and, a brave marine, laughed at the captain's daring project, but let
him have six rifles and wished him "good luck." There he had also found
his wife, who had been through all the war with us before the campaign in
the East, and who had been only prevented by illness from continuing with
Bourbaki's army. She had recovered, however, in spite of the cold, which
was growing more and more intense, and in spite of the numberless
privations that awaited her, she persisted in accompanying her husband.
He was obliged to give way to her, and they all three, the captain, his
wife, and our comrade, started on their expedition.

Going was nothing in comparison to returning. They were obliged to travel
by night, so as to avoid meeting anybody, as the possession of six rifles
would have made them liable to suspicion. But, in spite of everything, a
week after leaving us, the captain and his two men were back with us
again. The campaign was about to begin.

III

The first night of his arrival he began it himself, and, under pretext of
examining the surrounding country, he went along the high road.

I must tell you that the little village which served as our fortress was
a small collection of poor, badly built houses, which had been deserted
long before. It lay on a steep slope, which terminated in a wooded plain.
The country people sell the wood; they send it down the slopes, which are
called coulees, locally, and which lead down to the plain, and there they
stack it into piles, which they sell thrice a year to the wood merchants.
The spot where this market is held in indicated by two small houses by
the side of the highroad, which serve for public houses. The captain had
gone down there by way of one of these coulees.

He had been gone about half an hour, and we were on the lookout at the
top of the ravine, when we heard a shot. The captain had ordered us not
to stir, and only to come to him when we heard him blow his trumpet. It
was made of a goat's horn, and could be heard a league off; but it gave
no sound, and, in spite of our cruel anxiety, we were obliged to wait in
silence, with our rifles by our side.

It is nothing to go down these coulees; one just lets one's self slide
down; but it is more difficult to get up again; one has to scramble up by
catching hold of the hanging branches of the trees, and sometimes on all
fours, by sheer strength. A whole mortal hour passed, and he did not
come; nothing moved in the brushw