slaught that the Prussian infantry refused to
face it, and fell back upon their supports. Still the Zouaves
rushed on, and again the Prussians fell back; but the assault was
growing more and more hopeless. The Zouaves were unsupported, save
by a few hundred men. The other regiments were far in the rear. The
shot and shell were mowing lanes through them. An army was in
front.

At last, they halted. Colonel Charette marched on in front, waving
his sword. General Sonis, with his staff, again rode forward. It
was heroic, but it was heroic madness.

Again the Zouaves advanced. Again a storm of shell poured upon
them, and then a regiment of German cavalry swept down. There was a
crash. Charette and his officers disappeared, beneath the hoofs of
the cavalry. General Sonis and his staff went down like straw
before them; but the Zouaves stood firm, fired a volley into them;
and then--having lost eight hundred men, in that desperate attempt
to retrieve the fortunes of the day--the remainder retreated,
sullenly, with their faces to the foe.

Ralph Barclay, when the cavalry swept upon them, had shot the first
two of his foes with his revolver; and had then been cut down by a
tall German dragoon, just at the moment that his horse fell dead,
shot through the head. Ralph had a momentary vision of gleaming
hoofs above him; and then he remembered nothing more, until he came
to himself, hours afterwards.

His first sensation was that of intense cold. He endeavored to
rise, but was powerless to move hand or foot. He lay quiet for a
few minutes; and then made another effort, but with a similar want
of success. This time, however, he felt that his limbs would have
moved, had they not been fastened down by some weight.

He now concentrated all his strength upon one arm. It yielded
suddenly and, when it was free, he was able to turn partly round,
so as to feel what it was that had confined it. He found that his
own blood, and that of the horse, had frozen his arm fast to the
ground. It required a considerable effort before he could get
altogether free, for he was stiff with the cold. Putting his sword
up to his head, he found that he had been saved by the very means
which were now giving him so much pain. The intense cold had frozen
the blood, as it flowed; and stanched it more effectively than any
surgeon could have done.

Ralph--after rubbing his hands and arms, to restore
circulation--now endeavored, by the remains of twilight, to