This was the dungeon in a castle and he was a prisoner doomed to death by its lord.

Some dismounted Uhlans who were walking across the grounds with their long lances over their shoulders gave another touch to this return of the past, as the first rays of the moonlight glittered on helmet and lance-head.
He was not sleepy at all, and staying by the window he kept a strange watch.

He saw white flares appear often on a long line in the west.

He knew it was the flashing of the searchlights, and he surmised that what he saw was meant for signals.

The fighting would go on under steady light continued long, and that it would continue admitted of no doubt.
He could hear the mutter of the guns, ceaseless like the flowing of a river.
He saw the battery drive out of the grounds, then turn into the road before the chateau and disappear.