"that schoolmaster I am determined
to have, even if we fight our way in, and shoot him in bed. Have
you found out where he lives?"

"No, sir, but we have found out where the priest lives. It is this
end house: the end of the village, on the left-hand side as you
come out."

"Are the sentries very close together?"

"They are pretty close, but not too close to prevent our crawling
between them, unobserved, on such a night as this."

Major Tempe hesitated for a while.

"It would be too hazardous," he said. "We know nothing of the
ground over which we should have to crawl, and it would be hardly
possible for thirty men--with our accouterments, and firearms--to
crawl along without snapping sticks, or striking rifles against a
stone and giving the alarm.

"No, the sentry at the entrance of the village must be silenced."

So saying, the commandant turned to the men who were standing
round, and explained briefly the purport of the whispered
conversation which he had had with Ralph. He then chose two active
young men, and told them to take off their cloaks, belts, and
accouterments of all kinds; and to leave them, with their rifles,
with the men who were to remain at the spot at which they then
were--to cover their retreat, if necessary. They were to take
nothing with them but their sword bayonets--which were not to be
used, except in case of necessity--and a coil of light rope.
Definite instructions were given them as to the manner in which
their attack was to be made.

They then took off their boots, and set off noiselessly upon their
enterprise. They went on rapidly, until they were within plain
hearing of the footsteps of the sentinel; and then very cautiously
and, crouching almost to the ground, so as not to bring their
bodies on a level with his eye, they crept up foot by foot to the
end of his beat. Here they waited a short time, while he passed and
repassed them, unthinking of the deadly foe who, had they stretched
out their hands, could have touched his cloak as he went past them.

At last, the second time he passed them on his way towards the
village, they rose together behind him. In an instant one had
garroted him--with a choking grip, that almost strangled him, and
prevented him uttering the slightest sound--while the other grasped
his rifle by the lock, so as to prevent the possibility of its
being fired. In another instant, the rifle was torn from the grasp
of the almost stupefied man; cords were pass