en they were
waiting for their turn to cross the bridge, but they were satisfied, now
they were in the front line, and within shot of the enemy. The march had
set their blood in circulation, and while two or three of each company
kept a keen lookout over the top of the wall, the others laughed and
joked, after first employing themselves in knocking holes through the
wall, a few inches above the ground, so that they could lie and fire
through if the enemy advanced. The musketry fire had almost ceased away
to their right, and they hoped that Vinoy had established himself well
out in that direction. Various were the conjectures as to why the
advance had ceased on their own side. Some conjectured that Trochu's
plan consisted only in crossing the river and then marching back again
in order to accustom the troops to stand fire. One suggested that the
general had come out without ink or paper with which to write his
grandiose proclamations to the Parisians, and they were waiting until it
had been fetched from his office.

"What do you think, Henri?" Rene asked the lieutenant.

"I should say," he said, gravely, "that when our advance came upon the
real Prussian line of defence, they found it too strong to be carried.
They must have known that they could never hold Champigny under the fire
of our guns and forts, and used it only as an outpost. Of course it is
from this side they would think it likely that we should try to break
out, and they would certainly erect batteries to command all the roads.
They have had nothing else to do for the last ten weeks."

"I have no doubt that is partly the reason, Henri," Cuthbert said, "but
I think it may be principally due to the fact that Ducrot can't get his
troops across the river. Even with a well-organized army and a good
staff, and commanding officers who all know their duty, it is a big job
to get a hundred thousand men, with artillery, ambulances, and trains
across a river. Here, with the exception of Ducrot himself and a few of
the line officers, nobody knows anything about the matter. By what we
saw, I should think there are not more than twenty thousand men across
the river, and the confusion on the other side must be frightful. We
ourselves saw that the street of that village was absolutely choked up
with wagons, and I have no doubt all the roads are the same. Of course
they never ought to have moved forward at all till all the troops were
over. If Trochu really meant to break