Already many of us were impatient at having to wait longer before marching to the front; we heard the growling thunder of the howitzers of the great fortress near the frontier, around which there had been violent fighting these last few days; we were told of cruelties that made our hair stand on end, committed, in its fury, by a people which had for years been excited against us deeds of cruelty committed against our compatriots, soldiers, civilians, women and children, because of our violation of a neutrality which it had itself violated a thousand times over in advance. On our side we were boiling inwardly to avenge these infamies.... We breathed more freely only when, in our march beyond the frontier, we saw the first houses burned in reprisal; a curé, who had revolted, was hanging from a tree in a neighbouring thicket, swinging at the will of the wind, when at last the noise of battle grew plainer.... (They arrive near Charleroi.) The head of one regiment, led by my friend Lieutenant S----, trotted forward again, and seized as hostages what civilians it could catch; some 12 to 16 persons, old and young, fat and thin, had to march before or between the lancers; more, this portion of the regiment had received the order from its comrades not to ride too far ahead. Something that alarmed me quite particularly, giving me a presentiment of misfortune, was the fact that the wives of these civilians burst into weeping: one red-headed woman, frantic, threw herself down in the road and gave vent to wild screams; others, behind us, their emaciated arms stretched in the air, threatened us, although they were several times assured that so long as nothing was done to us nothing would happen to their husbands, sons, friends, and lovers. All these significant scenes took place in the side streets.... (A volley is fired from a barricade--or a railway crossing the street; it is not clear which.) I saw two or three cavalrymen fall back in front, and with them the hostages fell to the ground; my friend was standing, near his horse. A violent and rapid fire alternated with volleys; we could not escape on either side; naturally we immediately faced about and returned in the direction whence we had come; there was a furious pursuit along the uneven road, with the balls whistling at our backs. The horses fell, one after another....