Told by the Death's Head

The hero of our romantic narrative, or better, narratives, was a constable.Not one of that useful class appointed, in our day, to direct the vehicleswhich pass over the two approaches to the suspension-bridge in Budapest;rather, he was the chief of a body whose task it is to provoke disturbance,who win all the more praise and glory the greater the havoc and destructionthey create. In a word: he was a gunner.
The chronicle of his exploits givesonly his Christian name, which was "Hugo."
In the year 1688, when the Frenchbeleaguered Coblentz, Hugo had charge of the battery in the outermost towerof Ehrenbreitstein fortress—the "Montalembert Tower."
Coblentz and Ehrenbreitstein areopposite one another on the banks of the Rhine, as are Pesth and Ofen; andthe Blocksberg looks down on us, as does the citadel of Ehrenbreitstein onCoblentz.
The city, which is strongly fortifiedon all sides, had become accustomed to being beleaguered—now by the French,now by the Prussians; today by the Austrians, tomorrow by the Swedes.
On the occasion of which I write,Coblentz was under a terrible fire from the French guns, which created greathavoc in that portion of the city known as the "Old Town."