lat in the grass, when
the heads of horses and men emerged from the shadows. The helmets showed
him at once that they were the Uhlans, and without the helmets the face
of the leader alone was sufficient to tell him that the Prussian
horsemen had ridden into the wood.

The one who rode first with his helmet thrown back a little was Rudolf
von Boehlen, the man with whom John had talked at Dresden, and who had
made such an impression upon him. He had known the scholarly Prussian,
the industrial Prussian, and the simple good-natured Prussian of the
soil, but here was the Prussian to whom the first god was Mars, with the
Kaiser as his prophet. It was he, and such as he, who ruled the
industrious and kindly German people, teaching them that might was
right, and that they always possessed both.

John saw through the eyes of both fact and fancy. Von Boehlen was a
figure of power. Mind and body were now at the work for which they had
been trained, and to which the nature of their owner turned them.

Despite his size and weight he sat his horse with lightness and grace,
and his cold blue eyes searched the forest for victims rather than foes.
John saw in him the product of ceaseless and ruthless training, helped
by nature.

But von Boehlen, keen as his eyes were, did not see the figure of the
watcher prone in the grass. He let his horse drink at the brook, and
others rode up by his side, until there was a long line of horses with
their heads bent down to the stream. It occurred to John then that their
only purpose in entering the wood was to water their animals. He saw von
Boehlen take a map from his pocket, and study it while the horse drank.
He was not surprised at the act. He had no doubt that the brook, tiny
though it might be, was marked on the map. He had heard that the Germans
foresaw everything, attended to the last detail, and now he was seeing a
proof of it. How was it possible to beat them!

He did not consider the danger great, as he listened to the long lapping
and gurgling sound, made by so many horses drinking. It was likely that
the whole troop would ride away in a few minutes, and only a possible
chance would take them in the direction where the _Arrow_ and Lannes
lay. But the trees grew thickly in the circle about them, and that
chance was infinitely small.

The Uhlans, under the lead of von Boehlen, turned presently, and rode
back through the edge of the wood into a field, but they went no
farther. John,