the Battle of the Marne, mon
Capitaine, when we drove the Boche before us; and there followed the
fight about the Aisne, when the British were just to the left of us;
and, later, yes later, for I have seen a great deal, mon Capitaine,
there was fighting near Arras, fighting to the north of the line later,
between Ypres and Nieuport, when the Germans assailed the British at
Ypres, and lost the flower of their Prussian Guard Corps. This is the
full tale, monsieur, for I have already mentioned the Second Battle of
Ypres, in which those Huns first nearly stifled me with asphyxiating
gas, and then took this chip out of my chin with a bullet."

"And you would repay that same chip, my friend?", laughed the officer.

"Bien! You may say that, Monsieur le Capitaine--repay it a hundredfold
if I am able."

From one to another the officer passed, questioning them in the same
friendly manner, inviting their confidence, listening to their stories,
extolling their actions with words which reached the ears of their
comrades.

"And you," he said at last, arriving at the gallant Henri, and tapping
him on the breast with a friendly finger, while he ran his eye over
this young soldier, admiring his clean, well-bred, active appearance,
the set of his figure, his healthy looks, and the perky little
moustache which Henri still boasted. "Well, you," he asked, "mon
enfant?"

"I, mon Capitaine? Well, I have seen but little more than the heart of
Ruhleben camp," Henri told him; "for I was there, a prisoner for many
weary months."

"And then, did our friend, the Hun, think so little of you that he set
you free?" asked the officer, his eyes twinkling. "Hardly that, I am
sure, my friend, for you look as though you could do some fighting."

Henri smiled back at him.

"No, Monsieur le Capitaine," he told him; "it was not because they
wished to set me free that I am here, but because they couldn't help
it. I escaped--I and two other comrades, one of whom was British."

"Ah! And you escaped--you and two comrades, one of whom was British;
and because you wished--all of you, no doubt--to fight for your
country?"

"That is so," Henri admitted at once. "We were eager to fight the Hun,
and we have joined the French army at the first opportunity."

It was the same when the officer questioned Jules, and in a trice he
realized that the two had made their escape from Ruhleben together.

"Tiens!" he cried; "one little moment. Two young Fre