The postman, delighted with his present, followed the old dame. Louise walked after them, and Jean-Claude, also, being eager to interrogate Brainstein as to what he had learnt on the road, touching the events taking place; but he could get nothing new out of him, except that the allies were besieging Bitsche and Lutzelstein, and that they had lost some hundreds of men in trying to force the Graufthal pass. CHAPTER XX THE SURPRISE Toward ten o'clock, Catherine Lefèvre and Louise, after having wished Hullin good-night, went up to sleep in the room over the large kitchen; in which there were two feather-beds, with curtains, striped with blue and red, reaching to the ceiling. "Come," exclaimed the old woman, climbing up to hers on a chair--"come, sleep well, my child. As for me, I am tired out, and almost asleep already." She drew the bedclothes round her, and five minutes after was sound asleep. Louise soon followed her example. Now this had lasted about two hours, when the old dame was awakened suddenly by a tremendous noise. "To arms! to arms! Ho! this way quick! A thousand thunders! they are upon us!" Five or six shots then followed each other, lighting up the dark windows. "To arms! to arms!" Then there was more firing, and the noise of people rushing about everywhere. Hullin's voice, sharp and vibrating, could be heard giving orders. Then, to the left of the farm, a great way off, there came a low dull crackling sound, from the gorges of the Grosmann. "Louise! Louise!" cried the old farm-wife,--"dost thou hear?" "Yes! Oh, my God! it is terrible." Catherine sprang out of bed. "Get up, my child," said she, "and let us dress." The firing redoubled, and flashed like lightning upon the panes. "Attention!" shouted Materne. One could also hear the neighing of a horse outside, and the tramping of a great crowd in the alley, the yard, and before the farm: the house seemed shaken to its foundations. Suddenly, the firing came from the windows of the large room on the ground-floor. The two women dressed in haste. Just at that moment, a heavy foot creaked on the stairs; the door opened, and Hullin appeared with a lantern, showing signs of great agitation. "Make haste!" cried he; "we have not an instant to lose." "What has happened then?" asked Catherine. The fusillade came nearer. "Eh!" exclaimed Jean-Claude, throwing up his arms, "have I time now to explain to you?"