ything was here!"

"Well, your guns will be at work before many hours if all goes well,"
said Poertner. "This sausage of yours is not so bad, after all! Food
is food when you are hungry! Ah, it will be some time, at best, before
we can eat again in Berlin, my friend!"

"Yes. There will be garrison work, even after we have taken Paris.
Still, even so, it should not be so long. Three weeks perhaps--that
should be enough to beat the French this time. We are better prepared
than we were in 1870."

"So are they, I hear. Well, they couldn't be worse off than they were
then! No matter, though--we shall outnumber them from the start. Will
the English fight, do you think?"

"Pah--the English! No! They will be too busy with their troubles at
home. They will have a rebellion on their hands in Ulster. No,
England will have too many troubles of her own at home, to be able to
cross the sea to look for more."

Arthur had heard all he needed. Now he drew back from the window,
picking up several good-sized stones as he did so. And when he was
some distance away, but still able to see the two Germans, he stopped
and waited.

He waited until the two officers had finished their meal and had risen.
Even then he waited until they moved, together, to the trap door.
Then, raising his arm, he let fly the first of his stones. It crashed
through the window, shattering the glass. At once he threw another,
and then still another. He had counted, and not in vain, on the
instinct that would move the two Germans. With a single motion they
leaped to the door. As they did so, even as they rushed out, he ran
diagonally, so as to get away from them, toward the front of the house.
As they stormed around in the direction from which he had thrown the
stones, and so out of sight of the front of the house, he stopped.
They passed within half a dozen feet of him, but, naturally, they had
not expected him to come right toward them, and they passed him
unnoticed.

Then, as soon as they were out of sight, he made for the cottage. He
meant to call Paul. But Paul was at the door as he reached it for he
had understood, from what he had been able to hear, something of what
had happened.

"Come on! Here's a motorcycle we can take!" cried Arthur, eagerly.

He lifted the machine. In a moment he had started the motor, and Paul
leaped up behind him as he got it going.

"Hurry! Here they come!" shouted Paul.

The put-put of the motor