landscape, full of loud noises which made them halt every kilometre, thinking they could hear an army on the march.

Down near Vouziers, however, Jean hadn't slept at all. Ever since Maurice had explained to him how this withdrawal would save the day, he'd been watching, making sure his men stayed close, waiting for the order to depart, which the officers might give at any minute. At about two o'clock, deep in the shadows, starred red by the campfires, a loud noise of horses' hooves carried across the camp: it was the cavalry, leaving for the vanguard near Ballay and Quatre-Champs, to keep watch over the Boult-aux-Bois and Croix-aux-Bois roads. An hour later, the infantry and artillery began setting off in turn, finally leaving Falaise and Chestres and thethey were heading northwards, as the Marshal hastened to put the river between his army and the enemy. They must be on the right bank by evening, at all costs. And the rearguard was still at Oches when, from a distant hilltop, near Saint-Pierremont, a Prussian battery fired, playing the same game they'd started the day before. At first they made the mistake of firing back, but then the last troops withdrew.

Until almost eleven o'clock, the 106th slowly followed the winding road along the floor of Stonne Gorge, between the high knolls. To the left rose high summits, bare and craggy, while gentler slopes to the right were covered with woodland. The sun had reappeared and it was very hot in the narrow valley, where the solitude hung