em, in less than a mile, to the top
of a hill that gave them an excellent view of the surrounding
countryside. From Liege there still came the thunder of the big guns,
but from other directions they gathered evidence that the fortress was
no longer guarding the country. It was still holding out, and was
undoubtedly keeping a great many Germans busy. But more Germans had
swept around it, and the evidences of their activities were plain.

On all sides smoke was rising, marking burned farmhouses, even whole
villages that for one reason or another had been given to the flames.
They could see now the smoking ruins of the village whence the refugees
who had really caused them to stop in Hannay had come, a scene of
desolation that looked all the worse for the bright sunlight in which
it was bathed. That same sunlight, too was reflected ever and again on
tiny points of steel.

"Uhlans--the sun shines on their lance heads," explained Paul. He
looked gloomily at the scene. "Ah, they will have to pay! Perhaps an
enemy will cross the Rhine and carry fire and sword into their lands,
too. I hope so--for the sake of the poor, homeless ones."

"But you said it was wrong for them to defend themselves--that the
Germans had the right to do like that!" said Arthur, wonderingly.

"I said it was wrong for them to give the Germans an excuse to destroy
their homes and kill their men," said Paul. "Wrong only because it is
useless."

The descending road turned just below the crest of the hill on which
they stood. And suddenly a bugle sounded, startlingly near. The two
scouts had been so occupied in watching the country for miles about
that they had given no heed to what might be going on close by. And so
now while they stood in amazement and dismay, German soldiers began to
appear over the hilltop, and in a moment they were surrounded by
hundreds of the men whose uniforms were so familiar. It was a
battalion of German infantry, and in a minute more they had been
seized, and were being escorted to the rear, where in a few moments a
burly major, plainly a soldier of the old school, and the commander of
the battalion, questioned them.

They told their story plainly and truthfully, though they omitted, of
course, all the incidents of the adventurous period between their
discovery of the spy Ridder and their first capture.

"We are only doing what Colonel Schmidt told us to do, sir," said Paul.
"We explained to him that we would