in their feverish faces. One of
them, having no scabbard, was still holding his sword, which was
twisted and stained with blood. We pulled up instinctively and
saluted.

"I haven't been able to reach the Marne," said F., with disappointment
in his voice. "But, being fired upon by their outposts in the dark,
we charged and got through, and then charged through two villages
under a hail of bullets; and again we had to charge their outposts to
get back. You see, ... I have brought back two men out of eight, and
all my horses have been killed.... These horses"--pointing to his
own--"are those of three Uhlans we killed so as not to have to come
home on foot."

Certainly they were not riding the pretty little animals that make
such excellent mounts for our _Chasseurs d'Afrique_, but were perched
on three big mares with the heavy German equipment.

"But," F. repeated in a tone of vexation, "I wasn't able to get to the
Marne.... There were too many of them for us."

We pressed his unwounded hand warmly. Poor F.! Brave fellow! Not many
days afterwards he was to meet a glorious death charging once more,
with three Chasseurs, to rescue one of his men who had been wounded. A
more perfect type of cavalryman--I might say, of knight--was never
seen. He sleeps now, riddled with lance wounds, in the plains of
Champagne.

We had hardly left him when we caught sight of the reconnoitring party
of my comrade O., and were overjoyed to find that he had come back
unscathed with all his men. And yet he had had to face a fair number
of dangers--attacks by cyclists and pursuit by cavalry. At Crezancy,
where he arrived at three o'clock in the morning, he found the village
occupied and strongly held. There is only one bridge over the railway
there, and that is at the other end of the village. By good luck he
was able to get hold of one of the inhabitants; and he forced him, by
holding his revolver to his head, to guide him by all sorts of byways
so as to make a circuit without attracting attention and get to the
bridge. There he set forward at a gallop, and passed, in spite of
being fired on by the guard. At last he reached the Marne. The only
bridge he found intact for crossing the river was the bridge at
Jaulgonne, a slender, fragile suspension-bridge, but one that we
should be very glad to find if there was still time to use it. He then
hurried back through the woods, but not without having to run the
gauntlet of rifle fire several times