set the fellow trembling.

"Ha! Ho! It is you, eh? You fired the shot--you?" and there was a
note of contempt in his voice. "Then why? On whose orders? Here are
the orders of the day as to the duties of a sentry, and as to the
occasions on which he shall use a rifle. Listen, I will read them."

It was a sample of German militarism which the Sergeant was reproducing
to the full, a sample of the preciseness of the Teuton. Keeping this
elderly guard at attention till the poor fellow looked as though he
would explode, he groped in the pocket in the tail of his tunic, and,
producing a notebook, proceeded to extricate from it a sheet of paper
on which were some typewritten lines; and then in a ponderous and
somewhat menacing voice he read the orders--orders which set forth
exactly and minutely when a guard should come on duty and when he
should be relieved, what reports he should prepare, and what he was to
observe amongst the prisoners. Finally, having elaborated a number of
minor points, it set forth the orders as to using firearms.

"And shall not fire upon the prisoners unless there be occasion,"
coughed the Sergeant; "that is to say, unless there is insubordination
amongst them, mutiny, a threat to strike, or an endeavour to escape.
That is the gist of the orders. Now, my friend, you have either obeyed
or you have disobeyed your orders. Your report! You fired a shot.
Why? Under what heading?"

No wonder the unfortunate and rotund guard who had set the camp in an
uproar flushed till he became quite scarlet, till his face swelled to
the point of bursting, and until his eyes looked as though they would
fall out of his astonished head. He stuttered and coughed, and stood
at ease, for the effort to remain at attention was beyond him.

"Halt! Stand to attention!" thundered the non-commissioned officer.
"Now, your report. There was incipient mutiny amongst the prisoners,
eh?"

The guard shook his head and spluttered; even now he was unable to
command so much as a single word.

"No! Then there was insubordination amongst a number, or in the case
of a single individual, eh?"

"Not so," the guard managed to stutter; "not so, Sergeant."

"Ah! Then we get nearer to it. A man struck you, or threatened to do
so?"

"No, it was not that," the German standing to attention managed to
answer; "not that, Sergeant."

"What, then? Then it was someone attempting an escape? Someone trying
to break out of Ruhl