-haube_. But his skull was fractured for
all that. Heinrich fared no better, though the torch was shattered on
the rough paving of the stable. A thrust floored him, and he fell with a
fearsome clatter of accoutrements. A second blow on the temple stilled
the startled oath on his lips. Dalroy divested him of the rifle, and
stuffed a few clips of cartridges into his own pockets.

Then, ready for any others of a cut-throat crew, he listened. One of the
pair on the ground was gasping for breath. The cow began lowing again.
That was all. There was neither sight nor sound of Irene, though she
must have heard enough to frighten her badly.

"Miss Beresford!" he said, in a sibilant hiss which would carry easily
to the point where he had left her. No answer. Nature was still. It was
as though inanimate things were awake, but quaking. The breathing of the
unnamed German changed abruptly into a gurgling croak. Heinrich had
traversed that stage swiftly under the second blow. From the roads came
the sharp rattle of horses' feet, the panting of motors. The thud of
gun-fire smote the air incessantly. It suggested the monstrous
pulse-beat of an alarmed world. Over a hilltop the beam of a searchlight
hovered for an instant, and vanished. Belgium, little Belgium, was in a
death-grapple with mighty Germany. Even in her agony she was crying,
"What of England? Will England help?" Well, one Englishman had lessened
by two the swarm of her enemies that night.

Dalroy was only vaguely conscious of the scope and magnitude of events
in which he was bearing so small a part. He knew enough of German
methods in his immediate surroundings, however, to reck as little of
having killed two men as though they were rats. His sole and very real
concern was for the girl who answered not. Before going in search of her
he was tempted to don a _Pickel-haube_, which, with the rifle and
bayonet, would, in the misty light, deceive any new-comers. But the
field appeared to be untenanted, and it occurred to him that his
companion might actually endeavour to hide if she took him for a German
soldier. So he did not even carry the weapon.

He found Irene at once. She had simply fainted, and the man who now
lifted her limp form tenderly in his arms was vexed at his own
forgetfulness. The girl had slept but little during two nights. Meals
were irregular and scanty. She had lived in a constant and increasing
strain, while the real danger and great physical exertion of