cross the fields, availing themselves of the shelter of every ditch,
of every little shrub and tree. They were now distant some five hundred
yards, and Weiss was impressed by the caution with which they moved, the
dogged resolution and patience with which they advanced, gaining ground
inch by inch and exposing themselves as little as possible. They had a
powerful artillery fire, moreover, to sustain them; the pure, cool air
was vocal with the shrieking of shells. Raising his eyes he saw that the
Pont-Maugis battery was not the only one that was playing on Bazeilles;
two others, posted half way up the hill of Liry, had opened fire, and
their projectiles not only reached the village, but swept the naked
plain of la Moncelle beyond, where the reserves of the 12th corps were,
and even the wooded slopes of Daigny, held by a division of the 1st
corps, were not beyond their range. There was not a summit, moreover,
on the left bank of the stream that was not tipped with flame. The guns
seemed to spring spontaneously from the soil, like some noxious growth;
it was a zone of fire that grew hotter and fiercer every moment; there
were batteries at Noyers shelling Balan, batteries at Wadelincourt
shelling Sedan, and at Frenois, down under la Marfee, there was a
battery whose guns, heavier than the rest, sent their missiles hurtling
over the city to burst among the troops of the 7th corps on the plateau
of Floing. Those hills that he had always loved so well, that he had
supposed were planted there solely to delight the eye, encircling with
their verdurous slopes the pretty, peaceful valley that lay beneath,
were now become a gigantic, frowning fortress, vomiting ruin and
destruction on the feeble defenses of Sedan, and Weiss looked on them
with terror and detestation. Why had steps not been taken to defend them
the day before, if their leaders had suspected this, or why, rather, had
they insisted on holding the position?

A sound of falling plaster caused him to raise his head; a shot had
grazed his house, the front of which was visible to him above the party
wall. It angered him excessively, and he growled:

"Are they going to knock it about my ears, the brigands!"

Then close behind him there was a little dull, strange sound that he had
never heard before, and turning quickly he saw a soldier, shot through
the heart, in the act of falling backward. There was a brief convulsive
movement of the legs; the youthful, tranquil expressi