clamation of rage.

"_Tonnerre de Dieu!_ what bravery wasted!"

And they resumed their firing from among the trees of the low hill where
they were deployed in skirmishing order. Rochas himself had picked up an
abandoned musket and was blazing away with the rest. But the plateau
of Illy was lost to them by this time beyond hope of recovery; the
Prussians were pouring in upon it from every quarter. It was somewhere
in the neighborhood of two o'clock, and their great movement was
accomplished; the Vth corps and the Guards had effected their junction,
the investment of the French army was complete.

Jean was suddenly brought to the ground.

"I am done for," he murmured.

He had received what seemed to him like a smart blow of a hammer on the
crown of his head, and his _kepi_ lay behind him with a great furrow
plowed through its top. At first he thought that the bullet had
certainly penetrated the skull and laid bare the brain; his dread of
finding a yawning orifice there was so great that for some seconds
he dared not raise his hand to ascertain the truth. When finally he
ventured, his fingers, on withdrawing them, were red with an abundant
flow of blood, and the pain was so intense that he fainted.

Just then Rochas gave the order to fall back. The Prussians had crept
up on them and were only two or three hundred yards away; they were in
danger of being captured.

"Be cool, don't hurry; face about and give 'em another shot. Rally
behind that low wall that you see down there."

Maurice was in despair; he knew not what to do.

"We are not going to leave our corporal behind, are we, lieutenant?"

"What are we to do? he has turned up his toes."

"No, no! he is breathing still. Take him along!"

Rochas shrugged his shoulders as if to say they could not bother
themselves for every man that dropped. A wounded man is esteemed
of little value on the battlefield. Then Maurice addressed his
supplications to Lapoulle and Pache.

"Come, give me a helping hand. I am not strong enough to carry him
unassisted."

They were deaf to his entreaties; all they could hear was the voice that
urged them to seek safety for themselves. The Prussians were now not
more than a hundred yards from them; already they were on their hands
and knees, crawling as fast as they could go toward the wall.

And Maurice, weeping tears of rage, thus left alone with his unconscious
companion, raised him in his arms and endeavored to lug him away, bu