ill be only field-guns and not
heavy siege artillery, and I dare say we can get into one of the houses
and look out from them; a twelve-pounder would scarcely do much harm to
one of these solid stone buildings."

They went quietly down the road. No whiz of bullet or crash of shell was
heard, and without interruption they continued their course until they
arrived near the gate. Near it were two battalions of the National
Guard, who were in a state of utter disorder. Some of the men were
quietly walking away with their rifles slung behind them, in spite of a
line of sentries placed across the road and the efforts of their
officers. Cuthbert questioned some of the men, as they came along, as to
what had happened, but the most contradictory answers were given. They
had been fired upon from Fort Valerien; they had been attacked from
Courbevoie; they had been betrayed; they had been sent out without any
cannon: ammunition was short; they were not going to stay to be shot
down; they were going to the Hotel de Ville to turn out the traitors who
had sent them out without a proper supply of ammunition. That they had
some ammunition was evident from the fact that several muskets went off
accidentally, the result of nervousness on the part of those that held
them.

"We won't stay here to risk being shot by these cowardly fools,"
Cuthbert said, "let us get into one of the houses."

They went back a short distance, and Cuthbert spoke to a man standing at
his door. "This lady and myself are English," he said, "would you allow
us to go up and stand at one of the windows to see what is going on?"

The request was at once acceded to, and they were soon posted at a
window on the fifth floor.

"Look at them," Cuthbert said in disgust, "these are the heroes who
clamored to go out and destroy the Germans."

The scene below was certainly singular--the bugles and drums sounded the
assembly and beat the rappel alternately, but the men paid not the
slightest attention to the call, but continued to slink away until the
drummers and buglers remained alone. Of the two battalions, some fifty
men posted at the loop-holes of the crenelated wall by the gate
remained; the rest had melted away. From the balcony at the window a
fine view was obtained across the country. A heavy musket-fire was still
maintained along the river-side, and there was a continuous roll of
musketry at Courbevoie, where, as one of the National Guard had told
them, a battal