FTER the check in the Vosges, General Cambriels found it impossible to restore sufficient order among the Mobiles to enable him to show face again to the enemy. He was, besides, in want of many articles of urgent necessity. Half his force were shoeless, and the thin blouses which were, as has been said, all the covering that many of the Mobiles had, were ill calculated to resist the bitter cold which was already setting in. Ammunition, too, as well as food, was short. The general determined, therefore, upon falling back upon Besançon, and re-organizing his forces there. A wound in his head, too, which was insufficiently healed when he took the command, had now broken out again, and his surgeon ordered absolute repose for awhile.

Upon the day of the fight Ralph had ridden slowly to the rear when he saw that the fight was going against the French. Hardened as he was by his work, and with an excellent constitution, his wound never for a moment

assumed a troublesome aspect; but at the end of a week he was able, keeping it, of course, in a sling, to mount his horse and report himself ready for duty.

The head-quarters were now at Besançon, and Ralph could, had he applied for it, have obtained leave to go to Dijon; but he had not done so, as he had been so lately at home, and he thought that the sight of his arm in a sling would be likely to make his mother more nervous and anxious on their account than before. The Germans were still at some distance from Besançon, being watched by Colonel Tempé and his franc-tireurs and by the irregular forces.

A considerable army was now fast gathering at Besançon, and the regimental and superior staff officer were hard at work at the organization. As aides-de-camp the boys had little to do, and therefore requested leave for two or three days to go up to their old friends, the franc-tireurs of Dijon. The general at once granted the required permission, adding, with a smile-

"Don't forget you are officers now, lads, and get into any hair-brained adventures, you know; and be sure you are back on Thursday, as I expect General Michel, my successor, to arrive on Friday, and I shall have to give you as part of my belongings."

"We are sure to be back, general." And so they set off, taking, as usual, Tim Doyle with them as orderly and

servant.

"Faith, and I'm glad enough to be out in the open again, Misther Ralph," Tim said, as they left Besançon behind. "After living out in the woods for six weeks, there does not seem room to breathe in a crowded town."

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"It's jolly to be out again, Tim; but I don't know that I mind a town again for a few days."

"Ah, it's all very well for the likes of yees, Misther Ralph, with your officer's uniform, and your arm in a sling, and the girls all looking at you as a hero, but for me it's different intirely. Out in the open I feel that, except when there's any thing to do for your honours, I am my own master, and can plase myself. Here in the town I am a common hussar, and my arm is just weary with saluting to all the fellows with a sword by their side that I meet in the street. Then there's no chance of any fighting as long as we're shut up in the walls of a town, and what's the use of being decked up in uniform except to fight? Is there any chance of just the least scrimmage in the world while we are back again with the boys?" he asked, persuasively.

The boys laughed. "Not much, Tim; but we shall be pretty close to the enemy, and something may turn up at any moment. But surely you've had enough in the last six weeks ?"

"Pretty well, Mister Percy-pretty well; but, you see, the last affair didn't count."

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'Oh, didn't it count !" Ralph said, looking at his arm. "I think it counted for two or three fights; and if you were not hit, I am sure you were fired at often enough to satisfy the most desperate lover of fighting, Tim.”

"I was fired at often enough, I daresay, Mister Ralph, and I can't say that I liked it intirely. It isn't so mighty pleasant sitting like a stiff statue behind the general, with the shells falling about you like peas, and not allowed the divershun of a single shot back in return. 'Shoot

away,' says I, 'as hard as you like, but let's shoot back in return.'"

The boys laughed, and the day passed pleasantly as they rode and talked. The dusk had already fallen when they reached a party of franc-tireurs. It was not their own corps, nor could the officer in command tell exactly where they could find them.

"We are scattered over a considerable extent of country," he said, “and the colonel alone could tell you how we are all placed. I expect that he will be here tonight, and your best plan will be to stay here till he comes. We have not much to offer you, but, such as it is, it is at your service."

After a moment's consultation, the boys agreed to accept the offer, as they had palpably more chance of meeting Colonel Tempé there than in a journey through the woods at night, and in another ten minutes their horses were tied to trees, and they were sitting by a blazing fire with the officers of franc-tireurs. The village only consisted of three or four houses, and as there were fifty men in the party upon which they had come, they bivouacked under the trees hard by.

"How far off are the Germans?" Ralph asked, when dinner was over, and they lay by the fire smoking cigars. "Ten miles or so," the officer answered carelessly. "No chance of their coming this way, I hope," Ralph laughed. "We were very nearly caught near Saverne once."

"So I heard," the officer said, "but I am rather sceptical as to these night surprises. In nine cases out of ten-mind, I don't mean for a moment that it was so in

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your case-but in nine cases out of ten, these rumours of night attacks are all moonshine."

"Perhaps so," Ralph said a little gravely, for he had already noticed that the discipline was very different among these men than that to which he had been accustomed among the franc-tireurs of Dijon, "perhaps so, but we can hardly be too careful. How do you all like Colonel Tempé?"

"The colonel would be an excellent fellow were he not our colonel," the officer laughed. "He is a most unconscionable man. For ever marching, and drilling, and disciplining. If he had his way he would make us like a regiment of line, as if there could be any good in carrying out all that sort of thing with franc-tireurs. He had about half of us together for three or four days, and I give you my word it was as bad as slavery. Drill, drill, drill, from morning till night. I was heartily glad, I can tell you, when I got away with this detachment."

Ralph saw that his new acquaintance was one of that innumerable class who conceived that drill and discipline were absurdities, and that it was only necessary for a Frenchman to shoulder a gun for him to be a soldier; so he easily avoided argument by turning the subject. For a couple of hours they chatted, and then as the fire was burning low, and the men had already laid down to sleep, Ralph suggested that they should do the same.

"I will walk round the sentries first with you if you like,” he said.

"Sentries!" the other said with a laugh, "there is my sentry," and he pointed to a man standing ten paces off leaning against a tree. "The men have marched all