Page:The Works of Honoré de Balzac Volume 29.djvu/67

Rh the wounded from the rear gained the summits of the bank on the right side of the road, and were followed thither by half of the remaining Chouans, who clambered nimbly up, and manned the top of the bank, only their energetic heads being visible to the Blues below. Once there, they made a sort of rampart of the trees, and thence they brought the barrels of their guns to bear upon the remnant of the escort, who had rapidly drawn up in obedience to repeated orders from Hulot, in such a way as to present a front equal to that of the Chouans, who were still occupying the road. These last fell back, still disputing the ground, and wheeled so as to bring themselves under cover of the fire of their own party. When they reached the ditch which lay by the roadside, they scrambled in their turn up the steep slope, whose top was held by their own comrades, and so rejoined them, steadily supporting the murderous fire of the Republicans, which filled the ditch with dead bodies, the men from the height of the scarp replying the while with a fire no less deadly.

Just then the National Guard from Fougères arrived at a run on the scene of the conflict, and with their presence the affair was at an endA few excited soldiers and the National Guards were leaving the footpath to follow them up in the woods, but the commandant called to them in his soldier's voice, "Do you want to be cut to bits over there?"

They came up with the Republican troops, who were left in possession of the field indeed, but only after heavy losses. Then all the old hats went aloft on the points of their bayonets, while every soldier's voice cried twice over, "Long live the Republic!" Even the wounded men lying by the roadside shared alike in the enthusiasm, and Hulot squeezed his lieutenant's hand as he said:

"One might call that pluck, eh?"

Merle was ordered to bury the dead in a ravine by the wayside. Carts and horses were requisitioned from neighboring farms for the wounded, whom their comrades hastened to lay on the clothing taken from the dead. Before