t in sufficient
force to take the offensive.

As soon as it became dark, therefore, half a company were left on guard
at the wall, and the rest of the corps marched off to the houses.
Roaring fires were blazing in every room, for some fruit trees had been
cut down and split up into logs. The party on guard were to be relieved
every two hours. As soon as the men were bestowed in their quarters, the
major went off to discover, if possible, what had been the result of
the fighting on the other side of the loop. It was two hours before he
returned, and the news he brought was dispiriting.

"I have been up to Creteil," he said, "and have learnt from the people
there who saw the whole affair what has happened. The advance was good.
We swept the Germans at first before us, and for a time our fellows made
a stand on the crest of Montmesly. But the enemy were reinforced and
drove us down the hill again. Then came a disgraceful panic. The
soldiers who had fought fairly at first, became a mob; the mobile, who
had not done as well as had been expected, were worse. There was a
battalion of the National Guard of Belleville, and the scoundrels ran
without firing a shot. At Creteil the men absolutely fought to get
through the street. It was disgraceful. I hear that further to the right
the line did better, and that we still hold Ville Juif and other
villages well in advance of our old position. That is all I could learn.
They say our losses have been pretty heavy; at any rate Creteil is full
of wounded, and the ambulances are taking them into Paris. There is
great confusion on the other side of the river. The roads are all choked
with the wagon-trains. Nobody has got any orders, nobody knows what is
going to be done, no one knows where Ducrot or Trochu are. It is enough
to make one tear one's hair to see such confusion and mismanagement."

The night passed off quietly. The next day, to the surprise of everyone,
things remained unchanged. No effort was made to pass the baggage-train
over the bridges. A portion of the troops had been put under canvas the
first evening, and save for the dead still lying about, the broken arms,
the stains of blood, and the parties engaged in carrying the wounded
across the river to the ambulance wagons, and others burying the dead,
the scene differed little from an ordinary encampment. The troops
laughed and jested round the camp-fires, and occupied themselves with
their cooking; the horses that had been