corps on the north and east respectively, while the extreme angle at
the south was occupied by the 12th at Bazeilles--all the three corps
facing outward on the periphery of a semicircle, awaiting the
appearance of an enemy who was to deliver his attack at some one
point, where or when no one could say, but who, instead, fell on them
from every direction at once. And at the very center of all, as at the
bottom of a pit, lay the city of Sedan, her ramparts furnished with
antiquated guns, destitute of ammunition and provisions.

"Understand," said Weiss, with a repetition of his previous gesture,
extending his arms and bringing his hands slowly together, "that is
how it will be unless your generals keep their eyes open. The movement
at Bazeilles is only a feint--"

But his explanation was confused and unintelligible to the lieutenant,
who knew nothing of the country, and the young man shrugged his
shoulders with an expression of impatience and disdain for the
bourgeois in spectacles and frock coat who presumed to set his opinion
against the marshal's. Irritated to hear Weiss reiterate his view that
the attack on Bazeilles was intended only to mask other and more
important movements, he finally shouted:

"Hold your tongue, will you! We shall drive them all into the Meuse,
those Bavarian friends of yours, and that is all they will get by
their precious feint."

While they were talking the enemy's skirmishers seemed to have come up
closer; every now and then their bullets were heard thudding against
the dyehouse wall, and our men, kneeling behind the low parapet of the
courtyard, were beginning to reply. Every second the report of a