igate them.
They're under an inch of snow now."

"Why did you think Germans had made them?"

Weber opened his gloved hand and disclosed something metallic, a spike
from a German helmet.

"This," he said, "had become loosened and it fell from the cap of some
careless fellow. It could have been there only a few minutes, because
the snow had not yet covered it. I think a considerable party has got
behind the French lines under cover of the storm and has passed through
Chastel."

"But they must have gone on. Why would they remain in a ruined town like
this?"

"I see no reason for their doing so, unless to seek shelter for a while
in some buildings not wholly wrecked, just as you and Mademoiselle
Lannes' party have done."

John felt a throb of alarm.

"Has the Hotel de l'Europe escaped their observation?" he asked.

"I think so. I did not notice any light myself when I approached it. But
I had been in Chastel before, and of course knew of the house and its
location. I went there at once, hoping that it had escaped destruction,
and found my hopes justified. Has Mademoiselle Lannes heard anything
from her brother? I did not see his name on the register?"

"He has not come, but the weather has made it impossible. Aeroplanes
can't dare such snowstorms as this."

"That's true, but he's so wonderfully skillful and bold that he might
get here in some fashion. Now I think we ought to make a good search
among these ruins, Mr. Scott. It's more than likely that the Germans
have passed on, but there's a chance that they will linger. You're
armed, of course?"

"I've an automatic handy."

"So have I. Suppose we take a look in the wood here, and then we can
search among those houses on our right."

The snow and the night, now at hand, biding them, they entered the
little wood with confidence that they would fall into no trap. But it
was empty, and returning to the edge of the town, they scouted
cautiously all the way around it, finding no sign of either a friend or
an enemy.

"We alone hold Chastel," said John, "and I think we'd better go back to
the Hotel de l'Europe. I've been away a full two hours and Mademoiselle
Lannes may be worried about my long absence, not about me personally,
but because of what it might possibly signify."

"That's our obvious course," said Weber, "and as I've registered I'll
sleep at the hotel also."

"You'll certainly be welcome," said John, as he led the way back to the
Hotel de l'Europe