r me in the way of a
bed, because there were three or four in every room. I said that a
stable and a little straw would do for us, very well, and then he
thought of this outhouse.

"At the same rate, there must be at least a hundred men in the
village."

They now opened the door of the outhouse, went quietly out, and
made their way through a garden at the back of the house towards
the wood.

"Stand still a few minutes, Percy," Ralph said, in a whisper, "and
let us see if we can find out where the sentries are placed. I
expect that they form a cordon round the village.

"Lie down by this wall. We can see them, there, and they cannot see
us."

It was well that they did so for, in another minute, they heard a
tread quite close to them; and a Prussian soldier passed, within a
yard of where they were lying. They could dimly see that his hood
was over his head, and hear that he was humming to himself a scrap
of some German air. They lay there until he had again passed the
spot; and then--having found out the direction of his beat--they
crawled noiselessly away and, in five minutes, had reached the edge
of the forest.

They did not enter it, as it would have been impossible--in the
dense darkness--to have made their way without running against
trees, and snapping off boughs, which would have given the alarm.
They therefore skirted the edge--knowing that, with the trees
behind them, they would be invisible at the distance of a yard or
two--and in ten minutes reached the place where their company was
awaiting them. As they approached the spot, they gave a short, low
whistle; which was the agreed sign, among the band, for knowing
each other on night expeditions. It was answered at once and, in
another minute, they were among their friends.

"What has happened?" Major Tempe asked. "We were getting very
anxious about you. I sent Favarts to reconnoiter, ten minutes ago;
and he has just returned, saying that he can hear someone pacing
backwards and forwards on the road, and that he believes it to be a
sentry."

"He was quite right," Ralph said; "the village is full of Germans.
There must--as far as we can see--be seventy or eighty of them, at
the very lowest; and there are probably a hundred. We have been
prisoners, or something very like it, and have had a monstrously
close shave of it.

"But I will tell you all that, when we have time. Do you still
think of carrying out your plans?"

"Certainly," Major Tempe said,