ust
hid everything else; but the hill was plainly an important point, for
they were being pushed forward, and the firing on the rise ahead of them
was terrific. They were still partly protected by the ridge, but shells
were screaming over them, and the earth was rocking under their feet.
More batteries came thundering by,--the men clinging to the pieces and
the drivers lashing their horses furiously,--and disappearing into
the smoke on the hill, unlimbered and swelled the deafening roar; they
passed men lying on the ground dead or wounded, or were passed by others
helping wounded comrades to the rear. Several men in the company fell,
some crying out or groaning with pain, and two or three killed outright.

The men were dodging and twisting, with heads bent forward a little as
if in a pelting rain. Only the old Sergeant and some of the younger ones
were perfectly erect.

"Why don't you dodge the balls?" asked a recruit of the Sergeant.

"A soldier of the empire never dodges," was the proud reply.

Some change occurred on the hills; they could not see what. Just then
the order came down the line to advance at a double-quick and support
the batteries. They moved forward at a run and passed beyond the shelter
of the ridge. Instantly they were in the line of fire from the Prussian
batteries, whose white puffs of smoke were visible across the plain, and
bullets and shell tore wide spaces in their ranks. They could not see
the infantrymen, who were in pits, but the bullets hissed and whistled
by them. The men on both sides of Pierre were killed and fell forward on
their faces with a thud, one of them still clutching his musket. Pierre
would have stopped, but there was no time, the men in the rear pressed
him on. As they appeared in the smoke of the nearest battery, the
artillerymen broke into cheers at the welcome sight, and all down the
line it was taken up. All around were dead and dying men increasing in
numbers momentarily. No one had time to notice them. Some of them had
blankets thrown over them. The infantry, who were a little to the side
of the batteries, were ordered to lie down; most of them had already
done so; even then they were barely protected; shot and shell ploughed
the ground around them as if it had been a fallow field; men spoke to
their comrades, and before receiving a reply were shot dead at their
sides. The wounded were more ghastly than the dead; their faces growing
suddenly deadly white from the sho