aurent, the gardener's helper, however, who
more than all the others excited his wonder and admiration. Kneeling on
the floor, with his chassepot peering out of the narrow aperture of a
loophole, he never fired until absolutely certain of his aim; he even
told in advance where he intended hitting his living target.

"That little officer in blue that you see down there, in the
heart.--That other fellow, the tall, lean one, between the eyes.--I
don't like the looks of that fat man with the red beard; I think I'll
let him have it in the stomach."

And each time his man went down as if struck by lightning, hit in the
very spot he had mentioned, and he continued to fire at intervals,
coolly, without haste, there being no necessity for hurrying himself, as
he remarked, since it would require too long a time to kill them all in
that way.

"Oh! if I had but my eyes!" Weiss impatiently exclaimed. He had broken
his spectacles a while before, to his great sorrow. He had his double
eye-glass still, but the perspiration was rolling down his face in such
streams that it was impossible to keep it on his nose. His usual calm
collectedness was entirely lost in his over-mastering passion; and thus,
between his defective vision and his agitated nerves, many of his shots
were wasted.

"Don't hurry so, it is only throwing away powder," said Laurent. "Do you
see that man who has lost his helmet, over yonder by the grocer's
shop? Well, now draw a bead on him,--carefully, don't hurry. That's
first-rate! you have broken his paw for him and made him dance a jig in
his own blood."

Weiss, rather pale in the face, gave a look at the result of his
marksmanship.

"Put him out of his misery," he said.

"What, waste a cartridge! Not, much. Better save it for another of 'em."

The besiegers could not have failed to notice the remarkable practice of
the invisible sharpshooter in the attic. Whoever of them showed himself
in the open was certain to remain there. They therefore brought up
re-enforcements and placed them in position, with instructions to
maintain an unremitting fire upon the roof of the building. It was not
long before the attic became untenable; the slates were perforated as
if they had been tissue paper, the bullets found their way to every nook
and corner, buzzing and humming as if the room had been invaded by a
swarm of angry bees. Death stared them all in the face if they remained
there longer.

"We will go downstairs," sai