distant still, a little to the right, is Fleigneux. Then those scrubby
trees on the horizon, away in the background, are the forest of the
Ardennes, and there lies the frontier--"

He went on to explain their position, naming each locality and
pointing to it with outstretched hand. The plateau de l'Algerie was a
belt of reddish ground, something less than two miles in length,
sloping gently downward from the wood of la Garenne toward the Meuse,
from which it was separated by the meadows. On it the line of the 7th
corps had been established by General Douay, who felt that his numbers
were not sufficient to defend so extended a position and properly
maintain his touch with the 1st corps, which was posted at right
angles with his line, occupying the valley of la Givonne, from the
wood of la Garenne to Daigny.

"Oh, isn't it grand, isn't it magnificent!"

And Maurice, revolving on his heel, made with his hand a sweeping
gesture that embraced the entire horizon. From their position on the
plateau the whole wide field of battle lay stretched before them to
the south and west: Sedan, almost at their feet, whose citadel they
could see overtopping the roofs, then Balan and Bazeilles, dimly seen
through the dun smoke-clouds that hung heavily in the motionless air,
and further in the distance the hills of the left bank, Liry, la
Marfee, la Croix-Piau. It was away toward the west, however, in the
direction of Donchery, that the prospect was most extensive. There the
Meuse curved horseshoe-wise, encircling the peninsula of Iges with a
ribbon of pale silver, and at the northern extremity of the loop was
distinctly visible the narrow road of the Saint-Albert pass, winding
between the river bank and a beetling, overhanging hill that was