his great fists and spoke to Marquis.

"I shall see that you are avenged," he said fiercely. "Twenty German
lives will not pay for this day's work, but I'll do the best I can. Do
you understand, Marquis?"

Marquis' tail beat a weak tattoo upon the ground, and he barked feebly.
He understood.

"I'll do it!" said Alexis. "You may rest assured of that."

Now the end was fast approaching. Marquis' breath came in quick gasps.
Suddenly he staggered to his feet, stood upright a second, turned his
face toward the distant enemy, and gave utterance to one sharp bark--a
bark of defiance. Then he sank to the ground.

His three friends dropped to their knees and bent over him. He looked up
into their faces and it seemed to all that he smiled at them. His tail
struck the ground feebly, once, twice. He shook once with a silent
convulsion. Then his body straightened out and stiffened. He lay still.

Marquis was dead.

His three friends rose slowly to their feet, and lifted their caps from
their heads.

"Good old Marquis!" said Hal. "But he died as a soldier should!"

"Yes," said Chester, "and with almost his last breath he breathed
defiance to the Germans, whom he hated."

"There wasn't a better or braver soldier in the Russian army," said
Alexis. "We must bury him with honors."

"We shall!" cried Chester.

"I am somewhat handy with a knife," said Alexis. "I shall carve him a
little monument."

"And he shall be laid to rest with full military honors," said Chester.

And so it was done.

All that day Alexis worked upon the little monument. When it was finally
completed, all was in readiness for the burial. The dog had made friends
in the regiment. Not a man but had become attached to him; and so it was
no small funeral cortege that escorted the body of the dog-hero to his
last resting place.

From the quartermaster Chester had secured a large French flag.

"He shall be buried beneath his own flag," he said, and spreading the
tricolor upon the ground, he laid the stiffened body of Marquis upon it.

Gently he wrapped it about the dog, and then, while practically the
whole regiment stood at attention around the little grave, he placed the
body in the ground and stepped back. A volley was fired over the grave,
and the lads shoveled in the earth.

Now Alexis approached, and, making a small hole at the head of the
grave, set up the little monument. And when he had finished, the
soldiers crowded around to read the epita