brat commanded. "We'll go up to the roof.... You can
see the whole valley from there.... Ah, the telescope!..."

He caught up the instrument as he passed.

Marthe rushed at them:

"What's happening?"

"Impossible to hold out over there," said the sergeant. "There are too
many of them.... We're falling back...."

"But, in that case, _they_ will be coming?"

"Yes, yes, they're coming, right enough!..."

Marthe went out on the terrace. A swarm of soldiers came running up the
staircase.

She saw Philippe in a corner. He was speaking to the men:

"Are they coming?"

"Yes."

"Have they crossed the frontier?"

"No, not yet."

He turned to his wife and said to her, as a piece of good news:

"They have not crossed the frontier yet."

And he went to meet another group of soldiers.

Then Marthe believed that fate had sent her the aid for which she was
praying. She could now do nothing more but trust to events.

CHAPTER IV

THE SACRED SOIL

"Bugler!... Sound the rally ... at the double ... and quietly."

It was Captain Daspry who now arrived, with a brisk gait, but with the
grave and resolute face of a leader who is commanding at a solemn
moment.

He said to Philippe:

"Is M. Morestal still unwell?"

Mme. Morestal ran out from the house:

"My husband is asleep.... He is very tired.... The morphia.... But, if
there is anything you want, I can take his place. I know his intentions,
his preparations."

"We shall attempt the impossible," said the officer. And, addressing his
lieutenant, he added, "It would have been madness to stay over there,
wouldn't it, Fabregues? It's not a question of demolishing a few Uhlans,
as we did, but of standing our ground against a whole brigade who were
climbing the other slope.... Oh, it was all planned long ago!... And M.
Morestal is a jolly clever man!..."

The bugle sounded a low call and the Alpine Rifles emerged from every
side, through the terrace, the garden and the back entrances.

"That will do!" said the officer to the bugler. "They have heard ... and
I don't want the enemy to hear as well."

He took out his watch:

"Twelve o'clock.... Two hours more, at least.... Oh, if I only had
twenty-five minutes or half an hour in which to prepare my
resistance.... But nothing will stop them.... The passage is free...."

He called:

"Fabregues!"

"Yes, captain."

"All the men in front of the coach-house, on the left of the garden. At
the back of the