an effort
and replied coldly:

"Very well, Monsieur Max; it is war between us, I see. And it will soon
end--in your discomfiture!"

"We shall see. Good day, Herr Schenk!"

This mode of addressing him seemed to sting the manager more than
anything else, for he burst out angrily:

"Fool of a boy! Do you think to measure your puny strength with mine?
Bah! I shall crush you before ever you can raise your hand against me.
As for my name, Herr Schenk suits me well enough. I am a German, and I
hate these decadent peoples we call Belgians. Let Germany rule--she is
strong and virile, and before her the world must--and shall--bow down.
You, whether you call yourself English or Belgian, shall know what it is
to have your country crushed and beaten, and to have brains--German
brains--to direct and rule you. Go--and see if I'm not right."

"I am going--and going to do my best to prove you wrong," replied Max
proudly as he strode quickly from the room. Dale followed him, venting
his own indignation, as he turned away, by shaking his fist full in the
manager's face.

* * * * *

"We must not dally here," cried Max as they left the building. "We had
better make ourselves scarce at once. We have burnt our boats, and both
Schenk and the Germans will be after us from now onwards."

"And a good job too," replied Dale, who did not appear at all alarmed at
the prospect. "The fight now begins."

"Quick--round here," cried Max, turning a corner sharply. "Let us lose
ourselves in these narrow streets for a while. We will then go to Madame
Dubec's."

"Madame Dubec's?"

"Yes, we must not go home. Madame Dubec--the wife of the man whose life
I saved, you remember--she will shelter us for a day or two while we
look about us. We will get her or her husband to buy us rough clothes,
so that we can pass as workmen. We must not go about like this any
longer."

"Aye, we must act the part of honest sons of toil. Always have a spanner
sticking out of a pocket, and a hunk of bread and cheese tied up in a
coloured handkerchief in our hands. Hurrah!"

Madame Dubec gave them a quiet but sincere welcome, and for the
remainder of the day and the following night they sheltered beneath her
roof. She was anxious that they should stay permanently with her, when
she learned that they were in danger, but neither Max nor Dale would
hear of it. Should Schenk or the Germans learn that she had sheltered
them it might go har