order, and locked them in a drawer.

Right or wrong he would keep his word.

He scribbled a few words on a sheet of paper: "My Klaere, I love you
unspeakably. You and the boy. Be brave!"

He glanced round to see where he should lay the paper. In the end he
folded it up, and put it under a meteoric stone, shaped like a fungus,
which during their honeymoon he had found on the sand-dunes of the
Heligoland coast.

The servant knocked, and brought in the coffee. He had found the
senior-lieutenant's bed untouched, and his face showed his surprise.

The coffee was too hot, but the water in the carafe was deliciously
cold. Guentz damped his handkerchief and wiped the ravages of the night
from his brow and eyes.

Then he went again to the window and the refreshing morning breeze. He
was in good spirits. He felt as if nothing untoward could happen to him
that day.

There was a sound of hoofs in the street outside. The groom had brought
the brown mare. He held the animal before the garden gate and carefully
took a piece of straw out of her mane.

Guentz told him to walk her quietly up and down. He must wait for
Reimers, who would be sure to come directly.

Soon in between the measured paces of the led horse came the sound of a
quicker step. Guentz recognised the fidgety trot for that of Reimers
horse "Jay." He went out of the house and through the iron gate into
the street.

"Morning, my boy!" he said, and offered his hand to Reimers. Then he
mounted, and both trotted down the street in silence.

Once outside the town Guentz let his mare slow down. "We are in plenty
of time," he said.

Suddenly he stopped and listened. A horse's trot and the rumbling of a
carriage could be heard coming from the town.

"The others," said the senior-lieutenant. "Let us get on."

The pistol practice-ground lay half way up the incline upon a
shelf-like terrace of the hillside, a smooth grassy space, surrounded
on both sides by high bushes; at the lower end there was a shed built
of strong boards, in which tools and targets were stored.

Guentz and Reimers dismounted at the shed, and fastened up their horses
by the bridle. Reimers pressed his friend's hand once more, gazing at
him with anxious eyes. He could not speak.

They stood side by side on the edge of the terrace, whence they could
look down upon the country road in the valley below. A carriage was
approaching, followed by three riders: Landsberg, little Dr. von
Froeben, his