, the officer showed him the paper and said, "_Wo ist sie?_" The
guard pointed farther down the line at another soldier, whom the
officer approached and addressed with his one, newly-learned question.
The second soldier scanned the workers under his charge, then made as if
to take the paper and the handcuffs, but the officer held them from him
with true German arrogance, intimating that all he wished was to have
the worker identified and he would do the rest. He did not deign to
speak to the soldier.

When the subject of his quest had been pointed out to him he strode over
to her, with a motion of his hand bidding the soldier remain at his
post. The girls, who were working ankle-deep in the thick earth, fell
back as this grim embodiment of authority passed and stole fearful
glances at him as he laid his hand upon the shoulder of one of their
number who was throwing stones out of the roadway. She was a slender
girl, almost too delicate for housework, one would have said, and her
face bore an expression of utter listlessness--the listlessness that
comes from long fatigue and lost hope. Her eyes had the startled,
terror-stricken look of a frightened animal as she looked up into the
face of the young officer.

"Don't speak and don't look surprised," he said in an undertone, as he
snapped the handcuffs on her wrists. "I'm Tom Slade--don't you
remember? You have to come with me and we'll take you across the Swiss
border tonight. It's all planned. Don't talk and don't be scared. Answer
low--Is your mother here?"

A heavy stone that she was holding fell and he could feel her shoulder
trembling under his hand. She looked at him in doubtful recognition, for
the face was grim and cold and there was a look of hard steel in the
eyes. Then she glanced in terror at one of the soldiers who was marching
back and forth, rifle in hand.

"He won't interfere--he won't even dare to salute me. If he comes near
I'll knock him down. Is your mother here?"

"She iss wiz ze friends in Leteur. Her zey do not take."

Her voice was low and full of a terror which she seemed unable to
overcome and as she looked fearfully about Tom was reminded of the night
when they had talked together alone in the arbor.

"They didn't catch me yet and they won't," he said. "They're not scouts.
Come on."

She followed him out of the upturned earth and down the line, where he
strode like a lord of creation. Never so much as a glance did he deign
to give a sold