It was strange to see the dog, Pluto, behind the doctor, surveying the operations with an attentive look, as if he understood it all; and from time to time he stretched his legs and bent his back with a yawn that reached from ear to ear.
Materne could not bear to see any more. "Let us be going," said he.
They had hardly entered the dark walk when they heard the doctor exclaim, "I've got the ball!" which must have caused great pleasure to the man from Harberg.
Once outside, and breathing the fresh clear air, Materne ejaculated: "And to think that the same might have happened to us!"
"Yes," replied Kasper; "to get a bullet through your head is no great matter; but it's another thing to be chopped about like that, and have to beg your bread for the rest of your days."
"Oh! I should do like old Rochart, for my part," said Frantz; "I should just die quietly, without any bother. When you've done your duty, what have you to fear? The good God is always the same!"
At this moment, the hum of voices was heard on their right.
"It is Marc Divès and Hullin," said Kasper, listening.
"Oh, yes! they have been, no doubt, making barricades behind the fir forest to protect the cannon," added Frantz.