ardly necessary, for, as they had arrived too late to have
a proper meal prepared, they had to be content with what they had
brought with them. The contrast between the rich plate, some of it
broken, the empty silver dishes, and the empty tins of preserved meat
was strange indeed. But they had solaced themselves in the cellar.
Innumerable bottles, both empty and full, were piled upon the
furniture. Costly glasses of all shapes and sizes, some empty, others
still half full, were standing about in every direction. The white
tablecloth was soiled with large purple stains. The floor was littered
with bits of smashed glass. By the table, the chairs that had been
pushed back or overturned showed the number of drinkers to have been
about ten. An acrid smell of tobacco and wine hung about this scene
of an overnight orgy.

One thing I specially remember: the sight of an officer's cap, with a
red band, hanging from one of the branches of the large chandelier in
the centre of the room. And I could not help picturing to my mind the
head of the man it had belonged to, some _Rittmeister_, with an
eyeglass, fat pink cheeks and neck bulging over the collar of his
tunic. What a pity he had been able to decamp! That is the kind of
countenance we should so much have liked to see closer and face to
face.

But I could not wait. We rushed hastily through drawing-rooms turned
upside down, and bedrooms where the beds still bore traces of summary
use by heavy bodies. But we found no forgotten drunkard in them.

My two corporals were already waiting for us when we returned to the
courtyard. They had not found any one in their search. Quickly we
mounted, and passed rapidly out by the gilded gates. The old servant
and the gardener were still on the same spot, standing silent and
depressed. They said not a word to us, nor did they make any sign;
they seemed to be completely unhinged and incapable of understanding
what had happened.

I had hardly returned to the squadron when I saw a sight I can never
forget. At a turn in the road three horsemen came towards us covered
with blood. I recognised F., the officer of _Chasseurs d'Afrique_, who
had been sent out to reconnoitre the evening before. He had lost his
cap, and had his head bound up with a blood-stained handkerchief. His
left arm was likewise slung in an improvised bandage tied round his
neck. He was followed by two men who were also covered with wounds.
Their eyes shone bright and resolute