Long Tom was dismounted.
Oh! the roar of laughter and triumph from one end to another of the
trenches; and the clapping of forty thousand hands that went on for full
five minutes; then the Prussians, either through a burst of generous
praise for an act so chivalrous and so brilliant, or because they would
not be crowed over, clapped their tea thousand hands as loudly, and thus
thundering, heart-thrilling salvo of applause answered salvo on both
sides that terrible arena.
That evening came a courteous and flattering message from the
commander-in-chief to Colonel Dujardin; and several officers visited his
quarters to look at him; they went back disappointed. The cry was, "What
a miserable, melancholy dog! I expected to see a fine, dashing fellow."
The trenches neared the town. Colonel Dujardin's mine was far advanced;
the end of the chamber was within a few yards of the bastion. Of late,
the colonel had often visited this mine in person. He seemed a little
uneasy about something in that quarter; but no one knew what: he was a
silent man. The third evening, after he dismounted Long Tom, he received
private notice that an order was coming down from the commander-in-chief
to assault the bastion.
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