Hall," he said. "We have friends there, and we are
obliged to leave home because we should be taken for the army."

"Well, I don't think that you will find yourself better off at Hall than
here. They are catching up every ablebodied young fellow and putting him
into the ranks, and as you both look strong and active, except for your
comrade's face, you are both likely to be seized as soon as you enter
Hall, especially if you have no papers to show."

"We are not thinking of entering Hall, landlord. Our friends live a few
miles away, and they will hide us till the army moves away from these
parts."

"That will be before long, thank the saints! There is news that a great
French army marched from Spires three days ago, and there is like to be
a great fight before long; and if the French are beaten Merci will chase
them back to the Rhine, recapture all the towns that they have taken,
and perhaps enter Alsace."

"Which way do they say that the French are marching?"

"They took the road to Weisloch. Some think that they will come through
Wimpfen, and then by Weinsberg here, unless Merci bars the way. Others
again think that they will make their way down through Stuttgart. Five
hundred men march from here tomorrow to Hall, whence they go on to
Heilbronn to strengthen the garrison there. All the waggons in the town
and country round have been fetched in to carry their stores and baggage
and a convoy of ammunition. I should say that you could not do better
than go on with the waggons. No one is likely to ask you any questions,
for it will be thought that you are drivers."

"Thank you very much," Hector said; "that would certainly be a capital
plan. We were afraid of going through the forests alone."

"Yes, and you were right. They are full of marauders. A party of
troopers arrived here from Eichstadt yesterday evening. They stopped to
get a drink at a cabaret in the forest, and on entering found seven men
lying dead, and no one living to say how they got there. That some,
if not all, were robbers was evident from the fact that, on the bodies
being searched, articles evidently plundered from travellers were found
upon all of them. An examination was made of the house, and considerable
quantities of plunder found hidden. Searching in the forest behind,
several mounds of earth, evidently graves, were discovered. The landlord
himself was among the killed, for one of the troopers, who had before
stopped at the house, recognize