Ladicourt, he received a sharp reprimand, which he digested
in silence, with the rigid manner of a martinet conscious of being in
the wrong.

"My children," said the Colonel, as he passed along the line of men,
"we shall probably be attacked to-night, or if not, then by day-break
to-morrow morning at the latest. Be prepared, and remember that the
106th has never retreated before the enemy."

The little speech was received with loud hurrahs; everyone, in the
prevailing suspense and discouragement, preferred to "take the wipe of
the dish-clout" and have done with it. Rifles were examined to see that
they were in good order, belts were refilled with cartridges. As they
had eaten their soup that morning, the men were obliged to content
themselves with biscuits and coffee. An order was promulgated that there
was to be no sleeping. The grand-guards were out nearly a mile to the
front, and a chain of sentinels at frequent intervals extended down
to the Aisne. The officers were seated in little groups about the
camp-fires, and beside a low wall at the left of the road the fitful
blaze occasionally flared up and rescued from the darkness the gold
embroideries and bedizened uniforms of the Commander-in-Chief and
his staff, flitting to and fro like phantoms, watching the road and
listening for the tramp of horses in the mortal anxiety they were in as
to the fate of the third division.

It was about one o'clock in the morning when it came Maurice's turn to
take his post as sentry at the edge of an orchard of plum-trees, between
the road and the river. The night was black as ink, and as soon as his
comrades left him and he found himself alone in the deep silence of the
sleeping fields he was conscious of a sensation of fear creeping over
him, a feeling of abject terror such as he had never known before and
which he trembled with rage and shame at his inability to conquer. He
turned his head to cheer himself by a sight of the camp-fires, but
they were hidden from him by a wood; there was naught behind him but
an unfathomable sea of blackness; all that he could discern was a few
distant lights still dimly burning in Vouziers, where the inhabitants,
doubtless forewarned and trembling at the thought of the impending
combat, were keeping anxious vigil. His terror was increased, if that
were possible, on bringing his piece to his shoulder to find that he
could not even distinguish the sights on it. Then commenced a period of
suspense