to see General Leman, say that the French were planning a great
movement from Belfort, that they thought the Germans were likely to
make a powerful attack from Alsace and Lorraine. If so, their
information is wrong."

"But they must know by this time that the Germans are coming through
Belgium instead, in great force, I should think."

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. They may think it is a feint. It might be,
too. You see, they are throwing out their cavalry. We saw a dozen
Uhlans, but there must be two or three thousand dozen of them. They
are like a great human screen, thrown in front of the army. A screen
with eyes. They hide what is going on behind them from the enemy, but
they themselves can see plainly."

"But even if it is true, I should think it might work both ways, Paul.
If the French advance from Belfort, and the main body of the Germans is
in this quarter, won't the French in Alsace win very easily?"

"Perhaps, just at the beginning. But this is the great danger. If the
Germans could advance on this line without meeting any great
resistance, they would be able to swing around and get in the rear of a
French army that had crossed the border into Alsace, but the French
army could not come into a position to threaten the rear or the
communications of the Germans. There might be a great disaster. And
just because it was believed that Germany would find the road through
Belgium the quickest and the easiest for an invasion of France, some
French and Belgian officers believed that if war came, Germany would
only make a threat through Belgium, and would start her real attack on
some other line."

"Well, we ought to give the information, whether it will be of any
great use or not. It isn't for us to think about that."

"You're right there, Arthur! Let's slip away quietly. We have done
these people here a great service, but they don't quite understand, and
I think that instead of being grateful they're almost ready to be
suspicious. Perhaps they think we were really trying to help the
Germans."

So they slipped out of the village. If any of the villagers of Hannay
noticed, they said nothing. They had enough to keep them busy and to
occupy their minds, as well. They were learning that this war, of
which they knew so little, was affecting them almost as much as if they
were actually fighting.

Outside of Hannay, as they moved along toward the north the ground rose
gradually, and the road brought th