f white smoke,
and so it went on, flash after flash, roar after roar came from that
awful wall, whose windows were every now and then visible between the
volleys of smoke. Hardly one of the soldiers within the line of fire
was left standing, numbers were crushed, many more lying dead or
wounded-and the furious firing took on a fresh impetus. If the whole
battalion was not to be destroyed, it must speedily get under cover.
So, running some hundred and fifty yards to the right, they threw
themselves into an apparently deep sandpit, and there they lay directly
opposite to the factory. During these few minutes the facade, still
vomiting fire, bellowed and poured out bullets like hailstones against
the sixty men in the sandpit, doing murderous work.

Hardly giving themselves time to take breath, the brave men began to
fire steadily at the factory, which up till now appeared, in spite of
its nearness, to be very little damaged. The enemy were there
completely enveloped from sight, and a lurid red flame through the
cloud of smoke was the only guide for the German shot. So the fighting
lasted for some time, till an adjutant sprang from over the field
behind, which he had reached by a circuitous way, bringing from the
commander-in-chief the questions as to what was going on, and why were
they there. The major pointed with his sword at the factory, and said

"We must have artillery against this."

"There is none here to have," answered the adjutant.

The major shrugged his shoulders, and gave the command for the Fifth
company to storm the factory. While they prepared themselves to leave
the sandpit the German firing stopped, and almost at the same time, the
French. The enemy could now see what was going on outside, for at this
moment the cloud of smoke became less dense. The company broke out of
the sandpit, and with the flag of the battalion gallantly waving over
them rushed madly toward the door of the factory, while the men who
were left behind tried by a furious fire to support their comrades and
to confuse the enemy. The strange silence had lasted forty or fifty
seconds, probably till the Germans had given some idea of their
intentions. This bit of time allowed the storming party to gain,
without loss, the middle of the space which separated them from their
object, the intoxication of victory began to possess them, and they
gave a cheer which rang with the exultant sound of triumph. Again the
crashing din began, as terri