depraved, are cause of so much suffering to man.
And thus, to both of them their friendship was a comfort and relief.
There was no need of any demonstrative display of affection; they
understood each other; there was close community of sympathy between
them, and, notwithstanding their apparent external dissimilarity, the
bond of pity and common suffering made them as one during their terrible
march that day to Remilly.

As the French rear-guard left Raucourt by one end of the town the
Germans came in at the other, and forthwith two of their batteries
commenced firing from the position they had taken on the heights to the
left; the 106th, retreating along the road that follows the course of
the Emmane, was directly in the line of fire. A shell cut down a poplar
on the bank of the stream; another came and buried itself in the soft
ground close to Captain Beaudoin, but did not burst. From there on to
Harancourt, however, the walls of the pass kept approaching nearer and
nearer, and the troops were crowded together in a narrow gorge commanded
on either side by hills covered with trees. A handful of Prussians in
ambush on those heights might have caused incalculable disaster. With
the cannon thundering in their rear and the menace of a possible attack
on either flank, the men's uneasiness increased with every step
they took, and they were in haste to get out of such a dangerous
neighborhood; hence they summoned up their reserved strength, and
those soldiers who, but now in Raucourt, had scarce been able to
drag themselves along, now, with the peril that lay behind them as an
incentive, struck out at a good round pace. The very horses seemed to
be conscious that the loss of a minute might cost them dear. And the
impetus thus given continued; all was going well, the head of the
column must have reached Remilly, when, all at once, their progress was
arrested.

"Heavens and earth!" said Chouteau, "are they going to leave us here in
the road?"

The regiment had not yet reached Harancourt, and the shells were still
tumbling about them; while the men were marking time, awaiting the
word to go ahead again, one burst, on the right of the column, without
injuring anyone, fortunately. Five minutes passed, that seemed to
them long as an eternity, and still they did not move; there was some
obstacle on ahead that barred their way as effectually as if a strong
wall had been built across the road. The colonel, standing up in his
stirru