ry quarter, just as
we are conscious of the coming storm before we have seen a cloud on the
horizon. Instructions were given the rear-guard to use severe measures,
if necessary, to keep the column well closed up; but there was not much
straggling, aware as everyone was that the Prussians were close in our
rear, and ready to snap up every unfortunate that they could lay hands
on. Their infantry was coming up with the rapidity of the whirlwind,
making its twenty-five miles a day, while the French regiments, in their
demoralized condition, seemed in comparison to be marking time.

At Authe the weather cleared, and Maurice, taking his bearings by the
position of the sun, noticed that instead of bearing off toward Chene,
which lay three good leagues from where they were, they had turned
and were moving directly eastward. It was two o'clock; the men, after
shivering in the rain for two days, were now suffering from the intense
heat. The road ascended, with long sweeping curves, through a region of
utter desolation: not a house, not a living being, the only relief to
the dreariness of the waste lands an occasional little somber wood; and
the oppressive silence communicated itself to the men, who toiled onward
with drooping heads, bathed in perspiration. At last Saint-Pierremont
appeared before them, a few empty houses on a small elevation. They did
not pass through the village. Maurice observed that here they made a
sudden wheel to the left, resuming their northern course, toward la
Besace. He now understood the route that had been adopted in their
attempt to reach Mouzon ahead of the Prussians; but would they succeed,
with such weary, demoralized troops? At Saint-Pierremont the three
uhlans had shown themselves again, at a turn in the road leading to
Buzancy, and just as the rear-guard was leaving the village a battery
was unmasked and a few shells came tumbling among them, without doing
any injury, however. No response was attempted, and the march was
continued with constantly increasing effort.

From Saint-Pierremont to la Besace the distance is three good leagues,
and when Maurice imparted that information to Jean the latter made a
gesture of discouragement: the men would never be able to accomplish it;
they showed it by their shortness of breath, by their haggard faces. The
road continued to ascend, between gently sloping hills on either side
that were gradually drawing closer together. The condition of the men
necessita