We had regained all our strength, and we went and sat down on the edge of a little brook. Buche said:
"Look here! I must have my part."
"Yes,—half of all," I replied. "You let me drink from your bottle, I will divide with you."
Then he was calm again. I cut the bread in two with my sabre and said: "Choose, Jean; that is your radish, and there are half the onions, and we will share the salt between us." We ate the bread without soaking it in the water, we ate our radishes, our onions and the salt. We should have kept on eating still, if we had had more to eat, but yet we were satisfied.
We knelt down with our hands in the water and we drank.
"Now let us go," said Buche, "and leave the bag."
In spite of our weary legs, which were ready to give out, we went on again toward the left; while on the right behind us, toward Charleroi, the shouts and shots redoubled, and all along the road we could see nothing but the men fighting, but they were already far away.
We looked back from time to time, and Buche said:
"Joseph, you did well to bring me away, had it not been for you, I might have been stretched out over there by the road-side, killed by a Frenchman. I was too hungry. But where shall we go now?"
I answered, "Follow me!"