traverse the meadows and the wide, bare level that lay between the
outskirts of the village and the Meuse and the railway. Their prudence
in avoiding unnecessary risks was notorious, hence it seemed
improbable that the real attack would come from that quarter. They
kept coming across the bridge, however, in deep masses, and that
notwithstanding the slaughter that a battery of mitrailleuses, posted
at the edge of the village, effected in their ranks, and all at once
those who had crossed rushed forward in open order, under cover of the
straggling willows, the columns were re-formed and began to advance.
It was from there that the musketry fire, which was growing hotter,
had proceeded.

"Oh, those are Bavarians," Weiss remarked. "I recognize them by the
braid on their helmets."

But there were other columns, moving to the right and partially
concealed by the railway embankment, whose object, it seemed to him,
was to gain the cover of some trees in the distance, whence they might
descend and take Bazeilles in flank and rear. Should they succeed in
effecting a lodgment in the park of Montivilliers, the village might
become untenable. This was no more than a vague, half-formed idea,
that flitted through his mind for a moment and faded as rapidly as it
had come; the attack in front was becoming more determined, and his
every faculty was concentrated on the struggle that was assuming, with
every moment, larger dimensions.

Suddenly he turned his head and looked away to the north, over the
city of Sedan, where the heights of Floing were visible in the
distance. A battery had just commenced firing from that quarter; the
smoke rose in the bright sunshine in little curls and wreaths, and the