left, to ease
himself a moment of his burden by resting it on the ground. The shells
continued to fall around them, but the German gunners did not succeed in
getting the exact range; no one was killed after the poor fellow who lay
there on his stomach with his skull fractured.

"Say, is this thing to last all day?" Maurice finally asked Jean, in
sheer desperation.

"Like enough. At Solferino they put us in a field of carrots, and there
we stayed five mortal hours with our noses to the ground." Then he
added, like the sensible fellow he was: "Why do you grumble? we are not
so badly off here. You will have an opportunity to distinguish yourself
before the day is over. Let everyone have his chance, don't you see; if
we should all be killed at the beginning there would be none left for
the end."

"Look," Maurice abruptly broke in, "look at that smoke over Hattoy. They
have taken Hattoy; we shall have plenty of music to dance to now!"

For a moment his burning curiosity, which he was conscious was now for
the first time beginning to be dashed with personal fear, had sufficient
to occupy it; his gaze was riveted on the rounded summit of the
_mamelon_, the only elevation that was within his range of vision,
dominating the broad expanse of plain that lay level with his eye.
Hattoy was too far distant to permit him to distinguish the gunners of
the batteries that the Prussians had posted there; he could see nothing
at all, in fact, save the smoke that at each discharge rose above a thin
belt of woods that served to mask the guns. The enemy's occupation of
the position, of which General Douay had been forced to abandon the
defense, was, as Maurice had instinctively felt, an event of the gravest
importance and destined to result in the most disastrous consequences;
its possessors would have entire command of all the surrounding plateau.
This was quickly seen to be the case, for the batteries that opened on
the second division of the 7th corps did fearful execution. They had
now perfected their range, and the French battery, near which Beaudoin's
company was stationed, had two men killed in quick succession. A
quartermaster's man in the company had his left heel carried away by
a splinter and began to howl most dismally, as if visited by a sudden
attack of madness.

"Shut up, you great calf!" said Rochas. "What do you mean by yelling
like that for a little scratch!"

The man suddenly ceased his outcries and subsided into a s