rifle as they rolled, was searching grimly for his knife.

"Puzzeau, you fool!" gurgled the lad, as the huge paw of the Herculean
_poilu_ tightened its pressure on his throat.

"Eh, what!" exclaimed the Alsatian. "Who are you, then?" And the
terrible grip relaxed ever so slightly.

"Look again," was the reply, and Dennis managed to tear Carl Heft's grey
tunic open wide enough to reveal the khaki shirt and tie of an English
officer.

"_Zut alors!_" cried the man, greatly puzzled; "still I do not know
you!"

It was hardly to be wondered at, for the face of his captive was
encrusted with chalky mud and badly wanted a shave.

"How goes it with the brave Commandant you and I carried out of action
that night we silenced the machine-gun? Do you remember now, thickhead?"

"_Mon Dieu!_" exclaimed Aristide Puzzeau, "Mon Lieutenant, you have
saved me from a great crime! But why will you keep such bad company? Let
us embrace!" And he kissed him on both cheeks.

"And you have saved me from a most unpleasant death, my brave fellow,"
said Dennis, rubbing his throat; "and now you must save these wretched
beasts who are my prisoners."

The corporal clapped a hand to his head like one in a dream as the men
of his company, whom he had outstripped, reached the edge of the crater
above them.

"Halt, my boys!" roared the corporal with the full strength of his
leathern lungs, but he made a wry face and scowled savagely.

"If I had my way, mon Lieutenant, we would take no prisoners, hands up
or hands down," he said; "we are too soft-hearted in this war."

The howl of disappointment from the French Territorials mingled with the
piteous whine of the terrified Germans, and before he scrambled after
Puzzeau out of the hole, Dennis rid himself of the grey tunic and
slacks, and stood revealed in his proper character.

"_Ma foi!_" said the captain of the company, as he shook hands heartily
with him, "you have indeed had a marvellous escape, my friend, but there
is firing in the wood over yonder; I shall leave twelve men to escort
this scum to our lines, and you will no doubt wish to proceed with
them--unless you care to renew your acquaintance with your old comrades,
the----"

"A thousand thanks, mon Capitaine," laughed Dennis, remembering the
German dispatch in the pocket of his tunic; "my duty calls me elsewhere.
Good-bye and good luck!"

As he turned to go, and the foremost wave of the Territorials was
already racing towards th