our, during which time the fusillade from the men of the 24th
Brandenburg Regiment sent a hail of bullets in their direction. They
thudded against the bags continuously, while often enough a missile
would strike the concrete ceiling of the chamber, and, ricochetting
from it, would mushroom against the opposite wall; some even struck the
walls limiting the stairway on either side, and, breaking off at a
tangent and exploding from the impact, scattered strips of nickel and
lead over the heads of the garrison.

"But it is nothing--nothing at all," that bearded veteran told his
friends; and, indeed, he was as good as a reinforcement of a hundred
men to them--so gay was he, so full of courage, so optimistic. "Poof!
Who cares for noise? Not you, my comrades, who have stood days now
when torrents of German shells were pouring on us, when our ears were
deafened by the guns of either side. Then who cares for the scream and
the hiss of these bullets? They are but a drizzle which follows a
storm."

"Get ready to support the others!" Henri commanded of a sudden, having
crept forward to the barricade and peered through one of the loopholes.
"That officer man is getting impatient, and, if the truth be known, he
is beginning to wonder if any of us are left up here; for, remember, we
have made no answer."

"An easy shot, eh?" Jules told his chum, gripping the rifle which he
had thrust through one of the upper loopholes. "I could bring him down
like a bird, as easy as winking! But I won't," he added of a sudden;
"no, for that would hardly be fair fighting."

A whistle sounded down in the hall below, and fifty or more grey-coated
figures rushed from the far end, where, no doubt, they were waiting out
of sight and under shelter. Forming up across the hall, they were
given a sharp order, and almost at once dashed forward.

"They are coming!" Henri called softly to his following. "Don't show
as much as a finger, if you can help it. Open fire only when they get
to the exit from the hall, and cease fire immediately you have checked
their dash towards us."

Rat-a-tat-tat! Rat-a-tat-tat! The machine-gun opened with two short
bursts just as the Brandenburgers reached the foot of the staircase,
while the Frenchmen manning the loopholes opened a furious fire, which
first checked the rush of the enemy and then drove the survivors
backwards. Indeed, in one minute they were all out of sight, and even
those who had been sniping at