on of the face
remained, stamped there unalterably by the hand of death. It was the
first casualty, and the accountant was startled by the crash of the
musket falling and rebounding from the stone pavement of the courtyard.

"Ah, I have seen enough, I am going," stammered Delaherche. "Come, if
you are coming; if not, I shall go without you."

The lieutenant, whom their presence made uneasy, spoke up:

"It will certainly be best for you to go, gentlemen. The enemy may
attempt to carry the place at any moment."

Then at last, casting a parting glance at the meadows, where the
Bavarians were still gaining ground, Weiss gave in and followed
Delaherche, but when they had gained the street he insisted upon going
to see if the fastening of his door was secure, and when he came back to
his companion there was a fresh spectacle, which brought them both to a
halt.

At the end of the street, some three hundred yards from where they
stood, a strong Bavarian column had debouched from the Douzy road and
was charging up the Place de l'Eglise. The square was held by a regiment
of sailor-boys, who appeared to slacken their fire for a moment as
if with the intention of drawing their assailants on; then, when the
close-massed column was directly opposite their front, a most surprising
maneuver was swiftly executed: the men abandoned their formation, some
of them stepping from the ranks and flattening themselves against the
house fronts, others casting themselves prone upon the ground, and down
the vacant space thus suddenly formed the mitrailleuses that had been
placed in battery at the farther end poured a perfect hailstorm of
bullets. The column disappeared as if it had been swept bodily from off
the face of the earth. The recumbent men sprang to their feet with a
bound and charged the scattered Bavarians with the bayonet, driving them
and making the rout complete. Twice the maneuver was repeated, each time
with the same success. Two women, unwilling to abandon their home, a
small house at the corner of an intersecting lane, were sitting at their
window; they laughed approvingly and clapped their hands, apparently
glad to have an opportunity to behold such a spectacle.

"There, confound it!" Weiss suddenly said, "I forgot to lock the cellar
door! I must go back. Wait for me; I won't be a minute."

There was no indication that the enemy contemplated a renewal of their
attack, and Delaherche, whose curiosity was reviving after the