The dog had vanished.

Near the monument of the Lion of Belfort, Chevalier stopped in front of a deep trench which cut the road in two.

Against the bank of excavated earth, under a tarpaulin supported by four stakes, an old man was keeping vigil before a brazier.

The lappets of his rabbit-skin cap were down over his ears; his huge nose was a flaming red.

He raised his head; his eyes, which were watering, seemed wholly white, without pupils, each set in a ring of fire and tears.