ald's jacket behind, and he
had kept on not taking any notice. But now he could not stand it any
longer, so he said--

'Well, what is it?'

Alice drew him aside, or rather, she pulled at his jacket so that he
nearly fell over backwards, and then she whispered, 'Come along, don't
stay parlaying with the foe. He's only talking to you to gain time.'

'What for?' said Oswald.

'Why, so that we shouldn't warn the other army, you silly,' Alice said,
and Oswald was so upset by what she said, that he forgot to be properly
angry with her for the wrong word she used.

'But we ought to warn them at home,' she said--' suppose the Moat House
was burned down, and all the supplies commandeered for the foe?'

Alice turned boldly to the soldier. 'DO you burn down farms?' she asked.

'Well, not as a rule,' he said, and he had the cheek to wink at Oswald,
but Oswald would not look at him. 'We've not burned a farm since--oh,
not for years.'

'A farm in Greek history it was, I expect,' Denny murmured. 'Civilized
warriors do not burn farms nowadays,' Alice said sternly, 'whatever they
did in Greek times. You ought to know that.'

The soldier said things had changed a good deal since Greek times.

So we said good morning as quickly as we could: it is proper to be
polite even to your enemy, except just at the moments when it has really
come to rifles and bayonets or other weapons.

The soldier said 'So long!' in quite a modern voice, and we retraced our
footsteps in silence to the ambush--I mean the wood. Oswald did think of
lying in the ambush then, but it was rather wet, because of the rain the
night before, that H. O. said had brought the army-seed up. And Alice
walked very fast, saying nothing but 'Hurry up, can't you!' and dragging
H. O. by one hand and Noel by the other. So we got into the road.

Then Alice faced round and said, 'This is all our fault. If we hadn't
sowed those dragon's teeth there wouldn't have been any invading army.'

I am sorry to say Daisy said, 'Never mind, Alice, dear. WE didn't sow
the nasty things, did we, Dora?'

But Denny told her it was just the same. It was WE had done it, so long
as it was any of us, especially if it got any of us into trouble. Oswald
was very pleased to see that the Dentist was beginning to understand
the meaning of true manliness, and about the honour of the house of
Bastable, though of course he is only a Foulkes. Yet it is something to
know he does his best to learn.

I