I leaned on my sword, staring into the darkness.
"Dreary work this!" exclaimed a voice in my ear, and Dobozy joined me.
Like the rest of us, he looked forward to a terrible slaughter, and had come to say a word of farewell.
"I hope we shall soon go," he continued, after a pause; "the men are getting nervous."
"The general's keeping up a tremendous cannonade," I whispered. "The guns must be nearly red-hot. Why, it's actually getting lighter."
"Nearly two o'clock," said Stephen. "I suppose the general's been waiting for the engineer's report."
Dobozy left us, and we resumed our watching.
Although two-thirds of May had run out, it was bitterly cold in those early morning hours, and several times I shivered violently.
The night was passing, and we could now see our own men, the still shadowy outlines of surrounding objects, and the ramparts of the fortress.
At length the moment arrived. A flight of shells and fiery rockets went hissing and trailing over the stronghold; our men changed from figures of shadow-land into beings of flesh and blood; a hoarse whisper of command circulated through the trenches; the massed bands stationed behind broke into soul-stirring music; almost without knowing it we were advancing. Stephen, with a last hand-shake, a murmured good-bye, darted to the front. I headed the company; Rakoczy, to whose eyes the sparkle had returned, led the regiment.