"I wanted to speak! I was at that time in command of a battalion; but they no longer recognized the authority of their commanding officers; they would have shot myself. "One of the gendarmes said: 'He has been following us for the last three days. He has been asking information from everyone about the artillery.' "I took it on myself to question this person. "'What are you doing? What do you want? Why are you accompanying the army?' "He stammered out some words in some unintelligible dialect. He was, indeed, a strange being, with narrow shoulders, a sly look, and such an agitated air in my presence that I had no longer any real doubt that he was a spy. He seemed very aged and feeble. He kept staring at me from under his eyes with humble, stupid, and crafty air. The men all round us exclaimed: "'To the wall! to the wall!' "I said to the gendarmes: "'Do you answer for the prisoner?' "I had not ceased speaking when a terrible push threw me on my back, and in a second I saw the man seized by the furious soldiers, thrown down, struck, dragged along the side of the road, and flung against a tree. He fell in the snow, nearly dead already. "And immediately they shot him. The soldiers fired at him, re-loaded their guns, fired again with the desperate energy of brutes. They fought with each other to have a shot at him, filed off in front of the corpse, and kept firing on at him, as people at a funeral keep sprinkling holy water in front of a coffin. "But suddenly a cry arose of: 'The Prussians! the Prussians!' "And all along the horizon I heard the great noise of this panic-stricken army in full flight. "The panic, generated by these shots fired at this vagabond, had filled his very executioners with terror; and, without realizing that they were themselves the originators of the scare, rushed away and disappeared in the darkness. "I remained alone in front of the corpse with the two gendarmes whom their duty had compelled to stay with me. "They lifted up the riddled piece of flesh, bruised and bleeding. "'He must be examined,' said I to them. "And I handed them a box of vestas which I had in my pocket. One of the soldiers had another box. I was standing between the two. "The gendarme, who was feeling the body, called out: "'Clothed in a blue blouse, a trousers, and a pair of shoes.' "The first match went out; we lighted a second. The man went on, as he turned out his pockets: "'A horn knife, check handkerchief, a snuff-box, a bit of packthread, a piece of bread.' "The second match went out; we lighted a third. The gendarme, after having handled the corpse for a long time, said: "'That is all.' "I said: "'Strip him. We shall perhaps find something near the skin.'