ew greater day by day. At first
they had nibbled the vegetation and gnawed the bark off trees, then had
attacked the fences and whatever wooden structures they came across,
and now they seemed ready to devour one another. It was a frequent
occurrence to see one of them throw himself upon another and tear out
great tufts from his mane or tail, which he would grind between his
teeth, slavering meanwhile at the mouth profusely. But it was at night
that they became most terrible, as if they were visited by visions of
terror in the darkness. They collected in droves, and, attracted by the
straw, made furious rushes upon what few tents there were, overturning
and demolishing them. It was to no purpose that the men built great
fires to keep them away; the device only served to madden them the more.
Their shrill cries were so full of anguish, so dreadful to the ear, that
they might have been mistaken for the howls of wild beasts. Were they
driven away, they returned, more numerous and fiercer than before.
Scarce a moment passed but out in the darkness could be heard the
shriek of anguish of some unfortunate soldier whom the crazed beasts had
crushed in their wild stampede.

The sun was still above the horizon when Jean and Maurice, on their way
back to the camp, were astonished by meeting with the four men of the
squad, lurking in a ditch, apparently for no good purpose. Loubet hailed
them at once, and Chouteau constituted himself spokesman:

"We are considering ways and means for dining this evening. We shall die
if we go on this way; it is thirty-six hours since we have had anything
to put in our stomach--so, as there are horses plenty, and horse-meat
isn't such bad eating--"

"You'll join us, won't you, corporal?" said Loubet, interrupting, "for,
with such a big, strong animal to handle, the more of us there are
the better it will be. See, there is one, off yonder, that we've been
keeping an eye on for the last hour; that big bay that is in such a bad
way. He'll be all the easier to finish."

And he pointed to a horse that was dying of starvation, on the edge of
what had once been a field of beets. He had fallen on his flank, and
every now and then would raise his head and look about him pleadingly,
with a deep inhalation that sounded like a sigh.

"Ah, how long we have to wait!" grumbled Lapoulle, who was suffering
torment from his fierce appetite. "I'll go and kill him--shall I?"

But Loubet stopped him. Much obliged