ighed Lapoulle, whose
ravenous appetite made hunger a more grievous affliction to him than to
the others.

But Lieutenant Rochas, passing by just then, made them be silent. It was
scandalous, never to think of anything but their stomachs! When _he_ was
hungry he tightened up the buckle of his trousers. Now that things were
becoming decidedly squally and the popping of rifles was to be heard
occasionally in the distance, he had recovered all his old serene
confidence: it was all plain enough, now; the Prussians were
there--well, all they had to do was, go out and lick 'em. And he gave
a significant shrug of the shoulders, standing behind Captain Beaudoin,
the _very_ young man, as he called him, with his pale face and pursed up
lips, whom the loss of his baggage had afflicted so grievously that he
had even ceased to fume and scold. A man might get along without eating,
at a pinch, but that he could not change his linen was a circumstance
productive of sorrow and anger.

Maurice awoke to a sensation of despondency and physical discomfort.
Thanks to his easy shoes the inflammation in his foot had gone down, but
the drenching he had received the day before, from the effects of which
his greatcoat seemed to weigh a ton, had left him with a distinct and
separate ache in every bone of his body. When he was sent to the spring
to get water for the coffee he took a survey of the plain on the edge
of which Boult-aux-Bois is situated: forests rise to the west and north,
and there is a hill crowned by the hamlet of Belleville, while, over to
the east, Buzancy way, there is a broad, level expanse, stretching far
as the eye can see, with an occasional shallow depression concealing a
small cluster of cottages. Was it from that direction that they were to
expect the enemy? As he was returning from the stream with his bucket
filled with water, the father of a family of wretched peasants hailed
him from the door of his hovel, and asked him if the soldiers were this
time going to stay and defend them. In the confusion of conflicting
orders the 5th corps had already traversed the region no less than three
times. The sound of cannonading had reached them the day before from
the direction of Bar; the Prussians could not be more than a couple
of leagues away. And when Maurice made answer to the poor folks that
doubtless the 7th corps would also be called away after a time, their
tears flowed afresh. Then they were to be abandoned to the enemy,