Meanwhile the officers, in their great military cloaks, came down the small staircase: some were looking up at the country; others were embracing the women on the doorsteps. Trumpeters, with their hands on their sides, were sounding the roll-call at all the corners of the streets, and the drummers tightening the cords of their instruments. In short, through the broad expanse, one could see all their military attitudes as they were on the point of starting. A few peasants, leaning out of their windows, were watching the scene; women were showing themselves at the loopholes of the garrets; and the innkeepers were filling the gourds, Corporal Knout watching them meanwhile. [Illustration: BIG DUBREUIL, THE FRIEND OF THE ALLIES.] Hullin's sight was keen, and nothing escaped him; besides, for years he had been accustomed to this sort of thing; but Lagarmitte, who had never seen anything like it, was stupefied: "There are great numbers of them," he exclaimed, shaking his head. "Bah! what does that matter?" said Hullin. "In my days we exterminated three armies of them, of fifty thousand each, in six months; we were not one against four. All that thou seest there would not have been a breakfast for us. And besides, you may be sure, we shall not have to kill them all; they will run like hares. I have seen it before." After these remarks, he resolved to inspect his men. "Come on," he said to the herdsman. Then the two made their way behind the abatis, following a trench made two days before in the snow, which had been frozen as hard as ice: the felled trees in front of it, formed an insurmountable barrier, which extended about six hundred mètres. Below this was the broken-up road. On coming near, Jean-Claude saw the mountaineers of Dagsburg crouching at distances of twenty paces from each, other, in a sort of round nests which they had dug out for themselves. All these fine fellows were sitting on their knapsacks, with their gourds to their right hand, their felts or foxskin caps drawn down upon their heads, and their guns between their knees. They had only to rise to have a clear view of the road fifty feet below, at the foot of a slippery descent. Jean-Claude's arrival pleased them much. "Ho, Master Hullin, shall we soon begin?" "Yes, my boys, never fear; before an hour we shall be at it." "Ah, so much the better!" "Yes, but take care to aim at the breast: do not hurry, and show yourselves no more than you can help." "You may rest assured, Master Jean-Claude." He passed on; but everywhere he met with a like reception. "Do not forget," said he, "to stop firing when Lagarmitte sounds his horn: it would be only powder lost." Coming up to old Materne, who commanded all these men--numbering about two hundred and fifty--he found him smoking his pipe, his nose fiery red, and his beard stiffened with the cold. "At, it is thou, Jean-Claude." "Yes, I have come to shake your hand."