whirring of a shell told her that the battery which they feared the
most had turned their guns upon their hill. Running to the entrance she
called Dick and the servants in. They had just obeyed her summons when a
Parrott shell came whirring in at the entrance and fell in the centre
of the cave before them all, lying there smoking.

Terrified they fastened their eyes upon it. Their fate seemed certain.
For one moment they remained thus, and then Dick rushed forward, seized
the shell and threw it into the street, regaining the cave just as the
shell exploded.

"Dick," cried Jeanne running to him, "oh, how brave you are! But what if
you had been killed!"

"It's time I was throwing them," said Dick emphatically. "I ought to have
been at the other end of them long ago."

"Oh, but what if you had been killed," sobbed Jeanne. "What would mother
say?"

"That I had but done my duty," answered the lad.

"He is right," said Mr. Huntsworth. "Besides had he not been so brave not
only he but all the rest of us would have been killed also. Let us give
thanks for our wonderful escape."

CHAPTER XXIX

MADAME FOR THE LAST TIME

Since leaving the La Chaises' Jeanne had seen nothing of her uncle and
aunt, so she supposed that they had withdrawn from the city when General
Pemberton had issued the order for the non-combatants to leave. One
afternoon amid the rush and explosion of the shells, cries and screams
arose--the screams of women amid the shrieks of the falling shells. Their
curiosity getting the better of their timidity, Jeanne and Bob resolved to
find out what was the matter.

"Then I will go too," said Dick, "if you are resolved upon going, but I
think it is foolhardy."

"Let's go," cried Bob. "I am so tired of this damp, ill-smelling, earthy
home that I almost think I would welcome death as a change. Let's go."

The three started forth, dodging the shells as they walked. Presently
they came to a cave in a side hill around which a number of people were
gathered.

"What has happened?" asked Dick of a man.

"It's the cave of the Vances and the La Chaises," was the answer. "Some
shells struck the ground above and it caved in burying them. We don't know
whether they are dead or alive."

With an exclamation of horror Dick darted forward.

"A spade," he cried. "A spade, or a pick, or a shovel! Anything that will
dig! Why do you stand here, men?"

"We can't work with the shells flying around us," growled a