ed back, and there were the five inevitable Prussians--Stein
a hundred yards in front, then a Lancer, and then three others riding
together.

Stein had drawn his sword, and he waved it at me. For my own part I was
determined not to give myself up.

I would try how many of these Prussians I could take with me into the
other world. At this supreme moment all the great deeds of my life rose
in a vision before me, and I felt that this, my last exploit, was indeed
a worthy close to such a career. My death would be a fatal blow to those
who loved me, to my dear mother, to my Hussars, to others who shall be
nameless. But all of them had my honour and my fame at heart, and I felt
that their grief would be tinged with pride when they learned how I had
ridden and how I had fought upon this last day. Therefore I hardened my
heart and, as my Arab limped more and more upon his wounded leg, I drew
the great sword which I had taken from the Cuirassier, and I set my
teeth for my supreme struggle. My hand was in the very act of tightening
the bridle, for I feared that if I delayed longer I might find myself on
foot fighting against five mounted men.

At that instant my eye fell upon something which brought hope to my
heart and a shout of joy to my lips.

From a grove of trees in front of me there projected the steeple of a
village church. But there could not be two steeples like that, for the
corner of it had crumbled away or been struck by lightning, so that it
was of a most fantastic shape. I had seen it only two days before,
and it was the church of the village of Gosselies. It was not the hope
of reaching the village which set my heart singing with joy, but it was
that I knew my ground now, and that farm-house not half a mile ahead,
with its gable end sticking out from amid the trees, must be that very
farm of St. Aunay where we had bivouacked, and which I had named to
Captain Sabbatier as the rendezvous of the Hussars of Conflans. There
they were, my little rascals, if I could but reach them. With every
bound my horse grew weaker. Each instant the sound of the pursuit grew
louder. I heard a gust of crackling German oaths at my very heels. A
pistol bullet sighed in my ears. Spurring frantically and beating my
poor Arab with the flat of my sword I kept him at the top of his speed.
The open gate of the farm-yard lay before me. I saw the twinkle of steel
within. Stein's horse's head was within ten yards of me as I thundered
through