He managed it, however, at last, and messengers set off in all directions, quite proud of being deputed to announce the first battle and the victory. A few mountaineers, who had come into the large room, were warming themselves by the stove, and talking in an excited manner. Daniel Spitz had already undergone the amputation of his two fingers, and was sitting behind the stove, with his hand bound up in linen. Those who had been posted behind the barricades before daybreak, not having breakfasted, were then getting a crust and a mug of wine, shouting, gesticulating, and bragging with their mouths full. Some were going out to cast a look upon the trenches, others coming back to warm themselves, and everybody, in speaking of Riffi, and his dismal lamentations on horseback, and his plaintive cries and entreaties, laughed till their sides ached. It was eleven o'clock. These comings and goings lasted till noon, the moment when Marc Divès suddenly entered, exclaiming, "Hullin! where is Hullin?" "Here I am." There was something strange in the tone of the smuggler's voice; just before furious at not having taken his part in the struggle, he seemed triumphant. Jean-Claude followed him, greatly alarmed, and the large room was cleared in an instant, for every one was convinced, by Marc's excited manner, that something serious had happened. To the right of the Donon extends the ravine of the Minières, where rages a torrent when the snow begins to melt: it descends from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the valley. Just opposite the plateau defended by the mountaineers, and on the other side of the ravine, at a distance of five or six hundred yards, is a sort of uncovered terrace, with a very steep descent, which Hullin had not judged necessary to occupy provisionally, not wishing to divide his forces; and seeing, besides, that it would be easy for him to strengthen this position by means of fir trees, and defend it in the event of the enemy showing signs of attacking it. Judge, then, of the consternation of the brave man, when, on reaching the threshold of the farm, he saw two companies of Germans climbing up by this side, in the middle of the Gardens of Grandfontaine, with two field-pieces drawn on heavy carriages, and seemingly suspended over the precipice. All were pushing hard at the wheels, and in a few moments more the cannons would reach the platform. It was like a thunderbolt to Jean-Claude; he turned pale, and then went in a fearful rage with Divès. "Could you not have warned me sooner?" he roared. "Did I not bid you, above all things, to keep a good look-out on the ravine? We are surprised; they will take us in flank; cut off the road. Everything is gone to the devil!" The spectators, and old Materne himself, who had just run to the spot in the utmost haste, trembled at the glance he threw upon the smuggler.