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Waylaid at one corner after another by the long tide of troops streaming out through the town to the northern suburbs, we saw in turn all the various divisions of the unfolding frieze: first the infantry and artillery, the sappers and miners, the endless trains of guns and ammunition, then the long line of grey supply-waggons, and finally the stretcher-bearers following the Red Cross ambulances.
Colonel Hamilton, who had commanded a battalion of light infantry throughout this campaign, led the advanced corps of the Americans; and Colonel Laurens turned the redoubt at the head of eighty men, in order to take the garrison in reverse, and intercept their retreat. The troops rushed to the charge without firing a gun and without giving the sappers time to remove the abattis and palisades.
The winter sun was sinking in the west behind a pall of purple cloud in a lacquered sky the one touch of colour in the sombre greyness. The land was flat as the palm of one's hand, its monotony relieved only by lines of pollarded willows on which some sappers had strung a field telephone.
To the long-lasting sorrow and disgrace of Portugal, the philosophers blinded her king and flattered her prime minister. Pombal was exactly the tool these sappers of every public and private virtue wanted. He had the naked sword of power in his own hand, and his heart was hard as flint. He struck a mortal blow and the Society of Jesus, throughout the Portuguese dominions, was no more.
The Gendarmerie of the Seine, with their trumpets and Colonel. Two squadrons of the 7th Lancers, with Colonel, standard, and music. The Commandant of Paris and his Staff. A battalion of Infantry of the Line, with their flag, sappers, drums, music, and Colonel. The Sapper-pumpers, with ditto. Then picture to yourself more squadrons of Lancers and Cuirassiers.
Every effort of the bull operators, who had ruled the market for the two years past, to stem the tide was futile. Below the surface, in the silent depths of growing suspicion and fear, an army of sappers and miners under the eye of one man were digging at the foundations of the business world the faith of man in his fellow-man.
While the Russians patrolled the river on the south, French sappers were working, often neck deep in the water, to throw two light bridges across the stream higher up. By heroic toil, which to most of them brought death, the bridges were speedily finished, and, as the light of November 26th was waning Oudinot's corps of 7,000 men gained a firm footing on the homeward side.
The young sappers worked crouching; from the outside only an occasional head, or a hand emptying a shell of earth, was visible; and their enemies looked on inert from the line of the opposing forts. The lists were not yet prepared, the tournament was not yet open; and the attacking force was suffered to throw up works under the silent guns of the defence.
Colonel Phayre led the advance force, accompanied by a pioneer force consisting of two companies of the 33rd, two of native sappers, one of Punjaub Pioneers, and 80 sabres of native cavalry; the whole commanded by Captain Field, of the 10th Native Infantry. The rest of the force was divided into two brigades, under Sir Charles Staveley.
A few sappers had followed, when a box of dynamite exploded with a violent detonation, and the rest of the company were called back. Lisle happened to be stationed at the point where the descent was made, and when the explosion took place he seized the rope and, sliding down, joined the two officers and the eleven sappers who had passed.
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