My friend observes that if it was not a rout, it was extremely like one.

He thinks that we were only allowed to get into Bourget in order to be caught like rats in a trap.

When my friend left the forts were firing on Pierrefitte and Etains, and the Prussians were established in front of Bourget.

My friend, who thinks he has a genius for military matters, observes that we ought to have either left Bourget alone, or held it with more troops and more artillery.

The Mobiles told him that they had been starving there for forty-eight hours, and only had two pieces of 12, two of 4, and one mitrailleuse.