fragments went crashing through the side of an adjoining house; and the
wail that came back told how well the iron messengers had done their
work. This was the second shell that had been projected from the
American mortars. The first had been equally destructive; and hence the
extreme terror of both citizen and soldier. Every missile seemed
charged with death.

Our guard now returned and dragged us onward, treating us with increased
brutality. They were enraged at the exultation visible in our manner;
and one, more ferocious than the rest, drove his bayonet into the fleshy
part of my comrade's thigh. After several like acts of inhumanity, we
were thrown into our prison and locked up as before.

Since our capture we had tasted neither food nor drink, and hunger and
thirst added to the misery of our situation.

The insult had maddened Raoul, and the pain of his wound now rendered
him furious. He had not hands to touch it or dress it. Frenzied by
anger and pain to a strength almost superhuman, he twisted off his iron
manacles, as if they had been straws. This done, the chain that bound
us together was soon broken, and our ankle "jewellery" followed.

"Let us live our last hours, Captain, as we have our lives, free and
unfettered!"

I could not help admiring the spirit of my brave comrade.

We placed ourselves close to the door and listened.

We could hear the heavy cannonade all around, and now and then the
distant shots from the American batteries. We would wait for the
bursting of the bombs, and, as the hoarse thunder of crumbling walls
reached our ears, Raoul would spring up, shouting his wild, half-French,
half-Indian cries.

A thought occurred to me.

"We have arms, Raoul." I held up the fragments of the heavy chain that
had yoked us. "Could you reach the trap on a run, without the danger of
mistaking your way?"

Raoul started.

"You are right, Captain--I can. It is barely possible they may visit us
to-night. If so, any chance for life is better than none at all."

By a tacit understanding each of us took a fragment of the chain--there
were but two--and sat down by the door to be ready in case our guards
should open it. We sat for over an hour, without exchanging a word. We
could hear the shells as they burst upon the housetops, the crashing of
torn timbers, and the rumbling of walls rolling over, struck by the
heavy shot. We could hear the shouts of men and the wailing of women,
with