General Feraud
expanded his lungs for a stentorian shout to his seconds, but, from what
he felt to be an excessive scrupulousness, refrained for a while.
"I will just go and see first whether he breathes yet," he mumbled
to himself, leaving carelessly the shelter of his tree. This move was
immediately perceived by the resourceful General D'Hubert. He concluded
it to be another shift, but when he lost the boots out of the field of
the mirror he became uneasy. General Feraud had only stepped a little
out of the line, but his adversary could not possibly have supposed him
walking up with perfect unconcern. General D'Hubert, beginning to wonder
at what had become of the other, was taken unawares so completely that
the first warning of danger consisted in the long, early-morning shadow
of his enemy falling aslant on his outstretched legs. He had not even
heard a footfall on the soft ground between the trees!
It was too much even for his coolness. He jumped up thoughtlessly,
leaving the pistols on the ground. The irresistible instinct of an
average man (unless totally paralyzed by discomfiture) would have been
to stoop for his weapons, exposing himself to the risk of being shot
down in that position.
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