knocked several bedrooms into one. Then we thought it time to get the
women down into the cellar--rather a risky undertaking since the door of
it was in the backyard. However, we got them all down in safety and came
up into the second saal to watch the course of events. Hagen gave a
fearful groan as a shell broke into the kitchen behind us, and, bursting
in the centre of the stove, sent his _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of cookery sputtering
in all directions. He gave a still deeper groan as another shell crashed
into the principal dining-room and knocked the long table, laid out as it
was for the marriage-feast, into a chaos of splinters, tablecloth, and
knives and forks. The Restauration Kueche on the other side was in flames,
so was the stable of the hotel to the left rear. In this pleasing
situation of affairs George produced a pack of cards and coolly proposed a
game of whist. Kuester, de Liefde, and Hyndman joined him; and the game
proceeded amidst the crashing of the projectiles. Silberer and myself took
counsel together and agreed that the occupation of the town by the French
was only a question of a few hours at latest. We were both correspondents;
and although the French would do us no harm our communications with our
journals would inevitably be stopped--a serious contingency to contemplate
at the beginning of a campaign. We both agreed that evacuation of the
Hagen was imperative; but then, how to get out? The only way was up the
esplanade to the railway station, and upon it the French shells were
falling and bursting in numbers very trying to the nerves. However, there
was nothing for it but to make a rush through the fire; and saying
good-bye to the whist-players we sallied forth. To my disgust I found that
Silberer positively refused to make a rush of it. Although an Austrian all
his sympathies were Prussian, and he had the utmost contempt for the
French. In his broken language his invariable appellation for them was
"God-damned Hundsoehne!" and he would not run before them at any price. I
would have run right gladly at top-speed; but I did not like to run when
another man walked, and so he made me saunter at the rate of two miles an