ion I will now descend with this truss of hay to make a couch for
these poor fellows below."

I had intended to exact an oath from him, but it is my experience that
if a man will not speak the truth he will not swear the truth, so I said
no more. The surgeon opened the trap-door, threw out enough hay for his
purpose, and then descended the ladder, letting down the door behind
him. I watched him anxiously when he rejoined his patients, and so did
my good friend the landlady, but he said nothing and busied himself with
the needs of his soldiers.

By this time I was sure that the last of the army corps was past, and I
went to my loophole confident that I should find the coast clear, save,
perhaps, for a few stragglers, whom I could disregard. The first
corps was indeed past, and I could see the last files of the infantry
disappearing into the wood; but you can imagine my disappointment when
out of the Forest of St. Lambert I saw a second corps emerging, as
numerous as the first.

There could be no doubt that the whole Prussian army, which we thought
we had destroyed at Ligny, was about to throw itself upon our right wing
while Marshal Grouchy had been coaxed away upon some fool's errand.

The roar of guns, much nearer than before, told me that the Prussian
batteries which had passed me were already in action. Imagine my
terrible position! Hour after hour was passing; the sun was sinking
toward the west.

And yet this cursed inn, in which I lay hid, was like a little island
amid a rushing stream of furious Prussians.

It was all important that I should reach Marshal Grouchy, and yet I
could not show my nose without being made prisoner. You can think how I
cursed and tore my hair. How little do we know what is in store for us!

Even while I raged against my ill-fortune, that same fortune was
reserving me for a far higher task than to carry a message to Grouchy--a
task which could not have been mine had I not been held tight in that
little inn on the edge of the Forest of Paris.

Two Prussian corps had passed and a third was coming up, when I heard
a great fuss and the sound of several voices in the sitting-room. By
altering my position I was able to look down and see what was going on.

Two Prussian generals were beneath me, their heads bent over a map which
lay upon the table. Several aides-de-camp and staff officers stood round
in silence. Of the two generals, one was a fierce old man, white-haired
and wrinkled,