With a nervous movement the captain had taken off and then put on his cap, struck by a stone; he preserved his pallid stiffness in face of the disaster of his life, while his men with mute faces were reloading.
De son geste nerveux, le capitaine avait retiré, puis remis son képi coupé par une pierre; et il gardait sa raideur bleme devant le désastre de sa vie; pendant que ses hommes, aux faces muettes, rechargeaient leurs armes.