told him. But
he was a real Frenchman, out of the army because of his age.

"Come with me," he said. "You shall have the best there is in my
house--it is not much! Dry clothes, too. If you will wear a peasant's
blouse, there are the clothes my Jean left when he went to the war!"

"We have clothes in the boat," said Frank. "Until we knew we were safe
we dared not change into them. But your food will be more than welcome!"

So it proved, indeed. It was rough fare, but it seemed to both the best
that they had ever tasted. And while they ate, the peasant told them
what news he had.

"We hear that the French and the English are winning now," he said. "A
gentleman came past my house in an automobile this morning, and said
that he had passed French troops ten miles away--cuirassiers riding this
way."

"Hurrah!" cried Frank. "Henri, we must try to join them as quickly as
possible. When we explain they will let us go through to where we shall
be safe until we can go back to Amiens. Come on! Farewell!" This to the
peasant. "We shall never forget your good food and your welcome!"

And with light hearts they set out, glad to walk, since it gave them a
chance to stretch the legs that had been cramped for so many hours in
the bottom of the boat.

Plainly there had been a great change in the character of the battle
over night. The heavy thunder of the guns was greatly reduced in volume,
though they should still have been able to hear it. And it was
unmistakably coming from further north. It must be that the Germans were
retreating. But they walked for three hours before they knew for certain
that they were right.

They did not meet the cuirassiers of whom they had heard. Instead a
cloud of dust that they saw for two miles before men emerged beneath it
turned out to be a column of French infantry. They were in their Boy
Scout uniforms, and the men who first saw them at the side of the road
cheered them. Soon a captain came up to them.

"Eh bien, mes enfants!" he said. "What do you do here? Where do you come
from!"

They told him Amiens, and he laughed.

"And it is there, precisely, that we are going!" he laughed. "The
Germans are out by now and our men were in there an hour ago!"

Frank and Henri cried out in delight at the news.

"May we go with you?" asked Frank. "We would like to go back as soon as
possible."

"As to that you must ask the colonel. He will decide--and, see, here he
comes now in his automobile! I wi