ad scrape on account of my absence."

"Never mind that; the man that takes his turn with the voltigeurs of the
Twenty-second won't be suspected of skulking. And here comes the major;
report yourself to him at once."

Without waiting for any reply, Maitre Francois accosted the officer in
question, and in a very few words explained my position.

"Nothing could come better timed," said the major. "One of ours has been
sent with despatches to the rear, and we may not see him for some hours.
Again, a light cavalryman must know how to skirmish, and we 'll try your
skill that way. Come along with me."

"To our next meeting, then," cried Francois, as I hurried on after the
major; whilst once more the voltigeur ranks burst forth in full chorus,
and the merry sounds filled the valley.

I followed the major down a somewhat steep and rugged path, at the foot
of which, and concealed by a low copse-wood, was a party consisting of
two companies of the regiment, who formed the most advanced pickets, and
were destined to exchange the first shots with the enemy.

Before us lay a defile, partly overgrown with trees on either side,
which ascended by a gradual slope to the foot of the hill on which the
Prussian infantry was stationed, and whose lines were tracked out by a
long train of watch-fires. A farmhouse and its out-buildings occupied
the side of the hill about half-way up; and this was garrisoned by the
enemy, and defended by two guns in position in the defile. To surprise
the post and hold it until the main columns came up, was the object
of the voltigeur attack; and for this purpose small bodies of men were
assembling secretly and stealthily under cover of the brushwood, to
burst forth on the word being given.

There was something which surprised me not a little in the way all these
movements were effected. Officers and men were mixed up, as it seemed,
in perfect confusion; not approaching in regular order, or taking up
a position like disciplined troops, they came in twos and threes,
crouching and creeping, and suddenly concealing themselves at every
opportunity of cover the ground afforded.

Their noiseless and cautious gestures brought to my mind all that I
had ever read of Indian warfare; and in their eager faces, and quick,
piercing looks, I thought I could recognize the very traits of the red
men. The commands were given by signals; and so rapidly interchanged
were they from party to party, that the different groups s