as being set up under the railway tunnel near the Palais
station.

This was, then, the last night the General would pass at Rue Sainte Foy.

[Sidenote: General Leman in danger.]

Towards half-past four in the morning a body of a hundred men descended
from the heights of Tawes. Whence did they come? How had they been able
to penetrate into the town? Some have said that they dressed in Liege
itself. In reality, they represented themselves to the advanced posts of
the fort of Pontisse as being Englishmen come to the aid of Liege, and
asked to be conducted to the General Staff. They were soldiers of a
Hanoverian regiment, and bore upon their sleeves a blue band with the
word "Gibraltar." This contributed in no small degree to cause them to
be taken for British sharpshooters. They were preceded by a spy who had
put on the Belgian uniform of the 11th of the line and who seemed to
know the town very well. At Thier-a-Liege, they stopped a moment to
drink at a wine-shop and then went on. They were more than a hundred in
number and were preceded by two officers. A detachment of Garde Civique,
posted at the gas factory of the Rue des Bayards, did not consider it
their duty to interfere. A few individuals accompanied the troop, crying
"Vive les Anglais." A few passers-by, better-aware of the situation,
protested. The troop continued its imperturbable march. The officers
smiled. Thus they arrived at Rue Sainte Foy where, as we have said, the
offices of the General Staff of General Leman were installed.

A German officer asked of the sentinel on the door an interview with
General Leman. The officers of the latter, who now appeared, understood
the ruse at once, and drew their revolvers. Shots were exchanged. One of
the officers, Major Charles Marchand, a non-commissioned officer of
gendarmes, and several gendarmes were killed. The Germans attempted to
enter the offices, of which the door had been closed. They fired through
the windows, and even attempted to attack the house by scaling the
neighbouring walls. General Leman, who was working, ran out on hearing
the first shots. He was unarmed. He demanded a revolver. Captain Lebbe,
his aide-de-camp, refused to allow him to expose himself uselessly, and
begged him to keep himself for the defence of Liege. He even used some
violence to his chief, and pushed him towards the low door which
separated the house from the courtyard of a neighbouring cannon foundry.
With the help of another of