hey spoke of the
enemy, impressed Jack very favorably; and though, as he said to himself
when thinking it over, the evening had certainly not been a lively one,
it had by no means been unpleasant.

Two hours before daybreak the bell of the church gave the signal. As
the men had only to rise to their feet, shake themselves, take up their
arms, and sling their bags of provisions round their necks, it was but a
few minutes before they were formed up in order. The count saw the three
divisions file off silently in the darkness, and then, placing himself
at the head of the main body, led the way toward the spot which he and
Jack had selected for opposing the march of Tesse's invading column.

Daylight was just breaking when they reached it, and the count ordered
the men to pile their arms and at once to set to work. The road, which
had been winding along in a valley, here mounted a sharp rise, on the
very brow of which stood a hamlet of some twenty houses. It had already
been deserted by the inhabitants, and the houses were taken possession
of by the workers. Those facing the brow of the hill were loopholed,
as were the walls along the same line. Men were set to work to build a
great barricade across the road, and to run breastworks of stones right
and left from the points where the walls ended along the brow. Other
parties loopholed the houses and walls of the village, and formed
another barricade across the road at the other end. With two thousand
men at work these tasks were soon carried out; and the count then led
the men down the hill, whose face was covered with loose stones, and set
them to work piling these in lines one above another.

At ten o'clock in the morning the work was complete. The count told
the men off by parties, each of which were to hold one of the lines of
stones; each party was, as the French charged, to retire up the hill and
join that at the line above, so that their resistance would become more
and more obstinate till the village itself was reached. Here a stand was
to be made as long as possible. If the column advanced only by the road,
every house was to be held; if they spread out in line so as to overlap
the village on both sides, a rapid retreat was to be made when the
bugler by the count's side gave the signal.

The men sat down to breakfast in their allotted places, quiet, grave,
and stern; and again the contrast with the laughter and high spirits
which prevail among English soldiers, wh