on turning to look at Maurice, to see that he had
declined his head and was lying, with closed eyes, apparently inanimate,
his cheek against the bare earth. He was very pale, there was no sign of
life in his face.

"Hallo there! what's the matter?"

But Maurice was only sleeping. The mental strain, conjointly with his
fatigue, had been too much for him, in spite of the dangers that menaced
them at every moment. He awoke with a start and stared about him, and
the peace that slumber had left in his wide-dilated eyes was immediately
supplanted by a look of startled affright as it dawned on him where he
was. He had not the remotest idea how long he had slept; all he knew
was that the state from which he had been recalled to the horrors of the
battlefield was one of blessed oblivion and tranquillity.

"Hallo! that's funny; I must have been asleep!" he murmured. "Ah! it has
done me good."

It was true that he suffered less from that pressure about his temples
and at his heart, that horrible constriction that seems as if it
would crush one's bones. He chaffed Lapoulle, who had manifested much
uneasiness since the disappearance of Chouteau and Loubet and spoke of
going to look for them. A capital idea! so he might get away and hide
behind a tree, and smoke a pipe! Pache thought that the surgeons
had detained them at the ambulance, where there was a scarcity of
sick-bearers. That was a job that he had no great fancy for, to go
around under fire and collect the wounded! And haunted by a lingering
superstition of the country where he was born, he added that it was
unlucky to touch a corpse; it brought death.

"Shut up, confound you!" roared Lieutenant Rochas. "Who is going to
die?"

Colonel de Vineuil, sitting his tall horse, turned his head and gave a
smile, the first that had been seen on his face that morning. Then he
resumed his statue-like attitude, waiting for orders as impassively as
ever under the tumbling shells.

Maurice's attention was attracted to the sick-bearers, whose movements
he watched with interest as they searched for wounded men among the
depressions of the ground. At the end of a sunken road, and protected by
a low ridge not far from their position, a flying ambulance of first
aid had been established, and its emissaries had begun to explore the
plateau. A tent was quickly erected, while from the hospital van the
attendants extracted the necessary supplies; compresses, bandages,
linen, and the few i