could see, the land was his; he could direct the movements of the
quarter of a million of men and the eight hundred guns that
constituted his army, could master at a glance every detail of the
operations of his invading host. Even then the XIth corps was pressing
forward toward Saint-Menges, while the Vth was at Vrigne-aux-Bois, and
the Wurtemburg division was near Donchery, awaiting orders. This was
what he beheld to the west, and if, turning to the east, he found his
view obstructed in that quarter by tree-clad hills, he could picture
to himself what was passing, for he had seen the XIIth corps entering
the wood of Chevalier, he knew that by that time the Guards were at
Villers-Cernay. There were the two arms of the gigantic vise, the army
of the Crown Prince of Prussia on the left, the Saxon Prince's army on
the right, slowly, irresistibly closing on each other, while the two
Bavarian corps were hammering away at Bazeilles.

Underneath the King's position the long line of batteries, stretching
with hardly an interval from Remilly to Frenois, kept up an
unintermittent fire, pouring their shells into Daigny and la Moncelle,
sending them hurtling over Sedan city to sweep the northern plateaus.
It was barely eight o'clock, and with eyes fixed on the gigantic board
he directed the movements of the game, awaiting the inevitable end,
calmly controlling the black cloud of men that beneath him swept, an
array of pigmies, athwart the smiling landscape.



II.

In the dense fog up on the plateau of Floing Gaude, the bugler,
sounded reveille at peep of day with all the lung-power he was