I had expected that the colonel would at once inform me what it
was that I had been chosen to do, but instead of that he walked
on in silence, I following behind him.
We passed through the camp and made our way across the trenches
and over the ruined heaps of stones which marked the old wall of
the town. Within, there was a labyrinth of passages formed among
the debris of the houses which had been destroyed by the mines of
the engineers. Acres and acres were covered with splintered
walls and piles of brick which had once been a populous suburb.
Lanes had been driven through it and lanterns placed at the
corners with inscriptions to direct the wayfarer. The colonel
hurried onward until at last, after a long walk, we found our way
barred by a high grey wall which stretched right across our path.
Here behind a barricade lay our advance guard. The colonel led
me into a roofless house, and there I found two general officers,
a map stretched over a drum in front of them, they kneeling
beside it and examining it carefully by the light of a lantern.
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