onomer said, as he sat with his eyes at
his telescope watching the fort. "A shell burst right on one of the
embrasures." A minute or two later came a rushing sound, rising rapidly
to a scream; instinctively most of those on the roof ducked their heads.

"Valerien is waking up," Cuthbert said; "here comes another."

For an hour Valerien poured its fire upon the battery on the Trocadero,
and with so accurate an aim that at the end of that time it was reduced
to silence. While the fire was going on, those on the roof went below,
for although the precision with which the artillerymen fired was so
excellent that there was but slight danger, the trial to the nerves from
the rush of the heavy shell was so great that they were glad to leave
the roof and to take their places at the windows below. The danger was
no less, for had a shell struck the house and exploded, it would have
wrecked the whole building, but there was some sense of safety in
drawing back behind the shelter of the wall as the missiles were heard
approaching.

To the disappointment of the middle class who still remained in Paris,
the bombardment was only partly renewed on the following day, and then
things went on as before. It was supposed that its effects, great as
they had been on the forts most exposed to it, had not come up to the
expectations of the besiegers, and the telescope showed that the troops
were hard at work erecting a great battery on Montretout, an eminence
near St. Cloud. On the night of the 5th of May the whole of the
batteries opened fire again, and the troops made a desperate effort to
cut the force in Issy from communication either with the town or with
Vanves. The National Guard poured out from the city, and for some hours
the fighting was very severe, the troops at last succeeding in their
object; but as soon as they had done so, the guns on the enciente and
those of Vanves opened so tremendous a fire upon them, that they were
forced to abandon the positions they had won.

At the Railway Station at Clamart there was also heavy fighting; the
National Guard attacked suddenly and in such overwhelming numbers that
after a short but desperate resistance, the garrison of the station were
forced to retire. Reinforcements were soon brought up, the troops again
advanced and the insurgents were driven out. Their loss during the night
was put down as a thousand. On the 8th Montretout, which was armed with
72 heavy guns, opened fire, the rest of