side of the road, thus leaving the central space free for the
officers, and Maurice could not help noticing their anxious, care-worn
air, in striking contrast with the jollity and good-humor of the
soldiers, who were happy as children to be on the move once more. As
the squad was near the head of the column he could even distinguish
the Colonel, M. de Vineuil, in the distance, and was impressed by the
grave earnestness of his manner, and his tall, rigid form, swaying in
cadence to the motion of his charger. The band had been sent back to
the rear, to keep company with the regimental wagons; it played but
once during that entire campaign. Then came the ambulances and
engineer's train attached to the division, and succeeding that the
corps train, an interminable procession of forage wagons, closed vans
for stores, carts for baggage, and vehicles of every known
description, occupying a space of road nearly four miles in length,
and which, at the infrequent curves in the highway, they could see
winding behind them like the tail of some great serpent. And last of
all, at the extreme rear of the column, came the herds, "rations on
the hoof," a surging, bleating, bellowing mass of sheep and oxen,
urged on by blows and raising clouds of dust, reminding one of the old
warlike peoples of the East and their migrations.

Lapoulle meantime would every now and then give a hitch of his
shoulders in an attempt to shift the weight of his knapsack when it
began to be too heavy. The others, alleging that he was the strongest,
were accustomed to make him carry the various utensils that were
common to the squad, including the big kettle and the water-pail; on
this occasion they had even saddled him with the company shovel,
assuring him that it was a badge of honor. So far was he from
complaining that he was now laughing at a song with which Loubet, the
tenor of the squad, was trying to beguile the tedium of the way.