n a mile off into the French lines.

And, at every shot, the man on horseback made signals to let the gunners
know where the shot fell.

At last, about four in the afternoon, they threw a forty-eight-pound
shot slap into the commander-in-chief's tent, a mile and a half behind
trenches.

Down comes a glittering aide-de-camp as hard as he can gallop.

"Colonel Dujardin, what are you about, sir? YOUR BASTION has thrown a
round shot into the commander-in-chief's tent."

The colonel did not appear so staggered as the aide-de-camp expected.

"Ah, indeed!" said he quietly. "I observed they were trying distances."

"Must not happen again, colonel. You must drive them from the gun."

"How?"

"Why, where is the difficulty?"

"If you will do me the honor to step into the battery, I will show you,"
said the colonel.

"If you please," said the aide-de-camp stiffly.

Colonel Dujardin took him to the parapet, and began, in a calm,
painstaking way, to show him how and why none of his guns could be
brought to bear upon Long Tom.

In the middle of the explanation a melodious sound was heard in the air
above them, like a swarm of Brobdingnag bees.

"What is that?" inquired the aide-de-camp.

"What? I see nothing."

"That humming noise."

"Oh, that? Prussian bullets. Ah, by-the-by, it is a compliment to your
uniform, monsieur; they take you for some one of importance. Well, as I
was observing"--

"Your explanation is sufficient, colonel; let us get out of this. Ha,
ha! you are a cool hand, colonel, I must say. But your battery is a warm
place enough: I shall report it so at headquarters."

The grim colonel relaxed.

"Captain," said he politely, "you shall not have ridden to my post in
vain. Will you lend me your horse for ten minutes?"

"Certainly; and I will inspect your trenches meantime."

"Do so; oblige me by avoiding that angle; it is exposed, and the enemy
have got the range to an inch."

Colonel Dujardin slipped into his quarters; off with his half-dress
jacket and his dirty boots, and presently out he came full fig,
glittering brighter than the other, with one French and two foreign
orders shining on his breast, mounted the aide-de-camp's horse, and away
full pelt.

Admitted, after some delay, into the generalissimo's tent, Dujardin
found the old gentleman surrounded by his staff and wroth: nor was the
danger to which he had been exposed his sole cause of ire.

The shot had burst through his canvas,