ling his wounds had reopened.

"Little Pierre, his eyes large and troubled, had followed his friend
to the square and stood sympathetically beside him.

"'What, can I do? Tell me quickly,' urged the boy.

"'Fetch me a cup of water. I am burning with the fever again. One
drink of water and I shall have the strength to die bravely. Those
Prussian dogs shall not see so much as the quiver of an eyelid,' said
the sergeant.

"Pierre slipped into a house and brought a cup of water which he
placed at the lips of his friend. The sergeant had taken one swallow
when a captain dashed the cup to the ground. He swung and struck
Pierre a cruel blow across the cheek with the flat of his saber,
laying the lad prostrate. Pierre staggered to his feet, eyes blazing,
an angry red welt showing where he had been struck.

"'To give aid or comfort to the friends of France is to die!' hissed
the German captain. 'For this you too shall die! But first you shall
see how it goes with the others.'

"'I fear you not,' retorted the child, pluckily. 'I too can die for
France with a brave heart, and so you shall die one day at the hands
of my dear countrymen, but with a coward's heart.'

"'Ah! You are brave,' jeered the captain.

"'I am a Frenchman,' answered Pierre, stoutly. 'A Frenchman does not
fear to die.'

"'Good! For that I shall give you a chance to live and you shall come
with us and fight for the Fatherland," declared the captain.

"'Bah! That for the Fatherland!' The lad snapped his fingers in the
Prussian's face. Pierre's courage, instead of further angering the
German, appeared to amuse him.

"'We shall see. It is for you to shoot your friend the sergeant. Shoot
him and you shall have your freedom and your life. It is well that a
Frenchman should be put to death by his own. Can you shoot?'

"'I can.'

"'Then here is a rifle. It is loaded. Shoot and shoot true and freedom
is yours, for yourself and the old woman yonder who insulted the
officer of my Emperor.' The captain extended the rifle, butt first,
toward the boy. Pierre was outwardly calm, but within his heart a
storm was raging. Rather to the surprise of the spectators, he took
the weapon, turned it over curiously in his hands, for it was the
first German rifle he had handled, examined the mechanism of the lock,
then raised his eyes to the motionless figure of the French sergeant.

"Pierre smiled and a new light sprang into his eyes.

"'Well?' demanded the captain imp