the roof, to deaden
the weight of the fire. He was a man of gentlemanlike manners, and had
been attentive to me, in the shape of many of those minor civilities
which a man of severe authority might have refused, but which mark
kindliness of disposition. On this night he told me, that he had orders
to put all the prisoners in arrest; but that he regarded me more as a
friend than a prisoner--and that I was at liberty to take any precaution
for my security which I thought proper. My answer was, "that I hoped, at
all events, not to be shut into the vaults, but to take my chance above
ground." In the end, I proposed to assist in carrying the mattresses to
the roof, and remain there until the night was over. "But you will be
hit," said my friend. "So be it," was my answer. "It is the natural fate
of my profession; but, at least, I shall not be buried alive."

"All will be soon over with us all, and with Valenciennes," said the
officer; "though whether to-night or not, is a question. We have seen
new batteries raised within the last twenty-four hours. The enemy have
now nearly three hundred heavy guns in full play; and, to judge from the
quantity of shells, they must have a hundred mortars besides. No
fortress can stand this; and, if it continues, we shall soon be ground
into dust." He took his leave; and, with my mattress on my shoulder, I
mounted the numberless and creaking staircases, until the door of the
roof and the landscape opened on me together.

The night was excessively dark, but perfectly calm; and, except where
the fire from the batteries marked their position, all objects beyond
the ramparts were invisible. The town around me lay silent, and looking
more like a vast grave than a place of human existence. Now and then the
light of a lantern gliding along the ruined streets, showed me a group
of wretched beings hurrying a corpse to the next churchyard, or a priest
seeking his way over the broken heaps to attend some dying soldier or
citizen. All was utter desolation.

But a new scene--a terrible and yet a superb one--suddenly broke upon
me. A discharge of rockets from various points of the allied lines,
showed that a general movement was begun. The batteries opened along the
whole extent of the trenches, and by their blaze I was able to discern,
advancing and formed in their rear, two immense columns, which, however,
in the distance and the fitfulness of the glare, looked more like huge
clouds than living beings.