told the other officer. 'They're making
for the frontier,' he said, 'and if they haven't slipped through already
we'll catch them now without fail. They mustn't get away this time if we
have to arrest and examine every ---- Belgian in this part of the
country.'"

"Ho! ho!" piped Joos, who had listened intently to Jan's recital, "why
didn't you tell us that sooner, animal? What chance, then, have I and
madame and Leontine of dodging the rascals?"

"_Caput!_" cried Maertz, scratching his head, "that settles it! I never
thought of that!"

"Oh, look!" whispered Leontine. "They're searching the mill!"

So earnest and vital was the talk that none of the others had chanced to
look down the ravine. They saw now that lights were moving in the upper
rooms of the mill. Either Von Halwig had arrived before time, or some
messenger had tried to find the commissariat officers, and had raised an
alarm.

Joos took charge straight away, like the masterful old fellow that he
was. "This locality isn't good for our health," he said. "The night is
young yet, but we must leg it to a safer place before we begin planning.
Leave nothing behind. We may need all that food.--Come, Lise," and he
grabbed his wife's arm, "you and I will lead the way to the Argenteau
wood. The devil himself can't track me once I get there.--Trust me,
monsieur, I'll pull you through. That lout, Jan Maertz, is all muscle
and no brain. What Leontine sees in him I can't guess."

For the time being, Dalroy believed that the miller might prove a
resourceful guide. Before deciding the course he personally would pursue
it was absolutely essential that he should learn the lay of the land and
weigh the probabilities of success or failure attached to such
alternatives as were suggested.

"We had better go with our friends," he said to Irene. "They know the
country, and I must have time for consideration before striking out a
line of my own."

"I think it would be fatal to separate," she agreed. "When all is said
and done, what can they hope to accomplish without your help?"

Joos's voice came to them in eager if subdued accents. He was telling
his wife how accounts were squared with Busch. "I stuck him with the
fork," he chortled, "and he squealed like a pig!"

CHAPTER VII

THE WOODMAN'S HUT

The miller was cunning as a fox. He argued, subtly enough, that if a man
just arrived from Argenteau was the first to discover the dead
Prussians, the neighbourhood