Page 173 - A Hero of Liége

won't moralise. We'll stick it out. Good-bye!" and smiling serenely he went
out into the night.

Pariset was eager to know what was happening in other parts of the vast

battlefield, and in particular whether anything had been heard of General
Leman. Montoisy explained that, the telephone communications having
recently been smashed, the fort was cut off as completely as if it were a

desolate island in the midst of an ocean.

Next evening, about six o'clock, two shrapnel shells burst harmlessly over
the fort. A few minutes later an acute buzzing was heard in the air, then
there was a thunderous roar, the whole place trembled, and the outer slope

of the fort was smothered in a cloud of stones, dust, and black smoke.
Montoisy looked grave, and hurried to the arcade under which the

commandant was sheltering. As he stood talking with him, a shell which,
judging from its size, weighed nearly a ton burst near by, bringing down a
shower of shattered masonry, and wounding the commandant.

"Close the cupola," he signalled. "Every man take shelter."

Montoisy tried in vain to locate the enormous guns which had started on
their fell work. They could not be seen. To fire at them was impossible.

That they had so soon been got into position seemed to show that their
concrete emplacements had been prepared long before.

For two hours the helpless garrison crouched in their shelters, hearing the
roar of the guns, the crashing of masonry and the splintering of steel,

almost choked by the noisome gases emitted by the bursting shells. The
smashing of the dynamo plunged them into pitch darkness; and all the

while, outside, the western sky glowed with the rich hues of a peaceful
sunset.

At eight o'clock the bombardment ceased, and the Belgians, venturing forth
from their subterranean lairs, looked out upon a scene of devastation. The

slopes and counterslopes were a chaos of rubbish: it was as if an earthquake
had shaken the foundations of the globe. Great chasms yawned; tongues of