ed a lively
demonstration. A half-dozen hand-grenades were hurled up the stairs by
the daring soldiers and a fusillade of rifle and pistol shots was
directed towards the same spot.

Under cover of this bombardment the messengers slipped out of the
chateau and in safety gained the shelter of the woods. The French
attack had now carried the second line of German trenches so that the
chateau was in territory held by them. The Germans, trapped in the
tower, were cut off from their troops.

"They got away safely," Jacques, who had been watching the two
messengers, reported to Armande.

"Good," exclaimed Armande. "I hope the scheme will work."

"What else could we do?"

"I should like to rush the stairs," said Armande. "We can do it."

"You saw what happened to you a moment ago when you tried it," Jacques
reminded him. "Probably we could do it but what's the use in getting a
lot of men killed when we can accomplish the same result in some other
way?"

"Probably you 're right," Armande agreed. "I hate to wait though."

The men had now withdrawn to an alcove off the main hall. This new
position afforded them control of the stairway without exposing them to
the fire of their enemies. The piano was dragged over to their place
of refuge and a barricade built in front of it in case the Germans
should try to rash them.

"How many of the Boches do you think are up there?" asked Armande.

"No matter," laughed Lippen. "They'll all be down pretty soon and then
we can count them."

At this moment the guard who had been set to watch for the return of
the two men with the machine-gun signalled that they were in sight.

"Good," exclaimed Jacques. "Now let's let them have a few more
grenades upstairs there just to show them that we're still alive."

This plan was carried out and a series of violent explosions from the
room above showed that the grenades were effective. At the same time
the sentry signalled the two messengers to advance. One of them
carried the tripod of the gun and the other the barrel. At top speed
they set out from the shelter of the trees and started across the open
space leading up to the entrance of the chateau.

They crouched low to the ground as they ran, endeavoring to present as
small a mark as possible. Little spurts of dust all around them showed
that the Germans were firing at them from above. The demonstration by
the French inside the chateau was increased in intensity and one
r