WAR PICTURES IN TIME OF PEACE. 



39 



nences, stopped for a moment, and then returned to the squad 

 still standing in the road. Then one horseman detached him- 

 self from the group and came galloping towards me, while the 

 others moved slowly along at a walk, those whom I had seen 

 emerging from the woods into the fields, and whose line had 

 since been lengthened by the arrival of others, keeping pace 

 with them. 



I watched the rider as he came up the road, his half-Arab 

 horse moving with easy strides, mane waving and long tail 

 streaming behind. As they approached, the gallop subsided 

 into a trot, and the man, rising in his stirrups, peered over the 

 hedo;es into the yards and orchards on either side of him, 

 and I knew him for one of the soldiers of a troop of chas- 

 seurs -a- cheval, to the officers of which I was indebted for 

 much kind attention and hospitality. The man recognized me 

 too, and with a smile, raising his hand to his hat, inquired 

 whether the enemy was in the town. " There was not one of 

 them there half an hour ago," I replied, " but it seems to me 

 I see something white among the trees of the orchard over 

 yonder," and I pointed to a group of apple-trees about a quar- 

 ter of a mile away, where, even as I spoke, a small body of 

 the eneniy's cavalry trotted out from behind a little farm-house. 

 The soldier wheeled his horse, and giving it the spurs, dashed 

 off to regain his comrades, who had exidently also perceived 

 the enemy's scouts, for they again halted, and one of them gal- 

 loped back towards some squads of infantry that had also de- 

 bouched from the woods. These latter formed a line of skir- 

 mishers on the run, and advanced across the fields until within 

 range of the hostile troopers, who, not waiting to receive their 

 fire, turned their horses and slowly disappeared behind the 

 town. 



Again the chasseurs advanced, at first cautiously and then 



