affair? All that Maurice could make out, projecting his eyes along the
level surface of the fields, was the rounded, wood-clad summit of
Hattoy in the remote distance, and still unoccupied. Neither was there
a Prussian to be seen anywhere on the horizon; the only evidence of
life were the faint, blue smoke-wreaths that rose and floated an
instant in the sunlight. Chancing to turn his head, he was greatly
surprised to behold at the bottom of a deep, sheltered valley,
surrounded by precipitous heights, a peasant calmly tilling his little
field, driving the plow through the furrow with the assistance of a
big white horse. Why should he lose a day? The corn would keep
growing, let them fight as they would, and folks must live.

Unable longer to control his impatience, the young man jumped to his
feet. He had a fleeting vision of the batteries of Saint-Menges,
crowned with tawny vapors and spewing shot and shell upon them; he had
also time to see, what he had seen before and had not forgotten, the
road from Saint-Albert's pass black with minute moving objects--the
swarming hordes of the invader. Then Jean seized him by the legs and
pulled him violently to his place again.

"Are you crazy? Do you want to leave your bones here?"

And Rochas chimed in:

"Lie down, will you! What am I to do with such d----d rascals, who get
themselves killed without orders!"

"But you don't lie down, lieutenant," said Maurice.

"That's a different thing. I have to know what is going on."