won't do any more than that. We're going to
take those men and punish them for a lot of things they've done."

"Capture them, Monsieur?--by Monsieur's own self?"

"By Monsieur's own self," he gave her a squeeze, then sat her back upon
the ground. "Now, when I get close to the door, cry!--then you may close
your eyes until I say look; but don't cry again, whatever happens."

Picking up the club he took a position in the deepest shadow and waited.
Spartan little soldier that she was, she now sent a wail into the night
that would have brought a dozen sentries; then, as before, everything
was silent. Also, as before, hurried, angry steps soon were heard; yet
this time, as the sentry passed close outside the rear wall, he talked.
Jeb at first thought that it might be the mumbling of an enraged man,
but he took a tighter grip upon his club when another voice laughed a
reply.

The two Germans turned the angle of the side wall, stumbling over loose
stones and uttering words that scarcely needed translation. A patch of
moonlight fell athwart the sill, and Jeb watched this, knowing it would
tell better than his ears when the crucial time had come. The men were
just outside now, and the breathing of one became audible--a workman,
doubtless, following to see what would happen. Then a shadow fell across
the spot of light, and slowly a bayonet glided within two feet of Jeb's
face--the bayonet that might yet be warm from having dried a child's
tears! After it came the sentry, stooping as he entered, while his
companion, who chortled with a kind of insane glee, pressed closely at
his heels.

Jeb had been standing in deep shadow to one side, with the club drawn
back. He waited until both men were well within the door, then made a
vicious swing, and then another; there were two sharp cracks of wood on
bone, and the two who had come to kill lay dead.

"It's all right," he whispered through the darkness. "Bring the
children, quick!"

"Thank God, Monsieur," her voice reached him.

Kneeling, he stripped the sentry of ammunition, examined the rifle until
he had mastered its mechanism, and saw that it was loaded and ready.
When the children reached him--the two smaller ones staring vacantly
ahead as if walking in their sleep--he whispered:

"Now, do just as I say: follow closely, keep in the shadows and make no
noise. When I put back my hand, stop and wait; when I call, come at
once. Is that clear, little one?"

"But, oh, Monsieur,