+ ~ -
 
Please report pronunciation problems here. Select and sample other voices. Options Pause Play
 
Report an Error
Go!
 
Go!
 
TOC
 

the edge of his cap, the captain burst into a loud
laugh. And no wonder, for in the doorway
behind him stood Raps on his hind legs,
precisely in the same position, with his right forepaw
to his head. The dog, with his half-crazy
coiffure and grotesquely-cut hair, looked so
genuinely comic that even his master could not
help laughing. Raps alone preserved his gravity,
and remained standing stock-still, with his paw
to his head.

"What sort of animal is that ?" demanded
the captain.

"It is a dog, sir, which is as wise as a
mortal," replied the under-corporal. "Step
forward, Raps," said he, addressing his pupil,
"and show the captain what the Danes shall
have."

On this, Raps, advancing a few steps on his
hind legs, pretended to be hugging and
embracing something, with the most comic delight.
The under-corporal on this cast a triumphant
look at the captain, and continued to the
dog, "And what shall the Austrians have?"
Raps laid himself on the ground, stretched
out his four legs, and appeared stone dead.
Another glance, and a fresh question, "What,
then, shall the Prussians have ?" Raps rose,
showed his teeth, and his contempt for the
imaginary Prussians by turning his tail upon
them.

After these proofs of his scholar's cleverness,
the corporal, having transacted his business,
took a step backward and bowed; Raps, again
standing on his hind legs, did the same. And
so the two withdrew.

This intelligent and interesting animal was
always present with his regiment, on drill or at
funerals; never trembled in danger, never gave
way in exertion, his whole life was devoted to
the regiment which had adopted him. Was it
to an engagement or to the outposts that they
were going, he marched of his own accord by the
side of the first man in the left wing, silent and
apparently immersed in thought, as if he were
well acquainted with the object of the expedi-
tion. He might then meet his dearest dog-friend,
but he did not notice him: or if he did, it was
with an air of such gravity as seemed to say,
"This is no time for barking or wagging of
tails."

In the retreat from Dannevirke, Raps leapt
up by the side of the driver of a bread-cart.
When some of the soldiers of his regiment, worn
out by fatigue and unable further to exert them-
selves, crept to the side of the cart, Raps
welcomed them, and with every demonstration
of satisfaction saw them stowed in the straw, and
the cover closed over them; but if any other
soldiers sought the same shelter, he warned
them off with such furious determination that
they found it best to leave him and his
companions in undisturbed possession of their
comfortable quarters.

One morning Raps was on duty with his regiment
at the extreme outposts, on the other side
of a wood before the redoubts. It had been
bitterly cold through the night, with alternating
rain and snow. The sky was leaden grey, and
the faces of the poor drenched soldiers were the
same. Immediately before the hour of relief, a
Prussian column came from behind the fences,
below the line of the outposts, and began to fire
on the Danes. After some time the enemy's fire
slackened, the smoke cleared away, and the
Danes occupied their former position. But
several had been killed ; among others, the
under-corporal with the brass earrings. During
the attack, Raps had gone backwards and
forwards, his tail in the air, facing the enemy
and barking furiously. Now, however, when all
was over, he was found lying silent on a snowdrift,
a few steps from the corporal, a pool of
blood around him, making it evident that he,
too, had been shot. The news of his death
spread an universal sorrow through the whole
line. When the discharge from duty came, the
men collected round the spot where he had
breathed his last.

As regards the retreat from Dannevirke, I
must, however, tell something which refers to
the men, and not to the lower animals; something
of the strange visions which haunted
these poor Danish soldiers on their sorrowful
retreat. The account I give is well authenticated.
I take it from the Erik Bägh, merely premising
that these strange visions were not
confined to a few individuals only, but that it was
the few individuals only who were exempt from
them:

"I have scarcely indeed," says the writer I
quote, "conversed with a single person who
took part in that unhappy retreat- all of whom,
it must be remembered, had previously been
exhausted by want of rest, of warmth, and of
food-  who had not experienced the same
phenomenon. That, however, which
astonished me most, perhaps, was the remarkable
analogy in the images presenting themselves
to men of totally dissimilar constitutions,
temperaments, and bodily and mental
development.

"We all know that in delirium tremens, and
such disorders as are occasioned by congestion
of the blood to the brain, the mind of the
unhappy subject is generally haunted by larger
or lesser black phantoms, flies, beetles, serpents,
rats, chimney-sweeps, and so forth, up to gloomy
funeral processions. One case is on record
where a Swedish patient had so far degenerated
as to behold nothing but a visionary procession
of archbishops ! The cause of this peculiar
phenomenon, however, is owing to purely
mechanical obscurations of sight.

"But what can be the cause of the visions
which appeared to the greater number of our
worn-out soldiers, and which were generally
of the same character: namely, interminable
perspectives of splendid palaces and houses on
both sides of the road? I have spoken to
officers and privates, natives of towns and
country places, and have learned that the same
class of vision has appeared to all. In another
respect I have also found a remarkable