"It is a ball!" said the sergeant.
At the same time a loud sound of cannon in the distance was heard in the darkness.
I had a terrible feeling in my stomach, and I thought to myself, "Since one ball has passed, there may be two, three, four!"
My strength was all gone. The two Carabins doubtless thought the same, for they took down at once their waistcoats, which were hanging on the gable, to go away.
"Wait!" said the sergeant. "It is nothing. Let us keep at our work—it is going on well. It will be done in an hour more."
But the elder Carabin called out, "You may do as you please! I am not going to stay here—I have a family!"
And while he was speaking, a second ball, more frightful than the first, began to rumble upon the roof, and five or six seconds after we heard the explosion.
It was astonishing! The Russians were firing from the edge of the Bois-de-Chênes, more than a half-hour distant, and yet we saw the red flash pass before our two windows, and even under the tiles.
The sergeant tried to keep us still at work.
"Two bullets never pass in the same place," said he. "We are in a safe spot, since that has grazed the roof. Come, let us go to work!"