small trees. Pierre pointed to it.
"We'll leave the basket here," he said, "and hide under the straw until
the storm is over. Then we can come back again, get it, and go home."

Another clap of thunder, louder still, sent them flying on their way,
and they did not speak again until they were under the shelter of the
shed. The first big drops fell as they reached it, and then the storm
broke in a fury of wind and water. The children cowered against the
stack itself as far as possible out of reach of the driving rain.

They had been there but a few moments, when they heard a new sound in
addition to the roar of the wind and the patter of the rain upon the
leaves. It was the dull tread of heavy footsteps, and they were
surprised to see a man running toward the straw-stack, his head bent to
shield his face from the rain, under the brim of an old hat. His
clothes were rough and unkempt, and altogether his appearance was so
forbidding that the children instinctively dived under the straw at the
edge of the stack like frightened mice, and burrowed backward until
they were completely hidden, though they could still peep out through
the loose straw.

The man reached the shed almost before they were out of view, but it
was evident that he had not seen them, for he did not glance in their
direction. He took off his hat and shook the rain-drops from it. Then
he wiped his face and neck with a soiled handkerchief and sat down on
the edge of a bench that had once been used for salting cattle. He sat
still for a little while, with his feet drawn up on the bench and his
hands clasping his knees, the better to escape the rain. Then he began
to grow restless. He walked back and forth and peered out into the rain
in the direction of the camp. The children were so frightened they
could hear their own hearts beat, but they had been in danger so many
times, and in so many different ways that they kept their presence of
mind, and were able to follow closely his every move. Soon they heard
the sound of more footsteps, and suddenly there dashed under the shed a
soldier in the uniform of France. It was evident that the first man
expected him, for he showed no surprise at his coming, and the two sat
down together on the bench and began to talk.

The wind had now subsided a little, and though they spoke in low tones
the children could hear every word.

"Whew!" said the soldier as he shook his rain-coat. "Nasty weather."

"All the better for o