hem, a gust of wind came whirling round the corner of
the shattered fortress, singing and whistling over the summit, and
bringing with it heavier flakes of snow which obliterated the scene
about them and made vision almost impossible.

"Well, then!" added the heated Corporal. "Even snow won't help us; for
we don't belong to the Flying Corps, and can't, therefore, very well
ascend and drop beyond them."

"But----" exclaimed Henri, who had been using his wits and his eyes all
this time, and, though bound to feel somewhat helpless, seeing the
position in which he and his comrades found themselves, was yet not
quite resigned to the idea of becoming a prisoner. ("Not much!" he
told himself. "I've had some!--as they say in America. Ruhleben was a
lesson which has taught me that the lot of a prisoner is hardly
inviting.") "But----" he called out.

"But----" shouted the Corporal back at him, standing quite close to
Henri, and bellowing in his ear; for, indeed, the little fellow was
very excited. "But you would like to call us cowards next, because we
will not charge after the Germans."

"One moment," Henri said, patting him on the shoulder, "one little
moment, mon cher ami! Neither you nor I wish to be prisoners, eh?"

"Vraiment!" the little fellow answered, a trifle mollified, his anger
oozing out at the tips of his fingers. "But then---- Ah! It is
Henri, eh? I did not recognize you earlier. Then what do you advise,
Henri--you, who have tasted prison life in Germany?"

"Yes, yes! Let Henri tell us," called a number of the others; for
already our hero had won no small reputation amongst his fellows.

Let us advance the story just a little and explain that already that
officer to whom Henri and Jules had given a report of their
reconnaissance had urged upon his colonel that they should be promoted
instantly, and even then, as the conflict raged about Fort Douaumont,
their names were in Regimental Orders. They were to be
"non-commissioned" officers.

"What then?" the little Corporal asked again, eagerly peering up at
Henri, for he was some inches shorter.

"I believe you, my dear fellow," exclaimed Henri. "Not being a bird,
or, as you rightly observed, not belonging to the Flying Corps, we
cannot very well get back to our fellows, that is, not yet. But--and
that is just where you chipped in and prevented my saying what was in
my mind--but we fellows might manage to hold out if we had some sort of
decent