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DREGS OF DEFEAT
A Complete Novelette by Georges Surdez
Author of "Sudanese Trails," "The Red Shadow," etc.
Unless his ears deceived him, which was a remote possibility, as he was but twenty-four and possessed remarkably efficient organs, he had heard the faint clicking of hoofs upon the frozen surface of the road. The sound was still far off, in the general direction of Vesoul.
In the late days of 1870, on the highways of Eastern France, and especially in this particular region, horses were likely to carry Prussian Uhlans or Hussars, breeds of men that Alfred Darlay had good reason to shun.
Under the hooded greatcoat protecting him from the bitter cold, Darlay wore the gray trousers and dark tunic of the Mobiles, the militia called to arms after the regular armies of France had met defeat in the fields of Alsace, or had been penned up within the walls of Metz. A military belt was buckled over a broad woolen sash which molded his waist. From this belt hung a loaded revolver. Discovered in such attire, far from the nearest French force, Darlay ran considerable risk from a carbine bullet, without further inquiry. At best, he would be made prisoner.
He had tasted of concentration camps after the surrender at Sedan, and it was not likely that he would succeed in escaping from the Germans a second time. Also, he