matter."

The Die-hards hung, still wavering, upon the edge of the platform.

"For my part," the Doctor declared, "I don't believe there's anybody
inside."

"But there _is_, Doctor! for I saw him myself just as Uncle Issy
called out," said the second lieutenant.

"Was it only _one_ man that you saw?" demanded Captain Pond.

"That's all. You see, it was this way: Uncle Issy stepped fore, with
me a couple of paces behind him thinking of nothing so little as
bloodshed and danger. If you'll believe me, these things was the
very last in my thoughts. Uncle Issy rolls aside the powder-cask,
and what do I behold but a man ducking down behind it! 'He's firing
the powder,' thinks I, 'and here endeth William George Clogg!'
So I shut my eyes, not willing to see my gay life whisked away in
little portions; though I feared it must come. And then I felt Uncle
Issy flee past me like the wind. But I kept my eyes tight till I
heard the Doctor here saying there wasn't anybody inside. If you ask
me what I think about the whole matter, I say, putting one thing with
another, that 'tis most likely some poor chap taking shelter from the
rain."

Captain Pond unsheathed his sword and advanced to the door of the
hut. "Whoever you be," he called aloud and firmly, "you've got no
business there; so come out of it, in the name of King George!"

At once there appeared in the doorway a little round-headed man in
tattered and mud-soiled garments of blue cloth. His hair and beard
were alike short, black, and stubbly; his eyes large and feverish,
his features smeared with powder and a trifle pinched and pale.
In his left hand he carried a small bundle, wrapped in a knotted blue
kerchief: his right he waved submissively towards Captain Pond.

"See now," he began, "I give up. I am taken. Look you."

"I think you must be a Frenchman," said Captain Pond.

"Right. It is war: you have taken a Frenchman. Yes?"

"A spy?" the Captain demanded more severely.

"An escaped prisoner, more like," suggested the Doctor; "broken out
of Dartmoor, and hiding there for a chance to slip across."

"Monsieur le Lieutenant has guessed," the little man answered,
turning affably to the Doctor. "A spy? No. It is not on purpose
that I find me near your fortifications--oh, not a bit! A prisoner
more like, as Monsieur says. It is three days that I was a prisoner,
and now look here, a prisoner again. Alas! will Monsieur le
Capitaine do me the honour t