al hunt was played
out, noisy and useless.

The great insect was trying to reach the Eiffel Tower, and from its base
would come sharp reports, at the same time that the different platforms
spit out a fierce stream of shrapnel. As it zigzagged over the city, the
discharge of rifles would crackle from roof and street. Everyone that
had arms in his house was firing--the soldiers of the guard, and the
English and Belgians on their way through Paris. They knew that their
shots were perfectly useless, but they were firing for the fun of
retorting, hoping at the same time that one of their chance shots might
achieve a miracle; but the only miracle was that the shooters did not
kill each other with their precipitate and ineffectual fire. As it was,
a few passers-by did fall, wounded by balls from unknown sources.

Argensola would tear from street to street following the evolutions of
the inimical bird, trying to guess where its projectiles would fall,
anxious to be the first to reach the bombarded house, excited by the
shots that were answering from below. And to think that he had no gun
like those khaki-clad Englishmen or those Belgians in barrick cap, with
tassel over the front! . . . Finally the taube tired of manoeuvering,
would disappear. "Until to-morrow!" ejaculated the Spaniard. "Perhaps
to-morrow's show may be even more interesting!"

He employed his free hours between his geographical observations and his
aerial contemplations in making the rounds of the stations, watching the
crowds of travellers making their escape from Paris. The sudden vision
of the truth--after the illusion which the Government had been creating
with its optimistic dispatches, the certainty that the Germans were
actually near when a week before they had imagined them completely
routed, the taubes flying over Paris, the mysterious threat of the
Zeppelins--all these dangerous signs were filling a part of the
community with frenzied desperation. The railroad stations, guarded
by the soldiery, were only admitting those who had secured tickets in
advance. Some had been waiting entire days for their turn to depart. The
most impatient were starting to walk, eager to get outside of the city
as soon as possible. The roads were black with the crowds all going in
the same directions. Toward the South they were fleeing by automobile,
in carriages, in gardeners' carts, on foot.

Argensola surveyed this hegira with serenity. He would remain because he
had