rough the scrambling mob a file of wounded tottered, escorted by
police; women were forced back and pushed out into the street, only to
be again menaced by galloping military ambulances arriving,
accompanied by hussars. The confusion grew into a tumult; men
struggled and elbowed for a passage to the platforms, women sobbed and
cried; through the uproar the treble wail of terrified children broke
out.

Jostled, shoved, pulled this way and that, I felt that I was destined
to go down under the people's feet, and I don't know what would have
become of me had not a violent push sent me against the door of the
telegraph office. The door gave way, and I fell on my knees, staggered
to my feet, and crept out once more to the platform.

The station-master passed, a haggard gentleman in rumpled uniform and
gilt cap; and as he left the office by the outer door the heavy
explosion of a rampart cannon shook the station.

"Can you get me to Paris?" I asked.

"Quick, then," he muttered; "this way--lean on me, monsieur! I am
trying to send another train out--but Heaven alone knows! Quick, this
way!"

The glare of a locomotive's headlight dazzled me; I made towards it,
clinging to the arm of the station-master; the ground under my feet
rocked with the shock of the siege-guns. Suddenly a shell fell and
burst in the yard outside; there was a cry, a rush of trainmen, a
gendarme shouting; then the piercing alarm notes of locomotives,
squealing like terrified leviathans.

The train drawn up along the platform gave a jerk and immediately
moved out towards the open country, compartment doors swinging wide,
trainmen and guards running alongside, followed by a mob of frenzied
passengers, who leaped into empty compartments, flinging satchels and
rugs to the four winds. Crash! A shell fell through the sloping roof
of the platform and blew up. Through the white cloud and brilliant
glare I saw a porter, wheeling boxes and trunks, fall, buried under an
avalanche of baggage, and a sister of charity throw up her arms as
though to shield her face from the fragments.

A car, doors swinging wide, glided past me; I caught the rail and fell
forward into a compartment. The cushions of the seats were afire, and
a policeman was hammering out the sparks with naked fists.

I was too weak to aid him. Presently he hurled the last burning
cushion from the open door and leaped out into the train-yard, where
red and green lamps glowed and the brilliant flare