itement or of mental detachment, when he did not notice it, but it
was always there. Now the soldiers in the grounds were moving but
little, and the air pulsed with the thud of the great guns.

He recalled again his promise, or rather threat, to Auersperg that he
would escape. Instinctively he went to the narrow but tall window and
glanced at the heavens. Then he knew that impulse had made him look for
Lannes and the _Arrow_, and he laughed at his own folly. Even if Lannes
knew where they were he could not slip prisoners out of a house,
surrounded by watchful German troops.

He heard the heavy key turning in the lock, and a silent soldier brought
him food, which he put upon the table. The man remained beside the door
until John had eaten his supper, when he took the dishes and withdrew.
He had not spoken a word while he was in the room, but as he was passing
out John said:

"Good-bye, Pickelbaube! Let's have no ill feeling between you and me."

The German--honest peasant that he was--grinned and nodded. He could not
understand the English words, but he gathered from John's tone that they
were friendly, and he responded at once. But when he closed the door
behind him John heard the heavy key turning in the lock again. He knew
there was little natural hostility between the people of different
nations. It was instilled into them from above.

Food brought back new strength and new courage. He took his place again
at the window which was narrow and high, cut through a deep wall. The
illusion of the Middle Ages, which Auersperg had created so completely,
returned. This was the dungeon in a castle and he was a prisoner doomed
to death by its lord. Some dismounted Uhlans who were walking across the
grounds with their long lances over their shoulders gave another touch
to this return of the past, as the first rays of the moonlight glittered
on helmet and lance-head.

He was not sleepy at all, and staying by the window he kept a strange
watch. He saw white flares appear often on a long line in the west. He
knew it was the flashing of the searchlights, and he surmised that what
he saw was meant for signals. The fighting would go on under steady
light continued long, and that it would continue admitted of no doubt.
He could hear the mutter of the guns, ceaseless like the flowing of a
river.

He saw the battery drive out of the grounds, then turn into the road
before the chateau and disappear. He concluded that the cannon wer