the uhlans had possession of the bridge, another bridge that had not
been destroyed, for the reason, this time, that some one had neglected
to provide the necessary powder. And Weiss sorrowfully acknowledged to
himself that the human torrent, the invading horde, could now be
nowhere else than on the plain of Donchery, invisible to him, pressing
onward to occupy Saint-Albert pass, pushing forward its advanced
guards to Saint-Menges and Floing, whither, the day previous, he had
conducted Jean and Maurice. In the brilliant sunshine the steeple of
Floing church appeared like a slender needle of dazzling whiteness.

And off to the eastward the other arm of the powerful vise was slowly
closing in on them. Casting his eyes to the north, where there was a
stretch of level ground between the plateaus of Illy and of Floing, he
could make out the line of battle of the 7th corps, feebly supported
by the 5th, which was posted in reserve under the ramparts of the
city; but he could not discern what was occurring to the east, along
the valley of the Givonne, where the 1st corps was stationed, its line
stretching from the wood of la Garenne to Daigny village. Now,
however, the guns were beginning to thunder in that direction also;
the conflict seemed to be raging in Chevalier's wood, in front of
Daigny. His uneasiness was owing to reports that had been brought in
by peasants the day previous, that the Prussian advance had reached
Francheval, so that the movement which was being conducted at the
west, by way of Donchery, was also in process of execution at the
east, by way of Francheval, and the two jaws of the vise would come
together up there at the north, near the Calvary of Illy, unless the
two-fold flanking movement could be promptly checked. He knew nothing
of tactics or strategy, had nothing but his common sense to guide him;
but he looked with fear and trembling on that great triangle that had
the Meuse for one of its sides, and for the other two the 7th and 1st