ring, too. As they rode along
they saw a cloud of dust before them, and soon men and horses emerged
from the dust.

"Let's hide in the hedge along the road," said Frank. "Come on--they'll
never see us."

"But they won't hurt us, Frank. They're English--our friends."

"Probably they are. But how do we know? They may be more Germans."

"Oh, I never thought of that! If they are--"

"Yes, if they are, it's good-bye to Captain Hardy and his supplies. But
we can't help it. We've already done all we could for him."

They watched the oncoming cavalry, but even at a little distance, what
with their speed and the dust, it was impossible to tell to which army
they belonged. They were either English or German; that was all that
could be certain. And that could be deduced from their khaki uniforms.
There were no colors to emerge, bright and vivid, from their dun mass;
no points of steel, on which the rays of the sun might shine and be
reflected.

"If they were French we could tell," said Henri, proudly. "We could see
their red and blue uniforms and, if they were cuirassiers, their
breastplates!"

"Yes. The French are far behind the times in that," said Frank, a little
impatiently. "Nowadays armies don't try to act as if they were on dress
parade. They wear uniforms that can't be seen any great distance away."

"The French army fights in the uniform in which its famous victories
were won," said Henri.

"And it gets killed in them, too," said Frank. "Gets killed when it
doesn't do any good. But that doesn't matter now. Ah, they're English! I
can see that now. We needn't tell them to hurry--they're going for all
they're worth now. They've heard the firing and are hastening."

The English horsemen swept by. They were riding low in the saddle,
urging their horses on. Each man carried a carbine, ready to dismount at
any moment and give battle as seemed best. In five minutes they had
swept by.

"Two troops," said Frank. "Well, that ought to be enough, though there's
no telling how many Uhlans there were. Ah, here come some more!"

This time it was a battery of light artillery--four guns, going along
almost as quickly as the cavalry had done.

"That ought to settle it," said Frank, with satisfaction. "Even if they
run into a brigade of Uhlans, the guns ought to do the trick. I don't
believe they had any guns or we'd have heard them by this time."

"They're still fighting back there," said Henri, as they wheeled their
bicy