tant as was the big German,
chuckling but a minute earlier.

"Henri!" Jules shouted; "Henri, what's happened? Are you killed like
the rest of them?"

Evidently the gallant Henri was nothing of the sort, for, opening his
eyes and staring out into the darkness, he growled a denial.

"Dead? Not much! but soon shall be if we stay here long enough for
those fellows to bring lights," he grumbled. "If they bring lights
they'll get us, and then----"

"You needn't mention the rest of the details. Pull yourself together!"
Jules told him. "Here, wait a moment!"

Freeing himself from the dead weight of his chum, he dashed across the
hall, feeling giddy and shaken by the explosion, and, scrambling on
hands and knees amongst the bodies lying around the spot where the fire
had been burning, he soon secured a water-bottle, and, hastening back,
first dashed some of the contents into Henri's face, and then lifted
the metal cup to his lips and let him drain it.

"Wanted that--eh?" he asked, having himself gulped down a draught.
"Let's have another. Now, here we are! My word, what a bust-up! How
did it happen? I saw you over there, just outside the hall, and
wondered whether you'd do anything. You did--eh? Was that your bomb?
Tell me about it."

Henri scoffed at him--scoffed angrily.

"Let's take a seat in the very centre, search for food, and sit down to
a leisurely dinner," he said, his voice choked with satire. "Better
still, let's ring a bell, if there's one, and ask that Max individual
to come in and join us; he'd enjoy it, wouldn't he?"

"The demon! He'd have shot me in another minute. But still, here we
are!"

"And the sooner we get out of it the better. That water's made me feel
far better, and I can stand now, I believe. Yes, giddy a bit, but I
can still stick to my pins, and that's something. What do we do--eh?
Here, pull off the uniforms of a couple of these fellows, they'll not
miss them, and let's change clothes as quickly as we can. Don't
forget, too, that once we've changed we are Germans--Brandenburgers,
6th Brigade fellows, who've attacked the fort and helped to capture it.
No more French after we've got into our disguises."

The suggestion came glibly enough, and sounded extremely simple; yet
when the two--shaken after that terrific fight on the stairway, and
once again by the explosion which Henri had manoeuvred--came to attempt
the task they found it almost beyond them, for your German,