caisson drawn by six, seemed to him as bright and refulgent as a sun,
tended and cherished as it was by its attendants, men and animals, who
closed around it protectingly as if it had been a living sentient
relative; and then, besides, the contemptuous look that Honore,
astounded to behold him among that unarmed rabble, cast on the
stragglers, distressed him terribly. And now the tail end of the
regiment was passing, the _materiel_ of the batteries, prolonges,
forges, forage-wagons, succeeded by the rag-tag, the spare men and
horses, and then all vanished in a cloud of dust at another turn in
the road amid the gradually decreasing clatter of hoofs and wheels.

"_Pardi_!" exclaimed Loubet, "it's not such a difficult matter to cut
a dash when one travels with a coach and four!"

The staff had found Altkirch free from the enemy; not a Prussian had
shown his face there yet. It had been the general's wish, not knowing
at what moment they might fall upon his rear, that the retreat should
be continued to Dannemarie, and it was not until five o'clock that the
heads of columns reached that place. Tents were hardly pitched and
fires lighted at eight, when night closed in, so great was the
confusion of the regiments, depleted by the absence of the stragglers.
The men were completely used up, were ready to drop with fatigue and
hunger. Up to eight o'clock soldiers, singly and in squads, came
trailing in, hunting for their commands; all that long train of the
halt, the lame, and the disaffected that we have seen scattered along
the roads.

As soon as Jean discovered where his regiment lay he went in quest of
Lieutenant Rochas to make his report. He found him, together with
Captain Beaudoin, in earnest consultation with the colonel at the door