as ever for another two hours, and a number of
field-guns joined in the conflict on the side of the Communists.

"I really must go and find out what it is all about," Cuthbert said; "if
I could get up near the Viaduct, I should be able to look down into the
bastions at Pont du Jour."

"Don't be away long," Mary urged, "I shall be feeling very nervous till
you get back."

"I won't be long; I shan't stay to watch the affair, but only just to
find out what the situation is. The fact that the Communists have
brought up Field Artillery, shows that it is something more than
ordinary, although, why the batteries opposite should have ceased to
play I cannot make out; they are hard at work everywhere else."

Cuthbert made his way towards the Viaduct, and as he approached it saw
that some of the field-guns he had heard had been placed there, and that
the parapet was lined with National Guards who were keeping up an
incessant fire. Shells from Meudon and Fort Issy were bursting thickly
over and near the bridge, and Cuthbert, seeing that he could not get
further without being exposed to the fire, and might, moreover, get
into trouble with the Communists, made his way down towards Pont du
Jour. Several people were standing in shelter behind the wall of one of
the villas.

"You had better not go farther," one of them said, "a shell burst twenty
yards lower down a few minutes ago. Several of the villas are in flames,
and bullets are flying about everywhere."

"What is going on, gentlemen?" Cuthbert asked, as he joined them.

"The troops have entered Pont du Jour."

"Impossible!" Cuthbert exclaimed, "the firing has been heavy, but no
heavier than usual, and although the village is knocked to pieces, as I
saw for myself yesterday, no great harm was done to the bastions."

"They have entered for all that," one of the gentlemen said. "Several
wounded Communists have come along here, and they have all told the same
story. Of course, they put it down to the treachery of their leaders,
but at any rate, owing to the tremendous fire from the upper batteries
and Issy, it was absolutely impossible to keep men in the bastions, and
they were all withdrawn. A few were left in the houses and gardens, but
the greater part fell back behind the Viaduct, which afforded them
shelter. Somehow or other, the troops in the sap that had been pushed
forward to within fifty yards of the gate must have come to the
conclusion that the bastion was not t