's sallow face went livid with excess of rage. He bit his lip till
the blood showed upon it in a thin red line.

'You will sing a different song when you stand before the muzzles of the
firing party,' he said in a grating voice.

Von Steegman, who seemed to be the only man among them to remain quite
unmoved, raised his hand.

'All this is highly irregular,' he said harshly. 'Captain Hartmann, it is
our duty to interrogate these prisoners.'

'What's the use of interrogating us if you have already made up your mind
to shoot us?' retorted Ken.

Von Steegman glared at him.

'Because,' he answered in his harsh German English, 'it is bossible that,
by giving us certain information, you may yed save der lives which you haf
justly forfeited.'

Ken stared back, and there was something in his face which made even the
German's bold eyes drop.

'I don't advise you to say any more,' he answered grimly. 'You'd better
proceed at once with your firing party, you miserable German murderer.'

Von Steegman's hand dropped to his sword hilt, his face went the colour of
a ripe plum, for a moment Ken thought--hoped that he was going to have a
fit.

Before he could speak there came a stir behind, the door leading from the
house to the yard opened sharply, and a stout, coarse-looking man in the
uniform of a colonel in the Prussian Army, strode heavily in.

Hartmann and Von Steegman rose like two ramrods, and saluted him. They
stood at the salute while he came across to the table.

'So these are the two prisoners,' he said in a thick guttural voice, as he
seated himself, 'the two who were captured spying behind our lines.'

He stared first at Roy, then at Ken. As his bloodshot eyes fell upon the
latter he started ever so slightly. At the same moment Ken seemed to
recognise him, for a look of disgust crossed his face.

CHAPTER XI

THE FIRING PARTY

Hartmann spoke.

'These are the spies, Herr Colonel,' he said with an air of deference.
'They were captured more than two miles behind our lines. We have
interrogated them, but they refuse information.'

The colonel looked at Ken.

'Have you nothing to say for yourselves?' he demanded.

'Plenty, but not to you, Colonel Henkel,' replied Ken with a sarcasm he
did not trouble to conceal.

Henkel, however, did not lose his temper as Von Steegman had done. He
turned to Hartmann and Von Steegman and spoke to them both in a low voice.

'As you wish, Herr Colonel,' said Hart