at the
door. "Behold our new apartment!" she said, and she led her husband to
one of the clean stalls, where she had already begun to set up
housekeeping. The Twins were at that moment in the loft overhead,
getting hay for their beds, and Jacqueline, exhausted by her journey,
had been put to bed in the manger.

Father Meraut looked about. "This is not bad for the summer," he said,
"and who knows what good luck may come to us by fall? Perhaps the
Germans will be driven out of France by that time, and surely we shall
be able to do some planting even now."

"We have dug up the ground for gardens as best we could with the few
tools we have," said Grandpere. "The government would send us seeds,
but the roads are very bad, and we have no horses, and supplies are
hard to get even though we have money to pay for them. The nearest town
where provisions can be obtained lies six miles below, at the mouth of
the river, and it is very little one can carry on one's back."

"Is there no way to get help from the soldiers' camp?" asked Father
Meraut. "They must get supplies."

"Yes, but they cannot of themselves at this time take care of the
civilian population," said Grandpere. "There are many villages in the
same condition, and the soldiers' business is to fight for France."

"True," said Father Meraut. Then he exclaimed: "I have it! The Ark! It
will indeed be our salvation as it was Father Noah's."

Grandpere looked anxiously at Mother Meraut and touched his forehead.
"He is not mad?" he asked.

She laughed. "The name of our boat is the Ark," she explained. "We can
use it to go down the river to buy provisions if there are any to be
had."

Grand'mere, who had been listening, looked cautiously about, then felt
under the straw of her bed and brought out a stocking. "See!" she said.
"I have money. The others have money too, but of what use is money when
there is nothing to buy and no place to buy it?"

"We must find a place to buy things," said Mother Meraut with decision.
"Grandpere and Jacques can take the Ark and go down the river on a
voyage of discovery, and bring back the supplies that we most need."

After supper the whole village gathered about the stable door to hear
all the news which the Meraut family had brought from the outside
world. For months they had not seen a newspaper, and there had been no
visitors in Fontanelle. And when Father Meraut had finished telling
them all the story of Rheims, of the burning of