of the division that the greatest confusion prevailed. Several
regiments became inextricably mingled, and whole companies were swept
away and compelled to cross whether they would or no, while others,
crowded off to the side of the road, had to stand there and mark time;
and by way of putting the finishing touch to the muddle; a squadron of
cavalry insisted on passing, pressing back into the adjoining fields
the stragglers that the infantry had scattered along the roadside. At
the end of an hour's march the column had entirely lost its formation
and was dragging its slow length along, a mere disorderly rabble.

Thus it happened that Jean found himself away at the rear, lost in a
sunken road, together with his squad, whom he had been unwilling to
abandon. The 106th had disappeared, nor was there a man or an officer
of their company in sight. About them were soldiers, singly or in
little groups, from all the regiments, a weary, foot-sore crew,
knocked up at the beginning of the retreat, each man straggling on at
his own sweet will whithersoever the path that he was on might chance
to lead him. The sun beat down fiercely, the heat was stifling, and
the knapsack, loaded as it was with the tent and implements of every
description, made a terrible burden on the shoulders of the exhausted
men. To many of them the experience was an entirely new one, and the
heavy great-coats they wore seemed to them like vestments of lead. The
first to set an example for the others was a little pale faced soldier
with watery eyes; he drew beside the road and let his knapsack slide
off into the ditch, heaving a deep sigh as he did so, the long drawn
breath of a dying man who feels himself coming back to life.

"There's a man who knows what he is about," muttered Chouteau.

He still continued to plod along, however, his back bending beneath