emaciated, and
footsore; a sight to bring tears to the eyes of the most stony-hearted.
And the guards continued to be as brutally strict as ever; those who for
any purpose attempted to leave the ranks were driven back with blows,
and the platoon that brought up the rear had orders to prod with their
bayonets those who hung back. A sergeant having refused to go further,
the captain summoned two of his men and instructed them to seize him,
one by either arm, and in this manner the wretched man was dragged over
the ground until he agreed to walk. And what made the whole thing more
bitter and harder to endure was the utter insignificance of that little
pimply-faced, bald-headed officer, so insufferably consequential in his
brutality, who took advantage of his knowledge of French to vituperate
the prisoners in it in curt, incisive words that cut and stung like the
lash of a whip.

"Oh!" Maurice furiously exclaimed, "to get the puppy in my hands and
drain him of his blood, drop by drop!"

His powers of endurance were almost exhausted, but it was his rage that
he had to choke down, even more than his fatigue, that was cause of
his suffering. Everything exasperated him and set on edge his tingling
nerves; the harsh notes of the Prussian trumpets particularly, which
inspired him with a desire to scream each time he heard them. He felt he
should never reach the end of their cruel journey without some outbreak
that would bring down on him the utmost severity of the guard. Even now,
when traversing the smallest hamlets, he suffered horribly and felt
as if he should die with shame to behold the eyes of the women fixed
pityingly on him; what would it be when they should enter Germany, and
the populace of the great cities should crowd the streets to laugh and
jeer at them as they passed? And he pictured to himself the cattle cars
into which they would be crowded for transportation, the discomforts and
humiliations they would have to suffer on the journey, the dismal life
in German fortresses under the leaden, wintry sky. No, no; he would have
none of it; better to take the risk of leaving his bones by the roadside
on French soil than go and rot off yonder, for months and months,
perhaps, in the dark depths of a casemate.

"Listen," he said below his breath to Jean, who was walking at his side;
"we will wait until we come to a wood; then we'll break through the
guards and run for it among the trees. The Belgian frontier is not far