he cried in well simulated surprise. "Have a care, sir. I
shall allow no such insults, even though you are my superior officer."

"Tush, tush," chided the commander-in-chief gently. "Why keep up the
pretense? You are discovered. Why not admit it and have done?"

"Sir!" cried General Tromp, drawing himself up. "I demand an
explanation of your strange conduct."

"And you shall have it, sir!" thundered General Joffre, now very
angry, as he took a step forward.

General Tromp quailed before him. His eyes fell to the ground and his
injured dignity dropped from him like a mask.

"I accuse you," continued General Joffre, "of being a traitor to
France. I accuse you of aiding and abetting the escape of another
traitor, one Dersi. And I also accuse you," and here the general
pointed an accusing finger at General Tromp, "of even now playing into
the hands of the enemy by ordering an advance, when you knew very well
that such an advance could mean only the extermination of our troops."

By a great effort General Tromp forced his eyes to meet those of his
commander.

"I deny it," he said in a thick voice.

"A denial is useless," said General Joffre quietly.

But General Tromp had now succeeded in regaining command of himself to
a certain extent, and once more he tried to bluff it out.

"Who accuses me?" he demanded, with well assumed bravado.

"I do," said Hal, stepping forward.

"And I," cried Chester, also advancing a step.

General Tromp turned to General Joffre.

"And you take the word of those two upstarts in preference to mine?"
he demanded.

"I do," said the general quietly, "upon the advice of General Sir
John French, who vouches for the truth of their story. Besides, your
actions just now have convicted you. Come, Tromp, further denial is
useless. Dersi has confessed."

"Dersi!" exclaimed Tromp, his fingers twitching. "If I could just get
my hands on him for one minute----"

"But you can't," said General Joffre. "He is dead. And he died with a
clear conscience, as I hope you will do."

"What do you mean?" cried Tromp, starting back.

"Exactly what I say," was General Joffre's chilling reply. "You have
your choice. Either the way I mean, or to be publicly hanged as a
traitor. If possible, I desire to avoid publicity. Which shall it be?"

General Tromp shifted nervously from one foot to the other, his hands
twitching convulsively. Suddenly one hand leaped to his side.

"I wouldn't do that," said Hal