regular that I could not help counting: one, two; one, two, as their
feet struck the bridge. But just at the moment when the little group
had got half-way across, a hiss, followed by a deafening explosion,
made our hearts beat, and we heard the curious noise made by
innumerable bullets and pieces of shell striking the water. The
Germans had seen our infantry beginning to cross the river, and they
were now pouring their fire upon the bridge. I looked again at the
men, and saw they were there, all five of them, still marching with
the same cool, resolute step: one, two; one, two. Ah! the brave
fellows! How I wanted to cheer them, to shout "Bravo!" But they were
too far off, and the noise of the fusillade would have prevented them
from hearing me.

No sooner had they reached the bank than another little group stepped
on to the narrow bridge, and then, after them, another; and each was
saluted by one or two shells, with the same heavy rain of bullets
falling into the water. But Providence protected our soldiers. The
outline of the bridge was very slight, and the gunners of the German
cavalry divisions were sorry marksmen. Their projectiles always burst
either too far or too near, too high or too low. And as soon as a
hundred men had got across, and the first sharpshooters had clambered
up the heights that rise sheer from the river and begun to debouch
upon the plateau, there was a sudden silence. The enemy's cavalry had
given way, and our _corps d'armée_ was free to pass the Marne by the
bridge of Jaulgonne.

The entire battalion of the advance guard then began to pour over the
bridge on their way to the plateau. Our brigade was quickly got
together, and our Chasseurs hastened to water their horses. Out came
the nosebags from the saddlebags. A few minutes later no one would