e got to go now!"

"I shall stay!" she said; "I know my work is here!"

The German rifle-flames began to sparkle and flicker along the
river-bank; a bullet rang out against the granite facade behind
them.

"Come!" he cried, sharply, but she slipped from him and ran
towards the house.

Drums were beating somewhere in the distant forest--shrill,
treble drums--and from every hill-side the hollow, harsh Prussian
trumpets spoke. Then came a sound, deep, menacing--a far cry:

"Hourra! Preussen!"

"Why don't you cheer?" faltered Lorraine, mounting the terrace.
The artillerymen looked at her in surprise. Jack caught her arm;
she shook him off impatiently.

"Cheer!" she cried again. "Is France dumb?" She raised her hand.

"Vive la France!" shouted the artillerymen, catching her ardour.
"Vive la Patrie! Vive Lorraine!"

Again the short, barking, Prussian cheer sounded, and again the
artillerymen answered it, cheer on cheer, for France, for the
Land, for the Province of Lorraine. Up in the windows of the
Chateau the line soldiers were cheering, too; the engineers on
the roof, stamping out the sparks and flames, swung their caps
and echoed the shouts from terrace and window.

In the sudden silence that followed they caught the vibration of
hundreds of hoofs--there came a rush, a shout:

"Hourra! Preussen! Hourra! Hourra!" and into the lawn dashed the
German cavalry, banging away with carbine and revolver. At the
same moment, over the park walls swarmed the Bavarians in a
forest of bayonets. The Chateau vomited flame from every window;
the gatling, pulled back into the front door, roared out in a
hundred streaks of fire. Jack dragged Lorraine to the first
floor; she was terribly excited. Almost at once she knelt down
and began to load rifles, passing them to Jack, who passed them
to the soldiers at the windows. Once, when a whole window was
torn in and the mattress on fire, she quenched the flames with
water from her pitcher; and when the soldiers hesitated at the
breach, she started herself, but Jack held her back and led the
cheering, and piled more mattresses into the shattered window.

Below in the garden the Bavarians were running around the house,
hammering with rifle-butts at the closed shutters, crouching,
dodging from stable to garden, perfectly possessed to get into
the house. Their officers bellowed orders and shook their sabres
in the very teeth of the rifle blast; the cavalry capered and
galloped, and