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road a few hundred yards to the rear of their skirmishers, and these were sending shells thickly up among the rocks where the franc-tireurs were lying hid, while two other batteries, which the Germans. had managed to put a short way up on the mountain sides, still farther in the rear, were raining shell with deadly precision upon the French batteries in the road.

A prettier piece of warfare it would have been difficult to imagine the lofty mountain sides; the long lines of little puffs of smoke among the brush-wood and rocks; the white smoke arising from the trees in the bottom; the quick dull bursts of the shells; as a spectacle it was most striking. The noise was prodigious: the steep sides of the mountain echoed each report of the guns into a prolonged roar like the rumble of thunder, the rattle of the musketry never ceased for an instant, and loud and distinct above the din rose the menacing scream of the shells.

"This is grand, indeed, Ralph!" Percy said, after a moment's silence.

"Splendid!" Ralph said; "but it is evident we cannot hold the gorge, their skirmishers are three to our one, and their shells must be doing terrible damage."

"Barclay," General Cambriels said, "go down to the battery, and bring me back word how they are getting on."

The scene quite lost its beauty to Percy now, as he saw Ralph scramble rapidly down the hill side in the direction of the trees, among which the French battery was placed, and over and among which the shells were bursting every second. It seemed like entering a fiery

furnace. It was a terribly long ten minutes before Ralph was seen climbing up the hill side again, and Percy's heart gave a jump of delight when he first caught sight of his figure. As Ralph came near, his brother saw that he was very pale, and had a handkerchief bound round one arm; this was already soaked with blood. He kept on steadily, however, until he reached the General, who had, upon seeing he was wounded, advanced to meet him.

"One gun is dismounted, sir, and half the men are killed or wounded."

"Go down, Harcourt, and tell Hervé to fall back at once, and to take position in the clump of trees a quarter of a mile down the valley, so as to sweep the entrance. Laon, go to the right, and you, Dubois, to the left; order the franc-tireurs to retreat along the hill side, and when they get to the end of the gorge to form in the plain and fall back to the first village. You are wounded, Barclay, not seriously I hope," he said, kindly, as the officers hurried away on their respective missions.

"A splinter of a shell, sir," Ralph said, faintly; "I don't think it has touched the bone, but it has cut the flesh badly." Ralph was just able to say this when his head swam, and he would have fallen had not Percy caught him in his arms, with a little cry.

"He has only fainted from loss of blood," the General said. "Two or three handkerchiefs, gentlemen; now, Major, bind them round his arm; now take off his sash, and bind it as tightly as you can over them. That's right. Now carry him down the rocks to the horses, we have no time to lose."

Two of the officers at once put their arms under Ralph's shoulders, while Percy took his feet, and they hastened down to the horses. As they did so Ralph opened his eyes. "I am all right now," he said, faintly.

"Lie quiet," the Major said, kindly; "it is only loss of blood, there is no real harm done. There, here are the horses." Ralph was placed sitting on the ground, a little brandy-and-water was given to him, and as the blood was oozing but slowly through the bandage he felt sufficiently restored to sit on his horse.

"Doyle, you go with Lieutenant Barclay," the colonel of the staff said. "Ride slowly, and keep close beside him, so as to catch him if you see him totter. You will find the surgeons ready at the General's quarters. Halt, stand aside for a moment; here comes the artillery."

"Well done, lads, well done;" the General said as the diminished battery rattled past at full gallop. Then he himself, with his staff, put spurs to his horse and went off at full speed, while Tim followed at a walk, riding by the side of Ralph. The flow of blood had now stopped, and Ralph was able to sit his horse until he reached the house which had served as the General's head-quarters in the morning. Here one of the staff-surgeons had fitted up a temporary ambulance, and Ralph's bandages were soon taken off and his coat removed. Tim turned sick at the sight of the ugly gash in his young master's arm, and was obliged to go out into the air. The artillery were already at work, and their fire told that the franctireurs had retired from the gorge, and that the Germans were entering the wider valley.

"You have had a narrow escape," the surgeon said,

after examining Ralph's arm; "a quarter of an inch lower, and it would have cut the main artery, and you would have bled to death in five minutes. As it is, there is no great harm done. It is a deepish flesh-wound, but with your youth and constitution it will heal up in a very short time. I will draw the edges together with a needle and thread, put a few straps of plaister on and a bandage, and then you had better get into an ambulance waggon and go to the rear at once.'

"Can't I go into the field again now?" Ralph asked; "I feel as if I could ride again now."

"No, you can do nothing of the sort," the surgeon said; "you have lost a lot of blood, and if you were to ride now, it might set off the wound bleeding again, and you might be a dead man before you could be brought back here. Keep quiet and do as you are ordered, and in a week you may be in the saddle again."

"It seems very hard," Ralph began.

"Not at all hard," the surgeon said; "you will see plenty more fighting before this war is over; this is a hard case if you like, you have every reason to be thankful."

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As he spoke, he pointed to a young Mobile who was brought in, his chest literally torn open with a shell. can do nothing for him," the surgeon said, after a brief inspection of his wound; "he has not half an hour to live, and will probably not recover consciousness. If he does, give him some weak brandy and water."

Wounded men were now being brought in fast, and Ralph went out and sat down by the door. "Fasten my horse up here, Tim; the ambulance will be full of poor

The Fight in the Valley.

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If I see

fellows who will want them more than I shall. that we are being driven back I shall mount and ride quietly back. No, there is nothing more you can do for me; go and join Percy."

The fight was now raging furiously. The Germans, covered by the fire of their artillery, had debouched from the pass and were steadily pressing forward. They had already carried the village nearest to them. This the French had set fire to before retreating to prevent its serving as a shelter for the enemy. The Mobiles stood their ground for the most part well under the heavy fire of shot and shell, but their muzzle-loaders were no match for the Germans' needle guns, and the enemy were pressing steadily forward. Just as Tim Doyle rode up to the staff the Germans had taken another village.

"That village must be retaken," the General said. "Barclay, ride and order the Zouaves to carry it with the bayonet.

Percy galloped off to where the Zouaves, lying behind. a ridge in the ground, were keeping up a heavy fire in answer to the storm of shot and shell which fell around them. He rode up to the officer in command: “The Zouaves are to retake the village with the bayonet," he said.

The Colonel gave the order, but the fire was so heavy that the men would not face it. Again and again the officer reiterated the order, standing exposed on the bank in front of his men to give them confidence. It was in vain, and the Colonel looked towards Percy with an air of despair. Percy turned his horse and galloped back to the General.