will go with the men, and you
make your way to Tempe."

"No, no, Percy, I won't have that."

"Very well," Percy said, doggedly, "then we will go together."

There was a silence for a minute or two, and then Ralph said:

"Look here, Percy, this is madness; however, as you won't do as I
tell you, we will draw lots. I will put a piece of crumb in one of
my hands. You shall guess which it is in. If you guess right, I
will go with the Germans. If you guess wrong, you shall go."

"Very well," Percy said; "I agree to that."

Ralph then broke off a small piece of bread, and put it in one of
his hands--having already, before he made the proposition, broken
off a similar piece, unobserved by Percy. He then put both hands
under the table, and then lifted them again; all the time trying to
appear not to be engaged upon anything out of the way, as he knew
that some of the Germans were watching them.

"Left," Percy said.

Ralph replied by opening the left hand, and dropping the piece of
bread on the table; at the same time putting his right hand back
into his pocket, as if to get out his handkerchief--and dropping,
as he did so, the piece of bread it contained into the place.

"There, Percy, fortune has decided it.

"Goodbye; God bless you. I daresay I shall get out of it but, if
not, give my love to them all, at home."

Then he finished his beer and rose, without giving Percy time to
reply, even could he have done so; but the lad was so much choked,
with the effort to keep from crying, that he could not have spoken.
Ralph turned to the sergeant and--stretching his arms, with the
natural air of a tired boy, objecting to be disturbed--said:

"Now, sir, I am ready to start. I suppose there is no occasion for
us both to go, for my brother has hurt his foot. We shouldn't have
come in, tonight; but it is his first time out with the woodmen,
and he is not accustomed to sleeping out, in the wet."

"Yes, one is enough. He can stay," the sergeant said.

"You had better ask the landlord to show you a corner, where you
can sleep on the straw, Karl," Ralph said. "It is no use waiting
for me. I shall be back in an hour."

With a nod to Percy, Ralph now walked steadily to the door. The
sergeant, with the men told off for the duty, accompanied him. When
they reached the street, it was raining heavily.

"I wonder," Ralph said, "whether the landlord would lend me a sack,
to put on my shoulders."

"Is this place far off, youngste