's home, and
even now angry Prussian parties were raiding these towns and robbing
the inhabitants of whatever appealed to their appetites or their
greed. Parties of them had already visited the village and Lucien was
in the habit of observing their movements from high up in a tree,
which was his favorite hiding place when danger approached. Nor was he
partial to any particular tree. Any tree that was handy would answer
his purpose.

"On the afternoon that I have in mind, a farmhouse just outside the
village bore mute evidence that raiders had been there. All the
windows had been broken out, doors smashed in and blackened spots
about the windows and doors on the outside wall indicated that the
house had been set on fire on the inside, but for some reason had not
burned down. The scene was a cheerless one. Not a person was in sight.

"Along the road came a detachment of French soldiers. The officer in
command, a captain, halted his men for rest and, observing the
condition of the house, entered the yard to see if he could not obtain
some information from the occupants. But there were no occupants
there.

"'They must have been here recently,' he said out loud, meaning that
the Germans had visited the place. 'Perhaps I shall find that which I
seek in the village.'

"Strolling along, the captain halted under a large apple tree, from
which apples had fallen to the ground, though the tree had been pretty
well stripped already. He stooped over to pick up an apple and as he
did so a hard apple hit him squarely on the top of the head.

"The captain said 'Ouch!' and rubbed the spot where the apple had hit
him. But he forgot all about it in his enjoyment of the apple he was
now eating while stepping out from under the tree. He was munching
away at the fruit when another apple hit him, this time squarely on
the neck.

"This was a keen as well as a cautious captain, and this time he did
not pretend to have noticed the incident, but kept on munching his
fruit. While doing so he squinted up at the tree out of the corner of
one eye. He knew he was too far from the tree for the last apple to
have fallen on him. While he was taking a cautious look another apple
came out from the foliage of the tree and fell toward him, but the
officer, stepping slightly to one side, avoided being hit by it.

"He deliberately drew his revolver from its holster and, turning,
aimed at the tree.

"'I think I can shoot the apples off easier than I c