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Updated: June 6, 2025
Good, brave Colonel Belling bought me the necessary equipment, and appointed me his aide-de-camp and lieutenant. The Lord have mercy on his dear soul! Belling was an excellent man, and I am indebted to him for all I am." "No, general," said Hennemann, "it is to me that you are indebted, for if I had not taken you prisoner at that time "
And then," added Blucher, hesitatingly, and almost in confusion, "you have too much to do, John; you must have an assistant. It takes you too much time to fill my pipes, and this young man, therefore, will help you. I have appointed Christian Hennemann my pipe-master. Well, do not reply take the two men to the building, and be good friends do you hear, good friends!"
"Boys!" he shouted, in a clarion voice, "this is a butchery to-day; let us stop a moment, take a drink, and fill our pipes. Pipe- master, my pipe!" "Did I not say that you would soon need me?" asked Hennemann, in a triumphant voice. "Here is your pipe, general!"
I am eighty years old, and old age has dried up the fountain of my song." "Sure enough, you are eighty years old," said Blucher, puffing his pipe, "and at that age few persons are able to sing. But I should really like to hear again a merry native song. I have not heard one for fifty years, for here, you see, Hennemann, people are so stupid and ignorant as not even to understand Low-German."
"So," muttered Blucher to himself, "that was just wanting to my afflictions. It is the second pipe broken to-day. Well, there will be a day when Bonaparte shall pay me these pipes that he has already cost me. That day must come, or there is no justice in Heaven. Christian! O Christian!" The door opened. Christian Hennemann appeared on the threshold, awaiting the orders of the general.
Now can I dance, and also spin, A handsome husband thus to win. Thy best reward I gladly take! "A very pretty song," said Blucher, kindly. "And I believe I heard the girls sing it when I was a boy. Thank you, Christian, you have sung it very well. But, tell me now, old Hennemann, what is to become of Christian?
"I believe that," said the old man, gravely, "and it is not so easy to understand one must he a native of Mecklenburg to understand it." "It is a pity that you cannot sing," said Blucher, sighing. "But, perhaps Christian can," said old Hennemann. "Tell me, Christian, can you sing?" "Yes, vatting," replied Christian, clearing his throat. "'Vatting!" exclaimed Blucher. "What does that mean?"
You will do me the favor, however, not to betray it to Amelia." "Even though I should be silent, your excellency, your wife would hear of it." "You believe Hennemann will tell her?" asked Blucher, almost in dismay. "Yes, it is true, she has ordered the pipe-master not to lose sight of me in battle, and always to remain near me with the pipe.
Blucher rode across the field toward his headquarters; no one was by his side but his friend, General Gneisenau, and, at some distance behind them, Christian Hennemann, holding a burning pipe in his mouth. Absorbed in deep reflections, they were riding along the dreadful road strewed with dead and wounded soldiers, and through pools of blood.
You see that hussar Hennemann is an honest man, and that I owe him the ransom. He will stay here, and have nothing to do but eat and drink well, sit in the sun, and, in the evening, when it affords him pleasure, tell you stories of the Seven Years' War, in which he participated. If other hussars come and tell you they took me prisoner, you know it is not true, and need not admit them.
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