.

Until nearly eleven o'clock the 106th slowly pursued its way along the
road which zigzags through the pass of Stonne between high hills. On
the left hand the precipitous summits rear their heads, devoid of
vegetation, while to the right the gentler slopes are clad with woods
down to the roadside. The sun had come out again, and the heat was
intense down in the inclosed valley, where an oppressive solitude
prevailed. After leaving la Berliere, which lies at the foot of a lofty
and desolate mountain surmounted by a Calvary, there is not a house to
be seen, not a human being, not an animal grazing in the meadows. And
the men, the day before so faint with hunger, so spent with fatigue, who
since that time had had no food to restore, no slumber, to speak of,
to refresh them, were now dragging themselves listlessly along,
disheartened, filled with sullen anger.

Soon after that, just as the men had been halted for a short rest along
the roadside, the roar of artillery was heard away at their right;
judging from the distinctness of the detonations the firing could not
be more than two leagues distant. Upon the troops, weary with waiting,
tired of retreating, the effect was magical; in the twinkling of an eye
everyone was on his feet, eager, in a quiver of excitement, no longer
mindful of his hunger and fatigue: why did they not advance? They
preferred to fight, to die, rather than keep on flying thus, no one knew
why or whither.

General Bourgain-Desfeuilles, accompanied by Colonel de Vineuil, had
climbed a hill on the right to reconnoiter the country. They were
visible up there in a little clearing between two belts of wood,
scanning the surrounding hills with their field-glasses, when all at
once they dispatched an aide-de-camp to the column, with instructions to
send up to them the francs-tireurs if they were still there. A few
men, Jean and Maurice among them, accompanied the latter, in case there
should be need of messengers.

"A beastly country this, with its everlasting hills and woods!" the
general shouted, as soon as he caught sight of Sambuc. "You hear the
music--where is it? where is the fighting going on?"

Sambuc, with Ducat and Cabasse close at his heels, listened a moment
before he answered, casting his eye over the wide horizon, and Maurice,
standing beside him and gazing out over the panorama of valley and
forest that lay beneath him, was struck with admiration. It was like
a boundless sea, whose giga