extremely dignified friend
backward till his teeth shook. Ho! That's fun! And how one would
like to see the thing repeated!"

The steely-grey eyes of Lieutenant Max turned towards this hulking
German, and shot at him a glance which was angry and threatening, a
glance, however, which failed altogether to impress the man who had
addressed him. For this hulking officer roared with laughter, and
shook to such an extent that the wreaths of fat on his body wobbled.

"But this is fine!" he shouted, "We have roused the lion in our little
Max, and he is angry--angry with me, mark you, my friends--because I
would like to see repeated something which no doubt was most
entertaining. But, surely, Max, you were not defeated by this fellow,
this puny Frenchman?"

The big German ran a pair of critical eyes over the dishevelled figure
of Jules, standing helpless before him, eyes which nevertheless did not
fail to note the determined look of this young man, his unflinching
attitude, and the gleam of anger which came from behind his eyes, and
which threatened retaliation. Yes, at that very moment the impetuous
Jules, stung by the blow which Max had dealt him, and understanding
every word that passed, was on the eve of throwing himself upon the
German; and then, as he glanced from one to the other, and helplessly
round the hall at the backs of the Brandenburgers--indifferent to what
befel their prisoners--to the exit from that hall and the stairway
beyond it, at the summit of which he and Henri and those other comrades
had put up such a fight, his wandering eyes lit upon the figures of
Germans and Frenchmen--the fallen men who had grappled at the foot of
the stairs--and, passing from one to another, came upon a face, an
eager face, wherein two eyes were set--eyes which were staring hard in
his direction. The face moved, while the owner of it sat up a little
and held up a warning finger.

"Henri!" exclaimed Jules, and at once took command of himself, and
pulled his somewhat shaken frame up at attention.

"What's that?" demanded the big German abruptly. "See, Max, he is
defying you, this fellow. And you say that he drew you out of the
earth and threw you back, almost shaking the teeth out of your head?
Unbelievable! Yet, if it is true, why, no Brandenburger will sit still
under such an insult."

The jeering laughter of this giant, the covert smiles and the outspoken
remarks of other German officers, sent the blood flaring a