otwithstanding his fatigue he was unable to
sleep; he could not help thinking of the things that gentleman had said,
how all Germany was up in arms and preparing to pour her devastating
hordes across the Rhine; and he felt that his tent-mate was not
sleeping, either--was thinking of the same things as he. Then the latter
turned over impatiently and moved away, and the other understood that
his presence was not agreeable. There was a lack of sympathy between the
peasant and the man of culture, an enmity of caste and education that
amounted almost to physical aversion. The former, however, experienced
a sensation of shame and sadness at this condition of affairs; he
shrinkingly drew in his limbs so as to occupy as small a space as
possible, endeavoring to escape from the hostile scorn that he was
vaguely conscious of in his neighbor. But although the night wind
without had blown up chill, the crowded tent was so stifling hot and
close that Maurice, in a fever of exasperation, raised the flap, darted
out, and went and stretched himself on the ground a few steps away.
That made Jean still more unhappy, and in his half-sleeping, half-waking
condition he had troubled dreams, made up of a regretful feeling that
no one cared for him, and a vague apprehension of impending calamity of
which he seemed to hear the steps approaching with measured tread from
the shadowy, mysterious depths of the unknown.

Two hours passed, and all the camp lay lifeless, motionless under the
oppression of the deep, weird darkness, that was instinct with some
dreadful horror as yet without a name. Out of the sea of blackness came
stifled sighs and moans; from an invisible tent was heard something that
sounded like the groan of a dying man, the fitful dream of some tired
soldier. Then there were other sounds that to the strained ear lost
their familiarity and became menaces of approaching evil; the neighing
of a charger, the clank of a sword, the hurrying steps of some belated
prowler. And all at once, off toward the canteens, a great light flamed
up. The entire front was brilliantly illuminated; the long, regularly
aligned array of stacks stood out against the darkness, and the ruddy
blaze, reflected from the burnished barrels of the rifles, assumed the
hue of new-shed blood; the erect, stern figures of the sentries became
visible in the fiery glow. Could it be the enemy, whose presence the
leaders had been talking of for the past two days, and on whose