"
"Good! you have answered well; go."
"Sergeant, I did not miss a word," cried Dard, exulting. He thought
he had passed a sort of military college examination. The sergeant was
awe-struck and disgusted at his familiarity, speaking to him before the
great: he pushed Private Dard hastily out of the presence, and bundled
him into the trenches.
"Are you countermined, then?" asked General Raimbaut.
"I think not, general; but the whole bastion is. And we found it had
been opened in the rear, and lately half a dozen broad roads cut through
the masonry."
"To let in re-enforcements?"
"Or to let the men run out in ease of an assault. I have seen from the
first an able hand behind that part of the defences. If we assault the
bastion, they will pick off as many of us as they can with their muskets
then they will run for it, and fire a train, and blow it and us into the
air."
"Colonel, this is serious. Are you prepared to lay this statement before
the commander-in-chief?"
"I am, and I do so through you, the general of my division. I even beg
you to say, as from me, that the assault will be mere suicide--bloody
and useless.
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