Only the
certainty that the pursuer was near and might make them prisoners gave
them a momentary vigor. So they were forcing themselves up by superhuman
effort, staggering, dragging their legs, and supporting themselves on
their guns as though they were canes.

Many of these were young men who had aged in an hour and changed into
confirmed invalids. Poor fellows! They would not go very far! Their
intention was to follow on, to join the column, but on entering the
village they looked at the houses with supplicating eyes, desiring to
enter them, feeling such a craving for immediate relief that they forgot
even the nearness of the enemy.

Villeblanche was now more military than before the arrival of the
troops. The night before a great part of the inhabitants had fled,
having become infected with the same fear that was driving on the crowds
following the army. The mayor and the priest remained. Reconciled with
the owner of the castle through his unexpected presence in their midst,
and admiring his liberality, the municipal official approached to give
him some news. The engineers were mining the bridge over the Marne. They
were only waiting for the dragoons to cross before blowing it up. If he
wished to go, there was still time.

Again Desnoyers hesitated. Certainly it was foolhardy to remain there.
But a glance at the woods over whose branches rose the towers of his
castle, settled his doubts. No, no. . . . "We must finish what we have
begun!"

The very last band of troopers now made their appearance, coming out of
the woods by different paths. They were riding their horses slowly, as
though they deplored this retreat. They kept looking behind, carbine
in hand, ready to halt and shoot. The others who had been occupying
the barricade were already on their mounts. The division reformed, the
commands of the officers were heard and a quick trot, accompanied by the
clanking of metal, told Don Marcelo that the last of the army had left.

He remained near the barricade in a solitude of intense silence, as
though the world were suddenly depopulated. Two dogs, abandoned by the
flight of their masters, leaped and sniffed around him, coaxing him
for protection. They were unable to get the desired scent in that land
trodden down and disfigured by the transit of thousands of men. A
family cat was watching the birds that were beginning to return to their
haunts. With timid flutterings they were picking at what the horses had
left