these particulars with greedy ears a loud
explosion shook the quarter. It was a shell, which had demolished a
chimney in the Rue Sainte-Barbe, near the citadel. There was a general
rush and scramble; men swore and women shrieked. He had flattened
himself against the wall, when another explosion broke the windows in
a house not far away. The consequences would be dreadful if they should
shell Sedan; he made his way back to the Rue Maqua on a keen run, and
was seized by such an imperious desire to learn the truth that he did
not pause below stairs, but hurried to the roof, where there was a
terrace that commanded a view of the city and its environs.

A glance of the situation served to reassure him; the German fire was
not directed against the city; the batteries at Frenois and la Marfee
were shelling the Plateau de l'Algerie over the roofs of the houses,
and now that his alarm had subsided he could even watch with a certain
degree of admiration the flight of the projectiles as they sailed over
Sedan in a wide, majestic curve, leaving behind them a faint trail of
smoke upon the air, like gigantic birds, invisible to mortal eye and to
be traced only by the gray plumage shed by their pinions. At first it
seemed to him quite evident that what damage had been done so far was
the result of random practice by the Prussian gunners: they were not
bombarding the city yet; then, upon further consideration, he was of
opinion that their firing was intended as a response to the ineffectual
fire of the few guns mounted on the fortifications of the place. Turning
to the north he looked down from his position upon the extended and
complex system of defenses of the citadel, the frowning curtains black
with age, the green expanses of the turfed glacis, the stern bastions
that reared their heads at geometrically accurate angles, prominent
among them the three cyclopean salients, the Ecossais, the Grand Jardin,
and la Rochette, while further to the west, in extension of the line,
were Fort Nassau and Fort Palatinat, above the faubourg of Menil. The
sight produced in him a melancholy impression of immensity and futility.
Of what avail were they now against the powerful modern guns with their
immense range? Besides, the works were not manned; cannon, ammunition,
men were wanting. Some three weeks previously the governor had invited
the citizens to organize and form a National Guard, and these volunteers
were now doing duty as gunners; and thus