cept the barking of a dog in the distance. The
rain had ceased, and it was cold, very cold, and soon I heard the gallop
of a horse, of a single horse, coming back. It was Marchas, and I called
out to him: 'Well?' 'It is nothing; Francois has wounded an old peasant
who refused to answer his challenge: "Who goes there?" and who continued
to advance, in spite of the order to keep off; but they are bringing him
here, and we shall see what is the matter.'

"I gave orders for the horses to be put back into the stable, and I sent
my two soldiers to meet the others, and returned to the house. Then the
_Cure_, Marchas and I took a mattress into the room to put the wounded
man on; the Sister tore up a table napkin, in order to make lint, while
the three frightened women remained huddled up in a corner.

"Soon I heard the rattle of sabres on the road, and I took a candle to
show a light to the men who were returning; and they soon appeared,
carrying that inert, soft, long and sinister object which a human body
becomes when life no longer sustains it.

* * * * *

"They put the wounded man on the mattress that had been prepared for
him, and I saw at the first glance that he was dying. He had the death
rattle and was spitting up blood, which ran out of the corners of his
mouth, forced out of his mouth by his gasps. The man was covered with
it! His cheeks, his beard, his hair, his neck and his clothes seemed to
have been rubbed, to have been dipped in a red tub; and that blood stuck
to him, and had become a dull color, which was horrible to look at.

"The old man, wrapped up in a large shepherd's cloak, occasionally
opened his dull, vacant eyes, which seemed stupid with astonishment,
like those of animals which a sportsman kills, and which fall at his
feet, more than half dead already, stupefied with fear and astonishment.

"The _Cure_ exclaimed: 'Ah! there is old Placide, the shepherd, from les
Marlins. He is deaf, poor man, and heard nothing. Ah! Oh God! they have
killed the unhappy man!' The Sister had opened his blouse and shirt, and
was looking at a little blue hole in the middle of his chest, which was
not bleeding any more. 'There is nothing to be done,' she said.

"The shepherd was gasping terribly and bringing up blood with every last
breath, and in his throat, to the very depth of his lungs, they could
hear an ominous and continued gurgling. The Cure, standing in front of
him, raised his