No guns
were to be heard to the east. He could not be near. If he
should come up he would not now be in time to alter the event of
the day. The sun was already low in the sky and there could not
be more than two or three hours of daylight. My mission might be
dismissed as useless. But here was another mission, more
pressing, more immediate, a mission which meant the safety, and
perhaps the life, of the Emperor. At all costs, through every
danger, I must get back to his side.
But how was I to do it? The whole Prussian army was now between
me and the French lines. They blocked every road, but they could
not block the path of duty when Etienne Gerard sees it lie before
him. I could not wait longer. I must be gone.
There was but the one opening to the loft, and so it was only
down the ladder that I could descend. I looked into the kitchen
and I found that the young surgeon was still there. In a chair
sat the wounded English aide-de- camp, and on the straw lay two
Prussian soldiers in the last stage of exhaustion.
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