Meantime, the position in beleaguered Paris was becoming very bad. Some ten thousand men, either of the regular or the auxiliary forces, were laid up in hospital, less on account of wounds than of disease. Charcoal--for cooking purposes according to the orthodox French system--was being strictly rationed, On November 20 only a certain number of milch cows and a few hundred oxen, reserved for hospital and ambulance patients, remained of all the bovine live stock collected together before the siege. At the end of November, 500 horses were being slaughtered every day. On the other hand, the bread allowance had been raised from 750 grammes to a kilogramme per diem, and a great deal of bread was given to the horses as food. Somewhat uncertain communications had been opened with the provinces by means of pigeon-post, the first pigeon to bring despatches into the city arriving there on November 15. The despatches, photographed on the smallest possible scale, were usually enclosed in quills fastened under one or another of the birds' wings. Each balloon that left the city now took with it a certain number of carrier-pigeons for this service. Owing, however, to the bitter cold which prevailed that winter, many of the birds perished on the return journey, and thus the despatches they carried did not reach Paris. Whenever any such communications arrived there, they had to be enlarged by means of a magic-lantern contrivance, in order that they might be deciphered. Meantime, the aeronauts leaving the city conveyed Government despatches as well as private correspondence, and in this wise Trochu was able to inform Gambetta that the army of Paris intended to make a great effort on November 29. X WITH THE "ARMY OF BRITTANY" The German Advance Westward--Gambetta at Le Mans--The "Army of Brittany" and Count de Keratry--The Camp of Conlie--The Breton Marching Division-- Keratry resigns--The Champigny Sortie from Paris--The dilatory D'Aurelle-- The pitiable 20th Army Corps--Battles of Beaune-la-Rolande and Loigny-- Loss of Orleans--D'Aurelle superseded by Chanzy--Chanzy's Slow Retreat-- The 21st Corps summoned to the Front--I march with the Breton Division-- Marchenoir and Freteval--Our Retreat--Our Rearguard Action at Droue-- Behaviour of the Inhabitants--We fight our Way from Fontenelle to Saint Agil--Guns and Quagmires--Our Return to Le Mans--I proceed to Bennes and Saint Malo.