“I had not ceased speaking when a terrible shove 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, reloaded 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 on firing 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.

“A panic, the result of 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, they fled and disappeared in the darkness.

“I remained alone with the corpse, except for the two gendarmes whose duty compelled them to stay with me.

“They lifted up the riddled mass of bruised and bleeding flesh.

“‘He must be searched,’ I said.  And I handed them a box of taper matches which I had in my pocket.  One of the soldiers had another box.  I was standing between the two.

“The gendarme who was examining the body announced: 

“’Clothed in a blue blouse, a white shirt, trousers, and a pair of shoes.’

“The first match went out; we lighted a second.  The man continued, as he turned out his pockets: 

“’A horn-handled pocketknife, check handkerchief, a snuffbox, a bit of pack thread, a piece of bread.’

“The second match went out; we lighted a third.  The gendarme, after having felt the corpse for a long time, said: 

“‘That is all.’

“I said: 

“’Strip him.  We shall perhaps find something next his skin.”

“And in order that the two soldiers might help each other in this task, I stood between them to hold the lighted match.  By the rapid and speedily extinguished flame of the match, I saw them take off the garments one by one, and expose to view that bleeding bundle of flesh, still warm, though lifeless.

“And suddenly one of them exclaimed: 

“‘Good God, general, it is a woman!’

“I cannot describe to you the strange and poignant sensation of pain that moved my heart.  I could not believe it, and I knelt down in the snow before this shapeless pulp of flesh to see for myself:  it was a woman.

“The two gendarmes, speechless and stunned, waited for me to give my opinion on the matter.  But I did not know what to think, what theory to adopt.

“Then the brigadier slowly drawled out: 

“’Perhaps she came to look for a son of hers in the artillery, whom she had not heard from.’

“And the other chimed in: