re a loaf of
bread at a farmhouse. Nine o'clock was striking from the church of a
village in the distance as they resumed their way. The only point where
they encountered any danger worth mentioning was at la Chapelle, where
they fell directly into the midst of a Prussian advanced post before
they were aware of it; the enemy flew to arms and blazed away into the
darkness, while they, throwing themselves on the ground and alternately
crawling and running until the fire slackened, ultimately regained the
shelter of the trees. After that they kept to the woods, observing
the utmost vigilance. At a bend in the road, they crept up behind an
out-lying picket and, leaping on his back, buried a knife in his throat.
Then the road was free before them and they no longer had to observe
precaution; they went ahead, laughing and whistling. It was about three
in the morning when they reached a little Belgian village, where they
knocked up a worthy farmer, who at once opened his barn to them; they
snuggled among the hay and slept soundly until morning.

The sun was high in the heavens when Prosper awoke. As he opened his
eyes and looked about him, while the two comrades were still snoring, he
beheld their entertainer engaged in hitching a horse to a great carriole
loaded with bread, rice, coffee, sugar, and all sorts of eatables,
the whole concealed under sacks of charcoal, and a little questioning
elicited from the good man the fact that he had two married daughters
living at Raucourt, in France, whom the passage of the Bavarian troops
had left entirely destitute, and that the provisions in the carriole
were intended for them. He had procured that very morning the
safe-conduct that was required for the journey. Prosper was immediately
seized by an uncontrollable desire to take a seat in that carriole
and return to the country that he loved so and for which his heart was
yearning with such a violent nostalgia. It was perfectly simple; the
farmer would have to pass through Remilly to reach Raucourt; he would
alight there. The matter was arranged in three minutes; he obtained a
loan of the longed-for blouse and trousers, and the farmer gave out,
wherever they stopped, that he was his servant; so that about six
o'clock he got down in front of the church, not having been stopped more
than two or three times by the German outposts.

They were all silent for a while, then: "No, I had enough of it!" said
Prosper. "If they had but set us at