotion will come in good time. In two years you
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Speaker 1: will probably be a sergeant, and then, if you so choose,
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Speaker 1: you will be able to go to Saint Maclan, the
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Speaker 1: military school for sergeants who wished to become officers and
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Speaker 1: get a commission. Now go to the sergeant major and
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Speaker 1: get your foye de vout, for you will leave with
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Speaker 1: the convoy to Boha tomorrow morning. Then, offering me his hand,
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Speaker 1: this excellent man and true gentleman, said, now good luck
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Speaker 1: to you, and be careful to remember always that you
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Speaker 1: belong to the legion, and that the honor of the
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Speaker 1: corps is yours. Also, after packing my kit and getting
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Speaker 1: my papers from the Sergeant Major, who chaffed me good
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Speaker 1: naturedly by saying that now that I was going to
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Speaker 1: be on intimate terms with a general, he hoped I
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Speaker 1: would not put on too much side, I went round
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Speaker 1: the company to say goodbye. Later, I slipped away to
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Speaker 1: Toe's hut in the native village and told him of
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Speaker 1: my coming departure. The little man was evidently chagrined at
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Speaker 1: the news. Nevertheless, he congratulated me most heartily and made
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Speaker 1: me promise to write to him, saying with evident pride
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Speaker 1: that he was now able to read a little French,
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Speaker 1: so that with the aid of one of the native
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Speaker 1: clerks in the commissariat department, he would be able to
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Speaker 1: decipher my letters. We had a grand dinner that evening
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Speaker 1: in the little telegraph station, a tin of salmon and
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Speaker 1: several bottles of beer having been purchased to swell the
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Speaker 1: menu provided by our usual rations. Friends drank to my
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Speaker 1: success and I to their health and speedy returned to France,
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Speaker 1: and it was late in the night before I retired
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Speaker 1: to rest for the last time in the fort, which had,
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Speaker 1: with few intervals, been my home for the past fifteen months.
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Speaker 1: Several of my comrades were present to bid me God's
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Speaker 1: speed when early the next morning I filed out with
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Speaker 1: a convoy through the gates of our position, together with
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Speaker 1: several sick men of both legionaries and arias who were
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Speaker 1: going down to the hospital. I left Boha that evening.
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Speaker 1: We descended the river in Sampans and reached ulag Duang
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Speaker 1: next morning. On the morning of the twenty sixth July,
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Speaker 1: I left for bac Nin with the weekly convoy to Hanoi,
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Speaker 1: which carried the mails. We passed through dap Cow at
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Speaker 1: noon and arrived at our destination at two p m.
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Speaker 1: The country we traverse was a big cultivated plain dotted
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Speaker 1: with villages, with here and there occasional small group hoops
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Speaker 1: of low hills. At bach Men there is a small
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Speaker 1: citadel built no doubt towards the end of the eighteenth
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Speaker 1: century by one of the engineers led by Louis the
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Speaker 1: sixteen to his ally the Emperor of Hannam. It is
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Speaker 1: hexagonal in shape and constructed according to the principles of Vaubant.
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Speaker 1: Each of its sides has a frontage of about a
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Speaker 1: thousand yards and is furnished with numerous flanking bastions and
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Speaker 1: demi lunes. There was a company of marines, a battalion
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Speaker 1: of the third Regiment of Tira years Tonquinois, and about
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Speaker 1: a thousand militia in garrison. There. Inside the citadel were
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Speaker 1: the houses of the general commanding the second Brigade, the
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Speaker 1: resident of the province, the officer's quarters, the barracks of
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Speaker 1: the troops, the staff offices, and the lodgings of the
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Speaker 1: soldier's secretary. On my arrival I reported to the brigade,
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Speaker 1: Major Captain Micheaud, who sent me on with an orderly
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Speaker 1: to the Intelligence Department, where I was to be employed.
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Speaker 1: The chief of this office, Lieutenant Cassier, received me very kindly,
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Speaker 1: and after telling one of the secretaries, a marine, to
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Speaker 1: go and show me where our lodgings were situated, he
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Speaker 1: informed me that I might rest that afternoon and come
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Speaker 1: to work the next morning. I found that I was quartered,
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Speaker 1: together with the other scribes, five privates, and two corporals,
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Speaker 1: in a one roomed brick building with a verandah in front,
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Speaker 1: which was situated at the end of the General's garden
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Speaker 1: and looked out into the parade ground of the native infantry.
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Speaker 1: On the other side of this open space, about three
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Speaker 1: hundred yards away were the buildings occupied by the French Marines.
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Speaker 1: I washed disposed my kit above the cot, which I
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Speaker 1: noted was of the comfortable pattern in use in Algeria,
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Speaker 1: and went for a stroll into the town, about a
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Speaker 1: couple of hundred yards outside the fortifications, for I desire
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Speaker 1: to reconnoiter the surroundings before dinner, which I had been
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Speaker 1: informed was six p m. The little town of bac
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Speaker 1: Nin is situated on the Old Mandarin Road from Hanoi,
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Speaker 1: the capital of Tonkin, to Langson and the Chinese frontier,
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Speaker 1: about eighteen miles from the metropolis. It contains a population
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Speaker 1: of eight thousand natives, is the capital of the province
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Speaker 1: of the same name, and has a cathedral seat of
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Speaker 1: the Spanish Bishopric of Eastern Tonkin. Though it is not
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Speaker 1: a manufacturing center of any importance, its only local production
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Speaker 1: being silk embroidery work, for which, however, it is famous.
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Speaker 1: It is considered as one of the principal commercial towns
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Speaker 1: of the colony because its markets are a medium of
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Speaker 1: barter or exchange for objects imported from the surrounding provinces
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Speaker 1: and also from China through the frontier towns of Lang
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Speaker 1: San and cow Bang. I wandered through the narrow streets
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Speaker 1: for an hour or so and was delighted with the
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Speaker 1: life and bustle of the little town. It was market day,
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Speaker 1: and the busy throngs jostled one another as they passed
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Speaker 1: to and fro. The natives are noisy individuals, and their
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Speaker 1: shrill cries as they hawked their wares or wrangled over
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Speaker 1: the price of some article for household use. A basket
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Speaker 1: of rice yams or some other comestible were perfectly bewildering
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Speaker 1: at first to me, for I had become so used
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Speaker 1: to the silence of the empty plains and the jungle
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Speaker 1: covered hills, that even the tiny stir of this overgrown
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Speaker 1: village produced an impression akin to what an inhabitant of
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Speaker 1: Exmoor might feel where he suddenly transported to the busiest
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Speaker 1: center of London. I got back in good time to
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Speaker 1: the Citadel, for I was anxious not to commit so
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Speaker 1: serious a breach of etiquette as to make my new
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Speaker 1: comrades await dinner for me. I received a hearty welcome
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Speaker 1: from them all, though only one of them, a lance
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Speaker 1: corporal who was working in the General Office, belonged to
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Speaker 1: the legion. He came from the second Regiment. We sat
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Speaker 1: down to our meal in a small building close to
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Speaker 1: the offices of the brigade, and the fare, which was
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Speaker 1: better than I had been used to at Nanam, and
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Speaker 1: the unexpected luxuries of china plates and real glasses, a
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Speaker 1: table covered with white oilcloth, and a punka were more
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Speaker 1: than sufficient to reconcile me to my new surroundings. Owing
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Speaker 1: to the extra pay, we drew about one in sixpence
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Speaker 1: a day. It was not only possible to keep up
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Speaker 1: a good mess, but besides the cook, we were able
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Speaker 1: to maintain a boy at four piastres a month about
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Speaker 1: eight shillings. And this faithful servitor swept out our quarters,
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Speaker 1: made the beds, cleaned our boots, pipe clayed our helmets,
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Speaker 1: and performed one hundred and one other services which I
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Speaker 1: had become so used to doing for myself that it
18:59
Speaker 1: was days before I could become accustomed to leave the
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Speaker 1: work to him, much to the amusement of the other secretaries.
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Speaker 1: The morning after my arrival, I rose and dressed at
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Speaker 1: five thirty a m as I had been used to
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Speaker 1: do in my company, but I got roundly sworn at
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Speaker 1: by the other occupants of the room for awakening them
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Speaker 1: by my noisy ablutions. The fault lay with them, however,
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Speaker 1: for they had neglected to inform me that the office
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Speaker 1: opened at eight. Though it was several weeks before I
19:30
Speaker 1: could accustom myself to lie abed till seven each morning,
19:35
Speaker 1: I found that my work consisted partly in aiding in
19:38
Speaker 1: the drawing up of a new map of Yente, and
19:42
Speaker 1: partly in clerical and intelligence work. This last part was
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Speaker 1: the most interesting, for I had to write down the
19:49
Speaker 1: reports of the different spies attached to the brigade and
19:53
Speaker 1: the deposition of the captured brigands when they were interrogated
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Speaker 1: by the Lieutenant in charge of our office. Besides this,
20:01
Speaker 1: I had to pass an hour each morning with a
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Speaker 1: brigade major, as it was my duty to register all
20:07
Speaker 1: the correspondents, received the letters and reports being handed over
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Speaker 1: to me for that purpose by Captain Micheaut as soon
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Speaker 1: as he had perused them. By this means, I became
20:19
Speaker 1: acquainted with everything of interest that was going on in
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Speaker 1: the colony, so far as rebellion, brigandige and military operations
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Speaker 1: were concerned. And I had not been long on the
20:30
Speaker 1: staff before I realized that the little warfare in which
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Speaker 1: my company had taken a part in the Yinte was
20:37
Speaker 1: but a chapter in the history of a struggle that
20:40
Speaker 1: was still going on all over the country outside of
20:43
Speaker 1: the Delta provinces, between the French on one hand and
20:47
Speaker 1: the Tonkinese rebels and Chinese bands on the other. Columns
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Speaker 1: were marching or being organized against such chiefs as Lunqi,
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Speaker 1: whose powerful gangs of well armed plunder ars overran the
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Speaker 1: provinces of Quang Yen, Lom and Lang Son. The veteran
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Speaker 1: Banditi of the quasi feudal lords Baki and Long Tom
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Speaker 1: Qui in the districts of Caubang and ha Gin on
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Speaker 1: the higher reaches of the Red River, and the frontiers
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Speaker 1: of Yunnan, Quang Sea, and Quang Tung, and skirmishes were
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Speaker 1: reported daily by the officers who commanded the various forts
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Speaker 1: in blockhouses, whose garrisons were continually coming in touch with
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Speaker 1: the bands infesting the mountainous regions of the colony. End
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Speaker 1: of Chapter seven, Part two,